WHILE SHE WAS OUT
Written by
Susan Montford
Based on a short story by
Edward Bryant
5th draft
December 20, 2006
MAP GRIDS
From the pages of a Thomas guide converge, overlap and re-
configure across the screen. The endlessly ironic names of
American suburbs parade before us, their violet territories
marching forward like a bruise into dark green patches of
forest and wilderness.
Closer in on one last map grid which fades into a
transparency of itself overlaid across the actual location of
the suburb. The name of this housing development is "Pleasant
Valley". The transparency fades out to reveal:
1 1
EXT. PLEASANT VALLEY BOULEVARD - EVENING
From a sign reading "Pleasant Valley Dream Homes", a picture
postcard boulevard of mini mansions curves into infinity.
Each home is brand new. Each has the same size lawn, the same
shrubs, the same satellite dish. Each has an
indistinguishable car parked in the driveway.
All the homes have Christmas decorations, Christmas trees
with baubles, lights and Christmas stars sitting proudly at
the top. The doors have Christmas wreaths.
The sheen of a recent rainfall makes all the surfaces glimmer
in the lights.
We halt outside one house.
2 2
EXT. DELLAS'S HOUSE - EVENING
This home too seems perfect until we notice the Christmas
star has fallen from the top of the tree and lies reflecting
itself in a puddle on the wet lawn.
Suddenly we hear the sound of wings fluttering and see an owl
among the branches of the Christmas tree. It rises from the
tree then swoops down to the lawn where it sweeps a mouse
from the grass. The owl then soars off, casting a magnified
shadow of her wings across the house, and disappears with
it's prey into the woods behind.
Curtains part at a downstairs window. The silhouette of a man
appears bathed in the blue glow of a computer screen. He
draws the curtains once again and disappears.
3 3
INT. DELLA'S HOUSE/ KENNETH'S MEDIA ROOM - EVENING
We sneak between curtain and window ledge into a home office
fitted out with a flat screen TV and a computer.
Scene 3 Page 2
KENNETH, a forty something ex-jock with a once handsome face,
pours a beer into a crystal brandy glass. Kenneth's eyes are
glued to the computer screen where stock numbers scroll
endlessly down. He highlights a set of numbers and stands up
abruptly from his chair elated.
KENNETH
Yes!
Steps back onto a A CHILD'S DOLL, crushing it underfoot. His
ebullient mood changes quickly.
KENNETH (CONT'D)
Damn! DELLA!
The sound of footsteps are followed by the door opening.
DELLA peers into the room. She's a diminutive blonde in her
thirties with fine features and a fading Southern accent.
She's pulling a coat on over a white shirt and jeans.
She sees the broken doll.
DELLA
SHOOT, KENNETH! That's Tammi's
favorite doll.
She walks in, picks up the doll and tries to fix its squashed
face. He turns back to the computer guiltily, takes a sip of
beer.
KENNETH
You should just swear properly and
get it over with. Do you think the
kids don't know what you mean?
Close up, his face is ruddy - the face of someone who drinks
too much. He turns back towards her. She ignores him,
continues to try fix the doll. His eyes linger on her coat.
KENNETH (CONT'D)
Going out again? What is it
tonight? Auto Mechanics for
Dummies? The bored housewives'
reading group?
He averts his eyes back to the screen then turns back to look
at her once more.
KENNETH (CONT'D)
I got a new one for you.
He smiles sardonically.
Scene 3 Page 3
KENNETH (CONT'D)
Group therapy for women who always
have the curse. There's a Tuesday
night class at the Pleasant Valley
Episcopalian.
Kenneth clearly thinks he's funny. Della glares a warning at
him and bites her lip to stop a vitriolic response escaping
from her mouth.
DELLA
I'm going to the mall for wrapping
paper.
A trail of kids mess in the hallway behind Della catches
Kenneth's eye.
KENNETH
What do you do all day, Della
honey? Cause it sure isn't keeping
house. This place is an eyesore.
I'm mortgaged up to the eyeballs
for this?
His sad eyes meet hers in confrontation. Della, determined
not to engage, averts hers. Kenneth, unable to contain
himself, faces her.
KENNETH (CONT'D)
I mean it's not like you're at some
salon fancying up your hair or
nails like the other men's wives.
He lifts a strand of her limp fair hair and lets it drop,
looks right in her tired face.
KENNETH (CONT'D)
The last time I saw you wearing
something sexy was our engagement
party. God, Della, you used to be
hot!
She bites her lip again, but this time to try stop the tears.
He turns away, in an attempt to conceal his own sadness.
She walks away clutching the doll.
DELLA
Put the twins to bed by eight. Give
them a chocolate cookie with their
milk.
Scene 3 Page 4
KENNETH
Jesus, Della. Della honey, I'm
sorry.
But she's already left the room. He watches her pick up a set
of car keys from a dresser in the dimly lit hallway. Her
knuckles are white as she clenches her fingers around them.
Kenneth turns back to his computer.
4 4
INT. STAIRS - EVENING
Della climbs the stairs. Framed photographs on the wall tell
the public story of her life. The engagement to Kenneth,
their wedding, the birth of the twins, Kenneth's graduation,
Kenneth as a sixth grade football star, Della on the farm in
Ohio with her horse, a really young Della playing baseball
with her father. We linger on a photo of a very pretty twenty
something Della in a little black dress.
5 5
INT. THE TWINS BEDROOM - EVENING
TERRI and TAMMI are seven year old twins with the delicate
blue eyed blonde looks of their Mother.
Della stands in the doorway and watches them.
Tammi is lying on her girlish bed drawing with crayons.
Terri's toy dinosaurs are destroying Tammi's heirloom dolls
house, starting with the furniture.
She steps into the room.
TAMMI
Mommy can I get an American Girl
for Christmas?
TERRI
I want a raptor dinosaur, Mommy.
DELLA
You better leave Santa a note. It's
only three days until Christmas.
She gives them each a kiss, breathing in their scent she
loves so much.
TAMMI
Where are you going, Mommy?
Scene 5 Page 5
DELLA
The Mall. One chocolate cookie each
and then Daddy will read you a
bedtime story.
TAMMI
Daddy's stories are lame. I want
you to read us a story.
TERRI
Yeah Mommy, the one about the
pirates.
TAMMI
No, the cowgirls. Diamond Lil and
Slingshot Kitty.
DELLA
Tomorrow night I'll read you the
best bedtime story in the whole
world. I promise.
Della gives them a little wave and turns to leave.
DELLA (CONT'D)
I'll check in on you both when I
get back.
(beat)
To make sure you're sleeping.
She smiles. Terri's already turned back to his dinosaurs.
Tammi runs toward her and gives her the drawing she's been
working on. It's a drawing of a stick figure family holding
hands. The words "Mommy, we love you" are written across a
cloudy night sky like big stars.
DELLA (CONT'D)
Thank you, Tammi, it's wonderful.
Della doesn't have time to look at it properly so she folds
the drawing up and puts it in her pocket. She kisses Tammi
again and turns to leave. Tammi's eyes follow her mother as
she walks away.
6 6
INT. STAIRWAY - EVENING
Della checks her watch and hurries down the stairs.
7 7
INT. HALLWAY - EVENING
She sits on the bottom stair to pull on a pair of boots. The
boots are well worn but polished to a gleam.
Scene 7 Page 6
Behind her, an antique grandfather clock strikes seven p.m.
The sound of gun shots fades in from the TV in Kenneth's
office.
8 8
INT. KITCHEN - EVENING
Della collects a packet of cookies from a cabinet. She looks
at the pile of dirty dinner dishes in the sink then looks
away.
9 9
INT. STAIRWAY - EVENING
Della leaves the cookies at the bottom of the stairs and
opens the front door. The TV blares out some action flick
from Kenneth's ajar door.
TITLE --- "WHILE SHE WAS OUT"
10 10
EXT. DELLA'S HOUSE - EVENING
Della is met by a blast of cold evening air and the eerie
silence of the suburbs. She closes the door softly behind her
and rushes along the path to the driveway where the family's
black Ford Explorer is parked.
She CHIRPS the remote and quickly climbs in.
11 11
INT. FORD EXPLORER - EVENING
Della inserts the key and turns it in the lock. The car
sputters in defiance against the cold night.
DELLA
Frick!
The car sputters again.
DELLA (CONT'D)
C'MON...
With a massive exertion, the car engine turns over and the
vehicle starts. She sighs with relief.
She turns the heat up high and warms her hands at the vent,
pauses to look at her home through the car window. For a
second, in an upstairs window, she sees a reflection of
Tammi.
She smiles, then looks at the house and lawn and the
Christmas tree. She notices the fallen star, is about to get
out of the car to retrieve it, but decides it's too cold.
Scene 11Page 7
A shadow creeps across her face as she pulls the stick into
reverse and backs up.
12 12
EXT. PLEASANT VALLEY BOULEVARD - EVENING
We follow her as she backs up, pushes into drive and heads
slowly down the boulevard.
The road is empty. All the cars are neatly tucked away in
their driveways and it looks like no one's out tonight. She
makes a right turn onto.
13 13
EXT. PLEASANT VALLEY CRESCENT - EVENING
She follows the road as it curves around a long row of
endlessly monotonous houses. In the distance, we can see the
gates of Pleasant valley gated community.
14 14
INT. FORD EXPLORER - EVENING
She slows down, rolls down her window and swipes a chub card
against the security panel. The gates slowly open. She drives
through. The gates close behind her. She rolls the window up
and makes a left turn onto.
15 15
EXT. PLEASANT VALLEY DRIVE - EVENING
The road is wider and framed on either side by the high walls
of gated communities. A Ford Explorer just like hers passes
in the opposite direction.
16 16
INT. FORD EXPLORER - EVENING
Della smiles mysteriously, reaches into the glove compartment
with her free hand. She pushes aside a bunch of car papers, a
flare, pulls out a check wallet hidden underneath - her
secret hiding place for:
A nice pack of Marlboros. She smiles again - the smile of the
secret smoker. She presses the cigarette lighter into the
dashboard.
The lighter pops out. She tips out a cigarette, sees a
sticky note attached to the interior foil. Scrawled in messy
handwriting are the words - YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE QUITTING
DELLA HONEY. XOXO KENNETH.
DELLA
I'll get right on that Kenneth
honey. AFTER you stop drinking.
Scene 16Page 8
She rips the note off, stuffs it in her purse, lights the
cigarette.
She inhales deeply. We see the pleasure written across her
face.
17 17
EXT. PLEASANT VALLEY DRIVE - EVENING
A few cars pass Della in the night. Their lights are like
torches in the suburban wilderness.
18 18
INT. FORD EXPLORER/ EXT. PLEASANT VALLEY DRIVE - EVENING
There is the familiar ring of a cellular phone. Della has
programmed one of those "oh so cute" recognizable tunes into
it, like the "William Tell overture".
Della holds the wheel with one hand and fumbles through her
purse with the other. She eventually locates the phone.
DELLA
Hello?
MARY (V.O.)
Della, it's Mary Messina.
Della rolls her eyes. This is not a welcome call.
DELLA
Oh, hey.
MARY (V.O.)
You okay sweetie?
DELLA
Sure. How are you?
MARY (V.O.)
I'm well.
DELLA
How'd you get my cell number?
Della balances the phone while she drags on her cigarette.
MARY (V.O.)
I called Kenneth at the house.
Oh great. She exhales sharply.
Scene 18Page 9
DELLA
And how'd that go? Did he give you
an earful for disturbing his ninety
ninth viewing of Lethal Weapon
Four?
Mary giggles.
MARY (V.O.)
Oh Della. Kenneth is always
charming. At least to me.
The car flashes past the decorated sign for a local school.
Before Della can stop herself, the words are out.
DELLA
Well, with the way you flaunt your
double D boob job at the free fun
PTA events that's hardly a
surprise.
Fortunately for her the phone happens to make a deep metallic
distortion at that moment.
MARY (V.O.)
What was that?
DELLA
Oh nothing, Mary.
MARY (V.O.)
You got lucky with that one.
Patricia Ellis says he's the best
looking guy in Pleasant Valley.
DELLA
Well that wouldn't be hard.
Mary, do you need something? Cause
I gotta go.
MARY (V.O.)
Yes, are you going to Tool School
tomorrow?
Mary giggles at her own joke.
Della sighs. THIS is why she is having her serenity
interrupted?
Scene 18Page 10
DELLA
TOOL SCHOOL?, Ouch, Mary. Do It
Yourself Mechanics is without a
doubt the most interesting thing in
my life right now.
(Smiles)
I carry my beloved toolbox in the
trunk at all times.
The desolate road disappears behind Della. She passes a
roadside memorial.
MARY (V.O.)
I'm just joking, Della. You know
me. I pre-paid ten classes and only
made it to two. If you are going I
could use a ride. I'd hate to miss
another class.
If Della was going before, she's not now.
DELLA
Sorry, Mary, I'm skipping this
week. Kenneth's parents are coming
to stay for Christmas. You know how
it is.
A red light looms ahead. Della slows.
MARY (V.O.)
Oh that's too bad. Maybe Patricia
Ellis will be going.
DELLA
You check with her, Mary.
MARY (V.O.)
Merry Christmas. God bless you and
your family.
Christmas lights outline a few distant houses.
DELLA
You too.
(Under her breath)
Bah Humbug.
MARY (V.O.)
Pardon?
DELLA
Bye, Mary.
Scene 18Page 11
Della stops at the red light. She clicks off the phone and
lets it lay on her lap.
She rakes about among a bunch of kids stuff in the back seat,
casts aside, an anorak, mittens, a sock.
She finds what she's looking for, a bottle of water, caught
on the bar under the passenger seat. It's only a third full
but she takes a sip, recoils from its coldness.
The light changes. She throws the bottle into the back seat.
19 19
EXT. PLEASANT VALLEY DRIVE - EVENING
Christmas lights: reindeer, stars, even the American flag dot
the black night.
20 20
INT. FORD EXPLORER - EVENING/ EXT CROSSROADS
Della picks up the phone and pushes a few keys. She has not
dialed enough to make a full phone call when we hear the
phone RING on the other side.
OPERATOR (V.O.)
Cellular 411 connect. How may I
direct your call?
DELLA
The Learning Academy. Spring
Street.
OPERATOR (V.O.)
Please hold for that number.
Della slows down for another red light.
She's at a wide crossroads where the housing development
abruptly ends and a wasteland of deforestation begins.
A billboard for another new housing development announces:
"GREEN STREET DREAM HOMES - Investment Opportunities".
Waiting for the light at the opposite side of the road from
Della is a car with an animal cadaver strapped to the roof.
Della tries not to look at it.
A recording breaks into the moment just as the light ahead
changes to green.
Scene 20Page 12
OPERATOR (V.O.) (CONT'D)
(recording)
Press your pound key now to connect
with your request.
Della presses the pound key and drives straight ahead.
MEGHAN (V.O.)
Learning Academy, this is Meghan.
DELLA
Hi Meghan. It's Della Myers.
MEGHAN (V.O.)
Oh hey. You calling about Spanish
for Beginners? You know that Tom
cancelled 'cause of New Year's.
DELLA
Yes I knew.
MEGHAN (V.O.)
Can you hold, I have another call?
DELLA
Okay.
Frustrated, Della turns on the radio. It is some innocuous
local ad.
LOCAL AD
Pleasant Valley Dream Homes. The
lowest crime rate in the US. Call 1-
800-SAFE.
