DEADLY ART © 2002 M.D. KOFFIN
THIS DRAFT IS FOR PREVIEWING PURPOSES ONLY. DO NOT COPY OR REDISTRIBUTE THIS MATERIAL WITHOUT THE AUTHOR'S EXPRESSED PERMISSION.

Issue #1: Dark Heart


PAGE ONE (1 panel)

Splash. Close up view of a puzzle that is being built. The incomplete picture is of a man and a woman in formal wedding attire. Only the lower half and partial right side of the man is put together. The unfinished space has several random puzzle pieces with unrecognizable patterns. The part that can be seen reveals he is dressed in a black tuxedo and his arm is linked with the woman’s. The woman is almost complete, dressed in a traditional flowing white gown and holding a crisp bouquet of white roses. Her reddish hair is done up under her veil. A gloved hand is suspended over the puzzle, holding the puzzle piece that is most of the woman’s wholesome and happily smiling face. The sleeve of shirt and jacket attached to the gloved hand look lacy and gothic. The hand belongs to an unseen person rambling on about fate.

1. Narration: WE MAKE AN INCALCULABLE NUMBER OF DECISIONS EVERY DAY.

2. WHETHER THESE DECISIONS SEEM OF EXTREME IMPORT,

3. OR MINUSCULE AND INSIGNIFICANT,

4. THEY DO HAVE SOME IMPACT UPON OUR LIVES.


PAGE TWO (5 panels)

Panel 1. View of a bedroom decorated with modern style bedroom furniture. A woman, Rachel Baker, is in the bed lying on her side sleeping. She is not the same woman as in puzzle picture. She is beautiful in the debutante/bitch sort of way. She is thin with shoulder length blond hair and is wearing a plain silk nightdress. Her night table with a telephone and answering machine is in the foreground.

1. Narration: AND INADVERTENTLY, OR BY DESIGN,

2. Phone: RRIINNG…

Panel 2. Close up of the woman’s face as she wakes and opens one eye, looking at the telephone.

3. Narration: THE CHOICES WE MAKE INFLUENCE THE LIVES OF OTHERS AS WELL.

4. Phone: RRIINNG, RRIINNG…


Panel 3. She picks up the telephone and loosely holds it to her head without otherwise moving. Her eyes are closed as she answers sleepily.

5. Narration: WHETHER MEASURABLE OR UNSEEN,

6. Rachel: HULLO?


Panel 4. Hearing a strange voice, Rachel rolls onto her back. Her eyes are half-open as she listens.

7. Phone: GOOD MORNING DOCTOR, YOU’VE GOT A BIG DAY AHEAD OF YOU.

8. Narration: THE INTERACTIONS OF OUR EXISTENCE INTERWEAVE OUR LIVES


Panel 5. She runs her free hand through her hair, still half asleep and lazily holding the phone.

9. Narration: LIKE THE MYTHICAL THREADS OF AN ELABORATE TAPESTRY,

10. Rachel: WHO’SIS?



PAGE THREE (5 panels)

Panel 1. Rachel’s eyes open fully as the strange voice continues to talk with a childlike riddle.

1. Narration: OR LIKE THE PIECES OF A PUZZLE.

2. Phone: LIZZY BORDNER TOOK AN AX,
AND GAVE HER HUSBAND FORTY WHACKS.
TRY TO CONVICT HER OF MURDER ONE,
SHE’LL CLAIM HER MIND HAS COME UNDONE.

Panel 2. She sits up, fully awake now, gripping the phone tighter to her head, her expression looks serious.

3. Rachel: WHO IS THIS?

Panel 3. She pulls her bed sheet up to her neck in response to the voice’s creepy warning.

4. Phone: WHEN YOU KNOW MORE, I’LL BE IN TOUCH. CLICK.

Panel 4. She looks at the handset of the telephone, a completely baffled expression on her face.

5. Narration: ONLY NO ONE KNOWS WHAT THE FINAL PICTURE WILL BE.

Panel 5. She hangs up the phone and sits on the edge of the bed with her hand still on the phone.

