It is now Saturday night. In the beginning of the last scene, Caitlyn is in her bedroom, pacing and on her cell phone. Her expression shows how angry she is. She is dressed for her date with Trey, but as she glances at the clock, it shows that it is 10:00. She begins to speak when his voice mail picks up.
Caitlyn: Trey! Where the hell are you! I went to your apartment like we agreed and I waited there outside on the sidewalk for two and a half hours before walking home! I can't believe you did this to me; no one does this to me and gets away with it! Whenever you slink your way back into town do not come crawling to me with some lame excuse and expect me to be waiting with open arms! We're done Trey, and we never really even began. Don't call me, don't come looking for me, don't even think about me! I knew I was too good for you! (With that she hangs up her phone and goes to her CD player and puts a CD in, tuning it to the right song. It's Liz Phair's "Fck and Run". As the song plays, she sings along at the top of her voice while trying to suppress her cries and she changes her clothes from what was a demure, cute outfit, to an extremely revealing and slutty one. By the time the song finishes, she turns the CD player off and saunters out of her bedroom, wiping the last tear away and slamming the door. The camera leaves her and goes to Jimmy and Caleb in his office. It is dark, no lights are on, and the light from outside is the only thing illuminating the room. They are whispering.)
Caleb: What did you find out?
Jimmy: She's definitely up to something. When I was digging into her past, I came across this guy that she used to date before she met me. It turns out he was the one she made the adult film with, and to my utter shock and horror, he also showed up about eighteen years ago to sell us a vacuum. He hung around the house for a few days until finally I told him that we weren't interested in what he was selling. I did a check on him, and it turns out he has served a little time in prison for extortion and armed robbery.
Caleb: You've got to be kidding me.
Jimmy: Oh no, it gets better. Thursday, when I followed her, she went home to Riverside and ended up in this shady bar. Not ten minutes after she arrived, in walked our guy. They were in there together for a while, and then she left but he remained. Instead of following her, I stayed to see what he was up to. After about an hour he came out quite drunk and drove off, but I went inside and causally asked questions about him. Turns out once he's got a few drinks in him he starts to open up some. All I got from the bartender was that he was working with the woman who had been in there earlier, that would be our Julie, to scam some Newport big shot, which, if I were you, I'd be assuming was me. He didn't say what they were up to, but he did tell me that if Julie didn't get what she wanted than her partner, Lance Baldwin, that's his name by the way, wouldn't get paid.
Caleb: Damn it! What is she up to? You were married to her, what do you think she's after?
Jimmy: Oh that's easy, she's after your money, but I just can't figure out how she thinks she's going to get it.
Caleb: I don't even want to try to figure out that woman's mind!
Jimmy: So what do you want to do now? I take it Julie will be kicked out tonight when you home?
Caleb: Can't. I'm leaving on a business trip for about two weeks tonight, and I don't want to do anything until I figure out what her plan is. Your assignment's changing though. Still keep an eye on Julie, but I don't think she'll lead us to the answers, instead I want you to start following around this Baldwin character. I'll check in every night for updates. I don't care what it takes, sleep in your car, go without food or breaks, but figure out what they are up to, do you understand me?
Jimmy: Got it, but I have to ask. What am I supposed to do if or when he catches me? He's not stupid; he'll figure out that he's being followed, and he's not going to discuss this like a gentleman. He'll solve the problem the only way he knows how, with brute violence, and I'm not a fighting man.
Caleb: I'll call in and hire two armed bodyguards for you. That should deter any attacks from Mr. Baldwin. They'll ride with you and be by your side at all times. Oh, and Jimmy, you might want to avoid going home for next couple of weeks. Check into a hotel when you need to shower. Put any expenses you incur on the company card.
Jimmy: Where are you going…in case I have to get in touch with you?
Caleb: Europe, but I'll call you unless it's an emergency, and if it's an emergency, call my secretary and she'll put you through immediately. I'll be back by the engagement party.
Jimmy: What engagement party? You're engaged to Julie!
