Abe’s Nightmare
INT. ABANDONED BEDROOM NIGHT
Clothes,
dirty newspapers, and the remains of a bed and a few
dresser drawers litter the floor. "GREG + ABBY" is spray painted
in 4 foot letters across the wall furthest from the door. The
room looks empty until a whimper emanates from a bundle in
the corner. A small woman huddles under a grey blanket.
Her hair matches the dirty yellow paint of the walls
behind her. She is a chameleon in the corner.
The wind
blows a gentle mist of snow through the windowless frame. The
room is still and quiet.
CLOSE UP OF:
The once decorative brass door handle. It doesn't move. Suddenly it turns to the left. It turns to the right. It jiggles furiously as the camera backs slowly. The below the knob, a turnkey shakes in the skeleton lock and the brass bolt is visible through the chewed up wood of the door frame.
A sudden crack of a boot coming through the lower door panel is deafening. Stuck, the boot yanks its way back through the door. Two more kicks and the splintered door is nearly limp in the frame.
SWITCH TO:
The woman in the corner. The noise of the boot kicking
the door sends a spasm through her body. Again the sound of
the kick and she spasms, but this time the sound of a door
swinging and a knob hitting the wall keeps her huddled
closer.
The woman
stays huddled as a pair of dirty jeans cut in front of
the woman. A sob escapes, and then a small cry.
The hand
next to the jeans holds a clear liter vodka bottle. The near
empty bottle disappears up through the top of the screen
and returns with just a swig left in the bottom.
FULL SCREEN ON:
DIRTY GENE, 50's alcoholic fired from a factory up north a few years ago. Dickies and workboots as dirty as his hands.
DIRTY GENE
Well, I was wonderin' what was
behind door number one. Looks like
I gots meself a squatter.
Well, I was wonderin' what was
behind door number one. Looks like
I gots meself a squatter.
(Laughs)
The girl looks up and a toddler aged girl is revealed in her arms under the dirty blanket. Her face is dirty but still visible is a fading beauty. The child cries. Her face is stone.
WOMAN
Get the fuck away from us.
Get the fuck away from us.
DIRTY GENE
(halting Laugh)
(halting Laugh)
ah he ah heh eh heh.
He reaches down and rips the blanket off of the woman. As the blanket is torn back the woman is revealed as SARAH, ABE'S wife. She is no longer dirty and the boy is not a toddler, he is 4 year old Connor, ABES son, wearing a new pair of Oshgosh overalls and holding a toy police car.
SARAH
Abe! Abe! Abe!
DIRTY GENE
(laughs over SARAH's screams)
Ah heh heh heh.
ABE sits
fitfully up in his own bed with his cell phone vibrating
on his dresser. "errrr... errrr....errrr"
I'd watch that. Great beginning.
ReplyDelete