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 mehuldesai1982@googlemail.com.
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.
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.
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?