- A transmasculine student endures merciless bullying in his high school until a mysterious janitor offers the teen a way to take care of his bullies once and for all.
- Elliot, a transgender bullied by his classmates and principal, makes a deal with a sinister Janitor: his songbook in return for a musical revenge that lets him direct his pain to his tormentors. But Elliot soon discovers that he doesn't want to hurt people - but the Janitor has other ideas.—Gislef
- I don't have many friends.
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Elliot stands in the high school gym, and the gym teacher splits up the boys and girls. When Elliot goes over with the boys, the gym teacher tells him that he's with the girls. They stare at Elliot and call him a freak.
Later, Elliot arrives last to music class and the other students stare at him. He takes a seat, and the teacher Mr. Ortiz comes over and asks Elliot if everything is okay, forgetting Eliot's name. Eliot reminds Ortiz of his name.
Out in the hallway later, Elliot considers which restroom to go to, the boys' or girls'. He finally goes into the boys' room, past two missing posters, and Principal Meyers come out of one of the stalls. Meyers tells Elliot that he doesn't have the equipment to be in the boys' room, and tells him that around there the policy doesn't allow boys in the girls' room and vice versa. The principal says that he's just there to enforce the rules and invites Elliot to use the urinal if he "has what it takes". Elliot runs out.
In the hallway, Elliot bends over, gasping, and spots a "Do not enter" sign on the door to the restrooms on the lower level. He goes downstairs to the dimly-lit basement under repair. Elliot finds an old toilet and after using it, goes back in the hallway where someone watches him from the shadows. He sits down and hears a shrieking noise in the distance, that gets steadily louder. A female Janitor rises up behind Elliot, and he turns to see her.
The Janitor jumps, startled, and tells Elliot that he scared her. She admits that it's a dump and welcomes Elliot to "her world", and asks what Elliot's name is. Once he introduces himself, the Janitor notices Elliot's flute case and comments on the fact he's a musician. She sees his songbook full of his music that he's writing, and the Janitor stares at it in awe and says that he put his soul into it.
Elliot tries to take his songbook back, and the Janitor says that she figures Elliot came down to the others, who harass the "sensitive types". She talks about how they came down over the years, crying in the dark, and tells Elliot that she pities them because they're nasty people with nasty hearts.
The Janitor sits down with Elliot and shares her pistachios with him. As they eat, the Janitor asks Elliot what they're doing to him up there. He says that everyone in the town seems backward, and wishes he had one person to talk to. The Janitor tells him that he needs everyone to stop picking on him, and asks what it feels like when they all stare and laugh at him. Elliot says that it feels like torture that he can't stop, and the Janitor gives him a wooden woodwind instrument, a "dala ocarina", and says that it's a special object.
Elliot asks what she means, and the Janitor explains that if the player pours their pain into it, people feel the way the player feels. Elliot figures that they won't mess with him, and the Janitor agrees. When Elliot asks if it's magic, the Janitor tells him that she'll let him borrow it for a while and he can see for herself. She asks for his journal in return for the ocarina, and Elliot gives her a page from it and takes the ocarina. Elliot blows on the instrument, but no music comes out and he asks the Janitor how he plays it. She smiles.
Later, Elliot is in class and remembers the Janitor telling him to play it the next time someone messes with him and he feels the pain inside. Elliot goes to the bathroom and sits in a stall, and a couple of girls come in and mockingly say that they want to hang out with him. One of them tosses tampons over the top of the stall, and Elliot comes out and glares at them. He plays the ocarina, and it emits a shrieking noise. The two girls clutch at their ears in pain, and Elliot stops, smiles, and plays it again. The girls clutch at their ears in pain again, and the lead girl tells Elliot that they'll never tease him again and they're sorry.
Elliot goes to the basement and tells the Janitor what happened. She says that for the right price, she can give the ocarina to Elliot permanently so he can protect himself whenever he feels like. The Janitor tells Elliot that she wants his entire songbook for it. When Elliot says that it's his soul and he wouldn't know who he was without it, the Janitor says that's what makes it so valuable. She doesn't want anything else, and Elliot agrees to give it to her figuring he can always write new songs.
Later, Elliot is sitting on the stairs when a teenage boy, Tony, comes up, grabs him by the shirt, and hauls Elliot up. He says that Elliot attacked his little sister and she told him, and he shoves Elliot so Elliot drops the ocarina down the stairs. It moves back up the stairs by itself and jumps into Elliot' hang. The music breaks Tony's hand, and he collapses screaming in pain.
Elliot goes to music class late and takes his seat. He remembers breaking the bully's hand, and Ortiz asks Elliot if he's feeling okay. Elliot runs out, and Meyers confronts him in the hallway and asks if he's going somewhere. He says that Elliot was seen running away from where they found Tony, and Elliot says that he was defending himself. Meyers accuses him of poisoning the minds of the other kids, grabs Elliot's wrist, and Elliot drops the ocarina. Elliot picks it up and blows it, and the sound makes Meyers scream in pain. The boy runs off when Meyers loses his grip, and the sound waves tear Meyers apart.
Running down to the basement, Elliot calls to the Janitor. He opens two lockers and finds the husks of the students on the missing posters. Elliot finds an empty locker, and the Janitor comes up and says that one was for him. She tells him that it's the essence of Elliot's suffering that matters, and his pain will live on in the instrument, beyond his husk.
Elliot insists that his pain isn't hers to take, and he's more than his pain. He says that the Janitor just likes hurting people, throws the ocarina at her, and tells her to take it back. The Janitor tells Elliot that he already made his choice, and the ocarina returns to his hand.
Meyers comes down and calls to Elliot, and the Janitor tells Elliot to play one last song for the "bad man". She tells Elliot that he'll be doing the world a favor and walks away, and Elliot yells that she's just as bad as Meyers and she never wanted to hurt anyone. The Janitor tells him that his only choices are to hurt or be hurt, and leaves.
The principal arrives, wielding a pipe, and asks Elliot what he is. He says that Elliot is unnatural and swings at him, and Elliot plays the ocarina and knocks Meyers down. Meyers' bones break and he collapse, convulsing. Elliot tosses the instrument on the floor, and the Janitor comes up and sarcastically applauds. He picks up the pipe and the Janitor tells him that he can't hurt her. Elliot smashes the ocarina, and the Janitor tells him that he'll be weak without it. She offers him his songbook back when he keeps hitting the ocarina, but if she breaks her ocarina then he'll never play music again.
Elliot says that he doesn't believe her and smashes the ocarina. The Janitor screams in pain and drops the songbook, and Elliot drops to his knees. The lights go out and the Janitor disappears, and the students emerges from the lockers. Elliot goes to them and tells them that the Janitor is gone.
Later, Elliot puts his flute back in its case. One of the "husks", the girl, takes a video of two boys mocking Elliot. The other husk, the boy, comes up and tells them that their new principal starts the next day. He gives them friendship rings, and the girl takes a photo of all three of them, wearing their rings. They go to class, leaving Elliot alone.
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Decades later, a now-elderly Elliot reads what he wrote about his time in school. The Janitor, a witch, never forgot about him. Outside, the witch watches Elliot through the window.
----- I don't have many friends. That's why I keep their bodies in the basement.
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