Flatliners_2017
<script>
  <scene>
    <character>FLATLINERS</character>
    <dialogue>By</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Ben Ripley Based on a screenplay By Peter Filardi October 9, 2014 SONY PICTURES Niels Arden Oplev, Director Furthur Films Laurence Mark Productions</scene_description>
    <character>FLATLINERS</character>
    <dialogue>Dark screen. We hear the SOUNDS of a BUSY CITY STREET. And</dialogue>
    <scene_description>FADE IN ON:</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. DOWNTOWN BOSTON - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Buildings. Traffic. Restaurants. Busy sidewalks. Normalcy. SUDDENLY A WOMAN COLLAPSES Random woman. Stricken down. Right there on the sidewalk. She's CONVULSING now. It's a VIOLENT SEIZURE. Her eyes rolled back. Limbs rigid. Her whole body possessed. Every muscle constricting. Something inhuman and ghastly about it. HER POV HER BLURRED SIGHT -- strangers rushing up to help -- their mouths moving but the sound all muffled -- And it's hopeless. She's dying. We're pulling back. Senses closing down -- drawing away from the world and -- DARK SCREEN The whine of the FLATLINE TONE. On it goes... five seconds... six... then a TITLE -- small -- in one corner -- flatliners VOICES OVERLAPPING now -- washing in and out of coherence -- a TRAUMA TEAM at work -- tense -- fast -- as we remain in COMPLETE DARKNESS -- --</scene_description>
    <character>DOCTOR #1 (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>-- let's start a line -- one milligram epinephrine stat --</dialogue>
    <character>DOCTOR #2 (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>-- we're intubating --</dialogue>
    <character>NURSE #1 (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>-- still no pulse --</dialogue>
    <character>NURSE #2 (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>-- starting CPR --</dialogue>
    <character>DOCTOR #1 (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>-- oxygen's away --</dialogue>
    <character>NURSE #2 (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>-- asystole -- flatline --</dialogue>
    <character>DOCTOR #2 (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>-- charging 200 -- stand clear --</dialogue>
    <scene_description>THUNK! An electric shock from a DEFIBRILLATOR and --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. NEUROLOGY ICU - MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Later. Calm now. LAUREN -- the woman who collapsed on the street -- she's lying in a bed. Awake but pale and shaken. Her vital signs track across monitors.</scene_description>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>Hello, Lauren. How are you feeling?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>COURTNEY here. She's 26. All the gear of a third-year medical student -- white coat, phone, stethoscope. Her pager an old-school touch -- necessary because it gets reception everywhere in the hospital. Pockets crammed with sheets of patient data. Her eyes are locked on Lauren. A gentle but insistent examiner.</scene_description>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>You had a seizure tonight. You're in Mass General Hospital.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Lauren not really registering any of this.</scene_description>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>Are those irises?</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(a vase of flowers here)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>They're beautiful.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>No response. Courtney ignoring her buzzing pager. Intent on Lauren.</scene_description>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>Lauren, did you know your heart stopped?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Lauren finally reacting. Turning to look at Courtney.</scene_description>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>You were dead. And the trauma team brought you back. Do you remember any of that? If you felt anything? Saw anything?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>This is vitally important to Courtney. But are the words even getting through? But the moment passes now as TWO ORDERLIES wheel a gurney into the room. Courtney disengages, stepping aside --</scene_description>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>We're taking you down to imaging. You're going to be okay.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CORRIDOR - MGH - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Courtney leaving Lauren's room -- and right into a crush of activity. Staff swirling about. Intercom's droning on. And Courtney pulling out her stack of patient files to write up notes -- and her pager buzzing insistently when -- Suddenly. Her hand. It's Lauren. The orderlies have wheeled Lauren out here and she's taken hold of Courtney's hand. Wants to say something. Courtney leans down. It's an effort for Lauren to speak.</scene_description>
    <character>LAUREN</character>
    <dialogue>My grandmother's face. That's what I saw.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Courtney silent. Struck by that. And she wants more, needs to ask Lauren a dozen follow-up questions -- But they're wheeling Lauren away, off into the tumult of the busy hospital and --</scene_description>
    <character>LANE</character>
    <dialogue>Courtney.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She turns. Here comes a great-looking guy. LANE is 27. Smart and accomplished. A travel bag slung over his shoulder.</scene_description>
    <character>LANE</character>
    <dialogue>Thought you'd want this back.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Courtney finds herself holding a KEY. Her breath catches, but she recovers quickly.</scene_description>
    <character>LANE</character>
    <dialogue>I'm leaving for London. I really just wanted to say goodbye.</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>I think we already had the breakup scene, Lane.</dialogue>
    <character>LANE</character>
    <dialogue>I wish things had worked out.</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>Well, they did. You graduated with honors. An epidemiology fellowship in Porton Down.</dialogue>
    <character>LANE</character>
    <dialogue>I was talking about us.</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>Don't worry about me. I've got a whole year and a half left here. I'll do my best.</dialogue>
    <character>LANE</character>
    <dialogue>So you're really okay, then?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He's almost hopeful there. Ready to say a fond farewell. Courtney about to let it pass, but --</scene_description>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>Do you want me to forgive you for ending it? Is that it? So you can move on with only good memories?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Courtney looks down at her pager, like it's gone off.</scene_description>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>Gotta go now. Bye, Lane.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Her easy smile. This is how it ends. Lane dismayed.</scene_description>
    <character>LANE</character>
    <dialogue>Okay, well... take care of the cat. I always liked her.</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>Actually, it's a him.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>A little wave, then she breezes off the other way. She rounds a corner, out of Lane's sight, and stops there. Pockets her pager. Shuts her eyes. Feeling the ache of abandonment. And then it's back to work, rejoining the swirl of responsibilities.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. NEUROLOGY INTENSIVE CARE UNIT - MGH - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Ultra hi-tech. Screens everywhere. Several patient rooms arrayed around a central nurses' station hub. Glass walls allow for visual monitoring of each patient, all of whom are hooked up to vital sign sensors.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. PATIENT ICU ROOM - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>PARAMEDICS wheel in a COMATOSE PATIENT. Taking notes is MARLO. 25. Another third-year student. Diligent. Top of her class. On the fast track and always gets the details right.</scene_description>
    <character>PARAMEDIC</character>
    <dialogue>Transfer from Holy Cross. 38-year- old construction worker, fell off a beam, persistent coma, GSA 6.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>I'll page the resident.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <parenthetical>(walking in)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Already done. I got this.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Here's RAMON. Unlike the other med students, he's slightly older. 30, maybe. Nothing precious about him. No overlay of Harvard wit. He's seen more of the world, as if he's had another life before this.</scene_description>
    <character>PARAMEDIC</character>
    <dialogue>Which of you's in charge here?</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>It's my intake.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Actually, I'm the one on duty.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The paramedic leaving the room. Ramon trying to block Marlo out as he examines the patient. It's a constant contest of one-upsmanship between the two of them.</scene_description>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>Standard procedure for a GSA 6 admit calls for an IV line and pharmacy orders for diazepam and paraldehyde.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Seizure meds won't do any good. Whatever's wrong is in his spinal column, not his brain.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>And what medical protocol are you citing?</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>The medical protocol of actually living in the real world where guys like him with crappy HMOs go undiagnosed for spinal injuries.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>Actually, he's on seizure meds. Which is the medical protocol of reading his chart.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Suddenly -- ALARMS from the monitors. Bad news. The patient's vital signs plunging --</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Shit.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Both of them jolted -- and now two ICU NURSES rushing in here -- and the NEUROLOGY RESIDENT not far behind --</scene_description>
    <character>NEUROLOGY RESIDENT</character>
    <dialogue>-- what is it? --</dialogue>
    <character>ICU NURSE</character>
    <dialogue>-- respiratory failure --</dialogue>
    <character>NEUROLOGY RESIDENT</character>
    <dialogue>-- he might be hemorrhaging -- page surgery -- call a code --</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(shoving Marlo and Ramon aide)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>-- students clear the room --</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. NEUROLOGY ICU - NURSES' STATION - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Marlo and Ramon ejected out here. Heading their separate ways but can't resist a few parting shots --</scene_description>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>Piece of advice, Ramon? Gut instinct diagnoses rarely pan out.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Like last week? When you thought delirium tremens was Parkinson's Disease?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Now Ramon's pager going off. More work.</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <parenthetical>(walking off)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Where the hell's Jamie?</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. OPERATING ROOM - MGH - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A gleaming, high-tech chamber. In the middle of the room, two MED STUDENTS are having after-hours sex up on the operating table. They're wearing leads and sensors that they've plugged into vital signs monitoring equipment. JAMIE is 27. A glib troublemaker inconveniently burdened with a high intelligence. KELLY is 25 and currently in the throes of passion --</scene_description>
    <character>KELLY</character>
    <dialogue>...Jamie... are you sure this is safe?...</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Absolutely. You'll be amazed.</dialogue>
    <character>KELLY</character>
    <dialogue>... where's the inhaler?...</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>I've got it. Keep building.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(the monitors)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>You're looking good. BP's 130 over 90. Pulse-ox saturation at 98.</dialogue>
    <character>KELLY</character>
    <dialogue>-- I can't hold it! -- give it to me! -- now! --</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>-- take it! -- quick! --</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Kelly takes a hit from an INHALER -- instantly screaming agony -- ecstasy -- -- HOLY SHIT!!! -- WHAT'S HAPPENING?? -- Jamie also takes a hit -- they're raving lunatics now -- -- IT'S A CYCLICAL ORGASM! -- THE NITRUS OXIDE IS TRIGGERING AN AVALANCHE OF NEUROPEPTIDES -- (Kelly thrashing around--) -- NOREPINEPHRINE IS SHOOTING THROUGH YOUR SYMPATHETIC NERVOUS SYSTEM, WHICH WE ALL KNOW IS A BRANCH OF THE AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM -- -- OH, GOD, SHUT UP!!! --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CORRIDOR - OR - CONTINUOUS</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Just outside. Curtains drawn over the OR windows but we HEAR Kelly and Jamie shrieking like banshees and --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL (MGH) - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Huge complex. All lit up at night. First time we see it from the outside. MGH is Boston's most prestigious teaching hospital. Like the city itself, it's a mash-up of styles and eras, 19th-century stone abutting cutting-edge modern. CUT TO: A BRAIN IMAGE Glowing on a screen in gorgeous, 3-D color. Neural tissue twists and folds. Electrical signals flash between hemispheres like cloud lightning. Dark rivers of cortical blood circulate amid vast, candy-yellow networks of neurons.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. IMAGING ROOM - RADIOLOGY DEPARTMENT - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Quiet. After hours. One person in here -- Courtney. And she's lying inside the dome of a FUNCTIONAL MRI SCANNER. She speaks into an ear-piece --</scene_description>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>I barely feel anything. Turn up the stim.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Faint CLICKING sounds now. Electro-magnetic fields emanating from the scanner's spooky, monolithic halo.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CONTROL ROOM - RADIOLOGY - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>An MRI TECH at a workstation. Bathed in light from screens. Minutely adjusting his controls. Mysterious sorcery.</scene_description>
    <character>MRI TECH</character>
    <dialogue>Taking you to 450 milli-cycles.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>ON SCREEN - COURTNEY'S BRAIN Imagery ZOOMING IN -- pushing through neural tissue. The inner precincts of her living brain are sponge-like, wet, pulsing. But what's really happening? MOMENTS LATER Scanner's off. Courtney in here reviewing her brain imagery with the MRI tech. She's discouraged.</scene_description>
    <character>MRI TECH</character>
    <dialogue>We've gone over your entire pallidinal aspect, just like you asked.</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>Maybe we should try the subthalamic nucleus.</dialogue>
    <character>MRI TECH</character>
    <dialogue>Three nights now, you're paying me off the books to stimulate your brain and you won't even tell me what you're trying to make happen.</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>It's research. It's confidential.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The MRI TECH's heard enough. He's packing up.</scene_description>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>What are you doing?</dialogue>
    <character>MRI TECH</character>
    <dialogue>You know what happens, the hospital finds you in here using a five- million-dollar f-MRI without permission? I already have a day job. I'd like to keep it.</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>How much more do you want?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She's pulling out her bag, her wallet.</scene_description>
    <character>MRI TECH</character>
    <dialogue>Forget it. Find someone else.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(turns back suddenly)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>You Harvard students think you're some superior species, like the rules don't apply to you. But they do.</dialogue>
    <character>MRI TECH</character>
    <parenthetical>(nodding to her brain scans on screen)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Erase those scans. Before someone finds out.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He's walking off. Courtney frustrated. Staring at the screens. Her own brain up there.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. HARVARD CAMPUS - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Harvard Yard. The lit facades of the ancient, famous buildings.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CENTRAL READING ROOM / HARVARD LIBRARY - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Ten p.m. The grand atrium. Vast, open space. A hundred desk lamps. Banks of computers. Courtney packing up her books. Exhausted by another study session. Backpack on. She's walking out now when she spots --</scene_description>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>Priya?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>PRIYA on the floor there in a little alcove. Crying. Priya's 25, second-generation Indian-American and currently surrounded by textbooks and drowning in stress.</scene_description>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>You okay? What is it?</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>Did you know that there's twelve nerve systems just within the cranial area? There's the oculomotor. The trochlear. The glossopharyngeal. And nine others whose names I can't remember.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(dazed)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I can't absorb any more terminology. I've got this rash on my arm. I haven't slept in two months. And in three weeks, we start a whole new rotation with its own lexicon of specialized terms.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(rock bottom)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>My mother's invested her life savings in my education.</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>Come on. Enough suffering for one night. Let's get out of here.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. HARVARD LIBRARY - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>WINDY tonight. Like a restless spirit. It rattles the trees, swirls the dead leaves, gusts over rooftops. Courtney bundled up, heading out. Priya beside her.</scene_description>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>It's cold.</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>We used to be friends, didn't we?</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(Courtney stopping there)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Our first year. Remember? We'd sit together in lecture. Go running along the Charles. Stop at the Beanpole afterwards. Triple caramel macchiatos.</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>We're still friends.</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>We barely talk anymore. All we do is work. And compete. Who's the fastest to make a diagnosis of Parkinson's? Who impresses the chief resident with her quick recall of the five symptoms of stroke? Quick, list the seven primary side effects of Ativan.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(then)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Just last week, someone in the law school committed suicide.</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>I would too, if I had to become a lawyer.</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>You're going to be a great doctor. Medicine comes easy to you.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Courtney hesitating there.</scene_description>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>Maybe there's a way for us to hang more together.</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>What do you mean?</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>I wonder if you'd help me with a little extracurricular project of mine. A side interest.</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>We've got a shelf exam in ten days. I need to spend all my extra time studying. Because I honestly don't think I'm going to make it.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Priya yanks her bike out of the bike rack when --</scene_description>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>"Oh, Once One Takes The Anatomy Final, Very Good Vacations Are Heavenly."</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(Priya looks at her)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>It's a mnemonic phrase. For remembering the twelve cranial nerves.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(charming smile)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I really would love your help. Meet me at the hospital tomorrow. At midnight. What I'm working on, it might interest you.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>That gets Priya's attention. Courtney bundling up, slipping off into the darkness.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. MGH - DAWN</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Sunrise over Boston. Another morning getting underway.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CENTRAL ATRIUM - MGH - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>7 a.m. The big complex cranking up for another day. DOCTORS and STAFF of all departments streaming through here, heading for banks of elevators. CAMERA FINDING Ramon walking. Jamie, carrying two cafeteria cups, falls into step with him.</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <parenthetical>(the cups)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>What's in those?</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Mountain Dew laced with Adderol, followed by a double espresso. I call it the Heart Attack.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>We could've used you last night. We were backed up in the NIC-U.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Nothing you can't handle, right? Fact is, I was on a very important pediatrics consult then.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Do you need a minute to invent what it was?</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>No, I can invent it right now. Six- month-old boy. Cranial deformity. Maxillary hypoplasia. Heartbreaking, but fully correctable with surgery.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Your eyes are still dilated. Hope you had fun.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>And they're off into the elevators and --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CONFERENCE ROOM / NEUROLOGY UNIT - MGH - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Morning meeting. Wall screens glow with MRI and CT scans of patients. Rapid-fire presentations going on. Handful of bleary-eyed RESIDENTS in here. The STROKE TEAM off to the side. And our med students observing from the back row -- Priya, Jamie, Ramon, Marlo and Courtney -- together with two others -- Kelly and BRAD POITRAS. And presiding is DR. BARRY WOLFSON, head of the department, bone-hard facts man, do not mess with him, listening as a RESIDENT presents a case --</scene_description>
    <character>RESIDENT</character>
    <dialogue>25-year-old female, admitted last night, complaining of numbness on her left side, nausea, vomiting.</dialogue>
    <character>DR. WOLFSON</character>
    <dialogue>Other indications?</dialogue>
    <character>RESIDENT</character>
    <dialogue>Sees the color red differently between left and right eye.</dialogue>
    <character>DR. WOLFSON</character>
    <parenthetical>(turns to the med students)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Priya, what tests should we run?</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>Lumbar puncture. Then MRI of the spinal cord for lesions.</dialogue>
    <character>DR. WOLFSON</character>
    <dialogue>Fine, but reverse the order. Images first, procedure second.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(pushing on)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Preliminary diagnosis. Brad?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Brad's a smug go-getter med student --</scene_description>
    <character>BRAD</character>
    <dialogue>Pituitary cyst.</dialogue>
    <character>DR. WOLFSON</character>
    <dialogue>No. Jamie.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Um...</dialogue>
    <character>DR. WOLFSON</character>
    <parenthetical>(instantly)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Kelly.</dialogue>
    <character>KELLY</character>
    <dialogue>Stroke?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Silence. Dr. Wolfson not pleased with them. He removes his glasses, eyeing all the med students now.</scene_description>
    <character>DR. WOLFSON</character>
    <dialogue>You all need to do better than this. You know the largest age demographic in America? It's you. Young adults in your twenties. There's a thousand people waiting to take your place. The world does not owe you a living. A decade ago, this school admitted fourteen percent of applicants. Today, the rate is less than half that. Never before have so many competed so fiercely for slots here. We're not in the business of training country club doctors or students who only do the minimum amount of work necessary. We're here to educate those who push themselves.</dialogue>
