Episode 5: Limetown

## Introduction

Released: December 17, 2018

Duration: 51:04

Listen: https://www.podbean.com/ew/dir-cehab-53f3974

## Synopsis

+53 days 3 hrs since Lia Haddock’s abduction.

## Transcript

[nighttime sounds, footsteps on gravel]

Charley: Take the blindfold off. Tell me where I am.

Emile: It wasn’t working, was it? Listening to those tapes, there were... too many fragments, too many places your mind could hide. Now it’s... just me and you. I didn’t want to do this. But I don’t see any other way.

Charley: Way to do what?

Emile: Drown you.

Emile: Don’t worry, we’re almost there.

[dragging along, grunt from Charley]

Emile: I’m gonna remove your blindfold now, Charley. And when I do... I hope you’ll stop fighting it.

[chains clinking, shuffling of fabric]

[Charley laughs]

Charley: Emile... You’re a fool. We’ve been here all this time?

Emile: I didn’t want to do this. I don’t like doing this. We could stop all this right here, I can unlock those chains right now, if you just tell me what I want to know.

Charley: You want me to tell you where Lia Haddock is. And you thought this would help, bringing me here. To Limetown. Why?

Emile: Because. This place means something to you, Charley. Because you’ve been here before.

Charley: Wait!

[footsteps]

Charley: How long have you known?

Emile: Come on. There’s some things I want to show you.

[Emile whistles the Tennessee Waltz]

[unlocking, gate being opened]

Emile: Let’s have a conversation. You can pretend there’s a tape rolling if that helps.

Charley: I don’t know. I’m kind of tired of pretending.

Emile: Aw, that you don’t know where she is?

Charley: No. That I don’t know how this is going to end. But I’ll play along. What do you want me to do?

Emile: Just tell me what you see. Wherever we go. Wherever I take you. Okay?

Charley: That’s it?

Emile: That’s it.

[Charley inhales and sighs]

Charley: I see a house.

Emile: More details, focus, pretend you haven’t been here before. That you didn’t come running looking for answers like the rest of them. Be *thorough*.

Charley: The houses. They’re small. Gabled roofs. White picket fences. They’ve got an attic window, round, like an eye.

Emile: That’s it, now we’re getting somewhere, good.

Charley: Is this really necess-

Emile: It speeds things up, you’re doing great.

Charley: Okay. All the houses are the same. Identical, one after another down the street.

Emile: Ah, let’s- let’s go inside, okay? I-I get that you don’t want to, but let’s do it anyway. Let’s go see what the ghosts are up to.

[door bangs shut, Charley creaks it open, it bangs shut again]

Emile: Do you hear that?

[Charley huffs]

Emile: You’re breathing more quickly now. Your mind is trying to keep up, building walls even as this house tears them down. Just focus on what you see.

Charley: It’s dark inside. But not completely. The moon’s coming through a window.

Emile: Good. That’s real good.

Charley: The house is still furnished. A kitchen table. A couch in the living room. A cuckoo clock on the wall. You’re looking out the window at the house next door. It has a window, too. Like a mirror. They could see each other. The residents, at any time, if they wanted too. Why?

Emile: So they wouldn’t feel alone.

What else do you see?

Charley: There’s nothing else.

Emile: Have you figured it out? Why I brought you here?

Charley: You’re trying to break me. You think if I’m broken, I’ll tell you where Lia is. I won’t be able to hide it in my mind. It won’t work, Emile. You should know that.

[Emile sighs]

[gears click as Emile messes with the cuckoo clock]

Charley: What are you doing?

Emile: You know that I never knew my parents. Not really. My dad, he left when I was little. My mother shortly after. My guardians took me in. They had a clock just like this one. Hated it. Its constant chirping. So loud, so... *obnoxious*.

[the cuckoo sounds]

Emile: Every hour, it sounded. It was a reminder of how I was exactly where I didn’t want to be.