6. Rachel: SIGH.


PAGE FOUR (4 panels)

Panel 1. View of a gold BMW pulled up before a security hut. The hut is connected to a large entrance gate. The gate is painted black iron with flowery but vicious looking spikes on the top. The iron bars toward the top center form a stylish monogram of the letter ‘W’. The gate is connected to an imposing stone wall with Constantine wire strung across the top. A dated plaque on the stone wall reads ‘1689’. The wall encloses a sprawling, well-manicured landscape. The sky is dark with rain clouds, even though it is only early morning. The driver of the BMW is holding out an ID badge while an armed security guard checks a clipboard. There are two more security guards in the hut.

1. Narration: TIMBERLAKE INSTITUTE OF BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH.

2. UPSTATE NEW YORK.

Panel 2. View of the inside of an office. The walls are wood paneled and the windows have wire mesh glass with bars on the outside. Dr. Allan Fluharty is an older, balding man with nervous and rushed mannerisms. He is sitting at his desk holding a stack of file folders. His desk is covered with similar thick folders and various stacks of papers with no apparent organization. He is wearing a white lab coat with a picture ID clipped to the pocket. Rachel is sitting across from him, smiling and confident in a nice business suit. Her hair is pulled back neatly in a French braid.

3. Fluharty: I’M SORRY THERE’S NO TIME TO BREAK YOU IN SLOWLY, RACHEL.

Panel 3. Dr. Fluharty hands her the stack of folders with one hand and searches through papers on his desk with the other.

4. Fluharty: WE’RE SO UNDERSTAFFED, WE HAVE SEVERAL APPOINTMENTS LINED UP FOR YOU ALREADY.

Panel 4. Rachel starts looking through the folders as Dr. Fluharty picks an ID clipped to a set of keys out from under a pile of papers on his desk.

5. Rachel: A BUSY SCHEDULE IS JUST WHAT I’M LOOKING FOR.


PAGE FIVE (6 panels)

Panel 1. Holding the ID and keys, Dr. Fluharty leans back in his chair. He regards Rachel with a measuring look.

1. Fluharty: GOOD. YOU’LL DEFINITELY GET THAT,

2. AND THEN SOME.

Panel 2. Rachel opens one file with a surprised look. There is a photograph in the file of the same woman as in the wedding puzzle.

3. Rachel: LISBETH ANN BORDNER?

Panel 3. Dr. Fluharty suddenly looks uncomfortable. He avoids making eye contact with Rachel as he explains the assignment.

4. Fluharty: YES. DR. ROCKLAW THOUGHT IT BEST THAT YOU BE GIVEN CASES FROM OUR LATEST ARRIVALS.

Panel 4. Rachel begins flipping through the pages of the file, skimming over what looks like a police report.

5. Rachel (thought): I BET YOU WERE REAL DISAPPOINTED THAT YOU DIDN’T GET THIS ONE.

Panel 5. Dr. Fluharty makes an obvious change of subject by standing up and gesturing towards his office door.

6. Fluharty: SHALL I SHOW YOU TO YOUR OFFICE?

Panel 6. She closes the file. Dr. Fluharty hands her her ID as he is opening his office door.

7. Fluharty: I’M SURE YOU’RE EAGER TO GET STARTED.


PAGE SIX (5 panels)

Panel 1. View of the hallway as Dr. Fluharty locks the door to his office. Rachel is holding her files under one arm as she clips her ID to the lapel of her suit. A janitor is behind her, backing up with a full mop bucket.

1. Fluharty: I MUST APOLOGIZE FOR THE DIRECTOR’S ABSENCE. HE IS ATTENDING A SEMINAR IN EUROPE WITH DR WOOD.

Panel 2. The janitor bumps into Rachel. Her files scatter on the floor and muddy water sloshes over the lip of his mop bucket. Everyone looks surprised.

