House of Leaves (41 page)

Day 2: 19:04

[Outside tent; smoking another joint]

Enough. I’ve had enough. Man, this
is
just not
fair.

Day 2: 20:03

[Outside tent]

Radio (Navidson): [Static] We hear something [Noise] going [Noise] —ter it.

Tom: Good luck bro’.

[Silence]

Day 2: 21:54

[Outside tent]

Radio (Karen): I’m scared Tom.

Tom: What’s the matter? Are the kids alright?

Radio (Karen): No, they’re okay. I mean I think they’re okay. Daisy, stays In her room. Chad prefers being outside. Who can argue with that. It’s something else.

Tom: What?

Radio (Karen): All my Feng Shui— Oh Christ, this whole thing doesn’t make any sense. How are Navy and Billy doing? Have they found anything? When are they coming back?

Tom: They heard someone crying. I didn’t get it all ‘cause the reception was so poor. From what I can gather, they’re fine.

Radio (Karen): Well, I’m not. I don’t like being here alone, Tom. In fact I’m fucking fed up with being alone. [She starts crying] I don’t like being scared all the time. Wondering If he’s going to be alright, then wondering if I’m going to be alright if he’s not, knowing I won’t be. I’m so tired of being frightened like this. I’ve had enough Tom. I really have. After this, I’m leaving. I’m taking the kids and I’m going. This wasn’t necessary. It could have been avoided. We didn’t need to go through all this.

Tom: [Gently] Karen, Karen, wait a minute. Just back up for a second. First, tell me what you were saying about your Feng Shui stuff.

Radio (Karen): [Pause] The objects. I put all these objects around the house. You remember, to improve the energy, or some such shit.

Tom: Sure. Crystals and bullfrogs, goldfish and dragons.

Radio (Karen): Tom, they’re all gone.

Tom: What do you mean?

Radio (Karen): [Crying harder] They

disappeared.

Tom: Hey Karen. Come on. Did you ask Daisy and Chad? Maybe they took them?

Radio (Karen): Tom, they’re the ones who told me. They wanted to know why I’d gotten rid of it all.

Day 2: 22:19

[Outside tent]

Radio (Navidson): How’s Karen [Static]?

Tom: Not so good, Navy. She’s pretty scared. You should get back here.

Radio (Navidson): Wh [Static]? [Static]

[Static] [Static] [Static]ear you.

Tom: Navy’? Navy’?

[Static]

Day 2:
23:07

[Outside tent]

This is such bullshit. You hear me Mr. Monster BULLSHIT!

What kind of house do you got here anyway? No lights, no central heating, not even any plumbing! I’ve been shitting in a corner and pissing on a wall for two days.

[Getting louder]

Doesn’t that irk you a little, Mr. Monster? I’ve been shitting in your corner. I’ve been pissing on your wall.

[Then softer]

Of course, the piss has dried up. And the crap just vanishes. You gobble it all up don’t you? Turtles, shit, It doesn’t matter to you.

[Loud again]

Indiscriminate bastard! Doesn’t it make you sick? It makes me sick. Makes me wanna retch.

[Long series of echoes]

Day 3: 00:49

[Outside tent; reaching Into his

ziploc bag for the last joint]

And all through the house not a creature was stirring not even a mouse. Not even you Mr. Monster. Just Tom, poor 01’ Tom, who was doing plenty of stirring around this house until finally he went stir crazy wishing there
was
a creature
any
creature—
even
a mouse.

Day 3: 00:54

[Outside tent]

Radio (Navidson): [Bang] We’re in shit now [Static]

Tom: Navy, what’s happening? I can barely hear you.

Radio (Navidson): Jed’s been shot, he’s bleed [Static]

Tom: Shot? By who?!

Radio:

[Pop-Pop-Pop]

Reston: I can’t see a fiicking thing.

[crack..
.
crack..
.
crack

…cracK]

Reston:
Awwwwww-wwwww shit!

[…cracK
-BANG-
craCK..
.
craCK

crACK.cRACK. cRACK. CRACK. CRACK.]

Tom: What the hell was that?!

Radio (Navidson): Tom [Static] [Static]. I’m gonna [Static] [Static] [Static] [Static] Wax. We have to—shit— [Static…]

Tom: I’m losing you Navy.

Radio (Navidson): [Static]

Tom: Navy, do you read me? Over.

Day 3: 01:28

[Outside tent]

Radio (Navidson): [Static] it’s probably gonna take us a good eight hours to make it back to the stairs. Tom, I need you to meet me at the bottom [Static] We need help. We can’t carry them up ourselves. Also, you’re [Static] [Static] [Static] [Static] eed to [Static] a doctor [Static]

[Static..
.
]

Day 3: 07:39

[Outside tent]

[Tom looks down the Spiral Staircase, ignites a lightstick and drops it.]