[cuckoo sounds again]

Emile: But I made sure they included the clock when I came here. Because it’s a part of me. All of this.

[Emile winds the clock]

Emile: Everything I’ve done in my life, the choices I’ve made, the people I’ve failed, it’s all a part of who I am.

Charley: You’re sentimental. I get it.

Emile: Hm... I’m mindful.

[cuckoo]

Emile: So are you, Charley. Otherwise you wouldn’t be here. There. I’ve fixed it so the bird won’t bother us. Just the music.

Charley: Can we leave now?

Emile: Yes, we can leave now. I’ll lead the way.

[music plays in background, door creaks open]

Emile: Try to resist your impulses.

Charley: What impulses?

Emile: To choke me to death from behind?

[footsteps on gravel again]

Emile: You ever read Plato, Charley?

Charley: Never had the pleasure.

Emile: Oscar was a big fan. He used to talk about The Republic all the time. What it would take to build a perfect city. Just the- the justice part he ignored, obviously, but, uh... he really enjoyed the idea of the different classes. Of each person having one job and doing that one job to its end.

Charley: Their role to play.

Emile: You recognize this, of course. Thought it was important to have a place like this. A town center. Place where everyone could come together. A reminder that we were all connected.

Charley: That’s the pole where Oscar Totem was burnt alive. Jesus, it’s still black.

They were all here because of you, and you got half of them killed. You knew it would happen. You must have known.

Emile: There you go. Now I can feel it. And it’s a good question. Why didn’t I stop it? It’s the right question. Have you ever failed someone, Charley? I mean, *really* let someone down. Can you tell me about that time?

Charley: No.

Emile: (inhale) That’s okay. I can go first. Because I’ve let down everyone I’ve ever met. Honestly. And... believe me, I’m not looking for sympathy. (heh) I can hear in your mind that I won’t get it. There’s so much rage in you, and we’ll get to that, too, but let’s start with what you want to know. Why did I let Oscar Totem burn?

The answer is... Because I wanted him to. There. Is that better? It’s not far from the truth, either. The thing about Oscar is... that... he just...couldn’t help himself. Someone once told me that everything he touched ended in disaster, but I didn’t want to believe her. I was lonely, I was... desperate for a normal life.

Can you understand that? Is that something you’ve ever... been after? And here he was, offering a real chance, a town that, with the tech, would be populated with people... like me. My own private bubble. Then the bubble burst. I heard it, of course, days before the Panic, I could tell it was getting away from us, I went to Oscar’s office and I warned him, I told him about the divide between the haves and the have-nots, and that this experiment of his, we were missing the entire point of the town, of what *I* wanted it to be!

Charley: What did he say to that?

Emile: He didn’t look up from his desk. He said... “What would you have me do?” He convinced himself everything was fine. People with power have a way of doing that.

Charley: But it wasn’t.

Emile: The tech was never perfect, it’s never been perfect. Two men in two rooms, one draws the same shape as another, and we call it a breakthrough. But if you smash through one wall, it doesn’t mean there isn’t another waiting for you on the other side.

Charley: It missed something. The lies. In Lia’s interview with Deirdre, she said the tech couldn’t decipher when someone was lying.

Emile: No, the tech couldn’t. But I can. Oscar knew... that when he promised to investigate my concerns- when he swore he would shut the town down before things got out of control, he knew...I saw through them. His lies.

(closer) You can’t hide from me, Charley.

Charley: I’m not hiding anything.

[Emile sighs]

Emile: If you’re not going to tell the truth... We’ll have to continue our conversation. But I hope you know that I didn’t want to talk about her, I spent all this time trying not to. You know that.

Charley: What are you talking about? All you’ve done is ask me about. “Where’s Lia? Where’s Lia?” It’s pathetic.

Emile: Not her. Your sister. Do you want to talk about her here, or do we need to go to the theater?

[there’s a pause. Emile sighs]

Emile: Nothing. Alright, fine, fine, that’s fine. You can shut your mouth all you want, but you *can’t* mute your mind.