    <character>DR. WOLFSON</character>
    <dialogue>Those capable of discovering new insights, actually moving the dial on human knowledge. And if that sounds like too much for any of you, leave now.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>No one moves. All of them trying to recover from that.</scene_description>
    <character>DR. WOLFSON</character>
    <dialogue>Marlo. If I told you the patient's family background is Mediterranean, Greece, Turkey, what's the diagnosis?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Marlo's turn in the hot seat. Flustered, she pages through her notes.</scene_description>
    <character>DR. WOLFSON</character>
    <dialogue>You probably won't find it in your notebook.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She's agonizing there. Jaw tightening. Finally --</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>It's Behcet's disease.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Everyone turns. Ramon slouched against a wall, arms crossed, eyes lowered. He's gotten her off the hook.</scene_description>
    <character>DR. WOLFSON</character>
    <dialogue>Thank you, Ramon. Let's move on.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. RESIDENTS ROOM - NEUROLOGY UNIT - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Home base for medical students. Part locker room, part coffee lounge, part communications hub. No windows. Long table cluttered with take-out containers. Shabby sofa to crash on. Chalk boards covered with scrawled writing -- medical data, terminology, inside jokes, obscene doodles. Marlo slams the door. Flings down her things. Humiliated. Looks around for something to take her anger out on. Box of CHALK. She takes out a long stick and SNAPS IT in half. She pulls out two more. SNAP. Shaking out the rest of the box. The chalk tumbled there on the carpet when -- Marlo whirls around. Sees Ramon standing there in the open doorway.</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>I'll come back.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He withdraws. Marlo left there, surrounded by chalk.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. PATIENT ROOM - MGH - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Jamie enters. A BURLY PATIENT sitting there in bed.</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Okay, sir, gotta give you a testicle exam. Should just take a minute. Excuse the reach...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Jamie pushes up Burly Patient's hospital gown, reaches in between the guy's legs.</scene_description>
    <character>BURLY PATIENT</character>
    <dialogue>No, wait a minute --</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>I don't enjoy it either. Just close your eyes and pretend I'm the candy stripe girl.</dialogue>
    <character>BURLY PATIENT</character>
    <parenthetical>(thrashing, resisting)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Get the hell off me!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>And now a NURSE intervening, pulling Jamie away --</scene_description>
    <character>NURSE</character>
    <dialogue>Hold on! Stop! What are you doing? He doesn't need a testicle exam!</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>He doesn't?</dialogue>
    <character>BURLY PATIENT</character>
    <dialogue>Come near me again, I'm killing you.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CORRIDOR - MGH - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Jamie retreating out here, baffled. Ramon wanders up, consulting his notes --</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>You know, I think I got mixed up. Says here the resident wanted a cognitive test for that guy, not a testicle exam. I can't imagine how I passed on the wrong orders to you.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <parenthetical>(strips off his gloves)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Very funny.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Ramon hiding his smile. Kelly and some surrounding nurses highly enjoying this.</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Nothing you can't handle, right?</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. NURSE'S STATION - MGH - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Jamie, Priya and Marlo entering patient data at side-by-side terminals. Courtney nearby, making up a chart.</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Ramon's got a warped sense of humor.</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>They say he was on the rodeo circuit in Wyoming. Like a bronco rider. A full-on cowboy.</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>I heard he was a hit-man for a drug cartel in Central America.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>Who knows where he's from? Wonder what glitch in the admissions process let him end up here?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>And now the CHIEF RESIDENT coming by --</scene_description>
    <character>CHIEF RESIDENT</character>
    <dialogue>Let's go, people. No lunch break today. Every bed in the unit's full. After all those patient orders are in, you need to start afternoon rounds.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. RESIDENTS ROOM - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Marlo leaving for the day. Rushed. Somewhere to be. She pulls off her medical coat, opening her kit locker and -- Stops. Something surprising there in her locker. She takes out a NEW BOX OF CHALK. She picks it up, suspicious. But finally she relents into a smile.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. CHARLES RIVER - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Harvard BOAT CREWS out there practicing. Classic Ivy League scene.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. FACULTY CLUB RECEPTION HALL - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Stately and clubby. Windows overlook the Charles River. Some faculty awards reception going on. A DOCTOR drones on at the podium. MEDICAL SCHOOL FACULTY, most of them middle- aged or older, gathered with cocktails. MED STUDENTS have been drafted into working the event. Jamie and Priya -- doctor coats gone -- manning a drinks table in the back.</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>It's all so self-congratulatory. These stodgy old docs with their white wine and lifetime achievement awards.</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>What's wrong with all that?</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>It's yesterday's thinking. I certainly didn't come to Harvard to spend the next forty years doing prostate exams.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(a doctor stops at the table)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Try this chardonnay, Dr. Greenberg, just a hint of oakiness.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(the doctor moves on with the drink)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Today it's all about being an entrepreneur. Fifteen percent of our class will be graduating with a second professional degree along with their MD.</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>You're making me more nervous than I already am.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>I'm just saying, there's major money to be made out there. Why practice medicine when you could run a hedge fund or start a bio- tech company? Or write a book. Give Ted lectures. Go on CNN.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Priya's got her phone out, looks at her watch, snaps a quick, joyless photo of herself --</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>"Hi, Mom. It's my six p.m. check- in."</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>Lay off, okay? There's nothing I can do about her right now.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Did she really move to Boston just to keep tabs on you?</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>I don't think she came for the clam chowder.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>LOUNGE AREA Marlo at the fringes of the reception, accompanied by SAM, her handsome, stock-broker fiance. He's restless.</scene_description>
    <character>SAM</character>
    <dialogue>Why did you drag me to this thing?</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>So you could savor the Thai shrimp skewers. Sam, I asked you here so we could see one another for more than twenty minutes each day.</dialogue>
    <character>SAM</character>
    <parenthetical>(absorbed with his phone)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I should get back to the office. Market's still open.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>I hate to break this to you, but the wedding's not going to happen on its own. We have to start making some decisions.</dialogue>
    <character>SAM</character>
    <dialogue>No, we don't. I got you the name of that wedding planner my sister used. Who wants to waste time debating roses or tulips for the centerpieces?</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>Wars have been fought over roses versus tulips as centerpieces.</dialogue>
    <character>SAM</character>
    <dialogue>Holy crap.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(seeing someone across the room)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>That guy over there manages a huge pension fund. I've been chasing him for months.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>But...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He hurries off. Marlo left there.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CAFETERIA - MGH - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A huge dining complex. Courtney hesitating there by the salad bar. Eyeing someone out in the dining room. Jamie at a table. He's wolfing down ice cream as he checks sports scores on his phone.</scene_description>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>You got plans tonight?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Courtney wanders up. Trying to be casual as she sits down with a plate of fruit.</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>First years are having a wing-ding. Dorm punch and a DJ, but I'm not above it. I can't wait for the anesthesia rotation. Those guys have access to the best drugs.</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>I was thinking maybe we could meet up later. You and me.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>What, to study?</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>Not exactly.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Jamie taken aback.</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>What the hell, why not? A little stress relief.</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>Midnight. Basement sublevel C.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Basement sublevel?</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>Sublevel C. Take the freight elevators all the way down. Then go through a door next to some old rat cages.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She's walking off. Jamie wondering if that just happened.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. MGH - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Midnight. Parked ambulances. Steam drifting from the hospital's power plant. Something sinister about all this industrial stillness. The deserted entryway glows like a glass box in the darkness.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CENTRAL ATRIUM - MGH - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A different world this time of night. Mostly closed down. Long, bare hallways. No visitors. Few staff.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. HOSPITAL FREIGHT ELEVATOR - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Priya alone in here. Eerie creaks and groans as the old elevator grinds its way down to the basement sublevels. Thunk. The elevator shudders to a stop. Then just sits there. Priya waiting for the doors to open when the overhead light FADES OUT with a sigh. Priya now stuck in this dark box. And just as she's about to panic, the doors lurch open and -- BANG! Courtney's right there! -- waiting like a pale ghost --</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <parenthetical>(jumps back)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Jesus!</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>You're late.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>HOSPITAL BASEMENT Priya emerging from the elevator, stepping out into a dreary, forgotten area of the hospital. Old, discarded equipment stacked around. Pipes hiss, sounding oddly human.</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>What are we doing down here?</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>Come on. We don't have much time.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Courtney leading Priya to some heavy doors marked "RESTRICTED." Courtney digs out a KEY and enters -- STEPS LEADING DOWN Half-lit. The walls narrow. The ceiling lower. Priya increasingly disconcerted at all this.</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>Courtney, you have to tell me what's going on. Midnight to two a.m. are my prime studying hours. I don't have time for --</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Priya falls silent as they enter --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. BUNKER COMPLEX - MGH - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A WHOLE SECRET WING Surprise. There's an entire back-up hospital down here. Like a bomb-shelter reserved for emergency use. Fresh paint. Clean floors. Everything scaled down, bare bones, spare and functional, yet fully up-to-date. Stacked bins hold overstock of supples. Equipment all wrapped up, tagged, waiting to be used. The bunker honeycombed into different rooms. There's an OR, lab, triage, beds lining the corridor, crates of shrink-wrapped equipment --</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>What is all this?</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>They put it in five years ago, in case of a natural disaster, or loss of power. It's a fully-functioning hospital. And it never gets used. Come on.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(leading her further in)</parenthetical>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. IMAGING ROOM - BUNKER COMPLEX - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A small room but it houses an entire radiology department. There's a workstation of screens. Two MRI imaging scanners. And they're powered up. Courtney's turned on the equipment but kept the room dimly lit. As if for a seance. Courtney sticks a FLASH DRIVE in a computer. ON THE MONITORS BRAIN SCANS coming up. Several of them proliferating across all the screens. Priya taking this all in. The mystery of it.</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>What exactly are you up to?</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Wow, two of you?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Priya turning -- startled -- Jamie appears in the doorway.</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>Jamie? What are you doing here?</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>She didn't tell me about you, either, okay?</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(sauntering in)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>But I'm open to a three-way.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Priya perplexed. Looking to Courtney for an explanation.</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>I like it. Scanners. Cameras. Our choice of beds. We can be as loud as we want.</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>Courtney, what's going on?</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>I asked for his help, too. He probably misinterpreted.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Wait, we're not going to get it on?</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>What are you talking about?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>COURTNEY I need both of your help. (the imagery on the screens) These are post-mortem brain scans of patients who have died here in the hospital. I've been searching for the region of the brain responsible for generating the so- called near-death experience. JAMIE Is there any circumstance under which you would have sex with me? COURTNEY Near-death experiences are similar across cultures. White light. Floating up. Powerful sensation of well-being. Over and over, the stories come back the same way. Therefore, ergo... there has to be a chemical -- a protein -- that's responsible for it. A compound that transitions us from life to whatever comes next. PRIYA What do you mean 'what comes next?' We're dead. Nothing comes next. COURTNEY It's the last sensation our brain provides us. If we can spot the protein, isolate it, analyze it... JAMIE Then you'll make quite a name for yourself. COURTNEY The goal is to understand what happens to us chemically. You heard Wolfson. We're here to tackle big challenges not rubber stamp our diplomas. JAMIE (to Priya, excited now) See? This is what I was talking about earlier.</scene_description>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>Medical knowledge has always gone dark at the moment of death. The brightest minds throw up their hands, admit their own ignorance and helplessness. But it doesn't have to be that way. We can push back on it, lift the veil, for seconds, minutes even, see what's there.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>So you think there's some protein hiding in the brain that no one else has discovered?</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>We can't know for sure until we observe exactly what happens in the brain at the time of death. So I'd like you two to stop my heart.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Nothing. No response. They don't understand.</scene_description>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>I'll be in the imaging scanner. We'll get real-time pictures of my brain's neuro-chemical activity. Give it a minute or two, then bring me back.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She's laying out supplies now. Syringes. Full steam ahead.</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Stop your heart. You're serious.</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <parenthetical>(a syringe)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>This is propofol. 50 cc's will knock me out. I'll be wrapped in a cooling blanket, bringing my core body temperature down to 86 degrees. Once that happens, you guys will administer a defibrilator shock to stop my heart.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(like it's perfectly normal)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I've signed a release. It's there on the table. It absolves both of you from any responsibility.</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>Courtney, think about what you're saying.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Hey, if she's insane enough to try it, who are we to stop her?</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>I'm young. I'm in excellent health. You're both trained in emergency medicine. Reviving me should be fairly straightforward.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(gathering equipment)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>It is now 12:18 a.m. I've looked at the schedule for security patrols and cleaning crews down here, and we should have the next 45 minutes to ourselves. So let's get going.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Jamie moving to assist her. Priya hesitating there, completely unprepared for what's about to happen.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. MGH - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Cold. Late. Forlorn. Fallen leaves tumble and scrape across the pavement.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. IMAGING ROOM - BUNKER COMPLEX - MGH - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A BRAIN SCANNER powered up. The interior of its white dome glows ghostly, like a cybernetic halo. Courtney sitting on the scanner bed, stripped down to a sports bra. She's hooked up to an IV line. Priya, looking shaky, attaches electrodes to her. Jamie ready with a cooling blanket.</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>What if we can't bring you back?</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Then we burn her body, work out our alibis and pretend like nothing happened.</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>Jamie can resuscitate me. Priya, you'll make sure the scanner is recording what's going on in my brain post-mortem. Without hard data, this whole exercise is pointless.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>BEEPING now. A VITALS MONITOR tracking Courtney's pulse. Priya retreats to a bank of computer screens. Jamie wheels up a CRASH CART.</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Let's see what we've got here. Epi, defib, oxygen. We're good.</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>So repeat back to me the resuscitation procedures.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Soon as you're dead, I'll crank you into the scanner. Then I'll count to thirty and pull you out. I'll heat up the blanket, when your core's back up to 93 degrees, I'll give you one cc adrenaline, then 200 Jules of current to restart your heart.</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>What if you come back with brain damage?</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>I'll be fine, as long as you pull me out in time. Brain cells can function without oxygen for at least four minutes.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>As they watch, Courtney infuses propofol into her IV line.</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Okay, now's the point where you say it's all a joke.</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>Put the blanket on me.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Courtney lies back. Jamie places the cold blanket over her. Its coils glow blue.</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>And now I kill you.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Deep breath. Courtney shaking. She's really doing this.</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>You okay?</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>It's natural. My own survival instincts. I expected this. I'm trying to block them out.</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <parenthetical>(monitoring the screens)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Core temp's dropping.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Courtney shivering violently now. Eyelids starting to droop. The knock-out drug taking effect.</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Okay. We're really doing this.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(this is crazy)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>If you see Amelia Earhart, find out, you know, what happened to her plane.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Courtney's eyes close. Head slumps to one side.</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>She's out. Body temp at 87 and going down.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(jittery)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Look, let's just let her sleep it off. She'll wake up and we'll pretend like we followed through with this.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>But Jamie charging up the defibrilator paddles --</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Charging 200.</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>Jamie, don't. This is wrong.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>I probably should've stayed in tonight.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(paddles to Courtney's chest)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Clear -- !</dialogue>