Della switches stations trying to find something she likes.
She gives up and waits for Meghan to return. The car flashes
past construction road signs.
MEGHAN (V.O.)
Sorry Della ...
DELLA
Can you leave word for Mike. I'm
going to miss tomorrow's Mechanic's
class. It's just the one time.
MEGHAN (V.O.)
Everyone misses that class at least
once.
Scene 20Page 13
DELLA
I guess some people find it boring.
MEGHAN (V.O.)
We'll see you the first week in
January then?
DELLA
Yes you will...unless I run off and
become an outlaw or something.
Meghan giggles. We hear the familiar beep of another call
coming in.
DELLA (CONT'D)
I have to go.
MEGHAN
Merry Christmas
DELLA
You too.
Della clicks the phone over to the incoming call.
DELLA (CONT'D)
Hello?
CASSIE (V.O.)
Hi Della... it's Cassie.
Cassie's voice is almost lost in the din of her surroundings.
DELLA
Where are you? Grand Central
Station?
CASSIE
Hold on, I'll take the phone
outside.
A loud noise appears out of nowhere.
21 21
INT. FORD EXPLORER/EXT. RAILWAY CROSSING - EVENING
The car SCREECHES to a halt. Della almost didn't see it. She
is at a railroad crossing, the third car in line, and she
almost rear-ended the car in front of her.
DELLA
FRICK!
Scene 21Page 14
CASSIE (V.O.)
Just a minute, Della.
DELLA
I almost rear-ended a car. Cassie?
The phone cuts out. The train starts to go laboriously past.
Carriage after carriage of brand name building materials for
new housing developments.
Della lights another cigarette.
She turns on the radio again, finds a station playing "The
Sound of Silence".
The crossing gates go up. The cars ahead of her start.
Della shifts into drive.
The phone rings its special tune again. Della turns the
volume of the radio down.
DELLA (CONT'D)
What's up, Cassie?
CASSIE (V.O.)
I'm over at Southeast Plaza. What
was it we need to get for Pilates?
DELLA
Huh? One of those rubber balls, I
think. I'm headed over there now.
Ran out of Christmas wrapping
paper. Would you believe it?
CASSIE (V.O.)
It's hell here tonight. Everyone
and their uncle is at the mall.
Della's phone makes a loud, distorted noise.
DELLA
Aw shoot. My cell battery's dying.
She rifles about in the passenger seat, leans over to the
back, and rifles about there among the kids toys, gives up.
DELLA (CONT'D)
Damn, I must have left the charger
in the other car.
Scene 21Page 15
CASSIE (V.O.)
You want me to pick up something
for you while I'm here?
Cassie's kind offer almost reduces Della to tears.
DELLA
No....I'm just. I mean I'm. Oh
nothing.
The phone beeps again.
CASSIE (V.O.)
Your phone's breaking up Della. I'm
not joking when I say it's packed
over here.
DELLA
It can't be that bad?
The light up ahead turns amber then red. Della stops.
DELLA (CONT'D)
Why don't we meet somewhere for a
drink?
CASSIE (V.O.)
Sure, but a latte's about the best
they can do in this mall.
DELLA
A latte's fine. Let's meet at the
fountain opposite Victoria's
Secret.
The light changes and Della drives up and over a hill.
CASSIE (V.O.)
Sounds good.
The phone beeps again.
DELLA
My battery's going. I'm a block
away. See you in five minutes.
CASSIE (V.O.)
Okay but I won't be able to wait
very ....
The phone beeps again. It's over.
Scene 21Page 16
Della lets it drop onto her lap. She opens the window and
flicks out the remains of her cigarette. She waves her hands
to fan away the smoke. She closes the window again.
She's about to hide her cigarettes again when she changes her
mind and stuffs them directly into her purse.
As the car approaches the cusp of the hill she slows down to
stare ahead.
22 22
EXT. MALL PARKING LOT ENTRANCE - EVENING
Southeast Plaza. The day before Christmas Eve. Hell on
Earth.
A large, sprawling parking lot full of cars. Nothing but
cars. A sea of cars.
23 23
INT. FORD EXPLORER - EVENING
For a second, Della contemplates turning around and leaving.
The guy in the SUV behind her beeps. She steps on the gas.
DELLA
Okay, okay!
Her car careens slowly down hill to the lot.
24 24
EXT. MALL PARKING LOT/INT. FORD - EVENING
The road spits her out in front of the Mall entrance where
revellers and shoppers are entering and exiting.
Della follows several cars down the first long row of parked
cars.
The asphalt is wet from the recent rainfall. Puddles gather
in its dents and hollows.
She passes car after densely parked car. There isn't a space
in sight. She reaches the end of the row and indicates left,
turns down the next row, ploughs through a rain puddle which
splashes up onto a MOTHER who's walking her little GIRL and
BOY back to their car. The woman shouts at Della.
MOTHER
Watch where you're going!
Della rolls down her window.
Scene 24Page 17
DELLA
Sorry!
The Mother's weighed down with shopping bags. She glares at
Della and drags her kids across the aisle in front of her.
Della sighs, drives down the second aisle.
An Escape midway down the row blocks traffic. It's waiting
for a Subaru to pull out so it can take the spot.
25 25
INT. FORD EXPLORER - EVENING
DELLA
Lucky son of a .....
The Subaru exits the spot slowly. Della taps her impatient
fingers against the steering wheel.
26 26
EXT. MALL PARKING LOT - EVENING
The Subaru pulls away and the Escape snaps into the empty
space.
Della continues her journey down to the end of the row. There
are no spaces.
27 27
INT. FORD EXPLORER - EVENING
It dawns on her that parking up close to the entrance just
isn't going to happen. She takes the last puff from the
cigarette burning out in the ashtray.
28 28
EXT. MALL PARKING LOT - EVENING
Using the side aisle she scoots past row three and four as
they all flow one way.
At the end of this row a confrontation is brewing. Several
cars block each other. Horns blast. An angry DRIVER screams
at another.
ANGRY DRIVER
If you think you're gonna steal my
spot, think again, asshole!
29 29
INT. FORD EXPLORER/EXT. MALL PARKING LOT - EVENING
Della looks on for a moment at the confrontation. She grinds
out the stub of her cigarette into the ashtray, slams it
closed.
Scene 29Page 18
Della shakes her head and turns left into row five. Jesus!
Are there really this many cars in Pleasant Valley? It's a
brand new Mall and the only one around for miles but this is
ridiculous.
Della reaches the end of row five quickly. She guessed there
wouldn't be a spot so she's driving faster.
She notices a portly middle aged RENT-A-COP directing traffic
ahead. She lowers her window.
DELLA
Hello?
The Rent-a-Cop stops directing and approaches the car.
RENT-A-COP
Can I help you?
DELLA
Do you know where I can definitely
find parking?
RENT-A-COP
There's nothing close by. Even the
valet's backed up. You might want
to try further out.
He points off into the distance through the sea of cars.
RENT-A-COP (CONT'D)
But be willing to walk.
A car waiting behind Della honks its horn loudly and the Rent-
A-Cop saunters away. Della guns the Ford down row eight.
30 30
EXT. MALL PARKING LOT - EVENING
At the end of this row, Della decides to take the Rent-A-
Cop's advice. She makes another left at the aisle and skips
several more rows. She heads down to the third from last row.
31 31
INT. FORD EXPLORER/EXT MALL PARKING LOT - EVENING
Cars... cars... If she never sees another car it will be too
soon.
Della spies a spot, halfway down the row.
DELLA
Yes!
Scene 31Page 19
She guns the engine, gets ready to pull in and is DENIED.
Somebody has parked an enormous old gold Plymouth so badly
it's taking up TWO spaces.
DELLA (CONT'D)
Unbelievable!
She brakes in the nick of time and sighs deeply. She's
starting to lose her patience now.
32 32
EXT. MALL PARKING LOT - EVENING
With no options left, Della heads down to the very last row.
More cars fill the spaces. And then - two spots. The last
two spots in the car park. They overlook undeveloped land
just beyond the mall. Small concrete bumps signify the end of
each space.
33 33
INT. FORD EXPLORER - EVENING
Della whips the car into the first one. She sighs with
relief as she straightens the car up into the spot. She sits
for a second trying to calm herself down but it isn't
working. She reaches for another cigarette, then, talks
herself out of it.
She fastens her coat, grabs her purse and opens the door.
34 34
EXT. MALL PARKING LOT - EVENING
Steps down from the Ford right into a puddle. The dirty water
splashes up onto her pants.
DELLA
GREAT!
She shakes the boot off and looks over at the mall. It's at
least a half mile away, glimmering in the distance.
She sets off marching across the lot, taking what seems to be
the most direct route. Maybe she can shake off this mood by
the time she gets inside.
She passes the Plymouth, turns, stares back at it. The car is
dirty gold and riddled with rust holes with a vinyl roof
that's almost peeled away. She walks up close, tries to
decipher the plate, but it's caked with mud.
Annoyance rises like bile in her throat.
Scene 34Page 20
She finds herself reaching into her purse, rummaging for a
small notebook, then a sharpie. She leans on the car as she
writes.
DEAR JERK, IT'S GREAT YOU COULD USE UP TWO PARKING SPACES ON
A NIGHT LIKE THIS. EVER HEAR OF THE JOY OF SHARING? SIGNED,
A CONCERNED FRIEND.
She scans her words. Pretty good!
Della rips the piece of paper from the notebook, folds the
note several times and slides it under the Plymouth's
windshield wipers. The driver can't miss it.
She smiles. That felt good!
Head held high she marches on towards the Mall.
The CAMERA pulls up so we can see the mall, see Della
marching across the lot, see the crowds of shoppers entering
and exiting the mall, and get the feeling that maybe somebody
just saw her.
35 35
EXT. MALL ENTRANCE - EVENING
Shoppers are buying freshly felled Christmas trees from a
vendor. Della squeezes past and pushes through the mall
doors.
36 36
INT. MALL - EVENING
A wave of heat and Christmas lights hits Della. A wave of
nausea follows as she is swallowed by the crowd of last
minute shoppers. Distorted muzak versions of Christmas songs
seep from invisible speakers.
Della gets caught up in a line of children waiting to see
Santa in his grotto. She squeezes through and makes her way
towards the fountain outside of Victoria's Secret.
En route she is stopped by a perfume sales lady who sprays
her wrist with perfume before she has time to protest.
PERFUME SALES LADY
It's a classic revival of Chanel
No.5. We have a wonderful Christmas
Special on offer at Macy's.
She hands Della a sample and flyer.
Scene 36Page 21
DELLA
Thanks.
Della arrives at the fountain. A piddling jet of dirty water
gurgles from the mouth of a bored mermaid and streams down
into the shallow pool full of nickels and dimes. She scans
the crowd but there's no sign of Cassie.
Della sits at the edge of the fountain. She checks her watch
then checks out the people milling around in front of
Victoria's Secret, where mannequins in skimpy festive
underwear are propped seductively in the window displays.
Still no sign of Cassie. She's about to make a wish and throw
a quarter into the fountain when a Red Cross worker shakes
her "Save the Children" tin at her. Della sticks the quarter
into the tin instead.
37 37
INT. VICTORIA'S SECRET - EVENING
Della wanders the aisles of festive colored undies watching
men pick out slinky lingerie for their partners and women
examine slim fit underpants and padded bras.
She notices a pure silk black teddy, very classic, no frills.
She lifts it from the rail and holds it against herself in
front of the mirror, tries to imagine herself in it.
A young SALES ASSISTANT approaches.
VS SALES ASSISTANT
It's pure silk, the last one in our
classic black label collection.
Would you like me to fix you a
changing room?
Della checks the size tag. It reads 36C, two sizes too big.
And the price tag next to it. Ouch! It's expensive for
Victoria's Secret.
DELLA
No thanks. Not my size.
She gestures to her small boobs, smiles and hands the teddy
to the sales assistant. She quickly leaves the shop.
38 38
INT. MALL - EVENING
Della checks one last time at the fountain for Cassie. She
tries to dodge the crowd as she makes her way toward a
generic coffee shop. Maybe Cassie will be there.
Scene 39Page 22
39 39
INT. COFFEE SHOP - EVENING
Harried women and a few men, clutching bags full of gifts and
impatient children, stand on line for their favorite drug.
Della squeezes past them to look for Cassie. Every seat at
every booth is full but there's no sign of her friend.
Della joins the line. She finds herself biting at her nails,
a bad habit since childhood.
A woman in front of her places an order then moves on to the
pick up area. Della moves up to the counter to where an
OVERWEIGHT SALES ASSISTANT waits on her.
DELLA
A latte please?
She notices some chocolate covered biscotti on the counter.
DELLA (CONT'D)
And a chocolate biscotti.
She catches sight of herself in the mirror behind the
counter. Kenneth's right about one thing, she looks awful.
OVERWEIGHT SALES ASSISTANT
Bitter or Milk chocolate?
Seeing herself in the mirror changes her mind about the
biscotti.
DELLA
Forget it, just the coffee.
OVERWEIGHT SALES ASSISTANT
Name?
DELLA
Della, two L's.
OVERWEIGHT SALES ASSISTANT
Four dollars and seventy nine
cents.
Della pushes the money towards her and waits for her coffee.
When it finally shows up her name is spelled DELA. She sighs
and checks the line for Cassie as she leaves the shop.
Scene 40Page 23
40 40
INT. MALL - EVENING
She passes a hair salon and presses her face to the steamy
windows. Inside, women are getting their hair styled and
their nails manicured at the same time.
Della looks down at her bitten nails but just can't bring
herself to go inside.
LYNN (O.S.)
Della, is that you?
She turns around to see LYNN MONROE, a pretty, well groomed
redhead about her age.
DELLA
Lynn Monroe!
LYNN
I knew it was you, Della. I haven't
seen you since college. You left to
marry some handsome jock and we
never heard from you again.
DELLA
Something like that. Do you live
around here now?
LYNN
David and I just bought this divine
house in Pleasant Valley. Do you
know it? Great for the kids.
Della nods but Lynn keeps speaking. Della sips on her latte.
LYNN (CONT'D)
It's the first time I've left the
doors unlocked since I was a child
growing up in the Midwest. David's
been promoted to VP of United
Motors so it's all happening for
us. But enough of me. How are you?
DELLA
Oh, we have two kids. Twins, Tammi
and Terri.
Lynn becomes distracted, focusing on her perfect reflection
in the steamy glass.
Scene 40Page 24
LYNN
Why that's fantastic. Listen Della,
it's been great talking to you but
I have to go get my hair done!
David and I are going out tomorrow
night for a romantic dinner. I just
bought this gorgeous teddy from
Victoria's Secret.
She opens the bag and Della sees it's the black teddy she
eyed earlier. Della smiles.
LYNN (CONT'D)
Hope we bump into each other again
soon, sweetie. Merry Christmas
She gives Della a fake kiss and rushes into the salon.
Della chucks her half finished coffee into a nearby trash can
and walks on through the Mall.
41 41
INT. PHARMACY - EVENING
Della enters a pharmacy. She locates the wrapping paper
aisle. She sweeps up a bunch of rolls at three for ninety
nine cents. She feels the texture of the paper, it's thin and
looks gaudy so she puts them all back. Instead she selects
some expensive gold paper with silver embossed stars and
matching silver ribbon. She then finds some jolly children's
wrapping with Christmas tree designs and a great big red bow.