Are you down there, Mr. Monster?

[Below, the lightstick flickers and dies. Tom recoils.]

No way. Not gonna happen, Navy. I’ve been alone in this shithole for almost three days and now you want me to go down
there
alone? No way.

[Tom descends a few steps, then quickly retreats]

No can do.

[Tom tries again, makes it dawn to the first flight]

There that’s not so bad. Fuck you, Mr. Monster! Yeah, FUCK YOU!!!

[Then as Tom starts down the second flight, the stairs suddenly stretch and drop ten feet. Tom looks up and sees the circular shape of the stairwell bend into an ellipse before snapping back to a circle again.]

[Tom’s breathing gets noticeably more rapid.]

You
are
here, aren’t you Mr. Monster?

[A pause. And then out of nowhere comes that growl. More like a roar. Almost deafening. As if it originated right next to Tom.]

[Tom panics and sprints back up the
stairs.
The shot from the camcorder instantly becomes an incoherent blur of walls, banisters, and the dim light thrown by the halogen.]

[A minute later, Tom reaches the top.]

Day 3: 07:53

[Outside tent]

Tom: Karen…

Radio (Karen): Are you alright?

Tom: I’m coming in.

A Short Analysis of Tom’s Story

How does one approach this quirky sequence? What does it reveal about Tom? What does it say about
The Navidson Record
?

For one thing, Navidson edited this segment months later. No doubt, what would soon take place deeply influenced the way he treated the material. As Nietzsche wrote, “It is our future that lays down the law of our today.”

All throughout Tom’s Story, Navidson tenderly focuses on Tom’s mirth and his ability to play in the halls of hell, those dolorous mansions of Isolation, Fear, and Doubt. He captures his brother trying to help Karen and him with their foundering relationship, and he reveals Tom’s surprising strength in the face of such utter darkness and cold.

There is nothing hasty about Tom’s Story. Navidson has clearly put an enormous amount of work into these few minutes. Despite obvious technological limitations, the cuts are clean and sound beautifully balanced with the rhythm and order of every shot only serving to intensify even the most ordinary moment.

This is a labor of love, a set piece sibling to Karen’s short film on Navidson.

Perhaps because Tom’s antics are so amusing and so completely permeated with warmth, we could easily miss how hand shadows, an abundance of bad jokes and the birth of “Mr. Monster” ultimately come to mean Sorrow.

If Sorrow is
deep regret over someone loved,
there is nothing but regret here, as if Navidson with his great eye had for the first time seen what over the years he never should have missed.

Or should have missed all along.

XII

Not every cave search has a Terry Tarkington who knows the cave like his own home. Six months earlier three boys had vanished from the face of the earth near a similar Missouri cave they had been exploring. Despite weeklong search operations of incredible extent, they remain missing to this day.

—
William R. Halliday, M.D.

American Caves and Caving

When Navidson and Reston finally reach the foot of the stairway, Tom is not there.

It is almost noon on the third thy of the rescue attempt. Reston’s gloves are torn; his hands are blistered and bleeding. Wax’s breathing is shallow and inconsistent. Jed’s body weighs heavily on Navidson. All of which, bad as it is, is made even more unbearable when Navidson realizes his brother has not come down the stairs to meet them.

“We’ll manage Navy,” Reston says, trying to console his friend. “I shouldn’t be surprised,” Navidson says gruffly. “This is Tom. This is what Tom does best. He lets you down.”

Which is when the rope slaps down on the floor.

After making his unsuccessful bid to reach the bottom of the Spiral Staircase, Tom had retraced his way back to the living room where he began to construct a light gurney out of scrap wood. Karen helped out by going to town to purchase additional parts, including a pulley and extra rope.

Navidson was wrong. Tom may not have gone down those stairs but the alternative he came up with was far better.

Within minutes Navidson
and
Reston are hoisting
Wax
up the lOOft
shaft.
As a
safety
precaution, Navidson ties the end of the rope around the bottom banister. Thus if something should happen, causing them to lose their hold on the rope, the
stretcher
would still stop short of
hitting
the
bottom
by
several feet.

A few seconds later, a quarter clatters on the floor, indicating that Wax has safely reached the top and the stretcher can be re-lowered and readied for the next load.

Jed is next. Hand over hand, Navidson and Reston haul the body upwards, the excess rope gathering in coils around their feet. As Tom does not operate a Hi 8 during this sequence, we can only imagine what his reaction was as he struggled to lift the corpse over the railing. Nonetheless, a minute later, a second quarter clatters on the
floor.
Reston goes next.

Navidson double-checks to make sure the end of the rope is still securely tied to the last banister and then begins hoisting his friend up the shaft.

“You are one heavy bastard,” Navidson grunts.

Reston lights a green flare and gives Navidson a big toothy grin:

“Going up like the fourth of July.”