INT.

INSOMNIAC'S STUDY -- NIGHT The INSOMNIAc is finishing designing some kind of layout on his computer, we don't really get to see it before he shuts down and ejects the zip disk. He lights up a cigarette and starts pacing up and down the room manicly. INSOMNIAC Ripping veins from your face! Your putrid marrowbone jelly seeps through my barefoot toes as I squash your crippled bones! Watch me, fear me! Visceral steel slashes at her once ebbing body, cut, grind, stab, kill. Destruction is my tool. HE PAUSES AFTER HAVING WORKED UP A SWEAT. I have got to get out of here. OPENING TITLES EXT. RANDOM STREETS. -- NIGHT The INSOMNIAC is pacing down the street. It is the early hours of the morning. No-one is around. He is sucking on a cigarette as if it were his lifeline. He's carrying some posters rolled up under his arm and a small bucket and brush. He stops at a wall and starts pasting up one of the posters. It reads "I EQUATE LOSS WITH DEATH", we jumpcut as he starts pasting manicly various posters with slogans all over the place. "I OVER COMPLICATE MY EXISTENCE", "IT FEELS GREY WITH CROOKED INCISORS", "YOU THINK YOU'RE ORIGINAL, BUT YOU'RE MERELY A SEQUEL". He finishes up totally exhausted, reeling back to take in the full glory of his perceived achievement. He lights up another cigarette and exits. CUT TO: INT. INSOMNIAC'S KITCHEN. -- LATER We are back at the flat as he storms in, he goes straight to the medicine cabinet to retrieve a bottle of Night Nurse. He moves into the lounge and slumps onto the couch. He rapidly opens the bottle and necks the contents. His anxiety is on full display as he stares intently into the camera.

INSOMNIAC It's easy to suffer from delusions of grandeur, to thrive on success. It's in our blood, our stream of consciousness, our very soul. Things can only get better. CUT TO: INT. NIGHT CLUB. -- NIGHT We're in a rather dank club. The Insomniac is strolling around watching everyone having fun etc, there is something predatory about his demeanour. He is approached by a GIRL who starts dancing sexually with him. PROMISCUOUS GIRL Hi there. INSOMNIAC Hi. PROMISCUOUS GIRL You here with anyone? INSOMNIAC No, I'm alone. In solitary confinement, so to speak. PROMISCUOUS GIRL What do you do? INSOMNIAC Create deluded fantasies in my mind due to an incapability to function in reality...Well, that's the diagnosis. PROMISCUOUS GIRL Sounds interesting, want to get out of here? INSOMNIAC Sure.

INT. INSOMNIAC'S LOUNGE. -- LATER They enter the lounge in pitch darkness, we feel the awkwardness of the situation seeping through the screen. PROMISCUOUS GIRL Turn the lights on then, I wanna see what your flat is like. INSOMNIAC Is that important then? PROMISCUOUS GIRL Of course, you can tell a lot by the way someone decorates, it reflects their personality. INSOMNIAC It could just as easily be a mask... INSOMNIAC turns on the light. INSOMNIAC Do you want to dance? PROMISCUOUS GIRL Sure. INSOMNIAC puts on some music and they embrace and start to slow dance, he is taking in the moment, enjoying every second as if he has finally found what he is looking for. PROMISCUOUS GIRL So tell me a bit about yourself. INSOMNIAC Don't speak. PROMISCUOUS GIRL Oh come on, don't be a dark horse. We focus on his expression, he is instantly annoyed by her interruption.

INSOMNIAC (With Baited Breath) I said don't speak. (To Camera) Moments of tranquility are frequently destroyed by banal statements that stab at your brain like a serrated hunting knife. FADE OUT: FADE IN: INT. INSOMNIAC'S LOUNGE. -- LATER Slightly later in the evening and the PROMISCUOUS GIRL is alot more drunk. PROMISCUOUS GIRL How do you feel about love? INSOMNIAC It's something that evades us. PROMISCUOUS GIRL Why do men separate sex and love? INSOMNIAC It derives from location of anatomy. PROMISCUOUS GIRL Meaning? INSOMNIAC Love is an internal feeling yes? PROMISCUOUS GIRL Yeah.