She browses through the aisles of cards. She sees some cute
cards for the twins and then arrives at the "To my Darling
Husband at Christmas" section. She opens some of the cards
and recoils from the sentiments contained inside.
She catches a groomed BLONDE HOUSEWIFE staring at her and
corrects her facial expression from one of revulsion to a
complicit Stepford smile.
DELLA
It's a pity they don't have any "To
a bastard at Christmas" cards.
The woman looks at Della like she's a lunatic. Della chuckles
to herself.
She finds the feminine hygiene aisle and picks up a pack of
regular tampax.
She gathers her stuff and carries it to the checkout where a
TIRED MAN and his TWO KIDS wait before her on the line.
Scene 41Page 25
The man tries to remove a snow globe, with a tiny house and
Christmas tree inside, from the clutches of his young son.
The child starts bawling. The man ends up buying the snow
globe to placate the child.
It's Della's turn.
The PHARMACY SALES ASSISTANT smiles.
PH SALES ASSISTANT
Perfect timing!
DELLA
God planned it for Christmas Day
just to tick me off.
PH SALES ASSISTANT
Thirty dollars and sixty nine cents
She packs Della's stuff into paper bags. Della hands her visa
card over.
DELLA
Thanks.
PH SALES ASSISTANT
Merry Christmas.
42 42
INT. MALL - EVENING
It's a lot less crowded now. The melancholy "Home for
Christmas" plays. She follows the ladies sign to the entrance
to the bathroom, only to find an "Out of Order" sign on the
door. She sees a cleaning lady in the corridor.
DELLA
How come the ladies' bathroom is
out of order on a night like this?
CLEANING LADY
The one at the other side of the
mall is open, Ma'am.
The cleaning lady disappears through the bathroom door with
her cart of cleaning utensils. Della looks down the length of
the huge mall and decides she's not even going to try to find
the other bathroom. She can wait until she gets home.
She makes her way towards the exit, pulls her coat in tight
and braces herself for the cold front outside.
Scene 43Page 26
43 43
EXT. MALL ENTRANCE - EVENING
A group of CAROL SINGERS sing "Silent Night".
CAROL SINGERS
Silent Night. Holy Night. All is
calm. All is bright.
Della listens for a moment. Their voices are clear and
bright.
Behind them she can see the Christmas tree vendor bag up the
left over trees.
Della's hands start to pinch with the cold.
She gathers her bags of wrapping paper and sets off across
the emptying lot. The last of the shoppers rush across the
car park to find their cars. It's pretty dark between the dim
pole lamps and the car lights.
She slows down at the second aisle for a car to pass, then
another. Marches on.
A man and his little girl walk past. He nods. Della's eyes
linger on the little girl. She really wants to get home to
the kids.
The singers' voices echo faintly through the night.
CAROL SINGERS (O.S.) (CONT'D)
Holy infant so tender and mild.
She walks faster, almost at a dash.
Where is her car? Even further out than she remembered,
that's for sure.
A car alarm goes off in the distance.
The alarm stops at last as Della approaches the outer section
of the parking lot.
CAROL SINGERS (O.S.) (CONT'D)
Shepherds quake at the sight.
Glories beam from heaven afar.
She cuts between some of the cars in row eight. Zigzags
across aisle nine. Notices the Plymouth still parked ahead.
She stops for a split second. Then approaches. Glances at the
windshield. The note is gone.
Scene 43Page 27
Maybe it fell off. She checks the ground around the car. No
sign of it. She shrugs, who cares anyway?
She cuts across the next aisle. It's almost empty. And the
one after that. Her Explorer is sandwiched between two cars
in this otherwise empty row.
CAROL SINGERS (O.S.) (CONT'D)
Silent Night. Holy Night
She chirps the remote twice and pops the trunk, places the
bags inside. She slams the trunk closed and hurries to the
drivers' side, climbs in, pulling the door closed behind her.
44 44
INT. FORD EXPLORER - EVENING
Della turns the key in the ignition and presses in the
lighter. She lights a cigarette and inhales as she lets the
car warm up for 30 seconds.
She rests the cigarette in the ashtray while she releases the
hand brake and slips the gear into reverse. The interior of
her car is suddenly flooded with light from another car's
headlights. She glances in the rear view mirror. A car is
blocking her.
DELLA
Good Lord! What now?
She steps on the brake and waits for the car to move.
But it doesn't. Its headlights flick to full beam blinding
her view in her car mirrors. She honks her horn. The car
still doesn't move.
Della's really angry now. She slips the gearshift into park
and steps out of her car.
45 45
EXT. MALL PARKING LOT - EVENING
Della squints in the blinding headlights. The front of the
car looks familiar. It's the gold Plymouth!
Two unseen car doors click open and clunk shut again.
The lights abruptly go out. Della blinks, her eyes try to
adjust to the dim mercury illumination from a pole lamp a few
car lengths away.
She uneasily turns back to her car.
Scene 45Page 28
CHUCKIE (O.S.)
I got a gun.
It's a young male voice. The statement stops Della dead in
her tracks.
CHUCKIE (O.S.) (CONT'D)
How's about I aim it at your pussy
first?
The words are emphasized by another boy's shrill giggling.
Della freezes. This can't be happening!
Her eyes are adjusting. The glare phantoms drift out to the
limit of her peripheral vision and vanish.
She sees three boys in front of her, then a fourth, but she
doesn't see any gun.
DELLA
What the hell are you playing at?
HUEY
Trust the nigga, we not playin'.
HUEY is a sweet-faced African-American decked out in a hip
hop style. He's small and skinny and can't be more than
eighteen. He's playing to CHUCKIE who's twenty-one and looks
like a marine gone AWOL. Bracketing them is VINH, a nineteen
year old Asian punk and TOMAS, twenty, a Latino runaway in an
American Idol T-shirt.
Della's eyes drift across the group. She suppresses a
hysterical giggle but can't resist smarting off.
DELLA
What are you? The world's first
homeless United Nations Boy Band?
HUEY
Hell, yeah. We just wanna do shows
and bone hoes.
Huey messes with his zipper.
HUEY (CONT'D)
We got a song fo' yo. It's called
"shut up bitch and eat a dick".
Huey and Tomas snigger. Vinh stares at the asphalt.
Scene 45Page 29
TOMAS
And when yo done eating we gonna
staple that bitch mouth closed.
Chuckie nudges Huey and Tomas, steps towards Della.
CHUCKIE
Now, now, my little brothers.
The boys fall silent. Vinh lights a cigarette. Huey shivers.
HUEY
It gitting cold, Chuckie. Game's
not worth the dime.
DELLA
(incredulous)
Chuckie? At least your parents have
a sense of humor.
CHUCKIE
Parents? I ain't got no parents. I
named myself.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
(to Huey)
Grab my parka from the back seat.
He pinches Huey's cheeks.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
And smile, playa. The dopes game
and the game's dope.
Chuckie leads Huey a few steps to the Plymouth. Huey ducks
into the back seat. Chuckie keeps his eyes fixed on Della.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
You got a beef with us, Mrs.
Podunk?
Della looks defiantly back without answering. Chuckie runs
his fingers along the hood of the rusty gold Plymouth.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
First you put yo hands on my ride!
Now, I don't know how you was
raised but, in my world, laying
your hands on someone else's shit
is crossing their line!
Then, you go slipping an incendiary
note up under my windscreen wipers.
(MORE)
Scene 45Page 30
Well, that'd UCKIE(CONT'D)
CH be an invitation to
war to me and my ghetto soldiers.
DELLA
What? If you hadn't parked like an
asshole, we wouldn't be arguing
about it right now.
Vinh inhales sharply from his cigarette.
VINH
Whoah Lady!
TOMAS
Keep right on talking that gang a
shit, chinga. Yo crimes against the
click are digging yo grave deep.
Della's eyes quickly scan the group for sign of the gun. She
can't see one so she gambles they're just mouthing off and
makes her move.
DELLA.
Go to hell!
Della turns towards her car. Huey steps out of the shadows
wearing Chuckie's parka hood up covering his face, startles
Della.
HUEY
We already in hell.
Della sidesteps him, reaches the back of her car.
RENT-A-COP (O.S.)
Any trouble here, ma'am?
Everyone turns to see a Rent-a-Cop, puffed up like a pigeon
in his fur trimmed jacket and Russian style cap. It's the
same guy Della approached earlier when she was looking for
spaces except this time his hand is laying casually across
the unsnapped holster flap at his hip.
DELLA
Not if these delinquents move their
barge so I can back up.
RENT-A-COP
How about it, boys?
Chuckie smiles and nudges Tomas who starts dancing in a real
mocking manner imitating the Rent-a-Cop.
Scene 45Page 31
Chuckie pulls a gun from deep in his army jacket pocket and
points it straight at the Rent-a-Cop's face.
CHUCKIE
Nah. We not in the mood.
Chuckie looks at his friends for approval. Huey laughs again,
shrill. Tomas grins. Vinh hunches and looks around.
The Rent-a-Cop backs away.
RENT-A-COP
For Jesus' sake.
Tomas takes off a small crucifix from around his neck and
dangles it in front of the Rent-a-Cop.
TOMAS
Say yo prayers old man.
Chuckie grins at Della while keeping the gun pointed straight
at the Rent-a-Cop.
CHUCKIE
These Rent-a-Pig companies are too
lame to give their foot soldiers
any ammo. Liability laws and all
that. Tough shit!
The Rent-a-Cop goes for his pistol anyway.
Chuckie shoots him in the face.
THIS MOMENT CHANGES EVERYTHING.
We thought Della was in trouble but now we know she is.
The bullet hits the Rent-A-Cop in the forehead. Blood spurts
from the exit wound. He slumps to the asphalt like a
marionette whose strings have just been cut. Bullet smoke
hangs in the air where he once stood. Smoke too blackens the
bullets entry wound. Blood puddles out from the back of his
head.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
Fuck!
It's clear that Chuckie's been acting harder than he is. The
hand that holds the gun is trembling. The color drains from
his face.
All stand riveted in shock.
Scene 45Page 32
A deathly silence follows. The carol singers can be heard in
the distance faintly finishing up Silent Night.
CAROL SINGERS (O.S.)
Sleep in heavenly peace. Sleep in
heavenly peace.
Chuckie looks to his friends for support but none is
forthcoming.
The Rent-A-Cop's body twitches.
Chuckie hesitates then raises the gun. He aims and fires. The
shot shatters the top of the Rent-A-Cop's head. Chuckie
flinches, closes his own eyes in reflex.
Della swallows. If she started screaming now, she may never
stop. She spins instead and makes for her car door. She's
dead if she doesn't get out of here and she knows it.
VINH
She's busting a move!
Chuckie opens his eyes. Vinh points to Della.
Chuckie looks over and sees Della disappear through the door
of her Explorer. Agitation overwhelms him.
CHUCKIE
She ain't going nowhere. We got her
Ford blocked in, right?
He looks at Vinh who nods then at Huey.
HUEY
I don't know nothing.
Chuckie looks back at Vinh then over at Tomas.
TOMAS
(muttering)
Dar candela por el culo!
CHUCKIE
I can just put one through her
windshield, right?
No one answers. Chuckie turns once more to the Rent-a-Cop
whose body still twitches in some final death throe.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
Will you just DIE ?!
Scene 45Page 33
He raises the gun.
Another shot explodes into the night.
46 46
INT. FORD EXPLORER - EVENING
Della flinches but no bullet tears through the back of her
skull. She slams into the driver's seat and punches the door
lock switch. She hits the four wheel drive button and presses
the accelerator pedal to the metal.
The Explorer barely protests as its front tires claw and
bounce over the six inch concrete row barrier. The barrier
screeches along the underside of the frame. There is a loud
SCRAAAAAPE noise as the car heaves over the barrier. Then,
the rear wheels bounce and claw over. The car fishtails
momentarily.
DELLA
Please God. Don't overcorrect.
She releases the pressure on the accelerator. The Explorer
straightens.
47 47
EXT. MALL PARKING LOT - EVENING
Tomas screams at Chuckie.
TOMAS
Chinga tu madre. She making her
getaway.
All except Chuckie turn to look as Della accelerates across
the unfinished outskirts of the car park behind them.
Vinh tugs at Chuckie's sleeve.
VINH
Chuckie!
But Chuckie's staring at the bloody mess he made, with a
faraway look in his eyes, like he's disassociating.
Vinh throws down the stub of his cigarette, follows Tomas
into the Plymouth. Tomas guns the engine.
HUEY
She on her cell right now calling
the pigs.
Huey's almost hysterical.
Scene 47Page 34
HUEY (CONT'D)
We going down for this!
Chuckie turns on him.
CHUCKIE
You gone buck wild, nigga? We ain't
going down for shit.
HUEY
You ain't earned the right to call
me a nigga. And that goes for all
you haters.
Behind him Della's car turns onto the mall's outer perimeter
service road in the distance.
CHUCKIE
Easy my G. Easy.
Chuckie cajoles Huey.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
The world is our bitch, right?
Huey calms down.
Chuckie gently pushes him into the Plymouth back seat beside
Vinh.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
Get in my fallen soldier.
Chuckie opens the driver door.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
Shove over Tomas. You know I front
the ride.
Tomas shuffles over to the passenger seat. Chuckie climbs
into driver side. Doors slam. The Plymouth screeches across
the parking lot and exits onto the service road.
48 48
EXT. SERVICE ROAD - EVENING
Della speeds down the long dark empty service road which
skims the deserted warehouses at the back of the Mall.
Between the warehouses are dark patches of undeveloped land -
No Mans land.
Not a car nor a person in sight.
Scene 48Page 35
It starts to rain.
49 49
INT. FORD EXPLORER - EVENING
She shakes the cell phone trying to revive its dead battery.
Types 911 in anyway. No connection. No response. She shakes
it some more. Gives up.
She relentlessly checks the rearview and side mirrors as she
races into the rainy night.
The driving conditions are not good, poor visibility ahead.
Too bad. She speeds anyway.
The road has to connect to a main road soon!
Another glance in the rearview. Nothing. Side mirror. Still
clear. Once more in the rearview. Headlights!
DELLA
No!
Side mirror. It's the Plymouth.
She presses the accelerator down harder. The engine revs.
In the rearview there's a sudden flash above her rear left
headlight. And another.
DELLA (CONT'D)
Jesus!
They're shooting at her!
Della steps the accelerator to the floor praying the Explorer
won't skid out. The engine struggles, catches up.
The sudden speed causes a small silver love heart, hanging on
a silver chain necklace from the rearview mirror, to crash
against the window. The catch bursts open to reveal two tiny
photos of the twins inside. The necklace flies back and forth
against the window as the Explorer races onwards.
50 50
EXT. SERVICE ROAD - EVENING
The Plymouth accelerates behind blasting rap. Its thick tires
plow along the wet asphalt, gripping to the road below in
steady pursuit. Its windows are all steamed up. The front
passenger window is open, a hand and a gun muzzle stick
through.
Scene 51Page 36
51 51
INT. FORD EXPLORER - EVENING
Another flash and Della's left side mirror shatters.
She swerves in panic. Her car almost hits the ditch.
This can't be happening. Not to her.
She reclaims the steering wheel. Straightens up. Hits the
accelerator again.
52 52
EXT. SERVICE ROAD - EVENING
The Plymouth swerves behind on the skid that Della created,
corrects itself just before the ditch.
