S1, E4 | Thirteen Years

“You’re awake early” Beth whispers from the end of the hallway, her hand held over one side of her face, refusing to allow her skin to be soaked in the light of the television screen. “Yeah, I should have warned you that I do that often” Avon replies, pouring a second cup of coffee for the woman, who now enters the kitchen, only a silky robe dawns over her shirtless chest and pajama pant-clad legs.

“It’s fine, I just didn’t expect it” Beth responds, graciously accepting the drink before leaning her back against the countertop, standing beside Avon, who stares toward the television monitor. Displayed on the screen, a local news reporter stands outside the King residence, a mob of people calling for the inhabitants to be locked away for the crimes they are innocent of.

“It’s nothing to worry about” Beth mutters, the man having nearly ignored her statement of reassurance, eyes tumbling away from the television and onto Beth. “They’ll stop after a few days, and things will go back to normal” Beth continues, Avon shaking his head in denial, approaching the television set. “What normal are we talking about exactly?” Avon replies, placing his mug against the surface of a glass coffee table.

“From my perspective, normal means everyone in the town silently hating me for being a writer and living in Remedy” Avon responds, eyes looking back to the television for a moment, “it’ll just be less upfront than this.” Head tilting to the side, Beth places her cup atop the counter, walking up to the man before telling him to look at her.

“You’ll take your lumps just like everyone else does in this town” Beth remarks, “once you find your footing, things will start to change, regardless of how they started.” With a sigh, Avon nods, taking a seat in the reclining chair beside the table and looking toward the television once more, those in the streets beginning to break out into a cheer. “Get out of Remedy!” the people shout, as if their unified voices weren’t audible enough, the cheer is clarified by the reporter on the ground.

“I have a hard time seeing the future when my present consists of this” Avon replies, arms resting against the sides of the seat as Beth takes a spot on the open couch. “Well for every instance of that” Beth says, sporting a wide smile with her finger pointed toward herself, “you’ll have an instance of this.”

With a nod, Avon gives Beth the credit where it is due, his eyes returning to the television set in front of him, his eyes going from nonchalant onlooker to intrigued viewer. His eyelids narrowing, Avon gradually leans forward in his chair as his eyes fall upon the picture of the crowd, the corner of his screen sporting an icon very similar to one Avon’s become haunted by.

“You know everyone in town, right?” Avon asks Beth suddenly, the woman becoming confused and concerned, answering in kind. “Some better than others, but yeah I do” Beth responds, watching Avon’s hand leave the side of the chair and extend outwards, a single finger raised toward the screen. “Who does the guy in the corner look like? The guy in the black sweatshirt?” Avon asks, Beth leaning forward herself to get a more focused view.

“I don’t know, I can’t see his face” Beth replies, continuing to keep her eyes pressed upon the television, Avon remaining sat in his chair with his fingers crossed. “Please put the camera on him” Avon repeats to himself beneath his breath, Beth continuing to stare directly toward the corner of the screen, a sigh of frustration coming over her the moment the man falls out of view.

Slamming his hand against the edge of the chair, Avon sinks into his seat in defeat, head shaking as Beth glances back at him, inquiring about what he saw. “The dude in the black sweatshirt had a smiley face logo on his back” Avon responds, leaving Beth still confused as to the importance of the man’s identity.

“It’s- It’s nothing” Avon replies, lifting his hand to his face, wiping the exhaustion from his eyes, “just some stupid lead i was hoping to get.” Each question offering her fewer answers and more questions to ask, Beth gives in, sinking back into her seat without much to go off of. Trying to look back toward the television, her efforts come up fruitless, eyes trailing back to the man in her recliner, his face adorned with disappointment as his eyes refuse to leave the television.

