Abnormal Heights Pilot
Content
ABNORMAL HEIGHTS
“PILOT” EPISODE Written By: Christian “Cat” Dull
“ABNORMAL HEIGHTS” “PILOT” FADE IN: EXT. CORNFIELD -- NIGHT Stalks of corn are moving rapidly due to the amount of wind being blown. Bright lights and loud high pitched buzzing noises are seen and heard above the trees in the distance. A little boy is seen running through the corn field toward a house nearby he is unclothed and looks traumatized. CUT TO: INT. DARK BEDROOM -- NIGHT A teenaged male sits up in his bed, breathing heavy. The moonlight illuminates his blue green eyes as he runs a hand through his dark hair and he puts his legs over the side of the bed and his feet touch the floor. He puts his head in his hands as a gold cross on a chain dangles from his neck. REED - (V.O.) It was always the same dream. Night after night. It never changed, never became different, never became less scary or less confusing. I still didn’t know what it meant and I was beginning to wonder if I ever would. (Main character, REED CARAVELLA, 17 athletic build but still lean, dark hair, which he wore sometimes shaggy, sometimes spiked up depending on his mood. Blue-green eyes and olive colored skin.) REED lays back down in his bed and closes his eyes. He struggles for a moment and then drifts back off to sleep. BLACKOUT FADE IN:
INT. HIGH SCHOOL HALLWAY, LOCKERS - MORNING REED is opening his locker, he touches the combination lock, but doesn’t turn it. He pulls the silver handle and opens the locker.
REED - (V.O.) (SMILES) That never gets old. I’ve done it so many times yet no one has ever noticed. I can’t say I’m not surprised. What with all the promising students we have… REED looks out the window onto the lawn the school, where some of the kids went He shakes his head as he turns back to unzips his backpack and switches books books inside his locker. of the side of to get “high”. his locker and out of it for
AVERY You’re gonna have to show me that locker trick sometime. (AVERY HAMILTON, 17 slim but curvy. medium length platinum blonde hair, blue eyes, fashion forward.) REED jumps a little where he is standing as he turns around to face her. He smiles. REED You’re going to have to stop doing that. AVERY (SMILING)
What?
REED Sneaking up on people. AVERY Oh, I didn’t know you were so sensitive. REED I’m not, I’m just saying… Yeah, yeah. AVERY
She tickles him a little bit and he pulls away from
her in jest. They are both laughing now. Just then the football team comes walking down the corridor in their letterman’s jacket’s tossing a football back and forth between them and laughing very loudly. REED’S smile fades from his face as he gets a vision. VISION: The captain of the football team comes up to AVERY and starts hitting on her as two of the other team members hold him against the lockers. They taunt him while the captain is inappropriately touching AVERY. REED comes back into reality as the team gets closer to them, he grabs AVERY’S arm and starts leading her down the hallway. AVERY (CONFUSED) What’s wrong with you? Just keep walking. REED
She listens to him and they start walking faster, he can hear every step and squeak of their shoes on the slick floor getting closer and closer to them. The sound is louder and louder in his ears and he cannot turn it off. His face becomes wrenched with pain at the noise their rapid walking is making. As they near the nook where the bathrooms are, he backs AVERY up and pushes her into the bathroom, not giving her any explanation. He stands against the door. The football team stops and looks at him, they are angry. REED You’ve got something to say DEAN, you say it to me. Not her. DEAN What are you talking about Caravella? (DEAN MACKENIZIE, 18, tall, built, jock, captain of the football team. Cocky. Arrogant.) REED You know what I’m talking about. Now why don’t you and your drones go do some pushups or something. DEAN (GETS IN REED’S FACE) Don’t push me Caravella. You have no idea
what I could do to you. REED (NOT BACKING DOWN) I’m guessing not much since you just turned 18 and you wouldn’t want to ruin that football scholarship now would you? DEAN punches the wall behind REED as he backs off and he and the other guys walk away. REED is relieved as he opens the bathroom door and lets AVERY out. Are you okay? Who me? I’m fine. He puts his arm around her and they walk down the hall to their classroom. CUT TO: AVERY REED (SMILES)
INT. HISTORY CLASSROOM -- MORNING Everyone takes their assigned seats, AVERY sitting in front of REED. The teacher sits at her desk until everyone is seated and then she begins roll call. REED (V.O.) Another day going on very little sleep. That same damn dream waking me up night after night is getting old. Yet here I sit, in this classroom trying to seem normal when I know for a fact I am not. (BEAT) Because I know in about 5 seconds the teacher is going to pull down the map and she’s going to point to Japan and she’s going to call on AVERY to answer the question and AVERY won’t know the answer. I can hear the vibrations of the cell phones in every backpack in the room. I can hear every scribble of the pen or pencil someone is using on their piece of paper. I can smell fresh tomatoes from the lunch room downstairs, I can smell the oven burners as they are being turned on and heated up, I
