A man named Joe is at lunch with his ex-girlfriend, Tera. He expresses his desire to reconcile with her,
but Tera will have no part of it. Thus, the story opens at the absolute lowest point in Joes life. He has resorted to repeating
the mistakes of his past, having run out of new bad ideas.
Hearing a crash outside the restaurant, Joe rises from the table and
races to see what has happened. Outside, a cyclist writhes in agony, his hand ripped off as the result of being struck by
a car. Someone in the crowd yells, "Somebody find that hand!" The crowd disperses anxiously, searching for the hand. Joe wanders
down an alley. He searches a bit, then notices something behind a pile of paper trash. His face indicates discovery, but the
camera does not reveal what Joe has found. He places the item in his jacket pocket and makes his way home.
In the hallway of his apartment, Joe notices his neighbor Ann, but
says nothing.
Once inside his apartment, Joe examines his discovery. It is a living,
human hand. He places it on a table and it crawls along on its fingers. It seems to like Joe. Joe likes the hand. Joe places
the hand in a shoe box and hides it next to his bed.
The next day, Joe returns home and opens his nightstand. He pulls the
hand out from the box and lets it scurry around on the desktop. It seems happy to see Joe. Joe produces a ring and places
it on the hands finger. Later, Joe is sleeping. He is awakened by some chips of paint that are falling into his eyes. He notices
a gaping crack that is spreading in the ceiling, directly above him. A hand bursts through the gaping crack. Hands begin to
press through the walls of the room. Joe reacts in horror as hands begin to poke out at him from the mattress. The doorbell
begins to ring impatiently. Joe runs to answer the door. It is the cyclist from the accident. He says nothing. Joe notices
the cyclists hand is re-attached in its appropriate position just below the cyclists wrist. Shocked, Joe races back to the
bedroom and searches his nightstand. The hand is gone, leaving behind only a vacant shoebox. Joe is pulled onto the mattress
by the hands that have burst through the walls and the bedding. The room collapses on Joe.
When Joe awakens, he checks the nightstand. He is relieved to discover
that the hand is still there.
As he leaves for the day, Joe sees his neighbor Ann again. This time
he speaks to her. There is an awkward exchange between them. He asks her out for that night, and she accepts. He then excuses
himself, saying that he has to go to a job interview.
Joe proceeds to spend the day doing everything but looking for work.
When he comes home that night, Joe notices his door ajar. He quickly
follows a trail of blood to the nightstand. Checking the drawer, Joe finds the hand missing. He backtracks and follows the
blood trail into the hallway, and into the neighbors apartment. Here, he finds the Police, who are standing over the
neighbors body. A detective holds up the cyclists hand, and addresses Joe. "Is this your hand?" he asks.
Joe is led off in cuffs by the Police, through a gawking mob that has gathered outside
his apartment.
ã 2001 H.T.I Productions
