01x02 - Episode 2

[bunniefuu]

So this is a place where we listen,

share our experiences and

try and gain a deeper understanding

of what this is together.

And can I?

How How long have you

been running this group?

Around five years now.

What do you? What do you mean?

CLAIRE SCOFFS

You're telling me that

you've all been hearing

this sound for five years?

LAUGHTER

No. No? No! No, no.

Good. OK.

I'm glad to hear that.

Seema, how long have

you been listening?

About three months.

This is my third meeting.

Tom and Emily?

Same. About three months.

This is just the second

time we've been here.

So we're newbies, too, aren't we?

Yeah.

And, Damien?

I've been I've been hearing

it for just over a year

and coming here for a few months.

And, Teresa?

Listening and coming

here for over three years.

And, Jo?

Five years.

And I've been listening

for decades now.

All right.

CLAIRE SCOFFS

During that time,

people come and go.

We try to

When they leave, is it because

they stopped hearing it?

No, they move or

You know, what we did here

just didn't quite work for them.

Well, what are you doing about it?

Just, erm, living with it?

Accepting it?

No! No, no. No, I agree with you.

This is madness. I want it gone.

Yeah. Me too.

It's a point of discussion

but, yes, I live with the hum,

and I accept it very much.

But that's insane.

No, I'm sorry.

OMAR CHUCKLES

It is, right? It's an entirely

It's OK. ..natural

reaction, Claire. Yeah.

I think we all felt the

same at the beginning.

And now you all feel like it's

..something you value?

No. No, no, no.

I mean, not Not all.

Omar's a bit more advanced

than the rest of us, I think.

I think for me, you know,

in my experience,

fighting the hum wasn't

good for my mental health.

I was I was in a bad place

before I found this group.

Is that something

that you can relate to, Kyle?

Uh, yeah.

Well, w-what is it?

Do you know?

Again, that's something we

discuss in these meetings. Mm-hm.

I don't want to bombard

you and start

No, please, bombard me.

I want to I want to be bombarded.

I I can't sleep. I'm.

I'm having nightmares

and nosebleeds, and

And everybody says that it's the

menopause or it's anxiety or stress.

Yeah, and we all have

quite differing ideas

of what's behind all of this but

..you know, the most

important thing is to

To take things slowly.

And for you and Kyle -

and all of us, really - to remember

that the function of this group is,

is about support and finding

a way to, at first,

cope with the sound,

and then live with it,

and then maybe even find

what the hum might do for you.

And there are a few things

that we do insist upon, though.

We We eat together and we

clean up and we wash up together,

and we breathe together,

and we all listen together.

I know it sounds

It's a bit of a strange ask,

but Omar and I have actually

THEY LAUGH

Yeah.

You know, the breathing

You know, breathing

together is actually,

it's one of the things

that can really help

if the sound is becoming

a little bit overwhelming.

And exhale

Two, three, four.

EXHALING

And inhale

INHALING

Two, three, four.

And exhale

EXHALING

And inhale

Two, three, four.

And exhale

Bye. Nice to meet you.

Thank you. Bye.

Thank you so much. OK. OK.

Well, that was, uh

Yeah. The hum.

Seema seemed OK, though.

Though she clearly thinks

the rest of them lost the plot.

Oh, my God. That couple I know.

I wanted to be, like,

"Blink twice if you need rescuing."

SHE CHUCKLES

I don't know.

I'm not sure that lentil soup

and yoga breathing

is going to get me through this.

Is it mad to think that

it might actually help, though?

DISTANT GOODBYES

No.

How are you getting home?

Thanks, everyone.

Bye-bye, now. Bye-bye.

Claire

..think you'll go again?

Maybe, yeah.

Good.

Yeah.

Other people

OK, look. Erm, other people

OK. Other people Look

OK, look. There are other people

Other people can hear the thing

that I'm hearing in our area.

And I went to a meeting.

MUSIC PLAYING

What?

Yeah.

Well, how'd you find them?

It's, like, an online thing.

Like a You know, one of

the local Facebook page things.

Yeah, it was bizarre.

But, yeah, there are

seven other people,

and they all hear it, and they've

all had physical reactions, so

Yeah.

What, so, it's a kind

of support group?

Yeah. Yeah.

So you just lied to us?

