This short script idea was written in 2007. It was submitted to ExistenceHouse by Joe Tassone.
OPENING TITLE SEQUENCE
Clock Reads:
7:53pm
(MUSIC UNDER)
SLOW MOVES OVER DRAFTING, PENCIL AND PAPER, DIAGRAMS
CUT TO:
INT. JACK'S BASEMENT
7:55pm
Jack, a forty year old male, looks as if he has been working feverishly for about eight hours straight on various diagrams and paperwork.
One swinging light overhead barely illuminates the dim room.
Jack massages his temples as the smoke from yet another burning cigarette fills the musty air.
The creaking sound of a door opening at the top of the stairs.
A harsh white light from the room above crosses Jacks face highlighting his bloodshot eyes.
Only a shadow from Jack's wife, ELIZABETH crawls down the stairs.
ELIZABETH
Why don't you try to finish up for today dear...(beat)Please...come upstairs.
JACK
I know, I know. I'll be there in five minutes honey.
ELIZABETH
I'm beginning to get worried, we have had...
Elizabeth's words are abruptly cut off.
JACK
(frustrated)
Five more minutes, that's all I ask...
The door shuts slowly, the light fades.
Jack pulls his papers together.
A machine glows in the corner of the room.
Jack approaches the unusual equipment. He makes a few adjustments to the gauges hanging off some glowing tubes.
Stretching out from the rubber are needles on each end of the hose.
The machine looks as if it can be used to monitor brain waves or heartbeats.
Jack moves back to his desk, he takes a sheet of paper and reviews his previous notes...
Oct.22, 2007 - 3:00am
TEST UNSUCCESSFUL
Oct. 22, 2007 - 6:31am
TEST UNSUCCESSFUL
Oct. 30, 2007 - 2:00pm
TEST SUCCESSFUL!! 1:58pm - Jumpback 2 minutes. (minor headache)
Oct. 30, 2007 - 3:00pm
TEST SUCCESSFUL - 2:58pm - Jumpback 2 minutes. (minor headache, bloody nose)
Jack picks up a pen to add to his diary...
October 31, 2007
Jack looks at the clock on his wall which reads
7:59pm.
Jack finishes his note...
October 31, 2007 - 8:00pm
Jack places the pen on the table, approaches the machine, picks up the two needles attached to the tubes. He pushes one into the back of his neck, and the second needle attaches to a pre-made hole in Jack's temple.
The liquid inside begins to flow.
The clock on the wall clicks to
8:00pm.
Jack flips a switch on the glowing machine.
The pain is intense. Lights flash within his mind.
Jack clenches his teeth. His heartbeat's volume increases until it overpowers his groans.
CUT TO:
INT. UPSTAIRS
8:00pm
A wooden door breaks open.
The door jam splinters as three men dressed in suits force their way into the house.
Elizabeth stands shaking in her kitchen.
A plate she was drying off falls to the ground and breaks in two.
ELIZABETH
Oh God, what do you want? Jack! Come up here plee...
Elizabeth's cries fade under the sound of bullets that riddle her chest.
CUT TO:
INT. JACK'S BASEMENT
8:00pm
Jack shakes violently as if he were having an epileptic seizure...
He falls to his knees...
BACK TO:
INT. UPSTAIRS
8:00pm
Elizabeth, covered in blood, falls to her knees.
BACK TO:
INT. JACK'S BASEMENT
8:00pm
Jack falls to the ground.
BACK TO:
INT. UPSTAIRS
8:00pm
Elizabeth falls to the ground.
CUT TO BLACK:
FADE UP FROM BLACK:
INT. JACK'S BASEMENT
7:55pm
A harsh white light strikes Jack's eye. Jack blinks.
ELIZABETH
Why don't you try to finish up for today dear...(beat)Please...come upstairs
JACK
(very groggy)
I'll be there in five minutes.
Jack finds the strength to push his sweaty body off the cold, dusty floor.
ELIZABETH
I'm beginning to get worried, we have had some strange people...
Jack looks at his clock on the wall. It reads,
7:55pm.
ELIZABETH (CONT'D)
Coming by the house...
Jack picks up his notes on the table. He reads the last entry.
Oct. 31, 2007 - 8:00pm
Jack, wiping blood from his nose, smiles.
ELIZABETH (CONT'D)
Asking all sorts of questions about you.
JACK
Just give me five more minutes honey. I love you so much!
The door shuts slowly. The light disappears.
Jack picks up his pen and makes a new note.
TEST SUCCESSFUL
7:55pm Jumpback 5 minutes (much stronger headache, light sensitivity, bloody nose, slight memory loss)
Jack pauses and then continues in a much larger font.
