This screenplay is copyrighted to its author. All rights reserved. This screenplay may not be used or reproduced without the express written permission of the author.
WEEPING UNDER A TREE
By
Andrew Keil
12-25-03
EXT. PARK - NIGHT
In the twilight of autumn, in the dusk of embrace, LUNA and
DAVID meander aimlessly. There passion and innocence shines
as they share a short but meaningful kiss, contrasted by the
growing darkness in a suburban park. Brown and gold leaves
blow past them as the teens come upon a pond.
LUNA
A lake of enchantment I assume.
Luna indicates the small pond with the tip of her pale white
finger.
DAVID
You are a fairy tale, and just as
lovely. But we have not yet come
to what I have to show you.
David smiles innocently, with a certain roguish aura that
beguiles Luna.
DAVID
A surprise, my love, and perhaps
something more...
Luna blushes, her fair complexion turning a light red. She
follows David, trusting him with all her soul. They come to
a clearing, with a large, gnarly tree in the midst of the
circle. Luna takes a step, then looks down at her feet to
see what she has stepped on. Abruptly, her eyes widen and
her jaw opens to utter a painful SCREAM.
DAVID
(Rushes to Luna)
Dear God Luna, something has gone
wrong here!
David holds Luna. They both shiver in their embrace.
CUT TO:
A heart beats upon the ground, and black roses
instantaneously grow out of the ground surrounding it.
CUT TO:
The TREE begins to bleed. The blood oozes down the tree, its
taint running onto the ground. A heart has been carved into
the trunk, with an arrow through it and the words "Luna &
David." David and Luna, meanwhile, cower in terror. They
hear a distant splashing of water, and look in the direction
of the pond.
CUT TO:
A FIGURE closely resembling a man but more accurately
described as a zombie moves steadily toward the clearing,
where the teens have been forced to the ground, paralyzed
with some supernatural fear. The figure stops in front of
the pair.
FIGURE
(whispers)
The hour of the lord has come, your
flesh will be the flesh of
redemption.
FADE TO BLACK.
EXT. PARK - DAY
A middle-aged woman walks along her usual path in the early
morning. Her shirt is red and reads in black letters POWER.
She stumbles on the path, and then she falls on the ground in
the process spraining her ankle. She opens her eyes through
the pain to see a container of MIRACLE GROW spilt open on the
ground in front of her. Something is growing on it. She
blinks, manages to get up, and takes a side path.
MIDDLE-AGED WOMAN
(Wincing)
Maybe this path will lead me closer
to the outside of the park.
She limps onward, and the path she takes grows dense with the
foliage of trees, until she comes upon an ominous clearing.
ANGLE: CLOSE UP OF HER FACE
The woman's mouth slacks open, her white teeth exposed. Her
eyes dilate over and over, and her body quivers.
Her hair starts to fall out and she visibly ages, and we
finally see the monstrosity before her...
CUT TO:
The TREE now appears as something out of a horrific painting,
its base containing the bodies of the two lovers torn from
their embrace. Cracks in the earth surrounding it gleam
darkly, as if they lead directly to hell. The woman
approaches now as nothing more than a skeleton, and stands
next to the TREE as its guard.
EXT. LARGE CITY - DAWN
As the OPENING CREDITS scroll across, the urban city and the
suburbia surrounding it darken and decay. A transformation
occurs:
Building turn into towers, houses into cottages, malls into
markets. The majority of technology is lost.
INT. TEEN'S BEDROOM - CONTINUOUS
A teenage boy sleeps on a bed in a small bedroom. His walls
are covered with heavy metal posters, a desk near in front of
one wall has a computer which is currently off, and the
shelves surrounding it are lined with books, movies, and CDs.
The boy begins to wake:
KYLE
(Tosses and turns, then
sits up)
Dammit, I can't sleep!
Kyle throws off the bed sheets, then gets out of bed
revealing a mildly muscled shirtless body with black sweat
pants. Without a glance in the mirror on his door or an
adjustment of his messy black bed hair or the addition of a
shirt to his body, he opens the door and walks out into the
HALLWAY.
As Kyle walks down the hallway he doesn't seem to notice that
the dry wall in his bedroom has been replaced with log
sidings, nor that the family photos are now artists'
renderings, nor the lack of a heater which has made
goosebumps appear on his back.