Della gains speed. The Plymouth lags.
A stop sign appears ahead. The road's ending.
53 53
INT. FORD EXPLORER - EVENING
Right or left, Della? Make a choice.
54 54
EXT. SERVICE ROAD - EVENING
There is no choice. A barrier blocks the left hand turn. A
big sign reads "LOT FULL".
55 55
EXT. EMPTY HOUSING ESTATE ROAD - EVENING
Della swings right instead.
The streetlights recede behind her.
56 56
EXT. EMPTY HOUSING ESTATE - EVENING
Nothing but the darkness of a housing complex under
construction ahead.
But she seems to have shaken off her pursuers.
She speeds down the road, looking intently for any sign of
life. But there's nothing but half-built houses, empty
houses, houses just like hers.
57 57
EXT. SEVEN ELEVEN MINI MALL - EVENING
A Seven Eleven sign appears. She slows down. But it may as
well be a mirage, it's an unfinished building with only the
sign, in an unfinished mini-mall.
Scene 58Page 37
58 58
INT. FORD EXPLORER - EVENING
Close to screaming now she speeds up.
59 59
EXT. EMPTY HOUSING ESTATE - EVENING
More empty houses in varying stages of construction. No sign
of life.
60 60
EXT. FILLING STATION - EVENING
Then, what looks like a filling station, one light on in the
kiosk.
61 61
INT. FORD EXPLORER - EVENING
Hope. She pulls in and dims her lights, drives right up to
the kiosk door.
Hope dashed.
62 62
EXT. FILLING STATION - EVENING
It's in its final stages of installation but definitely not
functioning. And there's no one there.
63 63
EXT. EMPTY HOUSING ESTATE - EVENING
Back onto the road and she sees far behind her, car
headlights that can only belong to the Plymouth, following
her through the darkness.
She dims her lights to just the side lights. Hurtles along
the dark road which is getting rougher and rougher. Potholes
filled with mud and rain water splash against the car.
64 64
INT. FORD EXPLORER - EVENING
Her wipers struggle to cope. She can hardly see through the
front window.
65 65
EXT. ROUGH ROAD - EVENING
The potholes yawn deeper. The asphalt ends. Gravel
deteriorates to dirt.
66 66
INT. FORD EXPLORER - EVENING
She steers the Ford blindly.
Scene 67Page 38
67 67
EXT. ROUGH ROAD - EVENING
A wooden barrier with reflective stripes looms suddenly
ahead.
68 68
INT. FORD EXPLORER - EVENING
She guns the engine and ducks sideways as her car PLOWS into
the barrier.
There's a sickening crack as shattered windshield sprays
around her.
69 69
EXT. EDGE OF WOODS - EVENING
The Explorer SLAMS through and VEERS towards a clump of
trees.
70 70
INT. FORD EXPLORER - EVENING
Della tries to sit upright but the auto's spinning too fast.
71 71
EXT. EDGE OF WOODS - EVENING
The car swings, then CRASHES right into a Pine tree.
72 72
INT. FORD EXPLORER - EVENING
The Car stalls out. SILENCE. A prolonged moment.
Then Della crawls out from under the dashboard, sweeping pine
needles and glass from her hair. She reaches up and hits the
light switch.
Pine branches protrude through the broken windshield.
Using the sleeve of her coat she sweeps broken glass from the
driver's seat and sits down.
She slides the gear into park, turns the key. The engine
groans like a dying animal, then gives up.
She takes a deep breath.
She tries again. The engine groans again, another death
rattle. It just won't catch.
She switches off the interior light and pushes the driver
door open. She steps out of the car.
Scene 73Page 39
73 73
EXT. EDGE OF WOODS - EVENING
She closes the door behind her so's not to trigger the light
switch. Finds her legs are giddy. Holds onto the door frame
for a moment to steady herself.
It looks like she's crashed at the very end of the housing
development - where it cuts like a knife edge into an old
forest.
The dirt road stretches ahead beyond the barrier, into the
midst of the forest. Behind her, shrouded in darkness, houses
in different stages of development dot the deforested
landscape. Land moving trucks sit on recently flattened
land, waiting to tear into the next layer of forest.
Patches of leftover snow and puddles of rain catch the light
from the moon which hides in an overcast sky.
Jesus! She's driven all the way from the Mall only to find
herself in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of psychopaths
on her tail.
This must be some sick joke.
Speaking of which, where are these little bastards? Her eyes
scan the darkness for a sign. Nothing. That doesn't mean
they're not close by.
She checks out the damage to the car by feel. The driver's
side is scratched and dented. The front is wedged into the
tree.
The only way out is for her to back up the car.
She climbs back in for another try.
74 74
INT. FORD EXPLORER - EVENING
Della turns the key. It barely even groans this time. Just a
faint gurgle. Then gone.
She rifles in the glove compartment and pulls out the flare,
sticks it in her pocket.
She leans under the dash and manually pops the trunk.
75 75
EXT. EDGE OF WOODS - EVENING
Della runs outside to the back of the car and feels about in
the trunk.
Scene 75Page 40
She throws carrier bags full of wrapping paper to the side as
she searches. Pulls out a lug wrench from underneath and then
a small tool box.
She hears the screech of a car's wheels spinning in mud.
76 76
EXT. ROUGH ROAD - EVENING
Della turns to see headlights in the distance on the road
behind, pointing upwards.
DELLA
Huh!
The Plymouth must have skidded and got stuck in the mud.
77 77
EXT. EDGE OF WOODS - EVENING
She closes the trunk softly then runs to the front of the
car, clutching the toolbox and the wrench. She reaches back
into the car and unlatches the hood from underneath the dash.
Pop. She softly closes the door again. Punches her way
through the branches. Slides her fingers under the hood,
pries up the lever. It pops up only a few inches.
DELLA
Damn!
She tries to manually lift it. But it's heavy with the weight
of pine branches.
Voices drift towards her.
TOMAS (O.S.)
Keep hitting on the gas and you
gonna dig them wheels into a dirt
grave.
CHUCKIE (O.S.)
Save yo talk and get out and push.
The sound of car doors opening, feet squishing into the mud
and cussing. The boys materialize in the light from the
headlights.
TOMAS
Hell, no.
HUEY
Shit!
Scene 77Page 41
CHUCKIE (O.S.)
What's aggravating you now?
HUEY
Our new sneakers are stuck up in
the dirt like they was last years.
Doors slam and two sets of footsteps join the others.
CHUCKIE
Soon as we taken care o' Mrs.
Podunk you and the Spanish dancer
can hit the next mall. But first
you fakers best haul this rider out
of the filth.
VINH
Stupid ass car got nowhere else to
go. There's nothing but trees up
ahead.
TOMAS
Screw the car, Chuckie. Case you
forgot we got a witness on the
loose! I ain't want to end up in
the clink as some chimp's prison
pillow.
CHUCKIE
Trust me dog, hoe's going down
execution style before we see the
other side o' them bars.
Della drops the hood. It makes a faint squeak but doesn't
slam down, seems it's stuck open these last few inches.
TOMAS
Yo talk a real mob threat, Chuckie.
But what if she gone already?
Chuckie's eyes scan the housing estate.
CHUCKIE
She ain't gone.
Della frantically sweeps pine branches and cones from the
hood. But some larger branches are jammed, wedged by the
broken tree.
When she looks back over for the boys she sees the car
headlights are off and there's no sign of them.
Scene 77Page 42
She stands stock still, listening, scanning the landscape for
a sign of them.
The sound of glass shattering breaks the silence.
Della jumps out of her skin, spins around. Her eyes settle on
a light in the distance.
78 78
EXT. ROUGH ROAD - EVENING
The light illuminates the small cabin of an earth moving
truck. The cabin glows like a box in the darkness. There's a
figure inside: it's Chuckie. He's inspecting a powerful
construction flashlight. He switches settings from broad
light to concentrated beam. He points the beam through the
broken glass window onto Tomas, who's standing on a truck
tyre knocking out the rest of the glass with his elbow.
Chuckie leaps down through the broken window, pleased with
his find.
He switches it to broad beam, whistles.
CHUCKIE
Won't be long before we find her
now. This baby could spot a needle
in a haystack!
The light dances around illuminating each of their faces for
seconds at a time. Eerie distorted glimpses. They're
traipsing along the rough road, through the mud, towards
Della. Their voices grow louder.
HUEY
We caught up in this bitch's life
like a soap opera. We could just
bail, blast out of town like we was
never here.
CHUCKIE
This boy loves weed so much he
tried to marry Juana.
HUEY
Ain't no one cares about the Rent-a-
Pig. He just collateral damage to
the peeps at the mall.
Chuckie pushes Huey half playfully, half annoyed.
CHUCKIE
Listen up skippy: SHE THE ONLY
WITNESS.
Scene 78Page 43
HUEY
But if we hit the road now we'll be
five hundred miles away before they
find him....we could be drinking
cold beer and swimmin' in the
Atlantic....just like you promised.
Huey stares off into space like he's having a vision.
CHUCKIE
We gotta take care of her. When she
gone. The problem gone. Right?
We'll head off then, Huey, just
like I said.
Huey shakes his head in disbelief.
HUEY
We ain't gonna make it, are we
Chuckie? I ain't never gonna see
it. It's over for that, isn't it
Chuckie? Just say it.
Chuckie is taken aback by what Huey is saying. He walks away,
turns his concentration back to the flashlight. Huey calls
after him.
HUEY (CONT'D)
She was just some stupid housewife
mouthin' off.
CHUCKIE
GET REAL Huey! And shut the fuck up
about the stupid ocean.
Chuckie gets right up in Huey's face.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
I ever break a promise to you? I
ever let you down?
Huey takes his time to answer.
HUEY
No Chuckie, you ain't.
Chuckie puts his hand on Hueys shoulder and gently pushes him
along the road.
79 79
EXT. EDGE OF WOODS - EVENING
Della tries once more to lift the hood. It still won't budge.
Scene 79Page 44
When she looks up the flashlight is dancing towards her.
Vinh sees the car.
VINH (O.S.)
There's her Ford.
Della grabs the lug wrench and toolbox and ducks behind the
trees.
Della sees them approach her car.
VINH (CONT'D)
There's broken glass everywhere.
Huey, now resigned to their mission, comments sadly.
HUEY
Someone call her mama tell her to
lay out her black dress.
Della creeps softly along the edge of the trees. She holds
her breath. If she makes a sound, she's dead.
TOMAS
Is she dead already?
The boys kick around the Explorer.
VINH
Musta gone been thrown through the
windshield.
Della skims the trees, constantly checking behind her, to
where her antagonists check out the Ford wreck.
Chuckie points to some footprints.
CHUCKIE
She ain't dead. Look! Her
footprints are all around.
When there's enough distance between them and her, she darts
from the forest's edge into the development and hides behind
a half finished house.
80 80
EXT. UNFINISHED HOUSE 1 - EVENING
She leans against a recently bricked wall, finally takes a
breath. The smell of fresh cement and putty fills her
nostrils.
Scene 80Page 45
Rain gathers and drips from a nearby ledge
She peers around the side of the house.
81 81
EXT. EDGE OF WOODS/CONSTRUCTION SITE - EVENING
Beyond the rows of plots of land with their sold signs, she
sees the boys still pacing and debating beside her Ford,
illuminated by the sweeping light rays of their flashlight.
Her eyes drift across the landscape of house foundations and
structures to the distant neon lights of the shopping mall.
When she looks back over for the boys, she sees that the
flashlight and the boys are gone.
She strains her eyes. Guesses that must mean they're off
looking for her in another direction.
She clutches the tool box and silently creeps between the
houses.
If she could just track along the edge of the development she
could maybe make it back to the Shopping Mall, to the twins.
An owl hoots from the trees behind. She freezes, eyes
sweeping the immediate area for danger.
She waits a moment, silence, then makes her way once more
between the edge of the development and the edge of the
trees.
She's trying desperately not to make a sound, praying to be
invisible, eyes darting around, evaluating every shape and
form.
On one side the dense wood of trees, predominantly pine, with
thick ancient trunks and tangled branches. On the other,
plots and structures of homes to be.
She keeps trudging on, skirting the edge of the trees,
following the lights in the distance.
She hears a loud thudding noise. Stops. Stops breathing.
82 82
EXT. PLANKS IN TARP - EVENING
Ahead, piles of planks wrapped in black tarp block her view.
She braces herself, peers cautiously around, sees nothing.
She clutches the lug wrench and toolbox and steps forwards.
Scene 82Page 46
Rain water from the branches of a nearby tree is dripping
down and collecting in a puddle in the middle of the tarp
causing the sound.
She breathes a sigh of relief.
83 83
EXT. CEMENT PILES - EVENING
Heaps of damp shingle and cement cause her to back up and
around past them and a cement mixer. She loses sight of the
neon mall lights. She panics.
84 84
EXT. CONSTRUCTION SITE - EVENING
She runs between the foundations of two houses.
She stops suddenly when she sees a giant shadow looming
across her path.
She ducks down the side of a half finished house.
Sees that it is the shadow of an earth moving truck.
She keeps going, between the houses, looking for a sign of
the mall lights.
She stops.
Just ahead, a flurry of footprints.
They're her footprints!
85 85
EXT. UNFINISHED HOUSE 1 - EVENING
She finds herself back where she started, at the same house.
The mall lights flicker in the distance as far away as they
always were. The Ford's still there ahead.
And then she sees the flashlight sweeping towards her.
DELLA
(under her breath)
NO! OH NO.
She bites back a sob.
86 86
EXT. CONSTRUCTION SITE - EVENING
Della shrinks backwards between the houses. She ducks into
an unfinished doorway and watches the boys pass ahead.
Scene 86Page 47
She runs into the house and out through the far side. Skirts
a row of plots of land. Then, she hears Chuckie's mocking
voice, echoing through the building site.
CHUCKIE (O.S.)
DELLA!
Della recoils. Did she just hallucinate?
How the hell do they know her name?
Can they see her? Or is he just shouting her name randomly
into the night?
Her eyes dart right then left then back again. Nothing.
She runs down a row of house foundations.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
Della!
87 87
INT. UNFINISHED HOUSE 2 - EVENING
Della dives into an unfinished house, hides behind a space
where a window will eventually be, looks out across the
building site. All is dark outside. And then she sees the
light several rows down, weaving between the houses.
She makes for another window at the opposite end of the
house. She sees the mall lights and decides to head once more
towards them.
88 88
EXT. CONSTRUCTION SITE -EVENING
She creeps out of the house and crosses several rows of
houses, then several more, heading towards the neon lights in
the distance.
89 89
EXT. FENCE -EVENING
She stops dead in her tracks. Straight ahead, a truly
chilling sight - her kids stuff from the car : Terri's little
anorak, Tammi's socks, mittens, strung along a short stretch
of wire fence.
Her feet start to sink into wet mud. She covers her mouth to
stop herself crying out.
90 90
EXT. CONSTRUCTION SITE -EVENING
Suddenly the development is illuminated by a huge
construction light.
Scene 91Page 48
91 91
EXT. MUD -EVENING
Della ducks down, tries to run. The mud cloys at her feet.
92 92
EXT. PLANK BETWEEN TWO HOUSES -EVENING
She steps up onto a plank that stretches between the first
floors of two houses. She starts to cross when she sees their
silhouettes.
93 93
EXT./INT. UNFINISHED HOUSE 3 -EVENING
They're searching the house next door.