can even smell the milk through the cartons that they keep in the refrigerator. Now I ask you, is that normal? (BEAT) Here’s a real mind bender for you, every time I hurt myself it heels like it never happened. When I was younger, I fell out of a tree and I broke my leg, the bone was sticking out and everything and when my parents finally found me it was as if nothing had ever happened. I later found out that I could do this to others as well, but for fear of what they would think of me I only ever did it once and it was on AVERY. She never remembered what happened nor that I had done anything. All she knows is she fell off her bike and didn’t scrape her knees. (BEAT) God, her hair smelled good. I had to wonder what she used because it drove me mad every single time I had to sit behind her in this class. And with my heightened sense of smell it was like an aphrodisiac. My own personal aphrodisiac. My feelings for her remained a secret and would stay that way until I felt like revealing them. I had enough going on right now I didn’t need the sting of heartache to be added to it. The loud speaker goes off asking REED to come to the main office. He looks confused as he packs up his books and leaves the classroom. He walks down the hallway toward the office and sees his mother standing outside the door crying. He drops his backpack and goes to her. REED Mom? What is it? (TOUCHES HER ARM) MARIA It’s your father. (MARIA CARAVELLA, 40, thin, youthful face) What happened? REED (V.O.) For some reason I couldn’t see anything, long REED dark hair, brown eyes,
except my mother’s tears. MARIA He took a turn for the worse. REED hugs her, then picks up his backpack as they head out the front doors and to the car. REED I’ll drive mom. He lets his mother into the passenger’s side of the car. He walks around to the driver’s side. He gets in and starts the engine and begins to drive. REED (V.O.) Oh, did I forget to mention that my dad is sick? Well, he is. He’s been battling cancer for some time now and he’s been in and out of the hospital more times than I can count. My “healing” ability seems to have no affect on him, though I have tried many many times. He’s the only father I have ever known, and I say this because I can’t remember a damn thing before the Caravella’s adopted me. But I must have been about 10 when they did that. There’s nothing before that. Nada, zip. It was like I just woke up one day in their house, strange and bizarre just like my life. Anyway I am getting off of the point. He’s been a great dad. Has always worked hard and been there for me and for my mother. And it wasn’t fair that this was happening and there was nothing that I could do to help. And to make matters worse. I knew, in two days he’d be gone and there wasn’t one thing me or Mom could do about it. And not a thing I could do to turn off this head of mine. When it saw the future. It saw it up close and personal. I hated that I couldn’t change it. Why see it if I can’t change it? Never made much sense to me. There was more about my father that was fuzzy. A talk we were going to have, couldn’t quite make it out but it was there. I looked forward to it. It would be the last one we would have. BLACKOUT FADE IN
INT. HOSPITAL ROOM -- MID MORNING REED and his mother stand over a hospital bed, one on each side. His mother is crying. The look on REED’S face tells us that he is trying hard to fight back tears that he does not want to show. VICTOR I need to speak with the boy alone. (VICTOR CARAVELLA, 45, tall, dark brown hair that is mixed with grey. His eyes are blue and his usually well built frame is now replaced by slender sickly one with sunken in cheek bones. His beard that matches his hair looks much fuller now.)
MARIA (TEARS FALLING) I don’t want to leave you. VICTOR MARIA, please. It’s only for a moment. He rubs her hand and gives her a nod. She kisses his hand and reaches over to touch REED’S shoulder. She then leaves the room. REED (V.O.) For once in my life I had no idea what was about to happen. It was liberating, yet scary as hell. VICTOR Pull up a chair and sit down. (COUGHS) I want to talk to you. REED does as he is told. He pulls one of the empty chairs close to the bed and sits down in it as his father takes his hand. VICTOR Do you know who you are? REED Well, yeah Dad I’m your son. (half smile)
VICTOR No, I mean do you know who you really are? REED I..I don’t know what you mean. VICTOR You have to be prepared. REED Prepared for what? For what’s coming… I’m conf… VICTOR (CUTS HIM OFF) And this, you won’t be able to see before hand…not like you usually do. REED (LAUGHS UNCOMFORTABLY) It must be the pain meds they have you on, because you aren’t making any sense. He grabs REED’S arm. He looks at him intensely. VICTOR You have to be ready. You’re the one. The only one. REED Okay, now I know it’s the medication. VICTOR You know things before they happen. You have an extremely keen sense of smell, and can hear things not even a dog can pick up. Most important of all, you can heal yourself and other people. The look on REED’S face is that of shock. REED Dad how could you? I mean how did…I never told anyone. I know because VICTOR VICTOR REED
(BEAT) I have it too. REED (SURPRISED) What?!? But, you’re not father, how could you…
even
my
real
VICTOR (CUTS HIM OFF GENTLY) They sent you to me. REED They who? His father points upward toward the ceiling. REED looks up and then back down at his father. There is confusion on REED‘S face. REED (FRUSTRATED) I don’t get it? God? Angels? Who? His father says nothing. He merely reaches down to the skin on his wrist and pulls it back exposing a life form unlike anything REED has ever seen before. It is green and it is bright and the light illuminates his face. REED jumps out of his chair. He moves away from the bed as his father put his flap of skin back down and it heals back into place. Do you see now? VICTOR
REED What the hell was that? What are you? WE are the same. VICTOR
REED (GROSSED OUT) So you’re telling me that’s like under here? (TOUCHES SKIN) VICTOR Not you. You’re a half bREED. REED (CONFUSED)
what I
look
A what? VICTOR There’s no time for explaining anymore. The time is coming. You have to be ready! REED (FRUSTRATED) Ready for what dad? His dad did not answer him.
