Jekyll & Dad

SCENE OPENS on an over-the-shoulder tracking shot of Lucy, a 19-year-old teen, as she reads aloud from a Spanish book, talking to her friend Emma through a closed bathroom door. When Emma doesn't respond, she gets anxious and checks on her, seeing she's not there. She must've left the bathroom using the other door. We follow her in an extended tracking shot as she heads out into the hall and starts looking for her friend - first in the nearby bathroom where Emma was supposed to be, then when she finds it to be empty, she searches the various rooms of her house. She moves at a fast, worried pace, and quickens even more as she gets more and more panicked with each empty room she finds. Every so often, she calls out Emma's name with increasing panic and volume in her voice. Finally on the opposite end of the house outside another bathroom she finds her friend Emma -- who seems to be having a perfectly friendly chat with Lucy's step-dad, Mr. Edwards. They look up at her a bit in surprise as she comes stumbling in, looking a bit panicked and out of breath. She tries to play it cool, saying 'There you are!' to Emma with a feigned smile as she tries to calm herself down. Emma explains that they were out of toilet paper in the other bathroom so she went off looking for another bathroom, and she was just heading back when she ran into Lucy's dad and they started chatting. Emma gushes that 'I had no idea your step-dad's a policeman, Lucy, you never talk about him!' Lucy comes up with a lame excuse, while Mr. Edwards waves off Emma's interest in his line of work saying it's really no big deal, he just has always wanted to help people, and so on. Mr. Edwards comes off as mild-mannered and jovial as he talks, but Lucy seems in a hurry to bring Emma back to her room, saying they should get back to studying if they want any hope of doing well on their finals. Mr. Edwards suggests that Emma should stay for dinner, but Lucy interrupts saying Emma can't stay, she has piano lessons later. Mr. Edwards tells Emma that she's welcome if she changes her mind, or if she wants to come back after her lessons for a late night study session. He makes a mean pot of coffee! Emma graciously thanks him, while Lucy continues to come up with excuses and tries to subtly pull Emma out of the room. A bit flustered, Emma manages to say it was nice meeting him, before giving in to Lucy's shepherding tactics. Mr. Edwards calls out to the girls that it was a pleasure to meet her too. Once the girls are out of sight, Mr. Edwards' hand slowly balls up into a tight fist, trembling with rage. Without warning, he slams his fist against the nearby wall as the picture cuts to black in time with the THUD.

Uploaded: 2018.11.02
Released: 2018.10.30