Storm of the Century Read online

  DAVEY'S version of the REPORTER makes a half-turn and reaches into the shadowy cupola. Here is the memorial bell, only in DAVEY'S dream, it's not a bell. What the REPORTER brings out is a BLOODSTAINED BASKETBALL, and he heaves it DIRECTLY INTO THE CAMERA. As he does this, his lips part in a grin, revealing teeth that are really FANGS.

  TV REPORTER

  Catch!

  216 INTERIOR: RESUME DAVEY, IN THE TOWN HALL BASEMENT NIGHT.

  Moaning, he turns back the other way. His hands come up briefly, as if to ward off the basketball.

  DAVEY No ... no ...

  217 INTERIOR: THE TV AREA OF THE BASEMENT, FEATURING MIKE NIGHT.

  His head is dropped and limp, but his eyeballs are moving behind his closed lids, and like the others, he is DREAMING.

  232 STEPHEN KING

  PREACHER (voice)

  Be sure that your sin will find you out, and that your secrets will be known. All secrets will be known . . .

  218 INTERIOR: PREACHER ON SNOWY TV, CLOSE-UP.

  Yes, now we see it; the TV PREACHER is LINOGE, too.

  PREACHER

  (continues)

  . . . can you say "hallelujah"? Oh, brethern, can you say "amen"? For I ask you to behold the sting of sin and the price of vice; I ask you to behold the just end of those who bar the door to the wandering stranger who comes, asking so little.

  THE CAMERA MOVES IN on the SNOWY TV. THE PREACHER melts into DARKNESS ... but a snowy DARKNESS, because the wind has blown down the town hall antenna and there's no good reception.

  183

  Only now a PICTURE starts to appear, anyway. The snow is real snow now, snow that's a part of the Storm of the Century, and PEOPLE are moving in it a dark snake-dance line of PEOPLE floundering their slow way down Atlantic Street Hill.

  219 INTERIOR: ATLANTIC STREET, CLOSER NIGHT.

  PREACHER (voice-over) For the wages of lust are dust, and the wages of sin are death.

  Passing us is a nightmare procession of DAZED, HYPNOTIZED ISLANDERS in their nightclothes, oblivious of the HOWLING WIND and SHEETING SNOW. We see ANGELA with little BUSTER in her arms; followed by MOLLY, in her nightgown and carrying RALPHIE; followed by GEORGE KIRBY . . .

  FERD ANDREWS . . . ROBERTA COIGN . . . well, you get it. They're all here. And tattooed on each forehead is that strange and ominous word: CROATON.

  PREACHER (voice-over)

  For if the supplicant is turned away and the seeker given no respite, shall not the hard-hearted be sent hence?

  STORM OF THE CENTURY 233

  220 INTERIOR: MIKE, CLOSE-UP.

  MIKE

  (sleeping) Hallelujah. Amen.

  221 INTERIOR: THE STUMP OF THE TOWN DOCK.

  They march toward THE CAMERA and their death in the frigid ocean like lemmings. We don't believe it ... and yet we do, don't we? After Jonestown and Heaven's Gate, we do.

  ROBBIE

  (first in line) I'm sorry we didn't give you what you wanted.

  He topples off the jagged end of the dock and into the ocean.

  ORV BOUCHER

  (second in line) Sorry we didn't give it to you, Mr. Linoge.

  He follows ROBBIE into the ocean. Next is ANGIE and BUSTER.

  ANGIE CARVER I'm sorry. We both are, aren't we, Buster?

  With the child in her arms, ANGELA steps from the pier. Next is MOLLY, with RALPHIE.

  222 INTERIOR: RESUME MIKE, IN THE TV AREA.

  He is growing steadily more restive ... as who would not, if subjected to such an awful dream as this?

  MIKE No . . . no, Molly . . .

  PREACHER (voice-over)

  For so little is asked of you, can you say "hallelujah" . . . and yet if you harden your hearts and stop up the porches of your ears, you must pay. You must be branded as one of the ungrateful and sent hence.

  234 STEPHEN KING

  223 EXTERIOR: MOLLY, ON THE PIER NIGHT.

  184

  She is as hypnotized as the rest, but RALPHIE is awake and afraid.

  MOLLY

  We hardened our hearts. We closed our ears. And now we pay. I'm sorry, Mr. Linoge RALPHIE

  Daddy! Daddy, help!