[footsteps]

Charley: Hey, can you slow down? What would it take for you to believe me? A picture? A death certificate? What if I told you I got the whole thing on tape? Would that do it?

Emile: I’d have to hear it.

Charley: The tape? I don’t have it with me. Unlock these chains and I’ll tell you where it is.

Emile: We’re here.

[Emile unlocks a metal door, which rattles as it creaks open]

[he sighs]

Emile: Give me a second to find the breaker.

[footsteps, chain rattling]

[click, engines whirring]

Emile: There! That’s better.

Charley: It’s a little... bright. Aren’t you worried that someone will find you here?

Emile: Who? Daniel is dead. The only one looking for me is you. And I heard you coming from miles away. Now. What do you know about this place?

Charley: I know what you want me to say.

Emile: So say it.

Charley: This is where she hid. During the Panic.

Emile: Who did?

Charley: My sister.

Emile: Cleo.

Charley: Yes.

Emile: Good. Tell me about her.

Charley: There’s nothing to tell.

Emile: Course there is. Let me get you started. She was your favorite person. You were twins. Every time you looked at her, you were looking into a mirror. But you also looked up to her, not... in an envious way. She was always so smart, so quick. And so kind.

Am I getting this right?

Charley: No. She was more than that.

Emile: Tell me, Charley.

Charley: You’re wasting your time.

Emile: I know, I know. But bear with me here.

[door creaks, footsteps on wood]

Emile: Have a seat. Not bad, huh? Front row? Uh, oh, hold on a second, let me get the curtains.

[sound of curtains on a chain being pulled away]

Emile: (sigh) There, that’s better.

Charley: What’s that for?

Emile: I’ll show you in a minute. Now, about Cleo. I want you to start at the beginning. I’ll fill in the rest. Or I can flip the breaker off and you can wait for the rats.

Charley: Fine. When you’re a twin... you get the same jokes over and over. “Which one of you is older?” “Are you the evil one, or are you the good one?” “Can you read each other’s minds?” All of it is annoying. But the thing is, there’s some truth to it. You said Cleo was an inspiration, and I guess that was true, but I also knew I would never be as good as her. It just wasn’t in me. You know what that’s like?

We were thirteen. We were best friends. We were our only friends. (inhale) Which sounds sad, or lonely, or whatever, but it wasn’t. Our father... he was in the army. So we moved around a lot. Fort Bel Voire, Fort Silv, Fort Bragg, Fort Carlisle. Every time we moved, we had to start over. New school, new classmates. It gets old. You get good at two things: Making friends... and leaving friends. By the time we hit our fourth school in five years, we figured what was the point? Of talking to new people. Of pretending. Nothing in our world was permanent. It was just us. Well. And our dad.

He went into the army because he had to go into the army. They dropped him in the desert, and he never left. Not really. Cleo noticed it first. The way our dad would sit out back under a tree. He’d do it for hours. Just starting at nothing, until it got dark and one of us had to go outside and drag him in. There was no getting better. Sometimes I wonder if things would have been different if I was the one who found him. (sigh) But it was Cleo. Cleo, who left school early because she was feeling sick. They tried calling our dad to pick her up. The nurse drove her home when no one answered. She didn’t even stick around to make sure she got in alright.

She went out back... and found him. Under his tree. His legs had stopped kicking. His eyes bulged out of his skull. Still staring at nothing.

I’m not psychic. I can’t do what you do. But my sister and I... we had a bond. Call it some twin link bullshit, whatever you like, but... it was real. When she found our dad... I felt it, too. That throbbing wave of cold. Like she was drowning. I can feel it now just talking about it. Can you? Can you feel what I want you to feel?

Emile: Yes.

Charley: I knew he was dead. But what really got to me was what my sister felt. How that moment changed her. You said she was my favorite. But she was his favorite, too. And because she was a teenage girl, she blamed herself, like we’re taught to do. She’d say that she should have found a way to help him, cheered him up or something. The thing is, she tried. We both did. We just couldn’t get through.

