A Night In
Written by
Drew Rhea
900 Arkadelphia Rd,
Birmingham, AL
INT. LIVING ROOM - EVENING
We enter a modern living room. The lighting is low and ambient and the color palette is soft and earthy. It is furnished with a loveseat, oversized recliner, coffee table, side table, as well as a television on a TV stand flanked by two bookshelves. A woman in pajamas enters from the kitchen, holding a bag of peanuts and snacking on them.
The woman kicks her feet up on the table and turns the TV on. A film begins playing with captions scrolling across the bottom of the screen. We see her let out a laugh and smile as the film continues to flash before her. The woman’s brow furrows and she reaches for her ear. She tucks her hair behind her ear, revealing a pink hearing aid. She fiddles with the power button and volume control, expressing brief frustration which turns to resignation as she removes the hearing aid and places it on the table in front of her. She presses a button on the remote and the TV screen goes black.
MONTAGE
We are viewing the living room through the glass back porch door. The woman stands up from the couch and walks forward to a bookshelf by the TV stand. A close shot shows her fingers running along the books until her hand stops at a thick novel. The camera pans back out and we see her take the book back with her to the couch. She curls up and begins reading. The light outside settles into near-total darkness as night arrives.
INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
The woman lets out a yawn and stretches. She folds a page of the book and sets it down on the table in front of her, next to her powerless hearing aid. A dog approaches her foot and nudges her. She stands and walks toward the cupboard as he eagerly follows. She stands on her toes and reaches up, exposing her lower back. She bends over to pour some dog food into the bowl. The dog, just eager to eat, now runs toward the back door barking. The woman follows him and glaces outside, looking to see what he is seeing. She unlocks the door and glances across her porch and backyard, unaware of the man hiding beneath the wooden planks she is standing on. She closes the door and neglects to lock it.
MONTAGE
We are viewing the living room/kitchen through the back door again, but this time it is open. The entire room is scanned and we see the woman shooing the barking dog into a bathroom and closing the door. She returns to the dog food bag which is still on the floor.
INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT
The woman bends over and scrapes leftover kibble into the bag. She lifts it with two hands and makes her way to the open cupboard. We see her full body against the cabinets and her arms reaching upward. The camera cuts to a pair of muddy boots walking toward her. She continues to try to put the bag of food up in the cupboard and succeeds rearranging a few things while she’s up there. She closes the cabinet door and begins to tidy up the counter she is facing, placing dishes in the sink and wiping it down with a rag. She reaches into the bag of peanuts she bright with her for a handful. She lifts the bag and holds it. She spins around.
MONTAGE
The woman’s mouth opens wide as she drops the handful of peanuts on the floor and the bag is smacked out of her hands, sending nuts scattering everywhere. We see the back of a man roughly a foot and a half taller than her standing very close to her, face to face. She is grabbed by the throat and lifted up against the cabinets with ease, kicking her feet and grabbing at the hand as she ascends. The man’s unoccupied hand reaches behind her and grabs a knife from the knife block on the counter.
INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT
The camera cuts to the floor, where blood is actively pooling. We follow the trail of blood to see the woman laying on the ground, eyes open, blood pouring from her neck. Bloody boot prints appear in a pattern walking away from her. We follow them until we meet the boots leaving them. The man stops walking when he reaches a door. The door opens, and we are eye level with the beagle from earlier. His tail starts wagging as he looks up and the man who just opened the door.