= Remedy Hills is created by Zachary Serra, all rights to the series belong to Zachary Serra and his entity of Pacer1 from the start of Season 1 onwards =

Pulling onto the side of the late-morning street beneath a sky filled with gray clouds, Jake and Beau emerge from their cruiser, talking to themselves about how strange it feels to be driving in the direction those leaving Remedy would be driving toward. “I’ve been in this town for twenty-three years, Beau” Jake explains, “I can count on one hand how many times I’ve driven on roads that lead out of Remedy.”

With a smile, the charming hothead turns to his elder partner and humors him. “Any of those times you’ve thought about not turning onto the roads that bring you back in?” Beau inquires, he and his partner walking alongside one another up a carefully-laid concrete path. “Nope” Jake responds, turning to the younger man with a smirk, “Remedy isn’t a place for anyone other than the people that want to stay in Remedy.”

With a shrug, Beau lets the conversation end where it does, taking a few steps up toward a front door, pressing his hand against the metal railing and knocking upon the shell of a screen door. After a few seconds, the metal door just beyond opens slowly, an elderly woman and her younger son looking out at the pair of officers beyond the view of the screens.

“May I help you officers?” the woman on the other end asks, returning the same unthreatening look of innocence to the officers as they offer her. “Are you Mrs. Schultz?” Jake asks with kindness, Beau’s attention being directed elsewhere. “Please, call me Veronica” the woman replies, Jake giving the woman a nod as she welcomes the pair inside, both officers shaking her hand and nodding toward her with appreciation as they enter the home.

“I’m Detective Donovan” Beau says, his hand held toward the young-adult son standing in the middle of the room, the young man cautious to return the gesture. “I’m not gonna profile you” Beau explains, understanding the hesitation of a young black man toward a white officer, offering comfort as best as he can, “being black doesn’t make you any less human than my partner or I.”

Allowing his caution to ease ever so slightly, Kerryon returns the handshake to Beau before doing the same to Jake, the conversation beginning with inquiries into the day of the crime. “Our station tells us you were the first call put in to report on the crash” Jake explains, hands tucking into his coat pockets, “can you tell us what made you put the call in?”

Her hand motioning toward the couch, Veronica offers the cops a seat as she has one herself, Jake appreciate taking the offer. “I appreciate the offer, but I need to get the blood circulating in my legs again” Beau says with his own personal charm, “sitting in a car for long enough will have that effect on you.”

“Suit yourself” Veronica responds, sinking into the cushions beneath her as her son stands at the back of the room, leaning against the wall between his bedroom and the kitchen. “Well it was earlier in the morning and I was sat in my chair, watching the news” Veronica begins, her finger aimed toward the chair that faces the television, “all of a sudden, I hear this big crash on the next street over.”

“And it sounded like a car crash?” Jake clarifies, the answer he expected not being the one that he received. “No, it sounded like a car being slammed into by something heavy” Veronica replies, “and then I heard two more crashes before it all stopped.” With a nod, Beau asks the elderly woman what she initially thought of the noises. “Oh, I knew someone had run off the road” Veronica responds, “I just didn’t know how bad it was, or really anything other than that.”

“So you just knew you should call the police and report it?” Jake wonders aloud, the woman agreeing to such a statement. “Between hearing the sound and calling in your report, did you stop to do anything else?” Beau questions, the woman cleaning her glasses in her lap as the question is asked. “Of course! I walked over to the window to figure out if I could see what had happened” Veronica replies, “but I couldn’t see anything other than a pair of headlights.”

Confused, Beau walks over to the window Veronica had said she glanced out of, seeing a full view of the scene of the crash from the vantage point. “How could you have not seen anything?” Beau inquires, the woman admitting to the man what he once thought was too coincidental to be true. “There was so much fog, I couldn’t see anything but a heavy gray mist” Veronica explains, prompting Beau to glance back toward Jake, a satisfied look coming over the older man’s face.

“Was the fog gone by the time you ended your call?” Beau asks, his eyes returning to the corner of his face, the woman assuring him of the truth behind his statement. With a smile, Beau gives a nod to the woman, voicing his appreciation for her time before gesturing for Jake to join him outside. Before he can place his first step outside of the door, Beau stops and looks back, pointing toward Kerryon at the back of the room with a smile.