2. Fluharty: WATCH OUT!

3. SFX (BUCKET) SPLOSH

Panel 3. Both Rachel and the janitor bend down to pick up her files as Dr. Fluharty looks on with an angry expression. The janitor is an old Hispanic man. The name label on his uniform reads ‘Henry’.

4. Fluharty: YOU CLUMSY IDIOT.

5. Rachel: IT’S ALL RIGHT.

Panel 4. Henry looks with surprise at the file on top of the stack he is collecting as Rachel reaches to take them out of his hands and add them to her own.

6. Henry: LIZZY BORDNER? WHY THEY’D BRING HER TO THIS HOSPITAL WITH ITS REPUTATION…

7. Fluharty: THAT’S ENOUGH. CLEAN UP THIS MESS NOW.

Panel 5. Dr. Fluharty takes Rachel by the elbow and steers her away from the janitor who is holding his mop and scratching his head.

8. Fluharty: THIS WAY, DR BAKER.


PAGE SEVEN (4 panels)

Panel 1. Rachel is trying to even out the stray papers and files in her hands as Dr. Fluharty rushes her along. The janitor begins mopping up the spilled water.

1. Rachel: WHAT DID HE MEAN, DR. FLUHARTY?

2. Fluharty: EVERY INSTITUTION HAS ITS SHARE OF RUMORS.

3. Narration: WHAT HOSPITAL WOULD BE COMPLETE

Panel 2. They stop in front of an office door similar to the one they just left. Dr. Fluharty unlocks the door with the keys.

4. Narration: WITHOUT A FEW SKELETONS IN THE CLOSET

5. Fluharty: YOU’D PROBABLY DO BEST TO AVOID THE GOSSIP.

6. Rachel: I ALREADY HAD A MEMBER OF THE PRESS CALL ME THIS MORNING.

Panel 3. Dr. Fluharty lets the office door swing open and he hands Rachel the keys. She grabs them precariously from under her disheveled files.

7. Fluharty: I AM NOT SURPRISED.

8. HERE YOU ARE.

Panel 4. As they enter the office, the only light is from the hallway. The first noticeable thing is a dead body hanging from the ceiling facing away from them. Rachel is startled but Dr. Fluharty seems oblivious as he reaches for the light switch.

9. Narration: OR CORPSES.

10. Rachel: OH!

11. Fluharty: I KNOW, IT’S A MESS.


PAGE EIGHT (8 panels)

Panel 1. Dr. Fluharty flips the switch. What looked like a body is revealed in the light to be just a lab coat. The coat is draped over a lamp that hangs from the high ceiling. The room is austere with metal chairs and a scratched up desk. It looks more like a Nazi interrogation chamber than a psychiatrist’s office. The walls are painted cinder blocks with no windows. There is a camera mounted in one corner. There is a cut off water jug on the floor, catching a steady leak from the ceiling. Murky water fills just the bottom of the jug. There is a light coat of dust on everything.

1. Fluharty: THE DIRECTOR REQUESTED THAT THE JANITORS CLEAN UP THIS OFFICE FOR YOU BUT THEY MUST NOT HAVE GOTTEN AROUND TO IT.

Panel 2. Rachel sets the files and keys on the desk as Dr. Fluharty looks around with obvious distaste. She is too busy recovering from the imagined shock to be disappointed at the accommodations.

2. Fluharty: I’LL SEE TO IT THAT THEY CLEAN IT TODAY.

3. Rachel: FINE.

Panel 3. Rachel takes down the coat as Dr. Fluharty heads for the door. She is still a little shaken.

4. Rachel (thought): JUST AN OVERACTIVE IMAGINATION.

Panel 4. Rachel uses the bundled up coat to wipe the dust off her chair. Dr. Fluharty is standing in the doorway with his hand on the knob.

5. Fluharty: WELL, MAKE YOURSELF AT HOME.

6. I’LL HAVE YOUR FIRST PATIENT BROUGHT IN.

Panel 5. She sits in the chair and tosses the lab coat on the floor as Dr. Fluharty closes the door.