REED (NERVOUS) Ready for what dad? His Dad grabs his chest as he presses the button for the nurse to come into the room. As she does she pushes REED out of the way. VICTOR (SHOUTS) You have to be ready REED! REED (PANICKED) For what Dad?? Please tell me! VICTOR For the invasion! Look for the RADIATES DARKNESS. He has answers. MAN WHO
His dad’s eyes roll into the back of his head and the heart monitor flat lines. BLACKOUT TEASER! COMMERCIAL FADE IN: INT. REED’S BEDROOM -- MORNING REED is looking into the mirror on the back of his closet door, adjusting his tie. AVERY appears in his doorway and knocks on the door jam. REED jumps a little. REED
Jeez! You scared me! REED (V.O.) How was it that I felt closer to her than anyone else, yet I couldn’t sense when she was coming or see anything in her future? It was weird. AVERY Sorry, didn’t mean to. I just came to check on you. REED Don’t worry about me. How’s my mom? AVERY (SHRUGS) She’s holding up I guess. Everyone getting ready to leave for the service.
is
REED is quiet as he stares at himself in the mirror. AVERY walks over to him and touches his arm. She moves in front of him and looks up at him. He looks down at her. Suddenly he hugs her as tightly as he can as tears start falling from his eyes. AVERY Shh, it’s okay. (RUBS HIS BACK) REED is still hugging her as he looks at their reflection in the mirror. His eyes widen as he notices every fiber of his being is glowing, and not theoretically but literally. A light green glow is illuminating his body. In a knee jerk reaction he pushes her away. AVERY What? What’s wrong? REED looks over her and into the mirror and notices that the glowing has stopped. REED Nothing. I’m sorry. It’s just this whole thing has me messed up. Did I hurt you? (TOUCHES HER ARM) AVERY No. I’m okay. But we’d better go… (SOFT TONE) Come on.
CUT TO: EXT. CEMETARY GRAVESITE -- MID MORNING The black casket sat above the and family gathered around the dressed in black. AVERY takes stand next to each other and talk. dugout grave. Friends Catholic priest, all REED’S hand as they the priest begins to
REED (V.O.) So, here we were. He was gone. Just like I knew he would be. Only there was no body. Yep. That’s right. The day my father died his body disappeared. No one knows what happened to it, my mother has been ruined by it. My only guess now was that it was removed so there would be no evidence of what he really was. Hell, I couldn’t even bring myself to say it let alone think it. So, today we are burying an empty casket… the only thing left of my father now were memories. REED held tightly to AVERY’S hand. He looks around at all who have come. His father’s words ring in his head: VICTOR (V.O.) Look for the MAN WHO RADIATES DARKNESS. He has answers. REED (V.O.) Everyone here is wearing black. So, I think just about everyone radiates darkness. Jeez dad, way to make it easy for me. And what did he even mean anyway? Answers to what? Answers to this supposed invasion? And what was I supposed to do about it? I was only one person. I couldn’t possibly be expected to stop an entire invasion, could I? But he said I was the one, the only one. What the hell did he even mean by that? I had so many questions and no logical answers. I wished the man who radiated darkness would show himself, at least maybe then I’d know something other than confusion. REED looks down at his feet and kicks the dirt around. He looks back up at the crowd of people dressed in black, they are suddenly all the same man.
(He is tall, strong bright blue eyes)
build,
African
American,
with
REED blinks his eyes a few times. The multiple versions of this man stare back at him. He rubs his eyes with his free hand. Everything goes back to normal. He hears his father’s voice once again. VICTOR (V.O.) It will all make sense in time my son. In time. REED (V.O.) I didn’t know which freaked me out more, hearing my father’s voice or seeing everyone here morph into the same person. Everything was becoming very strange, as if my life wasn’t strange enough already. I stood there, my heart shattering into pieces as I watched them lower my father’s casket into the ground. I couldn’t take it. I had to get out of there. REED drops AVERY’S hand and hurries across the cemetery lawn and to his car. He looks into the rear view mirror and his eyes widen with fear as he sees the same man from earlier sitting in his back seat. His knuckles are white from gripping the steering wheel so tightly. He is frozen with fear. He closes his eyes and when he opens them again the man is gone. He starts the engine and as he drives away the tires make a skidding sound on the road as they slide on some gravel. The car disappears into the distance. CUT TO: INT. REED’S KITCHEN -- AFTERNOON REED is sitting at the kitchen table. His jacket off and his tie undone a bit. He is drinking out of his father’s coffee mug and staring into space. Without warning AVERY comes in letting the screen door slam behind her. AVERY Here you are. Everyone’s been looking for you. REED I had to get out of there.
AVERY (TOUCHES HIS SHOULDER) It’s understandable. If you wanna talk.. REED (CUTS HER OFF AND PULLS AWAY) I don’t want to talk about it. He stands up follows him. and walks into the living room. She
AVERY You can’t just keep it all inside REED. At some point you’re going to have to face it all.
REED (LOOKS INTO HER) Yeah? Well today isn’t that day. You should just go home. AVERY (ON THE VERGE OF TEARS) I’m not leaving you. REED’S mother walks into the living room. Her face lets us know she is livid. AVERY, can please? you MARIA excuse us for a moment
AVERY leaves the room, but stays close enough to eavesdrop. MARIA walks over to her son. She looks at him angry enough to burn a hole straight through him. MARIA (STERN TONE) I did not raise you disrespectful young man.
to
be
that
REED Come on Ma, it wasn’t that big of a deal. MARIA Wasn’t that big of a deal? You left in the middle of your father’s funeral. And you made a scene when you did it. I have never been more embarrassed in my entire life.
REED Oh, now you’re just being dramatic. MARIA slaps REED across the face. REED (V.O.) Wow. I did not see that one coming. I didn’t see any of this coming. I must have been distracted. But man did it sting. Literally and figuratively. MARIA I buried your father today. Don’t you dare call me dramatic. REED (GENUINE TONE) I’m sorry mom. MARIA You should be. So disrespectful. REED (OUTBURST) I couldn’t take it okay? It was too hard for me. I couldn’t watch it. I didn’t want to lose it in front of all those people and most of all in front of you. In case you haven’t noticed. I’m the man of the house now. I’m supposed to be the strong one, for you. But how was I supposed to be strong while watching that? Huh? How? (ON THE VERGE OF TEARS) MARIA (SOFTENING) REED. (TOUCHES HIS FACE WHERE SHE SLAPPED HIM) I’m sorry. I never looked at it that way. You don’t have to be strong for me. You’re my baby and you always will be. I’m supposed to take care of you. REED I know mom, but I feel like I should be taking care of you. Dad would want me to. MARIA Dad would also want you to take care of you.
