INT. HOUSE DINING ROOM - MIDDAY
EILEEN sits staring blankly forward
JOHNNY
Do you get what I'm saying?
EILEEN looks to her side before she answers:
EILEEN
Yeah JOHNNY, we've been over this...
JOHNNY
I know that, but things have changed, you have to move on now, you can't be stuck here forever
EILEEN
I know but...
JOHNNY
No more 'buts' Bill, you have to make a choice now, there's no more sitting on the fence
EILEEN glances to her side again
EILEEN
What are you saying exactly?
JOHNNY
Bill, I'm saying this time it really would be forever
EILEEN
Are you saying what I think you're saying
JOHNNY
I think I am
EILEEN
JOHNNY please...
JOHNNY
Bill, I'm saying you have to move out now, once and for all
EILEEN
But JOHNNY, why?
JOHNNY
Because you're dead now mate and it's getting weird
We reveal that the two are sitting around a table with candles, there are three seats - two of them occupied by EILEEN and JOHNNY and one spare with no one in it.
EILEEN looks towards the empty chair before she answers:
EILEEN
He says it's not his fault - I'm in the same mess you are y'know, worse off to be perfectly honest
JOHNNY
It's unfair what happened to you, and I understand that you can't help being so attached to this place - but we've had this conversation many times before, when you were alive
EILEEN
I never knew it was so serious?
JOHNNY
To be honest I cared more about getting you to move on with your life, that’s a little hard at current...but the same rules apply
EILEEN
How so?
JOHNNY
Well now you’ve just got to move on into the afterlife is all
EILEEN
You know it was never the place I was attached to?
JOHNNY
What do you mean, you love this old dump…
EILEEN
Yeah, but it’s never what kept me here you know
JOHNNY (swallows)
What kept you here Bill?
EILEEN (with tears in her eyes)
He says...He says it was you JOHNNY, it was always you…
JOHNNY starts weeping and a RINGING noise starts going off
The stopwatch is ringing and EILEEN turns it off:
EILEEN
Alright, that’ll be 200, but if you wanted to talk longer it’s 100 for every extra hour
JOHNNY
Oh yeah, alright…
JOHNNY momentarily hesitates, then wipes at his eyes
JOHNNY
no that’s fine, I’ll just take the hour, can I still say something to him before you go?
EILEEN
No sorry, I’ll have to charge extra to bring him back…
JOHNNY
Yeah no I understand, that’s algood - this way
HE gets up and walks to his left
CUT TO:
INT. HALLWAY - MIDDAY
JOHNNY is walking down the hall, EILEEN follows:
JOHNNY
So you make a pretty good living of off this stuff?
EILEEN
Yeah it’s alright, not really a reliable source of income but it works for the moment?
JOHNNY
You study?
EILEEN
Not at the moment...I haven’t really decided what I want to do - next year.
JOHNNY stops:
JOHNNY
Right here. You charge a pretty steep price, I would have thought you’d be set financially
He reaches up to a cabinet and starts rummaging
EILEEN
Yeah you’d think...nah, there’s not that much work as you might imagine, spiritual mediums have never been high in demand…
JOHNNY takes out a jar from the cabinet and climbs off the chair
JOHNNY
How’d you get into that then?
EILEEN
Oh it was just a hobby at school, turns out I had a knack for it - not really much of a career in it though
JOHNNY
Right...I’m sorry but this is all I have
EILEEN (taking money disappointedly)
We agreed on 200, this is less than half...
JOHNNY
I’m sorry love, but that’s all I can do now, if there’s anything else…?
EILEEN
No that’s fine
EILEEN leaves the house disappointed and the opening montage starts.
This is very much unfinished and not close to what I imagined it should be, but I still think it's worth sharing here.
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