7. Rachel: FINE.

Panel 6. She picks up a handful of files with one hand and reaches down to open a side drawer in the desk with the other. She nervously laughs at herself.

8. Rachel: FINE. FINE. FINE.

Panel 7. She opens the drawer and there is a dead rat in it.

Panel 8. Rachel has a look of absolute disgust on her face.

9. Rachel: NOW THAT’S JUST LOVELY.


PAGE NINE (4 panels)

Panel 1. View of Lizzy Bordner handcuffed to a metal chair in Dr. Baker’s office. There are two large orderlies behind her dressed in green hospital scrubs. Henry is painting the far wall with a paint roller. Lizzy is wearing a prison uniform and looks tired and emaciated, not at all like her wedding photo. She has dark circles under her eyes and a listless drugged expression. Her red hair is cut short and looks unkempt.

1. Narration: LISBETH ANN BORDNER.

Panel 2. Rachel walks in through the door with a cup of coffee. She tells the orderlies and janitor to leave. She is not as neat and crisp looking as she was in the morning. Her suit has slight wrinkles and her hair has a couple strands out of place. The water in the cut off jug is now almost full to the top. Lizzy does not look up.

2. Rachel: YOU CAN GO NOW.

Panel 3. Rachel sits in her chair. Lizzy still does not look up, leaning towards the side of her chair that she is cuffed to. Henry and the orderlies leave.

3. (to Henry) YOU CAN FINISH UP LATER.

4. Lizzy: YOU SHOULDN’T DRINK THAT STUFF.

Panel 4. Rachel places her mug on the desk, next to Lizzy’s open file with the police photo staring out. There is a tape recorder on the desk.

5. Rachel: WHY NOT?


PAGE TEN (4 panels)

Panel 1. Rachel leans back in her chair with Lizzy’s file. She is the perfect master of clinical detachment.

1. Lizzy: THE CHEMICALS IN IT MESS WITH YOUR BRAIN.

Panel 2. Lizzy’s expression looks clear for a moment. She looks up and steeples her fingers, imitating Rachel’s stuffy demeanor. The handcuffs jangle with the movement.

2. SFX (CUFFS): CLINK

3. Lizzy: TELL ME WHY YOU’RE HERE.

Panel 3. Rachel answers seriously, putting down Lizzy’s file on the desk. Lizzy sits back listlessly again.

4. Rachel: I’M HERE TO HELP YOU.

Panel 4. Lizzy does not look up as Rachel presses the record button on the tape recorder.

5. Rachel: DO YOU KNOW WHY YOU ARE HERE?

6. Lizzy: I WAS RAPED BY A DEMON.


PAGE ELEVEN (4 panels)

Panel 1. Lizzy leans forward in her chair, nervous but sincere. Her handcuffs jangle again.

1. SFX (CUFFS): CLI-CLINK

2. Lizzy: OH, I SEE THE LOOK ON YOUR FACE. I DON’T MEAN IN THE LITERAL OR CONVENTIONAL SENSE.

Panel 2. Lizzy’s brow furrows with concentration. She looks confused, like she is trying hard to remember something.

3. Lizzy: I THINK…I HAD THIS DREAM.

Panel 3. Rachel lights up a cigarette, while she prompts Lizzy to continue. Her zippo flashes with the motion.

4. Rachel: GO AHEAD.

Panel 4. Rachel leans back with a note pad and pen. She looks bored, like she could care less what Lizzy has to say.

5. Rachel: I’M LISTENING.


PAGE TWELVE (4 panels)

Panel 1. View of a ghost town landscape. It looks like a movie set of the old west, with reddish desert skies and quickly flowing storm clouds in the sky. Throughout the dream the clouds continually roll, vague ghostly faces form, twist out of shape, and disappear. There is a girl with long red hair walking away down the center of the ghost town dirt road. She is barefoot and wearing a typical dreamlike gauzy white night dress. Lizzy’s voice turns into the narration.

