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lifblogs · 2 years ago

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The completed and revised project for my class. Get ready for dystopian sci-fi horror! Some things will seem like they don't fit the setting, but I figured that Chrysse has more money and resources and strings to pull than others since her twin sister was a famous astronaut.

Black.

SUPERIMPOSE: "The year is 2073."

"Earth's population has grown to 20 billion. This overpopulation of the planet is causing mass destruction, conservation efforts all but lost.

"Most humans have been living in horrible conditions. They go hungry. Children are culled and killed. Food is scarce. Animals are dead. Farming is all but impossible."

"Different countries are trying many solutions, but so far only one has been chosen."

"3 years ago a team was selected to go to Mars to begin making the planet a new home for the human race."

"This was Mission Hail Mary."

"They have been the last hope for humanity."

FADE IN:

INT. APARTMENT/LIVING ROOM - NIGHT

SUPERIMPOSE: "Richmond, Virginia"

CHRYSSE, a 28 year old white woman, is herding her two children, JET, 7, and LEXI, 3, onto a ratty old couch with sagging cushions. There is barely enough room in this section of the apartment for a couch, and there is no light in this room. Not enough money, perhaps?

The family is crowded together. Lights outside show in through the blinds. Cars drive by endlessly, and people roam the streets. An incredibly thin TV, made of plexiglass, is across the room. It's on. A NEWS REPORTER is talking, dark circles under his eyes, despite his otherwise presentable look. He is in a suit that oozes of this not being our own time.

CLOSE ANGLE - TV

NEWS REPORTER

(on television)

...and now, to the events on Mars. We've been closely following Mission Hail Mary since the beginning, and we have some troubling...

CHRYSSE

settling an excitable Jet and Lexi on the couch.

JET

And then, and then! The spaceship blew up!

LEXI

Boom! Boom! Boom!

CHRYSSE

Shh, we have to listen. This might be about Auntie Lien.

LEXI

Who's... Auuunie Leen?

CHRYSSE

(somehow patient)

She's my twin sister, sweetie.

Jet is now jumping up and down on the couch despite it not having much give, and Chrysse is grabbing for him.

JET

I have a sister!

Lexi is clapping in acknowledgement.

The TV

showing recent footage from Mars on the screen behind the reporter, the connection shaky, as it is from a camera set up outside to observe the habitats and astronauts. He is watching it, there are jumbled words said that we can't make out because of Chrysse's children.

Zoom in on a grainy view of white and silver hab stations and a ship. They have been blown to pieces, debris strewn out for miles. The footage is too dark and disrupted to make out if there are any bodies.

CHRYSSE

she has managed to settle down Jet and Lexi. Lexi is in her lap, playing with the rings on Chrysse's fingers.

CLOSE ANGLE - TV

NEWS REPORTER

...we regretfully have to say that Mission Hail Mary is over.

What?

ON CHRYSSE

stricken, pale, almost inhumanly still.

CLOSE ANGLE - TV

NEWS REPORTER

I'm sorry, folks. This one ended in a disaster, and it was... our final hope. NASA will be reaching out to the families of the deceased, and...

(sigh)

...making arrangements to memorialize them. Again, I repeat, the deceased are as follows: Wyn Smith, Winona Avison, Gori Zova...

CHRYSSE

No, no, no...

NEWS REPORTER

...Lien Jane...

ON CHRYSSE

sound of the TV fades out. Her eyes are very big, and a small shudder takes over her entire body. Her eyes tear up, and then those tears are rolling down her cheeks, dripping off her face.

Lexi is still playing with the rings on Chrysse's fingers, and Jet is now kicking his feet and watching his mom. He knows something is wrong, but doesn't understand what.

Suddenly, Chrysse puts Lexi down, and Lexi lets out a sharp exclamation.

JET

Mommy, what's happening?

CHRYSSE

she leaves the room, heading out to a tiny kitchen with a coat rack near the front door. She grabs a coat, her keys.

CHRYSSE

I have to go.

JET

Mom!

CHRYSSE

(trying to hold in sobs)

I'm sorry, I have to go. I have to go, I have to get out of here. I'm sorry.

Chrysse walks out the door, leaving her two confused--and now distressed--children all alone...

INT. APARTMENT HALLWAY - NIGHT - TRACKING

Chrysse is running through the hall, down the stairs, ignoring the shaky and loud elevator someone else is using.

EXT. APARTMENT GARAGE - NIGHT - TRACKING

A chill spring wind blows through the dimly lit garage as Chrysse heads to an older car model (this car cannot drive itself). It's still sleek in its original design, but bears streaks and scratches that mar the deep blue paint.

She gets in.

INT. CAR - NIGHT

With fumbling hands Chrysse presses a button that starts the car, a light on her keys flashing. The engine revs in a quiet purr, and she drives out into the night, reckless.

Passing street lights and headlights illuminate her face, and as she leaves the less-crowded apartment area, the lights turn neon, bright and colorful. More people line the sidewalks. Some in dull, tattered clothes. There are drunks, a regular sight now.

Chrysse's lips are pinched together. She worries that if she opens her mouth she'll start screaming; we see it in the set of her jaw.

CHRYSSE'S P.O.V. - THE ROAD

It flashes past her, the road busy, and everything begins to blur, her eyes welling up with tears.

Lights ahead.

Are the lights in her lane or the other lane? Is that a truck?

Loud honking and her car beeping an alert has her swerving.

EXT. CAR - NIGHT

Chrysse's car swerves up onto a sidewalk and near the doors of a brightly-lit and bustling bar, missing getting hit by the truck. Car stops.