(BEAT) Come on now, get yourself together. Guests are coming back to the house for a few hours. You can do this… (BEAT) We can do this, together. (EMPHASIS ON “WE”) They hug each other. BLACKOUT FADE IN: INT. REED’S BEDROOM -- NIGHT REED pulls down his covers. He sits on the edge of the bed. He opens his nightstand drawer and pulls out a black box. He opens it. Inside there is a round gold medallion with his name on the front. He turns it around to reveal a bunch of markings that make no sense to him. REED (V.O.) My father gave this to me on my fifteenth birthday, along with a speech about becoming a man and yada yada. I don’t know because I wasn’t paying much attention then. I always thought it was ridiculous looking and at the time I was far too cool to ever wear it. Especially with the weird writing on the back. It looked like some sort of foreign language and it always made me laugh. But looking at it now, it didn’t make me want to laugh and it definitely didn‘t make me feel uncool. It made me feel closer to him. REED takes off the gold necklace which holds his gold cross. He puts the medallion on that same chain. They now hang in unison with one another. He puts the gold chain back on his neck. He rubs the medallion with his fingers as he lays back in his bed and turns out his light. He closes his eyes. CUT TO: EXT. CORNFIELD -- NIGHT The wind is blowing hard. The lights and noises coming from above the trees are louder than ever. Above the
trees there is a humming connected to a large oval object, hovering. The lights are multi-colored and are spinning. The stalks of corn are bending and waving under the power of the wind. A little boy comes running out of the woods through the cornfield, he is naked and traumatized. He is running toward a house in the distance, but is stopped by the MAN WHO RADIATES DARKNESS. The little boy’s face is confused. In an instant his surroundings have completely vanished and he is no longer a boy, but a grown up REED. He is standing in the middle of outer space with this mysterious MAN OF DARKNESS. The man is pointing to a planet off in the distance. MAN OF DARKNESS That is home. Your home. REED I don’t understand. The man disappears. CUT TO: INT. REED’S BEDROOM -- NIGHT REED does not wake up from this dream, he instead stays in a restless state of sleep as a figure stands at the side of his bed. The figure is disguised, cloaked in a black robe with a hood. There is a green light coming from inside the robe. REED tosses and turns in his sleep. Suddenly and slowly a long green hand with only three fingers emerges from the robe and reaches out to touch REED and as he does his fingers brush over the medallion on his neck and an electric shock is sent through his body. The creature squeals and backs away from the bed, then disappears. REED sits up in his bed in a cold sweat. He immediately grabs the medallion. It is hot and glowing. REED looks up and sees the MAN WHO RADIATES DARKNESS standing at the foot of his bed. MAN OF DARKNESS The time is nearing. You must be ready. REED (FRUSTRATED) Then make me ready! He disappears. BLACKOUT
FADE IN: INT. HIGH SCHOOL CAFETERIA -- AFTERNOON REED sits at the back table. He picks at the food on his tray. AVERY sit across from him. She looks at him concern on her face. AVERY You okay? You look like shit. (LAUGHS) REED (LAUGHS A LITTLE)
Gee, thanks.
AVERY No, really. What gives? REED (SHRUGS) Didn’t sleep very well. AVERY Again? REED, this has been going on long enough now, don’t you think you ought to see a doctor or something? REED (STRAIGHT FACED) A doctor cannot help me with this. AVERY (TOUCHES HIS HAND) Then maybe I can. REED (HALF SMILE) I’d love nothing more babe, but.. But what? AVERY
REED (V.O.) I couldn’t tell her. She’d think I was crazy. Between the MAN WHO RADIATES DARKNESS, my father being an…oh god I still couldn’t say it…and me being half of one, she’d flip.
REED?
AVERY
REED Don’t worry about me okay? (SMILES) I’ll be fine. Shut out again. AVERY (SIGHS) They begin to eat their food in silence. REED looks across the cafeteria and sees the MAN WHO RADIATES DARKNESS. He blinks a few times and he is still there. He begins to walk away. REED I’ll be back. REED gets up quickly and follows him. He walks out the cafeteria doors. The man is walking toward the gymnasium. REED runs after him. They walk next to each other in silence as they reach the locker room. The man walks around, looking for others. When no one is found he locks the door and corners REED. REED, overwhelmed by his presence sits down on the bench in front of him and looks up at him. He knows he is about to tell him what he wants to hear. REED (NERVOUS) Who are you? MAN OF DARKNESS Don’t worry, I’m your friend. Why are you here? REED
MAN OF DARKNESS To help prepare you. REED (CONFUSED) For what exactly? MAN OF DARKNESS Don’t you know who you are? REED
I thought I did. MAN OF DARKNESS You are the son of LEHHS, ruler of the planet Sokak. In a galaxy much different than this one. REED LEHHS? As in the word lies? Yes. MAN OF DARKNESS
REED (V.O.) I would later find out that they didn’t even have a word for “lies” in their language. So they had no idea how off putting that name was! REED And my mother? MAN OF DARKNESS Your mother was an earthling. Your father abducted her, held her captive. Impregnated her. You were born. When she saw the way he intended to raise you, she sent you to VICTOR.