1. Narration: I’M IN A KIND OF GHOST TOWN.

2. THERE ARE FLICKERING IMAGES, AND I HAVE THE SENSATION OF BEING WATCHED.

3. NOTHING…SEEMS SOLID.

Panel 2. The girl turns around. It is Lizzy but healthier and younger looking. She has a look of innocent surprise on her face.

4. Narration: I TURN AROUND AND THERE IS A NAKED MAN SITTING AT A TABLE WITH A GUN.

Panel 3. There is a naked man sitting at a round wooden table. The table has a pentagram engraved on it and the man is cleaning a revolver. He is muscular and handsome, even though he is bald and hairless. His eyes are glowing red and he does not move his lips when he talks.

5. Narration: HIS EYES ARE GLOWING RED AND HE SPEAKS WITHOUT MOVING HIS MOUTH.

6. Demon: GLAD YOU COULD MAKE IT.

Panel 4. Dream Lizzy sits on a chair opposite the demon. The chair is more like a stool that floats without legs.

7. Narration: I KNOW WHO HE IS

8. BUT A DARE NOT SPEAK HIS NAME.


PAGE THIRTEEN (7 panels)

Panel 1. The demon starts loading the revolver, without looking down at it. He is still watching dream Lizzy.

1. Narration: HE STARTS LOADING THE REVOLVER.

2. Demon: YOU ARE UNHAPPY WITH YOUR LIFE,

3. SFX (GUN): CLACK

Panel 2. Close up on demon’s hands as he continues to load the revolver, methodically putting a round in each chamber.

4. Demon: YET YOU ARE UNABLE TO REMOVE THE RESTRICTIONS YOU HAVE PLACED ON YOURSELF.

5. SFX (GUN): CLACK

Panel 3. Demon’s hands, another bullet.

6. Demon: YOU ARE UNABLE TO FULFILL YOUR DREAMS,

7. SFX (GUN): CLACK

Panel 4. Demon’s hands, another bullet.

8. Demon: YET YOU ARE UNWILLING TO GIVE UP THE CHALLENGE.

9. SFX (GUN): CLACK

Panel 5. View of Lizzy’s mesmerized face as she watches the demon loading the revolver and answers dreamily.

10. Lizzy: NOTHING EVER TURNS OUT THE WAY I EXPECT IT TO.

11. SFX (GUN): CLACK

Panel 6. Lizzy’s face.

12. Lizzy: I KEEP HOPING THINGS WILL GET BETTER,

13. SFX (GUN): CLACK

Panel 7. The demon slams the revolver shut, Dream Lizzy is hypnotically transfixed on the demon’s motions.

14. Lizzy: BUT EVERY DAY IT GETS HARDER.

15. SFX (GUN): SNAP


PAGE FOURTEEN (5 panels)

Panel 1. The demon spins the chambers. Dream Lizzy continues to sit motionlessly opposite the demon.

1. SFX (GUN): WHIRR

2. Demon: TSK, TSK. POOR SOUL. WITHOUT A GLIMMER OF SALVATION.

Panel 2. The demon points the revolver at his head and Dream Lizzy still does not react to his actions.

3. Narration: I KNOW THERE IS A ROUND IN EVERY CHAMBER,

4. BUT I JUST WATCH WITH SICK FASCINATION AS HE POINTS THE GUN AT HIS HEAD.

Panel 3. The hammer pulls back and springs forward as the demon squeezes the trigger.

5. SFX (GUN): BANG

Panel 4. Dream Lizzy finally reacts with a flinch, as if suddenly released from a trance.

Panel 5. A wisp of smoke escapes the barrel of the gun and forms a small ghostly moaning face.

6. Demon: NO HARM DONE.


PAGE FIFTEEN (5 panels)

Panel 1. The demon slides the revolver across the table with a scrape of metal on wood.

1. SFX (GUN): SCRAAPE

Panel 2. Lizzy stares with horror at the revolver sitting on the table in front of her, like it is some kind of poisonous animal.