Emile: There was nothing you could have done.

Charley: I know that. Don’t you think I know that?

Emile: Of course.

Charley: They dropped me into the desert, too. I never knew where my dad had been stationed over there. He never talked about it. But sometimes, at night, I’d wonder if I was walking in the same place he did. If I saw a footprint, I sunk my boot into it and asked myself, “Is this his? Am I following the same path, to the same end?”

Emile: You still felt her, though. Cleo was a world away, but you knew how hard she was trying. Overachieving for the both of you.

Charley: I kept going because I knew it worked both ways. If I acted like a sad sap, it would bring her down. She didn’t deserve that. So I got good at pretending. At convincing my mind that it felt differently. Have you met anyone who could that?

Emile: I’ve met people who’ve tried.

Charley: Anyway.

(inhale) We survived. She did well for herself. She’d tell me about what she studied at the Juco where she started, then the state college, then the Ivy League. I never understood it, what she got into. But I felt it. How excited her studies made her.

Emile: She studied biotechnology.

Charley: Yeah.

Emile: She was brilliant.

Charley: Top of her class. Bunch of studies published. She would send to me, but I never read them. It was like a foreign language. (sigh) She could have done anything she wanted, is what I’m saying. Had any job, lived anywhere. But she came here. Do you know why? Why she said yes when Oscar Totem came calling?

Emile: Yes. Because of the guilt.

Charley: That’s right. She still felt guilty for what happened to our dad. She would never admit it, but her work was her redemption. It was her way of atoning for something that wasn’t her fault to begin with. But Totem didn’t care. He used her guilt, because it was her weakness. That’s what he did, and you helped him.

Emile: I never knew her, I never spoke with her.

Charley: Of course not. You were the man they were all here for. But who were you here for? No one but yourself. They built this whole town for you, in your image, and you just stood there while they burnt it to the ground. Same thing with the Bridge, with those, with those children.

Emile: Good, that’s good. You’re getting there. Can we keep going?

Charley: Why? I’ve told you I can’t help you. Look inside me, tell me I’m lying.

Emile: We’ll get to that. But I’d like to hear the rest first, about Cleo. What happened to her?

Charley: You know what happened, the Panic happened.

Emile: But she survived.

Charley: Yes, she had the tech. But that only bought her time. She was doomed the second they put that chip in her brain.

Emile: Tell me what happened to her.

Charley: No! There’s no point!

Emile: Do you want me to?

Charley: Fuck off! I want this to be over! This game, it’s all just a game to you.

Emile: Why don’t we just take a break? I wanted to show you something anyway, give me a minute, I’ll be right back.

[creaking noises of a door opening and closing, chains rattle]

[a rising humming noise, and then something whirring, as generator and then projectors start up]

Emile: Well, I did my best. Only the fourth and fifth reels were salvageable, so we’re jumping in media res.

Charley: What is this?

Emile: *Death on Mars*, it’s one of my favorites. I know every word, though I guess there isn’t much dialogue.

Charley: What’s it about?

Emile: What do you see?

Charley: There’s a man. He’s alone. He’s wearing a helmet. A spacesuit or something. The screen is entirely orange. He’s wandering a desert, it looks like. There’s nothing around him.

Emile: They dropped him in, too. Although... it’s not a desert, it’s Mars. Can’t you tell? See that dot in the upper right corner? That’s the Earth. The director said he wanted it in every shot of the movie, to convey the distance, the loneliness the man is feeling. To show the home that he would never return to.

Charley: Is this the entire movie? He just walks around crying into his space helmet?

Emile: There’s more, you’ll see. In the meantime...can you finish your story? Can you tell me what happened to Cleo?

Charley: She died. Like the rest of them.

Emile: How? I’m sorry to ask this.

CHARLEY: No, you’re not. But sure. What’s another tragedy? She escaped, okay? Or they let her go. However you want to put it.

