1.08 Cafe Will
INT. CAFE - DAY #8#
Director(s)
Synopsis
In the café, Will reveals he's a time traveller and proves it by naming the true date.
Action
Length
| Page length | 7.8 |
|---|
Cutaway / coverage notes
Notes
Script print
A coffee cup clinks against the table as the waitress puts it down. Hannah leans back in her chair, arms crossed. The panic has burned off into something colder.
You're a time traveller.
Yup.
Hannah lets out a breath, then laughs. Short. Brittle. Will watches, calm, patient.
What day do you think it is today?
Humour me.
Her smile falters as something in his tone chips away at her certainty.
It's a Wednesday.
It's a Friday. Which year?
This is ridiculous.
Which year?
2025.
It's Friday, May 4th, 2018.
You're crazy.
I'm crazy? How's *your* day been going?
I'm dying. It's the only explanation. The car hit me and I'm dying.
You're not dying. I took care of that.
Look, thanks for... whatever this was, but I have to go-
Home?
Her mouth hangs open. No words.
I'm guessing in 2018 that wasn't your home.
This morning, after I dreamt of the crash, I had coffee with my friend. Everything was normal.
Everything?
Hannah realises.
You wouldn't believe the routine of some people. A good friendship is timeless. You wouldn't even know you were in the past, just small stuff like-
Her hair. 2018.
Will sighs. He stands up, walks over to another table and grabs a newspaper. He throws it down in front of Hannah. She reads it incredulously.
That's the nice thing about time travel. It's very easy to prove.
This is insane.
Yeah. It's insane.
(flustered, losing it again)
Why are we even having this conversation? And why are we at a cafe? I was just *at* a cafe.
I wanted coffee. Listen. You remember the crash. You know I'm telling the truth. I needed to take you back with me. I'm sorry it took so long for me to find you.
How did you find me, anyway?
He hesitates; doesn’t answer.
It's kind of like an imprint. And I knew you wouldn't be far.
And even if any of this is true, why did you make me travel through time with you? Why couldn't you just go back a few minutes and stop me from crossing the street?
I don't have that kind of control. You were dying. I saved you.
Saved me? You put me in some crazy alternate universe where Josh and I don't know each other.
I'm getting to that. But you need to calm down so you can hear what I'm about to tell you. Look, you're not in an alternate universe. I told you. You're back in time. What's this guy's name, Josh? You guys just haven't met yet.
But we did.
Now it's Will's turn to be surprised.
We did. We met a year ago. I mean... a year ago right now. So what happened?
Look. Will, was it?
Will nods.
Will, say for a second I do believe you and your batshit insane explanation... Can you help me?
I think so.
That's not inspiring confidence.
Something must have changed before this moment. But I took you straight back here.
Maybe it's something you're going to do later?
Will sighs and grabs some sugar from the table. He starts unscrewing the bottle.
Alright, time for the explanation. It's going to be weirder than you think. Starting with the basics: you are not you. You are you in 2018.
Hannah runs her fingers through her hair, discovering her own different hairstyle.
We don't physically travel. When we go back, we hijack our own consciousness.
Best I can tell, they black out.
But I don't remember ever blacking out.
That's because this is your first trip.
That makes no sense.
Look.
He pours out sugar over the table and fashions it into a straight line with his fingers.
This is time. A straight line, right? Now, let's say my consciousness jumps back five years.
(moves some sugar)
What happens when I throw myself off a building?
He brushes away the sugar beyond that point.
Even if I could let my mind time travel before I hit the ground, I wouldn't live in the future, which means I have nowhere to jump to anymore. But I *can* go further back into the past and stop myself.
Will brushes back the sugar, restoring the timeline.
How, you ask?
He pulls a bag up from below the table and extracts a folder filled to the brim with paper and pictures.
I leave myself notes. Since 2018 me blacks out whenever I visit, I need to keep him up to date. In turn, he keeps me up to date on where and when I am.
Hannah reaches over and tries to grab a photograph from the pile, but Will snags it back and gives her a look.
But wouldn't you remember visiting yourself?
Here's where it gets weirder.
He takes the sugar and adds a second line below the first.
The top line is this timeline. The bottom line is us. We can change time in any way we want, as long as we have our bodies to jump into. Meanwhile, though, our consciousness runs on its own timeline. That doesn't change just because we're changing events around us. That's why there are two versions of you. A 2018 version that has never met Josh, and then there's you, knowing that something has changed. Our job...
He brushes one line of sugar into another.
Is to align this timeline with your past so everyone can live happily ever after. Except in this new timeline, you don't get hit by a car and die. In this timeline, you get blackouts and don't know why. Meanwhile, you and I - our 2025 versions - we live on.
Causality is something humans experience, not something that actually exists. It's just our way of moving down what we think is a one way street.
So why did you bring me back all the way to 2018?
I needed to explain to you what was happening, and right now you and I - that is to say, you and I then - live in the same city.
Okay. So can we go back to the present now?
And do what? You won't be with Josh in the present. You'll just be that crazy lady that walked into his home. Not to mention, something has already changed.
I still think I'm dying. I'm dying on that street and all of this is just oxygen leaving my brain right before I snuff it.
I understand. It's exactly how I felt.
You did? How did you-
Become a time traveller? Same as you. Someone touched me. Told me the basics. He had the same story. It's turtles all the way down.
And where is he now?
Will looks over to another table. A glass falls and crashes; he doesn’t flinch and turns back to Hannah.
You mean when?
You want my help or not?
Of course I want your help. But what do we do?
I think so. It was May 2017.
I'm in town then, too. That's good.
Why?
Because I'm coming with you. It might take me a little while to find you. What's the address?
It's not in your book?
We haven't made the jump yet, so it never happened. It will have happened once we do.
You're butchering the English language.
It's not built for this kind of stuff.
Which half?
The 2025 one.
Now you're starting to get it.