"The Bag"

Written By

Teresa Quiroz

tnquiroz@tlu.edu
FADE IN:

EXT. COFFEE SHOP - DAY

ELI OWENS, a quiet 19-year old, stands outside of a coffee

shop, leaning against the window. He takes a sip of his cup
of coffee and looks around the street. He is waiting for
someone. As he looks around, he catches eyes with a young man
across the street wearing a blue hoodie and a baseball cap.
This is SHADOW. The man seems to be looking at Eli weirdly,
but Eli just tears his gaze away and takes another sip of his
coffee. He decides to check the time on his CELL PHONE. The
background image is a selfie of Eli and his PARENTS.

Suddenly, someone walks into his frame of vision, and Eli

looks up to see Shadow standing directly in front of him. He
is holding a bag and comes to stand next to Eli, completely
at ease.

Eli looks at the man curiously. Shadow fixes Eli with a

scrutinizing stare.

SHADOW
They said it would rain tomorrow.

Eli is a bit surprised with his words, but goes along with
it.

ELI
You can never trust the weather lady;
not in Texas, anyways.

Agent Shadow narrows his eyes, almost sizing him up..

SHADOW
Still, they said it would rain
tomorrow.

Eli looks at him weirdly, but then shrugs.

ELI
Well, a little rain never hurt nobody.

Shadow gives a terse nod at his answer, seemingly satisfied.

Shadow takes a quick look around the area, then holds out the
bag for Eli to take. Eli grabs it, hesitatingly. Once Eli has
it in his hands, Shadow briskly walks away. He is gone before
Eli can say anything.

Eli looks down at the bag in his hand. It's more like a

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small, brown sack. He's about to open the bag when another
boy walks into frame.

SCOTT COOPER, a thoughtful 19-year-old, walks up to Eli,

smiling.

SCOTT
Hey, dude. Sorry I'm late.

He sees the bag.

SCOTT (CONT'D)
What's that?

ELI
I don't know. A man just gave it to me
a few seconds ago.

Scott doesn't look like he believes him.

SCOTT
Someone just gave you a small bag?

ELI
Yeah, he just walked up to me, spewed
a bunch of nonsense about rain, and
then handed me the bag and left.

Scott looks around them, trying to find this mysterious man.

SCOTT
And you didn't know this guy?

ELI
I'm telling you- the guy was a
complete stranger, just walked up and
gave me the bag!

SCOTT
Well, what's in it?

Both of the boys lean in close to look at the contents inside

the small bag. Their eyes grow wide, and they look back up at
each other: Scott with mild fear, Eli with excitement.

ELI
Holy shit.

SCOTT
We need to get out of here.

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The two quickly rush out of frame.

INT. SCOTT'S ROOM - DAY

The boys are in Scott's bedroom now. Eli is sitting on the

bed, the unopened bag resting in front of him. Eli stares at
the bag while Scott is off to the side pacing.

SCOTT
What exactly did he say to you?

ELI
He said something about the weather.

SCOTT
The weather?

ELI
Yeah, he said it's supposed to rain
tomorrow?

Scott stops pacing, and gives Eli a confused look. He pulls

his phone out of his pocket, seemingly checking his weather
app.

SCOTT
That doesn't make any sense. It says
it's supposed to be sunny all week.

Eli just shrugs, then turns back to look at the bag while
Scott keeps pacing.

SCOTT (CONT'D)
I don't understand. Why would he just
give it to you? Unless it was supposed
to go to someone else. Holy shit, it
was supposed to go to someone else
wasn't it? What if we're on some hit
list now or-

As Scott is talking, Eli becomes to transfixed by the bag and

slowly reaches out to grab it. Scott notices what he's doing
and snatches the bag away before Eli could grab it.

SCOTT (CONT'D)
What the hell are you doing?

ELI
What? I was just going to look at it.

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SCOTT
Are you kidding? Do you know what that
is in there?

ELI
I just wanted to take a closer look.

SCOTT
No! We shouldn't even have this. We
need to get rid of it.

ELI
Get rid of it?

SCOTT
Yes! We can get in so much trouble for
this... Someone's probably looking for
us right now!

ELI
Who?