“What school do you go to?” Beau asks whilst Kerryon is hesitant to answer at first, only doing so when Veronica looks into his direction. “Peter Ashville High School” Kerryone responds, an answer that puts a smile on Beau’s face. “I thought I’ve seen you somewhere before! You go to school with my daughter!” Beau replies with a friendly smile, a response that puts a puzzled look upon Jake’s face.

“Keep your grades up! I wanna see the entire class walking down for their diplomas on graduation day!” Beau calls back, Kerryon uncomfortably responding in kind. “I will” the young man responds, eagerly awaiting the departure of the officers from the home, watching Beau and Jake descend the front steps, closing the door behind themselves. Continuing to walk to the car, Beau leaves Jake in the dust, his partner remaining a good distance behind him, still confused.

“You don’t have a daughter” Jake calls out to Beau, the younger detective turning around with his arms held outwards. “If we’re looking for people other than Avon, I’m keeping my eyes open” Beau replies, his finger aimed at the home, “there’s something in that room Kerryon doesn’t want us to see!” Glancing back, Jake glances back at the home, looking around it’s exterior before noticing something peculiar out of the corner of his eye.

Off at the side of the home, a curtain noticeably falls into place as if it had just recently been parted, “Did you see that?” Jake calls out, Beau having been stood with his back leaning against the cruiser, a slight smile coming over his face the moment Jake calls out his name. “Call in for a warrant” Beau exclaims, pulling the cruiser door open and sinking into his seat, “right now, we’ve got more to see.”

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“I’m a doctor, I don’t take days off because people storm my house” Penny responds, lifting a sandwich to her mouth and taking a bite out of it. “I’m not saying you should have called out, but I am surprised you’re not more thrown off by this” Anne replies, Penny brushing off the angry mob as if it were nothing out of the ordinary. “They wanna run my husband and I out of Remedy and have nothing to go off of” Penny responds, “I’m not going to re-uproot my life because they’ve got the wrong idea.”

Placing her fork against the inside of the salad bowl before her, Anne tells Penny that she wishes she would have told her the truth about Avon’s profession. “I see why you did it, but I wish I could have known the new writer in town was sharing the same home with you” Anne explains, “I would have tried to offer advice or something like that… I don’t know, words of encouragement?”

Laughing through the clump of bread in her mouth, Penny acknowledges her appreciation for Anne’s help, assuring her that the rocky road ahead is one she is ready to take on. Walking into the breakroom, Clark passively greets his fellow co-workers on his way to the refrigerator, apologizing to Penny for the ongoing situation at home.

“It’s fine, my husband and I are staying at a friend’s house for a few days while all of this blows over” Penny assures, Clark giving the woman a pat on the back as he retrieves a plastic box with steamed rice and exits the way he came. “Already making friends in Remedy?” Penny asks, “impressive” the woman admits through the crunching lettuce between her teeth.

“Well, it’s really Avon that made the friend” Penny admits, “the woman with the library further into town.” Her chewing slowly coming to a halt, Anne’s eyes dawn upon Penny, who returns to her lunch without a pause. “He’s made friends with Beth?” Anne asks, Penny nodding toward Anne’s inquiry, “she’s pretty cool for a librarian.”

Not thinking much of it, Penny continues to eat her lunch as Anne tries to redirect Penny’s mind elsewhere, hoping to find a few things straightened out as the conversation advances. “You don’t see a problem with your husband making friends with the pretty librarian?” Anne asks, Penny’s eyes looking up toward the woman without concern, “your writer husband and the pretty, young town librarian? That doesn’t seem concerning to you?”

Her chewing slowing to an equal halt as Anne’s, Penny’s eyes glance to the corner of the room as her head begins to slowly shake. “No?” Penny replies, her answer coming off sounding like more of a question, confused at the potential reasoning for why she should be. Shrugging her shoulders, Anne refuses to raise flags any further than Penny wishes for them to be, responding with a subtle “okay” before returning to her lunch.