No, I didn't lie to you, I just

Look, I was just

I just wanted to see what it

was for myself. Is that OK?

Well, so, are you going to go again?

I mean, does it seem

like it's going to help?

I don't know, maybe.

I mean, it was not not-weird.

I don't think the guy who

spent years in the Marines

is going to be my new best friend.

But, look, it was nice to be

in a room with other people

who were having

the same experience as me.

How do you know you're, like,

hearing the same thing?

Do they know what it is?

Maybe, maybe.

What, they did and

they didn't tell you?

No, there was just a lot

to talk about. Well, like, what?

Like Why do I feel like

I'm being interrogated?

Well, I'm just trying

to figure it out.

Yeah, well, you weren't there.

I would love to be there.

OK. I I'm I'm not

I-I-I'm serious.

Are you going to go back?

I don't know. Maybe

I mean, probably!

Great. So, we'll come with you.

Yeah, no, I'm I'm good.

No. We can do this

as a family, right?

Sometimes, when I lie in bed,

I try to picture it.

Like, what it might be.

Sometimes it comes from this

..sort of

..dark, sinister house

at the edge of town.

FAINT BIRDSONG

But when I find it

LOW HUM

..it's like this

..small little thing

that you never expect.

And I

I smash it.

Mm.

Has it struck you this

might be an outlet of sorts?

A manifestation?

You mentioned your anxiety

about Ashley moving away.

That's a big change.

Yeah, sure,

but the sound feels real.

Psychosomatic phenomenon are real.

It's just the sources in our brains.

Now, I understand that, but

..if the sound is just in my

brain, then it isn't real.

Yes, it is.

The brain is

extremely powerful, Claire.

No, but other people hear it.

OK, let's talk about that.

Can you tell me a little bit

more about this group?

What kind of support

are they offering you?

SCHOOL BELL RINGS

Bye, Miss. Bye.

Bye. Bye.

I have a favour to ask you.

Oh, yeah?

Why are you reading that?

Why am I reading a book?

No, just It's Bataille.

It's a It is a strong choice.

I mean, I was really

into Bataille at uni.

It worked for my, erm,

"I'm a very serious

and cultured person" vibe.

THEY CHUCKLE

There's expression

Ecstatic and intolerable.

That's what Bataille called it.

Yeah, I remember.

Transcendence only possible

in the shattering of

the body's physical limits.

To be pushed to

the brink of one's being.

Mm.

So

..this favour, it's a little tricky,

but it's about the next meeting.

Paul and Ashley want to come.

So OK. That'sweird.

Yeah, I know.

I tried to dissuade them,

but he won't

I thought you weren't even sure

that you were going to come back.

Yeah, but it'll just be this once.

And how do you know they

won't want to keep coming?

Because I'm not going

to let that happen.

But you're letting this happen.

Kyle, I'm really sorry, but

How are you going

to make it up to me?

Kyle

FAINT CHATTER

Anyway, I just want

to say "thank you" again

for letting me bring them today.

Of course, they're most welcome.

But, you know, they're just trying

to get things back to normal.

That's all.

FAINT CHATTER

I must say, I find it beautiful.

You coming here,

supporting Claire like this.

Thanks. It felt important.

FAINT LAUGHTER

This is a one-off, though, Paul.

This space is for people

who hear what we hear.

If could ask you to

be a guest, to listen.

Allow others this time to share.

FAINT LAUGHTER

My God!

MUFFLED APPLAUSE

Wow!

WHOOPING, CHEERING

That's good!

No, that was

That was very shaky.

I'm not even warmed up.

Jo, that's incredible!

How could you do that, Omar?

Oh, she taught me, actually.

Yes. Yes.

SHE CHUCKLES

Three billion lightning strikes

a year, all over the world.

That's around

44 every single second.

Building up a huge electromagnetic

charge in the atmosphere

..which resonates

and creates actual sound.

This generates a very, very low hum,

at a frequency of 7.83Hz.

Sorry, just to

Just to clarify.

So you're saying that lightning

causes the atmosphere to hum?

It's called the Schumann resonance.

We've known about it

since the early '50s.

Schumann resonance? Yes.

And it's, like, humming

all the time, or?

Exactly.

AIR WHOOSHING

The space inside of this bottle

has a specific resonant frequency

which we all can hear.