SCOTT
Whoever was supposed to receive it!
Whoever you decided to take a random
bag from!

ELI
Hey, I didn't take it, he gave it to
me! So it's mine now!

Eli tries to swipe the bag from Scott, but Scott steps just
out of his reach.

SCOTT
Are you insane? That thing in there
could cost us our lives if someone
knew we had it. Someone does know we
have it and could be looking for us
right now!

Scott rushes to the bedroom window and peaks through the

blinds. He places the bag on the nightstand.

ELI
No one's looking for us, Scott. You're
just being paranoid.

Scott turns to Eli, enraged.

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SCOTT
We wouldn't be in this mess, Eli, if
your dumbass didn't accept mysterious
bags from strangers.

ELI
Oh, so this is my fault?

SCOTT
You're always pulling stunts like this
and dragging me into it.

ELI
What does that mean?

SCOTT
It means, you're behaving recklessly,
Eli! Like you always do now and I'm
the one who always has to pull you out
of it. I'm the one who always has to
clean up your mess, you unselfish
asshole! I mean, what would your
parents think?

Silence. Scott has struck a chord in his rage. Eli fixes him
with a piercing glare.

ELI
Well, I'm sorry my existence has been
such a hindrance to you. You can just
leave if you hate dealing with me so
much.

Scott pinches the bridge of his nose in frustration.

SCOTT
You know that's not what I meant...

ELI
That's what you thought, though,
right? I don't need a babysitter, so
you can just get out.

The two stand in silence for a moment just staring at each

other.

SCOTT
We're getting rid of it.

Scott grabs the bag from the night stand and begins to walk
to the door. Eli stops him by grabbing his other wrist.

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ELI
No!

SCOTT
We're not kids anymore, Eli! No one
can bail you out for doing stupid shit
anymore. Not you, not me, not your
parents. (Pause) Let go.

Eli flinches at his words. With unnerving calm, Eli let's go

of Scott's wrist, and clenches his fists.

ELI
Give me the bag.

SCOTT
They wouldn't want you to do this to
yourself, man.

ELI
Yeah, well they're not here now, are
they?

Scott narrows his eyes at Eli, almost sizing him up.

SCOTT
You know what? I think you wanted to
take the bag from that man. I think
you knew what was in the bag, and let
him give it to you anyways.

ELI
Give me the bag, Scott.

Scott gets up in Eli's face.

SCOTT
No.

Eli and Scott glare at each other until Eli finally breaks
and punches Scott in the face. The two boys fall to the floor
as Eli tries to tackle Scott. Scott keeps the bag out of
Eli's reach, Eli clawing at his arm for it. Scott elbows Eli
in the gut to get him off of him. Eli yelps and Scott takes
the moment to escape, but Eli quickly recovers and straddles
Scott. He punches Scott once, twice in the face. Eli is a
monster of rage and darkness by this point. Scott seems to be
frightened of the change he sees in his eyes.

Scott tosses the bag away from him. Eli quickly rushes
towards it. Scott sits up on the floor, wiping the blood from

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his mouth. Eli looks pathetic, hovering over the bag as if

it's some prized possession. Scott slowly stands up, never
taking his eyes away from Eli. That fear is wiped from his
face, and now he just looks at Eli with pity and anger.

SCOTT
Whatever, man. I'm not gonna stay here
and watch you do this to yourself.

Eli doesn't seem to have heard him. Scott shakes his head and
leaves the room.

Eli picks the bag up from off the ground and goes to sit at
the edge of his bed. He holds the bag in his hands in
contemplation. Then, he looks to his nightstand, where a
picture of him and his parents rest on it. He stares at it
for a moment, before looking down at his hands again.

With a final deep exhale, Eli opens the bag.

EXT. PARK - DAY

A 19-year-old GIRL is sitting at a park bench by herself. Her

face is solemn. Shadow casually walks up to the girl and sits
next to her on the bench, wearing the same attire. He is
holding a small, brown bag.

The girl looks at him, unsurprised.

SHADOW
They said it would rain tomorrow.

GIRL
A little rain never hurt anybody.

There's a gleam of satisfaction in Shadow's eyes and he

smirks, handing the girl the bag.

FADE TO BLACK

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