Emile: Where did she go?

Charley: To me. Of course, to me. In retrospect it was a dumb move. All the other survivors, they were smart to hide. But Cleo didn’t care. I guess that was the first sign.

(inhale) Anyway, I’d just gotten out of the army.

Emile: You were discharged?

Charley: Yes. Dishonorably. I was living in our dad’s old house. Cleo never sold it. She said she wanted the reminder. She found me outback, sitting under that tree. She called my name and it surprised me.

Emile: What did?

Charley: That I hadn’t felt her coming. Even when she was here in Limetown, even after the tech, I felt her. Her excitement, her dissatisfaction. Her dread. I felt her up until what I guess was the day of the Panic. She never talked about her time there, but-something must have broken inside that night, severed the connection.

I don’t get it, where is he walking to?

Emile: He’s following a mirage. He’s a prisoner.

See, in the future, we send the worst criminals to Mars, on suicidal exploratory missions. If they find something...they get to come home.

Charley: But they never find anything.

Emile: No. But he had a dream...at the beginning of the movie, that if he walked long enough, if he never gave up, he’d find a hidden ocean of water.

[Charley inhales and sighs]

Charley: Are we almost done here?

Emile: Tell me where she is, Charlie. Tell me she’s safe, and... everything stops.

Charley: I can’t.

Emile: Why not?

Charley: Because it’s not true.

Emile: Why do you resist? Oh, watch this. This is one of my favorite parts.

FILM: It’s all desolate, as far as the eye can see. It’s just me. It’s just... me.

Emile: Why don’t you let me talk for a little bit? I’ll finish my part, if that’s alright with you.

Think of thoughts as... waves. The mind as an ocean. There are...depths the tech couldn’t possibly reach; waves, thoughts hiding in the trenches deep down where the sun can’t reach; blacker than black, do you understand what I’m saying? When Oscar was dying, when those children... No one felt it more than me. That... deep... deep... wave. It floods over me every moment I’m awake. It’s with me right now. And I know it will never leave. Perhaps that can be some consolation. That as bad as I am in your mind, no one... will ever loathe me as much as I do.

FILM: Another illusion... It’s just another illusion.

Charley: What about Daniel? You’re saying you felt his children’s deaths more than he did.

Emile: In that moment, yes.

Charley: You’re insane.

Emile: Maybe. But you understand what I’m saying, don’t you?

Maybe it’s the same way for you, maybe... what happened with her gave you a glimpse of what I’m talking about.

Charley: We’re still talking about her?

Emile: We haven’t finished the story yet. I want to hear the ending; I want to know what happened to Cleo.

Charley: There is no end. The story doesn’t matter.

Emile: Oh, of course it matters-

Charley: No, it doesn’t. What Daniel did matters.

Emile: How?

Charley: Daniel stopped the tech.

Emile: Did he?

Charley: There’s nothing left! I checked! All the research, the contacts-

Emile: What’s interesting is that you know what you’re saying is not true. But I understand why you’re telling yourself that. See, if this is the end for you, you don’t want to die in vain. You don’t want to end up like your father, like Cleo.

Charley: Fuck you! It doesn’t matter what I want.

Emile: You don’t believe that, either. C’mon, there’s so much anger in you, rage at the prospect of failure, of the thought that I’m gonna walk out of here, and you’re not.

FILM: Another illusion.

Emile: See, the thing is, it’s already out there, Charley.

Charley: What?

Emile: The tech. The contact. You and Daniel... You didn’t stop anything.

Charley: What? What do you mean?

Emile: It’s okay, I felt the same way when I learned, but it’s true. Before Daniel burnt the Bridge-really, as soon as the contact was deemed successful-a company purchased the technology. I imagine they’re readying it for release. Should be ready any day now.

Charley: No.

Emile: I know, it’s terrible. It means all of this, all your hard work, all your hunting... was for nothing.