Caleb: No, of course not; don't be absurd Jimmy. Oh, that's right, you're not invited. Julie is working with Kiki to throw and engagement party for Seth and Summer.
Jimmy: Oh that's right, Kirsten told me about that.
Caleb: You two have been talking?
Jimmy: Accidentally ran into each other at a restaurant. That's it.
Caleb: I see. (He is disappointed but does not linger long. He stands up and grabs his briefcase walking out of the door.) Oh and Jimmy…
Jimmy: Yeah?
Caleb: No matter what don't let Mr. Baldwin know who you work for, got it?
Jimmy: I understand. Have a nice trip, Cal. (With that Caleb walks out of the room but leaves the door open. Jimmy picks up his jacket and walks out of the door whistling, shutting it as he leaves and locking it before continuing to walk away. The camera leaves him and goes to the apartment. It first shows Seth laying in bed reading a comic while listening to music on his ipod. He is completely oblivious to everything going on around him. Next it goes to Marissa who is in the bedroom she shares with Ryan. She's sitting up in bed writing on her laptop. The room is completely silent. All of a sudden she hears a loud pounding noise as if someone is beating down the door. She quickly puts the laptop on the bed and gets up. She is in shorts and a t-shirt and runs over to the door and quickly opens it. There standing in front of her are two men, men she does not know but the audience will recognize as Trey and the man he spoke with in the car the night before. They are dressed in normal clothing and their faces are not hidden at all. As soon as she sees him, music begins in the background and will continue to get louder as the scene progresses. The song that is playing is Nine Inch Nails "Every Day is Exactly the Same".)
Trey: I've been waiting for a long time to meet you, Marissa. Is this as good for you as it is for me? (He laughs evilly as he roughly pushes her aside into the wall so that they both can walk into the room. As he continues to torment her, the man goes over and gathers up all of Ryan's blueprints, his drawing and drafting materials, and laptop and puts them into a large duffel bag. He places the bag down by the bed and goes into the bedroom. Trey moves to the bed and begins to rip off the sheets and shred them.)
Marissa: What the hell do you think you're doing! (She tries to get to the phone, but he jumps in front of her and shoves her away again. She falls, but stands up right away and runs towards the living room to grab the other phone, but he's too quick and picks her up around the waist and drags her back into the bedroom kicking and screaming.) Seth, help, Seth! Let go of me! (She thrashes around in his arms and tries to hit and scratch him.)
Trey: Keep still! I said to quit moving! That's it, I was going to try to be nice about this, but you're not going to get to a phone to call the police or Ryan. We're doing this without him, but make sure you give him this message from me. (He leans into her face to kiss her roughly, but she leans back and spits in his face. Now furiously angry, he throws her as hard as he can against the wall, and she hits her head on it and immediately looses consciousness, sliding down limp and leaving a slight trail of blood where here head was. He laughs.) You dumb, stupid b!tch! That should teach to you never, (He leans down and grabs her face in his hand roughly and squeezes it before shoving it in the opposite direction.) ever (He then kicks her once in the side.) speak to me or treat me like that! Who do you think you are! I know all about your little family, your waste of a father, your drunk, slut of a mother, and your pathetic little sister who I've been using for information this whole time! Do you hear me, princess, Hm, do you ya! (He kicks her again before laughing and returning to the bed. He grabs the sheets and wraps them around Marissa's head to get the blood on them. Then he throws them back where they came from, drops the vase of roses that were beside the bed on her nightstand, and then starts to take all the pictures displayed in the room. There are pictures of Ryan, Marissa, Seth, Summer, Sandy, Kirsten, and Zoe all over the room, and Trey takes them all and places them in the bag except one. The one he leaves is of all of them on Chrismukkah. He takes it and tears Ryan's head off of it and dabs his finger in Marissa's blood again and smears it all over her in the picture. He throws this down on the bloodied bed. Once this is finished, the man comes out of the bathroom smiling and grabs the bag heading for the door.)
