Narrator: [the voice of a teen girl] "People think they know me."

[The scene begins as just a black screen. The cheerful tune of Old MacDonald can be heard, babbled by a female child's voice. Blackness lightens to show a small, two-story white house, lights glowing in the windows, giving it a cozy atmosphere against the night. The camera zooms in on the first floor window to the right of the door. The scene cuts to a two-year old girl sitting on a white carpet, stuffed animals in her hands, which she makes dance to the song. ]

"Boh boh babo bah bah bah, beebo bahbo bah! Bah-"

A series of loud thuds are heard in the background, followed by a shout, and the child stops, turning her head towards the door. A woman's voice calls across the house.

"Sean? Sean, are you ok?"

The child pushes herself off the floor, dropping one stuffed animal as she toddles as quickly as she can across the playroom.

[As she peers out the door, the camera angle shifts so that the frame is filled with the scene in front of her.]

A man, her father, lies on the floor at the bottom of the stairs, face contorted in a grimace as he clutches his knee. A woman, the child's mother, kneels next to him.

"Sean, what happened?"

"Slipped on one of Skyler's toys. I think I twisted my knee again."

[The frame switches to the child's face, showing her wide brown eyes and slightly open mouth as she watches and tries to comprehend the scene before her.]

"Alright, I'm gonna take you to the ER. Let me call Mrs. Grayson and see if she can take Skyler for a few hours."

[The angle returns to the child's viewpoint.]

The woman stands and turns around. When she sees the child, she hesitates, before plastering a gentle smile on her face and approaching, bending to scoop up the child.

"Hey Sweetie. Daddy fell down the stairs, so I'm going to take him to the doctor."

"Booboo?"

"Yes honey, Daddy has a booboo. Mrs. Grayson is going to come play with you while we go see the doctor to fix the booboo, ok?"

The girl doesn't verbally respond, but she nods, snuggling closer to her mother.

[The scene fades out, then fades in to the child in the arms of an elderly woman, presumably Mrs. Grayson, who stands on the front step of the house as a car pulls out of the driveway. The camera zooms in on the pair.]

"Wave to Mommy and Daddy, Skyler."

The child obliges, lifting up one hand. The other is still clutching the stuffed toy, a wolf, and she has the ear in her mouth.

[Shift to the car.]

From the driver's seat, the mother waves back, and blows a kiss, before driving away, the sound of the engine lingering even after the car disappears from view.

[Fade to black, and silence.]

Narrator: "But they don't."

[The car sounds return after the narrator speaks. Then, the sound of squealing tires, a crash, and sirens. A flash scene briefly shows a mangled car, an eighteen wheeler, and lots of emergency vehicles with flashing lights. Another black screen…]

Narrator: "They don't know my life."

[...which fades back to the house, now in daylight. Several frames go by, each staying just long enough to give the audience a view of several empty rooms. No music plays.]

The playroom. The stairs. A bedroom. And finally, a "FOR SALE" sign in the front yard. In the driveway, a man who looks much like the father loads a cardboard box into the back of a minivan, before walking around to the driver side door and getting in.

[The camera view shifts to the back seat.]

The girl sits in her carseat, eyes rimmed in red, tears dripping from her chin and a bit of snot from her nose. She sniffles, the stuffed wolf hugged to her chest. A small hand appears, outstretched towards her. She looks down at it, then up to her left.

[The frame is filled with a six year-old boy in a carseat beside her, holding out his left hand.]

His eyes are sad too, but unlike the girl's, hold no tears. Perhaps he doesn't fully understand what is happening, only that the younger child is upset. The girl reaches out her hand and grabs his.

[The camera slowly zooms in on their clasped hands, lingering there before fading.]

[New scene. Cheerful music, and the sound of laughter.]

"Tag Ethan, you're it!"

The girl, now five, squeals as she taps the boy, now nine, and then dashes away. He shouts, and chases after her.

[The angle shifts to a large window, where couple stands, watching the kids, smiles on their faces. The man puts an arms around his wife's shoulders as they watch, and the camera switches back to the kids, zoomed out this time to reveal that they are playing in a yard.]

[Scene cuts to inside the house, sometime later that day.]

"Unco Dan! Unco Dan!"

The girl dashes around a corner, dressed in blue pajamas with little dogs on them. She holds a storybook in her hands.

"Unco Dan! Can we read this story tonight? Pweeeeeaaaase?"

The man, Uncle Dan, turns and scoops her up, causing her to squeal with delight, and plops her on a king-sized bed, where his wife is already sitting, a smile on her face. The girl snuggles up against the woman. The boy dashes into the room too, though he hops on the bed without waiting for invitation, and settles himself next to the girl. Finally, the man sits down on the bed, putting one arm around all three members of his family, and hold the book up in his other hand so everyone can see the pages.

