Sleep No More

Carter? Do you remember how we begin?

100 backwards by 7.

100, 93...

...86...

...79...

...72...

...66 --

66...

Wait, what was the question?

Carter, can you tell me how you're feeling?

I'm fine.

My professional assessment? He looks like shit.

Yeah, I don't like it. But his vitals are normal.

He's exceeding our projected variances.

No, something's not right. Look at that guy.

He looks all kinds of fucked up.

Do you know where you are?

Yes.

Do you know my name?

Carter.

My name is Carter.

Carter, have you fallen asleep yet?

The sooner you answer, the sooner we can finish.

No.

I haven't.

Okay.

Take off your jacket, please.

We'll wrap this up.

All right.

Off you go.

Whoa, whoa. What was that?

He just yawned.

No, he took something.

- Like a pill or something. - What, seriously?

Can you rewind it?

Mm!

Hey.

Hey.

Hey, man. Hey. Right here.

Hey. My headphones. Where are they?

Or just fucking ignore me. Fine, dude.

Look, you were the last to have them, and I need them back.

Hey, are you okay?

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Carter, what are you...?

Aaah!

Aah!

You know what? I'll just go ask him.

No, no. What if he lies?

I don't know. We can't search the guy.

I swear to Christ, if he fucked this up...

Okay, it's probably just an aspirin.

Irrelevant. Everything has to be cleared.

It's Carter! There's something wrong!

Carter. Having a little meltdown?

I get it, buddy. It's one of those days.

Open up. We'll talk about it, okay?

Carter? Carter, can you hear me?

I need you to unlock this door, please.

Get the keys.

Get the keys.

Aah!

Carter. It's okay, man. Open the door.

Where are the bloody keys?!

Oh, fuck me!

Head contusions, multiple lacerations,

including a fatal wound to the jugular vein,

and he gouged out his own eyes

with a piece of a coffee mug.

Mr. Slater, can you tell me a bit

about Mr. Carter's behavior these last few weeks?

Erratic.

Typical systems of prolonged sleeplessness.

Yes. But can you elaborate on that?

His behavior is...

It's well documented.

There were no red flags, absolutely no indication

he was a danger to himself.

Go on.

Limited visual and auditory hallucinations,

irritability, general confusion,

uh, degradation of hand-to-eye coordination.

A high concentration of adenosine in his blood work.

Yes, Francine, we have all of that in our notes.

But how was he behaving?

Uh...

Did he mention suicide at any point, Mr. Gillman?

Any recurring darker thoughts?

He was an undergrad

at a high-pressure psychology program.

Of course he talked about suicide.

So he mentioned suicide?

Well, fuck if I know. I never talked to him.

I have my own shit to worry about.

Is there anything else that you can tell us?

He signed the release form.

We never said it would be easy, Your Honor.

This isn't a courtroom, Mr. Gillman.

Then why do I feel like I'm on trial?

He was a sweet kid.

I-I tried to talk to him.

I tried to talk to all of them,

but, you know, there's -- there's only so much time.

I-I tried to make sure

that everyone was taken care of and safe

and happy and all that, but --

But you personally didn't have any indication

that this was gonna happen?

No, not at all.

Anything like that,

we're obligated to document it immediately.

Look, I'm really sorry he's dead.

But I don't know if there's much more I can add, really.

Let me get this straight, Dr. Whatley.

You're -- You're treating sleep like an illness?

Without bothering you with the science,

the military has been developing wakefulness drugs

beyond your normal amphetamines for decades now.

Our solution --

Your drug, this, uh, "Cognifin"?

Cogniphan.

Rather than addressing the symptoms,

acts directly on the cerebral cortex and reticular formation.

I'm sorry, you're what?

We're trying to cure sleep.

And how did Carter's physiology

reflect his reaction to your drug?

It didn't.

Come again?

Carter never reacted to the Cogniphan.

He was the control.

He never took the drug.

How's your mum?

Questions about my mom? Really?

Thanks, Freud.

Idiopathic hypersomnia.

Of course, it's not like anything they've ever seen.

That's the diagnosis they pulled out of their ass today.

I'm sorry.

So...

I heard you told the board Carter was the control.

I did.

All right.

Look, I'm fine with that, you know?

I'm just putting that out there.

Lying to the board, I'm totally okay --

You know they wouldn't have understood.

Hey, I'm agreeing with you, Ella.

They were looking to throw me to the wolves.

If they could pin his death on the Cogniphan,

then that's all they would need.

Sure, but you don't think it was the Cogniphan?

No.

It was whatever else he was taking with the Cogniphan.

I watched the tapes. He was tak--

- Trazodone. - What?

I searched his room before EMS and the police arrived.

He had a prescription for it.

Lied about his on his application to the study.

Oh, Jesus.

How long till the board gets back to you?

I don't know.

Could be tomorrow,

could be before the fall semester begins.

So it's just indefinite?

That's the exact phrase. "Indefinite suspension."

Great.

You didn't tell them about us, did you?

What? No.

Thank you.

You don't have to thank me.

I like you.

So, what now?

Now I have two weeks

to clean out my office, and that's it.

You have two weeks.

Until June 14th.

And the building will be completely empty then, won't it?

Yeah. Why?

Okay, call the team, everyone.

Tell them to meet in the classroom tomorrow morning.

Thank you.

What are you seeing?

What are you looking at?

Hello?

Look, I-I know. I know you wanted to get rich.

You know, so did I. Yay, money.

But don't they see that we could really help people?

I mean, we could really do some good.

I don't want to be mean, but aren't they just --

Old fuckers with sticks up their asses?

Yes, they are.

Well, I was gonna say shortsighted,

but that works too.

I guess I could teach.

Getting my certification wouldn't be too hard.

Throwing myself off a cliff wouldn't be too hard either.

Yeah. No shit.

Fuck that. Teaching? Hell no! Publish or perish!

Look, if -- if we don't finish this thing,