He walks into what was once a modern day KITCHEN and now
nothing more than a few cupboards and counters, a small
fireplace with a pot set over it, and a line of hanging meats
in the style of a butchery.
Kyle turns toward where the refrigerator once was and now
just current emptiness, stops, blinks with a puzzled look on
his face and yells
KYLE
Mom! Where the hell is the
refrigerator?
Kyle's mom enters the kitchen, dressed as a kitchen maid.
KYLE'S MOTHER
I'm right here Kyle, what are you
so upset about?
She moves to the fireplace, grabs a ready to cook chicken on
the nearby counter, and places it into the pot above the fire
place.
KYLE
I think I need a Coke, I'm just not
waking up this morning.
Kyle rubs his eyes, then turns around in the room looking for
the refrigerator as if it had been deliberately hidden from
him.
KYLE'S MOTHER
What are you talking about dear? A
Coke? Have you lost your mind?
Why don't you go outside to the
well and get a pale of water that
we can drink with breakfast?
Kyle rubs his eyes again, shakes his head, and opens the door
out of the kitchen muttering
KYLE
Just like a woman, redesign the
whole goddamn house while I'm
sleeping just to freak me out...
EXT. KYLE'S HOME - CONTINUOUS
As he walks outside he sees a strange sight:
Instead of a small backyard with walls separating his home
from the homes of others, he sees trees everywhere, with dirt
paths going into the surrounding woods. Another small cabin
is seen in the distance, and smoke rises from its chimney.
To the left of him is a well, nearby is his father chopping
some wood near a downed tree. Kyle gawks with his mouth wide
open, his brain trying vainly to process the changes to his
environment.
KYLE
Fuck.
His father, wearing some goofy (to Kyle) woodcutter's outfit,
turns around and beckons to his son.
KYLE'S FATHER
Hey son, glad to see your up this
mornin'. I've got some chores for
you to do after breakfast. I take
it your mother asked you to fetch
her some water from the well?
KYLE
Dad, I can't understand, what has
happened to the city? Where is all
the technology?
KYLE'S FATHER
(Concerned)
Are you okay son? You're saying
words I don't rightly understand,
you possessed or somethin'?
KYLE
(Confused)
Nuh, nothing dad, I'll just go get
some water for mom, but I don't
think I'll be able to do any chores
because I'm not feeling so well.
KYLE'S FATHER
Well, you go lie in bed then and
get some rest.
Kyle goes over to the well, stares at the thing for a minute,
then grabs the handle, lowers the bucket, and brings up a
pale of water. He unties the bucket from the rope and brings
it into his house.
INT. KYLE'S HOME - KITCHEN - CONTINUOUS
KYLE
Here mom.
Kyle sets a pale of water on the counter near the fireplace,
where she is baking some bread. His mother turns around to
face him.
KYLE'S MOTHER
Thank you dear.
Kyle nods, then leaves to go his room, on the way passing his
parents room, which like the rest of his house, has now been
changed. He opens the door to his room, then stops.
KYLE
Wait a second, my parents' room is
different, why is my room the same?
Kyle approaches his computer, and pushes the buttons to turn
on his computer. It turns on.
KYLE
How does it work, we don't even
have electricity!
His desktop loads and a picture of Christina Aguilera appears
on his background along with his desktop icons. Kyle turns
around again toward his bed. A BOOK lies on his unmade bed,
though it had not been there before.
KYLE
Where did this book come from?
Kyle picks up the book, its cover brown with the stylized
title: A CLASSIC REVERSION OF SOCIETY. He opens it.
The pages have a gold tint, but, in contrast to the old
fashion styling of the book, the words are typed.
Kyle lies down on his bed, turns on the lamp next to it, and
begins to read its contents.
As Kyle reads, he begins to read faster, flipping pages
eventually at a supernatural pace. Half a minute after lying
down, he has read the entire book.
KYLE
Well, that explains a few things.
He puts the book down, and the book begins to twist and turn
insanely until it appears in focus again as a pair of
gauntlets. It is studded with obsidian.
Kyle shrugs, apparently used to the parade of unusual events
this day, and with even less regard puts them on. They fit
perfectly. With a bit more magic occurring, he now wears a
full suit of chain mail armor. He looks pleased, but then
looks confused, and then DISAPPEARS.
END OF PART ONE
Return to Simply Scripts