“PILOT” EPISODE Written By: Christian “Cat” Dull
“ABNORMAL HEIGHTS” “PILOT” FADE IN: EXT. CORNFIELD -- NIGHT Stalks of corn are moving rapidly due to the amount of wind being blown. Bright lights and loud high pitched buzzing noises are seen and heard above the trees in the distance. A little boy is seen running through the corn field toward a house nearby he is unclothed and looks traumatized. CUT TO: INT. DARK BEDROOM -- NIGHT A teenaged male sits up in his bed, breathing heavy. The moonlight illuminates his blue green eyes as he runs a hand through his dark hair and he puts his legs over the side of the bed and his feet touch the floor. He puts his head in his hands as a gold cross on a chain dangles from his neck. REED - (V.O.) It was always the same dream. Night after night. It never changed, never became different, never became less scary or less confusing. I still didn’t know what it meant and I was beginning to wonder if I ever would. (Main character, REED CARAVELLA, 17 athletic build but still lean, dark hair, which he wore sometimes shaggy, sometimes spiked up depending on his mood. Blue-green eyes and olive colored skin.) REED lays back down in his bed and closes his eyes. He struggles for a moment and then drifts back off to sleep. BLACKOUT FADE IN:
INT. HIGH SCHOOL HALLWAY, LOCKERS - MORNING REED is opening his locker, he touches the combination lock, but doesn’t turn it. He pulls the silver handle and opens the locker.
REED - (V.O.) (SMILES) That never gets old. I’ve done it so many times yet no one has ever noticed. I can’t say I’m not surprised. What with all the promising students we have… REED looks out the window onto the lawn the school, where some of the kids went He shakes his head as he turns back to unzips his backpack and switches books books inside his locker. of the side of to get “high”. his locker and out of it for
AVERY You’re gonna have to show me that locker trick sometime. (AVERY HAMILTON, 17 slim but curvy. medium length platinum blonde hair, blue eyes, fashion forward.) REED jumps a little where he is standing as he turns around to face her. He smiles. REED You’re going to have to stop doing that. AVERY (SMILING)
What?
REED Sneaking up on people. AVERY Oh, I didn’t know you were so sensitive. REED I’m not, I’m just saying… Yeah, yeah. AVERY
She tickles him a little bit and he pulls away from
her in jest. They are both laughing now. Just then the football team comes walking down the corridor in their letterman’s jacket’s tossing a football back and forth between them and laughing very loudly. REED’S smile fades from his face as he gets a vision. VISION: The captain of the football team comes up to AVERY and starts hitting on her as two of the other team members hold him against the lockers. They taunt him while the captain is inappropriately touching AVERY. REED comes back into reality as the team gets closer to them, he grabs AVERY’S arm and starts leading her down the hallway. AVERY (CONFUSED) What’s wrong with you? Just keep walking. REED
She listens to him and they start walking faster, he can hear every step and squeak of their shoes on the slick floor getting closer and closer to them. The sound is louder and louder in his ears and he cannot turn it off. His face becomes wrenched with pain at the noise their rapid walking is making. As they near the nook where the bathrooms are, he backs AVERY up and pushes her into the bathroom, not giving her any explanation. He stands against the door. The football team stops and looks at him, they are angry. REED You’ve got something to say DEAN, you say it to me. Not her. DEAN What are you talking about Caravella? (DEAN MACKENIZIE, 18, tall, built, jock, captain of the football team. Cocky. Arrogant.) REED You know what I’m talking about. Now why don’t you and your drones go do some pushups or something. DEAN (GETS IN REED’S FACE) Don’t push me Caravella. You have no idea
what I could do to you. REED (NOT BACKING DOWN) I’m guessing not much since you just turned 18 and you wouldn’t want to ruin that football scholarship now would you? DEAN punches the wall behind REED as he backs off and he and the other guys walk away. REED is relieved as he opens the bathroom door and lets AVERY out. Are you okay? Who me? I’m fine. He puts his arm around her and they walk down the hall to their classroom. CUT TO: AVERY REED (SMILES)
INT. HISTORY CLASSROOM -- MORNING Everyone takes their assigned seats, AVERY sitting in front of REED. The teacher sits at her desk until everyone is seated and then she begins roll call. REED (V.O.) Another day going on very little sleep. That same damn dream waking me up night after night is getting old. Yet here I sit, in this classroom trying to seem normal when I know for a fact I am not. (BEAT) Because I know in about 5 seconds the teacher is going to pull down the map and she’s going to point to Japan and she’s going to call on AVERY to answer the question and AVERY won’t know the answer. I can hear the vibrations of the cell phones in every backpack in the room. I can hear every scribble of the pen or pencil someone is using on their piece of paper. I can smell fresh tomatoes from the lunch room downstairs, I can smell the oven burners as they are being turned on and heated up, I