    <scene_description>THUNK! Courtney's chest heaves with current. Priya watching the monitors. Courtney's vitals wobble, flutter, then -- Flatline. That awful MONOTONE SOUND.</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>My God. She's...</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Dead. I think.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Priya horrified. Yet fascinated. Jamie activating the motor on the bed. Courtney rolled under the scanner dome.</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Count off thirty seconds.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(struggling to stay focused)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>You see anything?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Priya -- the screens -- REAL-TIME IMAGERY of COURTNEY'S BRAIN. Odd flashes of electrical activity.</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>Something's going on...</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(baffled)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I have no idea what.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>It's recording, isn't it?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>And FADE OUT on their tense conversation as -- WE LIFT UP Just rising through the room. No flashy effects. No trickery. Just a breath and we're borne aloft -- through the ceiling -- up through the blurring floors of the hospital -- untethered from the world and --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. BOSTON SKYLINE - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Flung out here. Flying out among the buildings. Beautiful. Effortless. Soaring above trees, balconies, rooftops... a sprite tumbling -- dancing in the wind and --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. IMAGING ROOM - BUNKER COMPLEX - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The FLATLINE MONOTONE. Jamie finishing the count --</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Thirty.</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>Get her back!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Scrambling now. The scanner bed retracting Courtney from the dome. Jamie there with a syringe.</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>-- blanket's warming -- what's her temp need to get to? --</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>-- just give her the shot! --</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <parenthetical>(the syringe)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Okay. Epi's in. Now the defib. Charge 200. And...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>THUNK! Courtney's body jolted as we -- SMASH CUT TO: THE FLIGHT OVER BOSTON It stops. The world goes dark.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. IMAGING ROOM - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Courtney lying motionless. Dead. Lips turning blue.</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>-- it's not working! -- try something else! --</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>-- like what? --</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The panic cranking up a thousand percent. Priya now keying something into her pager -- frantic --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CAFETERIA - MGH - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Ramon receiving Priya's page -- takes off running --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. IMAGING ROOM - BUNKER COMPLEX - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Chaos. All monitors flatlined. Priya does chest compressions on Courtney. Jamie rifles through the crash cart.</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>-- we need to call a code! --</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>-- I just did --</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>-- here's O-2 --</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(the tank)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>-- how do we hook it up? -- can you do it?</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>-- you don't know? --</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>-- I'll go on-line --</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He's fumbling for his phone. Priya whimpering. Doggedly doing chest compressions as --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CORRIDOR - MGH - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Ramon racing through here. Marlo spotting him --</scene_description>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>Did we order an MRI for --</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(he blasts right past her)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Hey!</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STAIRWELL - MGH - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Ramon tearing down the steps and --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. IMAGING ROOM - BUNKER COMPLEX - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>THUNK! Another jolt from the defib.</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>-- no good -- she's turning blue! --</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <parenthetical>(exhausted from the chest compressions)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>-- goddamnit! --</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>-- it's not my fault! --</dialogue>
    <scene_description>BAM! -- door opening -- RAMON rushing in -- astonished at the sight of all this --</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>What the...?</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>She had us stop her heart. It was an experiment. We can't get her back!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Ramon -- no time to question -- taking over --</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>How long's she been out?</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>I don't know. Four minutes?</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>I've been trying to get a mask for the O-2.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Too late. She's ischemic. We need to intubate. Take over chest compressions.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(rapid fire)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Priya, charge the defib to 400 and crank the cooling blanket back down. Cold is good.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Ramon ripping materials off the crash cart. Unlike Jamie, he completely knows his way around this thing. And just as we think Courtney might be in capable hands -- THE WHOLE ROOM EXPLODES What?! -- OUT OF NOWHERE -- HUGE DETONATION -- Debris everywhere -- flying -- the lab -- the floor -- WIND -- screaming in -- the world -- this world -- is GONE -- COURTNEY -- we're deep in her experience now -- she's lying there in the storm -- her eyes RAM OPEN -- she gasps -- energy just exploding into her -- cosmic -- magical -- recharging every cell and -- INTENSE LIGHT -- blazing like fire -- like molten platinum -- like the sun flaring -- right here -- And she's wide-eyed -- breathless -- shot through by something supernatural yet utterly real and tactile -- triumphant and physical and brutal and sexual -- and it's too bright -- too dazzling to bear -- like the detonation of a thousand supernovas and -- FLASH! -- HOSPITAL IMAGING ROOM The real world -- a JOLT from the defibrilator -- then -- FLASH! BACK IN DARKNESS WHERE -- We emerge from the MOUTH of a ROTTING HUMAN SKULL -- its jaws open -- a leering abyss -- A WIND HOWLS -- nightmarish -- And now the skull is reconstituting itself with living tissue -- skin coming back -- hair -- eyes -- life returning -- the decay process reversing itself until we're left with -- A 10-YEAR-OLD GIRL Soft there. Delicate features. Etherial. Looking intently back at us. And Courtney here in this void -- seeing the girl -- shocked recognition --</scene_description>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>Tessa?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>THUNK!</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. IMAGING ROOM - BUNKER COMPLEX - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Priya's shocked Courtney again. Ramon's intubated her with a breathing tube and Courney's lungs now fill with air --</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>-- she's back! --</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Courtney stirring -- gagging on the air line -- but Ramon expertly extracts it and she calms right down --</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Courtney? Can you hear me?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Courtney, groggy, pale, blinking awake. Looks awful. But she's alive. She forces a weak smile. The others slump in relief.</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>You're crazy. You know that?</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>I thought you called a code.</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>No way. We can't get caught down here.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>So you called Ramon?</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>Were you getting it done?</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(suddenly turns because--)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Marlo in the doorway. Baffled at the sight of this.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>Somebody want to fill me in here?</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. COURTNEY'S APARTMENT - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Cold mist. Early morning drizzle. Lights on inside this cozy little duplex in Cambridge.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. LIVING ROOM - COURTNEY'S APARTMENT - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>They've all gone back here. The bathroom door is shut. Ramon and Jamie left out here. Ramon's pacing.</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>All this because she was curious?</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Are you mad at us?</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>I don't know what to think, other than you're all pretty stupid. She's lucky to be alive.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>She's alive because of you.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. BATHROOM - COURTNEY'S APARTMENT - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Door closed. Courtney in the tub, gazing serenely as Priya takes her blood pressure. Marlo watching from the doorway.</scene_description>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>It started very gently. No pain. Just an untethering. I floated to the ceiling. Saw my body lying there. Priya and Jamie there.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(then)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>The rooftop of the hospital. I saw that, too, and I've never been up there. I saw a big, blue "H" where the helicopter lands. And a wind sock. It was windy.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>How do you explain that?</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>I can't explain it.</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <parenthetical>(she's done, stethoscope off, releasing the cuff)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Your pulse is elevated, and you've got some mild bruising from Jamie's cave-man chest compressions. But your lungs are clear and your temperature's fine. You seem okay, for having been dead.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>What else happened in there? Did you see a white light?</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>I wouldn't call it that. It was more like... pure energy. A feeling of intense power. It was very sexual, actually. There was no sense of time passing, either.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. LIVING ROOM - COURTNEY'S APARTMENT - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>ON A SCREEN - A VIDEO PLAYING. BEAUTIFUL, 3-D BRAIN IMAGERY from the F-MRI machine. They're watching playback of Courtney's brain during her flatline.</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE (O.S.)</character>
    <dialogue>Okay. We're fifteen seconds post- mortem. Cognitive activity has ceased. Her heart's stopped, no breathing, no pulse... and there --</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(a FLASH on screen)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>-- look at that. A furious storm in the prefrontal cortex.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Awed silence. Jamie, Marlo, Priya and Ramon arrayed around the screen, looking closely, clinically. Courtney wanders in the background.</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>We just might be witnessing the afterlife, people.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>None of us here are radiologists. Who knows what we're looking at?</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>This doesn't prove anything. It could just be residual electricity. Synapses burning out, shutting down.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <parenthetical>(the video still unspooling)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Okay, so we're moving on... she's dead almost a minute now... and now this area lights up. The hippocampus.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>That's not the hippocampus.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Of course it is.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>No, it's the ventral tegmental area. The oldest part of the brain. Governs thirst. Hunger. Romantic love.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>All right.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(getting his coat)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>You guys have had your fun. I'm going home.</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>Come on, Ramon.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Let him go.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Courtney takes Ramon arm. Genuine.</scene_description>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>Thank you. For bringing me back.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Ramon with no idea what to say to her. Can't relate. Can't approve. He heads out the door.</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>Look. It's over.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(the imagery on screen)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Her brain's dark now.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>It's been almost four minutes. No more fireworks. Game over.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>Wait --</dialogue>
    <scene_description>ON SCREEN -- something -- a few, faint electrical twitches now, in a totally separate area of the brain.</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>That's the amygdala. Rage. Stress. Emotional memory.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Whatever she was seeing, this is when we pulled her out.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>FIRE ESCAPE Courtney out here in her robe. Gazing out at the city. Dialed into it all. An invisible transformation has occurred. Every cell switched on. Marlo coming out here.</scene_description>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>You okay?</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>Can you hear that?</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>What?</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>The world.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>SERIES OF CLOSE-UPS -- A STREETLIGHT. As we HEAR its ELECTRONIC HUMMING. -- A MOTH. Flitting against the light. The flutter of a wing sounds like the crash of ocean surf. The ding of the moth's appendage against the streetlight's glass echoes like a windchime. -- THE NIGHT SKY -- CLOUDS -- backlit by the moon -- flying past -- and the sound of that -- of clouds moving -- like faint moaning -- like wind through the strings of a harp -- BACK TO COURTNEY Overwhelmed by it all. Marlo staring at her, perplexed and worried and --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. KITCHEN - COURTNEY'S APARMENT - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Priya and Jamie asleep at the table. Courtney buzzing around. Bowls. Mixing spoons. Bag of flour. She's cooking.</scene_description>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <parenthetical>(she shakes Jamie awake)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Wake up.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Jesus -- what is it? You okay?</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>I need salt and ground tumeric.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>What?</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>Courtney, what's going on?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Courtney trying to slow down. To keep the mania at bay.</scene_description>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>My great-aunt Josie. She used to bake bread with my sister and me when we were little.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(it's a miracle)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I remember how we made it that day. And I remember her. How she looked. The scarf in her hair. Her shoes. The smell of the soap she used. Oh, I've missed her.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(turning on the oven)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>You'll see. This bread is going to taste amazing.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(to Jamie)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Salt. Tumeric. There's an all- night market on Ellery.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Okay, okay. This better be good bread.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Jamie grabbing his coat, keys. Marlo heading to the door with him.</scene_description>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>I don't know what this is. If there were brain chemicals released, the after-effects could still be in her bloodstream.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>I once did LSD. I stayed awake for three days. Keep an eye on her, okay?</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. MGH - DAWN</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Four hours later. Cold mist. Early morning drizzle.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CONFERENCE ROOM / NEUROLOGY UNIT - MGH - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Whole neurology team's assembled for another morning meeting. And there's a large basket of HOMEMADE BREAD on the table. Dr. Wolfson takes a bite. Marvels at the taste. Most others in here enjoying the bread, too. Jamie and Marlo, hazy from lack of sleep, eye Courtney, who sits there showered, bright and perky. Priya, meanwhile, slogs through a case presentation. Despite the adventures of last night, they all still have to perform at a high level.</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>We've been ramping Miles Evergreen up on meds for 12 hours but his epilepsy hasn't been getting any better. Now he's developed a skin rash.</dialogue>
    <character>RESIDENT</character>
    <dialogue>It's a mystery. The drugs should be working.</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>Carbamazepine.</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>What?</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>Carbemazepine has an eleven-percent chance of reacting negatively with lamotrigine, which is Miles's other drug.</dialogue>
    <character>DR. WOLFSON</character>
    <dialogue>Good catch, Courtney. We'll check on that. Next case, Priya.</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>Adele Gunther, 44-years-old, admitted with mild confusion, claims her family and friends are impostors, she doesn't recognize them. She's too young for dementia, we're sending it out to psychiatry for a consultation --</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>It's Capgras Syndrome.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>They all turn. Courtney caught. Again, no real intention of speaking. Just slipped out.</scene_description>
    <character>DR. WOLFSON</character>
    <dialogue>Go on.</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>Capgras is an impairment of the brain's facial recognition center.</dialogue>
    <character>DR. WOLFSON</character>
    <dialogue>And a very rare diagnosis.</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>V.S. Ramachandran, in his book Phantoms of the Brain, links frontal cortex dichotomies like this to Capgras.</dialogue>
    <character>DR. WOLFSON</character>
    <dialogue>That book's not on the syllabus.</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>It was optional reading in my first year.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Perplexed silence. Dr. Wolfson doesn't quite know what to make of Courtney.</scene_description>
    <character>DR. WOLFSON</character>
    <dialogue>Well. This is more like it.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. RESIDENTS ROOM - NEUROLOGY UNIT - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Priya bursts in here, distraught. Courtney following, trailed by Jamie and Marlo.</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>You pulled that carbemazepine crap out of nowhere. Drug warnings run twenty pages long. How could you possibly remember reading it?</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>It's like your brain rewired itself. You've got access to everything you ever learned.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>I thought we were done with this.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Ramon coming in. Shuts the door for privacy.</scene_description>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>Obviously not. Whatever happened in there changed her.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>I don't care what happened or didn't happen. I worked too hard to get in trouble over some morbid fixation you guys have.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>Would you like some chalk to break?</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>You all think you're medical pioneers? You're just rich kids screwing around before you become wealthy specialists with Harvard bumper stickers on your Mercedes.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>I was with you until the end. No one puts a bumper sticker on a Mercedes.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Ramon a brick wall. Yanks open the door to leave.</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>This ends right now.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY ROOM - MGH - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The rehab wing. THERAPISTS work with PATIENTS on balance beams, resistance balls. Courtney, meanwhile, sits at an old, upright PIANO. She's working her way through a piece of classical music. Tentative at first, then with increasing speed and confidence. Marlo, Priya and Jamie entering. Seeing this.</scene_description>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>I haven't played the piano since I was twelve.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>It's improving with every second. Courtney delighted. Nearby, the others quietly confer. Uneasy looks.</scene_description>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>She hasn't been to bed. She told me she ran to Dorchester before dawn this morning.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Dorchester's ten miles from here.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>Maybe she took a cab back.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Courtney now playing flawlessly. And Jamie's seen enough --</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>That does it. I'm going next.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STREETS OF BOSTON - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>IN MOTION -- hard -- intense -- shooting down city streets -- no traffic -- no people -- an empty world -- It's JAMIE -- he's riding a MOTORCYCLE -- wind in his hair -- daredevil -- free -- complete release -- He accelerates now -- exploding down the block -- his front wheel popping up -- acrobatic -- insane --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. IMAGING ROOM - BUNKER COMPLEX - MGH - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>All monitors flatlining. Jamie lying in the scanner. Inert. Eyes open. Face blank. Queasy silence.</scene_description>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>Did I look like that?</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>Exactly like that.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Marlo's over at the workstation. Studying screens of Jamie's real-time brain imagery when --</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON (O.S.)</character>