“We’re married, Anne” Penny explains, the sandwich gliding through the air in Penny’s hands, “we’ve been married for four years and he only just met her… I’ve got more trust in him than that.” Shrugging again, Anne repeats her previous response, “okay” only seeming to make Penny more frustrated than anything else. “Okay, I’ll bite” Penny responds, “why should I be concerned?”

With a chuckle, Anne reminds the woman ahead of her where she’s currently staying. “You’re rooming with the pretty librarian after he’s only known her for a few days” Anne explains, Penny clarifying the reason for why. “She came to the house with the offer, Avon didn’t ask out of the blue” Penny replies, only further intriguing Anne. “Wait, she knew where you lived?” Anne inquires, Penny now responding in brief, one-word answers, waiting to see where the conversation leads.

“Yeah” Penny responds, Anne continuing to push the direction of the dialogue down the path she intends for it to take. “So, naturally, your husband would have had to tell her where the two of you lived, right?” Anne asks, Penny believing otherwise. “I’m sure my husband didn’t give out our address to the mob of people protesting at our empty front door” Penny replies, “so I’m sure there are other reasonable explanations for where she got her information.”

Placing her fork down, Anne places her hands in front of her, explaining that she doesn’t want to sew seeds of descension into her new colleague’s marriage. “I just want you to see how fishy all of this seems from a surface level” Anne explains, “I’ve had married friends put on blinders when something doesn’t look right, I just wanna make sure the same can’t happen to you.”

Looking toward the woman with a blank expression, Penny eventually gives into the woman’s claim and nods her head, thanking her for taking interest. “I appreciate you having my back, needless or otherwise” Penny responds, Anne’s hands falling back to her lap before one lifts to return the fork to her fingers, Penny thinking to herself with each bite into her sandwich.

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“Do you just sit there and write all day?” Beth inquires, Avon failing to hear her the first time she asks the question, his eyes peeling away from the screen a short moment later once the question is repeated. “What? Oh! Yeah, it’s my hobby as much as it is my job” Avon replies, his fingers leaving the keyboard for the first time in hours, wrapping amongst themselves to form a folded hand.

“Do you do much else?” Beth asks, extending a hand with a freshly-poured cup of coffee toward the man, Avon graciously turning down the offer. “Other than talk to the only other person in Remedy that I know? Not really” Avon responds, watching Beth press the mug to her lips. “Do you do drink anything other than coffee all day?” Avon asks, Beth very quickly refusing.

“Nope, and eventually, you’ll live in Remedy long enough to experience the same vice” Beth replies, yet again, another swig of coffee being taken from the mug and sliding down her throat. “Why is that?” Avon asks, the new functionality of a rolling desk chair sliding away from his makeshift workspace as his hands fold in his lap, “is there some stranglehold coffee has on Remedy?”

“Yes” Beth responds, the single-worded response surprising Avon, who waits an additional few seconds for context that never comes. “Just ‘yes’?” Avon clarifies, watching Beth’s head enthusiastically bounce up and down. “Okay, now I’ll ask… Why?” Avon inquires, watching the woman set her cup down before pulling a chair before Avon. “Because Remedy is the city that, unlike Las Vegas, literally never sleeps.” Beth replies, “we haven’t in years, and we won’t start now.”

“Years? Does the exact number of years happen to be thirteen?” Avon asks, putting the pieces together himself, allowing Beth’s answers to act as the glue to keep the pieces together. “Indeed they do” Beth responds, offering the man a smile as his satisfied nod proceeds, “ever since the day Remedy changed for obvious reasons, those that called it home simply didn’t feel comfortable going to sleep.”

“So no one in this community sleeps?” Avon asks, the woman shrugging at the question, admitting the answer to be complicated. “Everyone sleeps at some point, but we’ve spent so long going a few days without sleep that it doesn’t phase us much anymore” Beth replies, “I don’t think there’s been a day since then where the majority of the town has been asleep on any one night.”