TOMAS
Where'd little red riding hood git
to?
VINH
She ain't leaving any bread crumbs
that's for sure.
HUEY
When a nigga hungry, Imma wolf.
94 94
EXT. PLANK BETWEEN TWO HOUSES - EVENING
She backs up, slips, slides off the plank, falls into the
mud, catches herself on some barbed wire.
CHUCKIE (O.S.)
What was that?
The wire drives through her coat and into her right shoulder.
She jerks away but the length of loose barbed wire follows.
She bites her lip to prevent a pained response.
She's caught in its spiral like a trapped animal. She spins
around and physically pulls the wire from her back, tearing
her coat.
She casts the wire away from her. Winces.
95 95
INT. UNFINISHED HOUSE 4 (FOUNDATION) -EVENING
She crawls into the foundations of a nearby house, underneath
the floorboards which are lain roughly across to form a first
floor. She huddles in a dark corner. It's very quiet and
cramped. She tries not to move, not to breathe. The smell of
the wet earth underneath makes her feel nauseous. A moment
passes. It feels like an infinity.
Scene 95Page 49
She starts to creep along towards a gap in the planks to see
if she can see anything above. Just as she approaches the gap
she hears.
The sound of footsteps above her.
She freezes.
The footsteps make erratic rhythms across the planks.
She silently undoes the catch of the toolbox. Her hands are
shaking. She lifts the lid. She rakes around inside for
tools, comes across several kids toys instead! In shock, she
rakes around some more, trying to find something else,
something more dangerous, anything. To her surprise the only
tools inside are a pathetic little screwdriver and a small
crescent wrench. The kids must have borrowed the other tools
replacing them with the toys. She gives up, closes over the
lid.
Then suddenly:
BOOM
96 96
INT. UNFINISHED HOUSE 4 -EVENING
The whole house is illuminated. She looks up to see four
faces looking down at her. Chuckie points the gaze of a
powerful flashlight directly into her eyes.
The beam almost blinds her. She tries to look away but
Chuckie focuses it right in her eyes.
CHUCKIE
Peek a boo!
She shrinks back towards the wall. Her mouth feels dry, so
dry. Tomas lifts several planks up and casts them away so
they can see her. She's cornered.
Chuckie then lowers the flashlights direction and sweeps it
voyeuristically down across her body.
The light lingers on her breasts. Huey whistles
appreciatively, picks the game back up from the parking lot.
HUEY
Yo left without yo goodbye kiss.
The light sweeps past Huey's hips. The sound of a zipper. The
light sweeps back up onto Della.
Scene 96Page 50
CHUCKIE
You a window shopper little
brother. You ain't never even done
the old in and out before.
Waves of pain spasm through Della's shoulder.
The boys snigger.
HUEY
Imma just a young playa tryin' to
put my bid in.
Tomas leans down towards Della. Chuckie moves the flashlight
to illuminate them both. Tomas drains the last dregs from a
bottle of Bud, tosses the empty bottle down into the
foundations. It rolls into the darkness.
Della shudders. She clutches the lug wrench against her coat
behind the tool box and tries to disappear into the wall.
TOMAS
Don't worry, when we done wit you
we send yo back in yo trunk to Mr.
Podunk.
Tomas reaches down and pulls Della up to standing by the coat
collar. He then yanks the coat down over her shoulder. The
white shirt she wears underneath is damp with sweat making
the form of her breasts very clear.
Chuckie keeps the light focused right on her.
Tomas slides his index finger down across Della's neck
towards her breasts.
Della claws at Tomas' face with the nails of her free hand.
He staggers to the side holding his cheek and cursing. Her
chewed nails haven't left any dents, but she stunned him.
The others laugh.
She shrugs the coat back over her shoulders and pulls it
tight across herself, once again clasping the toolbox close
to her side.
TOMAS (CONT'D)
Don't want to play nice? Puta!
He moves towards her, face twisted with hate, arm raised.
Scene 96Page 51
CHUCKIE
Back off five minutes, my Ghetto
brother.
Tomas glares at Della, then lowers his arm. Spits on the
ground instead. Turns back to the boys. Chuckie moves
forwards and focuses on Della's box?
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
What's with the man size crast?
Della doesn't answer.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
You running with the family jewels?
Della still doesn't answer.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
You rob a bank this morning, Della?
Della remains determinedly mute.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
Least yo learned something tonight
Della honey?
VINH
Yeah, like how to quit mouthing if
you wanna avoid drama.
CHUCKIE
You must be wondering how we come
to know your name.
Chuckie giggles. Della shivers.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
You screwed up Della Myers. Left
your purse in the Ford.
Chuckie holds up her driving licence and examines it.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
What a shitty photo!
Chuckie nods to Vinh. Vinh passes his lighter to Chuckie.
Chuckie lights the licence on fire. The plastic burns black
and toxic. The flame annihilates Della's name, her date of
birth, her face. Pieces of plastic unfurl and drift up
through the empty windows and doors of the unfinished house.
Scene 96Page 52
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
Guess you won't be needing it no
more.
Della stares defiantly, fighting back the internal nausea
caused by this symbolically brutal act.
Chuckie maneuvers the light back in her eyes then right back
on his own menacing face. Then, back again on her face. She
becomes disoriented.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
So what's in the box?
Della remains mute, looks away from the beam.
HUEY
Yo think she carrying the big
notes, maybe some ice?
CHUCKIE
Nah, it ain't about to rain
diamonds, Huey. But maybe she
cashed in her life savings. Planned
to take off, start a new life.
Della tries to swallow but her throat is too dry.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
That right Della?
TOMAS
You got enough scratch in there to
grease us up with?
She knows there is nothing that would buy them off and the
knowledge sinks like a stone deep into her gut.
Chuckie follows her face with the beam. She tries to dodge
its glare in her eyes. But he maneuvers it like a
surveillance camera.
His voice takes on a meanness that makes the back of her neck
tingle.
CHUCKIE
Open it.
They crowd closer toward her.
Dark forms with eyes glinting. Their voices echoing.
Scene 96Page 53
VINH
Open the box else we put you in
trauma.
CHUCKIE
OPEN IT!
Della all but screams.
DELLA
Okay!
I'll open it.
Della's brain races.
Her hands move slowly.
She rests the lug wrench in her left palm under the base of
the tool box and with her right hand unsnaps the catch.
She holds the far end of the lid up to shield her right hand
from the beam as she slips it inside the box.
A prayer plays silently across her lips as her fingers feel
the cool steel and shape of the small crescent wrench.
She curls them around its handle and grips tight. A surge of
nervous energy courses through her veins.
TOMAS
She ain't got nuthin'. Let's just
take that pussy and git going.
He moves towards her.
In a flash, she withdraws the crescent wrench. She cocks her
wrist back and hurls the tool, snaps it just like her daddy
taught her to play baseball.
The wrench flies up and across the house.
With a CRUNCH, it catches Chuckie right in the collar bone,
right side.
He screams. Drops the flashlight. Drops to his knees holding
his throat.
Della snaps the tool box shut and makes a run for it. She
throws herself up onto the first floor and darts between
Tomas and Huey.
Scene 96Page 54
Huey lunges for her but trips over a loose plank, lands with
his face down, biting on the plank's edge.
Della catches a peripheral glimpse of Tomas leaping towards
her, but his leading foot slams down instead onto the back of
Huey's neck. Grinds Huey's face into the plank with a hideous
THUD. Huey's neck SNAPS back smiley style. Huey's scream
gurgles into the night. Huey's body falls through the space
in the floorboards landing with a thud in the foundations
below.
Tomas falls away, cursing in horror.
TOMAS (CONT'D)
Maricon!
Della makes a run for the doorway. She jumps down onto the
muddy lot and heads off across the development. The darkness
quickly swallows her.
Behind her, Vinh slumps through the house.
VINH
What the fuck, niggaz?
CHUCKIE
Shut up.
VINH
You hurt?
CHUCKIE
SHUT THE FUCK UP.
Chuckie slides down to be beside Huey in the foundations.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
And don't be using the N word. You
ain't representing. GOT IT. That
right Huey? HUEY. Get up Huey. HUEY
GET UP!
Tomas staggers up to standing.
TOMAS
Jesus hijo de maria el virgene.
VINH
What?
Vinh moves towards Chuckie who is crouched over Huey.
Scene 96Page 55
CHUCKIE
My little brother.
Tomas approaches.
He pushes Chuckie gently out of the way so he can see.
He stares down at Huey's bloody meshed face. Tomas staggers
backwards and crosses himself.
TOMAS
Mamacita! Madre de Dios!
Chuckie punches Tomas' leg.
CHUCKIE
You tread on my boy's face. YOU
KILLED HIM.
TOMAS
I didn't kill him. I didn't kill no
one.
Tomas pushes Chuckie backwards.
TOMAS (CONT'D)
She did it. She killed him.
Chuckie and Tomas stare at each other.
TOMAS (CONT'D)
I'm gonna cross that bitch out.
97 97
EXT. WOODS - EVENING
Della runs for her life. She makes straight for the cover of
the trees. She hesitates for just a moment after the first
layer of Pines. It's pitch black beyond. Then she steps in.
She follows her breath into the icy blackness.
Branches and foliage scratch against her face.
She grapples about, looking for hiding places between the
dark shapes and forms. Steps between tree roots and shrubs.
Her eyes begin to adjust. She can now make out the
difference between the clumps of darkness and tell, looking
back, where the edge of the woods begins. A construction
light shines behind like a distant moon.
Scene 97Page 56
She pushes between the branches of indistinguishable trees,
some thick and knotted, others slight and brittle. Only the
evergreens still have their foliage.
Looking back constantly to the edge of the trees for a sign
of the boys.
Fear drives her further into the woods towards where the
trees grow even more densely together. Where there just may
be the right place to hide.
She stops for a second to catch her breath.
The handle of the toolbox has chaffed her right palm. She
changes hands.
God, that boy Huey! He really died back there. She heard the
sound of it. The horrific sound of him dying a stupid
pointless death.
It could have been her.
There has to be some way out of this nightmare.
Ahead, a dead tree with spectral branches blocks her path.
She steps around its huge trunk and tangle of roots.
CHUCKIE
DELLA!
Chuckie's voice drifts towards her. She ducks down among the
roots.
Her eyes scan the darkness.
No moving shapes nor forms. No sound. No flashlight. Just
shadowy clumps of trees.
Should she stay put or should she run?
Then she sees it. The flashlight weaving through the pines
ahead.
She pushes further in among the roots, tries to make herself
invisible.
The flashlight beam sweeps across the forest floor towards
her. One set of footsteps crunches through the foilage.
She holds still, terrified.
The flashlight pauses on the dead tree, the roots.
Scene 97Page 57
Della stops breathing.
Then, the light sweeps past and on into the woods.
She waits until it disappears before stepping out of her
hiding place.
She creeps back in the opposite direction, figuring if
they're in the woods now she should get out.
Her eyes search for the construction light, which indicates
the edge of the wood.
She heads in the direction of the light, painfully aware that
one noisy footfall could alert her pursuers. She steps
between leaves and roots as delicately as a ballet dancer.
The construction light grows closer.
The light abruptly goes out.
She stops, eyes desperately searching the trees.
She resumes in the direction she was headed. Tries to keep
calm.
But the woods are impenetrable. Layers of trees and shrubs,
and then more trees. Deep in the cold dark places there are
patches of left over snow. She's losing her bearings.
98 98
EXT. X'D TREES - EVENING
Ahead, the chilling sight of four luminous Xs glowing in the
dark forest almost makes her heart stop. She realizes the
crosses are painted on the trunks of several trees, marking
them for death. She shivers.
99 99
EXT. WOODS -EVENING
She backs up, starts off in the opposite direction.
And there it is again. The flashlight sweeping through the
trees in the distance.
She stops, close to screaming, then when the flashlight
disappears, runs off in yet another direction.
She slows to take a breath, notices the butts of several
cigarettes still smoking in the dirt close to her feet.
Scene 99Page 58
DELLA
(muttering to herself)
Shit! Oh Shit!
She trudges on, pushing between the branches, no clue where
she is headed.
The further she treads, the quieter it becomes. So quiet she
can hear her own footfalls and the sound of the trees
breathing.
Then, she spots the light again, in the distance, shining out
over the forest.
Thank God!
She trudges up a slope ahead, clinging onto branches and
shrubs to help pull herself up.
100 100
EXT. LEDGE - EVENING
The light grows closer. She climbs up onto a ledge.
A loud noise startles her. It's music. Rap music. Blasting.
Della pushes her way through to the edge of the trees.
Sees....
101 101
EXT. CLEARING - EVENING
The woodland ahead slopes down into a clearing, where a huge
ghetto blaster sits on a pile of felled trees. Young pines
about to become Christmas trees. It's blasting out a hip hop
anthem for a dead homie. A construction light illuminates the
clearing.
A ghostly Vinh, head hung low, moves to the music, bottle of
beer in hand.
Propped up against a tree stump sits the body of Huey, arms
crossed over his torso, hood pulled up to cover his face.
The scene is so surreal that Della is drawn closer. She
creeps along the edge of the trees.
As she moves, she kicks back on some dirt. It tumbles
downhill into the gulch. She freezes.
But nobody notices.
She slips invisibly between the trees and watches as Tomas
enters the clearing.
Scene 101Page 59
Tomas stops and watches Vinh.
Vinh continues to get into the music in his solemn Japanese
punk style. The juxtaposition between the hard core rap music
and the serious vibe that Vinh is sending out shows us that
this is really important music to him.
It's a theatrical tableau -
Della overhead, looking down on the clearing.
Vinh transfixed by the music.
Tomas stone silent, watching Vinh.
It plays out for a poignant moment. Like they're all part of
some spiritual rite about to be consummated.
Vinh pours some beer onto the ground at Huey's feet. A small
tear runs down his stoic face.
Then CLICK. The blaster is abruptly turned off by Chuckie who
appears out of the shadows behind it.
He stares a beat at Vinh like he can't believe what he's been
seeing.
Vinh keeps on moving like he's in a trance.
CHUCKIE
What the fuck you doing?
Vinh doesn't reply. Stares down at the ground, keeps on with
his weird dance. Chuckie moves towards him. Tomas grabs
Chuckie, tries to stop him from going for Vinh, but Chuckie
shrugs him off.
Chuckie reaches out and shakes Vinh. No response. He shakes
him again.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
I asked you what your deal is, sand
dancer?
The second shake sort of breaks Vinh out of his trance. He
shivers.
VINH
It's a tribute. A gesture.
CHUCKIE
A what?
Scene 101Page 60
Vinh stares down at the dirt at his feet.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
Your brain even smaller than 'em
slits for eyes?
Vinh slouches defiantly over to the blaster and presses track
8 replay.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
Keep on banging out that ghetto ass
shit and you'll alert every cop in
Podunk county.
VINH
It's for Huey. Our dead homie.
The song starts again. Chuckie looks at him incredulously,
shouts above the music.
CHUCKIE
You checked out, right?
VINH
He loved that track.
Vinh snorts back a sob. He hugs himself into a hunch and
starts dancing again.
Chuckie loses it. He slaps Vinh.
CHUCKIE
Get a grip, skippy.
Vinh rubs his face. He's getting a grip all right. Chuckie
slams off the blaster.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
Huey's DEAD. And ain't no requiem
gonna resurrect his ass. He down
under the ground now with the real
men of respect.
