Writing Sample #3 - Screenplay

EXT. STATE PARK
JACK and SUSAN are hiking with CARSON trailing behind. They are obviously adept hikers, but CARSON is wearing flip flops and jeans, and is covered in a sheen of sweat.

CARSON
Ick.

They ignore her.

CARSON (CON’T)
Has no one else noticed the correlation
between sun exposure and skin cancer?
I’m pretty sure some doctor wrote about
it somewhere.

SUSAN
You have sunscreen.

CARSON
I’m also pretty sure there is a
correlation between excessive
exercise and arthritis.

SUSAN
Exercise actually decrease your
chances of getting arthritis.

JACK shoots SUSAN a look that says ‘stop encouraging this’.

CARSON
Not excessive exercise!

JACK
Car, I guarantee you that your definition
and the medical definition of
excessive differ greatly.

They walk in silence for a while.

CARSON
I forgot about all these mosquitoes.

JACK
Do you want to go home?

CARSON
. . . no.

JACK
Then shut your trap and enjoy the scenery.

More silence.

SUSAN
My father wants me to ask Deborah to
come out.

JACK
And how would she afford that?

SUSAN
I think the implication is that we
would pay for it.

JACK
Of course it is.

CARSONS’ eyes close as their arguing voices fade away, obviously not wanting to hear anything else about the situation.

INT. CARSONS’ ROOM – LATER THAT NIGHT
The clock reads 2:42. CARSON lays in bed, eyes wide open and panicky. Her breathing is shallow and she is perfectly still for a moment before she flings her bed covers off.

INT. CARSONS’ CAR
CARSON is driving down an empty road in pitch black. The music is loud and upbeat and the windows are down, reminiscent of the opening scene, but this time it is so dark that the only thing to see is the road in front of the headlights, the white line ticking by. Her eyes are still wide.

INT. A DINER
Soft jazz is playing on the overhead stereo. CARSON sits in a booth by herself drinking coffee. She is reading the menu even though an empty plate sits beside her, and drumming her fingers on the table. She pours a sugar packet into a little creamer and shoots it. She colors with the crayons they give to kids on the back of the menu. She looks up and sees a group of three men her fathers’ age. They are dirty and unkempt, but they are laughing together over big plates of meat. One of them catches her eye in the middle of a laugh, winks, and goes back to his conversation. Her eyes begin to droop.

INT. CARSONS’ ROOM
CARSON is asleep on top of the comforter. The light is barely filtering in through the windows, and the clock reads 5:17. The birds begin to shrill, and CARSONS’ eyes pop open.