"Once upon a time…"

[The scene fades into a different one, then blinks to another, and another. The images go by fairly quickly, depicting various moments of the girl's childhood, while the cheerful music continues. A birthday party. Playing at the park with the boy. Getting ice cream. Going to a water park. Building a snowman, and getting into a snowball fight. Singing at Sunday school. In each scene, the girl and boy are a little bit older, but clearly very close. Finally, the images fade to black, the music fading with it. The sound of hoofbeats replaces it, and then the family can be seen on horseback, riding through the desert. The camera zooms in on the girl and boy, now middle to high school aged, who ride a few strides behind the adults.]

"Hey Ethan, I bet you a gelato my horse is faster than yours."

"Deal."

The two spur their horses into motion, sand spraying behind them. They dash past the adults, whooping and cheering.

[Cut to black and brief silence.]

Narrator: "They don't know what I've seen."

[Cut back to the scene, where the thundering of hooves fills the speakers, and the camera angle shifts several times to give the audience various perspectives of the race. Sideways, head on, individual headshots.]

The two shout encouragement to their horses as they bend over the necks of the animals, determination gleaming in their eyes.

[A bird's eye view shows the boy taking the lead, before a sudden cut to black. A gunshot pierces the air, followed by explosions. The scene cuts in, showing plumes of sand erupting upwards as the explosions continue. The images and sounds are chaotic, cutting from the explosions to a screaming horse to the girl landing hard on the ground, before cutting to black again. The frame is then filled with the girl, the sounds now muffled and her movements in slow motion.]

The girl rolls onto her stomach, mouth agape in shock, eyes opening slowly as she lifts her head.

[The angle shifts to what she sees. The boy's face, eyes open and lifeless. The girl screams, but the audience doesn't hear the sound, only sees her face contort as her mouth forms his name.]

[Scene fades out slowly, then fades in again, showing a bird's eye view of the desert. The sand has settled, and the bodies of several people are visible. The frame zooms in on the girl's still form, and switches viewpoints so that it appears as though the camera is recording while resting on the ground near her.]

The girl's skin is tinted red from sunburn, and sand dusts her body as it is stirred in a slight breeze. Someone approaches; his black boots are visible as the person comes to a stop behind the girl. The person prods her with the butt of a gun, then crouches and feels for a pulse. His head is outside the frame, so the audience doesn't see his face, but hears his voice as his hand moves to an earpiece.

"This one's alive. Should I bring her in?'

A pause, in which he listens to a reply unheard by the audience.

"Roger that."

Tucking his arms beneath the girl, he lifts her up, carrying her bridal style.

[As the camera zooms in on her form lying limp in his arms, the audience also gets a clear view of the red logo on the man's uniform, before the scene cuts to black.]

Narrator: "They don't know what I've been through."

[Several scenes are shown in quick succession]

Men in white coats huddle around something. Various medical instruments rest on tables nearby, or in the unseen hands of the men. The girl's scream is heard.

[Scene.]

The girl throws herself against some kind of door, yelling and beating at it. The red still tints her skin, indicating she has been here for just a day or two. "Let me go!"

[Scene.]

The girl stands in a room, trying to block punches thrown at her by a man in a black uniform but failing miserably as the punches hit their marks. She ends up lying on the ground, bruised and bleeding, and she squeezes her eyes shut. That doesn't stop tears from leaking past her eyelids.

[Scene.]

She's fighting another agent. She loses again, in a similar fashion to the first time.

[Scene.]

And again.

[Scene.]

And again.

[Scene.]

The agent throws a punch. It's blocked, and he gets an uppercut to the jaw that sends him stumbling backwards. The girl's face is shown. There are no tears in her eyes now- only steel, magnified by the fact that her left eye is now a bright gold instead of brown.

[Cut to black.]

Narrator: "All they know is what they see."

[Cut to a series of news reports, brief flashes of reporters in front of various locations.]

"A jewelry store was robbed last night-"

"Police are investigated the robbery of a toy store on-'

"Eye witnesses report a wolf leaving the scene-"

"The mysterious criminal media has named 'Shadow Wolf' has struck again, this time robbing a bank-'

"The Shadow Wolf is the main suspect of a recent robbery that left seven injured-'

[The camera zooms out, showing dozens of these frames playing at once, news reports and clips from security footage, the voices all mixing together into incomprehensible babble before the screen cuts to black.]

Narrator: "And that is only the tip of the iceberg."

[Bold silver-grey block letters suddenly fill the center of the black screen, accompanied by ominous music.]

THE ICEBERG


A/N: Hey everyone! Welcome back to The Iceberg, and thank you for your patience. This is a bit of a prologue, or teaser trailer if you will.

This is a re-write of my other story by the same name, and may contain scenes from that story. However, most of the content will be fresh, to reflect both my current skill level as a writer and the changes I am making to the development of my character Skyler. In this version of the story, I plan to address some of the questions about her history and experiences from the start, so you'll get a bigger picture sooner. I will also be trying some new styles of story-telling, so let me know what you love and what you love less. That goes for anything- I love hearing feedback from my audience, and your suggestions help shape the story.

That's all for now folks. Thanks for reading, I'll see you soon.