2. Narration: HE TRIES TO GIVE ME THE GUN, BUT I WON’T TAKE IT.

Panel 3. The gun lifts off the table and starts spinning in the air in between the demon and dream Lizzy.

3. Demon: THEY ARE MAGIC BULLETS.

Panel 4. Dream Lizzy cringes back away from the animated gun and blocks her face with her hands.

4. Demon: ALL OF YOUR DEEPEST DESIRES WILL COME TRUE.

Panel 5. The revolver flies into dream Lizzy’s hand while the demon continues to talk to her with a patronizing smile on his face.

5. Demon: BUT, OF COURSE, A PRICE MUST BE PAID.


PAGE SIXTEEN (7 panels)

Panel 1. Dream Lizzy looks down at the revolver in her hand, now still, with dazed surprise.

1. Narration: I FEEL FEVERISH AND CONFUSED.

Panel 2. Dream Lizzy raises the revolver in front of her. Her face is flushed and she is beginning to sweat.

2. Narration: THE METAL FEELS COOL AND SMOOTH IN MY HAND.

Panel 3. She closes her eyes and sensuously rolls the revolver around on her face like it is an ice pack.

3. Narration: I PUT THE GUN TO MY FOREHEAD LIKE YOU WOULD A COLD CAN OF SODA ON A HOT DAY.

Panel 4. She tilts the revolver and points it at her temple, mimicking the way the demon did it, except that her eyes are closed.

4. Narration: I SURPRISE MYSELF BY PULLING THE TRIGGER,

5. SFX (GUN): BANG

Panel 5. Her head tilts to the side, as if reacting to the impact of a real bullet, but there is no blood or gore. Another weeping ghost face leaks from the barrel.

6. Narration: EVEN THOUGH I KNEW ALL ALONG THAT I WAS GOING TO DO IT.

Panel 6. View from behind dream Lizzy as she slumps forward. The demon opens his mouth and it is glowing the same as his eyes, like there is nothing inside him except for a hot furnace.

7. Narration: IT HURTS AND I’M GLAD.

Panel 7. Back inside the doctor’s office, view from behind handcuffed Lizzy slumped forward in her chair. The doctor is sitting across from her behind her desk still smoking her cigarette. The smoke makes strange patterns in the air and the end glows similar to the demon’s mouth. The scene parallels the dream sequence Lizzy, demon, and table.

8. Lizzy: THE PAIN IS EUPHORIC.


PAGE SEVENTEEN (4 panels)

Panel 1. Back in the dream world, dream Lizzy’s entire body breaks apart into amorphous beads like liquid mercury, which begin flowing into the demon’s open mouth.

1. Narration: HE TAKES ME IN,

2. RIPPING APART MY ATOMS

3. SHREDDING AND TASTING EVERY PARTICLE OF MY BEING.

4. THE ECSTASY IS EXCRUCIATING.

Panel 2. End of dream sequence, back in the doctor’s office. Lizzy is standing up and gesturing, as if reenacting her dream, but still handcuffed to the chair.

5. Lizzy: MY CONSCIOUSNESS STARTS TO STRIP AWAY AND I’M AWARE OF MYSELF ON MY MOST BASEST LEVEL.

Panel 3. Lizzy looks down at her chest as if seeing through the flesh to her own actual heart.

6. Lizzy: NO ONE SHOULD EVER SEE WHAT LIES IN THE CENTER OF THEIR DARK HEART.

Panel 4. Lizzy puts her free hand over her heart, gripping her flimsy prison outfit. Her expression looks sad.

7. Lizzy: IT’S PURE

8. AND CORRUPTED.


PAGE EIGHTEEN (6 panels)

Panel 1. View of corridor outside Rachel’s office. She is standing outside, leaning with her back against the door and one hand on the knob. Her other arm has a file under it and she is holding the tape from her tape machine. She is looking down at it with a thoughtful expression on her face.