Yes? Yes. Yes.

Lightning, in the Earth's case,

is like the breath over the bottle.

Constant global electromagnetic

resonances in the ionosphere

I'm sorry. This is a sound

You suggest we're hearing

a hum from the sky?

Do you know that every single animal

on this planet that migrates

uses the Schumann resonance?

Whales

Butterflies. Insects, birds.

And it affects us, too.

The vast majority of people

cannot hear sounds

below the frequency of 20Hz

..but we believe that there are a

select few of us who actually can.

And how do you know about this?

He was the director of

the School of Geosciences

at the University

of Rosyth for 18 years.

Look, no offence, mate,

but we've lived

in this neighbourhood

for going on 20 years now

and we've never heard

anything like this.

This noise is something new.

It's obviously some kind

of industrial noise pollution.

I used to think that at first,

too, Tom, but it just isn't.

For those of us

who've experienced this

No, no. I'm sorry. It just

literally has no scientific merit.

We need to reach out to the

council about this. Yeah. Yeah.

We need to start applying

some pressure.

The council?

They're not going to be interested.

This is bigger. Much bigger.

"Bigger"?

What do you mean, "Bigger"?

Just look online. The

HE SCOFFS

The hum's affecting people all over,

but there's only a few

of us that are clued in.

Damien. Right? No, no.

Havana syndrome.

Right? Those diplomats,

that hotel in Cuba.

OK. No, they need to hear this, Jo.

I worked in military

intelligence for nine years. OK?

This This suppression,

the government, this

This could even be deep

state for all we know.

"Deep state"?

Can someone tell me

what he's doing here?

Cos he can't even hear

the hum, can he?

This is rubbish.

Government-controlled,

weaponised lightning, is it?

No, I didn't say that.

If it is natural It's not!

..then why wouldn't we have

heard it all our lives?

Why is it that, suddenly,

we can all hear this now?

This is a very good question.

And this is what we

should be discussing here.

Or it's just something

really simple.

Like a few months ago,

they put up new wind turbines

along Hackett Bridge.

And how do you explain

my experience, then?

What triggered it for me?

Or for Jo or Omar, or for any of us?

Yeah. See, I don't know.

But I'm sure that there is

a perfectly logical reason.

Let's just

Let's just take five, OK?

I'll put on the kettle.

I know everyone's coming at

this from different places.

We work quite hard to make sure

everyone feels heard, and

But I think it just comes

across like, you know,

we're right, and No.

..we're just waiting for

everyone to agree with us.

But, you know, the problem with

being a bit further ahead is that,

of course, we've explored

so many of the ideas

that are new to others.

The things that that

Tom and Seema are suggesting

are just provably not true. So

But, you know, everyone's

on their own journey.

SHE CHUCKLES LIGHTLY

Do you know Do you know

why Kyle didn't come today?

I'm sorry, what?

Kyle.

The boy from the last meeting,

I Yeah, yeah.

You came together.

You knew each other.

Kyle Francis?

Uh, well, I just

I just wanted to make sure

we didn't scare him away.

Talking to him on the

phone at midnight.

Going to random

people's homes together.

Ash, look, we're just trying

to get to the bottom of this.

Yeah, yeah. This, Mum?

This is the bottom.

You've hit it, OK?

All right, all right. Fair.

That's fair.

Look, Ash, this is extremely

sensitive, and I

I need to be able to

trust you with this.

I'm obviously not going

to say anything, but

Come on.

Everything all right?

I'll handle it, I promise. OK?

Hey, what's going on?

I don't want to talk about it.

I just want to go.

Yeah, it's She's

You take her. I'll get a car. Fine.

Uh, I'll I'll

No, everything's fine.

I'll I'll talk to

you when you get home.

Yeah. Ashley?

FAINT BIRDSONG

CLAIRE SIGHS

LOW HUM

CLAIRE EXHALES

It can be hard for the families.

I'm impressed they came.

How are you and your husband doing?

He's fine. We're OK.

So you and Omar, you met

doing the - the humming?

The hum group.

He was my thesis supervisor.

Oh, right.

And you were Mm-hm.

We were, yeah.

He was quite the radical thinker.

Oh?

THEY CHUCKLE

And the administration

just made his life hell.

