Pills

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Pills by Duy Nguyen

1

INT. - AIRPORT RAIL STATION AND CAR - DUSK PAULA eases herself in front of a loading door of an airport terminal rail stop among a sparse crowd of travelers awaiting the next train. She is a young twenty something that looks to be going places. A YOUNG MAN standing next to her notices an unzipped pocket dangling off her luggage. YOUNG MAN Excuse me, your bag. Bending over to fix her bag, Paula drops an unfinished painting of a beach at sun set. The young man quickly helps to gather the painting and Paula promptly snatches it out of his hand and puts it out of sight before attending to the unzipped pocket. PAULA (MUMBLING) Thank you. The young man notices a pamphlet in the pocket with a familiar logo on it before Paula zips it and several pill bottles out of sight. A train pulls up. YOUNG MAN Hey you go to the Academy? I go there too... Paula doesn’t let him finish as she quickly moves to another car when the doors open. YOUNG MAN It’s a beautiful painting! The young man shrugs it off and continues into another car. Paula sits in the back of her almost empty rail car as she stares through to the other car watching the young man begin a conversation with another traveler. She begins fiddling with her luggage. AUTOMATIC RAIL NOTIFICATION Doors closing. As her eyes leave the young man they settle on a man in a gray suit on the other side of the car staring back at her, legs crossed, and with his hands on his knee. The car takes off and picks up speed. Paula’s gaze leaves THE MAN IN GRAY’s to examine the contents in her hand: a rainbowed cocktail of pills that form a small mountain in her palm. AUTOMATIC RAIL NOTIFICATION Now leaving international terminal. Welcome to San Francisco.

2.

Paula squints her eyes to take a look out the window then back to the man in gray whose focus on her is unchanged as he blinks one eye after another completely unlike how people do. Paula gives him a knowing grimace and dumps the pills into her mouth. 2 3 TITLE: PILLS INT. - CAFE - MORNING Paula struggles a bit to swallow her medicine and takes a swig of water. Across from her sits a wide eyed young lady named CAMILLE who is almost at a loss of words. CAMILLE Paula, that’s a lot of pills. PAULA Yep. (beat) CAMILLE Well I’m impressed. How do you even carry all that in there? That’s like some Guinness World Record’s shit. I feel like I should be clapping or throwing money in a hat or something. PAULA Ok that’s enough, thank you Camille. Camille raises her cup of coffee. CAMILLE Cheers to your doctors, it almost looks like they couldn’t figure out what was wrong with you so they said fuck it just give her everything. Tell me, do pharmacists cower in fear when you walk through their door? PAULA No they just break into a cold sweat. Camille chokes a little sipping her drink as Paula stares blankly on.

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED:

3.

CAMILLE Seriously though do I need to know about this? You need to tell me if I do if we’re gunna be roomies this semester. PAULA We’ll be fine I think. CAMILLE You think or you know? PAULA Finish your coffee, we’ll be late. CAMILLE Well I guess they wouldn’t let you fly half way across the world for school if you were about to drop dead or if you were crazy. (beat) So first day huh? How ya feeling? I remember my first day here. Trust me on this one, they’re not all prats like they look like they are. PAULA They’re only prats when they open their mouths right? Camille gives Paula a crooked smile before erupting in laughter. CAMILLE (RECOVERING) Alright let’s go find out then. 4 EXT. - CITY SIDEWALKS - MORNING Paula and Camille make their way through the city. At a cross walk Paula spots the man in gray on the other side with his unwavering gaze. Paula begins to turn away from the crosswalk. CAMILLE Nope, this way Paula. Paula is tugged back towards the crosswalk and begins to walk with her head down and eyes focused on the path directly in front of her. Never leaving his corner, the man in gray tracks the two as they pass by. Camille looks over her shoulder to an agitated Paula as they reach an alley way.

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED:

4.

CAMILLE Here’s a shortcut. Our building is just on the other side. 5 EXT. ALLEYWAY - MORNING Dipping around the corner, Paula and Camille head down an empty alleyway. Paula fumbles through her messenger and trips over the curb. Out of her bag a waterfall of pills pour out over street grating. Paula desperately drops to salvage what she can as pills fall through the cracks. PAULA Fuck, fuck, fuck. CAMILLE Oh my god are you ok? As Paula rises to answer she looks down at her misfortune and sees nothing. She quickly goes through her bag. PAULA Yea, did you see my pills fall anywhere? CAMILLE No I’m pretty sure you ate all of them at the cafe. PAULA I’m serious I just saw them! Where the fuck are they? CAMILLE Whoa ok hold on now. Breath girl. Are they somewhere in your... PAULA No! Paula frantically looks around her. CAMILLE Paula listen, are you listening? Do you need them? We can go back back if you want. PAULA No, it’s just, they were here. CAMILLE You sure?

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED:

5.

