Paradise Read online

  PARADISE

  PARADISE Copyright © 2011 by Mehul Desai

  Cover Art by Bodil Veibaek

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author.

  For permission requests please write to [email protected].

  This work has been registered with

  Writers’ Copyright Association

  Registration C103839

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Screenplay Reformatted for Kindle.

  FADE IN.

  EXT. FOREST - EARLY MORNING

  Shafts of sunlight cut down from between the branches. White morning mist lingers in the air. We push through and see a round white object sitting in the clearing. A pod.

  Inside is a man, SEBASTIAN. His eyes are closed.

  He's in his early 30s and wearing a plain white jumpsuit.

  The front section of the pod retracts with a soft “hum”. Air vents out from the sides.

  Sebastian's eyes slowly open. His vision blurred.

  He slowly comes about, disorientated, and takes a slow deep breath. He reaches forward, climbing out the pod, but then trips, landing face first in the dirt.

  He drags himself forward, crawling on his hands and knees, and reaches a tree.

  He stops and looks back.

  The pod is powering down, the vented air fading.

  He closes his eyes and takes another deep breath.

  He coughs and settles.

  -“squawk!”

  A zebra-striped bird sits on a branch, watching him.

  Sebastian looks at it a moment then slowly turns his head, looking up at the trees.

  He climbs to his feet, balancing against the tree, and looks down at his boots.

  He concentrates a moment then takes a step forward. He stops, adjusting his balance, then takes another cautious step. He finally lets go of the tree and begins to walk.

  CUT TO.

  EXT. HILLSIDE - FOREST - LATER

  The mist clears. Two blue apples hang from a branch.

  Sebastian staggers out onto a ledge and stops.

  His eyes widen. All the color in his face fades.

  His heartbeat gets louder, faster. He's unable to move. Unable to breath.

  We see a lush green forest stretching out into the distance. Above, filling the entire sky, are two galaxies, Andromeda and the Milky Way. Both frozen in mid-collision.

  FADE TO BLACK.

  4.5 Billion Years AD

  CUT TO.

  EXT. FOREST - POD AREA - DAY

  Sebastian is curled up against the pod, still in shock.

  He closes his eyes, settling himself as best he can.

  He looks down and sees a patch of dirt.

  He slowly reaches down and draws a semi-circle on its side. He pauses then draws a

  rectangle beside it, five dots between the two shapes.

  D : I

  He stares at the symbols a moment, focusing, but can't decode any meaning.

  He looks away and sees a small flower.

  He picks it off and studies it. Curious.

  SEBASTIAN

  (dry, hoarse)

  Fl- Floo-

  He shakes his head.

  SEBASTIAN (CONT'D)

  Floowa, floowaar- Flowar.

  He smiles.

  SEBASTIAN (CONT'D)

  Flower.

  He looks up and slowly climbs to his feet.

  SEBASTIAN (CONT'D)

  Tru- Tra- Tray.

  He shakes his head.

  SEBASTIAN (CONT'D)

  -Trree! Tree!

  He laughs.

  SEBASTIAN (CONT'D)

  Tree tree flower!

  The zebra-striped bird continues to watch him from above.

  CUT TO.

  EXT. FOREST - DAY

  A yellow mango lies the floor. Sebastian picks it up and squeezes its skin. Blue pulp seeps out.

  He looks up and sees several more mangoes in the trees.

  CUT TO.

  EXT. POD - FOREST – DAY

  Yellow mango skins lie in a heap. Sebastian wipes his mouth of blue pulp and finishes another.

  CUT TO.

  EXT. FOREST – DAY

  Sebastian's white boots are now covered with dirt and grime. He slows down, hearing sounds nearby.

  Waves. An ocean.

  He approaches a thick row of bushes and pulls aside the branches. Sunlight cuts through.

  He squints his eyes and sees white beach stretching off in both directions.

  He turns his head and sees a boulder in the surf, a shape moving beside it.

  He creeps aside, slowly, to get a better view, then stops.

  Smoke is rising from behind the boulder.

  Sebastian leans forward but keeps to the shadows.

  The boulder is not a boulder but another pod, lying on its back. The shape beside it is a WOMAN, drawing in the sand with a long staff.