And watching him go through that,

I just thought, you know,

the academia is not for me.

Huh. That's when I started

my bodywork practice.

Right, right.

I just have to ask. You

You and Kyle do know each other.

I picked up on that, right?

Uh, yes.

Yeah, he's actually a

He's actually a student of

mine at Pirethorn Academy.

Oh, OK. Mm.

That's interesting.

Mmm.

I'm I I'd prefer that

people didn't know just bec

Oh, my God. Absolutely.

CLAIRE CHUCKLES

Yeah.

So, he just invites you

all over to lecture to you?

CLAIRE GRUNTS

I just

Omar is a very intelligent,

very sincere sort of person.

I never said he wasn't intelligent.

And can you?

Can you just let me finish?

Firstly, can you acknowledge

that there was a roomful of other

people who can hear the hum?

I have.

No, you haven't.

OK. I hereby acknowledge

After weeks and weeks of telling

me that it was in my head.

I never said that.

Oh, piss off! Excuse me!

SHE SIGHS

I'm just

I feel so muchbetter.

So much You feel

less crazy being around

Mr "Deep State is out

to get you" guy?

Damien? Yeah.

OK. I admit, he was crazy.

Crazy?

And what about that, erm,

piece of gammon

Tom? Yeah.

I mean, I was worrying that he was

coming across as the sensible one.

Mm-hm. And by sensible,

you mean completely dismissive

of everyone else's ideas.

Oh, yeah.

I mean, to be fair, I don't

think he's going to be back.

He had another massive row

in the break. Jesus.

CLAIRE SIGHS HEAVILY

But, look, on the whole

On the whole,

I think in situations like this,

where people

are so obviously vulnerable,

I just get worried that

What, you think I'm vulnerable?

..people like

Yeah. I mean, you said so yourself.

That's the only reason why I came.

Uh-huh. Well, no.

Technically, you invited yourself.

KEYS CLACK

..cloudy afternoon

on the whole.

Rain is expected by

the early evening.

Feeling cooler than yesterday

and breezy with highs of 22 Celsius.

RADIO JINGLE PLAYS

SCHOOL BELL RINGS

I hope you baked it.

Mm, I did.

Who did? I found it.

You baked it yourself?

You found it on the street?

Mm-hm, mm-hm. I did.

Actually, someone brought it in

for you. Thank you very much!

Oh, that's so kind. Alley-oop!

LAUGHTER DROWNS OUT WORDS

PA SYSTEM CHIMES

Can Miss Kutty please

report to the Headteacher's office?

So aggressive.

What have you done now?

I've got no idea.

Save some of the

cake for me, will you?

Mm!

Unlikely.

Hi, Claire.

Thanks for joining us. Erm

This is Kyle's mother, Mrs Francis.

I think you've met.

We've met, yes. Hi.

What the hell are you

doing with my son?

Wait, erm Well, your son

came to me a few weeks ago

because he had been

distracted in class and

And not sleeping, so I asked him

Erm, take a seat.

Yeah. Yes. Sorry. Yeah.

You've been seeing my son

outside of class, haven't you?

Going on drives with you

in your car to some group.

When the whole time

that he's telling me

that he's out with his mates.

Is this true, Claire?

Oh.

Erm

It's, erm

The thing is, we both hear

this, uh, sound Oh, God.

Claire, it's a yes or no question.

Yes, I know. It's, erm

Yes, we have gone on a few drives,

erm, outside of class, yes.

How many?

Maybe six or seven.

Right.

CLAIRE SIGHS

Have you ever taken my

son back to your house?

No! I can assure you,

Mrs Francis No, Mum

Do I look assured to you?

Mum, I told you.

You didn't tell me a g*dd*mn thing

until I forced it out of you!

It's only thanks to your daughter

MRS FRANCIS SNORTS

Give me the phone.

Unlock it.

"Stop"

"Stop seeing my mum.

"Like, what the f*ck?

"We're going through

"We're going

through the same thing.

"She could get fired,

for f*ck's sake."

I have the greatest respect

for you as a teacher, Claire,

but I'm afraid I have no option

than to open a formal review.

There'll be

an investigating officer.

She'll want to speak with you,

Kyle, all the staff, students,

and a decision will be reached as

to whether or not to allow you back.