1. Narration: I STRUGGLE TO WAKE UP BUT I CAN’T.

Panel 2. Front view of Rachel leaning against her office door, suddenly surprised out of her thoughts by a police detective, Jack Drake. He is attractive but determined looking, just a tall, dark, and serious jock type.

2. Narration: NOW THE NIGHTMARE NEVER ENDS.

3. Drake: SO IS SHE COMPETENT TO STAND TRIAL?

Panel 3. The police detective holds up his badge in front of Rachel’s face, looking with unabashed curiosity at the file under her arm.

4. Rachel: DETECTIVE DRAKE.

Panel 4. Drake holds out his hand to shake, while he is putting away his badge with his other hand.

5. Drake: JACK.

Panel 5. Rachel begins impatiently walking away down the corridor. Drake hurries to follow her.

6. Drake: WELL?

7. Rachel: I ASSUME YOU’RE REFERRING TO LISBETH BORDNER.

Panel 6. Rachel goes through a set of swinging double doors and Drake continues to follow her.

8. Drake: OF COURSE.

9. Rachel: I HAVEN’T MADE THAT DETERMINATION YET.


PAGE NINETEEN (7 panels)

Panel 1. Drake jumps in front of Rachel to stop her in her near running pace down the corridor.

1. Drake: C’MON DOCTOR. SHE KNOWS WHAT SHE DID AND THAT IT WAS WRONG.

Panel 2. Rachel impatiently tosses her hair back out of her face as she stands there and Drake continues to badger her.

2. Rachel: OPEN AND SHUT?

3. Drake: OPEN AND SHUT.

Panel 3. Rachel pushes her way past the detective and begins walking again. Drake does not follow her this time.

4. Rachel: I’M GOING HOME, DETECTIVE.

5. Drake: JUST YES OR NO.

Panel 4. Rachel stops in front of another set of double doors. She crosses her arms as she gives Drake a small lecture, but still does not answer his question to his satisfaction.

6. Rachel: PEOPLE LIVE UNDER FASCADES ALL THE TIME. THEY MAY FUNCTION IN SOCIETY BUT BE DEEPLY DISTURBED UNDER THE SURFACE.

7. Drake: NOTHING THAT A HYPODERMIC NEEDLE FULL OF POISON WON’T CURE.

Panel 5. Rachel rolls her eyes as she turns to go through the double doors and Drake calls after her.

8. Drake: LET ME GUESS, SHE’S CLAIMING THE DEVIL MADE HER DO IT.

9. Rachel: GOOD DAY, DETECTIVE.

Panel 6. The double doors close behind Rachel. Drake turns away and shakes his head, cursing to himself.

10. Drake: DAMN DOCTORS.

Panel 7. On the other side of the double doors, Rachel, not hearing Drake, unknowingly echoes his sentiment.

11. Rachel: STUPID COPS.


PAGE TWENTY (6 panels)

Panel 1. View of the inside of a classic diner. It has typical restaurant style booths with the olden style counter and grill, and there is a piano in one corner. Rachel is sitting in one of the booths near the front windows. Out of the windows is a nighttime view of the rain slick city street. In the booth facing hers, a man is sitting alone. He is facing away from her but a partial reflection is visible in the window glass. Rachel is staring at his reflection, which hazily resembles the demon from Lizzy’s dream. A waitress in a typical diner waitress uniform with apron is approaching Rachel’s booth with a pot of coffee.

1. Narration: FINGER CAFÉ. HOBOKEN.

Panel 2. The waitress, Deb, begins pouring coffee in the mug in front of her. Rachel does not look up at the waitress because she is still concentrating on making out the features of the strange man’s reflection.

2. Deb: ARE YOU READY TO ORDER?

3. Rachel: JUST THE COFFEE.

Panel 3. Deb spills the coffee as she is reaching for the finger bowl filled with opened half and half creamers.

4. Deb: LET ME GET YOU SOME MORE…DAMN!

Panel 4. The spilled coffee on the table looks like a spreading puddle of blood, the finger bowl of opened creamers that the waitress is holding looks like a bowl of eyeballs.

