Saturday, June 10, 2017

COWARD - A Short Script/Story

INT. APARTMENT BUILDING - DAY

Office worker, MARTIN HENDRIDGE, returns home. He does not seem all that happy about having free time.

He checks his post before moving on.

A little girl, of around ten, is there. This is AMY.


MARTIN

Hey, Amy.

AMY

Hi, Martin.

MARTIN

Where are you off to?

AMY

Dad..

MARTIN

Is he out today?

AMY

No, he wants me to get beer for him and his friends.

FRANK (V.O)

AMY!

AMY

I'm just going, Dad.

FRANK

I'm going to have to reset the timer. Martin.

MARTIN

Frank.

FRANK

Amy get going. I'm not going to start the stopwatch a third time.

Amy heads away, money in hand and keen not to rile her Dad further.

Martin starts to walk up the stairs.

FRANK

Martin.

MARTIN

Yes.

FRANK

Stop talking to my daughter.

MARTIN

I was just saying hello.

FRANK

I don't want her talking to strangers.

MARTIN

I'm not that much of a stranger.

FRANK

I don't know you.

MARTIN

We've been neighbours...for six years.

FRANK

But I don't know what you do up there. In your little hovel.

MARTIN

Annoyingly, I know what goes on in yours.

FRANK

What's that?

MARTIN

The all day, all night parties. The strangers peeing in the corridor.

(of the stop watch)

The fact that you time your underage kid to pick up beer for you.

FRANK

Don't comment on my life, boy. I served my country. I deserve to live a little after what I've seen and how I treat my own flesh and blood is none of your business.

MARTIN

I'm just saying that it's not..

FRANK

I can still fuck you up, you know. I can still fight despite the leg.

MARTIN

I know. I know you can. I've heard.

FRANK

I'm a fucking war hero, son. What are you, eh? While I was serving my country where were you? Pissing your pants. You don't know shit. You're nothing. Now get up there to your sordid little grief hole and stop talking to my little girl.

Amy returns, slightly out of breath from carrying the large case of beer. Martin heads upstairs from this incredibly depressing scene.

FRANK

You stay away from him, okay?

AMY

Why?

FRANK

Just do what you're told. Go on. Get to your room before the game comes on.

Martin enters his apartment. It's clean to the point of clinical, with so pictures or personal items around. In fact, It is so generic impersonal that it could easily be mistaken for a show home. Martin locks the door behind him, double checking each lock as muffled sounds of TV and drunk men are heard downstairs.

MARTIN (V.O)

Why am I such a coward? Why can't I, for once, take action and stand up for something? I know what goes on down there. I hear it everyday and I see it more than I want to. I know what he does and how he gets with his kid. My stepfather was the same. I wish I was a tougher person. If I was, I would happily beat the crap out of him while social services take the kid to somewhere safer. I dream about that confrontation almost every night and I wake up smiling. I would give anything to do the right thing.

Martin makes a meal as drunken shouting and music booms from the apartment below.

CUT TO:

Martin eats whilst watching TV. He has headphones on to cut out the annoying sounds from downstairs.

INT. BEDROOM - EVENING

Martin is disturbed by a series of bangs. He climbs out of bed, grabbing a item to use as a weapon. He heads toward his front door holding a ukulele by the neck.

Marti peers through the peep hole.

MARTIN

What the hell?

He opens the door to see one of Franks' friends, ANDREW, urinating in the corridor.

MARTIN

Not again.

ANDREW

You didn't answer your door.

MARTIN

Why would I?

ANDREW

Politeness.

MARTIN

That's disgusting, man.

ANDREW

Says the man that's into kids.

MARTIN

I'm not into..

ANDREW

That's not what I heard.

He shakes before waving his urine soaked hands at Martin, who backs away. Martin shuts the door as the man is heard laughing.

CUT TO:

INT. APARTMENT BUILDING -MORNING

Martin locks the front door behind him. He is ready for work.

He heads down the stairs and notices Amy.

MARTIN

You okay?

AMY

(weakly)

Hi, Martin.

As he reaches the final step, he notices that her right eye is red and swollen.

MARTIN

Are you okay?

As he goes to approach her, Andrew, the drunken urinator from the night before appears. He is holding a crate of cheap beer.

ANDY

(to Amy)

I thought your Dad told you to stay inside.

MARTIN

What's wrong with her face?

ANDY

She just had a fall.

MARTIN

A fall?

ANDY

That's right.

MARTIN

Where's her Dad?

ANDY

Inside. Haven't you got an office to get to?

Martin doesn't know what to do. He is ushered on his way as the horrible man and the injured, upset girl go into the house of woe.

CUT TO:

INT. BUS - DAY

Martin stares into space on the bus.

MARTIN (V.O)

Why am I such a coward?

CUT TO:

INT. OFFICE - DAY

Martin can't focus on work.

Time ticks by and the end of the day soon comes. Martin stays at his desk. He is googling subjects like: "what to do if your neighbour is abusing their child". He quickly clicks out when he is approached by DAN, one of his co-workers.

DAN

Martin! Are you coming along?

MARTIN

I'm going to stay and finish some work.

DAN

Don't work too late, yeah?