FAINT HEARTBEATS

It wasn't You've been seeing

a student outside of school?! Sh!

What the f*ck?

I know.

What were you thinking?

Look, he came to me

with a problem, and I

And he's a student,

so I just

I just

I wanted to help him.

But he can hear what

I hear, and it's

It's only ever been about that.

It's not specific to him.

It's a really f*cking

romantic story, Claire.

Oh, come on, Paul! Really, really

Please.

Have Have you got

feelings for him?

CLAIRE LAUGHS HOPELESSLY

Don't you f*cking laugh at me.

No. No.

f*cking hell.

I should have been honest with you.

No, you shouldn't have done it.

You shouldn't have done any of it.

LOW HUM

Hey.

I messaged Kyle

because I was scared for you.

Yeah, I know.

And now people are saying

all kinds of sh*t.

Least you can hide out here.

I'm the one who has to

face them all tomorrow.

I-I'm sorry for

f*cking everything up.

I I didn't mean to.

No. Come here,

come here. Come

Hey, come here.

No.

You didn't f*ck anything up.

Have a good day. Thanks.

Miss Kutty seems to have texted

you first. Is that correct?

Yeah, but I did it.

Like, I asked for her phone

number and she said, "No,"

so I took her phone

and texted myself from it.

That That's actually

what happened.

What happened on these drives?

Erm, nothing.

We were just trying to take

measurements, you know,

like readings of decibel levels.

We were We were trying to find

out what this sound is, that's all.

But why so clandestine?

The late night calls,

secluded locations.

Yeah, it wasn't like It

There was nothing.

It wasn't like that. It w

On Thursday, the

Thursday the 18th at 11:45pm,

Miss Kutty called you.

Is that correct?

Yeah.

Did you ask him No. ..not to

tell anyone what you were doing?

No. No, of course I didn't. No.

Your texts indicate you

gave him rules to follow.

Yes. When and how you

should contact each other.

Because I was trying

to set boundaries.

Look, nothing happened.

And I don't know what

more to tell you.

Nothing happened.

You're not in trouble, Kyle.

LOW HUM

Hi.

What are you doing?

It was so intense.

CLAIRE SIGHS

They were asking me

all sorts of questions.

No, stop. Stop talking.

You can't tell me these things.

You can't call me.

I I tried to explain,

but they didn't care.

I know, I understand

I really want to see you.

No. OK?

Absolutely not.

You can't see me. Please.

You can't call me.

Please, just stop it. All right?

Please.

I'm sorry.

I have to go.

LINE BEEPS

PA SYSTEM JINGLE

Good afternoon.

For those on prom committee,

we are meeting at 8:45am tomorrow

morning in the common room.

The meeting is no

longer in the library.

An email has also been sent.

But please pass the message

on to committee members.

Good morning.

MARCHING DRUMS ON VIDEO

So, did you know?

Well, what did you hear exactly?

Oh, I just heard some stuff.

MUTTERING, LAUGHTER

LOW HUM

CUTLERY GRATING,

LOW HUM INTENSIFIES

PHONE LINE RINGS

Hello, it's Claire.

Leave a message after the beep.

Call me if you hear anything.

Of course.

FRONT DOOR OPENS

FRONT DOOR SLAMS

BIRDSONG

SHE HUMS

VIBRATING

SHE CONTINUES HUMMING

Claire?

Hey, love.

Sorry, I can't really hear you.

Are you OK?

What did Paul say?

Mm.

I'll tell him when he gets home.

CLAIRE SIGHS

He'll be pissed off that I'm here.

But

Because Kyle's here?

Or maybe because he comes here?

Or us? Or what? What?

I don't know, probably both.

Right.

He has been trying to help.

JO HESITATES

But What, by isolating you

and cutting you off from

any kind of support network?

No I know you love him

more than anything,

but for you to be the mother,

and the wife, that you want to be,

you really need to find

your way back to yourself.

Because you're really

You have the chance to

make some real progress.

Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, during the investigation,

I was so scared and

And I guess now,

now that it's happened,

now that I've been sacked

Yeah. I mean, f*ck it.

What else have I got to lose?

Oh, you actually have

a lot to lose, Claire.

I mean, the chance toto

..find the truth.

It's OK.

It's OK.

I know.

