Proximity Muse

Still out in the hallway, Sam attempts to enter the crime scene and is stopped by Rickles. Sam orders Rickles to get out of the way, but Rickles refuses. Rickles tells Sam that James likes to view a scene alone, at least for a minute. He asks Sam how many cases Sam has solved. Sam doesn’t immediately answer and Rickles tells him it doesn’t matter. No matter how many cases he’s solved, James has solved more. In fact, James has the best record in the precinct for solving crimes. Unhappy, but willing to give James a minute, Sam agrees to wait.

Alone in the apartment, we find James standing in the brightest spot in the room, a sunbeam coming through a window. This begins a motif. James will always attempt to stand, sit or linger in the brightest spot in a scene. If no bright spot is apparent, he’ll attempt to create one before continuing with other activities. So, standing in the light, James views the body of the murder victim. The corpse is of a large, black man wearing pink flip-flops that was shot in the chest several times. The shadows are whispering in the background, stirring the gloom with their movements. Addressing the shadows directly for the first time, James asks if they know who was responsible. The shadows say no and so James tells them to find out.

Oozing out of corners, from under furniture and through cracks in the walls, the shadows pool around the dead body. As they gather in one place, they seem to drain the color from the room, leaving it lit a stark gray. Pouring in through the corpse’s eyes, mouth and nose, the shadows possess the body, turning its milky brown eyes, gray. Partially animated, the dead man speaks to James, his voice that of the dead man in life, mixed with the whisper of the shadows. From inside the body, the shadows are able to tell James the name of the murderer. As soon as he’s heard the name he’s after, James orders the shadows to get out of the corpse. Initially, they refuse, offering instead to make the corpse dance. James threatens the shadows with a magnesium flare and, displeased, the shadows exit the body. James asks the shadows about his missing brother, but they don’t answer.

About that time, the door to the apartment slams open as Sam struggles his way past Rickles and into the room. Sam and James have a minor altercation over James’ antics, that ends with James promising to be more cooperative in the future. As James walks Sam through what he’s learned, the two men hear raised voices in the hallway and James goes to investigate. Rickles and the Hispanic building super are having an argument about the crime scene and just as James enters the hallway, Rickles loses his temper and slams the super against the wall. James tells Rickles to take a hike and, prompted by information gained from the shadows, James confronts the tenement super with allegations of child abuse. Cowed, the super backs down, but James tells him to expect a visit from child services.

Back at home that evening, James and Althea argue over his refusal to push the shadows to tell him where Mike has gone. James tells her that the shadows won’t tell him about Mike and Althea suggests he should make them show him. James is hesitant about this course of action, expressing concern over what the shadows might do if he lets them inside to show him past events. Eventually Althea convinces him to give it a shot and he leaves.

So here’s the first bit of my treatment. I don’t think it’s too horrible to read. Feedback welcome on all of it, of course.

We begin in the past with a child version of our protagonist, James Voight, learning how to deal with the malign sentience of the shadows. The shadows desire human hosts to experience the pains and pleasures of the flesh, but they can only possess those that agree to serve them. To that end, they whisper ugly secrets and dark stories to James in an attempt to corrupt him. This plan backfires after the shadows tell him about his father’s extramarital adventures, and James discovers how to temporarily block the whispers out.

James’ communication with the shadows sets him apart from other kids his age, as seen by James playing alone on the playground at school. James learns the power of the shadows to incite aggression in the people that hear their whispers when he’s attacked by a pair of bullies. Alone and afraid, James sees the shadows moving behind the bullies and asks them to help him. The shadows respond by pushing him to answer violence with violence. He bites one bully on the leg and prepares to stab the other with a pencil when he’s saved from doing any serious harm to the bullies by the appearance of his brother, Mike. Seeming to enjoy himself, Mike chases the bullies off with mild physical and verbal attacks.  Later the same day, we learn that Mike claims not to believe in the shadows. He tells James that only crazy people hear voices. That night, though, we see Mike alone in his room, hiding from the whispers of the shadows by turning up the volume on his stereo headphones.

Here we flash 20 years forward to the present and find James asleep in bed with a woman. The apartment is lit up like the Fourth of July, in an apparent effort to keep the shadows at bay. The woman is introduced as Althea, his lover. Sitting down over breakfast with Althea, James talks briefly about his job, revealing the fact he is now a police detective, and looks at a newspaper. The paper is running a story about a missing police detective named Mike Voight. Althea presses James on Mike’s disappearance, and James’ flees the apartment, rather than talk about it, citing a need to meet up with his new partner. Althea is less than pleased with his behavior and reacts coldly as he goes.

James arrives at a rundown tenement building with his new partner, Sam Thompson, in tow. James and Sam are at the building to investigate a murder. In the hallway outside the murder scene James introduces Sam to Sgt. Rickles, a beat cop James is friendly with. Rickles points out Sam’s maple leaf tiepin, jokingly asking if Sam is Canadian. Sam replies that he’s a hockey fan and the pin represents his favorite team. As the three men are talking, forensics technicians begin leaving the crime scene and the last one out is Althea. In addition to being a tech, we also learn that Althea is the daughter of police Captain Leahy, James’ boss. James is called into the crime scene by Althea, who tells him that forensics hasn’t been able to find anything that might help solve the murder. She gives him a peck on the cheek and leaves.

Last month was the devil.

First I quit smoking. Yep, still not smoking. 1.5 months, zero cigarettes, no fatalities. I took Chantix to help me quit and it worked. It worked, but it made me crazy. I couldn’t concentrate for shit. One day it took me two hours to write a two page outline. No, that isn’t because I suck at outlines either, Mr. Smartypants. I just couldn’t concentrate. One of my professors actually asked me if I was on drugs. I told him yes. Apart from being twitchy and slightly irritable as part of the whole withdrawal thing, I also made the mistake of taking one of the pills on an empty stomach. Within an hour I felt like ass. I only did that once. So, after a week of the pill and not smoking, I was feeling a little odd. Then I started coughing.

I didn’t stop coughing for two weeks. A certain blackhearted Irishman gave me the Hamthrax. I was basically in a coma for four days. I’d wake up, move around (and whine) for about three hours, then be exhausted enough to sleep for another 10 hours. It was, as they say, the suck. Said swiney malady also put me behind in all my classes by a week and I’ve spent the last week and a half getting more or less caught up. Mostly. I still have around 50 pages of Nietzsche I need to read and a term paper to finish by the middle of next week.

But! I wanted to get back to posting, so here I am. And I have a plan.

I’ve decided that I’m going to post a page of my treatment a day for general perusal. Those folks what look at this site may comment on it if they choose. Serial content incoming!