The three boys stand somberly in silence, each paying
internal homage to their dead friend. Chuckie hardens his
heart against the tears that threaten to flow. Tomas
trembles, mumbles.
TOMAS
I didn't mean it. I didn't do it. I
didn't mean to kill him.
Scene 101Page 61
This breaks the moment. Chuckie snaps back.
CHUCKIE
Well he dead. That's it for him.
OVER. But we still here. Hell,
yeah. Payback's gonna be a real
bitch for a real bitch.
Vinh wipes away his tears.
VINH
She probably gone by now.
CHUCKIE
You best hope not, genius. She
gone, we gone.
Chuckie paces around the circumference of the clearing.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
DELLA!
102 102
EXT. LEDGE - EVENING
Della's been watching the scene unfold, a captive audience,
attentive and terrified.
Slowly she tears her eyes away from the boys. She backs away
from the edge and right into the sharp branch of a big old
tree. The branch digs into that point in her shoulder she
hurt earlier on the barbed wire.
She reaches up to feel it and pulls her hand away bloody. She
reaches into her coat pockets for a tissue. Nothing. Feels
something in her pants pocket.
She pulls out not a tissue but a sheet of folded paper.
She unfolds it. It's Tammi's drawing. The one from the
beginning.
The stick figure family holding hands and "Mommy - We love
you" written in stars.
Della's lost in the drawing. Her eyes drink in every mark and
color and word. She sees that the male figure is slightly
separate. That the children stick figures have frightened
eyes and cling to the female. That the sky is turbulent. The
stars clear and bright. The words...
A tear escapes from underneath her eyelid. Then another. A
sob.
Scene 102Page 62
She might never see her kids again.
Another sob. She heaves with the release of emotion.
More tears escape. Another sob. She tries to bite it back.
Wills herself to stop.
Finds that rage takes sorrow's place. Rage and self
recrimination.
Goddamit! She's gonna be raped and killed because of some
stupid note! And God knows what will become of the kids.
Kenneth always told her she had a temper. That she reacts
without thinking of the consequences. This time the bastard
was right.
She looks again at the picture.
Chuckie's voice booms out into the night.
CHUCKIE (O.S.)
D-E-L-L-A, H-O-N-E-Y.
She folds the picture up carefully and puts it back in her
pocket.
Della edges further into the trees and disappears into the
darkness.
There's rustling in the darkness. Tomas pushes through the
edge of the trees, making animal calls with his right hand
curled around his mouth. The flashlight illuminates him from
behind.
Chuckie follows him operating the light in a mockery of
classic noir style. Vinh slouches behind them.
Tomas heads along the ledge, straight past the spot where
Della stood only moments before. Tomas doubles back.
Thomas stops, sniffs.
TOMAS
I can smell her Bulgari.
Chuckie's behind him surveying the area with the flashlight.
He finds several footprints by the tree.
CHUCKIE
She was right here. Must a saw your
dumb ass tribute and everything.
Scene 102Page 63
Vinh glares at Chuckie. Chuckie grins at Tomas.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
Bulgari? She looks more like she
rocks that number five shit.
TOMAS
It Bulgari, dude. My Dad's bitch
bathes in it.
Chuckie points the flashlight towards where the ledge ends
and a steep incline begins.
103 103
EXT. STEEP INCLINE - EVENING
The flashlight illuminates a set of prints descending down
the incline.
CHUCKIE
There more of her footprints.
Tomas and Vinh just stand like zombies.
Chuckie pushes Vinh.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
What you waiting on? Jackie Chan?
Vinh plods clumsily down the incline, followed by Tomas.
Chuckie sweeps the flashlight across the gulch looking for a
sign of Della.
Chuckie shifts his focus to climb down the steep slope. As
the light sweeps back across the gulch we catch a glimpse of
Della between some rocks at the far side. But the boys' eyes
are elsewhere, focused on the steep incline ahead of them.
Della quickly ducks, draws her toolbox in tight and crouches
low between the rocks. She watches the boys carefully as they
climb down the gulch.
There's the sound of a stumble followed by a splash.
VINH (O.S.)
SHIT!
TOMAS (O.S.)
What now, cabron?
VINH (O.S.)
Fell in a frozen ass stream.
Scene 103Page 64
Chuckie sweeps the flashlight towards them. Della sees Vinh
trudging out of the stream, Tomas descending the last few
feet of the other side of the gulch and Chuckie midway up.
Vinh jumps up and down trying to kick the water out of his
sneakers.
CHUCKIE
Zipperhead!
VINH
Kon'aro Kusotare.
CHUCKIE
You know we don't speak the Chinky.
VINH
What's your game, Chuckie? We left
stumbling around in the dark while
you hog the flashlight.
CHUCKIE
I stole it. I get to use it. That's
how it works. That right Tomas?
TOMAS
Right on, dog.
Chuckie jumps down from the last rock and joins Vinh and
Tomas at the edge of the stream.
VINH
What if I steal it from you?
CHUCKIE
There you go, bro.
He hands the flashlight over to Vinh. Vinh reaches for it.
Chuckie pulls it away.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
April Fool. Naw, wait a minute, it
ain't April. Must be Christmas
fool.
Tomas smirks. Vinh hangs his head down. They search for more
prints, can't find any in the immediate area. Chuckie shines
the flashlight at the foot of a big rock.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
Her footprints disappear at the big
rock.
Scene 103Page 65
A beat. Della clutches the lug wrench in her right hand.
Vinh shivers violently.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
Head on up and search the slope.
I'll guide your way with the
flashlight.
Chuckie sweeps the flashlight across the gulch. Della ducks.
Della needs to get out of there and fast.
They begin to ascend the rocks. Chuckie keeps the flashlight
slightly ahead of them.
Della crawls stealthily between and behind the rocks, keeping
as low as she can. Dodging the approaching light.
The boys crawl across and up and between the rocks with the
dexterity of animals. Della's so low she's scraping her knees
and hands to shreds.
She can see ahead where the rocks end and the trees begin.
What was she thinking hiding here? It was too exposed.
TOMAS
We gonna put yo ass on ice, bitch!
God please help her make it back into the cover of the trees.
Della almost vomits.
Her hand grasps the last rock at the top of the gulch. She
pushes the toolbox up on the ledge. Her strength is ebbing
but she tries to hoist herself up. The flashlight sweeps by.
She lets go of the ledge and ducks. The flashlight sweeps by
again.
She huddles in behind a rock. Waits a beat.
TOMAS (CONT'D)
You going home in a casket tonight.
Oh shit, they're approaching fast. She tries again to hoist
herself up. She's almost up when the flashlight sweeps by
again.
This time, it catches her.
CHUCKIE
THERE SHE IS, TOP OF THE GULCH!
Scene 103Page 66
She practically throws herself over the ledge. Tomas scurries
to the top faster than lightening, catches her leg as she
crawls from the edge.
THUD. She kicks him in the face.
Della grabs the toolbox. Makes a run for it.
TOMAS
AHHHHHEEEEEEHHHHH!
Tomas falls back from the gulch-side, loosening several
rocks. The rocks tumble downhill, hit Vinh.
VINH
AHHHHHHH!
Chuckie scales the gulch behind them. Vinh rubs his head.
Sees something between the trees. Thinks it's Huey.
VINH (CONT'D)
Huey?
He starts towards the brush.
VINH (CONT'D)
Is that you, homie?
Chuckie catches up with Vinh, breathless from climbing fast.
Vinh points into the brush.
VINH (CONT'D)
I saw Huey, there in the brush.
CHUCKIE
What?
Chuckie looks around, hoping against hope that Vinh may be
right, that Huey may just be alive. Vinh becomes perplexed.
VINH
I saw him.
CHUCKIE
Sure you did, bro.
Chuckie puts his arm around Vinh and helps him up the rock
side. Vinh is shivering so hard he's almost sobbing.
Just ahead Tomas pulls himself up and over the ledge.
Scene 104Page 67
104 104
EXT. WOODS - EVENING
Tomas catches up with Della, chases her into the trees.
Behind him Vinh hoists himself up over the ledge, then
Chuckie.
Della runs. Faster than she's ever run before. Practically
flies through the trees.
Her breath comes hard. His too, just behind her. Their
footfalls crash into the foliage.
It's dark, so dark. She's running blindly.
And they're right behind her. Tomas swipes at her. He just
misses. He swipes again.
A twisted shape looms ahead, almost blocks her path.
She runs right up to it then darts left at the last moment,
setting up Thomas who's right behind her.
Tomas runs into the stump of a big old tree trunk, hits
himself at groin level. He doubles over in pain.
TOMAS
CONEJO! AIN'T NUTHIN' CAN SAVE YO
ASS NOW.
Della races on.
Thomas gathers himself together, picks up the chase.
But that moment's delay has bought her some time.
Her adrenaline pumps hard. Eyes darting for a hiding place
among the dark shapes and planes of the woods.
105 105
EXT. DEADWOOD PILE - EVENING
There it is, a deadwood pile.
She throws herself down into its midst. The dried branches
jag and tear at her hands and face. She burrows down low, so
low she's right in the dirt. She peers between the branches.
Tomas's feet run by and disappear. She hears him circle the
area then turn back towards her.
A moment passes. She picks the next. Rises slowly and softly
from between the jagged branches clutching the lug wrench.
Scene 105Page 68
And then there he is. Diving out of the trees towards her.
Della raises the lug wrench.
In the clouded moonlight it's an almost biblical image: a
woman rising from the brush wielding an iron black cross.
Tomas crashes towards her.
Della swings the lug wrench, hard, intensely, directly at
Tomas's face.
There is a THUD as the sharp arm of the lug wrench catches
him up under the chin. It sends him reeling.
He goes down face first.
Della gasps in horror, watches as:
Tomas pulls himself up onto his feet, comes towards her once
more.
Della swings the lug wrench back and strikes him across the
head.
He spins, clutches at his head, then reaches towards her
AGAIN.
She loses it. She swings the lug wrench towards him. All the
years of pent up rage finally find their release.
The wrench catches up under his nose with a sickening CRUNCH.
It drives the cartilage up and into his face.
Blood spurts from the wound. He staggers backwards.
A shocked scream escapes from Della's mouth.
DELLA
Awwwrgh!
As she staggers backwards in the opposite direction.
Tomas tries to cry out but can only utter in pain.
TOMAS
Unnh! Unnh! Unnh!
He tries to pull the lug wrench out of his face. Spins.
Stumbles.
The flashlight beam travels past them.
Scene 105Page 69
TOMAS (CONT'D)
Unnh!
Tomas crashes back into a tree. He loses consciousness. His
body slumps slowly down the tree trunk to the dirt. Blood
gushes from where the wrench meets his face. He looks like
he's dressed for Halloween.
Della just stares. Stares at Tomas, at what she did, what she
had to do.
Tomas' eyes are wide open, staring too, at nothing, dead.
The horror of having killed someone overwhelms Della. She
starts shaking with shock.
Vinh cries out for Tomas
VINH (O.S.)
TOMAS!
The sound of footfalls crashing through the brush follows.
CHUCKIE (O.S.)
Curb the squealing. You a gangsta
or a boy scout?
Vinhs voice is breathless and jittery.
VINH (O.S.)
Tomas's gone, Chuckie. I can feel
it.
Della tears herself away from Tomas's body and staggers into
the deadwood to collect the toolbox. It glints, even in the
darkness.
She grabs it and runs for cover behind a tree.
Behind her in the near distance the chaotic sweeps of the
flashlight illuminates Vinh and Chuckie as they march through
the woods searching for Tomas.
CHUCKIE
Tomas is one hard son of a bitch.
He got her strung up from a tree by
now and you know it.
But Chuckie doesn't look so sure. Vinh charges ahead into the
darkness.
Scene 105Page 70
Della flashes briefly into shot, running between the trees.
The flashlight sweeps by.
VINH
There's something over here.
Chuckie walks towards Vinh. Vinh takes the flashlight from
Chuckie and shines it towards a thick shape between three
trees.
VINH (CONT'D)
It looks like a body.
They close in on a muddle of shapes, bush and spidery tree
trunks. The flashlight illuminates a tree trunk long and
thick as a body.
CHUCKIE
It's a big old tree trunk, you
paranoid gook.
Chuckie tries to take the flashlight back from Vinh but Vinh
won't give it. Chuckie doesn't persist. Vinh keeps going,
shivering and blustering.
Vinh senses something. He shines the flashlight behind the
tree trunk. Still nothing. Sweeps back.
Della darts between the evergreens behind them. She conceals
herself in between the trunks and branches. Braces herself,
waits for the right moments, the ones when they're not
looking, to run between the trees. Cognizant enough to know
they just want to find Tomas right now. She seems to be on
autopilot, becoming numb as the minutes stretch on.
She watches Vinh plod forward and through the brush. He hits
every inch of it with the flashlight. Sighs. Doubles back to
follow Chuckie.
Then, the flashlight catches a glimpse of something. Sweeps
back, illuminates Tomas's dead body, splayed out on the mud
at the foot of the tree, eyes staring wide, bloody, ghastly.
Tomas's Catholic cross pendant glimmers in the flashlight.
Silence until Vinh falls to his knees in front of Tomas,
tries to speak but only a whisper comes out.
VINH
Tomas.....IYAH!
Scene 105Page 71
Chuckie realizes from Vinh's demeanor that something really
is wrong. He hesitates a moment, then rushes over to Vinh,
stares too at Tomas's body, gulps back the desire to scream.
He punches his fist hard into the tree behind Tomas' body
instead. A shower of pine needles rains down on them.
Chuckie grabs the flashlight and sweeps it away from the
body, grabs Vinh's arm, grounding him.
Vinh sobs and shakes.
VINH (CONT'D)
She gonna kill you and me next.
We're all gonna die here. God knows
what other tools she got in that
box.
CHUCKIE
It was a stupid ass accident killed
Huey. You know that. And Tomas....
Chuckie chokes up despite himself.
He stands up, brushes the pine needles off his tee shirt.
He paces back and forth.
He pulls the gun out from deep in his jeans.
Della creeps between the trees behind them. She appears for a
second or two, like a ghost, behind the next tree.
Chuckie defiantly fights back tears.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
I promise you this.
He kisses the gun.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
This baby's gonna cancel her
Christmas.
Della darts between the trees, faster now. Their voices
follow her.
VINH (O.S.)
Ain't no gun can kill a ghost gone
bad.
Scene 105Page 72
She staggers deeper and deeper into the forest, into the
darkness.
CHUCKIE (O.S.)
You in America now, dude, where the
ghosts bleed.
She hears a faint gurgle.
She slows, listens. It's the burble of a stream..
She listens hard. Traces the sound. Treads towards it.
There it is. Glistening, even in the dark.
106 106
EXT. STREAM THROUGH WOODS - EVENING
She steps between rocks, walks straight into the stream
below.
She stands ankle deep in the icy water with her eyes closed
clutching the toolbox.
The water gurgles faintly below her, so cold it almost sounds
like glass breaking.
The ghastly images of what just happened play out behind her
eyes like an inerasable movie of the psyche to be remembered
for all time.
She's talking to herself in a whisper.
DELLA
I'm sorry.
All she knows is that she just killed a boy. It may have been
in self defense but she killed him.
DELLA (CONT'D)
I'm so sorry!
The grief overcomes her silently. Her face crumples. Her
stomach muscles spasm and wrack through her body. A grief so
deep tears would be a relief.
