AFTER THE CHILDREN
The whole movie is set in black and white. Not necessarily neo-noir, just black and white. Thank you.
The film starts with a police detective sitting in his chair, lost in deep thought. I'll leave it upto the actors or actresses to show how he's being pensive. Thank you.
Deep, deep, deep thought. In fact so deep that all sound slowly vanishes, then all light, and then the sound of the telephone slowly creeps in. Getting louder and louder and louder, until it snaps him out of his thoughts. Since he was protected by his deep thought, the actual sound of the telephone is beyond jarring, it's deeply deafening. Deeply. Thank you.
Now.
He picks up the telephone and speaks.
"Jim, we have an interesting case for you. There's been a victim of a heart attack, but it could be a case of negligence or manslaughter, or even pre-meditated murder, we just don't know. Since she died at sight of the perp. The forensic team found out that she had a healthy body, no history of heart illness, or even the mildest of anxiety attacks. We know this because her medical records show this, psychiatric and physical. She was suffering from depression and neurosis, and there may have been some weakness caused by them, but judging from what we have, it seems unlikely. The team also knows that she's been dead for 8 hours and that she died before she hit the ground, it seems that the perp put on quite the frightening show"
"Alright Svetlana, thank you. I'll be there in the half hour"
*Click*
*Ring ring*
"Yes?"
"Hey, it's me again. I'm sorry, but I forgot to tell you one more detail, in my hurry, and my mechanistic delivery, I forgot to tell you something very important. Jim, it was, huuuuhhh, it was your ex-girlfriend Jim. It was Mary. I'm sorry Jim, again, force of habit"
Jim senses a soft smile at the other end, by the gentle exhale from her nostrils.
"It's okay Svetlana, don't worry, I'll figure this out, it's the least I can do for her"
"Okay"
*Click*
Jim feels really, really grim as he gets up, and gets ready to go out. It's cheesy, but he likes to wear a long coat and a hat, it makes him more comfortable when he's out observing. He smiles.
"Atleast the perp was physically violent, I mean wasn't physically violent. I won't have to see her mangled or know that she suffered. Thank goodness"
At the point where he thinks, "was physically violent", he closes his eyes, shakes his head from side to side, and slaps himself on the head. Reset face. Reset Head. Reset Mind.
Jim leaves.
We arrive at the scene of the crime. There's police tape around the body, and white chalk which marks the perimeter of the body.
There's a few forensics who are taking their last photos, and the rest are packing up their gear. Some of them look up and give Jim a nod or smile. Sympathy. He returns their affectionate gaze with a polite look of recognition.
Jim slowly moves into his dream world. The sound drains out, the lights go out. His eyes are shut, his mind blank.
The scene changes. Mary's body is now viewed from the side, as is the floor. Everything around it is still dark. He's picturing the crime scene horizontally, that is on the y axis. She's lying there. She gets up. As she's getting up, the horizontal floor moves from the y to the x axis, and she moves from the x to the y axis. She gently lands at the edge of the floor. Her hair floating gently. Her eyes open slowly. We're back from the dream place. She's there in the real world. We're looking at Jack from the third person close up view. She's blurred in the background, And Jack's still in the dream world. Eyes closed. She walks closer and closer to him, and as she approaches him, still blurred. We close up on Jack's face the world behind him either black or blurred out, her face is close to his, she's gentle, peaceful. She puts her right arm on his left shoulder and kisses him softly on his right cheek. And then whispers into his ear.
"He's after the children"
She looks him intensely in his eyes. He looks at her intently and he has tears in his eyes. He touches her face gently, it's warm to the touch. She closes her eyes, and holds his hand with her hand and rubs her face against the palm of his hand. Just lovingly enjoying his affectionate caress. It's beautiful.
She softly disappears while smiling at him. His hand is in the air, he has tears falling down.
He slowly composes himself. A powerful spiritual experience.
The scene changes. We see him at his home, on his desk sitting pensively. He can't think anymore. He gets up and walks down the stairs to the road. There's a forest on the otherside. He likes the peace and solitude which they provide to him. He lights a cigarette and walks to the forest. Still pensive. He starts looking around. Then suddenly, the hairs on the back of his neck prick up. He freezes. He slowly scans the area, walks around slowly. He then, with great trepidation walks up to the boundary of the forest. The camera changes view. It's now looking at Jim. The camera rises from ground level and towers over him, there's terror in his eyes, as he's frozen in place, his eyes wide open, his mouth open, the cigarette falls from his mouth and hits the ground, his face contorts from pain as he goes into cardiac arrest. He falls face first into the soft ground.
The world is dark now, pitch black. We just see his body at ground level. His upper torso. He's in his dream world. Mary walks up to him, bends down and whispers into his right ear.
"Jim, wake up".
He wakes up with a long breath drawn in, his head's pounding and he quickly checks his body for any wounds.
"He almost got you too" she says as he slowly gets up, rubbing his temples.
She reaches out for him with a hand.
"Don't worry, we'll get him together"
Jim looks up at her as he's helped up and smiles.
The End