INSOMNIAC A woman's genitalia are internal with her feelings, man on the other hand has external genitalia and internal feelings. They're separated by biology. Therefore we separate sex and love, unlike women who internalise it. PROMISCUOUS GIRL Interesting theory, I don't think it would stand up in court though. INSOMNIAC It doesn't have to. It's only a theory. Wait here a second. He exits to go the bathroom. CUT TO: INT. INSOMNIAC'S BATHROOM. -- CONTINUOUS He is pacing up and down. Confused and irrational, obviously fighting instinct. He looks at himself in the mirror. INSOMNIAC Don't do anything irrational. He exits to return to the lounge. CUT TO: INT. INSOMNIAC'S LOUNGE. -- CONTINUOUS The PROMISCUOUS GIRL is almost passing out drunk. The INSOMNIAC rushes over and slaps her across the face to awaken her. PROMISCUOUS GIRL What the... INSOMNIAC Could you find it in yourself to love me? PROMISCUOUS GIRL I don't know, I hardly know you.

INSOMNIAC Do we ever really know each other? If I tell you who I am, you may not like who I am and that's all I've got. PROMISCUOUS GIRL Why the urgency? INSOMNIAC I need a cure. You're here, my place, my only place of full fledged security. You said you liked it and we passed ambiguous comments. We enjoyed an uncommon embrace. PROMISCUOUS GIRL It's like Cyndi Lauper says, I just wanna have fun. INSOMNIAC I thought it was genuine, is it an act you perfected at drama school or a well planned lie? I'm trying to find the answers. PROMISCUOUS GIRL Life's not that simple, I'm not trying to complicate matters, they just are. INSOMNIAC Why are they complicated? We don't have to be complex. Just something pure and simple, that's all anyone wants surely? PROMISCUOUS GIRL Why do you even like me? INSOMNIAC What's not to like? PROMISCUOUS GIRL There's plenty, stories abound. INSOMNIAC I'm not interested in history, I spend every waking hour reeling through past lessons. There's nothing to be achieved. Tolstoy was correct, the only knowledge attainable by man is that life is meaningless.

PROMISCUOUS GIRL Great, you're suicidal, that's all I need. INSOMNIAC I just suffer from insomnia, nothing sordid. I want to live, I want to be alive. Not dead, not alone. PROMISCUOUS GIRL Kiss me and we can go from there. They kiss an awkward kiss. PROMISCUOUS GIRL Look I've got to go. She gets up to leave. INSOMNIAC I don't want you to go. PROMISCUOUS GIRL I've got to go to work tomorrow, it's late. INSOMNIAC You can cure me. PROMISCUOUS GIRL I don't think it's going to work out okay, you're a nice guy and everything. I'm just not looking for a relationship at the moment. INSOMNIAC Why did you come here then? PROMISCUOUS GIRL I thought it would just be a quick fuck, something to numb the boredom, I thought that's what you wanted. I'm sorry it was a mistake. INSOMNIAC It always is. Please help me.

PROMISCUOUS GIRL I can't, I just can't. I didn't sign up for this. She exits, gradually backing out of the room. The INSOMNIAC is left motionless on the floor. INSOMNIAC It's better to have loved and lost, than never at all. That's what they tell you, that's what they indoctrinate you with. Plenty more fish in the sea. Society is very adept at preparing you for disappointment. CUT TO: INT. INSOMNIAC'S LOUNGE. -- LATER We've jumpcut to a moment later with the INSOMNIAC on the phone. INSOMNIAC When you want to die, it's never a clear thought process. People say it's because you're delusional, but existence is delusion. You want to carve away at the body that traps you on this earth, release yourself beyond its limitations. PAUSE But the truth is you're always too afraid to act on this impulse, too scared to do anything but exist. We hear that on the other end of the phone is the speaking clock, its machine like rasp just tells the time over and over.