    <dialogue>How long's he been under?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>They turn in surprise.</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>Forty-five seconds.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Ramon enters. A grudging presence. Courtney smiles warmly.</scene_description>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>I knew you'd come.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>I thought you'd had it with all this foolishness.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Jamie wanted me to be here. To pull him back out.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STREETS OF BOSTON - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Back in the flatline. Jamie driving slowly through a neighborhood now. Again, the creepy emptiness of it all. He's stopped now. Bike idling. He's staring at a little CORNER GROCERY STORE. Something about it unnerves him. Silence now. He's shut the bike off. Graveyard stillness.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CORNER GROCERY STORE - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A creaking door. Jamie coming in here. The shelves are bare. He looks around. Breath misting now. As if the air has grown frigid. Far down an aisle, someone steps into view. A LITTLE BOY. Maybe six years old. Big, round face gazing at him. He will be known to us as ALEX. Jamie holding there. Not sure if he recognizes the kid. But the tone here is ominous. He backs up, instinctively afraid. And now little Alex RUNS AT HIM -- runs at him like a crazy little demon --</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Oh shit --</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. IMAGING ROOM - BUNKER COMPLEX - MGH - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>KA-THUNK! Jamie's chest heaves. Ramon's just hit him with the defibrillator. A monitor FLATLINING.</scene_description>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>It's not working.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Okay. Plan B. Let's start a line of adrenaline.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The team working fast. Priya administering oxygen to Jamie through a vent bag. Courtney injecting a syringe into an IV LINE. Ramon doing chest compressions.</scene_description>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>-- pushing one cc of adrenaline --</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>-- Jamie, wake up! --</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(she's frozen there with the paddles)</parenthetical>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>-- Priya, take over compressions for me so I can shock him again --</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>-- I'm seeing signs of herniation in his pupils, his limb posture --</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(dread)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>-- what if he's hemorrhaging? --</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>-- Priya, either take over compressions or shock him! --</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>Give me a second. I've never done this before!</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Do it now!</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>It's okay, Priya. I'll give it a try.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Marlo taking the paddles from the flustered Priya. Carefully positioning them and --</scene_description>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>Charge 300.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>THUNK. She shocks Jamie. The monitor BEEPING now.</scene_description>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>He's back.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Marlo smirks at Ramon. See? You're not the only one. But he's preoccupied with --</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Jamie?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Jamie groans under the oxygen mask. Gives a woozy thumbs-up. FADE UP ON THE SOUND OF ELECTRONIC DANCE MUSIC --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COURTNEY'S APARTMENT - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The five of them back here for a late-night party -- Shot glasses -- brimming with vodka -- raised and clinking together in a toast -- JUMP CUT Jamie and Courtney -- center of attention -- dancing around -- huge release of energy -- the two sharing some secret understanding -- Now they're reaching out -- pulling Priya, Marlo and Ramon into the dance circle with them -- Ramon resisting at first. Then not. Then laughing at them, at all this. And the PRIMAL, PULSING MUSIC continuing as --</scene_description>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <parenthetical>(her hand on a wall)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>What do you think about knocking this down? I've always wanted a loft!</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Let's do it!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>JUMP CUT Jamie now stripped down to his boxers. Courtney in a bikini top and lab goggles. They're wielding a broom and a shovel as they -- BANG! BANG! BANG! They're smashing apart the thin wall separating Courtney's living room from the bedroom. Plaster flying. The others darting out of the way and -- JUMP CUT A GAPING HOLE in the wall now as Jamie runs around spraying whipped cream on people. The party has reached its silly- drunk stage. Refrigerator's open. Cabinets ransacked. There's Priya stumbling around, giddy drunk and covered in what looks like glitter. And Marlo there backed into a corner -- Courtney coming at her with a bag of flour -- But Ramon pulls Marlo to safety -- the two of them tumble down onto the couch as -- Jamie and Courtney now pausing in their work -- and they start making out passionately with one another. And Marlo and Ramon take a moment to clock this absurd hookup -- then look back at each other as they lie there on the couch -- aware of their own proximity and --</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>Hey! Look outside!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Marlo hastily scrambling up from the couch. The moment with Ramon ending before it began and --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. COURTNEY'S APARTMENT - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The five of them come pouring out here into -- A SILENT SNOWFALL White flakes coming thickly down. Soft. Hushed. Magical. Jamie and Courtney go running around, half-naked, throwing snowballs, just like children again. Marlo, Priya and Ramon out here observing them.</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>Look at them. They're both on the same wavelength now.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>We should bottle this. Sell it as a club drug.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Priya ducks an incoming snowball, then runs off to join Courtney and Jamie.</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>This has been the strangest night of my life.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>You going next, Ramon?</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Flatlining? Never.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>I'd pull you back out. Maybe. Got to admit I was pretty good with that defibrillator.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>You were okay.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>Just okay?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Marlo incredulous. Half laughs, half fumes.</scene_description>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>Would it kill you to admit I might be just as good a doctor as you?</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>I never said you weren't.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>Then stop going around like Mister Emergency Medicine, CPR whiz.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Headlights approaching. A Porsche pulling up. Marlo's ride. She goes to get in.</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Marlo.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(she turns back)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I was a firefighter. City of Boston. Six years.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Marlo motionless there. Has she even heard him? She pops open the car door. There's Sam behind the wheel.</scene_description>
    <character>SAM</character>
    <dialogue>You're lucky I was working late.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Marlo gets in, delivers a deep kiss to Sam, then slams the door. The Porsche pulls away, tires whispering over the snow. ACROSS THE STREET Jamie and Courtney lying on their backs in a little park. Taking in the wonder of the universe.</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>It was great in there. I had the whole city to myself. I was all- powerful. Could go anywhere. Like an angel.</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>Was it all just fun like that?</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>What do you mean?</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>I was just wondering if anything disturbed you.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Like what?</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>I saw my younger sister. Tessa. She died when I was fifteen.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Damn. That's rough. I'm sorry.</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>Priya thinks it's just synaptic surges. The amygdala dredging up old memories.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(then)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>What about yours? You didn't see anyone?</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Me?</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(he hesitates)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Nah.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He breathes deep. Focusing on bliss. Cold air filling his lungs. The stars glitter overhead.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. PATIENT ROOM - NEUROLOGY ICU - MGH - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Grand morning rounds. Dr. Wolfson in here with his entire neurology team, assessing a VERY SICK ELDERLY WOMAN.</scene_description>
    <character>RESIDENT</character>
    <dialogue>She went into severe status epilepticus overnight. We brought her under control, put her on a drip.</dialogue>
    <character>DR. WOLFSON</character>
    <dialogue>She seems comfortable. Keep monitoring her EEG and we'll check back this afternoon.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>They're all filing out. All except Jamie, who pulls Priya aside, keeping his voice down.</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>I think she's going to have another seizure.</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>How do you know?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Jamie re-examines the woman. Her eyes. Her pulse. EEG pattern. Detecting a pattern in the tea leaves.</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>I can't say for sure, but I'm going to slip her some ativan. It won't hurt her if I'm wrong. But if I'm right, it'll stop the seizure before it hits.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Priya trusting his new competency. Guarding the door as Jamie adjusts the woman's IV.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CORRIDOR - ICU - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Jamie heading to catch up with the neurology team when he pauses at another patient's room -- can't resist --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. PATIENT ROOM - ICU - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Jamie finds a TEENAGE GIRL (CYNTHIA) in bed. Downcast. Exhausted. Her agitated parents hovering.</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Cynthia? Why'd they move you up to the ICU?</dialogue>
    <character>MOTHER</character>
    <dialogue>She started having headaches and dizzy spells.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>I've seen your tests. There's nothing medically wrong with you.</dialogue>
    <character>FATHER</character>
    <dialogue>Look at her -- she's incredibly sick! And you're an idiot.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Man up, Cynthia, and tell your parents whatever you haven't been able to say to them and end this expensive psychosomatic charade.</dialogue>
    <character>FATHER</character>
    <dialogue>Who are you? How dare you talk like this to us?</dialogue>
    <character>CYNTHIA</character>
    <dialogue>No, he's right.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(deep breath)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Mom, Dad... I have something to tell you.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Worried looks from her parents. Jamie nods to Cynthia in encouragement. Go on.</scene_description>
    <character>CYNTHIA</character>
    <dialogue>I don't want to compete in figure skating anymore. Ever.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>There. Gets it out. Meeting only blank looks.</scene_description>
    <character>CYNTHIA</character>
    <dialogue>For eight years I've had no life. Now I want one. My own life.</dialogue>
    <character>FATHER</character>
    <dialogue>You can't mean...</dialogue>
    <character>CYNTHIA</character>
    <dialogue>I do, Dad. It's over and done.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Dad's devastated. But Cynthia's smiling now. A huge weight's been lifted. She even looks better.</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <parenthetical>(walking out)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>You all have a nice day.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. SKYBRIDGE - MGH - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A glass corridor between wings of the hospital. White-coated staff transiting back and forth. God-like rays of sunlight streaming in. Priya, Jamie and Ramon walking through here.</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Look at me. I'm Jesus. I'm healing as I go.</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>It's funny. Both of you flatlined, but your outcomes aren't the same. Courtney's focused on the past. Memories. Recipes. Everything she ever learned.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(to Jamie)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Whereas you, you're in the here-and- now. You're observing the world, crunching data, making new diagnoses. What's that got in common with Courtney?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Jamie not sure. Never thought about it.</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>It's an awakening.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>And no time to talk further. Priya called away by a nurse. Ramon off to answer a page. But Jamie stopped there. At the windows. Savoring this. Gazing out over the city and --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. MGH - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Down below. Traffic roaring along Cambridge Street. And there's someone standing there on a traffic island. A BOY. It's SIX-YEAR-OLD ALEX. The creepy kid from Jamie's flatline. He's standing there, looking straight up at --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. SKYBRIDGE - MGH - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Jamie. He's frozen at the window. This creepy kid staring directly up at him. Finally he blinks -- And it's an empty traffic island again. Alex has vanished. Jamie turning away. Shaken. Can't believe what he's seen.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. HIGH-RISE CONDOMINIUM BUILDING - BOSTON - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A modern tower of brick and glass in the Back Bay.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. HIGH-RISE CONDO - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Sophisticated. Well-decorated. It's late. Dark. Priya creeping through the entry way towards the front door when --</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA'S MOTHER</character>
    <dialogue>Priya?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>A light comes on. PRIYA'S MOTHER there in a doorway. Silk dressing gown pulled tight. A sharp, suspicious tiger mom who lives entirely through her daughter.</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA'S MOTHER</character>
    <dialogue>Where are you going at 11:30 at night? You're not on call, and you have nothing scheduled.</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <parenthetical>(ready for her)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I was just to the library to study some more.</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA'S MOTHER</character>
    <dialogue>No. You'll study here. With me. I've decided. This past week you've completely lacked focus. With shelf exams coming up, I can't trust you to properly balance your workload. Go back in the den. I'm making tea and we'll start reviewing terminology for the nervous system.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>A flick of a dressing gown and her mother disappears into the kitchen. Priya lowers her head in despair.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. IMAGING ROOM - BUNKER COMPLEX - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Screens glow in the dimly-lit room. We're ready for another flatline. A flurry of activity as Marlo attaches electrodes to herself. Courtney runs an IV line and Jamie prepares the equipment.</scene_description>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>Where's Priya?</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>We need to start. It's already quarter after midnight.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>It won't hurt, right?</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>The anesthesia will take care of that.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>Three minutes, okay?</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>Jamie only did two.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>What can I say? I'm competitive.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(handing Courtney a piece of paper)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>After my three minutes, these are the interventions I want and their specific order. Where's Ramon?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Marlo choreographing it all. Ramon stepping forward. Not at all pleased at this.</scene_description>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>If I don't come out right away, I want you to intubate me. Okay? Force the oxygen.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>I'll bring you out. Don't worry.</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>Relax. Just have the experience.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>Can someone take notes? Whatever I say when I first come out?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>They're placing her under the cooling blanket.</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Marlo. Why are you doing this?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She grins up at him. Cocky.</scene_description>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>Because you won't.</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>Infusion's flowing.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The anesthesia's kicking in fast. The drugs pulling her down. Her eyelids sinking closed.</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>She's out. Body temp's 95.</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>Charging 200. Clear.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Ramon turning away in distress as -- THUNK. Courtney delivers the shock. Marlo's back arching. She slumps back. The now-familiar MONOTONE.</scene_description>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>Flatline.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Ramon watching the clock tick on a screen. Poised to act as we SMASH CUT TO -- A TUNNEL Screaming through it -- fast -- up towards a BLINDING LIGHT -- And then shift -- memories now -- scenes from Marlo's life -- wall-to-wall triumphs -- Marlo an eight-year-old equestrian -- proudly holding the bridal of her horse as she receives a blue ribbon to great applause... Sixteen now and playing the cello in a recital -- executes a difficult piece of classical music -- Summer -- friends -- sailing -- parties -- idyllic -- College athletics -- swim meet -- starter's gun goes off -- Marlo -- lean -- powerful -- first out of the blocks --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. IMAGING ROOM - BUNKER COMPLEX - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The flatline MONOTONE continuing. Ramon -- the clock --</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>That's three minutes.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The scanner retracting. He's got the defibrillators --</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Charge 200. Clear.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>KA-THUNK! Zapping her and -- FLASH CUT TO -- A SWIMMING POOL Back to Marlo's flatline. Marlo UNDERWATER. Now in her doctor's coat. Panic. She whirls around. Struggling to find the surface. Lungs burning. Disoriented.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. IMAGING ROOM - BUNKER COMPLEX - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Marlo still down. Ramon sweating it now.</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Better juice her again.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Courtney, start chest compressions. I'm going to push one cc epinephrine, followed by sodium bicarbonate.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(they're not moving fast enough)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Let's go!</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. SWIMMING POOL</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Marlo drowning. Dying. This is what it feels like. BOTTOM OF THE POOL Painted there on the bottom -- a long NUMERIC SEQUENCE -- too much to take in --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. IMAGING ROOM - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>KA-THUNK -- Ramon -- the defibrillator again --</scene_description>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>Nothing.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>All flatlines. Ramon rattled. Grabbing an oxygen mask now. Struggling to untwist its straps and --</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>I got this, chief.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Jamie taking the oxygen mask. Steadier hands. He slips the mask over Marlo's face, then takes up the defibrillator.</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>One more time, okay? Charge 300. Clear!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>THUNK!</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. SWIMMING POOL</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Marlo sinking. No more fight. No strength. Just drifting down. Turning away from the numbers to see -- A DEAD WOMAN FLOATING ABOVE HER The woman's eyes hideously open -- tongue out -- long tangled hair floating crazily -- a shocking grotesque and -- MARLO -- she SCREAMS IN TERROR and --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. IMAGING ROOM - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Marlo coughing under the mask -- heart monitor BEEPING --</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>We got her!</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. ROOF - MGH - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Cold wind. Marlo wrapped in a blanket and lying in Courtney's lap. Marlo's pale and shaking violently. Ramon nervously checking her with a stethoscope and eye light.</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Her temp's low. And her pulse is still racing.</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>Maybe three minutes was too long.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>She had a bad trip. It happens.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Like you're an expert.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>More than you.</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA (O.S.)</character>
    <dialogue>Is she okay?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>They turn. Priya coming out here, breathless, like she's run all the way to the hospital.</scene_description>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>Where have you been, Priya?</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Marlo's fine. She'll be okay.</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>Then I'm going next. Right now.</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>Right now?</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>I made up my mind.</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>There's no time. Cleaning crew comes down there in twenty minutes.</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>Don't argue with me. I've finally gotten up the courage.</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>I saw what you did during rounds. And Courtney, too. Flatlining made you better doctors, made your minds work faster.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Aren't three flatlines enough? What else do you need to find out? This isn't science. It's Russian Roulette.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>Let her do it.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>They turn. Marlo sitting up. White as a ghost. Hair wild. A weird intensity.</scene_description>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>It's her choice.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. EARTH'S UPPER ATMOSPHERE - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Flying -- fast -- over a hemisphere darkened with nighttime. Cities below -- clusters of light -- like fairy dust and -- THE HORIZON -- this vast turning arc -- then SUNRISE flaring over the continent -- And we're dropping down now -- landscape flying beneath us -- descending over fields -- trees -- a CHURCH STEEPLE -- streets -- houses -- it's MORNING over a SMALL NEW ENGLAND TOWN -- a SCHOOL BELL'S RINGING -- as we drop down into --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. HIGH SCHOOL - MORNING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS milling around before class. As a CAR pulls up --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CAR - MORNING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Drop-off time. PRIYA'S MOTHER is ten years younger here. Beside her is 15-YEAR-OLD PRIYA. Even here she's worn down.</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA'S MOTHER</character>
    <dialogue>A B-plus on a biology exam is not acceptable. Do you understand that your worst enemy is your lack of motivation?</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>Yes, Mother.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. HALLWAY - HIGH SCHOOL - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Bustling with kids. As the school's INTERCOM comes on with a whine of feedback, then --</scene_description>
    <character>15-YEAR-OLD PRIYA (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Attention everyone -- and now a reading from the diary of Irina Wolshack --</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. JANITOR CLOSET - HIGH SCHOOL - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Locked door. 15-YEAR-OLD PRIYA in here, accompanied by two FRIENDS. There's an open DIARY on Priya's lap, a page of which she reads into a MICROPHONE she's pulled in here --</scene_description>
    <character>15-YEAR-OLD PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>April 10th. My mother won't stop nagging me day and night. Now she says I'm dangerously thin. She's threatening to take me back to the doctor.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. HALLWAY - MIDDLE SCHOOL - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Kids now paying attention -- amazed -- 15-year-old Priya's snappy voice reverberating everywhere in the school --</scene_description>
    <character>15-YEAR-OLD PRIYA (V.O.)</character>