Intrigued, Avon squints at Beth before letting out a deep breath, politely picking up the still-full mug of coffee intended for him before pressing it to his lips. “I suppose that means I should start getting used to it” Avon remarks with a smile, watching Beth shrug at the gesture. “One way or another, you’ll be spending a lot of time awake at night… It’s just part of this town’s DNA” Beth responds, “here’s to hoping you’ll be doing so from the comfort of your own home sooner rather than later.”

“Are my wife and I not the ideal roommates?” Avon jokes, Beth shrugging off such a notion. “I just don’t want it to get to a point where I could reasonably request you pay rent” Beth responds, her head lowering after the words leave her lips. Eyes still drawn over the woman, Avon notices the change in her expression, watching her face turn back toward the man, expression having returned to the pleasant appearance it had taken on moments before.

“You miss your dad, huh?” Avon asks, watching the woman’s expression return to the prior disappointment, his heart having understood the reason behind the change the moment it happened. Fingers wrapping around the outside of the mug to feel warmth, Beth swipes the hair from infront of her eyes while she stares into the dark liquid inside the mug.

“It just gets lonely sometimes” Beth replies, lips puckering to the side as she speaks to the beverage, her words, though, still aimed at Avon, “no amount of days can pass without it still… feeling like there should be someone else here.” Leaning back in his seat, Avon watches the woman as she looks into the beverage for comfort, unable to make eye contact without feeling like emotions will outweigh composure.

Understanding this, Avon refuses to pressure the woman into looking at him, spectating from afar and listening to every word. “For a long time, someone always was” Beth explains, lip falling between the tips of her teeth, jaw pressing slowly against her lips, keeping them where they lay until she speaks once more. “Now that everything is empty, it feels… too empty” Beth continues, “like I’m as alone as I always thought I’d end up being.”

With a deep breath, Avon leans forward, the palm of his hand resting against the woman’s knee, his words leaving his mouth in a soothing tone. “No one is ever alone” Avon responds, watching Beth slowly allow her eyes to leave the mug and fall over the man ahead of her, “no matter how empty something feels, there is always something, even if it’s your own thoughts, always there to keep you company.”

Her eyes falling back to the beverage, Beth nods to the man’s words, her hair falling over her face once again. With the quiet comfort in the air falling away at the sound of a grandfather clock in the corner, Beth downs the rest of her drink before standing up from her seat and fixing her hair. “Time to give the old man across the street his pills” Beth says in a joking manner, the woman walking over to a spot on the floor and tucking her feet into the sandals left there.

“I mean it” Avon calls out, the woman having taken a bottle of medication into her hand and placed her fingers upon the doorknob as Avon’s words find her ears. “I know you do” Beth replies, giving the man a half-hearted, partially pain-filled smile before walking through the door. With a sigh, Avon looks toward the door for an additional few seconds before turning toward his laptop, staring into the bright screen with a look of dissatisfaction.

With a huff, Avon places his mug upon the coffee table and returns his fingers to the keyboard beside him. Biting his lip, Avon reads the first line of his latest writing, allowing his eyes to keep glancing over from one side to the other before they close completely. With a swift click, Avon highlights every sentence since the first line in a light blue and wipes them off the face of the page, banishing them to literary purgatory.

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Slamming the door shut, Beau and Jake emerge from their vehicle, Beau’s eyes resting upon the hill such a truck supposedly drove off whilst Jake’s lay on the still-broken guard rail. “When we get down there, I’m gonna want you and I side by-” Jake begins, turning toward Beau at the last moment, watching his younger partner ascend the hilltop alone, “-side.”

Leaves crunching beneath his boots, Beau climbs to the top of the incline before looking around, hearing the world begin to erupt in angry-sounding thunder. “Find anything, Sherlock?” Jake inquires, Beau’s feet dragging along the already-damp ground as his eyes venture in any and all directions. “No, but I’m not exactly looking for anything in particular” Beau responds, continuing to march forward before stopping in a seemingly random spot.

