The Bag By Matthew Lesniak

EXT. ALLEYWAY-NIGHT Fade on a dark alleyway during at night time. The alleyway is stationed behind a small strip mall at the end of a neighborhood. As far as alleys go, it looks nice, a couple lights, relatively clean. The only stain on it is some crude graffiti on the sidewalk. At present, only two people occupy the small area, two figures, both holding back packs. They talk in hushed tones as the camera slowly moves in. FIGURE 1 You have the cash with you, right? FIGURE 2 (On the fritz) Yeah yeah I got it. Is the... you know... in the bag there? FIGURE 1 (calmly, almost to laid back) Yeah, sure is. Alright then, heres what were gonna do, youre gonna hand me that bag there, Im gonna check it out, to to see as Im not bein screwed, then I will give you my bag, and thats all. Understood? FIGURE 2 Sure... er... yeah. FIGURE 1 OK, hand it over. Figure 2 drops his bag and figure 1 searches it. FIGURE 1 (CONTD) Lookin good. Ill take it. She shoulders the bag and drops his. FIGURE 2 So thats it. Suddenly, from behind the camera, we hear a MAN shout then rapid footsteps. Both of the figures heads snap towards the sound. MAN Hey! What are you two doing? The two figures bolt. Running with the bags half on them.

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The camera cuts to a different angle of the ally. We gaze down the long stretch as we see the two fly by. Just before they make their escape, figure one trips, falls, and drops the bag of cash which tips over, exposing some money. Since she is kinda overwhelmed by the surging adrenaline in her veins, she seems to not notice the bag that she left behind. She quickly gets up and continues her escape. The camera slowly pans down to the forgotten bag, and a text overlay of the title appears over the bag. CUT TO: EXT. ALLEYWAY-DAY We quick cut to a view of the same shot during the day. Behind the bag, approaching on the other side, is a young woman. This young woman is JESSIE. She meanders along talking quickly on her cell phone. JESSIE I know theyll reposes it, I get that mom, I just dont have the money... they need it by Friday... I realize its a lot... well maybe if you helped me from the star-... yes... I know... well, sorry. Well its not like That kinda money is just laying around. She notices the bag. JESSIE (CONTD) (whispering at first) Son of a... mom, Ill call you back. She hangs up. JESSIE (CONTD) Well would you look at that. She reaches down towards the bag as her hands cover the camera. BLACKNESS:

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EXT. CROOK HANGOUT-DAY Stay on the black. Off screen we hear a voice laughing. Laughing the kind of laugh that you do when someone tells a terrible joke. The laugh belongs to a man named BOSS, and boy does he wish this was a bad joke. Now time to fade in. We now find ourselves in a dimly lit room that is hazy with smoke. The room itself looks like a storage room of sorts, unfinished, concrete floors, things of that nature. We see that Boss is situated on an old, worn out chair and is talking down, in every sense, to a girl who looks very much afraid, she is the former figure one, her name is EMILY. BOSS Ha ha ha. Real funny, Emily. You a funny girl, you know that. You could be the next god-damned Jerry Seinfeld the way youre talkin. But seriously, where is my money? EMILY I told you. Gone. BOSS (Really serious) oh no it aint. Because if it was gone, why, Id have to punish you. And I dont want to do that now do I? Because you know what I would do, right? No? Well, lets just say get lookin. Emily just stares off into the distance. She shakes it off, trying to remain cool. EMILY Dont worry, Ill do what it takes. BOSS Damn right you will! Now scram. Emily turns and exits. CUT TO: EXT. PARK-DAY We are now back Jessie as she sits on a swing in the park thumbing through the pile of bills that are present inside the bag.