There. The wall is coming down, isn’t it. Brick by brick. You were just doing a job, you were always just doing a job, and when you weren’t doing it for someone higher up, you were doing it for Cleo.

Charley: No.

Emile: Just tell me what happened to Cleo. In the end.

Charley: She couldn’t take it. I tried to help her, I took her to the VA. She pretended she was me, suffering from PTSD. The thing was, she was. She really was suffering. She would get angry for no reason. She wouldn’t talk to anyone, not even me. They tried to help her... but the tech was still in her. She couldn’t get past that. Her scar was a reminder. She was always touching it with her fingers.

Emile: She wanted you to understand.

Charley: But I couldn’t.

Emile: Why not?

Charley: Our link was broken. Whatever you want to call it, whatever connected us since birth, it was gone.

I saw it right away, the hole in her head, behind her ear. Blood was still dripping out. The chip. She tried to carve it out. She stuck a knife in her skull. Luckily she passed out before she dug too deep.

Emile: What was she like after? What happened then?

Charley: The day she got out of the hospital, I picked her up. We didn’t talk about it. I just wanted to make her feel better. I wanted to re-sync. I asked her... “Where can we go that will make you happy? What is the one thing that will fix this?”

Emile: What did she say?

Charley: She said the ocean. She said, “Screw all this, take me to the beach.”

Emile: And you took her?

Charley: We didn’t bring anything with us. We just sat there. It was early in the afternoon. There were a lot of people. We watched one kid bury his dad in the sand. Another little boy built a fort out of rocks he collected from the shore. It was peaceful.

The sun sunk. We barely even noticed. I looked over and her and she was smiling. And I thought, “Why can’t this be a start? To recovery, or something like that?”

Emile: But then you looked again.

Charley: I saw what she was looking at. At first I thought it was the ocean. The calming white noise. I should have known. What she was thinking. I should have known the entire time.

Emile: She waited until the families left.

Charley: When they were all gone, she went over to the fort. She said, “Do you think he’ll mind if we borrow some of these rocks?”

She was wearing a dress. She never wore dresses. It had these deep pockets, in the sides. I didn’t even notice them. Not until the first rock. I asked her what she was doing, and she just started laughing. She was laughing, but there were tears streaming down her face. Rock after rock, she stuffed them into her pockets.

I said, “What are you doing?” She tilted her head at me with pity. She pointed at her scar. She tapped her temple, and said... “It’s not the same here without you.”

“I don’t understand,” I said. I knock

She started down the beach, and I ran ahead of her.

I didn’t understand her, but I understood that. That my mirror wasn’t real anymore. It was an illusion. I moved to the side.

I said... "I understand."

And she looked at me with a smile I didn’t recognize. She said, “Thank you. But if you really understood... you would know I can’t do this by myself. You would help me.”

[some sniffles and sobs]

Charley: I picked up a rock and I put it in her pocket. I said, “Whatever you want.”

She asked me to go back up the beach to find a few more rocks.

Emile: You knew what she was really asking.

Charley: To say goodbye. To let her go.

Emile: I'm sorry, Charley

Charley: No, you’re not. You wanted this. You wanted me to drown, like her. That’s what you said.

Emile: Good. Good, that’s really good. I think you’re ready. Now tell me where Lia is, where she really is. That’s all I need.

[sob]

Emile: You'll never see me again. Once I know Lia is safe.

[Charley breathes deeply for a few moments, sobs more, begins to cry]

Emile: Charley.

[sobbing becomes laughing

Emile: *Charley.*

[sobbing becomes laughing]

Charley: I’m sorry, ah, I’m sorry, I don’t think I can do this anymore.

Emile: Why are you laughing?

Charley: I’m trying not to, it’s just- it’s just- you want me to be like her so badly, but I'm not! I'm not even close!

Emile: Charley.

Charley: I don’t need your help to do my job. It’s already done. She’s gone, Emile, you’ll never find her. That’s how the story of Limetown ends.