  MOLLY we should have given you what you wanted.

  She goes over the edge and into the black water with RALPHIE SCREAMING in her arms.

  224 INTERIOR: THE TV AREA, WITH MIKE NIGHT. He snaps awake, GASPING. Looks at the TV.

  225 INTERIOR: TV, FROM MIKE'S POINT OF VIEW.

  Nothing but snow. The station has either lost its tower to the storm or ceased broadcasting for the night.

  226 INTERIOR: RESUME MIKE.

  He sits upright, trying to get his breath back.

  SONNY BRAUTIGAN

  Mike?

  SONNY lumbers over, looking disheveled and puffy with sleep, his hair sticking up in the back.

  SONNY

  Man, I just had the most awful dream . . . this reporter . . .

  Now UPTON BELL joins them.

  UPTON

  On Main Street . . . talkin' about how everybody was gone . . .

  STORM OF THE CENTURY 235 He stops. He and SONNY look at each other in mutual amazement.

  SONNY

  Like in this little town in Virginia, a long time ago.

  MELINDA (voice)

  No one knew where they went . . . and in the dream, no one knew where we went.

  They look toward the draw curtains. MELINDA is standing there in her nightgown.

  MELINDA

  They're all dreaming it. Do you understand? They are all dreaming what we dreamed!

  She looks back toward:

  227 INTERIOR: THE SLEEPING AREA NIGHT.

  185

  The sleepers are in SLOW, TWISTY MOTION on their cots. They moan and protest without waking.

  228 INTERIOR: RESUME TV AREA.

  MELINDA But where could two hundred people disappear to?

  SONNY and UPTON shake their heads. TESS conies halfway down the stairs. Her hair is mussed; she still looks half asleep.

  TESS MARCHANT

  Especially on a little island, cut off by a big storm . . .

  MIKE gets up and snaps off the TV.

  MIKE

  Into the ocean.

  What?

  MELINDA (shocked)

  236 STEPHEN KING

  MIKE

  Into the ocean. Mass suicide. If we don't give him what he wants.

  SONNY

  How could he

  MIKE I don't know . . . but I think he can.

  MOLLY comes through the draw curtains, holding RALPHIE in her arms. RALPHIE is fast asleep, but she can't bear to let him go.

  MOLLY

  What does he want, though? Mike, what does he want?

  MIKE I'm sure we'll find out. When he's ready.

  229 EXTERIOR: THE LIGHTHOUSE NIGHT.

  The light swings around and around, briefly cutting through the DRIVING SNOW on each swing.

  In one of the shattered windows at the top, a SHAPE stands.

  THE CAMERA MOVES IN ON LINOGE, who stands looking out at the town with his hands behind his back. He has the air of a ruler surveying his kingdom. At last he turns away.

  230 INTERIOR: LIGHTHOUSE CONTROL ROOM NIGHT.

  LINOGE, little more than a shadow in the RED LIGHTS of the control panels, crosses the circular room and opens the door to the stairs. THE CAMERA MOVES IN on the computer screen we saw before. Marching down from the top, replacing the storm surge warning for the morning's high tide, is this message, repeated over and over: "GIVE ME WHAT I WANT."

  231 INTERIOR: THE LIGHTHOUSE STAIRCASE NIGHT.

  We're looking down this dizzying spiral at LINOGE, who is descending rapidly.

  186

  STORM OF THE CENTURY 237

  232 EXTERIOR: THE LIGHTHOUSE NIGHT.

  LINOGE comes out, wolfs head cane in hand, and moves off into the snow, headed God knows where to do God knows what mischief. We HOLD on the lighthouse, then FADE TO BLACK. THIS ENDS ACT 6.

  Act?

&nb
sp; 233 EXTERIOR: THE DOWNTOWN AREA MORNING.

  The snow is falling as fast and hard as ever. Buildings are half-buried. Power lines disappear into the snow. It looks like the newscast walk-and-ski we saw in the dreams, only with the storm still going on.

  234 EXTERIOR: THE TOWN HALL MORNING.

  The cupola with the memorial bell in it is almost buried, and the brick town hall building itself looks ghostly. The WIND HOWLS, unabated.