    <parenthetical>(intercom)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I haven't eaten in two days and the very thought of food disgusts me.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>We feel the electricity in the crowd -- excited looks -- all these teenagers -- sensing blood in the water --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. JANITOR CLOSET - MIDDLE SCHOOL - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>15-year-old Priya going for it -- pure delight -- finding a release in this -- and her giggling friends egging her on --</scene_description>
    <character>15-YEAR-OLD PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>And only I know that no matter how many times I throw up, I will always look in the mirror and see someone bloated and disgusting.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CLASSROOM - MIDDLE SCHOOL - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Priya's voice going on and on -- everything has stopped -- twenty-five smirking HIGH SCHOOL FRESHMEN utterly frozen as -- IRINA WOLSHACK -- there she is -- poor-girl -- 15 years old -- isolated -- surrounded -- helpless -- humiliated -- And finally she runs from the room as --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CORRIDOR - BUNKER COMPLEX - MGH - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>THUD. A freight elevator arrives. We're back to the present. The hospital. And a JANITORIAL CREW comes out of the elevator pushing cleaning carts into the corridor as --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. IMAGING ROOM - BUNKER COMPLEX - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Jamie -- panic -- sprinting over from the doorway --</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>-- cleaning crew's here! -- get her out! --</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Mad scramble -- the scanner's bed retracting Priya from the imaging dome -- Ramon grabbing the paddles --</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>-- clear! --</dialogue>
    <scene_description>KA-THUNK -- the shock -- Priya's chest heaving --</scene_description>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>-- nothing --</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>-- starting compressions --</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <parenthetical>(works a syringe)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>-- one cc epi -- in --</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The two of them working fast on the unresponsive Priya -- Courtney bagging up equipment -- powering down screens --</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <parenthetical>(at the door)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>-- that's it -- we've gotta go --</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <parenthetical>(doing chest compressions)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>-- come on, breathe! --</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>-- where's the blanket? --</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>-- what's taking so long? --</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>-- you want to take over, be my guest --</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Jamie suddenly running out of the room --</scene_description>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>-- hey -- where the hell's he going? --</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Marlo's stopped the chest compressions -- out of breath --</scene_description>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>-- please God -- please bring her back --</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>-- good thinking, doctor -- I'm sure that'll help --</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He's pushing her aside -- no nonsense -- the defibrillator -- KA-THUNK -- Priya jolted -- nothing --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CORRIDOR - BUNKER COMPLEX - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Jamie arriving here in the shadows as -- The CLEANING CREW heading for the imaging room. Only seconds away from discovering them and -- Jamie thinking fast -- darts out and PULLS THE FIRE ALARM --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. IMAGING ROOM - BUNKER COMPLEX - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Lights. Sirens. All hell breaking loose from the alarm as -- THUNK! The defibrillator one more time and --</scene_description>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>-- that's it -- she's back! --</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Ramon scooping Priya up in his arms -- they're rushing out of here as --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. BUNKER COMPLEX CORRIDORS - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>SECURITY OFFICERS emerging from the elevator now. Hard to know if Jamie's made things better or worse and --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. BASEMENT STAIRWELL - MGH - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Courtney and Marlo hurrying up the stairs. Ramon carrying Priya in his arms. Alarms screaming.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. PARKING GARAGE - MGH - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A door bangs open. Marlo leading them to her parked AUDI.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. AUDI - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Marlo slides behind the wheel. Ramon tucking Priya in the back. The others piling in. Marlo guns the engine --</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>-- should you really be driving? --</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Marlo drops it in gear -- tires squealing -- zooming forward down the ramp when -- LOOK OUT!!! SOMETHING FLASHES IN FRONT OF THE CAR BAM! It's JAMIE -- he's hit -- tumbles up onto the windshield -- WHAM! Jamie rolls back off the hood -- up again -- miraculously okay -- someone opens a door and he's diving in --</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>You okay?</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>You bastard, you ran out on us!</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>The hell I did! I sprang you all!</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>You what?!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Security Guards now spilling out of the stairway --</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Go!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Marlo floors it -- Audi screeches away -- Jamie, Priya and Courtney laughing in crazy delight --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. PARKING GARAGE - MGH - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A gate arm -- POW! -- SMASHED to bits -- THE AUDI squirting out of here -- skidding -- bouncing -- sparks flying as -- EMERGENCY VEHICLES arriving -- the Audi nimbly weaving between FIRETRUCKS and --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. AUDI - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The Audi ripping through gears -- Marlo -- laser focus -- pushing it towards 100 m.p.h. -- adrenaline flying --</scene_description>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>Where are we going?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>And now the sound of a DANCE BEAT as we CUT TO:</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. BALLROOM - HARVARD SOCIAL CLUB - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A cavernous, vaulted ballroom PACKED WITH MED STUDENTS dancing and cutting loose. Open bars, drunken misbehavior, a DJ presiding. CAMERA FINDING Brad Poitras, the preening third-year we've seen around the hospital, dress shirt unbuttoned too far, cocktail in hand, leads Marlo and the rest of them through the crowd.</scene_description>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <parenthetical>(over the music)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Whose party is this?</dialogue>
    <character>BRAD</character>
    <dialogue>Jerry Tsai!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Across the room, a plastered JERRY TSAI being bourne aloft by a mob of friends on the dance floor.</scene_description>
    <character>BRAD</character>
    <dialogue>You didn't hear? He's a fourth year.</dialogue>
    <character>BRAD</character>
    <dialogue>Invented a pacemaker app that Medtronic just paid $18 million for.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. BACK YARD - HARVARD SOCIAL CLUB - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The party spilling out here. The walls of the massive house lit up by -- A BONFIRE An impromptu blaze built-up in a fire-pit. Sparks swirl up into the starlit sky. STUDENTS dance in the shadows and firelight. All these bodies surging around. And the smoke and the dance beat and the shriek of laughter. And there they are -- JAMIE, PRIYA, MARLO and COURTNEY. Dancing in the middle of it all. Sensing each other's strange, shared energy and -- PRIYA AND JAMIE Getting close -- caught up the hormonal rush -- MARLO As she dances. Transported. Immortal. It's better than any drug. Vision clearing a moment -- looking around to see -- RAMON On the sidelines. The periphery. Left to watch all this. Just a guy with a beer. Marlo eyes him a second longer. Then spinning away, back into the trance. And the fire -- a RUMBLE as the burning pile of wood collapses onto itself -- a big flare-up of orange light and -- MOMENTS LATER Courtney wandering off. By herself now. The club's expansive grounds extending away from the house, sloping down into woods -- dark, spectral trees. Their branches look sinister. And Courtney pushing into the trees. Alive to it all. The stars. The night. It's all enchanted. Vitality pulsing through her. THROUGH THE TREES A FIGURE appears. A dark outline, backlit by light from the party. Courtney drawn in. Slowing as she nears the figure and -- Stopping there. Barely breathing -- A 10-YEAR-OLD girl hurries past. She's laughing, wearing a BRIGHT PINK HOODIE. She looks like something out of a fairy tale. It's Courtney's dead sister TESSA. And it's no flatline. This is real. Courtney utterly stalled there. Is this a dream? Tessa glances back, an impish smile, throws the hood over her head and scurries away into the mist --</scene_description>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>Tessa, wait!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The mist clears. Tessa's gone. And Courtney reeling there. Instantly drained by the emotion of the encounter.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. HARVARD SOCIAL CLUB - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Priya pulling Jamie out through the front door --</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Where are we going?</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>I urgently need to have sex.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>That's a normal side effect.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. MASTER BEDROOM - PRIYA'S APARTMENT - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Priya's Mother blinks awake. Hears a rhythmic bumping in the next room.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. PRIYA'S BEDROOM - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Anatomy charts and vocabulary lists cover the walls. The cheerless study space of an overworked, neurotic grind. But right now, Priya and Jamie are wedged onto her tiny bed and in the middle of feverish sex when -- KNOCKING ON HER LOCKED BEDROOM DOOR</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA'S MOTHER (V.O.)</character>
    <parenthetical>(outside her room)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Priya? Priya?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Jamie goes to get off Priya but Priya holds him tight --</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>-- ignore her -- keep going --</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The knocking grows frantic. The door rattling in its frame.</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA'S MOTHER (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Priya, what's going on in there?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Priya laughing now. Urging Jamie on with ferocious abandon --</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>-- harder, goddamn it!! --</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. LIVING ROOM - PRIYA'S APARTMENT - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Moments later. Priya's Mother pacing out here, livid. And now Jamie darts in from Priya's bedroom, clothes back on, scoots quickly past on his way out the front door.</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Nice meeting you.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He's gone. Priya's Mother turns to Priya, who appears in her bedroom doorway --</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA'S MOTHER</character>
    <dialogue>You filthy, unspeakable s--</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>I'm moving out.</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA'S MOTHER</character>
    <dialogue>What did you say?</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <parenthetical>(calm and serene)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I'm finding an apartment.</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA'S MOTHER</character>
    <dialogue>You will do no such thing.</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>Doesn't matter, mom. Whatever threats you make. I'm 25 years- old. Succeed or fail, from now on, I'm doing it on my own. Goodnight.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She shuts her door. Her mother astonished there.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. CAMBRIDGE STREET - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Late. Dark. The city has gone quiet. Courtney walks through a twisting, narrow street full of sinister shadows. Still disturbed from seeing Tessa when HER PHONE RINGS -- INTERCUT WITH:</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. DOWNTOWN BOSTON - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Jamie, also alone, walking through the deserted financial district. He's on his phone, speaking with Courtney over Facetime --</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Sorry for taking off. Something came up. Where are you?</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>Out walking. I don't feel like going home.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <parenthetical>(sees her worried face)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>You look strange. What's wrong?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Courtney looking around. The night. The shadows.</scene_description>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>I think we made a mistake.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>What kind of mistake?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She doesn't answer. Lost in thought.</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <parenthetical>(pressing her)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Hey, you okay?</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>I think somehow we opened a door.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>What door? What do you mean?</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>It doesn't make sense. People can't come back, can they?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Jamie's face clouding up.</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>What did you see? Talk to me.</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>I have to go. It's late.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Where are you? I'll come get you.</dialogue>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <dialogue>I'll be fine. I'll see you tomorrow.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. BEDROOM - COURTNEY'S APARTMENT - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Courtney rummaging around in her closet. Lifts out a BOX. Settles down with it on her rug. Behind her is that BIG, GAPING HOLE IN HER WALL that she and Jamie made during the party. The hole looks through to the living room. Courtney's opened the box. Inside, the raw materials of a scrapbook she never put together. Photos. Cards. Sunglasses. Faded concert tickets. She takes out a PHOTO. Courtney with her sister Tessa. From years ago. The two of them. Courtney lost in sadness. She's reaching further in. Something there underneath the other objects. She's lifting it out. The soft, worn velvet of TESSA'S BRIGHT PINK HOODIE. The hoodie spilled across her lap. Courtney motionless there. Can't understand. Can't process. Finally lifts the hoodie to her cheek when -- BEHIND HER THE HOLE -- A SHADOW FLASHES PAST IT -- COURTNEY Quickly turns around. But no one's there. She stands up. Listening to the stillness of her apartment. Spooky. A shudder passing through her.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. AUDI - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Ramon driving. Marlo next to him. Coming down from the high of the nightclub.</scene_description>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>I'm perfectly capable of driving myself home.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>I'm not driving you home. I'm driving me home.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>So how does a fireman wind up at Harvard?</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>No one in my family ever went to college, let alone became a doctor. They had a scholarship for city workers. I said "what the hell?" Never thought I'd get in. Had to go back, take bio courses, organic chem, all the pre-req's. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Every day, walking around MGH, I feel like an impostor. I'm not like you. You were born to be a Harvard doctor.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>Listen to me, dummy. Just because you didn't have Ivy League onesies in your nursery doesn't mean you don't have the right to be here.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Ramon guarded. The first time she's come close to complimenting him.</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Thanks.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. BEACON HILL NEIGHBORHOOD - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Beautiful and historic. Not where most medical students can afford to live. The Audi parked there. Ramon tosses Marlo the keys.</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Good night.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>How are you getting home? I could drive you.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>There's a T stop nearby.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He's walking off. Marlo suddenly anxious.</scene_description>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>You're never going to flatline, are you?</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Nope.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>Why not? Don't you want to know what it's like?</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Nope.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>Sam's on a business trip. I don't like being alone in the house.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>It's a safe neighborhood.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>Sam's my fiance, you know.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>I'm sure you'll be very happy.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He's almost gone. Marlo with one last card to play to keep him there.</scene_description>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>Did you know I killed somebody?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>That one stops him.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. MARLO'S TOWNHOUSE - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Elegantly appointed. Multiple framed diplomas on the wall. Ramon parked uncomfortably on her couch. Marlo pacing. It all comes pouring out.</scene_description>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>It was two months ago. It was my E.R. rotation. Patient's name was Shirley Gudgeon. We admitted her for a jelly fish sting.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Shirley Gudgeon. I remember. She died of shock, right?</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>She died because of a reaction to the Benedryl I gave her.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Why'd she have a reaction?</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>There was Taxol in her system. I'd been on duty 36 hours. I forgot to ask her if she was taking any other medication. She'd still be alive if it wasn't for my screw-up.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>There it is. Marlo crossing her arms. Waiting for his reaction.</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Why are you telling me this?</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>I saw her. Shirley Gudgeon. She was in my flatline. Along with some crazy long number I don't understand.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(like he's slow)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Obviously that all means something!</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Mistakes happen to everybody.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She's pacing now. Paranoia rising. Ramon on his feet now. Trying to calm her.</scene_description>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>I work hard everyday. I do the right thing.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Sure you do.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>I'm not a bad person.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Marlo, everything's going to be fine.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>What if I'm going to hell?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Marlo's eyes flying open -- Ramon's kissing her. It's a full- on, very deep, three year's pent-up kiss. And Marlo flummoxed there. Unable to process. Finally she breaks off. Steps back. Catching her breath.</scene_description>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>You can't just... just...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>But now she's pulling him in -- kissing him back --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. MARLO'S BEDROOM - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>They slam in here -- kissing madly -- bumping into furniture -- it's insane and wrong and exactly what they want. MOMENTS LATER Marlo and Ramon make love. Unexpected tenderness as Ramon searches her face. She looks up at him, open, kind, gentle, a Marlo we've never seen before.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. BOSTON MARINA - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>3 a.m. Cold. Foggy. Dozens of SAILBOATS tied up at their moorings. An odd place to be.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. SAILBOAT DOCKS - BOSTON MARINA - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Sleepy. Quiet. Jamie's footsteps on the wooden dock as he walks up to his 45-foot SAILBOAT. This is where he lives.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. SAILBOAT GALLEY - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Below deck. Cozy. Lights on. All the comforts of home. Music playing on the boat's radio. Medical textbooks and hospital scrubs scattered around. And the SOUND of a SHOWER RUNNING...</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. SAILBOAT SHOWER - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Jamie naked, showering. It's a tiny, cramped space, almost no room to move in here but he's used to it. Suddenly everything goes dark. The water stops. Jamie stands there soaped up, dripping. Huh? GALLEY The boat is now dark. Silent. SHOWER Jamie baffled. He curses. Flicking dead switches.</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Shit.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He wipes the soap from his face and prepares to step out of the shower when he hears -- A CREAK. OUTSIDE THE SHOWER DOOR. MORE CREAKS NOW. SOMEONE'S COMING DOWN THE GALLEY STAIRS. Jamie frozen there. Fear edging into his voice as --</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <parenthetical>(calling out)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Who's there?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>CLOP. CLOP. FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING THE SHOWER. Literally this thing is just outside the door! Silence now. Jamie hesitating there. Naked. Helpless. THE SHOWER DOOR The doorknob begins to twist -- CLICK! -- Jamie quickly slides the locking bolt closed.</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>I'm calling the cops!</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(then)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Get the hell off my boat!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Twist -- twist -- twist. The person on the other side struggling to force the locked door open. Fuck! He's caught. Looks around. Grabs a large bottle of bath gel. Not much of a weapon. His hand on the lock now. Readying himself to throw open the door and clobber whoever it is. Three... two... one... THE WHOLE SAILBOAT STARTS ROCKING BACK AND FORTH Like it's been lifted up by some huge beast and shaken -- Jamie shouting -- pure terror -- he's a blur -- tossed and slammed around like a shoe inside a washing machine -- And then it's over. The boat settles back. Comes to rest. Jamie grunting there, battered, traumatized, when -- The power runs. Lights. Shower. Music playing again. Click. The shower door falls open. No one there.