5 MINUTES!!!
Jack gathers his papers together, and neatly places them in folders.
His knees buckle. Jack loses his footing for a split second but is able to brace himself on the table.
The clock reads
7:59pm.
Jack is almost finished cleaning up as the clock ticks over to
8:00pm.
A loud crash upstairs.
Jack hears strange, muffled voices and then a more familiar one... Elizabeth.
ELIZABETH V.O.
Oh God, what do you want.
Jack can barely make out her words as he leaps up the stairs.
ELIZABETH V.O.(CONT'D)
Jack, come up here plee...
Jack makes it to the door just as he witnesses the bullets pounding his wife's chest. He goes no further, only peering through a small crack in the basement door. He quietly pulls the door closed, spins and presses his back against it in a terrified shock.
Jack rubs his temples...thinking, he runs back downstairs in a confused panic. He glances at the clock...
8:02pm
Jack quickly races to his papers and scribbles a sloppy note.
October 31, 2007 - Go upstairs and save your wife NOW!!!
Jack grabs the tubes from the machine.
He jabs one needle in the back of his neck and one in his temple.
A LOUD BANGING at the door.
Jack flips the switch and begins to convulse.
The door BURSTS open, feet STOMPING down the stairs...
CUT TO:
INT. JACK'S BASEMENT
Jack is lying still on the floor, he glances at his clock.
7:58pm
Jack gets up slowly undressing the cables from his head. His head is on fire, blood seeps from his nose and his ears. His skin is raw.
His memory has failed again, he seems in no rush at all.
The clock reads...
7:59pm
Jack approaches his notepad and picks up his pen. He notices his last scribbled note. His eyes are struggling to focus on the words and then it becomes clear.
Go upstairs and save your wife NOW!!!
With a dramatic urgency, Jack races upstairs as fast as his weakened body will carry him.
Jack crashes through the door just as...
CUT TO:
INT. UPSTAIRS - 8:00PM
The bullets riddle his wife only this time, the three men notice JACK. They turn their guns on him...
JACK is about two feet from his door, he turns and lunges back through the doorway...
Bullets smack into the door frame shattering the wood.
CUT TO:
INT. JACK'S BASEMENT
8:00PM
Jack tumbles back down the stairs. This time without thinking, he rushes to his notepad and scribbles...
You need more time, jumpback to save her!
Loud crash through the door.
Jack straps himself, and jabs the needles into his head.
Footsteps coming down the stairs
Jack flips the switch.
IMAGES of murder scene, wife falling, men running toward him.
FLASH OF WHITE
FADE UP TO:
INT. JACK'S BASEMENT
(FROM JACK'S POV)
Jack's eyes open, everything is muddled, blurry... he tries to read the clock...
7:57pm
We now see Jack, his body is overrun by sores and blisters. He tries to stand, he cannot support his own weight.
The Paper is hanging off his table.
Jack gets up just enough to reach it. Still on the floor, he reads...
You need more time jumpback to save her
FLASHBACK of murder, wife being shot, men running toward him, footsteps coming down the stairs.
Jack uses all of his strength to get up and over to the machine, he prepares the needles once again.
(CAMERA FOCUSES ON NOTE)
CUT TO:
INT. JACK'S BASEMENT
7:53pm
Jack's body is charred, his clothes have shredded in parts from the amount of electricity.
Nothing makes any sense.
IMAGES of murder, men running toward him... it clicks, he needs more time.
The door at the top of the stairs opens, a harsh white light...
Jack hurries to get the needles in place with his deformed hands.
Jack hears voices.
He flips the switch, foam gushes from his mouth.
CUT TO:
INT. JACK'S BASEMENT
7:48pm
Shaking grotesque hands hold the note, images of men running toward him, footsteps down the stairs...
Jack flips the switch.
CUT TO BLACK:
FADE UP FROM BLACK:
INT. JACK'S BASEMENT
7:43pm
Jack lies silent on the floor, curled in fetal position. He has become a monster.
The door at the top of the stairs opens, a harsh white light,
The monster eyes blink.
Footsteps coming down the stairs...
IMAGES flash from a memory that once belonged to a human.
Men killing a woman...
his wife,
Men shooting at a man, Jack...me.
JACK rises off the floor, a hulking mass of a man. He sees one of the men who was responsible for killing his wife coming down the stairs.
With a ferocious, beast-like lunge, Jack attacks the man.
Blood sprays the walls.
Jack, breathing heavy as he hovers.
The camera tracks down his once human body, to the carcass of his dead wife, Elizabeth.
Jack's last breath.
His body falls to the ground.
CUT TO BLACK:
THE END
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