  235 INTERIOR: THE TOWN MEETING HALL MORNING.

  About half of the folks who took shelter in the town hall are here, sitting on the hard wooden benches with plates on their laps, eating pancakes and drinking juice. A kind of buffet has been set up at the back of the hall, with MRS. KINGSBURY (wearing a brilliant red hunter's cap with the bill turned around backward gangster-style) and TESS MARCHANT officiating. There's juice, coffee, and cold cereal in addition to the pancakes.

  The folks eating breakfast are very quiet . . . not sullen, but introspective and a little afraid. All the families with small children are up of course they are, wee folks rise and shine early and among them we see the HATCHERS and the ANDERSONS in a sleepy morning party of six. MIKE is feeding RALPHIE bites of pancake, and HATCH is doing about the same with PIPPA. The wives drink coffee and talk quietly.

  The side door OPENS, letting in a HOWL OF WIND, a SWIRL OF SNOW, and an excited JOHNNY

  HARRIMAN.

  JOHNNY

  Mike! Hey, Mikey! I never seen such a storm surge in my life! I think the lighthouse is gonna go!

  I really do!

  The ISLANDERS STIR and MURMUR. MIKE puts RALPHIE on 238

  STORM OF THE CENTURY 239

  MOLLY'S lap and gets up. HATCH gets up too, and so do most of the others.

  MIKE

  Folks, if you go out, stay close to the building! We've got whiteout conditions, remember!

  236 EXTERIOR: ANGLE ON THE HEADLAND AND THE LIGHTHOUSE MORNING.

  The tide is coming high, and huge waves pound the rocks. The headland is almost inundated with each one. The base of the lighthouse is drowned with each incoming surge of water. The lighthouse survived last night's high tide; it probably won't survive this one.

  237 EXTERIOR: THE SIDE OF THE TOWN HALL MORNING.

  187

  ISLANDERS spill out, CHATTERING, some buttoning their coats, some knotting scarves under their chins, some pulling up hoods and yanking down ski masks.

  238 INTERIOR: THE TOWN MEETING ROOM MORNING.

  The last of the people going out are just slipping through the easing clog at the side door. What's left in here are a few people who don't want to quit eating, plus SEVEN MOMMIES and ONE DADDY

  (JACK CARVER) coping with little kids who are exceedingly reluctant to be left out of the excitement.

  RALPHIE

  Mommy, please can't I go see?

  MOLLY exchanges a look with MELINDA it's exasperated and a-mused at the same time, a look that only the parents of preschool children know.

  PIPPA

  (picking up on it) Please, Mommy, please can't I?

  DON BEALS, meanwhile, is employing a more masterful approach with SANDRA.

  240 STEPHEN KING

  DON

  Put my coat on! I wanna go out! Hurry up, you slowpoke!

  MOLLY

  (to RALPHIE) Oh ... all right.

  (to MELINDA) Hey, I want to see, too.

  (to RALPHIE) Come on, Ralphie, let's find your coat.

  Most of the other parents LINDA ST. PIERRE, CARLA BRIGHT, JACK CARVER, JILL

  ROBICHAUX are doing the same. URSULA GODSOE, however, is resisting SALLY'S imploring.

  URSULA Mommy can't, honey she's too tired. I'm sorry.

  SALLY Daddy will take me . . . Where's Daddy?

  URSULA can't think of an answer and is on the verge of tears. The other ladies who overhear are melting with sympathy. SALLY doesn't know yet that her father is dead.

  JENNA FREEMAN I'll take you out, hon. If it's okay with your mom.

  URSULA nods gratefully.

  239 EXTERIOR: THE SIDE LAWN OF THE TOWN HALL MORNING.

  About seventy ISLAND RESIDENTS are clustered in a loose line, all standing with their backs to us, all looking toward the ocean. The PARENTS come from the side door, either carrying young, bundled-up children or leading them by the hand. They occasionally sink hip deep in the new snow and have to help each other out of the drifts. There is some LAUGHTER; the excitement has helped to stir them out of their post-dream introspection.

  In the foreground, the black barrel of a CANE comes down, burying itself in the snow.

  STORM OF THE CENTURY 241

  240 EXTERIOR: THE REAR OF THE TOWN HALL MORNING.

  188

  LINOGE is standing here, watching the townsfolk through the heavy snow. They don't see him, because their backs are turned.

  241 EXTERIOR: HEADLAND AND LIGHTHOUSE, FROM THE TOWN HALL'S POINT OF

  VIEW MORNING.