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COURTNEY'S APARTMENT - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Movement -- it's Courtney -- stumbling from room to room -- escaping something -- shallow breathing -- frightened -- eyes blood-shot -- something seems to be chasing her -- this terrifying home invasion -- and we can't see what it is -- Courtney barreling down the hall -- full flight -- white hot terror -- dashing into the LIVING ROOM and -- THE FIRE ESCAPE Her closest way out. Agonizing seconds as she fumbles with the window latch -- don't look back -- The window flies open -- Courtney squeezes through -- onto the FIRE ESCAPE -- this ICY, IRON PLATFORM -- she slips -- falls out of frame -- CRIES OUT AND -- CUT TO BLACK.:</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. BEACON HILL NEIGHBORHOOD - PREDAWN</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Those handsome townhouses. Not a light on.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. BEDROOM - MARLO'S TOWNHOUSE - PREDAWN</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>All is quiet. A Tiffany clock ticks on Marlo's nightstand. Marlo lies in Ramon's arms.</scene_description>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>I hope this doesn't become awkward.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Too late.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>You must think I'm a terrible person.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Why?</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>First I tell you I'm responsible for the death of a patient. Then I go and cheat on my fiance.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(sitting up)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Seriously. What do you see in me? We fight all the time. We disagree on everything. What do you like about me? Beyond the obvious fact I'm really hot.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>I guess it's your humility I'm drawn to.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>Shut up.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She settles back down. Like she's not going to get anything out of him. Ramon gets up. Gathering his clothes.</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Four months into our first year, you were assisting in the oncology ward. A patient was there for her first round of chemo. She was anxious and scared. You sat with her. Calmed her down. Asked about her kids, her job. You were so kind to her. Your guard was down. You didn't think anybody was watching. But I was watching you, through the door. I walked by three hours later, you were back there checking on her again.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(beat)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>That's what I see in you.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Marlo stunned. No one's ever said anything like that to her.</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Don't worry about the neighbors. I'll go out the back.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He kisses her. And he's gone. Marlo quiet there. Finding herself happy. Too happy to sleep. So she's flinging aside the sheets and -- SFX: SPLASH OF WATER --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. HARVARD SWIMMING POOL - DAWN</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Crowded with early-morning SWIMMERS doing laps. An oversized CLOCK on a wall reads 6:30. Marlo in the pool, carving down a lane with strong strokes. Tha-thunk... tha-thunk... we HEAR her rapid HEART BEATS... HER ARMS AND SHOULDERS -- muscles flexing -- fluid motion -- a perfect machine -- HER FACE -- mouth turning across the water -- breathing in -- HER RESPIRATORY SYSTEM -- LUNGS -- cellular level -- oxygen flooding into capillaries -- super-charged -- Molecular level now -- oxygen fusing with hemoglobin -- carbon-dioxide releasing -- everything fizzing -- buzzing -- She reaches a wall -- surfaces -- panting there -- Then stops. Looks around. Becoming aware that -- SHE'S THE ONLY ONE HERE Surreal silence. Empty lanes surrounding her. The pool vacant, everyone gone. And BROAD DAYLIGHT outside. Hours have mysteriously slipped by. The wall clock now reads 10:30. What the hell? Marlo twisting and turning, unable to understand it as -- UNDERWATER Bottom of the pool. Between the lane markers, written there in huge black numbers -- exactly as it was in her flatline -- Marlo reacting, pulling herself out of the pool. Like the water's now contaminated. She's trembling there. As if reality itself is threatening to give way and -- BUZZING NOISES. Marlo going over to her tote bag. Grabbing her cell phone, pager -- both are erupting with texts. Marlo's confusion only deepening as she reads what's there. As we HEAR --</scene_description>
    <character>DR. WOLFSON (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>They found Courtney early this morning.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CONFERENCE ROOM / NEUROLOGY UNIT - MGH - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A hastily-called meeting. Dr. Wolfson here with Ramon, Marlo, Jamie and Priya, whose eyes are red from crying.</scene_description>
    <character>DR. WOLFSON</character>
    <dialogue>A jogger was passing her apartment building. She was at the bottom of a fire escape.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>This awful, heavy silence. They're all deeply shaken.</scene_description>
    <character>DR. WOLFSON</character>
    <dialogue>We may know more after the autopsy, but they think she fell at least three floors. I'm sorry. I know you all liked her. For now you'll need to divide her patient load amongst yourselves. We still have a hospital to run.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(then)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Any of you know what might have been going on with her?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Nobody looks at him. Dr. Wolfson sensing more going on here.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. SKYBRIDGE - MGH - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Marlo dazed. Eyes welling with tears as she stares out at the Boston skyline.</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <parenthetical>(walking up)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>You okay?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He takes her hand. She lets him. A sad smile.</scene_description>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>It doesn't seem real.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Courtney?</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <parenthetical>(nods)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>And the pool today. It's like my mind's playing tricks on me.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>And now Priya and Jamie walking up to them.</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>I can't believe she's gone.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The four of them there. Wounded souls. Hospital staff all around, so they keep their voices low.</scene_description>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>We have to talk. Things are happening to us.</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>I can't talk. I have rounds right now.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Wolfson knows we're holding something back. The school's going to investigate Courtney's death.</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>How could she fall off her fire escape?</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Maybe she didn't fall.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>What are you saying?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>They shut up as Brad passes by --</scene_description>
    <character>BRAD</character>
    <dialogue>Killer party last night, huh? You all look like shit.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>They wait until he's gone. They're stopped there by the windows. Hushed and conspiratorial.</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Listen. We'll talk about all this later. I have a few things of my own to tell you. But if the school finds out we've been flatlining, we'll be expelled. And you can say goodbye to your future. Any notes you've taken, destroy them.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>I'm going to get into Courtney's apartment, get her computer, whatever I can find. Meanwhile, stay calm and try to do your jobs.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. NURSE'S STATION - MGN - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Staff swirling around. Priya at a keyboard. Entering data. Trying not to think about anything other than work. Something sitting there on the counter. A BOOK. Odd. She picks it up. Finds -- A BATTERED DIARY It's cover worn and faded from the years. Priya opens it. Freezes there. Incredulous.</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>"Private Diary of...</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(stopped cold)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>... Irina Wolshack."</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Incredulous. Is this a joke? She's paging through it. Confounded to find page after hand-written page. Someone coming. She crams it in her backpack.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. WOMEN'S RESTROOM - MGH - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Priya bangs in here. Locks herself in a stall. Opens her backpack to have another look. She's digging around. Then stops. Frowning there. Can't find the diary. She dumps out her whole backpack. Paper, pens, everything -- But no diary. Priya confounded. Frightened.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COURTNEY'S APARTMENT - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Door's been blasted in. Jamie in here. A furtive burglar. He's bagging up Courtney's papers. Articles. Anything remotely of interest. THUMP. A noise. Faint. Jamie stops. Looks around. Listening. The apartment very still. Continuing now. Opening drawers. Couple files. Not much. Dissatisfied. There has to be more. THUMP. He stands up. Staring into a doorway. COURTNEY'S CAT JUMPS OUT AT HIM Jamie reels back. The cat hisses and shoots out the front door.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. BOSTON WATERFRONT - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Harbor area. Lights of the city in the background.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. SAILBOAT - BOSTON MARINA - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Jamie's boat is the only one lit up in the dark marina.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. SAILBOAT GALLEY - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Jamie down here. The papers from Courtney's apartment scattered all around. He's on his phone --</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>There's not much here.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. EXAM ROOM - MGH - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Marlo on her phone. Retreating to a window so she can talk in private --</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Courtney's notes. I took whatever I could find, but her computer's missing. And her phone. What if the school's already been through this place?</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>Maybe her phone's still in her clothes.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Maybe. Can you go check?</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>What do you mean?</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>I mean go look through the clothes she was wearing. Then call me back.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>Where am I going to find her clothes?</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Where you do think? The fucking morgue.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Marlo reacting to that and --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. SAILBOAT GALLEY - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Jamie hangs up. Stewing there. Restless.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. SAILBOAT - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A thick fog descending, enveloping the marina, the boat.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. SAILBOAT GALLEY - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Jamie opens a beer. Settling in to read more of Courtney's notes when -- A HISS. RADIO STATIC. It's the boat's radio. But they're CHILDREN'S VOICES -- SINGING A NURSERY RHYME --</scene_description>
    <character>BOAT RADIO (O.S.)</character>
    <dialogue>London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Jamie staring at it. Frozen there as --</scene_description>
    <character>BOAT RADIO (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>...build it up with wood and clay, wood and clay, wood and clay...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He lifts the radio handset. The song stops. Dead air. It's happening again. He replaces the radio. Unease ticking away. He slides open a drawer. Reveal a SAILOR'S KNIFE.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. SAILBOAT - BOSTON MARINA - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>On deck now. THICK MIST everywhere. Dark vessels surround the boat. Their rope lines creak. Jamie comes up the galley steps. Poised there. Knife visible in the dim light. His flashlight goes on. Peering forward. Scanning the boat. He's moving forward now. Threading his way through the lines. Flashlight beam playing over the bow. The water. The dock. Then up into the mast. The shrouds. Jamie now at the bow. Senses tingling. Can feel this kid.</scene_description>
    <character>ALEX</character>
    <dialogue>Wood and clay will wash away, wash away, wash away...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He spins. Alex is two feet away.</scene_description>
    <character>ALEX</character>
    <dialogue>Wood and clay will wash away --</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Alex's big face in his shaking flashlight. Jamie gulping there. Backing away slowly. Finding his voice --</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Okay... Easy, kid... What do you want --</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Jamie slips -- falls overboard -- DARK WATER Jamie surfacing there. Shouts from shock of the cold water. He's swimming for the dock. Finds a handhold and starts pulling himself up when -- SLAM! Jamie's hand -- it's IMPALED BY HIS OWN SAILOR KNIFE -- he SCREAMS -- ALEX -- right there on the dock -- he's just stabbed him -- Alex walking away into the night.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. BASEMENT - MGH - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Long, stark hallway. Marlo creeping around down here. Checks to make sure she's alone and enters --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. HOSPITAL MORGUE - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>An eerie still-life. Tiled walls. Steel sinks. Hanging scales. Drains in the floor. Marlo casting an uneasy eye around. Then, her phone out, dialing a number -- A PHONE RINGING IN HERE. It jolts her. Marlo walking into the room, trying to hone in on Courtney's hidden phone. There. A FILE CABINET. Marlo curses as she finds it locked.</scene_description>
    <character>COURTNEY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Hi, this is Courtney. Leave a message.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Marlo hangs up. Goes to a DESK. Opens a drawer. Spots a KEY. And now she hears a RUMBLING SOUND -- she turns -- A GURNEY -- out of nowhere -- it comes barrelling right at her -- she jumps aside -- BAM! The gurney smacks into a wall. Marlo eyeing the room. The equipment. The areas hidden by shelving. Nothing moves. What the fuck? Moving fast now, unlocks the file cabinet. Finds a plastic bag inside. Courtney's clothes. Bundled and sad there. She casts a quick eye on the gurney again. The room. Then, steeling herself, she searches through the bag of Courtney's personal effects. Finds Courtney's cell phone. Relief as she pockets it. Done. Get out. Walking out when -- OVERSIZE DRAWERS there on the wall. Body drawers. Marlo staring at them. Sadness welling up. Before she can stop herself, she hauls open a drawer and -- Drawer's open now. She doesn't want to look. But does and -- HER POV COURTNEY'S FACE -- gruesome close-up -- the features frozen in a grimace of horror. Marlo shocked. Will never get that sight out of her head. Ever. She continues to stare when -- BEHIND HER A FREEZER DOOR SWINGS OPEN Marlo hears it creaking. Turns around. The freezer door now stands open. Inside the freezer, the FAN from an air-conditioning unit slowly turns.</scene_description>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>It's all in your head.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She's walking forward now. Determined to get the better of all this. Drip. Drip. Drip. WATER leaking out from the freezer. Spreading over the floor.</scene_description>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>All in your head...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>As Marlo nears the freezer, we see further into its tiled room... the floor-to-ceiling shelves holding DEAD BODIES WRAPPED IN PLASTIC TARPS... And just as Marlo arrives in the doorway with the intention of shutting the freezer door -- WHACK! A FAT ARM FLOPS DOWN FROM A SHELF AND SMACKS HER IN THE FACE</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. BASEMENT - MGH - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The morgue's doors bang open -- Marlo racing out of there.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. IRISH PUB - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Cozy little place hidden away on a quiet corner. Cold wind blowing as Ramon walks up. Jamie arriving at the same time.</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>What happened to your hand?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Jamie's hand -- it's now bandaged up.</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Just get inside.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>A furtive look around, like it's a secret meeting, and they both head into the pub. CUT TO: CELL PHONE VIDEO FOOTAGE There's Courtney, in her apartment, facing the screen. She's making a video. She's exhausted. Traumatized.</scene_description>
    <character>COURTNEY</character>
    <parenthetical>(on the phone, talking back to the camera)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Monday. March 22nd. 2:15 a.m. There has to be an explanation for what's happening to me. Hypothesize hallucinations brought on by neurochemicals released by flatlining.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(struggling to think straight, clinging to reason)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Option two, rewiring of the frontal cortex, impairing perception.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She stops. Sudden. Sharp turn. As if hearing something. PULL BACK TO REVEAL --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. IRISH PUB - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Ramon, Jamie, Courtney and Marlo all gathered here. They're watching the video on Courtney's phone. ON THE SCREEN She's creeping through her apartment now. Phone-camera in front. Filming as she goes. The HOLE in the wall. Gaping there. Then down a hallway. Empty space has never seemed so frightening. Image stops at a door. Courtney's hand reaches out, floats it open. A bathroom. Courtney there in the mirror, filming this. And now she's slowly pulling aside a shower curtain... THE PUB Marlo, Jamie and Ramon watching. Can hardly bear it. ON CAMERA It's just an empty tub. SUDDENLY THE IMAGE SPINS -- SHE'S FAST BACK INTO THE HALL -- WOBBLING THERE -- UNCERTAIN --</scene_description>
    <character>COURTNEY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Tessa?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Horrible silence. Then... Courtney SCREAMS -- THE CAMERA DROPPED TO THE FLOOR.</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>What is it? What's going on?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Camera just filming the ceiling now. The sounds of Courtney running away and -- The video ends. Chilling silence.</scene_description>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>That's it. It just shut off.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>What happened to her? Did you see? Let's watch it again.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>I'm not watching it again.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>She said "Tessa." Who's Tessa?</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>Her younger sister. It was years ago. Courtney was supposed to be babysitting her, but she was downstairs with her boyfriend. Her sister hit her head in the tub. By the time Courtney found her, it was too late.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>What's that got to do with how Courtney died?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>No one speaks. This awful silence.</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>It's think it's time we all confess.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>What do you mean? Confess to what?</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>I'll go first. A month ago, I'm in a market and I spot a girl I used to know. There's a little boy with her.</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>The kid from your flatline?</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>She was a waitress at my parents' country club out in Milton. I got her pregnant. Promised I would help her out. Go with her for the abortion. But I never showed up. I couldn't deal with it. Tell the truth, I forgot about her. But that kid would be around the right age.</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>You have a son.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Jamie gazing at the fireplace. Quiet there.</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Look, we're rational people. Whatever's going on here, there's a logical --</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <parenthetical>(to Marlo)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>What about you?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>But Priya breaking in first --</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>I was seventeen. Her name was Irina Wolshack. I stole her diary and read it out to the whole school over the intercom.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>That's cold.</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>Like you're any better.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>What's the point of all this?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>JAMIE You saw the video. You see how terrified Courtney was? Something was there with her, when she died. MARLO Who's to say it wasn't all in her head? She could've gone crazy?</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Was the morgue in your head?</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(holds up his bandaged hand)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Was this in my head? I was attacked, on my boat, not two hours ago.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>RAMON Or you stabbed yourself and you don't remember. JAMIE Courtney said we opened a door and she was right. That kid I saw in my flatline, he showed up the next day. I saw him. PRIYA The next day? JAMIE In real life. Yes. RAMON Did anyone else see him? JAMIE That's not the point. PRIYA You knew. You knew there was a dark side to flatlining. And you let me and Marlo go in and you said nothing! JAMIE I was ashamed. I did something wrong and it can't be fixed. I didn't realize it was dangerous! MARLO Look, we'll figure this out. We're in this together now.</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>There has to be a scientific explanation for all this. Ghosts don't exist in the world.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>They exist in us. And something's going on here. Like a process. When you die, you see the things you've done. I did. We all did. What if the bad things, whatever's on our souls, what if we've brought it back from the flatline into this world? Like a reckoning. The question now is what are we going to do about it?</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>What can we do?</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Deal with it. I don't know. But we can't ignore this, or what happened to Courtney may just happen to us. It's already started happening.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. MGH - SUNRISE</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>TIME LAPSE PHOTOGRAPHY -- THE SUN flaring up -- wheeling up into the dawn sky -- a lurid, burning fireball.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. RADIOLOGY ROOM - MGH - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A dimly lit cave full of scan imagery. PET scans. MRIs. Leering skulls. Gaping eye sockets. Brains sliced and diced. As a RADIOLOGIST narrates --</scene_description>
    <character>RADIOLOGIST</character>
    <dialogue>-- note the tissue damage to the patient's posterior fossa --</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Priya there, supposed to be taking notes but distracted. Suddenly her phone's screen LIGHTS UP -- ONE VOICE MESSAGE Priya pressing the phone to her ear. Playing the message.</scene_description>
    <character>IRINA WOLSHACK (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Priya? It's me. Irina.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Priya's blood runs cold. The radiologist droning on as --</scene_description>
    <character>IRINA WOLSHACK (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>We never got to finish with my diary. I want to read what it says about you.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CORRIDOR - RADIOLOGY UNIT - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Priya hurrying out of here. Her phone's put away but we hear the rest of the message --</scene_description>