DELLA (CONT'D)
Where are you, God?
She falls to her knees in the stream. Holding herself and
rocking. The freezing water seeps up into her clothes, her
hair.
Scene 106Page 73
DELLA (CONT'D)
Please, I just want to see my
babies again.
Her rocking slows until it stops. There's a loud crunch close
by. She rises reflexively from the stream. Raises the
toolbox. She looks around. A branch has broken from a tree
and drags down into the stream behind her.
This seems to bring her back to herself. She realizes it's
only a matter of time before they come looking for her. She
needs to get moving.
She sets off downstream. She trudges through the shallow
water. Her wet coat drags heavily.
The stream must end somewhere, likely at the other edge of
the woods.
She trudges onwards, sweeping aside the branches of stooping
trees, stepping around rocky obstacles in the stream.
Forging ahead.
She now needs to pee. GREAT. Her temper surges up.
She looks for the right place to do it, realizes it's
probably best to pee in the stream, so all trace of it will
be dispersed.
A leafless willow trails its dried up branches into the
stream. She makes her way toward it.
She lays the toolbox down and disappears between the
branches. We see glimpses of her lifting her coat, pulling
down her pants, pushing the crotch of her underpants to the
side. We hear her shiver and the faint tinkle of water
meeting the stream.
More glimpses of her pulling up her underpants and pants,
smoothing down her coat.
She hoists her coat up again around her waist and picks up
the toolbox.
She plows down stream once more. Longing to see the light
that will tell her she's at the edge of the woods, closer to
the mall lights, closer to home.
She swallows another wave of grief.
Scene 106Page 74
The stream loops around ahead then splits into two. She
follows it, picks the left fork.
And then she hears it, the terrible sound of feet thundering
down into the stream behind her.
She doesn't even turn to see them. Just runs. Runs for her
life.
The glare of the flashlight blasts against her back. Freezing
water splashes up her legs, soaking through her pants. Her
feet slip and slide over wet rocks. But she keeps running.
Vinh's behind her. She can feel his breath, the swipe of his
hands as he grabs for her and misses. She runs even faster.
She leaps over tree trunks that cross the stream. They leap
behind her.
She pushes through the hanging branches of several trees.
Pushes them forward hard then lets them go as she passes,
right into Vinh's face.
He tries to duck but they hit him right in the eyes. He cries
out, covers his eyes.
VINH
Aaaarrhh.
This buys her a moment or two to get ahead. The stream bends
right ahead. She opts to stay in it. Chuckie leaps out, runs
along the banks, hoping to outrun and trap her.
But the stream then bends left, giving her an advantage. He
leaps back across the stream to the other side. But she's
outrunning him. He charges back into the stream behind her.
Della keeps on running through the stream, somehow trusting
its direction.
Vinh catches up with Chuckie. The boys are maybe twenty-five
feet behind her.
A SHOT rings out. Then a bullet races past her ear. Lodges in
a tree just ahead of her. She almost loses her footing. She'd
forgotten for just a moment, that they had a gun.
Another shot blasts off into the night, skims her shoulder,
hits the muddy bank of the stream. She flinches, braces
herself, keeps going, adrenalin pumping harder than ever.
Scene 106Page 75
The stream winds around a bunch of rocks ahead. For just a
moment she's invisible to them. She uses it. When she reaches
the rocks, she dives out, ducking below the glare of
Chuckie's flashlight, down behind the rocks.
107 107
EXT. EMBANKMENT - EVENING
She creeps up the muddy embankment hiding deep in the shadows
of some wiry shrubs, as close to the mud as her back will
allow.
The boys stop by the rocks. Chuckie sweeps the flashlight up
the muddy embankment, looking for a footprint, a sign of her.
She tries to creep through the midst of the brush to avoid
leaving prints. Tries to stay quiet as a mouse. Stops when
she sees the flashlight sweep by.
If she can get to the top, she can make another run for it.
All of a sudden, it grows dark. The boys must have switched
the flashlight off or maybe the battery's dead. She listens
hard for their footfalls. Nothing.
108 108
EXT. PINE TREE - EVENING
She sees that she is in the shadows of a big old Pine tree.
She creeps behind its massive gnarled trunk and silently
slides open the toolbox, fumbles around for the screwdriver.
She removes it from the box and grasps it tight.
Della rises slowly, remaining concealed behind the tree. She
reaches up and softly places the toolbox deep in the junction
of the first sturdy branch and the tree trunk. She pulls
herself up onto the branch and edges in close to the trunk.
She peeks between the branches.
No sign of the boys. She pulls herself further up into the
tree, branch by branch.
The thin stiff outer branches, fringed with sharp little
needles, fall like a jagged veil around her.
She waits.
She's high enough up to have a clear view of the landscape
below despite the darkness.
She makes out the faint echo of voices, strains to hear.
Scene 109Page 76
109 109
EXT. STREAM THROUGH WOODS - EVENING
Vinh and Chuckie are arguing in whispers. Vinh's pale and
shivering hard.
VINH
I don't feel good, Chuckie. You
think I got the hypothermia?
CHUCKIE
Nah, yo got the yellow fever.
Vinh sulks.
VINH
I'm telling you, it ain't natural
how she gets away every time.
Chuckie clicks the flashlight back on. Sweeps it up, across
and back down the embankment to the stream, illuminating the
banks.
CHUCKIE
She got to be hiding up on the
slope? You head up first and I'll
follow with the flashlight.
The light sweeps past her. Della shrinks further into the
branches of the tree. She crunches her foot against a branch.
SHIT!
The boys freeze, then resume talking in whispers.
VINH
I ain't going up there without the
gun. End of story.
CHUCKIE
Never would've pegged you as a
pussy, Vinh. Even when Huey and
Tomas called it, I always defended
your ass.
VINH
Ain't no one never said I was a
pussy.
CHUCKIE
She a skinny ass bitch, too. Can't
be weighing in at more than one
twenty.
Scene 109Page 77
VINH
Tomas an Huey never called me a
pussy.
CHUCKIE
I ain't speaking ill o' the dead.
VINH
You already did.
Vinh's shivering so hard his teeth are knocking.
CHUCKIE
Anyways, when you ever shot a gun?
Probably miss and shoot yourself in
the foot.
Vinh paces, braces himself to head up after Della.
110 110
EXT. EMBANKMENT - EVENING
Vinh starts to ascend the embankment.
CHUCKIE
That's the spirit gangsta. Holler
if you see her and I'll shoot.
Vinh glares back at Chuckie.
VINH
Faito!
Della watches Vinh plough through the brush.
The flashlight sweeps and darts with his movements, up ahead
of him, up the embankment.
Vinh pushes through several trees, slips, regains his
footing. He plods past the tree. She slips the screwdriver up
her sleeve. Prays he won't stop.
She pulls herself further up the tree.
A sudden commotion of swaying branches startles her, followed
by a shower of pine needles.
Her heart stops.
A moment later the sound of fluttering wings is followed by
the squawking of angry birds.
She's disturbed a bird's nest.
Scene 110Page 78
She sees the silhouette of four large crows as they burst
through the branches above and up into the patch of sky
between.
The crows circle the patch of sky above, like a Greek chorus.
She looks back down for a sign of Vingh. Sees nothing. Inches
along a branch to see better.
The light sweeps back and up through the trees into her eye
line, disorienting her.
She hears footfalls so close by they must be under the tree.
Her eyes have barely readjusted when she sees him: Vinh
standing under the tree scanning the area for a sign of her.
She stares down at him, frozen, holding her breath.
The flashlight illuminates the whole tree, then sweeps away
up the embankment.
But Vinh's seen something. He makes out her footprints under
the tree. He leans down to check, then rises, looks up
through the branches.
Their eyes meet. He opens his mouth to shout for Chuckie.
She LEAPS down through the branches. Lands THUD on his back.
VINH (CONT'D)
CHUUUCCKKKKIEEE!
She silences his yell with a choke hold. Wraps her legs
around his torso. He bites her arm but she holds tight.
CHUCKIE (O.S.)
Vinh?
Panic has crept into Chuckie's voice.
CHUCKIE (O.S.) (CONT'D)
VINH?
Vinh topples to the mud, dragging Della with him.
They roll as he desperately tries to disengage her.
The flashlight frantically searches the area for them.
Della frees the screwdriver she'd stuffed up her sleeve.
She DRIVES the screw driver up into the base of Vinh's skull.
Scene 110Page 79
Vinh screams.
She thrusts and twists the tool.
All the while she's tightly wound around him, intertwined,
intimate as a lover.
She drives the screw driver deeper in until she feels her
knuckles dig into his stiff hair.
Vinh's scream becomes a high keening wail.
The screwdriver pierces the base of Vinh's skull. It
protrudes through his mouth, knocking several teeth out in a
stream of blood.
His scream cracks into a death rattle as hers begins.
They roll downstream.
His arms are wrapped in a death grip around her.
They roll until they crash full into a tree about two thirds
of the way down.
She feels his grip loosen and his body slump over hers. He
becomes so heavy he almost crushes her underneath as he dies
right there on top of her.
She's trapped, suffocating underneath him, until she finds
the strength to push him off.
She crawls out from under his body.
Pushing him away, sets him off rolling again.
She tries to stand up but her legs are unsteady. Her head
hurts so bad it's about to burst.
The world around her shifts into a migraine zone. Trails
follow trees, rocks, brush. The desire to close her eyes, to
close it all out almost overwhelms her.
Her shoulder aches too and there's a new pain in her arm
where Vinh bit her. She sees blood has matted her sleeve, and
rolls it up to find a nasty bite mark.
There's a loud crash. Della freezes and moves only her eyes,
looks around.
It's Vinh's body hitting the stream below.
Scene 110Page 80
Where was the light at the edge of the woods? Nowhere to be
seen now that's for sure.
She staggers along the slope, clutching onto tree trunks and
roots as she goes.
Della grabs for a shrub to help her cross a patch of muddy
slope. Pulls it clean out by the roots. Loses her footing,
reaches for the roots of an old tree. She pulls herself up.
Plods once more along the slope, heading upwards in a
diagonal through the darkness.
She arrives at the top of the slope only to be met by more
darkness. But there's a strange calm about her now. Like
she's reached the eye of a terrible storm.
CHUCKIE (O.S.) (CONT'D)
Della?
When she hears his voice drifting faintly towards her, she
almost smiles.
She knows he's coming for her and there's nothing she can do
about it.
Della shivers as she sees a surreal tableau ahead: four huge
felled trees wrapped in white plastic. Their sad stumps are
only feet away. It's the funeral parlour of the forest.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
Delllaaa?
111 111
EXT. FELLED TREES WRAPPED IN PLASTIC - EVENING
Della sinks down behind the large trunk of a plastic wrapped
tree. She listens hard, tries to fathom which direction he's
coming from.
His voice drifts in and out of proximity like he's pacing
around in circles. His voice has changed - he's dropped the
gangster schtick.
CHUCKIE
There's only you and me, now.
Maybe, if he wanders into the right position, she can sneak
up on him from behind. She rakes about in the dirt looking
for a rock or a stick. Then she remembers something, sticks
her hand in her pocket, half smiles.
Scene 111Page 81
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
I saw a little trail of your blood
back there. You must be hurt.
Della checks out the bite mark on her arm to find it's still
bleeding.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
I'm hurting too. I think you busted
up my collarbone.
His black silhouette appears ahead between the gray trees.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
I know you can hear me, Della.
Chuckie sniffs.
CHUCKIE?
I can smell your blood, your sweat.
I know you're close.
Chuckie's eyes glint in the darkness.
CHUCKIE
After what went down tonight, we
got a special bond.
Della listens, transfixed.
His dark shape beckons to her.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
May as well come out now, Della.
She doesn't move.
She watches him pace around trying to work out where she is.
He pulls out a pack of cigarettes, taps one out, lights it.
Inhales. Exhales.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
I'll save one for you, for when you
decide to come out.
He inhales again, exhales.
He laughs admiringly.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
You're one tough bitch.
Scene 111Page 82
The tone of his voice begins to change.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
And that's hot, hell yeah.
Frustration breaks through his voice. She can see his shadowy
form moving through the darkness towards her. He stops.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
And they're really cute.
Chuckie clicks on the flashlight, shines it straight ahead -
right in between the plastic wrapped trees.
Della freezes. They?
Chuckie's eyes penetrate the darkness.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
Twins huh? Terri and Tammi.
Della doesn't move. Terrified.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
I bet you could use that cigarette
now Della honey?
(he chuckles)
A woman's purse can tell her whole
life story!
Della stares petrified as he unfolds her purse from deep in
his jacket. He empties the contents out onto the dirt.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
Now I know where they are living,
I'm thinking I may stop by after
and say hello.
Della wants to run at him so bad she almost hyperventilates.
But she also knows that's what he wants and she refuses to
give him the satisfaction.
We move in closer on Chuckie. He's looking right at where
she's hiding, pure malevolence hardening his face to a mask.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
They wouldn't know a damn thing
about what happened to Mommy while
she was out, would they, Della?
Scene 111Page 83
We move in on Della. Her knuckles are blue white and her eyes
are blazing. Rage explodes in her. She doesn't even realize
that she is shouting till she's done.
DELLA
I'M GOING TO KILL YOU.
Chuckie waltzes towards her hiding place.
CHUCKIE
I figured that would help you find
your voice!
Della crouches further in behind the felled trees. Why the
hell did she shout? She could have been hiding anywhere. Now
he must know for sure where she is.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
Don't worry. I would never touch
them. It's wrong to hurt kids!
Right, Della?
She clamps her mouth closed. Chuckie continues waltzing
toward her, stops about twelve feet away. He stares in
between the felled trees like he has x-ray vision.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
The game's over.
Chuckie laughs.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
You won!
Sadness creeps into his voice.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
You took him from me...He was only
seventeen years old. And all he
ever wanted to do was see the
ocean. And he never saw it. No, he
never got to go.
Chuckie's grief sits like a stone in his throat.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
They're all gone now.
Chuckie coughs, a dry laboured cough. He hocks long and
deeply in his throat. But whatever it is he can't spit it
out. He rubs his throat and collarbone gingerly.
Scene 111Page 84
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
You know the movie "Clockwork
Orange"?
Della looks puzzled. Yeah, and?
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
Well, they were my droogies, Della.
Chuckie sighs.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
Chances are they would of turned on
me anyway, just like in the movie.
Chuckie paces around, deep in thought.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
None of them was real ass outlaw.
No, not in the way you are.
You're the real deal, lady.
He stops.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
I was already thinking about
cutting some of em loose, getting a
new style posse together.
Della's head is spinning.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
How's about it, you and me?
This can't be real. Has he lost his mind? She utters under
her breath.
DELLA
Give me a break.
Chuckie reaches down, retrieves her diary from the dirt. She
cringes.
CHUCKIE
Monday night mechanics. Tuesday
Pilates. Wednesday Spanish.
Thursday, I wish....
He closes the diary.
Scene 111Page 85
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
Face it, Della. You ain't no
suburban housewife.
Chuckie's eyes dart around in the darkness.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
So you bought into the big lie,
even tried to live it. Who could
blame you? Husband, kids, security,
every woman's dream, but not yours,
Della. You know there ain't no such
thing as security.