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JESSIE (Talking to herself) Jesus Chist. We hear her reason with herself, disbelief in her voice. JESSIE (CONTD) This is more than enough, but whos is it. I mean, Jesus, if I forgot this anywhere, I... Jesus. While she goes on, we pan and zoom in on a twitchy young man, looking like he had a little to much caffeine. He is DERRICK, and he might just be in over his head. DERRICK (Agreeing) Definitely enough. CUT TO: EXT. ALLEY- NIGHT Hard cut to an alley at night, from this point we can see two pairs of legs, one belonging to our new found friend Derrick and the other to an unknown figure of whom well refer to as GRIZZLY. GRIZZLY So, lets see it. DERRICK About thatGrizzly punches Derrick hard and puts him in a headlock. GRIZZLY Wheres my money? Huh? Derrick just sputters and gasps for air. GRIZZLY (CONTD) Come again? Didnt catch that. DERRICK (Choking) I dont have it. Grizzly throws Derrick on the floor and pins him with his legs. He the pulls a handgun from the front of his pants and presses it against the forehead of Derrick.

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GRIZZLY Are you kidding me? This is how I get treated after all Ive done for you? Get me that money. I swear to GOD that if I do not get that money by next week, I will not hesitate to pull this trigger! Understand? DERRICK (crying) Yes! GRIZZLY Good! Now get out of my face! Derrick scrambles to his feet and scurries off. We see him turn the corner. CUT TO: INT. CONVENIENCE STORE- NIGHT Derrick is now walking along the other side of the alley down a strip mall. The parking lot to his left is almost void of cars, the signs of the stores contrast against the black sky. He trudges along to the local convenience store. He enters. The inside of the store is pretty nice, the shelves stocked with ample snacks and other items. Derrick goes directly to the drink fridge, opens it, and removes a soda. He then walks over to the counter, pays for it then exits. Once again outside, Derrick walks off into the night to take a seat on a large boulder in the parking lot. There he sits, drinking, and staring off into the night. DISSOLVE BACK TO: EXT. PARK- DAY We are now back from the flashback and see that Derrick has stood up, still staring at Jessie. He starts to sprint towards her and strikes her with his fist, her head turns sideways as we FREEZE-FRAME on her face, much like a knock out shot from a boxer. CUT TO:

6. INT. BEDROOM DAY-DAY The camera lays on the bed of a girls room, facing the door. The room is plastered with your average teenage girl bullshit, posters of pop stars, perfume, and self done artwork hang all over the place. The door opens and we see Jessie enter, carrying with her a large backpack. She trudges over to the bed, throws down the bag, and flops on the bed, exhausted. Jessie sighs, rubs her eyes and grabs a remote to an Ihome. On her command, the device starts to play smooth bossa nova music. She lays there and listens with her eyes closed. After a while, she rolls out of bed and takes a seat at her desk. She then lugs over her back pack and removes a math book. She opens the book to a specific page, takes out her notebook and begins to write. then, a noise is heard. This causes her to stop and pauses the music. We hear it again. It sounds like a low moaning sound. She follows the noise to her door where she slowly opens it. Upon its opening, we see a bat come flying at the screen and strikes her in the face. CUT TO: EXT. PARK- DAY Jessie shoots up, a dark mark pollutes her otherwise soft completion. She is positioned on the ground next to the swing, she looks around, trying to figure out what happened. Just as he turns the corner, Jessie spots Derrick running away, bag in hand. She starts to get up, but quickly winces and falls back down. She sits, clutching her head. She looks to the side again and sees Emily running towards. Emily stops and yells out to Jessie. EMILY (Stammering) Where did that guy go? JESSIE Huh? EMILY That guy who just stole that bag from you, where did he go? Jessie points towards the corner. Emily takes off. (CONTINUED)

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CUT TO: EXT. SUBURBAN STREETS- MOMENTS LATER

The shot now faces the sidewalk that leads to the park. we see Derrick sprint out and past the camera. Soon after, Emily follows in hot pursuit. The chase continues down another street as Derrick pulls farther ahead. We switch views from Derrick to Emily and back again until we see Derrick make a bee line for a patch of trees, and jump in. Now concealed by the thick vegetation, we see Emily sprint past. The shot cuts to a shot of Emily as she stops and looks around. Back to Derrick. We see that he is on his cellphone. DERRICK (panting) Hello? Yeah, its Derrick. Ya I know, but this is important... Ive got the money... swear to God...Then Ill meet you at the park behind the school tonight...see ya then. Derrick collapses, a look of relief passes over him. Cut back to Emily. A wicked smile has broken out on her face as we see her crouched right beside the opening of where Derrick is hiding. EMILY (Whispering) See ya then. She then sprints off. FADE OUT. INT. EMILYS ROOM- NIGHT Fade back into the bedroom of Emily. The place is a little messy, but all in all a rather nice place. Placed in front of the mirror, Emily stands, slipping a black sweatshirt over a white undershirt. She stares herself down in the mirror for a bit then exits the room. CUT TO:

