A baby David lies in his crib. His mother Gabrielle watches over him and tends to him, and when she isn't writes to David's father. Gabrielle wonders if she's still there, and wonders how long he's been gone.
Gabrielle and David watch as Gabrielle's father leaves the house and catches a taxi.
Gabrielle wonders if the father, Charles, made the place out of a dream and if he's inside of her.
Later, Gabrielle lies in bed and remembers talking to Charles.
As he packs, Charles says that he doesn't know how long he'll be gone. He tells her that he found someone like him, and says that he's no longer alone. Gabrielle wonders if he thinks he was alone before now, and Charles tells her that she knows what he means. He tells her that he won't be long and he has to go, but promises to come back.
Gabrielle tries to sleep, and lights flash around her and she hears an adult David talk to her briefly, calling her "Momma".
The next morning, Gabrielle goes downstairs and finds the front door open. A pair of doors stand out on the sidewalk leading to the house, attached to nothing. Gabrielle finally reaches out and touches one door.
Gabrielle sits in a room at the mental hospital, staring into space.
Gabrielle sits and reads to the baby David, as the Angry Boy doll lies next to the child. Earlier, she watches Charles in the basement, working on his Cerebro helmet. Once she leaves, Charles puts it on and follows a thought to Morocco. He sees Farouk and realizes that he's the source of the powerful thought. Farouk realizes that he's being observed.
-----
In the institute, Dr. Monahan asks his patient Charles if he can read something to him. Charles stares off into space, and Monahan reads from Heidegger. Monahan asks if it holds personal meeting to Charles, and Charles hears Monahan thinking that he should be moved because he's non-responsive. Charles leaves the office and goes through the main room. He makes eye contact with Gabrielle and sits down next to her, and makes telepathic contact with her. Charles hears sirens and men screaming, and breaks the contact, startled. He then asks a nurse if she knows where Gabrielle came from, and the nurse says that Gabrielle came from the camps and has no one.
That night, Charles dreams of David's commune in the present. He opens the curtain surrounding the bed and finds a path leading off into a forest. Charles follows the path and comes to a trapdoor. He opens it and finds himself in a tunnel beneath the battlefield. Gun drawn, Charles follows the tunnel and Unteroffizier Ernst attacks him. Ernst pins Charles to the floor, and Charles telepathically commands Ernst to kill himself. The unteroffizier picks up his gun and shoots himself in the head.
David sits before his believers, who chant to him.
Gabrielle asks Charles if she hears something. Charles doesn't.
Later in bed, Charlies lies awake as Gabrielle sleeps beside him.
Gabrielle lies alone in bed and hears the music of present-David's era. Later she tends to baby David and wonders what he will become as he grows up: like Charles or like her. She questions when he will learn that the world is an ugly place.
As Gabrielle locks up the doors, adult-David calls to her. She can't hear him, and Jia-yi admits that she hasn't gone back so far before. Adult-David can sense Farouk coming and tells Jia-Yi to do something, but she warns that she can't. Gabrielle goes upstairs and adult-David warns Jia-yi that they're running out of time.
In the institute, adult-David and Jia-yi watch Charles and Gabrielle together. Jia-yi says that the two times are somehow linked. Charles finishes a sketch of Gabrielle but she doesn't respond when she sees it, He opens the box that Gabrielle is holding and finds the Angry Boy doll inside. Charles closes it and looks up to see Gabrielle looking at him. She's otherwise non-responsive, and Charles makes telepathic contact with her and hears the screams from the camps. Charles looks up and sees Gabrielle at the window looking out. He goes over and greets Gabrielle, who responds to him and says that it's a nice day.
Gabrielle and Charles go to the common room to eat and talk about tomatoes, and she asks what he saw when he was in her mind. Charles explains that he can hear thoughts and memories, and he decided that people deserve their privacy so he doesn't pry. He doesn't know if there are others like him, and he tries to help. Gabrielle says that she's not well, and Charles admits that he isn't either. Charles says that they can change, but Gabrielle doesn't believe it. She asks him to prove her wrong when the time comes. They leave, holding hands.
Later, Charles sends Gabrielle a sketch of a strawberry. They play chess, eat, dance, and finally kiss.
Charlies lies in his bed and sees Farouk in his thoughts. Gabrielle comes to him and joins him in his bed, and says that she had a dream that they lived together far away from the institute, and the stars belonged to them. Charles says that it doesn't matter to him that it was a dream, and says that there's something he can do. Gabrielle asks what they're waiting for, and Charles takes Gabrielle to the main room. The patients and staff applaud and congratulate them. The couple walk out and Monahan opens the doors for them.
At the house, Gabrielle takes care of baby David. She and Charles look at baby David, and adult-David sees them from his younger self's point of view. He wonders why Gabrielle gave him away and wonders why she didn't love him. Charles wonders if he passes on his telepathy to baby David and he ends up like Charles, and Gabrielle assures her husband that David will be himself.
Once the couple leave, adult-David looks down on baby David and says that something scary is coming but he'll protect his younger self.
Gabrielle writes to Charles after hearing the voices, telling Charles that maybe her sickness is coming back. She feels something watching over her when she sleeps, but the shadow seems to move when she's awake. Gabrielle wonders why Charles left her alone.
Watching TV, Gabriells holds baby David. Adult-David tries to warn her that they're at the door, but she can't hear him. The TV goes dead and Gabrielle sets baby David down to examine it. The shadows coalesce around baby David, and Gabrielle sees them in the reflection of the TV screen. She turns but there's nothing there, and Gabrielle picks up the crying baby David and starts to go upstairs. The front door is open, and the phone rings.
Gabrielle sits alone at the table, a blank piece of paper under her pen. The phone rings and she finally answers. Charles says that he should never have gone to Morocco, and Farouk is a devil. Static on the line keeps him from hearing Gabrielle, who begs him to come home. She hangs up the phone and the shadows move beyond her. Gabrielle sees something and asks who is there, and Farouk's mental presence enters the house.
While Gabrielle sleeps, adult-David tries to contact her. She wakes up when she hears baby David crying, and discovers that the doors and windows out of her bedroom have disappeared. Baby David continues to cry, and a door appears. Gabrielle goes to the nursery and turns over baby David, and discovers that his face is gone. She yells at the baby to stop crying, and then turns to see adult-David calling to her. Charles arrives and blasts adult-David's consciousness away, mistaking him for an attacker.
David finds himself back in Jia-yi's time hallway. She comes in behind him and collapses, losing a tooth. David tells her that they have to go back, but Jia-yi tells him that it was too far and passes out from the strain.
Charles tries to wake Gabrielle up, saying whatever it was is gone. He can't reach her mind telepathically, and behind him Farouk's presence enters David. Inside of baby David's mind, Farouk comforts the baby and admires his beautiful boy.
Written by Gadfly on Jul 9, 2019