PAULA Yes. CAMILLE We’re allowed be late if you want to go get them. It’s college, no one gives a shit. PAULA Screw it lets go. CAMILLE Ok alright. Relax Paula it’s just school. First days are always a pain. It’s not going to kill ya... Camille takes Paula’s hand in hers and gives her a nice warm smile. CAMILLE ...unless you keep tripping over curbs anyhow. Come on I’ll be here right with you. The two continue down the alleyway. Paula begins to make out the crowd of youngsters as they reach the other side and squeezes Camille’s hand. 6 EXT. - FRONT OF SCHOOL BUILDING - MORNING Paula and Camille stop for traffic and take in the scene on the other side of the street. Dozens of students milling about the front of the building socializing. Paula’s grip strengthens before Camille has had enough. CAMILLE You going to be alright? PAULA I don’t know. CAMILLE’S FRIEND Camille! Oh my god Camille get over here right now you bitch and give me a hug! Across the street Camille’s friend waves them to come to her. CAMILLE Sure you will.

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED:

6.

Camille is already crossing as she gestures Paula to follow. Paula hesitates before stiffly complying. As Camille embraces her friend and exchange a few words she turns their attention to Paula still crossing the street. Paula can make out Camille arranging an introduction and their eyes on her. Paula freezes in the middle of the street examining Camille, her friend, and the rest of the crowd. They are all looking directly at her. PAULA Why? Paula, frightened, turns back for the alleyway only to see the man in gray on that side of the street also staring at her. A car honks it’s horn as it screeches towards Paula bracing herself then disappears. Paula rises up to see Camille, her friend, the crowd, everybody else on the street, the street itself, the buildings along the street, and the rest of the city disappear. 7 EXT. - BEACH - DAWN AND DUSK Paula finds herself on a familiar beach that appears to go on forever. Inland the sand stretches to the horizon. PAULA Camille! Camille? Anybody? Paula frantically calls around her before she looks down and sees a pill in the sand. Looking around a bit more she spots another and another further on down the beach. She follows the trail of pills down the beach as the day passes stopping occasionally to call out for her roommate. As the sun sets Paula pulls an almost empty water bottle out of her bag to take a swig when out comes an endless torrent of pills. Paula spits out a mouthful and starts letting the contents of the bottle spill onto the ground. PAULA No! Why? She gives up and throws the bottle with a scream and begins sobbing. Further beyond where the bottle lands Paula spots a figure down the beach and quickens her pace towards it. As she approaches she can make out a bench with a young GIRL sitting on it, swinging her feet, and looking out towards the sunset. PAULA Hey, hello there.

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: GIRL Hi.

7.

The girl does not react as Paula sits down next to her. They sit in silence for a bit looking out at the red sky and ocean beneath it. PAULA My name is Paula. What’s your name? (beat) What’re you doing out here? Do you know where we are? (beat) Listen I’m lost and I don’t know how I got here. I found these pills that led me here. Do you know where they came from? GIRL Those were my pills. PAULA All those where yours? That’s a lot of pills. GIRL Yep. PAULA You know you shouldn’t throw those away if you need them right? GIRL I don’t need them. Mom says they’ll make my friends go away. I like my friends, they don’t make fun of me like everyone else. I don’t want them to go away. The girl begins crying and Paula moves in closer. PAULA I think I know how you feel. I have to take medicine to make my friends go away too. GIRL Do people still make fun of you? PAULA They’re not making fun of you. Not really. That’s just their way of handling what they don’t understand and you know why that is? (CONTINUED)

CONTINUED:

8.

(beat) ...because you haven’t given them a chance to understand. Give them a chance. GIRL But what about my friends? I don’t want them to go away. PAULA I don’t think they’ll ever really go away, no matter how many pills you take, so I wouldn’t worry about it. Paula looks beyond the girl and sees the man in gray smiling at her. She smiles back when the girl starts towards a BOY in a gray sweater where the man in gray use to be. The boy blinks one eye after the other. GIRL Billy! Paula sees the two start to play and walk down the beach laughing. CAMILLE Paula! 8 EXT. - FRONT OF SCHOOL BUILDING - MORNING Paula snaps out of it and is in front of the school building with Camille and her friend. CAMILLE There ya are. Thought I’d lost you for a second. SARAH this is my new roomie Paula. Paula this is my friend Sarah and her boyfriend DOM. Dom recognizes Paula from the airport and Paula likewise. DOM So did you ever finish that painting? PAULA No, I’m going to leave it be. DOM You’re not going to finish it?

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED:

9.

PAULA I don’t know, I think I’m happy with the way it is. (beat) DOM Hey so listen, we’re throwing a little back to school get together later tonight at our place. SARAH You guys should come join us! CAMILLE (TO PAULA) Huh? What’dya think? PAULA Sure. I mean yes, I’d love to. CAMILLE We’d love to. DOM Great we’ll see you guys later then. (to Sarah) Ready? Come on let’s go. Dom and Sarah head inside. Camille begins after them when Paula stops her. PAULA Sometimes I see things and people that aren’t there. CAMILLE Do they tell you to burn stuff or cut yourself? PAULA No. CAMILLE Ok. (beat) Come on we’ll be late and watch the steps they’ll trip ya up. Paula laughs and starts to follow Camille into a stairwell before turning around and looking out across the street to see Billy smiling. Paula waves to him and he smiles back at her before heading down the street. Paula loses him as he blends into the foot traffic and goes up the stairs to join Camille.

10.

End.

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