He coughs some more.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
But I'm betting you didn't really
know who you were until tonight. I
reckon I know what you've been
dreaming about though, what you've
been aching for, through all these
lonely, wasted years. Blasting out
of Podunk without never looking
back. Feeling the wind in your hair
and the dirt of life between your
fingers. Doing all the things they
told you you ain't supposed to do.
Taking what YOU want from life. And
wasting anyone who stands in your
way. Right, Della?
She closes her eyes like she's seeing it all behind them.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
Don't say you ain't thought about
it. If it's in your blood, it's in
your blood for all time.
A longing sigh sneaks out.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
You had yourself fooled, Della.
A single tear runs down her cheek.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
Shit, lady, you took my whole crew
out with nothing but a bunch of
them tools.
She opens her eyes.
Scene 111Page 86
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
You can't go back to your old life.
No way. It's all over for that.
Kaboom.
She doesn't know what to say.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
Hooking up with me's about the best
chance you got.
He sounds deadly serious, seductive even. She's lost in some
kind of trance, looking like she just might believe him.
Can she possibly be believing this?
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
I bet you're on the outs with your
old man.
She inhales sharply.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
When we pick up your kids, we can
waste him if you like.
She holds the breath in.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
I can do it. Or you can if you're
ready.
Della exhales, responds. She seems lost to us.
DELLA
I want...
But she doesn't finish the sentence. She rises slowly from
between the plastic wrapped trees.
A momentary grimace of pain crosses her face. Then, their
eyes meet, like for the first time. It catches them both by
surprise. He smiles.
CHUCKIE
Leave the tools.
DELLA
I already did.
He shines the flashlight on her path so that she can see
where she is walking.
Scene 111Page 87
Della steps around the plastic wrapped trees and between the
stumps. She heads towards him, slowly, deliberately.
Chuckie's hands are by his sides. She stops a few feet away
from him.
She can see him up close. The clearest view of him yet. They
both look like they've been to hell.
CHUCKIE
Hell of a night, huh?
He lays the flashlight on the ground and turns the lens to
point up through the trees and into the sky between them.
DELLA
I was only going to the mall for
some Christmas wrapping paper.
Chuckie smiles.
CHUCKIE
Shit happens.
They stare at one another, all alone in the night. A knowing
moment stretches between them.
She notices the gash of matted blood and bruising on his
collarbone.
DELLA
What now?
Chuckie smiles, brings his teeth back into a scary, feral
grin.
CHUCKIE
I wanted to look you in the eye
before I kill you.
Della doesn't react. He brings up his hand, gun clutched,
pointed and ready.
Della surprises him and us.
DELLA
That's what I figured.
She nods her head, points her chin over his shoulder.
DELLA (CONT'D)
Huey there, going to help?
Scene 111Page 88
Chuckie is puzzled.
CHUCKIE
Huey? Huey's ....
He glances to the side for a split second, turns the gun as
he turns his head. It's enough. Della slips the flare out of
her pocket and opens it in his face.
Before he even has time to react she LEAPS at him with all
the spring left in her legs. Her fingers close around the
wrist with the gun.
The flare falls aside casting its fiery glow across them.
She crashes her good shoulder into the spongy place where his
collar bone is broken. It makes the ugly noise of sinew
tearing.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
CHRIST!
She tumbles him down to the December ground and wraps her
legs tight around him. Tight like a lover.
She grinds her chin deep and forcefully into the area of his
broken collarbone, exacerbating the wound.
He cries out, thrashes about. She keeps her body melded to
his, grinding her chin even deeper.
He wraps his arms tightly around her and pulls her even
closer, wrenches her chin up and away from his collarbone.
They roll across the dirt. He whispers, low and close to
her.
CHUCKIE (CONT'D)
You're even better than I thought.
He pushes his mouth hard up against hers to stop her chin
returning to the wound. She tries to pull away but he only
presses harder.
Neither can break away.
It's unclear who's got the gun.
They roll until she suddenly pulls away, sits up.
But he has her and she has him in a fatal leg lock.
Scene 111Page 89
And she has the gun.
They look at each other. He smiles.
He makes for the gun.
She fires into his chest, just once, it's enough.
His legs release. He slumps back. Blood darkens his shirt.
Gun smoke coils from the dark bullet wound. Blood seeps
below him from the exit wound, spreading out in a dark
puddle.
His body surrenders to death.
She stares down at him. A queasy silent moment passes. She
stares at the gun in her hands. It feels so heavy, so unreal.
His dead eyes stare. She reaches over and closes them gently.
And she's light-headed, so light-headed she could just float
away. Somehow she stands up.
She looks back down at the body, not quite believing he could
be dead. She sees her silver locket lying beside him in the
pool of blood.
She retrieves it. Uses her sleeve to wipe the blood away from
its exterior. Inside the photos of her kids are still there;
tiny photos of Tammis little thoughtful face and Terri's
mischievous one look back at her. She snaps the locket
closed.
She searches the area for the rest of her belongings, finds
her wallet, her purse, her diary, her lighter, her tampax
box, a lipstick in the dirt. She sticks everything in her
purse. She almost misses her pack of cigarettes. We see them
half buried under the dirt. She scans the area once more
finds them. The pack is empty but she takes it anyway.
It's time to go home.
112 112
EXT. WOODS - EVENING
Without really thinking about it, Della slips the gun into
her pocket and starts running.
Tree after tree disappears behind her until she sees the
light ahead. That place where the rest of the world meets the
woods.
Scene 112Page 90
She peers through the last layer of trees like she would a
curtain to her other reality, the one she almost left behind.
The housing development is still there and not more than a
hundred feet away is her car.
She hears the sound of distant sirens.
113 113
EXT. PERIPHERAL WOODS - EVENING
She hurries across the clearing towards her car. Sees the
trunk is open. Sees sheets of wrapping paper blowing about.
Sees the big red bow tangled around a pine.
She quickly gathers them, stuffs them in her purse.
A moment of trepidation as she reaches her car. What if it's
locked? What if the keys are gone?
She presses the Ford's driver door handle and much to her
relief, it opens. She sees the keys still dangling from the
ignition.
114 114
INT. EXPLORER- EVENING
She climbs into the driver's seat and turns the key. No
connection. No surprises there!
115 115
EXT. PERIPHERAL WOODS - EVENING
She steps back out of the car and looks nervously around like
nothing good could ever possibly happen to her again.
The hood is still ajar by a few inches, the weight of pine
branches still pressing upon it. She uses the last of her
strength to try push them away. A few smaller branches give
way but the bigger one won't budge.
She reaches under the hood for the bar and pulls hard. It
scrapes along the inner surface of the hood as she forces it
to prop the hood open to its maximum, about fifteen inches.
The hood buckles but there's enough room for her to reach in.
She fumbles about and finds the positive wire has come loose
from its attachment to the battery. She re-attaches the wire
and, Presto, the car lights up and the keys start to ping.
She almost smiles as she forces the bar back down. The hood
slams down after it.
Scene 116Page 91
116 116
INT. FORD - EVENING
She quickly climbs back into the car and turns the keys. The
engine sputters but doesn't fully catch. She turns the keys
again - another wimpy sputter. Again, this time the sputter
gathers momentum, catches for a second, gives up. She tries
again, the sputter gathers momentum and catches for real.
Della looks over her shoulder and backs up, pulls out of the
tree, up and past the broken barrier and onto the road. She
makes a tight U-Turn, sticks the car into four wheel drive
and plows down the rough gravely road.
117 117
EXT. ROUGH ROAD - EVENING
She passes the Plymouth on her way. Sees its wheels lodged
deep in the mud. Keeps going.
118 118
EXT. EMPTY HOUSING ESTATE - EVENING
She drives right on through the ghostly housing estate,
slowing only to change back into drive as the road improves.
Empty houses flash past like a movie in rewind.
The lights of the mall grow closer.
119 119
INT. FORD EXPLORER- EVENING
She passes that stop sign, sighs. The barrier is open and the
road up to the mall stretches freely ahead. She slowly inches
out on to the road and commits to her return to
"civilization".
120 120
EXT. MALL ROAD - EVENING
The road's empty.
121 121
INT. FORD EXPLORER - EVENING
She punches the accelerator, drives just over the speed
limit.
122 122
EXT. MALL ROAD - EVENING
The concrete blocks of the mall rise from the wastelands
ahead on her left.
She slows, ahead there's a small traffic jam at the entrance
to the Mall road.
Scene 123Page 92
123 123
INT. FORD EXPLORER - EVENING
She hears the siren before she sees the police car.
God, she hopes they don't notice her smashed up windscreen,
the fucked up side of the Ford.
124 124
EXT. MALL ROAD - EVENING
She edges slowly up to meet the line of cars. Watches as the
police car circumvents the traffic and pulls into the Mall
road, to join a police car that already has the Mall entrance
road blocked off.
125 125
INT. FORD EXPLORER - EVENING
Of course. How long has it been? That poor security guard.
She checks the car clock. It's only 85 minutes since she left
the house! Hard to believe. Feels like another lifetime.
Another cop car whizzes past the line. How long before they
come for her? She's got to get back to the kids.
Della adjusts the rearview mirror. Her gaunt bloody face
looks back.
DELLA
Oh my.
She looks at her hands, they're ingrained with mud and blood.
And her clothes!
While waiting for the traffic to start moving again she
fumbles on the passenger seat, finds some kleenex.
She wipes her hands, her face, using the rearview mirror,
some Kleenex and the rest of the water. She looks only
slightly better.
The line starts moving. Della follows. She passes the police
cars, steals a cursory glance.
She keeps checking her face in the mirror. The cars soon
start to disperse in different directions. The Mall
disappears behind her. She turns left onto an almost empty
road.
She can't wait to see her babies, make sure they're okay. How
could anyone expect her to go the speed limit at a time like
this.
Scene 125Page 93
She hits forty, forty-five, fifty. Takes it all the way up to
sixty. Runs a light.
126 126
EXT. RAILWAY ROAD - EVENING
As long as the roads empty she's gonna own it.
127 127
INT. FORD EXPLORER - EVENING
At sixty-five she races across the railway track. She slows
down to just above speed limit when she sees a car ahead on
the adjoining road.
With one hand guiding the wheel she grabs the lipstick from
her purse.
She carefully applies it in the rearview but her mouth is so
parched it just cakes into her chapped lips. She wipes it
away.
128 128
EXT. CROSSROADS - EVENING
She drives through the crossroads.
129 129
INT. FORD EXPLORER - EVENING
She applies some lipstick to her cheeks to give her some
color. But she just looks odd. She ends up wiping it away
with the back of her hand.
Gosh, this car in front is really taking its sweet time. She
decides to overtake. She accelerates to sixty. As she passes
the driver stares at her car.
She slows down so as not to arouse any more suspicion. She
passes the familiar sign for "Pleasant Valley Drive". The
road's empty ahead so she guns it to sixty-five.
The closer she gets to home, the faster she wants to go. She
tries to resist but can't. The speedometer hits seventy.
The car hurtles into the night. Oh No, a red light ahead. And
a car waiting to go in the opposite direction. She decides to
slow for this one. Barely makes it - screeches to a halt. The
driver in the forward facing car checks her out. She attempts
to smile and look like a normal housewife.
130 130
EXT. PLEASANT DRIVE - EVENING
She waits for the car to pass, then hits the accelerator
again. She signals right, turns abruptly into meet the gates
of Pleasant valley Dream Homes.
Scene 130Page 94
She rakes about in her purse for her chub card, can't find
it. She presses the intercom. No one answers. She presses
again. Still no answer. She backs out hard onto Pleasant
Valley Drive. Luckily for her, the car she overtook a few
minutes earlier pulls in. She tails the car tightly through
the gates which scrape shut against her back bumpers. But
she's in.
She guns it along Pleasant Valley Crescent and slows as she
approaches the sign for Pleasant Valley Boulevard. Checks
herself in the mirror. Pulls into the boulevard.
When she sees her house ahead a huge sob engulfs her. She
snorts it back. Not yet. Her face hurts so bad with repressed
emotion that it feels like it's made of stone.
She pulls into the driveway. Smooths her coat.
She glances at the gun, which lies on the passenger seat.
She turns off the ignition.
She looks back at the gun. She removes the car keys from the
ignition.
She glances at the gun.
She looks at the house; it all looks normal.
She takes a deep breath.
She moves to get out of the car.
She leans over, grabs the gun and sticks it in her purse. She
finds her chub card inside. She sighs.
131 131
EXT. DELLA'S HOUSE - EVENING
She remembers her shoulder hurts when she climbs out of the
car. That her arm hurts when she pushes the car door closed
behind her. That her heart hurts when she sees the star of
the tree still lying there in the snow.
The whole side of the car is scratched to hell and the
windshield is shattered. She makes her way down the path to
the front door. She kicks off her wrecked muddy boots on the
front step. Turns the adjoining key, on the car key chain, in
the front door lock. Pushes open the door.
132 132
INT. DELLAS'S HOUSE - EVENING
KENNETH
Where the hell have you been?
Scene 132Page 95
Kenneth's voice meets her as she steps into the house. Nice
welcome.
She doesn't respond. Closes the door behind her. Walks into
the house.
There he is ahead, leaning against the office door. Beer in
one hand, remote in the other. The TV blaring behind him.
KENNETH (CONT'D)
I said....
He's about to begin shouting again when he notices
something's not right about her.
KENNETH (CONT'D)
Della?
He switches the TV volume down using the remote.
KENNETH (CONT'D)
Della honey are you all right?
She stares back at him coldly.
DELLA
Please don't call me that. Don't
ever call me that again.
KENNETH
What?
She steps slowly towards him. Sees a violent adventure flick
wrapping up behind him on TV. The end credits scroll down the
screen.
DELLA
I just wanted to get home to my
babies.
Kenneth cannot understand her garbled words. He sees the
dried blood on her chin, matted mud on her coat.
KENNETH
What happened to you?
She just stares.
KENNETH (CONT'D)
Was there an accident?
Scene 132Page 96
She keeps staring, looks at him with a cold odd expression.
She needs to be held like a child but he doesn't even move
towards her. Just stands there like a jerk, unsure of what
to do, so he takes a swig of beer.
KENNETH (CONT'D)
Are you hurt?
That swig of beer turns what was left of her love for him to
stone.
A beat.
DELLA
Are they okay?
Without waiting for an answer.
133 133
INT. STAIRWAY - EVENING
She turns and races up the stairs.
134 134
INT. THE TWINS BEDROOM - EVENING
She opens the door softly. The night light casts a pale glow
out low across the carpet. There they are, all tucked up in
their quilts, breathing gently, little faces flushed with
sleep.
She sighs, closes her eyes with relief, softly closes the
door behind her.
135 135
INT. STAIRWAY - EVENING
Walks back downstairs.
136 136
INT. KITCHEN - EVENING
Kenneth is pacing about the kitchen, opening another beer.
KENNETH
Sound asleep, huh?
Kenneth, unsure what to do, tries to make a joke.
KENNETH (CONT'D)
So. What'd you bring me from the
mall?
Della sighs, calmly pulls out the gun from her pocket, looks
him right in the eye, points the barrel at his face.
Scene 136Page 97
He shrinks back, silent for once, blind panic playing across
his face.
But not hers. She's cold, cold as the icy night.
She pulls the trigger at point blank range. CLICK
He recoils.
But no bullet disengages from the barrel. Nothing. She knew
there were no bullets left.
But the click echoes throughout the silent house.
DELLA
Nothing.
THE END
|