can even smell the milk through the cartons that they keep in the refrigerator. Now I ask you, is that normal? (BEAT) Here’s a real mind bender for you, every time I hurt myself it heels like it never happened. When I was younger, I fell out of a tree and I broke my leg, the bone was sticking out and everything and when my parents finally found me it was as if nothing had ever happened. I later found out that I could do this to others as well, but for fear of what they would think of me I only ever did it once and it was on AVERY. She never remembered what happened nor that I had done anything. All she knows is she fell off her bike and didn’t scrape her knees. (BEAT) God, her hair smelled good. I had to wonder what she used because it drove me mad every single time I had to sit behind her in this class. And with my heightened sense of smell it was like an aphrodisiac. My own personal aphrodisiac. My feelings for her remained a secret and would stay that way until I felt like revealing them. I had enough going on right now I didn’t need the sting of heartache to be added to it. The loud speaker goes off asking REED to come to the main office. He looks confused as he packs up his books and leaves the classroom. He walks down the hallway toward the office and sees his mother standing outside the door crying. He drops his backpack and goes to her. REED Mom? What is it? (TOUCHES HER ARM) MARIA It’s your father. (MARIA CARAVELLA, 40, thin, youthful face) What happened? REED (V.O.) For some reason I couldn’t see anything, long REED dark hair, brown eyes,
except my mother’s tears. MARIA He took a turn for the worse. REED hugs her, then picks up his backpack as they head out the front doors and to the car. REED I’ll drive mom. He lets his mother into the passenger’s side of the car. He walks around to the driver’s side. He gets in and starts the engine and begins to drive. REED (V.O.) Oh, did I forget to mention that my dad is sick? Well, he is. He’s been battling cancer for some time now and he’s been in and out of the hospital more times than I can count. My “healing” ability seems to have no affect on him, though I have tried many many times. He’s the only father I have ever known, and I say this because I can’t remember a damn thing before the Caravella’s adopted me. But I must have been about 10 when they did that. There’s nothing before that. Nada, zip. It was like I just woke up one day in their house, strange and bizarre just like my life. Anyway I am getting off of the point. He’s been a great dad. Has always worked hard and been there for me and for my mother. And it wasn’t fair that this was happening and there was nothing that I could do to help. And to make matters worse. I knew, in two days he’d be gone and there wasn’t one thing me or Mom could do about it. And not a thing I could do to turn off this head of mine. When it saw the future. It saw it up close and personal. I hated that I couldn’t change it. Why see it if I can’t change it? Never made much sense to me. There was more about my father that was fuzzy. A talk we were going to have, couldn’t quite make it out but it was there. I looked forward to it. It would be the last one we would have. BLACKOUT FADE IN
INT. HOSPITAL ROOM -- MID MORNING REED and his mother stand over a hospital bed, one on each side. His mother is crying. The look on REED’S face tells us that he is trying hard to fight back tears that he does not want to show. VICTOR I need to speak with the boy alone. (VICTOR CARAVELLA, 45, tall, dark brown hair that is mixed with grey. His eyes are blue and his usually well built frame is now replaced by slender sickly one with sunken in cheek bones. His beard that matches his hair looks much fuller now.)
MARIA (TEARS FALLING) I don’t want to leave you. VICTOR MARIA, please. It’s only for a moment. He rubs her hand and gives her a nod. She kisses his hand and reaches over to touch REED’S shoulder. She then leaves the room. REED (V.O.) For once in my life I had no idea what was about to happen. It was liberating, yet scary as hell. VICTOR Pull up a chair and sit down. (COUGHS) I want to talk to you. REED does as he is told. He pulls one of the empty chairs close to the bed and sits down in it as his father takes his hand. VICTOR Do you know who you are? REED Well, yeah Dad I’m your son. (half smile)
VICTOR No, I mean do you know who you really are? REED I..I don’t know what you mean. VICTOR You have to be prepared. REED Prepared for what? For what’s coming… I’m conf… VICTOR (CUTS HIM OFF) And this, you won’t be able to see before hand…not like you usually do. REED (LAUGHS UNCOMFORTABLY) It must be the pain meds they have you on, because you aren’t making any sense. He grabs REED’S arm. He looks at him intensely. VICTOR You have to be ready. You’re the one. The only one. REED Okay, now I know it’s the medication. VICTOR You know things before they happen. You have an extremely keen sense of smell, and can hear things not even a dog can pick up. Most important of all, you can heal yourself and other people. The look on REED’S face is that of shock. REED Dad how could you? I mean how did…I never told anyone. I know because VICTOR VICTOR REED
(BEAT) I have it too. REED (SURPRISED) What?!? But, you’re not father, how could you…
even
my
real
VICTOR (CUTS HIM OFF GENTLY) They sent you to me. REED They who? His father points upward toward the ceiling. REED looks up and then back down at his father. There is confusion on REED‘S face. REED (FRUSTRATED) I don’t get it? God? Angels? Who? His father says nothing. He merely reaches down to the skin on his wrist and pulls it back exposing a life form unlike anything REED has ever seen before. It is green and it is bright and the light illuminates his face. REED jumps out of his chair. He moves away from the bed as his father put his flap of skin back down and it heals back into place. Do you see now? VICTOR
REED What the hell was that? What are you? WE are the same. VICTOR
REED (GROSSED OUT) So you’re telling me that’s like under here? (TOUCHES SKIN) VICTOR Not you. You’re a half bREED. REED (CONFUSED)
what I
look
A what? VICTOR There’s no time for explaining anymore. The time is coming. You have to be ready! REED (FRUSTRATED) Ready for what dad? His dad did not answer him.
