House Call

[Outside of a small drugstore. A young blonde woman, Julianne Balfour exits her car, prescription note in hand, and walks through the nearly empty parking lot towards the front door. The door slides open, setting of the doorbell-like chime.
The young employee behind the counter briefly looks up from her tabloid magazine. Julianne smiles at her, but the employee doesn’t acknowledge her, and turns her attention back to the gossip rag.
Walking towards the back of the store, Julianne looks down the passing isles, and finds them void of life, sans for a portly Spanish man looking at greeting cards and lanky teenager browsing the energy drink cooler.
As she gets to the pharmacy in the back corner of the store, she steps up to the drop off counter, but finds no one. She sticks her head in the small opening, and looks left and right. As she pulls her head back through the window, she’s startled by a hand on her shoulder. She lets out a yelp, and turns around to see the pharmacist. He steps back, equally startled by her reaction.]

PHARMACIST

“I’m so sorry I startled you ma’am.”

JULIANNE

“No. No it’s…It’s fine.”

PHARMACIST

“I apologize for the wait. [Chuckles] I was, um, taking my smoke break.”

[As he walks behind the counter, he pulls a white lab coat off a hook and pulls it on over his champagne-colored dress shirt. While he logs into the computer, Julianne notices the man’s name tag. She can see that his first name is ‘Curtis’, but his lab coat covers most of his last name, leaving only a ‘St’ visible.
She notices that he’s a mouth-breather, and a loud one at that, his breathing clearly audible over the contemporary radio playing over the store’s P.A. system.]

PHARMACIST

“What can I help you with tonight?”

JULIANNE

“Um, I need to have this prescription filled.”

[She hands him the prescription order. He glances over it, and says as he types into his computer:]

PHARMACIST

“Sleeping pills, huh?"

[Unsure how to respond, Julianne utters a quite “Yep.”
After a moment of silence the pharmacist looks to her.]

PHARMACIST

“So when would you to pick these up?”

JULIANNE

“I’d like to have them tonight, if it’s possible.”

[The pharmacist glances at his wristwatch.]

PHARMACIST

“Well, we close at ten, [looks up at Julianne and smiles] but for you, I think I can have them ready by then.”

[Something about his smiles makes Julianne uncomfortable. She returns a somewhat awkward smile, and walks over to the plastic chair in the waiting area.
As time passes (via fade ins and fade outs), Julianne becomes increasingly bored. While checking updates from Facebook on her cell phone, she notices in her peripheral vision that the pharmacist is blatantly staring at her while he types at his computer. She tries to ignore it, but becomes even more uncomfortable. When she looks up to meet his gaze, he quickly leans back behind the computer screen. A moment later he disappears into the pharmacy.
After several more minutes (and fades), the P.A. system clicks on over the music.]

EMPLOYEE OVER P.A.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the store will be closing in five minutes. Please bring all purchases to the register for checkout.”

[Julianne stands up with a sigh of frustration, and walks over to the pharmacy counter. She leans over the counter and looks to the left, but doesn’t see the pharmacist. She turns her head to the right, and see’s the pharmacist standing over a table holding an orange pill bottle. She watches as he reads something off the bottles label, and writes it down on a scrap of paper. As he sets the pen down and starts towards the counter, Julianne leans back and waits for him to come.
As steps up to the counter, he enters some keystrokes into the computer. He then puts the same bottle he was reading in a bag and sets it on the counter in front of her.]

PHARMAICST

“Alright ma’am, that’ll be $34.16.”

[Julianne reaches into her purse for her debit card. She hands it to him, and he swipes the card. As he hands the card back, he gives Julianne the same uncomforting smile.]

PHARMACIST

“Alright, that’ll do it. Anything else tonight?”

JULIANNE

“No, that’s all.”

PHARMACIST

“Alrighty. Have a good night now.”

