The Should-Not-Be

***The Should-Not-Be*** is a short film by J.P. Leck and is the seventeenth installment (nineteenth, chronologically) in his Endless Elsewhere multimedia meta-narrative. It is the fifth Endless Elsewhere short film. It premiered at the Shocktober in Irvington event on October 6, 2017.

## Synopsis

Ryan Tolliver, now a fugitive from the law, finds himself under attack by a common criminal and his rather unorthodox employer.

### Post-Credits

A lightning storm in an attic briefly illuminates a red manuscript with the image of a golden sun at its center.

## Characters

* **Ryan Tolliver** - a fugitive from the law due to helping Carolyn Pelfrey and current possessor of Hardesty's Lantern.
	+ *Ryan Tolliver is portrayed by **Tucker**.*
* **Montgomery 'Monty' Redding** - a low-level criminal tasked with being Hardesty's eyes and hands in his quest to recover his lost inventions.
	+ *Monty Redding is portrayed by **Jack Draga**.*

* **Det. Alex Heaney** - a Circle City police detective assisting his partner in tracking down fugitives Ryan Tolliver and Carolyn Pelfrey.
	+ *Det. Alex Heaney is portrayed by **Samuel Dumas**.*
* **Dr. Morgan** - the Circle City coroner who calls Heaney and Sorrells while they're on their stakeout with important information regarding the grave robberies case.
	+ *Dr. Morgan is voiced by **Delo James**.*
* **The Dispatcher** - the dispatcher for the Circle City Police Department.
	+ *The Dispatcher is voiced by **Lindsay Leck**.*
* **Dr. Frederick Hardesty** - a German scientist (now a living brain in a box), he is on a single-minded quest to recover his lost Music Box.
	+ *Dr. Frederick Hardesty is voiced by **Stephen E. Foxworthy**.*
* **Det. Keith Sorrells** - a Circle City police detective assisting his partner in tracking down fugitives Ryan Tolliver and Carolyn Pelfrey.
	+ *Det. Keith Sorrells is portrayed by **Stephen E. Foxworthy**.*

### Referenced Characters

* **Carolyn Pelfrey** - having been rescued by Ryan Tolliver, Carolyn abandons him for fear of dragging him down with her.
* **Dr. Edwin Lydell Pendergast** - Hardesty mentions that his Brain Box was "the continued work of another," referencing Pendergast's attempts to save his son's brain in The Bard in *The Strangely Undying*.

## Artifacts

* **The Brain Box** - the vessel which Dr. Hardesty designed to encase his still-living brain.
* **The Lantern** - Ryan enlists Hardesty's help to repair the speech function on the Lantern.
* **The Music Box** - in exchange for his help in repairing the Lantern, Hardesty enlists Ryan's help in finding the lost Music Box.
* **The Zapper** - a non-lethal weapon designed by Hardesty to render its targets inert and, often, in a puddle of their own urine.

## References

*The Should-Not-Be* contains references to the following Endless Elsewhere tales:

* "The Music Box"
	+ Hardesty enlists first Monty, then Ryan to help him track down his stolen Music Box.
* *The Novelty*
	+ Heaney and Sorrells are still investigating the fallout from the grave robberies committed by the Ghoul, who is stopped by Violet in *The Novelty*.
* *The Lantern*
	+ The broken knob seen on the machine relay in *The Lantern* is revealed to have been a conscious sabotage by Hardesty so that he could not hear the voices within the spirit realm.
	+ Hardesty learns the location of the Lantern after tuning in to *Circle City Supernatural* and hearing Ryan's story.
* "The Acolytes"
	+ In his pursuit of Carolyn Pelfrey, Alex Heaney inadvertently solves the grave robberies case he had thought unsolvable, the fallout of which resurfaces in *The Should-Not-Be*.

*The Should-Not-Be* is further referenced in the following Endless Elsewhere stories:

* "The Invoked"
	+ Both Hardesty and Tolliver recount the events of this film to Violet.
	+ Keith reveals to Tolliver the current fate of Monty Redding.