HOLLOW SEASON Written as an original screenplay. All characters and events depicted are fictional. Any resemblance to real persons living or dead is coincidental. FADE IN: INT. MULTNOMAH COUNTY DETENTION CENTER, ASSESSMENT ROOM, PORTLAND, MORNING A room designed for precisely this. Metal table. Two chairs across from each other. An institutional mirror on the east wall that nobody believes is just a mirror. Fluorescent overhead casting the specific flat light that makes everything look equally credible and equally suspect. DR. CLAIRE VOSS (41) is already seated when the defendant is brought in. She is lean and precise, dark hair pulled back with the particular finality of someone who has made a decision about her hair and does not revisit it. She has a yellow legal pad, two sharpened pencils, and a manila folder she has already read three times. She does not look up when the door opens. The DEFENDANT (38, not our story, not our concern) sits across from her. A guard takes a position near the door. Claire looks up. CLAIRE Good morning. I'm Dr. Voss. I'm a forensic psychologist retained by the court. I'm here to complete a competency assessment. Do you understand what that means? The defendant nods. CLAIRE (CONT'D) I'm going to ask you a series of questions. There are no right or wrong answers. I'm going to take notes. This session is being recorded. Do you have any questions before we begin? The defendant shakes his head. CLAIRE (CONT'D) All right. 1