December 19, 1972, 12:20 a.m. -- Slums North, Humpty Dumpty’s Office --
Humpty Dumpty is sitting at his desk, a Playboy magazine and lotion sitting in front of him. He unbuttons his pants and laughs to himself.
“Open up,” somebody calls from outside.
“Piss off!” Humpty Dumpty rips his zipper down.
Wolve smashes the door in, and Humpty quickly rises to his feet. “What the fuck, man?”
Wolve looks down at the door. “I’ve done a lot of door-smashing today,” he shrugs. “Gets my anger out. Sort of.” He lunges at Humpty and smashes his fist into his face. Humpty falls backward. Wolve pulls him up and smashes his face again.
Humpty picks up a mug and lashes at Wolve’s head, but Wolve ducks and punches Humpty again. Humpty falls to his knees, and Wolve grabs his head and starts bashing it into his desk. He finally lets go, and Humpty falls back onto the ground, his face bleeding profusely.
Wolve grabs the Playboy from the desk and tosses it onto Humpty’s chest. “As you were.”
December 19, 1972, 12:30 a.m., -- Slums South, Nibs and Aya’s apartment --
Aya angrily hangs up the dial phone and kicks the dining room table. The front door opens, and Nibs walks in with Winston. Aya looks over at them, and then specifically at Nibs.
“What’s going on?” She crosses her arms at them.
“He’s gonna stay here tonight,” Nibs motions to Winston. “I’m gonna keep an eye on him for a minute.”
Aya nods and grabs the trash from the bin. She ties it up and holds it out to Winston. “Take this down outside, won’t you? I need a moment with Nibs.”
Winston nods silently and grabs the bag, hurrying out the front door.
“What is going on, Nibs?”
“He’s in trouble,” Nibs sighs. “Or he might be. I don’t know. He was there at the hotel that night apparently.”
Aya shakes her head. “Great. I knew this was going to get back Nibs. I told you. The police aren’t going to leave us out of this. Is he involved?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“I don’t know.”
Aya crosses her arms and walks away. “Why do I feel like there’s something you aren’t telling me, Nibs? You can trust me.”
“You know as much as me,” he follows after her. “I swear. Aya.”
She turns around and looks him in the eye. “We need to be careful about what we do here. This whole thing could come crashing down around us.”
“I know,” Nibs nods and puts his hand on his head.
Aya rolls her eyes and storms off to their bedroom, slamming the door as Winston comes back in.
“She alright?” Winston points to the bedroom door. Nibs turns and gives Winston a look, and Winston throws his arms in the air. “Sorry.”
Nibs shakes his head and follows Aya to the bedroom.
December 19, 1972, 12:30 a.m. -- The Gingerbread House Hotel --
Hansel is sitting in the office once again with his head in his hands. Gretel is pacing the office, thinking. “Maybe we could--” she stops herself. She turns and continues pacing, stopping to unwrap a lollipop and throw it in her mouth.
“We should kill him,” Hansel blurts out. He looks up as Gretel stops walking.
“What? Kill who?” She pops the sucker out of her mouth.
“Woody.”
“Hansel, what are you talking about?”
“All he does is run his mouth. He told the police about Rose Red and Winston. If it’s not bad for us, it’s at least bad for business. This is a private place, you know.”
“Hansel--” she is cut off again.
“We aren’t killing anyone,” Kitty Delgado steps into the office. “Not in my hotel. Well, not yet anyway. Sorry I’m late. And you might want to keep it down, I could hear you as soon as I approached the door.”
“He’s just talking nonsense,” Gretel laughs nervously. “We wouldn’t actually hurt Woody.”
“I would,” Hansel sputters out.
“In due time,” Kitty pats Hansel on the head. “Let’s not do anything too rash just yet, hmm? We’re still sitting pretty in my eyes.” She looks at Gretel. “Did you do what I asked?”
Gretel nods and shows Kitty the Room 22 key in her purse. “I took it down as soon as you called. The police think they’re both missing. And the master key, too. Except, that one really is missing. Woody lost it.”
“Hmm,” she nods and looks at Hansel. “I can see where you get your ideas from. Pesky little shit, isn’t he?”
“No kidding,” Hansel puts his head back in his hands.
“Worry not,” Kitty smiles. “I’ve got this under control. Just follow my lead, kids. We’ll come out the other side of this. I always do.”
Jenny Wren walks into the Woodlands slowly and smiles at Barrett when he waves to her. “Evening, Mrs. Wren.”
“Evening, Barrett. Would you want to walk me to my room?”
Barrett nods and leaves his post, joining Jenny by her side. “Have a good night?”
She smiles and nods. “It wasn’t so bad, I guess. Though, I haven’t gotten any better, really.”
Barrett frowns and helps Jenny up to her room. They walk silently, and Jenny turns back to him when they reach her door. “Would you want to come in?”
“Uh, I should probably--”
“Just for a minute. A night cap.”
Barrett smiles and follows Jenny inside. She strikes up a cigarette and offers one to Barrett, but he waves them off. “You don’t smoke?”
He shakes his head. “Not really.”
She nods and turns on a record. She smiles as the needles scratches along the surface. “Cock and I used to listen to this song all night. Dancing here in the living room. It reminds me of our wedding night.”
“That’s sweet,” Barrett smiles.
“He was killed, you know. At our wedding,” Jenny puffs on her cigarette some more. “An arrow just flew right through him. It was an accident, meant for somebody else. And he died. Right in front of me. Got his little specks on blood on my veil.” She sighs and pours them two drinks. “Here,” she hands a drink to Barrett.
“Thank you,” Barrett smiles and takes the drink, lightly sipping on it. “What happened?”
“He came back,” Jenny smiles. “He always did. He had a knack for getting himself killed, my poor Cock Robin. Again and again. But he’d always come back.”
The record continues scratching along as Jenny opens the window. Barrett approaches her from behind. Jenny turns and faces him. “He won’t be coming back this time,” she says bluntly. “This was his last life,” she smiles slightly and flicks her cigarette out the window. She walks over to the record and touches it lightly. “I can still see him in here with me. Both of us. Dancing and laughing.”
She sets her drink down, closes her eyes and begins to think.
Sometime before his death, Cock Robin gives Jenny a portrait of the two of them from their wedding. “I should of had them draw me dead,” Cock jokes.
Jenny laughs and rests her head on his shoulder. “It’d be a little more fitting, wouldn’t it?”
Cock Robin puts on the same record and grabs Jenny’s hand. “Dance with me?”
Jenny laughs again and stands. She puts her arms around this neck, and he places his on her waist. They begin to sway back and forth, looking into each other's eyes. “What?” Jenny asks him.
“Nothing,” he smiles. “You just look lovely tonight.”
Jenny rolls her eyes and rests her head on his shoulder as they dance.
The record continues to play in Jenny’s apartment. She’s swaying slowly in her living room, thinking about Cock Robin and dancing by herself.
(Thank you guys for coming to the premiere! It was surreal to get this show off the ground, and I can't believe we're finally in it! Thank you guys for your patience this episode, there's a lot more heading your way. We will post about episode two tomorrow or so! Love you guys.)