5. Deb: I’VE MADE SUCH A MESS.

Panel 5. Rachel holds up her hand with some of the tacky blood dripping off of her fingers.

6. Rachel (thought): BLOOD?

7. Deb: NOTHING EVER TURNS OUT THE WAY I EXPECT IT TO…

Panel 6. Catching the familiarity of the phrase, Rachel looks up at the waitress for the first time. The waitress looks just like crazed Lizzy.


PAGE TWENTY-ONE (6 panels)

Panel 1. Rachel closes her eyes and puts her hand to her forehead. The waitress touches her arm with concern.

1. Deb: I’M SORRY. IT’S MY FIRST DAY.

Panel 2. Rachel looks up hesitantly at the waitress. She looks nothing like Lizzy except for stray wisps of hair sticking out from her pulled back hair, and her looking very tired. She is just a middle aged Korean woman with black hair pulled back untidily from her face.

2. Deb: I’LL CLEAN IT UP RIGHT AWAY.

3. OH, I GOT SOME ON YOU.

Panel 3. Rachel tries to act calm like nothing unusual happened as she stands up looking down at the stain on her suit. The spill on the table now looks thin and liquidy like coffee. The waitress is trying to wipe up the spill with a towel as she points behind herself towards the counter.

4. Rachel: IT’S ALL RIGHT. WHERE’S YOUR BATHROOM.

5. Deb: RIGHT OVER THERE, TO THE LEFT.

Panel 4. Rachel walks calmly toward the bathroom, avoiding looking at the man in the booth next to hers.

Panel 5. She reaches the bathroom door, and as she opens it she cannot resist looking back at the man. He looks like the demon from Lizzy’s description. In front of him is a disgusting looking plate of what appears to be a human heart, entrails, and fingers.

6. Narration: “THE GATES OF HELL ARE OPEN NIGHT AND DAY”

Panel 6. Rachel stumbles through the bathroom door with a hand over her mouth, looking like she is going to throw up.

7. SFX (Rachel): ooulgh…


PAGE TWENTY-TWO (6 panels)

Panel 1. Rear view of Rachel standing in front of a sink. Her reflection in the mirror shows she has water droplets on her face. She opens a prescription bottle and shakes a couple of pills out onto her hand.

1. Narration: “SMOOTH THE DESCENT, AND EASY THE WAY”

Panel 2. She leans over the sink and cups water in her hand directly from the tap to wash down the pills.

Panel 3. She comes out of the bathroom slowly. The man in the booth next to hers looks like a normal young man in a white T-shirt with Caesar cut hair. He is eating a normal looking sandwich. The other half of the sandwich, fries, and deli pickles fill the plate in the same pattern as the body parts had.

2. Narration: “BUT TO RETURN AND VIEW THE CHEERFUL SKIES”

Panel 4. Rachel puts a couple of dollars on her table with the fresh mug of coffee and bowl of new creamers.

Panel 5. Rachel leaves. The waitress is busy behind the counter and no one else notices.

Panel 6. Back to the gloved puzzle builder from the first page. The gloved hands are now holding a newspaper, The World Register, over the still incomplete puzzle. The newspaper has a story about Lizzy on the front page. There is the police photo of her next to a poor quality shot of her husband. He has shoulder length black hair and a mustache, and is changing the tire of a beat up Toyota pick-up. He is very hick/white trash looking. The headlines read ‘Murderess to Stand Trial’ right next to puff pieces about male hair regrowth titled ‘Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow’ and a picture of a giant tomato titled ‘Now That’s a Big Tomata’.

3. Narration: “IN THIS TASK, MIGHTY LABOR LIES” *Dryden

Next issue: Revelation

DEADLY ART © 2002 M.D. KOFFIN
THIS DRAFT IS FOR PREVIEWING PURPOSES ONLY. DO NOT COPY OR REDISTRIBUTE THIS MATERIAL WITHOUT THE AUTHOR'S EXPRESSED PERMISSION.