  Sebastian stares.

  The woman is in silhouette but we make out a white jumpsuit.

  She squats down by her fire and lifts a stick over the flames, cooking vegetables.

  Sebastian continues to stare, then slowly draws back...

  CUT TO.

  EXT. CAMP - FOREST – NEAR BEACH – NIGHT

  Firelight flickers over Sebastian's face.

  SEBASTIAN

  Hu-hu-Hullow.

  He shakes his head, struggling.

  SEBASTIAN (CONT'D)

  Hu-hu-Hulloo...

  Smoke drifts into the alien sky.

  DISSOLVE TO.

  EXT. CAMP - FOREST – NEAR BEACH – MORNING

  Smoke is still rising, the fire now dead. Sebastian lies asleep beside it.

  WOMAN (O.S)

  Who are you?

  Sebastian snaps awake.

  The woman, ALANA, stands opposite.

  Sebastian scrambles to his feet and back away, hitting a tree.

  Alana looks at him; calm, slowly.

  ALANA

  Do you know your name?

  Sebastian looks back at her.

  She's slim, in her early 20s, with straight black hair and light blue eyes.

  ALANA (CONT'D)

  Do you know who you are?

  Sebastian half shakes his head.

  Alana looks away, annoyed.

  Sebastian hesitates.

  SEBASTIAN

  Who, are you?

  Alana looks back at him.

  ALANA

  (beat)

  I don't know.

  CUT TO.

  EXT. BEACH – MORNING

  Sebastian feels over Alana's pod.

  ALANA

  Can you talk much?

  SEBASTIAN

  Little.

  Alana nods.

  ALANA

  I was the same. Every morning I'd wake up

  remembering a little more.

  Sebastian looks at her and pauses.

  SEBASTIAN

  How long...

  ALANA

  “Have I been here?”

  Sebastian nods.

  ALANA (CONT'D)

  Around six days. Took me about half a day

  to crawl out of that thing.

  (beat)

  What about you?

  Sebastian counts on his hand and raises three fingers.

  ALANA (CONT'D)

  (beat)

  Is yours close?

  SEBASTIAN

 
Yes.

  Alana looks out over ocean, desperately trying to think.

  ALANA

  Do you have any idea what's happening?

  Sebastian shakes his head.

  SEBASTIAN

  No.

  CUT TO.

  EXT. BEACH - NIGHT

  Vegetables are cooked over the fire, Alana turns them over. Sebastian studies the simple tools she's constructed.

  SEBASTIAN

  (low)

  We're not from here.

  Alana looks at him.

  ALANA

  (beat)

  No. We're not.

  She slowly looks around.

  ALANA (CONT'D)

  This place. It's like something out of a

  dream.

  Sebastian gets up and walks to the pod again. Alana watches him.

  Sebastian looks from the pod to sky, lost in his thoughts.

  ALANA (CONT'D)

  (beat)

  You won't-

  Sebastian stops and looks at her.

  Alana lowers her head.

  ALANA (CONT'D)

  You won't hurt me, will you?

  Sebastian pauses, confused.

  SEBASTIAN

  (beat)

  No. I won't hurt you.

  Alana nods.

  ALANA

  OK.

  Sebastian returns to the sky.

  Alana glances at him, embarrassed.

  DISSOLVE TO.

  EXT. BEACH – PREDAWN

  Three moons are reflected over the ocean waves. Sebastian lies asleep next to the fire, Alana on the other side. Her eye are closed but we see her lids flutter.

  CUT TO.

  EXT. STREET - GHETTO - NIGHT (FLASHBACK / MUTE)

  Fires burn... men run... An old man is on his hands and knees, vomiting into a gutter.

  CUT TO.

  EXT. BEACH – EARLY DAWN

  Alana turns her head, lids still fluttering.

  CUT TO.

  EXT. GHETTO - NIGHT (FLASHBACK / MUTE)

  Pellets are shot into a rundown building, yellow gas spreads inside.

  Men and women, scruffily dressed, run out, some jumping from the higher storey windows.

  A woman trips and begins to choke, coughing up blood. Others are grabbed by masked men and shoved aside.

  One man tries to flee. A rifle is raised and fired.