[inhale, sigh, sniff]

Emile: (scoff) Wh... Why do you do this? Why... Why do you keep fighting me? You- *know* what I’ve seen, I’ve told you what I’ve heard!

Charley: You did.

Emile: And?

Charley: It's an illusion.

FILM: It’s an illusion. It’s an *illusion*.

Charley: See? He gets it.

Emile: What's an illusion?

Charley: What you wanted to hear. Everything. What kind of name is Cleo, anyway?

Emile: No, no no no no no no *no*, Charley, no.

Charley: Though I suppose it’s about as good a name as Charley.

Emile: No, stop, stop, stop, I know-

Charley: You keep saying that. You know who I am. You know what I’ve done, and what I’ve seen. But the truth is, you don’t know anything. And you know how I know? Because I made it all up.

Emile: No.

Charley: It's all a story.

Emile: No.

Charley: For your benefit.

Emile: No. You couldn't have.

Charley: Of course I could! Have you never stopped to ask yourself how you, Emile Haddock, a civilian with no military training whatsoever, so easily caught me and locked me in that room all this time? Did it ever occur to you that I *let* you?

Emile: No!

Charley: You said it yourself. I’m good at building walls. But what I’m really good at are facades. You knock them down all you want, but there’s nothing there. There’s only what I make up.

Emile: No.

Charley: Yes, Emile-

Emile: No.

Charley: Yes. Yes. I know.

[Emile sighs]

Charley: I know. It’s difficult to accept. The not knowing. Was she lying about everything? Was any of it the truth? Think about how the families of the Limetown citizens must have felt. Always wondering, were they dead? Were they alive? Now you get to experience that.

Emile: No.

Charley: If you ask me, that’s a good thing. It’s good to not know. The tech, the contact... it really doesn’t bother me one way or the other if it gets out, I had a job to do and I did it. But... I gotta say. The idea of the chip, the contact? It sounds awful. Always knowing what the other person is thinking.

Think of this as a gift. From me to you. Because you’ll never know where Lia is. Whether she’s alive, or buried in the dirt. Maybe there’s power in that. Maybe there’s freedom.

Emile: Stop.

Charley: Stop what? You wanted to know, didn’t you? So I guess you have a choice here of what to believe. Either I have a sister named Cleo, and all of this, all of my work tracking you down has been about revenge, or I’m just someone who is very good at her job. Who crafted a sob story in her mind because she knew it was what you wanted to hear.

Emile: You couldn't.

Charley: Sure I could. I’ll even give you two more, how ‘bout that? To show you how easy it is.

Emile: Just stop.

Charley: Two possibilities about what happened to Lia Haddock. Of how this story ends. I’ll let you pick which one to believe.

Emile: Charley, just *stop*. Just stop. This won't work.

Charley: Sure it will. This will be fun.

Story number one: Lia is alive. She’s been alive this whole time. I found her after Daniel gave up her location. Lia was in Melbourne, Australia, of all places. That’s where he had her. In a holding cell in the basement of an old research facility. He said you would appreciate that. That that place meant something to you. She didn’t put up a fight, not with a gun in her face.

Emile: She's in Melbourne.

Charley: She was. I took her. I sold her.

Emile: You sold her? To who? IDS?

Charley: They would’ve just hired someone else to kill her. Hired the same person to kill me.

Emile: This isn’t true, it can’t be true... I don’t hear- I can’t see-

Charley: Look closer. See me driving with her across the outback, holing up in a shack in the middle of nowhere. See her in a room like the cell you’re holding me. See me interrogating her, using more...urgent methods. See her breaking. See her begging, and crying. Telling me she has no idea where you are. The best she could do is guess that you’d be here. That she met you here a long time ago, when she didn’t even know it was you. That you came back here all the time, because it was a symbol to the closest you ever got to what you wanted.

Emile: What did you do with her?

Charley: I realized she was special. Not like you. Like her mother. See? You know I talked to Allison. You know I know about her family.