    <character>IRINA WOLSHACK (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>You're a heartless bitch.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She passes windows overlooking IMAGING ROOMS. Patients in MRI and CT SCANNERS. Much like her flatlining experience.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. SECOND CORRIDOR - RADIOLOGY UNIT - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Priya running now. Irina's voice still in her head --</scene_description>
    <character>IRINA WOLSHACK (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>You ruined my life!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Priya stops. Looks around. She's in an intersection of unfamiliar corridors. She turns around. Retracing her steps. Radiology's in the basement, and somehow she's gotten herself lost down here.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. DARKEN CORRIDOR - MGH - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Priya rounds a turn. Up ahead, the overhead lights abruptly cease, leaving the far end of the corridor in darkness. There's nobody around. The entire floor feels deserted. Sounds now. FOOTSTEPS. Coming towards her from the darkness. Priya frozen there. No idea what to do, and then -- 14-YEAR-OLD IRINA WOLSHACK APPEARS OUT OF THE DARKNESS Right there! -- coming right for her! -- reaching for a BIO- HAZARD DISPOSAL BOX bolted there on the wall -- Irina tears the metal box off the wall -- it bursts open -- USED NEEDLES go flying everywhere -- SHUNK! Irina tears a side off the box -- she's now holding a long, jagged piece of metal -- like a MACHETE -- Priya -- eyes wide -- turns -- runs -- down the corridor -- rounds a turn and -- WHAM!!! She barrels into an ORDERLY pushing a FOOD CART. Everything goes over. Plates. Glasses. Drinks. Food. Priya sprawled on the floor -- covered in tomato soup -- shuddering -- wretched -- crying -- a mess -- the ORDERLY trying to help her up and --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. ER - MGH - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>We're in the middle of a busy TRAUMA UNIT. As PARAMEDICS cart in a gurney with an ELDERLY WOMAN on it, Marlo huddles with a TRAUMA RESIDENT --</scene_description>
    <character>TRAUMA RESIDENT</character>
    <dialogue>We've got a 58-year-old female stung by a jellyfish out swimming in the Bay. Her breathing's elevated. Pulse is 180 over 110.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>Sounds like anaphylactic shock. 50 cc's of Benedryl should stabilize her.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. TRAUMA BAY - ER - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>SHIRLEY GUDGEON, a big-boned woman in a wet bathing suit, lying there, labored breathing. A RASH on her body.</scene_description>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>Don't worry, ma'am. We're going to take care of you.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Marlo infusing medication into her IV line and --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. RESIDENT'S ROOM - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Marlo lying on the couch. Murmuring. Agitated. She's DREAMING right now and -- SHIRLEY GUDGEON STANDING IN HERE WATCHING HER SLEEP Steam rising from Shirley's wet bathing suit. Watery bare feet sinking into the carpet. An IV LINE hanging limply out of her arm as -- Marlo jolts awake. REVEAL -- AN EMPTY ROOM. Shirley has vanished. Marlo sitting up. Paranoid. But all is quiet. She looks around. Shaken by her dream. Getting up now. Trying to think. She pulls her iPad out of her tote bag. Types in the number she has now memorized -- Does an Internet search. The response -- "NO RESULTS." The mysterious number. No answer. Tormenting her.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. PATIENT ROOM - MGH - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Empty bed. Door shut. Priya in here. Laptop open. Deep into an Internet search. Names and numbers written down, many crossed off. Priya pacing there. On the phone. Still in clothes stained and drenched by the tomato soup.</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>Hello? Is this Masha Wolshack?</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(elderly voice on the other end)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Masha Wolshack, from North Hadley?</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(perking up)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>It is? Do you have a daughter named Irina?</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(success)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>You do? My name's Priya. I went to school with Irina at Thomas Carlyle High School.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(beat)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Priya. We didn't know each other well. I mean, I knew her a little.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(pushing on)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Thing is, I'd love to get back in touch with her, if that's possible. Is there any way you could give me her phone number or address?</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. MARLO'S TOWNHOUSE - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Marlo trudges up the steps. Ashen. Exhausted.</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>You figure out the number?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She looks. Ramon sitting there at the top of her porch steps. Waiting for her.</scene_description>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>No. It's not a phone number. Or a credit card number.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(faint hope)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Maybe it's a gift. Maybe it's the gene sequence of our neuro-protein.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(then)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>What are you doing here?</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>You seen Shirley Gudgeon lately?</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>If that's a joke, I'm not in the mood.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>I'm not joking.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>If you want me to feel sorry for what happened, I do. If you want me to say it, I will.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(addressing the sky)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Shirley? Do you hate me? I didn't know about the Taxol in your system before I gave you Benedryl.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Was there Taxol in her system?</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>I'm sorry?</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>I pulled Shirley's autopsy report. It says nothing about Taxol in her bloodstream. So I went back and dug up the path lab's notes of her blood tests. There it was. Taxol.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(pointed)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Why wouldn't the autopsy report match the path lab notes?</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>I'm going inside.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She walks past him, opening the door.</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Marlo... did you change the autopsy report?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Door's open. Marlo motionless there. Her back to him.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. KITCHEN - MARLO'S TOWNHOUSE - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Marlo sitting there. Quiet. Simple.</scene_description>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>I had to protect myself.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>So you made it look like she died of shock instead of a drug you gave her.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>I know. It was wrong of me.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>You have to tell someone.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>I'm telling you, aren't I?</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>The dean, Marlo. You need to tell the dean you changed the report.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>Why? What good would that do now?</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>You really don't see the issue here? Shirley Gudgeon. Your flatline.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Marlo stiffens. Turning it back on him.</scene_description>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>It was so nice. Being with you. Realizing you liked me after all this time. And now you have to go spoil it?</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>I'm here because I like you.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>Easy for you. You don't have to sacrifice anything.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <parenthetical>(indignant)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>And who asked you to care about me, anyway? I'm getting married and becoming a doctor. A Harvard- trained physician. I worked my whole life for this. I made one mistake. Admitting it is not going to bring Shirley Gudgeon back. All it'll do is end my career.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>This is exactly about your career. If you were willing to change an autopsy report...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He stops. Afraid of where he was going with that.</scene_description>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>Say it. Because this is the last conversation you and I are ever going to have. Go ahead. If I was willing to change the report, then...</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Then just maybe you shouldn't be a doctor.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Brutal silence. Ramon hating himself for saying it. Marlo speechless there. There in her beautiful townhouse.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. BOSTON STREET - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Jamie waiting on a corner. A VERY TINY RENTAL CAR pulls up.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. RENTAL CAR - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Jamie gets in. Priya at the wheel. Grateful. A beat of awkward silence. They're practically sitting on top of each other in the tiny car.</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>Thanks for coming with me.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Could you have rented a smaller car?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She grinds a gear. The car shudders as they take off.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. OFFICE PARK - NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>We're now in a quiet Boston suburb. Priya's rental car pulling into the parking lot. A tech firm's logo out front.</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>You're sure it's the same Irina?</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. LOBBY - TECHNOLOGY COMPANY - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A posh, hi-tech firm. Priya waiting in a quiet, glass- enclosed reception area. A RECEPTIONIST hangs up a phone.</scene_description>
    <character>RECEPTIONIST</character>
    <dialogue>She's coming out.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Priya nods. Fidgeting there. Then rises as someone comes out to meet her.</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>Irina?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>This is IRINA WOLSHACK. She works here. A lovely young woman of 24. But she doesn't quite know who her visitor is.</scene_description>
    <character>IRINA</character>
    <dialogue>Yes?</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>It's Priya. From North Hadley.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(Irina doesn't react)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>We were in high school together.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Irina looking her over. And the surprise giving way to unease. It's not a happy reunion.</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>I know it's been forever, but I need to talk to you.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(just going for it)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I stole your diary and read it to the school over the intercom. Remember?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Of course Irina remembers. But she's at a loss right now. Ambushed by this encounter.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. RENTAL CAR - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Doors locked. Windows up. Jamie hunched in the passenger seat. Waiting here in the parking lot. Edgy. Paranoid. SLAP! A HAND SMACKS HIS WINDOW FROM OUTSIDE ALEX RIGHT THERE LOOKING IN ON HIM! Jamie -- pure heart attack! -- lunges away -- across the inside of the car and --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. RENTAL CAR - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>-- the driver door flies opens -- Jamie comes lurching out -- hanging onto the door -- catching his breath -- He looks over. Nothing there. His shoulders sag. Nerves shot. Half laughing, half crying.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. OFFICE PARK - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The two women walking on a path through manicured grounds.</scene_description>
    <character>IRINA</character>
    <dialogue>It was a long time ago, okay?</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>It was an awful thing to do. I keep asking myself why I did it. It was so unlike me.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Irina just looking at her. Then Priya realizing.</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>No. You're right. It was like me.</dialogue>
    <character>IRINA</character>
    <dialogue>What do you want from me?</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>I'd like you to accept my apology.</dialogue>
    <character>IRINA</character>
    <dialogue>That's not necessary. I moved on.</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>Please. It's important. I want to make amends.</dialogue>
    <character>IRINA</character>
    <dialogue>What you did to me was humiliating and cruel. It was one of the worst days of my life. But I'm not 15 anymore. I grew up.</dialogue>
    <character>IRINA</character>
    <dialogue>And I'm sorry, but you have no right to come find me years later because now you suddenly feel bad about it.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(done here)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I have to get back to work.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Irina walking off. Priya despairing there. About to call out to her -- But doesn't. Doesn't feel she has the right.</scene_description>
    <character>IRINA</character>
    <dialogue>Priya!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Irina by the doors. Turned back. Reconsidering. Then smiles. Sudden. Open. Letting go.</scene_description>
    <character>IRINA</character>
    <dialogue>I forgive you.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Priya taking that in. To her very core.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. RENTAL CAR - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>They're driving back to Boston. Priya marvelling at it.</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>All those years I was carrying that.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Sudden grace. Priya turns to him.</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>That's all it's about. Atonement.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL CAMPUS - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Marlo in her nicest clothes. Approaching the imposing central building. Her anxiety growing with each step. Having to force herself forward.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. DEAN'S OUTER OFFICE - HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>An august space. Walls crowded with photographs, portraits and citations. Busts of famous doctors and philosophers.</scene_description>
    <character>SECRETARY</character>
    <dialogue>You're in luck. His meeting got pushed back, so I'll see if he might have a few minutes.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Secretary's heading into the Dean's office. Marlo left to wait out here. Fighting back panic.</scene_description>
    <character>SECRETARY</character>
    <parenthetical>(walking back out here)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Okay, Marlo, he'll see...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Stops. Empty chair. Marlo has vanished.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CORRIDOR - HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Marlo in full retreat. Face flushed. Over-wrought. Running away. And her HEART thudding loudly in her chest. It's the worst moment of her life. The shame hitting her, piercing her like a physical pain. Actually she is having pain. CHEST PAINS. They're ripping through her. She's dizzy. Can't breathe. Lurches into --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CONFERENCE ROOM - HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A PULSE MONITOR rather conveniently waiting here. Marlo slips a clip over her finger and -- THUNK-THUNK-THUNK-THUNK -- her heartbeat on the monitor's speaker jack-hammering away -- skipping wildly -- Marlo scared -- no idea what to do -- HER PULSE accelerates even faster -- pains getting WORSE -- then -- Nnnnnnnnnn -- monotone -- she's flatlining --</scene_description>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>-- somebody help! --</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She gropes around -- dragging the tether -- a monitor stand crashes over -- she falls to the ground and --</scene_description>
    <character>SECRETARY</character>
    <dialogue>Are you okay? What happened?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The Secretary from the Dean's office has followed her out here. She's helping Marlo up. Marlo looking around -- no pulse monitor here -- no medical equipment -- it's just an empty conference room --</scene_description>
    <character>SECRETARY</character>
    <dialogue>Wait --</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Marlo pushing past her, running away.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. BOSTON STREET - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The rental car parked near the hospital. Jamie and Priya getting out as Ramon runs up. Stricken.</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <parenthetical>(sensing trouble)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>What is it?</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Marlo didn't show up for call. Her phone and pager are sitting in her bag in the residents room.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>It's Courtney all over again.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Don't say that.</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>I'll check her house. Ramon, try the other wings of the hospital.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>I'll cruise the neighborhood. Maybe she's out walking around.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>They're splitting up, running off.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. MARLO'S TOWNHOUSE - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Priya trying Marlo's front door. Locked. Goes over to peer in a window. The place completely shut up and quiet.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. SKYBRIDGE - MGH - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Ramon hurrying through here. Scanning the faces. A lot of ground to cover.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. BOSTON STREETS - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Jamie on his motorcycle. Rolling slowly down the block. Scanning the sidewalks, cafe windows, park benches.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. RESIDENTS ROOM - NEUROLOGY UNIT - MGH - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Ramon enters. Looks around the room. Marlo's expensive totebag there. He sets it on the table. Going through it. Removing things. Her iPad. As he activates the screen, the number shimmers up in a search field -- This cryptic sequence. He gazes at it. Just as stymied as she was.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. BOSTON STREETS - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Jamie's motorcycle idling at a red light. Across the street, a CITY BUS picking up some passenger at a BUS STOP. HIS POV QUICK GLIMPSE -- passengers getting on the bus -- among them, a WOMAN with a YOUNG BOY -- Jamie startled there. The boy looks a lot like ALEX, the ghost from his flatline. And now the bus pulling away -- Green light. Jamie kicking his motorcycle into gear, zooming after the bus.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. RESIDENTS ROOM - NEUROLOGY UNIT - MGH - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Ramon pondering the number on the white board. Then turning away. Wandering the empty room. Staring out the window. Then he sees it. Tossed on the couch. A HARVARD SWEATSHIRT. He picks it up. Stares at the HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL LOGO. Then back at the number on the iPad.</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Gene sequence, my ass.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He pulls up the website for Harvard med school. ON SCREEN -- That Harvard logo. Sign-in page. ENTER STUDENT ID: He keys in THE NUMBER. It fits exactly. ENTER PASSWORD: He hesitates. Stumped.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. BOSTON STREETS - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Jamie's motorcycle in the lane next to the bus, keeping pace with it. He's looking in the windows at the passengers.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. MAIN LOBBY - MGH - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Ramon striding through the crowded concourse.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CAFETERIA - MGH - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Ramon grabs a dinner roll from the case. He's got some sort of plan here. Walks to the CASH REGISTER.</scene_description>
    <character>REGISTER CLERK</character>
    <parenthetical>(rings him up)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Two fifty-nine.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>I left my wallet up in surgery. Can I charge it to my student ID?</dialogue>
    <character>REGISTER CLERK</character>
    <dialogue>What's the number?</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <parenthetical>(has it by memory now)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>The clerk puts the number into the touch screen. Ramon twists the screen to have a look -- a STUDENT PHOTO there --</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Brad Poitras. Motherfucker!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He's bolting out of here and --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STREET CORNER BUS STOP - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Passengers unloading from the bus. And here's ALEX. And not a scary ghost-Alex but a sweet six-year-old kid in a Spider Man jacket. And with him is ALICIA -- 25 -- a single mother, distracted, dulled by hardship, just trying to get by. They're both headed up the sidewalk when --</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Alicia.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>They look over. Jamie's parked his motorcycle. Removing his helmet as he hurries up, out of breath. Rattled.</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>It is you.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(relieved)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I wasn't sure. I've was back there following.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She's staring at him. Knows who he is. Alex just standing there by her side.</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>So. Been a while, huh? How've you been these past years?</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(to Alex, attempt at friendly)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Who's this?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Alicia not having it. Grips Alex's hand tight.</scene_description>
    <character>ALICIA</character>
    <dialogue>What do you want, Jamie?</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>To apologize. It's my fault. I took off on you. I've been in school, actually. A lot of school.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(stumbling on)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>That summer -- I was stupid. I got scared. I panicked. I should've been there for you.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(can't take his eyes off Alex)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>And I want to make amends. Do what's right. Help you out. Money. Anything. Tell me what you need, Alicia.</dialogue>
    <character>ALICIA</character>
    <dialogue>I don't need anything from you.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(she's turning to go)</parenthetical>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>Wait -- Alicia -- please --</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(last ditch)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Is he my son?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She freezes. People, traffic passing them by. Jamie waiting there. It's life or death. But now Alicia's leading the boy away. It's over. Alex glancing back, confused. And Jamie stranded there. Crushed. A still point in a swirling world.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CONFERENCE ROOM - NEUROLOGY UNIT - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A NEUROLOGY RESIDENT goes over some charts with med student BRAD POITRAS.</scene_description>
    <character>NEUROLOGY RESIDENT</character>