MARTIN

I won't.

CUT TO:

INT. STREET - EVENING

It is dark as Martin leaves his office.

He heads home, walking through the park.

MARTIN (V.O)

Look at you. Staying late at work to avoid the situation. Disgusting! You're just as bad as he is! You might as well be hitting her yourself. Why can't you man up and do what needs to be done? Afraid of being hit, are you? Well, how do you think she feels, you fucking fool!

Martin walks through the park. The trees seem to bend around him as he walks alone.

He comes to the final section of the park, dimly lit by a street lamp. As he heads out, he notices someone lying on the floor. He stops.

He stops. It appears to be a young woman.

MARTIN

Are you okay there?

There is no reply.

He looks at her. She is so still.

MARTIN

Do you want to call someone?

He nudges her with his foot.

WOMAN

(weakly)

Help me...

MARTIN

Are you hurt? How can I..?

WOMAN

Please help me..

Martin kneels down and slowly reaches out.

MARTIN

I want to...

Suddenly, the woman lunges at him, eyes blazing and snarling. He screams out as she bites into him. He soon falls silent.

CUT TO:

INT. LIVING ROOM - DAY

Martin wakes up on the floor of his living room. His door is open. His work shirt is red with blood.

ANDY is urinating in the hallway.

ANDY

Rough night?

MARTIN

What happened?

ANDY

How do I know? Looks like you've annoyed someone else. I'll have to tell Frank about this. He could do with a laugh.

Andy exits.

ANDY

See you later, Little Kid Lover!

Martin nudges the door closed with his foot. He crawls further into his flat, his skin is wet with sweat and flecks of blood.

We see cuts of Martin in thrones of a deep illness. Something is deeply wrong and he grows weaker and weaker with every passing day.

He does not seem to sleep because the fever robs him of this simple function. His skin becomes clammy and pale, sweat almostbpouring from his skin. He is seem rolling around the floor in quiet agony.

He's suffering but he cannot seem to scream. Throughout all of this, we can still hear activity down stairs.

The parties stop only for the regular sound of Frank shouting at Amy and the sound of crashing and crying.

If he could have ever have done something to help her then, it is impossible now.

CUT TO:

Martin is on the floor, facing the ceiling and breathing rapidly. His body jolts.

MARTIN (V.O)

What's happening to me? Am I being punished?

CUT TO:

INT. APARTMENT

There is no light, save for the streetlights outside.

Martin dials the phone, gripping the handset with both hands. We hear the phone dialling out.

MARTIN

Please answer...please..

Voicemail.

SARAH

Hi, you've reached the voicemail of Sarah I'm not available at the moment but please leave a message and I will get back to you ASAP! Chow!

MARTIN

Sarah... It's Malcolm. I didn't want to leave a message on your phone but I wanted to....I wanted to say... I don't know what's happening to me. I...I'm sick. Don't know what with...but I know it's not good. Maybe it's what I deserve for everything I did. I'm so sorry for how I was after Kirsty....after we lost our girl. It wasn't your fault and I...I didn't know how to handle it. I couldn't...I'm such a coward, Sarah. It's in my blood. It's who I am and what I hate the most. I wish it wasn't so late for me. I wish I could have changed and been a better person. Take care of yourself and Robert. He's a good man.

Martin drops the phone. His breathing becomes broken and ragged. He slumps to the floor, struggling for air until he stops, eyes open and still.

There is an eerie silence now and almost darkness. Martin is gone. There is nothing left.

Downstairs, Frank can be heard, yelling at a crying Amy. It is clear now that there is no music to drown it out.

He is drunk and angry and she is small and scared.

Shouting and crying. Crying and shouting.

INT. HALL WAY - NIGHT

Andy is urinating in his usual corner.

Martin's door is open. He is still on the floor.

We focus on Andy's face as he hums and pisses, drunk as fuck.

In the shadow of the moon light, pouring through the window, we see someone standing.

It moves towards Andy as he clumsily shakes himself.

The dark thing is on him before he can zip it in. It grabs, twists him and bites feverishly. He can hardly get a sound out before his neck is twisted to an improbable degree. His eyes bug and he is quickly, and messily, consumed by the shadow-thing.

His limp, broken and bloody body is discarded as the beasts attention turns to downstairs.

The thing makes its way downstairs to Frank's apartment.

The screaming is sudden and blood curdling. Frank is heard crying out in utter terror and pain as we slowly follow downstairs to his place.

Frank is dropped to the floor, his face frozen in fear.

The thing takes a moment to pick up his stop watch and crush it in its hand.

It makes its way to a bedroom.

It opens the door to see AMY cowering on the bed.

It stands there, dark and foreboding. She glares at it, frozen.

The thing kneels down and offers a dark hand to her. After a long moment, she gets off the bed and gets closer to the thing.

AMY

Martin?

She takes Martin's now inhuman hand and he picks her up. He carries her to the window, stepping over bodies and smashed items.

Amy opens the window and Martin steps onto the ledge. She holds on tight as he goes to step off the balcony. Before he does, wings extend from his back and they both fly away into the night.

MARTIN (V.O)

I used to be a coward. I'm not sure what I am anymore.

CREDITS.

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