Script

Scene 1: Reporting on street

(Scene dissolves in from static. A reporter is on screen with a news report of a murder with banners detailing the report and box containing photos of murders. Diegetic sounds of the street are heard with a non-diegetic sound of police and ambulance sirens and a light chatter in the background.)

Reporter: We are live on the scene at a brutal attack in which a mother of 3 is alleged to have murdered her husband and children (camera pans to view of house) but leaving her youngest daughter as a sole survivor thanks to police intervention. (Pans to view of woman by car) Reports are coming in that the woman in question has no history of mental illness and the police are currently not aware of the cause of this vicious assault. (Woman is put in the car by “plain-clothes” police officer.)

 

Scene 2: Hospital

(Establishing shot of the hospital at a low angle. Scene cuts to a long 2 shot of a young woman and a doctor walking down a hospital hallway. The doctor is leading her and detailing the status of her mother’s case.)

Doctor: The discharge papers are almost finished; you just need to sign a form to assert that your mother will be staying with your family during her recuperation.

Ella: You really think that’ll help?

Doctor: Simply visiting over this past year has improved her recovery process, Mrs. Garcia. She’s no longer showing any signs of schizophrenia and we have no reason to keep her here any longer (they stop outside of the hospital door). She is cured. (Ella peeks around him into the door window) And here’s the copy of her medical history you requested (he hands over a file and she opens it but is interrupted) I think it’s time we tell her. (They enter.)

Scene 3: Hospital bedroom

(The camera tilts upwards to a long/medium shot behind the mother. She is facing a corner window on a rocking chair with a knitted blanket over her, slowly rocking. Ella walks up behind her.)

Ella: Mum? You’re gonna be coming home with me, okay? William and I are gonna take care of you for a while.

 Scene 7: Kitchen

William: Ella, I’m telling you, there’s something wrong.

Ella: Will, she’s just out of hospital. She’s just transitioning.

William: There’s transitioning and then there’s…her.

Ella: Just drop it. She was in there for 15 years after a psychotic break! She’s home and she’s cured. Leave it be. (Walks out).

William: I just… don’t trust her.

Scene 8: Dinner Table

Ella: Finish of your peas, Logan. No desert ‘til that plate’s clean. (Ella and William leave the table.)

(Mary stares at Logan until he looks up at her. She shakes then he eyes roll back in her head, before turning white. Logan screams and runs away from the table.)

Ella: Honey, what’s wrong?

Logan: Mum! Mum! Don’t make me- don’t make me-

Ella: Logan! What?

Logan: Mum…her eyes. (Ella and William exchange a worried look.)