Man: Trey, let's go! We better get out of here before Ryan returns. Trey! What the hell are you doing! (When he turns around because Trey is not following him, he sees Trey bent down beside the unconscious Marissa. He smirks at her and rips the necklace Ryan gave her off of her neck.)
Trey: Thanks for he souvenir Princess. Maybe I'll give it to your little sister when I apologize to her for standing her up tonight just so that I can get her into bed. (He laughs as he stands up again and once more he kicks her as hard as he can in the side. With the necklace still firmly grasped in his hand, he runs out of the apartment behind the man leaving the broken door hanging loosely on its hinges. The camera pans back to Marissa who is still unconscious before going into Seth's room. He has now stopped reading the comic and is dancing around the room in his boxers and t-shirt as he listens to the music, completely oblivious to the attack which just occurred outside of his door. After a moment, the camera returns to the hall where it shows a recently arrived Ryan. When he sees the door, he drops everything he is carrying and runs into the apartment and straight into the room he shares with Marissa. When he sees her passed out, he rushes to her side and picks her up to put her on the bed, but when he notices its condition he just keeps her in his arms and starts yelling for Seth.)
Ryan: Seth, Seth! SETH! (When he doesn't get an answer, he runs to the room and kicks open the door to Seth's room. Seth is startled and when he sees Marissa he is speechless.) What the hell happened here! Marissa was attacked, our room has been destroyed, and you're in here dancing! I don't even know if she's alright and here you are! What the hell Seth!
Seth: I'll call 911. She's bleeding. (Seth is quite calm considering the situation, but his lack of emotion just sets Ryan off more.)
Ryan: Bleeding! Where!
Seth: Her head.
Ryan: Jesus Christ, what the hell happened here! Tell me Seth, what the hell happened and why didn't you stop it!
Seth: I had no idea anything was even happening. Besides, what would I have done…?
Ryan: Stop him or them, I don't know! (He goes over and puts Marissa down on the bed, holding her hand in his and kissing her forehead while whispering to her. Seth is rushing around the room looking for a phone, but the events are slowly catching up to him and he is loosing his cool and can't concentrate on what he needs to do.) Marissa, please just open your eyes, please, you have to be alright. What happened to you; who did this? Please, Marissa, I need you to wake up. I'm so sorry. (He gently shakes her and she does slowly open her eyes.)
Marissa: Help, we need help.
Ryan: Marissa?
Marissa: Ryan? (She starts to cry.)
Ryan: Sshh, I'm here now and no one's going to hurt you now. (He turns to Seth.) Seth, have you called 911 yet?
Seth: I uh, um, I can't find the phone, Ryan!
Marissa: No.
Ryan: No, what?
Marissa: No doctors, I'm fine.
Ryan: You're not fine; your head is bleeding.
Marissa: I just hit it when he threw me against the wall. (She puts her hand up to her neck to hold onto her necklace, but then feels that it is gone and begins to sob.)
Ryan: What, what hurts?
Marissa: Nothing, it's just…I'm so sorry Ryan.
Ryan: What? Why are you sorry?
Marissa: I tried to fight him off, but I wasn't strong enough and he wouldn't let me get to a phone to call for help. I tried calling for Seth, but he didn't hear me, and then we were struggling, he leaned in to kiss me, and I spit on his face, and then everything went black. (She sobs again.) He took my necklace.
Ryan: Did he….did he uh…. (He intently at her and she realizes what he is asking.)
Marissa: (Her voice is firm.) No! But he did know me, and they knew you, too.
Ryan: They?
Marissa: There was a younger guy, probably in his mid twenties, and an older guy either in his forties or fifties, I couldn't really tell.
Ryan: What did they say?
Marissa: I don't know, nothing really, but they knew our names and I just got the sense that they knew us. (Tears continue to stream down her face, but she is no longer making crying noises, but her body does begin to shake.) They took all your school work, laptop, drawing and drafting materials, your blueprints, but they left my laptop, I don't understand it. And he destroyed our sheets, ripping them up into shreds. Oh, and the older guy went into the bathroom and never came back out while I was still conscious. (Ryan gets up and goes to leave to look, but Marissa's voice stops him.) Ryan!