  CUT TO.

  EXT. BEACH – DAWN

  Alana snaps awake. She quickly looks around, disorientated, then rubs her face, settling. She holds a moment then finds herself crying.

  DISSOLVE TO.

  EXT. BEACH - SURF - MORNING

  Sebastian splashes some water over his face. He rubs the back of his neck and gargles a handful.

  Alana sits by the fire, head low.

  Sebastian glances at her.

  SEBASTIAN

  (beat)

  You all right?

  Alana nods, staring at the fire.

  Sebastian locks his fingers behind his head and turns away.

  SEBASTIAN (CONT'D)

  There's got to be others. Maybe they know

  what's happening.

  Alana nods, distant.

  Sebastian shakes his head, frustrated.

  SEBASTIAN (CONT'D)

  This is crazy, what the Hell is going on?!

  He kicks a mound of sand.

  Alana looks at him, still quiet.

  Sebastian exhales and looks down.

  He sees something and pauses.

  SEBASTIAN (CONT'D)

  (beat)

  Did you do this?

  Alana sees what he's looking at.

  Drawn in the sand is a semi-circle on its side, five dots and a rectangle beside it, a small circle above the rectangle.

  o

  D : I

  SEBASTIAN (CONT'D)

  (low)

  I know this.

  ALANA

  What you talking about?

  SEBASTIAN

  When I woke up I drew this. I was drawing

  this.

  Alana gets up and stops beside him.

  Sebastian studies the drawing.

  He grabs a stick and looks down at it again, slowly moving around.

  The semi-circle now flat, the dots and rectangle above.

  SEBASTIAN (CONT'D)

  This.

  He points to the semi-circle.

  SEBASTIAN (CONT'D)

  This is here.

  He points to the small circle above.

  SEBASTIAN (CONT'D)

  This, this is in the sky.

  Alana looks up.

  The sun is overhead.

  She pauses then points to the rectangle.

  ALANA

  So what's that?

  SEBASTIAN

  I don't know.

  He lowers the sick to the five dots.

  SEBASTIAN (CONT'D)

  But I think I know what these are.

  The two look back at Alana's pod.

  CUT TO.

  EXT. BEACH - DAY

  Sebastian paces back and forth, rubbing his mouth.

  SEBASTIAN (CONT'D)

  Six days ago, that's when you said you

  woke up, right?

  Alana nods, sitting under a tree.

  SEBASTIAN (CONT'D)

  I wake up a few days later. That means

  whatever that thing up there was it was

  moving when it dropped us.

  Alana considers.

  SEBASTIAN (CONT'D)

  Your drawing had it next to the sun, right?

  The direction the sun falls is the same

  direction my, whatever you wanna call it,

  is from yours.

  ALANA

  I don't understand.

  SEBASTIAN

  This image was put in our heads so we

  knew how to get back to whatever brought us here.

  ALANA

  You think what brought us here is down

  here?

  SEBASTIAN

  It has to be, why else would we remember

  this picture?

  Alana slowly nods.

  Sebastian kneels down in front her.

  SEBASTIAN (CONT'D)

  It's a map. A map to get us to where we're

  supposed to be.

  Alana turns her head. The sun is setting behind a nearby mountain.

  CUT TO.

  EXT. FOREST - MOUNTAIN – DAY

  Alana has several branches tied to her back as she struggles uphill.

  ALANA

  Hey.

  Sebastian is ahead, moving fast.

  ALANA (CONT'D)

  Hey!

  She trips, dropping the branches.

  ALANA (CONT'D)

  Damn it.

  Sebastian looks back.

  Alana gathers the branches, annoyed. Sebastian climbs down and helps her.

  ALANA (CONT'D)

  We could use names.

  SEBASTIAN

  What?

  ALANA

  Names, so we know what to call each other.

  SEBASTIAN

  What would you like?

  ALANA

  I don't know, anything.

  SEBASTIAN

  How about Beach?

  ALANA

  “Bitch”?

  SEBASTIAN

  Beach, like where you woke up.

  Alana shakes her head.

  ALANA

  That word reminds me of something else.

  Sebastian ties the branches.

  SEBASTIAN

  All right how about Sand?