The story ends when I realize her value. That I can sell her, the way Totem tried to sell you. Only, I’m smarter about it. More discrete. I find a third party. They give me a name that isn’t their name. They are very interested in Lia. Lia’s mother. What they can do. They promise they won’t kill her, but they also promise that you will never see her again.

Emile: Where is she now?

Charley: In this story? I don't know. I told them I didn't want to know.

But... Emile, she’s far away by now. Every minute you’ve spent with me? She’s been growing farther and farther away. In this story, I’ve been stalling, this entire time. It has been fifty-three days and three hours since Lia Haddock’s abduction. That is fifty-three days to find her that you’ll never get back. I’ve been pretending that I don’t want to talk about Cleo when there never was a Cleo. I’ve made you play the tapes because every tape bought me time.

It’s very believable, isn’t it? The key is in the details. Using them to sketch just enough of a truth. How did I do? Did I do a good job?

Emile: What about the other story?

Charley: (inhale) Oh, you won't like that one.

Emile: Tell me.

Charley: She’s dead. I killed her, Emile. Would you like to hear how? Now, don’t shake your head. Not yet. You still don’t want to believe it, even though you know it could be true. That’s right, pace back and forth. Stand in front of the screen. Now there are two men alone on Mars.

Emile: I would've heard it. I would've felt it.

Charley: Would you? Could you hear her before? Could you hear her mother? (sigh) You might want to sit down for this. It gets pretty gruesome. There was a struggle.

Emile: (kind of a moan) *No*.

Charley: I had to break a few things.

Emile: *No*.

Charley: I had to open her up a little bit. I started with those scars. You know, the ones on her head? From when she tried to be like you. Do you want to know what her last words were? What she said to me just before I put a bullet in her brain.

[Emile pants]

Charley: She called out your name, Emile. She said, “Tell my uncle... Apple says goodbye.”

[Emile inhales]

Charley: Wow, look at you. Your red eyes. Your fast breath. It’s settling in, isn’t it? The possibility.

Emile: *No*.

Charley: That’s good. That’s real good. I think you’re ready.

[Emile yells and charges at her, Charley grunts, Emile breathes heavily]

Emile: (desperate) Tell me it’s not true! Tell me you made it up!

Charley: Get off me.

Emile: Tell me!

[grunts, struggle, more heavy breathing]

Emile: Tell me you made it up. Tell me.

[chains rattle, both pant]

Emile: Your chains... How did you....

Charley: I picked them. While you were starting the movie.

Now. You tell me...which story is true... and which is a fiction. You don’t know, do you? You’ll never know. And it doesn’t matter. Because they’re just stories. Even the true ones. They can’t fix anything. There are no stories that can fix the world. Once upon a time, you told yourself they could, that if you could change people’s hearts, they’d do the right thing. That’s why you lead Lia to the survivors in the first place. But that’s a myth. A story you’ve told yourself to guild all the pain and suffering you’ve caused. All the destruction.

The storytellers do not matter, Emile. They spend their time in the past, while the rest of us, we fight in the present. We create the future.

FILM: Is it... an illusion?

Emile: This isn't the end.

FILM: It's not an illusion.

Charley: For you it is. She’s gone. There’s nothing here for you.

Emile: No. No... (pause) Charley... Please...

Charley: I told when this started, I tried to tell you. I can’t help you.

Emile: Charley... (whisper) Please...

FILM: It’s not... an illusion, it’s not an illusion!

[door creaks open and shut, then slams closed]

FILM: I found you... Tell me... you’re real...

[Emile cries as sounds from the movie continue]

[sounds fade out]

[heartbeat, beeping noise, sounds of a door opening, footsteps, door closes, some plastic clicking]

[chair moves, ??? sits down]

???: Tell me about your dreams. Tell me everything you remember. Percipient?

Lia: I dreamt you thought you won. That you thought... you made Limetown a ghost story again. That the world moved on. But there will always be someone who remembers the story.