Freebase City

Happy Thursday, crime slicksters. It's time once again to take a trip to the dark side, where the girls are hot, the drinks are cold, and the hardboiled-pulp-noir action is non-stop, right here, at the coolest crime joint in cyberspace ... at That Killing Feeling.

In Chapter 29 of SPIRAL, Savannah, Andy and Dex's weekend booze and drug binge enters the third day ... and while Dex goes out to get more blow, Savannah and Andy start to bond on a deeper level ...


INT. BATHROOM - NIGHT / MIRROR P.O.V.
Super: "9:44 PM"

Andy and Shannon sit on their bar stools.
Without coke, they've gotten completely, utterly drunk.

Shannon holds her photo album on her lap.
She points to a page.

ANDY (V.O.)
I knew about her famous boyfriends, Dex had told me,
but she never talked about them until that night
we got really drunk waiting for Dex to come back.
It turned out the fast lane had soft shoulders.
Greg Allman, Slash, Billy Idol, David Lee Roth,
Marky Mark, even the singer from Mr. Big,
what's his name, they'd all dumped her.
Every single last one.
And here I was, the perfect guy for her.
And I couldn't do a thing about it.

Shannon turns the page.
Cheerful pop music plays on the stereo.

SHANNON
And here's me back in Texas washing the dishes.
I was about fourteen.

ANDY
So cute. You look happy.

Shannon studies the picture.

SHANNON
I had to do the dishes every night.

ANDY
I had to take out the trash.

She turns the page. Scowls.

SHANNON
Here's me with Mr. White Trash Junkie Pedophile.

ANDY
He looks like one of the Allman Brothers.

SHANNON
That's maybe because he fucking is.

She GRABS her drink and takes a big sip.
Andy can see she's upset. He points to a picture.

ANDY
Hey. Isn't that Paulie Shore?

SHANNON
Yeah.

She smiles.

ANDY
He's got a big cock for such a little guy.

Andy GIGGLES.
Shannon SLAPS Andy on the cheek.

SHANNON
Don't you make fun of my Paulie! He's my friend!

He puts his hand to his cheek.

ANDY
What'd you do that for? I wasn't making fun of him.

SHANNON
You said...

ANDY
...I said he had a big cock. I didn't mean to hurt you.

Shannon finishes her cocktail.

SHANNON
Well you did. You said he was little.

ANDY
He is little. I'm little. It's funny.

She's still stone faced.

ANDY (cont'd)
It's a funny picture. He's wasted, he's staring at it.

Andy takes the picture out and holds up.

ANDY (cont'd)
The caption should read "stoner boner."

Shannon tries with all her might not to laugh.

A beat. A faint flicker of a smile.

ANDY (cont'd)
Gnarly, dude. Let's bone.

Shannon BURSTS OUT laughing.

INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
Super: "9:52 PM"

Over the action, DEAFENING, POUNDING
rap music plays on the stereo.

Shannon and Andy dance hot and sweaty, eyes closed.
They're even drunker.
Dex walks in the room, unnoticed.

DEX
Hey, guys. I'm back.
They don't hear him.

Dex strides over to the stereo and turns it down.
Shannon and Andy are shaken out of their reverie.

ANDY
Hey Dex.

SHANNON
Why'd ya turn it down?

Shannon turns the volume back up and continues dancing.

DEX
I'm back. I got the base.

ANDY
Great.

Dex watches Shannon dance like a madwoman.
She's lost in the music.
Andy is lost in her movements.

ANDY (cont'd)
...We were just dancing.

DEX
Wanna go do some?

ANDY
Yeah, in a minute.
(pause)
I love this song.

INT. BATHROOM - NIGHT / MIRROR P.O.V.
A lone candle flickers. Dex sits on the middle bar stool
and methodically starts the freebase ritual.

ANGLE ON BATHROOM COUNTER
Dex's hands dump the baggie's contents onto the tray.
The white powder forms a little mound.
He spoons some into the bowl of the pipe.

CLOSE UP OF TORCH
The music POUNDS from out in the living room.

An acetylene torch BURSTS into bluish flame.
The glass pipe enters the frame, the bowl resting against the fire.
White smoke starts to curl in the glass bulb, slowly filling it.

INT. BATHROOM - SAME
Dex INHALES the smoke. He closes his eyes, holds it in a beat.

The music stops.

He lets the smoke out with a WHOOSH.
It FLIES into the mirror and dissipates.

He THROWS his bead back, rushing on the freebase,
his eyes wide with ecstasy.

DEX
Fuck.

Another song starts. A sexy, slow Sade-like groove...