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INT. FOYER- NIGHT The shot cuts to a view of a staircase as Emily descends. she continues to walk until she hits door leading to the garage. She opens it and enters through. CUT TO: INT. GARAGE- NIGHT Inside the garage, Emily sits on some steps lacing up a pair of work boots. After she finishes, she walks to a wall near the edge of the garage. She stays for a while, looking. She stands until she spots a large black baseball bat, which the then grabs off the wall. She examines the blunt weapon in her hands. We now go to a C.U. of Emilys face. She seems distant, thinking hard. She snaps out of it and walks off, bat resting on her shoulder. CUT TO: EXT. PARK- NIGHT From a distance at first, we see Derrick sitting on a set of swings, he is alone. Closer now, we see him fidgeting around, twiddling his thumbs, shifting around in his seat. He sits and waits in agonizing silence. We then hear the sound of a twig snapping. At this, Derrick swings his head around to see a shadowy figure standing by a tree. DERRICK Oh good, its you. Look, I have enough to repay it all, I swear. The figure steps out into the light, reveling Emily. Cut back to Derrick as we see a look of terror break out on his face. CUT TO BLACK. EXT. PARK- NIGHT Start "Down in Mexico" by The Coasters. while we are still in the dark, we hear the sax intro. As the first entrance booms, cut back to the park to see Emily strike Derrick in the gut with the baseball bat. The slow motion effect on the camera kicks in and Derrick produces a spout of blood from his mouth. Black. Second entrance, back to the park as Emily strikes Derrick in the back of his knee, bringing him to the ground. The uninterrupted intro plays as we see Emily (CONTINUED)

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standing over over Derrick, we can see Derrick through her legs. After catching her breath, Emily tosses the bat to the side and pins Derrick with her knees on his chest. She then proceeds to vigorously punch the daylights out of Derrick. After Emily decides that hes had enough, she walks over to the bag and begins to look through it, counting the money. Derrick still lays on the ground, trying his hardest to grab at Emily. She notices this and delivers a swift kick to Derrick. That shuts him up for only a moment. Derrick then begins to claw the ground, inching towards Emily. After she notices, she returns to pining him and cocks her fist. Tempo change, somethings up. Emilys face empties of emotion. we cut to a shot of her stomach as we see that Derrick has stabbed her. back to her face, complete shock. Back to the wound as the cloth around it turns a dark red. Now to a close up of Emilys eye, twitching dramatically. Cut to a shot a little back and as the tempo falls, so does Emily. Derrick pushes her unconscious body off of him as he desperately tries to reach the bag. he then falls unconscious as the final refrain starts to play. Stay on a shot of the bag, the two bodies in the foreground. A light illuminates the bag. The shot stays as the music plays. Roll credits over this shot. FADE TO: EXT. PARK- NIGHT At about mid credits, we cut back to the park to see that Jessie is taking a night stroll through the park with her FRIEND. Eye still black, she walks along, mood carried through to her gait. JESSIE God can I ever catch a break? Like seriously, everything for me sucks. FRIEND Aw, now dont say that, everything will work out in the end JESSIE No it wont! Its just a constant hailstorm of crap on my life. Im sick of it. They now stumble upon the bodies, still laying on the ground. The friend seems shaken, Jessie on the other hand seems a bit too excited.

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FRIEND Oh my god! JESSIE Thats it! Thats the bag! She bends over to pick it up. Crouched down, she looks back at her friend, who stares nervously off into the distance. JESSIE (CONTD) Maybe you were right. What are you looking at. Jessie now gazes over behind her and notices a massive shadow lurking in the dark. The shadow now steps forward, its Grizzly. Back to credits. finish it out. THE END