Ryan: (He turns around to look at her.) Hm?
Marissa: I need to see what they did. (She sits up and cries out in pain and grabs a hold of her side. Ryan rushes to her and pulls up her shirt to reveal ribs that are already bruised.)
Ryan: What the hell happened to your ribs!
Marissa: I don't…I don't remember.
Ryan: It looks like you've been kicked, repeatedly! That's it; we're going to the hospital now!
Marissa: NO! I need to see what they did, and I'm not going to the hospital. Please, can't we just go look at the room and then we'll decide what to do? (Without a word, he picks her up and carries her in his arms as carefully as he can so as not to hurt her. Seth follows behind timidly not saying a word. They all enter the bedroom and survey the damage. Ryan sees the picture.)
Ryan: Seth, pick that up and tell me what they did to it. (Seth does as he's told.)
Seth: (His voice is horrified.) Oh my god, they ripped off your head and there's something swiped all over Marissa. (He runs his finger over it and his face goes pale and he drops it.) It's blood. (Ryan grimaces but does not say a thing. They continue to look around the room.) There's blood all over the bed, too, and the vase has been knocked down and all your guys' other pictures are gone.
Marissa: Ryan, the bathroom. (He carries her into the bathroom and gently puts her down so they can look around. Seth follows and he's the first one to see the mirror. There is writing all across it, again, in blood.)
Seth: Oh my God!
Ryan: What? (He whirls around and sees it. He moves closer to read it, and when Marissa sees it, she walks forward even though she's in quite a bit of pain and puts her hand in his as they read it together. Seth approaches them and puts his hand on Ryan's shoulder to offer comfort. After all three have read it over once to themselves, Ryan reads it out loud.)
Ryan: You can't escape your blood. You're no better than us. Next time, we'll kill what you love most in this world: Marissa. You're not good enough for her. We'd be doing her a favor, and remember, Ryan, Atwoods don't cry. They get even! (After a slight pause, he speaks again.) Seth call the cops and call your Dad. Marissa you're going home to Newport, you can't stay here, not when they know where we live.
Marissa: Like hell I am! I'm not leaving you, Ryan, your battles are my battles, remember.
Ryan: I can't let you stay here for them to kill you! I'd kill them before I ever let them hurt you!
Marissa: Exactly, you'll protect me, and I'm not going to leave you here for them to hurt or kill either. I don't care what I have to do; I'll kill them before I let them hurt you, too! You're not getting rid of me, Ryan; I'm not letting you face this alone. We'll put in a security system, hire guards, and I'm going to take a self defense course, Summer and even Seth should as well, and if they want to leave, that's fine, but I'm not going anywhere. If you take me to Newport or send me there, I'll just run away and come back, which would be more dangerous than staying in the first place, so what'll it be! Are you going to willingly let me stay!
Ryan: (He is becoming emotional as the events of the evening are catching up to him. He leans his head against hers and whispers as a few tears escape his clenched eyes.) I can't lose you; I won't lose you!
Marissa: Then keep me safe, with you. It's the only place I ever feel protected; I need to be with you Ryan, please? He shakes his head yes but doesn't let go of her or move his head away from hers. Seth walks back in the room.)
Seth: I've got everyone called. The police will be here in a few minutes, and my Dad and Mom are on there way. I'm going to go call Summer, but is there anything I can get you? (Ryan does not move or acknowledge his presence. He just clings even tighter to Marissa and pulls her closer to him.)
Marissa: No, thank you, Seth. (She smiles slightly at him and motions for him to leave them alone. He nods his head and walks out of the room. Marissa gently lowers herself and Ryan to the ground because she could not stand any longer, and as she begins to shake once again, he takes her in his arms and pulls her onto his lap so that he can cradle her in his arms. They sit there in silence as they hold each other and lean up against the wall for support. The camera fades away and the music starts up again, the same song, and gets louder as the camera fades and goes to black.)
End of Episode #9