[Julianne walks away from the counter and out the front door. The employee from the front register locks the door behind her.
In the car, Julianne turns on the radio and pulls out of her space. As she passes by the front of the store, she notices someone that looks like the pharmacist out of the corner of her eye. She slows down and looks back, but the door is empty.]

[Flash to a city road. As Julianne pulls up to a stop light, a second car pulls up behind her. The second car stops in a position where its headlights reflect off her side view mirrors, and directly into her eyes. She pulls away, and eventually turns off the road she’s traveling on.
After a number of turns, she looks into the rearview mirror, and notices that the same car is following her every move. But as she turns onto her street, the second car continues on its way, giving Julianne some relief.]

[Inside her house. Julianne is upstairs in her bedroom. She comes out of the adjoined bathroom with a small glass of water. She takes two of the sleeping pills she bought at the pharmacy, and turns off the light as she gets into bed.]


[Later, in the middle of the night. Julianne is asleep in her bed, when a noise wakes her. She sits up in bed, and looks around in the pitch black room, but see’s nothing. She fumbles around to find the power switch on her table lamp before finally turning it on. She turns her head back towards the door, and is frozen in fear when she sees the pharmacist standing in her doorway.

He smiles at her, standing in the doorway to her bedroom with his hands in his front pockets. He steps inside and puts his hands on his hips. The top two buttons on his dress shirt are now open, revealing a white undershirt.]

PHARMACIST

“Well, I didn’t mean to disturb you. Just figured I’d stop in, see how those, uh, sleeping pills were workin’ out. [Chuckles] Looks like you could use a stronger dose.”

[As he talks, he removes his lab coat, and lays it over the arm of a chair in the corner of the room.]

PHARMACIST

“I see your sleeping alone.”

[At this point, he begins unbuttoning the wrist cuffs on his dress shirt and rolling the sleeves up to his elbows.]

“You know, having a companion in bed can help you sleep better. [Close up of his upper body] Why don't you and I test that theory?”

[Julianne tenses up in the bed. The pharmacist makes a move towards her and the bed, but she lunges off the bed and out the bedroom door. She runs down her hallway, with the pharmacist close behind. He grabs for the back of her shirt and gets a finger on the collar, but slips on the runner on the floor. She makes to the stairs, and descends them as fast as she can. The pharmacist recovers and bolts to the stairs, going down them two at a time.

Julianne makes it to the bottom of the stairs and into the living room. She heads for the door, but the pharmacist catches up to her and grabs her shoulders. He pulls her back towards him and wraps his arms around her, holding her next to him. Julianne screams in a vain attempt to get her neighbors attention. She struggles with all her strength to break free, but the pharmacist fights just as hard to keep her restrained.

The pharmacist manages to drag her to the couch and throws her down on it. He straddles her on the couch and grabs her wrists to keep her from fighting. Julianne continues to scream as she fights with the pharmacist. He maneuvers both Julianne’s wrists into one hand as she kicks and fights with him. With his now free second hand, he attempts to undo his pants. The sight of this causes Julianne to fight even more.]

PHARMACIST

“If you would just hold [grunts with effort from holding Julianne down] still, this would be over by now!”

[Julianne briefly manages to get her hands free, but the pharmacist quickly regains control. He manages to fumble his zipper open, and with his free hand grabs the waistband of Julianne’s pajama bottoms.]

PHARMACIST

[speech is broken by grunts and panting from struggle]

“You know, if you would stop fussing so much, you may…just…LIKE IT!”

[Immediately flash to the bedroom, where Julianne sits up in bed, panting and gasping, and covered in sweat, surrounded by complete darkness. She fumbles to turn on the table lamp. The light floods the room, and she quickly scans the room, but finds everything in order. She sighs in relief, and gets up and walks to the bathroom. She turns on the faucet and splashes some water on her face. She fills her glass with water and shuts off the water. She dries her face, and takes a drink. As she walks back into the bedroom, she freezes in the doorway when she sees a white lab coat folded over the arm of her chair.

End with shot of chair and lab coat.]