MORIANI HOME, CELLAR

Claire's phone rings and rings out on the driveway. In the cellar, the sound is faunt but still audible -- or would be, if any attention were being paid to it.

Ryan's revelation has sucked all the air out of the room. This is certainly true for Claire, who feels as though she suddenly cannot breathe.

He cannot wait any longer for a response. "Are you going to say anything?"

"What do you want me to say?" she finally manages, almost amazing herself. "I'm standing here watching you go completely nuts--"

"I'm not going nuts." He crinkles his brow and bites his lower lip. His eyes bleed desperation. "I'm just -- that was a lot to get out. It was a lot to be carrying around ..."

"Will you just stop it?" she roars.

"Stop what?" Frustration and disbelief hit him all at once, and the desperation in his expression multiplies before Claire's eyes.

She doesn't want to allow him the chance to act on it. "Stop with this garbage!" she yells at him. "Stop playing these games!"

"It's not a game." He grabs her hand, but she jerks it away. "I'm telling you the truth, Claire. I didn't rape you."

"Look, I don't know what the hell you want from me now, but this isn't funny--"

"I'm not trying to be funny!" he cries, stomping his foot heavily. "This isn't some move I'm making to see where I can get with you! I'm telling you the truth. Finally -- finally, after how many years -- you're getting the truth."

She seems to be studying him, perhaps searching for some sign of whatever the truth might be. All he notices is how quiet she is -- not just her lack of speech, but also the timid half-gestures she makes as she works at a response.

"You have to believe me, Claire."

After what seems to Ryan an eternity of seconds, Claire lets out a nasty little chuckle. "Believe you? Why in the world would I even consider that?"

"I'm telling you the truth!"

"Do I look stupid? After this many years, you just up and decide to drop this on me?"

"I swear, I didn't ... I didn't rape you."

"So I just imagined the whole thing, huh?" Claire folds her arms in front of her. "And you thought it would be a good idea to go along with it. Is that how it happened?"

"No--"

"This is ridiculous, Ryan! Do you have any idea how insulting it is to me to even suggest that I wasn't raped? Are you trying to tell me that the nightmares I have aren't real? That every time I feel you pushing me down--"

"It wasn't me!"

There is something raw about Ryan's fiery protest that catches Claire off-guard. A moment passes before she composes herself enough to shoot back at him, "Then who the hell was it?"

"Stan!"

The name is out of Ryan's mouth and past his lips before he even realizes it. It hangs in the air between them, Claire struggling to make sense of any of this and Ryan trying to grasp the fact that he just invalidated so many years of secrecy.

One . Two . Three . Four . Five . Six . Seven

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