Personal Film

FADE IN:

INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT

The room is partially lit, from behind and by a television. MATT, a 17 year old male wearing shorts and a T-shirt, and an OLD WOMAN in her early 80's sit on an L-shaped couch watching the TV.

On the TV, a shiny ball slides down a pole. The ball hits the bottom and FIREWORKS GO OFF.

Matt

Happy New Year.

Old Woman

Happy New Years!

Matt and the Old Woman tap their champagne glasses together and both take a drink.

They go back to watching the TV.

INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT

A door opens and a middle aged couple walks in. They place some bags on the kitchen counter. Matt's father, GARY, takes a bottle of wine from a bag, walks a few steps and puts it in the refrigerator.

GARY and ANNA, Matt's stepmother, walk towards the living room.

Matt and the Old Woman get off the couch and walk towards Gary and Anna.

GARY

Hello.

MATT

Hi. Happy New Year.

GARY

You too.

Matt and Gary shake hands. Matt turns to Anna.

MATT

Heya.

Anna

Hi, so, the year off to a good start?

MATT

I suppose.

GARY

Well, good night.

MATT

Good night.

Gary and Anna turn to their right and walk down a hallway. The Old Woman goes up a flight of stairs.

Matt returns to the couch. He picks up the remote and cycles through a few channels.

Matt SIGHS. He turns the TV off and puts the remote down. He stands up and walks out of the living room. Some lights begin to fade until they go out.

INT. MATT's BEDROOM - NIGHT

Matt sits at a desk in the dark room. The only source of light is a laptop which he is using.

The phone RINGS. Matt looks up at his clock. Its display reads 2:40 AM.

Matt gets up from the chair and walks to the door. He opens the door and the phone stops ringing. He listens quietly.

A muffled conversation is heard a few rooms down. Matt can make out part of the end of it.

GARY

... there in half an hour.

Matt walks out of his room and picks up a phone. He checks the caller ID and sees GRAF, STEFAN.

Matt hears a commotion in the other room. He returns to his room and flicks a light switch. The light goes on and Matt locates his shoes and some socks.

Matt sits down on his bed. He quickly puts the socks and shoes on. He stands up and looks at his laptop. He walks back to the door, flicks the light off and walks out.

INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT

Matt stands with his back against the wall of a hallway.

The door on the other end opens and Gary walks out, moving towards Matt.

MATT

I'm going with you.

GARY

Alright.

Matt and Gary walk out the door.

EXT. RURAL CONNECTICUT - A ROAD - NIGHT

A Jeep Grand Cherokee cruises down the road, no other cars in sight.

INT. JEEP GRAND CHEROKEE - NIGHT

Matt has his face against the front passenger side window and looks out sullenly.

Gary has both hands on the steering wheel and stares out at the road intently.

EXT. HOSPITAL - PARKING LOT - NIGHT

Matt and Gary exit the car and walk towards the hospital.

INT. HOSPITAL - WAITING ROOM - NIGHT

Matt and Gary enter the waiting room. Matt sees UNCLE STEFAN and AUNT JENNIFER already there.

Jennifer walks over to Matt and hugs him.

Jennifer

Hey, how are you?

MATT

Oh, I'm alright, you?

JENNIFER

Fine.

They let go of each other.

MATT

Hey, Stefan.

stefan

Hey.

The four of them sit down on some chairs.

A DOCTOR walks in through the doorway.

doctor

Graf family?

STEFAN

Yes.

DOCTOR

Please come with me.

They all get up and follow the doctor out of the room.

INT. HOSPITAL - HALLWAY - NIGHT

At the end of the hallway is a thick glass and plastic door. The doctor swipes a card through a device on the wall and the door splits open in the center and retracts into both sides of the wall.

Matt, Gary, Stefan and Anna follow the doctor into the ICU.

INT. HOSPITAL - ICU ROOM - NIGHT

An ELDERLY WOMAN lays on a bed, surrounded by machines and tubes. A mask is over her face, her chest heaves up and down rapidly. There is a constant BEEPING noise.

The family stands around the foot of the bed.

DOCTOR

She was doing fine a few hours ago. Even watched the countdown. Then she stopped breathing, we didn't notice for about 10 minutes.

There are a few minutes of silence, nothing but the rhythmic BEEPING of the machines.

DOCTOR

But we got her hooked up to the life support systems now and she is breathing steadily. ..She was not responsive when we put the tube down her throat.

GARY

...That's not a good sign.

DOCTOR

We're going to run a few tests in the MRI in about an hour. There's not really much more you can do. You should go home and get some rest. We'll call you if there's any updates. It doesn't look promising but we'll do what we can do.

GARY

Well, alright...

Gary walks over to the side of the bed and holds the woman's hand for a moment.

Matt, Gary, Stefan and Anna walk out of the room slowly.

EXT. HOUSE - DAY

The Jeep pulls into the driveway and parks in the garage.

INT. HOUSE - MATT'S ROOM - DAY

Matt sits on his bed, laptop on his lap. He stares at the screen and types in several short bursts.

Two KNOCKS come through the closed door.

MATT

Yes?

The door opens slowly. Gary stands in the doorway. He sighs.

GARY

She's gone.

MATT

Oh.

Gary turns around and leaves the room. Matt closes his laptop's lid. He droops his head and closes his eyes.

MATT

What a shit year.

FADE OUT.