REED (NERVOUS) Ready for what dad? His Dad grabs his chest as he presses the button for the nurse to come into the room. As she does she pushes REED out of the way. VICTOR (SHOUTS) You have to be ready REED! REED (PANICKED) For what Dad?? Please tell me! VICTOR For the invasion! Look for the RADIATES DARKNESS. He has answers. MAN WHO
His dad’s eyes roll into the back of his head and the heart monitor flat lines. BLACKOUT TEASER! COMMERCIAL FADE IN: INT. REED’S BEDROOM -- MORNING REED is looking into the mirror on the back of his closet door, adjusting his tie. AVERY appears in his doorway and knocks on the door jam. REED jumps a little. REED
Jeez! You scared me! REED (V.O.) How was it that I felt closer to her than anyone else, yet I couldn’t sense when she was coming or see anything in her future? It was weird. AVERY Sorry, didn’t mean to. I just came to check on you. REED Don’t worry about me. How’s my mom? AVERY (SHRUGS) She’s holding up I guess. Everyone getting ready to leave for the service.
is
REED is quiet as he stares at himself in the mirror. AVERY walks over to him and touches his arm. She moves in front of him and looks up at him. He looks down at her. Suddenly he hugs her as tightly as he can as tears start falling from his eyes. AVERY Shh, it’s okay. (RUBS HIS BACK) REED is still hugging her as he looks at their reflection in the mirror. His eyes widen as he notices every fiber of his being is glowing, and not theoretically but literally. A light green glow is illuminating his body. In a knee jerk reaction he pushes her away. AVERY What? What’s wrong? REED looks over her and into the mirror and notices that the glowing has stopped. REED Nothing. I’m sorry. It’s just this whole thing has me messed up. Did I hurt you? (TOUCHES HER ARM) AVERY No. I’m okay. But we’d better go… (SOFT TONE) Come on.
CUT TO: EXT. CEMETARY GRAVESITE -- MID MORNING The black casket sat above the and family gathered around the dressed in black. AVERY takes stand next to each other and talk. dugout grave. Friends Catholic priest, all REED’S hand as they the priest begins to
REED (V.O.) So, here we were. He was gone. Just like I knew he would be. Only there was no body. Yep. That’s right. The day my father died his body disappeared. No one knows what happened to it, my mother has been ruined by it. My only guess now was that it was removed so there would be no evidence of what he really was. Hell, I couldn’t even bring myself to say it let alone think it. So, today we are burying an empty casket… the only thing left of my father now were memories. REED held tightly to AVERY’S hand. He looks around at all who have come. His father’s words ring in his head: VICTOR (V.O.) Look for the MAN WHO RADIATES DARKNESS. He has answers. REED (V.O.) Everyone here is wearing black. So, I think just about everyone radiates darkness. Jeez dad, way to make it easy for me. And what did he even mean anyway? Answers to what? Answers to this supposed invasion? And what was I supposed to do about it? I was only one person. I couldn’t possibly be expected to stop an entire invasion, could I? But he said I was the one, the only one. What the hell did he even mean by that? I had so many questions and no logical answers. I wished the man who radiated darkness would show himself, at least maybe then I’d know something other than confusion. REED looks down at his feet and kicks the dirt around. He looks back up at the crowd of people dressed in black, they are suddenly all the same man.
(He is tall, strong bright blue eyes)
build,
African
American,
with
REED blinks his eyes a few times. The multiple versions of this man stare back at him. He rubs his eyes with his free hand. Everything goes back to normal. He hears his father’s voice once again. VICTOR (V.O.) It will all make sense in time my son. In time. REED (V.O.) I didn’t know which freaked me out more, hearing my father’s voice or seeing everyone here morph into the same person. Everything was becoming very strange, as if my life wasn’t strange enough already. I stood there, my heart shattering into pieces as I watched them lower my father’s casket into the ground. I couldn’t take it. I had to get out of there. REED drops AVERY’S hand and hurries across the cemetery lawn and to his car. He looks into the rear view mirror and his eyes widen with fear as he sees the same man from earlier sitting in his back seat. His knuckles are white from gripping the steering wheel so tightly. He is frozen with fear. He closes his eyes and when he opens them again the man is gone. He starts the engine and as he drives away the tires make a skidding sound on the road as they slide on some gravel. The car disappears into the distance. CUT TO: INT. REED’S KITCHEN -- AFTERNOON REED is sitting at the kitchen table. His jacket off and his tie undone a bit. He is drinking out of his father’s coffee mug and staring into space. Without warning AVERY comes in letting the screen door slam behind her. AVERY Here you are. Everyone’s been looking for you. REED I had to get out of there.
AVERY (TOUCHES HIS SHOULDER) It’s understandable. If you wanna talk.. REED (CUTS HER OFF AND PULLS AWAY) I don’t want to talk about it. He stands up follows him. and walks into the living room. She
AVERY You can’t just keep it all inside REED. At some point you’re going to have to face it all.
REED (LOOKS INTO HER) Yeah? Well today isn’t that day. You should just go home. AVERY (ON THE VERGE OF TEARS) I’m not leaving you. REED’S mother walks into the living room. Her face lets us know she is livid. AVERY, can please? you MARIA excuse us for a moment
AVERY leaves the room, but stays close enough to eavesdrop. MARIA walks over to her son. She looks at him angry enough to burn a hole straight through him. MARIA (STERN TONE) I did not raise you disrespectful young man.
to
be
that
REED Come on Ma, it wasn’t that big of a deal. MARIA Wasn’t that big of a deal? You left in the middle of your father’s funeral. And you made a scene when you did it. I have never been more embarrassed in my entire life.
REED Oh, now you’re just being dramatic. MARIA slaps REED across the face. REED (V.O.) Wow. I did not see that one coming. I didn’t see any of this coming. I must have been distracted. But man did it sting. Literally and figuratively. MARIA I buried your father today. Don’t you dare call me dramatic. REED (GENUINE TONE) I’m sorry mom. MARIA You should be. So disrespectful. REED (OUTBURST) I couldn’t take it okay? It was too hard for me. I couldn’t watch it. I didn’t want to lose it in front of all those people and most of all in front of you. In case you haven’t noticed. I’m the man of the house now. I’m supposed to be the strong one, for you. But how was I supposed to be strong while watching that? Huh? How? (ON THE VERGE OF TEARS) MARIA (SOFTENING) REED. (TOUCHES HIS FACE WHERE SHE SLAPPED HIM) I’m sorry. I never looked at it that way. You don’t have to be strong for me. You’re my baby and you always will be. I’m supposed to take care of you. REED I know mom, but I feel like I should be taking care of you. Dad would want me to. MARIA Dad would also want you to take care of you.