  From here, the lighthouse is almost obscured by the snow . . . from time to time it will be obscured . . . but right now we can see both it and the GIANT WAVES surging around it.

  242 EXTERIOR: MIKE AND HATCH MORNING.

  HATCH

  Is it gonna go, Mike?

  MOLLY and MELINDA, accompanied by RALPH and PIPPA, join their husbands. MIKE bends to pick up RALPHIE without taking his eyes off the lighthouse.

  MIKE I think it is.

  243 EXTERIOR: HEADLAND AND LIGHTHOUSE, FROM THE TOWN HALL'S POINT OF VIEW.

  A huge wave smacks the headland and surges around the lighthouse. Then the WIND HOWLS, the SNOW THICKENS, and the lighthouse is hardly there, only a dim white ghost in the swirling snow.

  244 INTERIOR: THE LIGHTHOUSE CONTROL ROOM.

  Water POURS IN through the shattered windows and inundates the electronic gear. Sparks fly; the computers SHORT OUT.

  245 EXTERIOR: HEADLAND AND LIGHTHOUSE, FROM THE TOWN HALL'S POINT OF VIEW.

  Except we really can't see much at all now except for a couple of houses and some ghostly trees down the hill from where the people stand. The snow has thickened and the wind is swirling it up, creating WHITE-OUT CONDITIONS.

  242 STEPHEN KING

  246 EXTERIOR: THE TOWNSFOLK, A PANNING SHOT MORNING.

  We see the little family groups and clusters of friends (SONNY and UPTON BELL are together; KIRK and his younger sister, JENNA accompanied by little SALLY GODSOE are standing near the BEALSES), but some folks stand a bit apart from the others. Behind them all, the snow provides a SHIFTING WHITE BACKDROP. The town hall itself is only a pink shadow.

  As we PAN:

  KIRK

  I can't see a thing!

  FERD ANDREWS

  It's a damn whiteout!

  DON BEALS Daddy, where's the lighthouse?

  ROBBIE (to DON) Wait for the wind to drop, honey.

  DON

  Make it drop now!

  189

  DAVEY HOPEWELL

  (to MRS. KINGSBURY) Look! There's the light, just coming around! It's still there!

  247 INTERIOR: LOOKING INTO THE WHITEOUT, FROM THE ISLANDERS' POINT OF

  VIEW MORNING.

  In all that swirling snow, the SEARCHLIGHT gleams fitfully, brightens, then revolves out of sight again. As it does, we begin to see the headland once more.

  248 EXTERIOR: RESUME PANNING TOWNSPEOPLE MORNING.

  HATCH

  It's lifting!

  STORM OF THE CENTURY 243

  MRS. KINGSBURY is standing to the left of the HOPEWELLS, her RED HUNTING CAP now turned around so the bill faces front. BRIGHT YELLOW GLOVES (LINOGE must have had another pair of them stashed somewhere) come out of the snow. One clamps over MRS. KINGSBURY'S mouth; the other grabs her by the neck. She is JERKED BACKWARD into the whiteout. The HOPEWELLS are quite close-by, but none of them see; they are peering into the snow as hard as they can.

  249 EXTERIOR: HEADLAND AND LIGHTHOUSE, FROM THE TOWN HALL'S POINT OF VIEW.

  A GIGANTIC WAVE smashes into the headland,
humps up, and CRASHES INTO THE LIGHTHOUSE.

  And now we can see it beginning to TILT.

  250 EXTERIOR: SONNY BRAUTIGAN AND UPTON BELL.

  SONNY

  She goin'! Holy God, she surely goin'!

  Near them is a MALE RESIDENT bundled up in a grease-stained parka with "ISLAND E-Z PUMP"

  written on the left breast. A SHAPE LINOGE looms behind him. It pauses for a second or two, and then the CANE comes down across MR. E-Z PUMP'S throat, gripped at either end by BRIGHT

  YELLOW GLOVES. MR. E-Z PUMP is yanked backward into the whiteout. Neither SONNY nor UPTON

  notice; they are thrilled by the destruction taking place below.

  251 EXTERIOR: THE WHITEOUT, LOOKING BACK TOWARD THE TOWN HALL.

  We see TWO BLACK SHAPES the soles of MR. E-Z PUMP'S boots. They float briefly in all that white, then disappear.