HART & SOUL
(PILOT)

 

By Meredith Anderson

 

© Meredith Anderson 2008

3. INT. MORGUE (CRYPT). DAY

 

Cold and silent. The walls are lined with steel compartments. Three doors hang open. Each has its drawer pulled out, revealing a figure covered by a black plastic sheet. Dr Terry Brown leads Megan to the closest drawer. As he slowly lifts the sheet covering the corpse to be identified, Megan closes her eyes.

 

DR TERRY BROWN

Oh! I'm sorry. That's just Jed.

 

Megan opens her eyes to see a dark-haired man of about 20 years old, curled up, naked, on the drawer. Every so often, his chest rises and falls. He is very much alive.

 

Dr Terry Brown taps JARED 'JED' BURNS on the shoulder, startling him awake. Jed looks around in confusion for a moment. He sits upright on the drawer with the plastic sheet covering him from the waist down.

 

JED

Oh god, doc! Did I do it again?

 

DR TERRY BROWN

I'm afraid so, Jed. And it appears you've taken things a little further than is normal even for you.

 

JED

Hmmm?

 

DR TERRY BROWN

(flatly)

You're naked.

 

JED

Oh. Oh! I am. Yeah. I haven't done that in awhile!

 

DR TERRY BROWN

No, no, you haven't.

 

Jed notices Megan and grins at her.

 

JED

Oh, hi! I'm Jed. Jared Burns. Nice to meet you.

 

MEGAN

(uncertainly)

Hey. Nice to meet you too?

 

Jed winks at her.

 

DR TERRY BROWN

Quit making eyes at her, Jed. She's here to ID the girl.

 

He scratches his nose and walks closer to Jed.

 

DR TERRY BROWN (cont.)

Why don't you go clean up? Start by putting some clothes on and removing the embalming liquid from your face. You know that stuff is for the stiffs.

 

JED

Yeah, doc. Right away.

 

Jed ties the sheet that had been covering him around his waist and walks out. He enters a room halfway down the hall that is visible from the morgue and Dr Terry Brown walks to the next covered figure.

 

DR TERRY BROWN

Anyhow, I believe we were looking for your sister.

 

MEGAN

What was all that about? Does he work here?

 

DR TERRY BROWN

Ah, Jed. Yes, he's one of our finest.

 

Megan stares at Dr Terry Brown in shock.

 

MEGAN

He's stoned!

 

DR TERRY BROWN

Yes, I believe he is.

 

MEGAN

(concerned)

He didn’t do anything to Jayne, did he?

 

DR TERRY BROWN (cont.)

No, no. I’ve been taking care of Jayne. Jed, he's always worked better stoned. The one time that he's been here clear as day, he very nearly mutilated one of the bodies. Couldn't get a thing right. We haven't let him in to work not stoned since.

 

MEGAN

It doesn't concern you that one of your employees is always stoned?

 

DR TERRY BROWN

He'll have a shorter life, perhaps, but by then I'm sure I'll have found someone better to replace him with.

 

He leads her to another occupied drawer.

 

DR TERRY BROWN (cont.)

Good, good. Now, this is the one. Second time lucky.

 

He lifts the sheet to reveal another naked, very alive man of 20 or so years. This is JONAS BURNS.

 

DR TERRY BROWN

Jonas! Not you, too!

 

Jonas sits up on the drawer.

 

JONAS

You know, I think I'm starting to understand why Jed does this. It's quite uncomfortable and yet it's so very thrilling pretending to be dead.

 

Megan walks to the third and final drawer. She doesn’t even look at Jonas.

 

MEGAN

Third time lucky? There's not another one of you I should be expecting?

 

FADE OUT