(BEAT) Come on now, get yourself together. Guests are coming back to the house for a few hours. You can do this… (BEAT) We can do this, together. (EMPHASIS ON “WE”) They hug each other. BLACKOUT FADE IN: INT. REED’S BEDROOM -- NIGHT REED pulls down his covers. He sits on the edge of the bed. He opens his nightstand drawer and pulls out a black box. He opens it. Inside there is a round gold medallion with his name on the front. He turns it around to reveal a bunch of markings that make no sense to him. REED (V.O.) My father gave this to me on my fifteenth birthday, along with a speech about becoming a man and yada yada. I don’t know because I wasn’t paying much attention then. I always thought it was ridiculous looking and at the time I was far too cool to ever wear it. Especially with the weird writing on the back. It looked like some sort of foreign language and it always made me laugh. But looking at it now, it didn’t make me want to laugh and it definitely didn‘t make me feel uncool. It made me feel closer to him. REED takes off the gold necklace which holds his gold cross. He puts the medallion on that same chain. They now hang in unison with one another. He puts the gold chain back on his neck. He rubs the medallion with his fingers as he lays back in his bed and turns out his light. He closes his eyes. CUT TO: EXT. CORNFIELD -- NIGHT The wind is blowing hard. The lights and noises coming from above the trees are louder than ever. Above the
trees there is a humming connected to a large oval object, hovering. The lights are multi-colored and are spinning. The stalks of corn are bending and waving under the power of the wind. A little boy comes running out of the woods through the cornfield, he is naked and traumatized. He is running toward a house in the distance, but is stopped by the MAN WHO RADIATES DARKNESS. The little boy’s face is confused. In an instant his surroundings have completely vanished and he is no longer a boy, but a grown up REED. He is standing in the middle of outer space with this mysterious MAN OF DARKNESS. The man is pointing to a planet off in the distance. MAN OF DARKNESS That is home. Your home. REED I don’t understand. The man disappears. CUT TO: INT. REED’S BEDROOM -- NIGHT REED does not wake up from this dream, he instead stays in a restless state of sleep as a figure stands at the side of his bed. The figure is disguised, cloaked in a black robe with a hood. There is a green light coming from inside the robe. REED tosses and turns in his sleep. Suddenly and slowly a long green hand with only three fingers emerges from the robe and reaches out to touch REED and as he does his fingers brush over the medallion on his neck and an electric shock is sent through his body. The creature squeals and backs away from the bed, then disappears. REED sits up in his bed in a cold sweat. He immediately grabs the medallion. It is hot and glowing. REED looks up and sees the MAN WHO RADIATES DARKNESS standing at the foot of his bed. MAN OF DARKNESS The time is nearing. You must be ready. REED (FRUSTRATED) Then make me ready! He disappears. BLACKOUT
FADE IN: INT. HIGH SCHOOL CAFETERIA -- AFTERNOON REED sits at the back table. He picks at the food on his tray. AVERY sit across from him. She looks at him concern on her face. AVERY You okay? You look like shit. (LAUGHS) REED (LAUGHS A LITTLE)
Gee, thanks.
AVERY No, really. What gives? REED (SHRUGS) Didn’t sleep very well. AVERY Again? REED, this has been going on long enough now, don’t you think you ought to see a doctor or something? REED (STRAIGHT FACED) A doctor cannot help me with this. AVERY (TOUCHES HIS HAND) Then maybe I can. REED (HALF SMILE) I’d love nothing more babe, but.. But what? AVERY
REED (V.O.) I couldn’t tell her. She’d think I was crazy. Between the MAN WHO RADIATES DARKNESS, my father being an…oh god I still couldn’t say it…and me being half of one, she’d flip.
REED?
AVERY
REED Don’t worry about me okay? (SMILES) I’ll be fine. Shut out again. AVERY (SIGHS) They begin to eat their food in silence. REED looks across the cafeteria and sees the MAN WHO RADIATES DARKNESS. He blinks a few times and he is still there. He begins to walk away. REED I’ll be back. REED gets up quickly and follows him. He walks out the cafeteria doors. The man is walking toward the gymnasium. REED runs after him. They walk next to each other in silence as they reach the locker room. The man walks around, looking for others. When no one is found he locks the door and corners REED. REED, overwhelmed by his presence sits down on the bench in front of him and looks up at him. He knows he is about to tell him what he wants to hear. REED (NERVOUS) Who are you? MAN OF DARKNESS Don’t worry, I’m your friend. Why are you here? REED
MAN OF DARKNESS To help prepare you. REED (CONFUSED) For what exactly? MAN OF DARKNESS Don’t you know who you are? REED
I thought I did. MAN OF DARKNESS You are the son of LEHHS, ruler of the planet Sokak. In a galaxy much different than this one. REED LEHHS? As in the word lies? Yes. MAN OF DARKNESS
REED (V.O.) I would later find out that they didn’t even have a word for “lies” in their language. So they had no idea how off putting that name was! REED And my mother? MAN OF DARKNESS Your mother was an earthling. Your father abducted her, held her captive. Impregnated her. You were born. When she saw the way he intended to raise you, she sent you to VICTOR.