“Why are we suddenly hiking, Beau?” Jake asks in confusion, knowing the reason to be good, though admitting it to be too out of place to be easily understood. “I saw this hilltop from the Schultz’ window” Beau replies, turning his back toward the home and his focus in Jake’s direction, “it seemed like the highest point one could possibly access to overlook the scene.”

When his eyes leave Jake, Beau glances toward the street below, a smile suddenly forming over the man’s face. “Look at what we have here!” Beau says with enthusiasm, pointing toward the street to prompt Jake to look in the same direction, the broken barrier in the direct-center of Beau’s sights, a long slope downwards suggesting a new theory.

“We still didn’t find any tire tracks anywhere near here” Jake responds, his hands motioning around the woodlands aimlessly, “we need proof a truck was even parked up here, let alone descended with enough speed to take out a vehicle below!” A look of dissatisfaction coming over Beau for a mere moment, quickly the tides begin to change, Beau calling out for Jake with a newfound smile.

“You called in that warrant, right?” Beau inquires, Jake having confirmed Beau’s suspicions, immediately asking for a reason for the stellar expression. “What would a newly-removed security camera set up look like?” Beau asks, “y’know, what’s left behind after you take down a bunch of security cameras around the outside of your home?”

“There’d be some little platforms screwed into the outside, why?” Jake replies, walking forward at Beau’s gesture to do so. Finally catching up to the man, Jake looks out at where Beau’s finger is pointed, his eyes finding the Schultz home, curious black boxes left around random sections of the home. “Would they look similar to that?” Beau asks with glee, watching Jake turn toward him with a smile.

Pulling up to the Schultz household, Beau and Jake emerge from their vehicles with three additional cruisers for support. Walking up the pathway, Beau does the honors of knocking upon the door, Victoria answering the officer’s call for entry. “Mrs Schultz, we have obtained a warrant to search your property” Beau explains, the woman pulling the door open for the officers, cooperating with authorities as they enter her home.

“Detectives!” an officer shouts from outside, Beau and Jake immediately racing into action, demanding the other three officers continue their search inside. “What’s going on out here!?” Beau shouts, his hand on the grip of his firearm as Jake follows him around the side of the home. Upon first sight, Beau finds Kerryon dressed in a black jacket with a smiley face logo emblazoned on the back, a box of electronics and belongings spilled along the ground beside him.

“This is racial discrimination!” Kerryon shouts, refusing to ease his struggle as Beau walks over to the box of belongings, pulling it onto its bottom and looking into its contents. Quickly, Beau and Jake notice the newly-removed security cameras and associated equipment, a smile coming over their face the moment they realize where the break in their case lies.

“It’s actually nothing close to racial discrimination, Kerryon” Jake responds, cuffing Kerryon’s hands behind his back, “it’s an arrest on charges of ‘obstruction of justice’.” As Jake reads Kerryon his Miranda Rights, Beau takes a second glance into the contents of the box, a reflection of the dying daylight through the clouds reflection off the flimsy, plastic shell beneath the rubble of the electronics.

Reaching inside, Beau takes the plastic content into his fingers and drags it to the surface, the wires from the discarded security equipment falling back into the box the higher the object is pulled away. “What is this?” Beau asks Kerryon the moment Jake concludes his reading of Kerryon’s rights, a flimsy, smiley face mask being held in the clutches of Beau’s fingers.

“I’m not telling you anything!” Kerryon replies, continuing to refuse Beau and Jake anything to work with, a gesture that annoys Beau. “Fine” Beau responds, picking the young adult up by the neck and leading him to the cruiser, “we’ll just get you to speak up back at the station.” Loading Kerryon into the back of the car, Beau calls for the officers to continue their search, climbing into the driver’s seat with a smile on his face as he stares back at Kerryon in the rear-view mirror.

== Remedy Hills ==