    <dialogue>His ICP's still elevated. See when he was last given an anticoagulant.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CORRIDOR - NEUROLOGY UNIT - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Brad emerging from the conference room -- back to work when --</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Hey, Brad.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Ramon. Right there. Weirdly solicitous.</scene_description>
    <character>BRAD</character>
    <dialogue>Hey, buddy.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>A few months back you had an ER rotation with Marlo. Remember? There was a patient. Shirley Gudgeon.</dialogue>
    <character>BRAD</character>
    <dialogue>Listen, I'm slammed right now, can we catch up later?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Ramon -- very quick -- grabs him --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. FILE ROOM - NEUROLOGY UNIT - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Ramon propelling Brad in here --</scene_description>
    <character>BRAD</character>
    <dialogue>-- what are you -- what the hell?!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Door shuts. Ramon in his face.</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>What happened?</dialogue>
    <character>BRAD</character>
    <dialogue>-- what? --</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>The ER. You. Marlo. Shirley Gudgeon. Something happened.</dialogue>
    <character>BRAD</character>
    <dialogue>I don't know what you're talking about.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>WHAM. Brad's down. Punch to the gut from Ramon.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CORRIDOR - NEUROLOGY UNIT - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The locked door. Nurses gather in confusion. Muffled GRUNTS from inside.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. FILE ROOM - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Brad on the ground. Catching his breath.</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>You'd better talk.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Brad silent. Shocked.</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Fine. Maybe this will jog your memory --</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(goes to pummel him--)</parenthetical>
    <character>BRAD</character>
    <dialogue>Wait!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Brad stunned there. Incredulous.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. MAIN ENTRANCE - MGH - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Ramon walking out here. On his phone. Leaves a message.</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Priya, where are you? I just found something out about Marlo. Call me back.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. MARLO'S TOWNHOUSE - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Curtains drawn. Priya here. Marlo working feverishly. Last ditch plan. Priya eyeing several mysterious containers.</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>What's going on, Marlo?</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>I'm going to find Shirley Gudgeon.</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>What?</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>I need to reach her. She needs to hear my apology.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Marlo lowering the shades. Starts unpacking supplies. Priya still putting it together in disbelief.</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>Marlo, that other place, it doesn't go by our rules.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>I made it through once. I can make it through again.</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>No. It wants you. You go in again, it'll claim you.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>Not if you keep hold of the rope.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. SKYBRIDGE - MGH - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Ramon staring out into the night. Wrought with worry. And now his PHONE lighting up with an incoming call --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. MARLO'S TOWNHOUSE - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Priya on her phone. Anguished.</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>-- she just went in -- I tried to talk her out of it --</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. MAIN ENTRANCE - MGH - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Ramon bursting through the doors -- racing out of here --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. CAMBRIDGE STREET - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>One block down. Ramon in a furious sprint along the wide street. Eyeing the traffic. Buses. Taxis. All these different options occurring to him, but in the end he settles on his own two legs to carry him and --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. CEDAR STREET - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Old-world street lamps hiss. We're into the quiet residential neighborhood of Beacon Hill now. Snow flakes drift down. And Ramon -- lungs burning -- running on adrenaline now -- up this steep narrow lane -- slipping over cobblestones and --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. MARLO'S TOWNHOUSE - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Priya opening the door -- Ramon tearing in here -- gasping --</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>My God...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>There's Marlo. She's lying motionless on her dining room table. Dead. An improvised flatline in progress. No CT scanner. No crash cart. Just bare-bones. IV bag. Couple electrodes. Ramon pushing away the fear -- struggling to focus --</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>We're bringing her out.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(grabs the defibrillator kit)</parenthetical>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>It's been eight minutes already.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Ramon not caring -- the paddles -- KA-THUNK! He administers a powerful shock. Marlo slumps back on the table. Priya with the stethoscope to Marlo's chest -- shakes her head --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. SWIMMING POOL</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>We're in Marlo's flatline now. The swimming pool drained. Cracked. Covered in mold. Marlo walking the bottom of the pool. Comes to a GURNEY. Shirley Gudgeon lying there in her sopping wet bathing suit.</scene_description>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>Shirley? I made a mistake. I'm the reason you died.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Shirley opens her eyes.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. MARLO'S TOWNHOUSE - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>KA-THUNK! Another shock. The paddles sizzling from the voltage.</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>Still nothing!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Ramon ripping off his jacket. Rising desperation as he grabs supplies.</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Start compressions. We'll do a double dose of epi.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. SWIMMING POOL</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Shirley Gudgeon sitting up on the gurney. Weirdly animated. Neither alive nor dead. This big-boned woman.</scene_description>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>Forgive me. I failed you.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>On Shirley's face. Her closed eyes suddenly JAM OPEN -- Shirley's hand shoots up -- grips Marlo by the throat --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. MARLO'S TOWNHOUSE - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Ramon listening with the stethoscope -- bad news --</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>It's not working. We need oxygen.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(then -- furious)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Continue compressions!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>But Priya's stepped away. Quiet now.</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>There is no oxygen. We've shocked her. Given her 800 cc's epinepherine. Chest compressions.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Then do something else!</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>There's nothing else. It's over.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>We can't let her die!</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>Sometimes it's not up to us.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Ramon incredulous. Stalled there. Cycling in neutral.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. SWIMMING POOL</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Shirley rising out of the gurney. Both hands now locked around Marlo's neck -- choking Marlo to the floor. Marlo losing strength -- can't break Shirley's iron grip -- Marlo fading there -- fading out -- this brutal ending --</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. MARLO'S TOWNHOUSE - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Silent. Still. Marlo dead there. No more interventions. Priya stumbles away. Weeping quietly. Ramon left staring down at Marlo. Full of fury. Talking to Marlo.</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Marlo. It wasn't your fault. Shirley Gudgeon wasn't your fault. She wasn't taking Taxol. Brad Poitras gave her Taxol -- by mistake. Brad screwed up. He screwed up and he knew it and he didn't tell anybody. None of it's your fault.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. SWIMMING POOL</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Marlo slumped there. Dead. Shirley Gudgeon standing over her. Wicked satisfaction.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. MARLO'S TOWNHOUSE - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Ramon smooths her hair. He's in despair. In a way we never thought possible with him.</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>But that's not why you have to come back. I care about you, Marlo. I've never met anyone like you. This whole experience has shown me that I want to be with you. I should've realized it sooner. I should've told you. I should've...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He can't believe what he's about to say. But he takes her hand. Full concentration of will.</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Come back. It's not your time to die. Do you hear me, Marlo?</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(eyes shut, last ditch)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I beg you. I implore you. Come back.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The room. A still life. Marlo motionless there. Ramon beside her. Kneeling there. Beat to shit. Nothing left. Then -- Marlo -- her little finger twitches slightly and -- Beep. Priya turning around. What was...? Beep -- beep -- beep -- it's the vitals monitor.</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Pulse.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Disbelief. Ramon staggered. Priya moves in. Takes over.</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>Marlo?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Marlo stirs. Opens her eyes. Priya here to witness it. DISSOLVE TO:</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. HARVARD YARD - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Dusted with fresh snow. A hush has fallen over the world.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. MEMORIAL CHURCH - HARVARD YARD - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Harvard's iconic old church fronting the quad. Marlo, Priya and Ramon walking up to the church. Its four massive, Federalist columns rising up and -- Jamie sitting up on the church's steps. No one else out here. Priya ascending the steps to him.</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>I found the boy. And her.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(cautious faith)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Maybe that's all I had to do.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He looks out over the Yard. This beautiful place. As it settles on him.</scene_description>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>I have to take responsibility for my life, don't I?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Priya quiet there. Glad they're all together. RAMON AND MARLO Standing apart. Just the two of them.</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>You going to be okay?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Marlo looking him over. Thankful for him in a way she can't understand. And now Priya and Jamie walking down the steps to join them. All quiet for a moment. Everything they've been through.</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>Another snowfall.</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>It'll all turn to slush in the morning.</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>You may not believe this, but we've got rounds in two hours.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>Think anywhere's open for breakfast yet?</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Any place but the hospital is fine with me.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>They're heading down a path now. The four of them. Bent against the cold. DISSOLVE TO:</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. BASEMENT STACKS / HARVARD LIBRARY - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Deep underground. Priya lifts away a stack of old, leather- bound volumes from a shelf to reveal a LAPTOP hidden there.</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>I've been hiding this.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Ramon there. Puts it together.</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Courtney's laptap. You had all her flatline data?</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>She gave it to me. Maybe she sensed something was going to happen to her.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>You really think it proves the existence of an afterlife?</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>Something happened to us in there.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(then)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>It's yours, Ramon. You were the only one who never wanted anything out of this.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>And there it is. Ramon saddled with this unwelcome gift.</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>They finished the investigation into Courtney's death. Wolfson asked to meet with us this afternoon.</dialogue>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>Does he know about us?</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>I guess he'll tell us.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. ETHER DOME - MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL (MGH) - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The oldest part of the hospital. An intimate surgical theater with wooden seats rising steeply all around. On the wall, an enormous OIL PAINTING of prim, Victorian-era doctors standing in this very room, in 1846, witnessing the world's first surgery performed under anesthesia. Ramon, Jamie and Priya coming in here. Uneasy.</scene_description>
    <character>PRIYA</character>
    <dialogue>Why's he seeing us here?</dialogue>
    <character>JAMIE</character>
    <dialogue>To make our expulsion from medical school all the more memorable. Look around, kids. This may be our last time here.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(then)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Actually, this is my first time here.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Where's Marlo?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Jamie and Priya shrug. They don't know. And now --</scene_description>
    <character>DR. WOLFSON</character>
    <parenthetical>(walking in)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Have a seat.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Dr. Wolfson lays his briefcase down. Brisk. Businesslike. A look of disapproval on his face.</scene_description>
    <character>DR. WOLFSON</character>
    <dialogue>Really. This won't take long.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Jamie, Ramon and Priya slip into seats in the elevated rows above. Wolfson below them, now. Like a lecturer. The rest of the room empty. Echoing. Wolfson pausing there. Burdened. The three of them feeling the weight of his displeasure. About to meet their fate.</scene_description>
    <character>DR. WOLFSON</character>
    <dialogue>There was a young doctor once who wanted very badly to be rich and famous. One day, walking in the woods, he met Death strolling there. Death said to him: "Here's how you'll become a great doctor. Whenever you visit a sick person, you'll see me there in the room. If I'm at the head of the bed, your patient will live. If I'm at the foot, the patient will die." The young doctor then became famous for always knowing which patients would live and which would die.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Ramon, Jamie and Priya perplexed. No idea where this is going.</scene_description>
    <character>DR. WOLFSON</character>
    <dialogue>One day the King became ill and sent for him. The doctor went in and saw Death at the foot of the king's bed. So he turned the King's bed around so that Death now stood at the head. The King recovered. In his gratitude he made the doctor a very wealthy man. But then Death took the doctor down to the underworld, into a huge cave with thousands and thousands of candles burning down. The length of each candle showed how much longer a person had to live. "This is fate," said Death. "</dialogue>
    <character>DR. WOLFSON</character>
    <dialogue>When someone's a candle burns out, I come for him." The doctor saw his own candle was very short and started pleading with Death to spare his life. Death told him there was nothing he could do. But the doctor insisted. "Just take a new candle and put it in the place of my old one, so I can live a long life."</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Dr. Wolfson now looking squarely at the three of them.</scene_description>
    <character>DR. WOLFSON</character>
    <dialogue>Death asked if that was what he really wanted. The doctor said "Yes, yes. And hurry. There's not much flame left." So Death took a new, tall candle, dropped it on top of the old candle, which crushed out the flame. The doctor fell dead.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He's done. Cracks a thin smile and grabs his briefcase.</scene_description>
    <character>DR. WOLFSON</character>
    <dialogue>Now get the hell back to work.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He's gone. The three of them sitting there in stunned silence. Empty seats all around them. Finally, Jamie gets up. Heads down the steps. Priya and Ramon follow. Then, without a word, they all shuffle out.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. JOHN WEEKS BRIDGE - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Ramon walking across this pedestrian bridge over the Charles River. Backpack slung over his shoulder.</scene_description>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>Hey.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Marlo approaching from the other direction. A planned meeting.</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Where have you been? Wolfson gave us the most disturbing speech I've ever heard.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>I saw the dean. I confessed to changing Shirley Gudgeon's autopsy report. I also told him I helped Courtney flatline, that I was the only one who helped her.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>You didn't have to take all the blame.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>He was satisfied. He closed the investigation.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Shirley Gudgeon's death wasn't your fault.</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>Even so, I still changed the report.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(at peace)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>You guys will be great doctors someday.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Ramon caught short. Puzzled.</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>You dropped out?</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>I've spent my life trying to become someone I thought other people wanted me to be. I never asked what I wanted.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>What do you want?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Marlo thinking on that. No real answer.</scene_description>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>I ended things with Sam. It was surprisingly hassle-free.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(shrugs)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>There you have it. No fiance. No job. No degree. No plan.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(rueful)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Funny. We know how life ends now. And yet we still can't say what the end really is -- God or just the fireworks of a dying brain.</dialogue>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Maybe Courtney left a clue for us.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Ramon unzips his backpack, lifts out Courtney's LAPTOP COMPUTER. Marlo recognizes it. Hesitates there, then --</scene_description>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>Or maybe we're not supposed to know.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She takes the laptop and tosses it over the side of the bridge. It splashes. Sinks out of sight.</scene_description>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>Only she's got the answer now.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>And it's over. They're free of it. Like a weight lifting. They're left here, on the bridge, staring at each other.</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>Do you have to move away?</dialogue>
    <character>MARLO</character>
    <dialogue>What would keep me here?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The question hangs there. He steps closer to her.</scene_description>
    <character>RAMON</character>
    <dialogue>How much did you hear of what I said to you in your flatline?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She thinks about that. Then reaches up... and kisses him. Just the two of them there, holding each other, holding that kiss.</scene_description>
    <character>THE END</character>
  </scene>
</script>
Courtney is a medical student who is obsessed with the idea of the afterlife. She invites her classmates, Jamie and Sophia, to join her in an experiment, in an unused hospital room: using defibrillation to stop her heart for sixty seconds while recording her brain. She assures them they would not be held responsible for any accidents. Sophia is against this, but Jamie does it anyway. After sixty seconds, they are unable to revive her until a fellow student, Ray, steps in to help. Marlo, another medical student, arrives and learns of the experiment. Courtney begins to recall memories of past events and experiences increased intelligence and euphoria. Envious, Jamie flatlines, but has a disturbing near-death experience as he meets his ex-girlfriend. Marlo and Sophia follow suit, increasing the duration of time they are down. During Sophia’s turn they are nearly caught and flee the hospital. Those who flatlined experience visions: Courtney sees her sister Tessa, who died in a car crash Courtney caused, Jamie sees the baby he begged his ex-girlfriend to abort, Marlo sees a patient named Cyrus, who died when she accidentally mixed up his medication, and Sophia sees Irina, whose life she ruined out of jealousy, allowing Sophia to become valedictorian. Everyone keeps their visions a secret from each other. Courtney, traumatized by her visions, records a message apologizing and admitting that her interest in flatlining was due to the death of her sister, not for scientific discovery. She falls to her death from the fire escape of her apartment building after her sister's ghost pushes her. The others are devastated but realize they may be implicated if anyone discovers their experiments. After attempting to remove all evidence from Courtney’s apartment, Marlo goes to the morgue to find Courtney’s phone, where she is disturbed by more visions. On his boat, Jamie again hears the cries of a baby and a woman weeping. He falls out of his boat and swims to the dock where a figure stabs him in his hand. The group watches Courtney's recording and find out that she had similar visions to their own. They admit the mistakes they made and come to the conclusion that the hauntings they are experiencing are hallucinations because of guilt from their sins, not paranormal beings. The only one who did not flatline, Ray, initially disbelieves what is happening. Sophia visits Irina to apologize, which Irina accepts. Jamie visits his ex-girlfriend and discovers she kept the baby; he apologizes and promises to provide for his son. Ray and Marlo get into a fight when Ray finds out Marlo covered up the real reason Cyrus died and she refuses to confess. Marlo hallucinates being suffocated while driving and crashes her car. Tired of being haunted by her hallucinations, Marlo flatlines on her own in the hope of asking Cyrus for forgiveness. She sees Courtney, who tells Marlo that she needs to forgive herself. Ray, Sophia and Jamie arrive to resuscitate Marlo. Marlo confesses to the Dean and is held on probation. Marlo, Ray, Sophia and Jamie meet to reminisce about Courtney.