Erm, yeah.

Yeah. I will.

Tune in to yourself.

Let the outside melt away.

Try to listen.

Focus inside.

Deep within.

Hear the blood circulating

inside of your body.

The hum is there.

LOW HUM

Inside the deepest part of you.

LOW HUM

The very middle of you.

Find it.

LOW HUM

What do you hear?

My breath. Yes.

Mm-hm.

My back cracking.

When I breathe in,

there's a little whistle in my nose.

Probably get that checked out.

SOFT CHUCKLING

OK.

My mouth.

My tongue inside my mouth.

My saliva.

Swallowing.

My heart.

LOW GROANING

Try to travel deeper

inside of your body.

LOW DRONE

Can we listen to our bodies?

Listen to the other

bodies in the space.

LOW HUM

That was lovely, everyone.

HE GROANS

Well done.

You can open your eyes now.

Come back.

So

..I hope that

..some of you

..are beginning to process

that the hum is not your enemy.

It's not a curse, or a weapon,

or a problem to solve.

MUSIC PLAYS ON RADIO

What if it is a gift?

A profound gift

that only the luckiest few of us

have the fortune to hear.

RADIO TURNS OFF

PHONE VIBRATING

I'm so sorry. Sorry.

Sorry about last night.

No, I I shouldn't have called.

Have you, erm

Have you heard yet?

Mm-hm.

f*ck.

Yeah.

I feel terrible.

No, don't.

Stop.

Paul and Ashley don't even know yet.

I suppose being here is, erm

I'm assuming that your mum

doesn't know that you're here.

HE CHUCKLES

Are you kidding? She'd crucify me.

That, just now, that listening

..being in it, not fighting it

..felt really f*cking good.

It's like most things -

you only really get

out what you put in.

Sometimes I wonder, you know,

if more people used to hear it.

Like different cultures,

throughout time.

It's like the world has

gotten louder but we

..I think,

have forgotten how to listen.

SHE GULPS

Ha. Ha-ha!

Oh!

DOORBELL RINGS

Is that your husband?

KNOCKING AT DOOR

Yeah. Hold on.

I'll just go see what he wants.

KNOCKING AT DOOR

Hey.

What's going on? What are you doing?

I've come to take you home, Claire.

Well, you don't come and collect me.

I'm not a child.

I'll come home when I'm ready.

No.

No? What do you mean, no?

No. I mean, "No."

SHE SIGHS

I wanted to tell you in person.

I wasn't going to

You have to choose to

come home to your family now.

What are you talking about?

Is he in there?

Come on!

This is f*cking insane.

Why are you here, Claire?

Because I needed some support, Paul.

From him? I

From these people?

From these f*cking strangers?

They're not strangers.

What about us?

What about your family?

Look, I'm sorry

that you are hurting.

You don't have to apologise

for my feelings, Claire.

On the front of the house

where your daughter lives,

someone has spray-painted

the word "Paedo"!

And you're here with

this f*cking kid.

Have you any idea how that looks?

Hi.

Claire?

We're just having a conversation.

I'm trying to have

a conversation with my wife.

Doesn't feel like a conversation.

Could you just give us a second?

It sounds like you're

shouting at her. OK

Erm I think

she'd like you to leave.

Will you just f*ck off?

f*ck off from my own doorway?

Claire, get your shoes,

get your jacket - we're going.

OK, you need to stop now. OK?

Is this about him? Stop

Is this about him?

It doesn't f*cking matter!

It f*cking matters!

How can you not see

that it f*cking matters?

Paul, don't.

Take your hands away.

Take your f*cking hands off me.

OK, so I think you should just go.

OK? Just go.

It didn't have to be like this.

Get the f*ck out of here.

You're not welcome here.

You hear me?

You're not f*cking welcome!

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TYRES CRUNCH ON GRAVEL

You OK?

Come on.

It's OK.

Will you have to move?

Yeah, I don't know.

I need to get the f*ck

out of here, though.

America?

I'd settle for Birmingham.

VIBRATING

You have one new message.

ANSWERPHONE BEEPS

Hey. It's me.

Erm, where are you?

I've been texting you.

Listen, everything's fine,

but I'm not going to

be home tonight, so

Yeah, can you call me

when you get this?

Mum?

Love you.

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