INT. CAR - NIGHT

Chrysse starts banging her hands on the steering wheel, and she's screaming, tears pouring down her face. Any words she tries to get out are incomprehensible.

Eventually she hunches over, forehead against the wheel, hair a limp mess around her face. She sobs. No one comes to check on her, strangers continuing on with their business.

EXT. MARS/DESTROYED HAB STATION - NIGHT

SUPERIMPOSE: "Mars, Hab Station Delta"

Debris, everywhere. Destroyed silver and white hab shells, plants that are quickly shriveling and dying in the Mars atmosphere, personal belongings, bodies, are all over the red terrain, some hard to make out in the darkness. All is still. Dead.

Wait! Some of the debris closer to the center of the destruction is shifting.

A bloodied figure in a ruined space suit stands up.

EXT. CHRYSSE'S APARTMENT - DAY

SUPERIMPOSE: "Richmond, Virginia"

"Five Months Later"

The day is filled with haze, but light still shines through. Curtains and windows are thrown open in a desperate attempt to get some clean, unpolluted air. Light pours in. Through the windows we can see Jet helping Lexi into her seat at the small, battered kitchen table. Chrysse is at a tiny electric stove, making breakfast.

INT. CHRYSSE'S APARTMENT/KITCHEN - DAY

Noise and music can be heard through the walls.

Sizzling fills the air as we see eggs and bacon cooking in some pans.

Toast pops out of a sleek, white machine on the counter; it must be a toaster. This is a feast, and the kids know it, excited to have some extra food. Chrysse is trying to juggle everything, eggs beginning to smoke from their pan on the back burner that is flaring in blue rings, and letting out a low hum.

Her thin, buttonless phone is on the counter.

It buzzes. An alert.

Distracted, Chrysse goes over to it to check the alert/message. She picks it up.

CLOSE ANGLE - PHONE

"(804)-546-2975"

"Hey, Chrissy Lissy."

BACK TO

Chrysse drops the phone on the counter. No, this can't be possible. But it's an unknown number! She's skeptical. Could someone be trying to pull a cruel prank? How would they know of this childhood nickname that Lien came up with? Could it be...? No, she can't even entertain the thought. She is barely breathing, picturing her dead twin sister in her head like she has every day for the past five months.

Another buzz. Another message.

CLOSE ANGLE - PHONE

"We need to talk."

BACK TO

Chrysse flips her phone over, and continues making breakfast for her kids. She puts the bacon and eggs on three plates that are set out, grabs the toast and butters it, and then pours three glasses of orange juice. We see that the butter and orange juice comes from a very empty looking fridge.

She looks at her empty coffee mug, and then at the old coffee maker--a white and brown tube-like device that doesn't take up much counter space. Unfortunately, she has forgotten to start the coffee-making process. Chrysse groans, subconsciously determined to focus on this problem because the messages don't make sense.

She sets about getting herself coffee.

JET

Mommy, what are you going to do today?

CHRYSSE

(weak, faltering)

I have to go to work, sweetie.

Lexi blows a raspberry at this, and Jet laughs, some snot coming out of his nose.

Chrysse, with her motherly instincts, goes over with a napkin to clean his face, and he is trying to dodge. Chrysse lets out a bit of a laugh at their antics--or is it a sob?

Coffee maker lets out a strange grinding noise. It's broken.

Chrysse tries to see what's wrong, as...

LEXI

(pounding the table with her silverware)

No work! No work!

She gives up, and sits at the table with her children. She stares into her empty coffee mug. She seems tired, lifeless, while her children are so full of energy, even in this dull, cramped space.

Focus in on Chrysse's phone, the family is blurred out, but we can see Chrysse's stillness punctuated by the children's activity. Sound is dulled. We hear a fast heartbeat.

Scenes comes into focus again.

CHRYSSE

You know, maybe I'll take the day off.

EXT. SCHOOL - DAY

The concrete schoolyard outside a multi-story school building made of light brown stone is teeming with children from ages five to ten--a swarming crowd. Strange, futuristic cars and buses are lined up outside. Parents kiss their children goodbye.

Chrysse helps Jet put his backpack on, and gives him a light nudge towards the school. He turns back for a kiss on the cheek, and then he waves to a BOY who has paused in entering the school to wait for him.

Lexi is in the car, waving through the window.

INT. CAR - DAY

Lexi fiddles with a hard-paged children's book while sitting in her booster seat, and Chrysse is driving somewhat recklessly, shaking. We see the phone, still flipped over.

Another buzz.

Chrysse jumps.

The message goes through to her car.

Screen lights up.

CLOSE ANGLE - SCREEN

"Aaron"

"Want 2 grab dinner 2night? There's that new Thai place on Bobbins I've been DYING to check out."

BACK TO

Chrysse lets out a forced breath at seeing it's not from the unknown number.

She presses the screen, getting rid of the message.

EXT. DAYCARE/FRONT ENTRANCE - DAY

The daycare is a one-story building with a white-painted exterior. There's concrete, a yard, a few rosebushes near the side of the building. A for sale sign is out front.

A young DAYCARE WORKER, a woman, is outside to meet Chrysse and Lexi.

Chrysse kisses Lexi goodbye, eyes not totally focused on her, and Lexi grabs the hand of the daycare worker to be led inside.

LEXI

Buh-bye, Mommy!

DAYCARE WORKER

Bye, Ms. Jane, hope you have a nice day.

CHRYSSE

(distracted)

Yeah.

She gets back into the car.

EXT. FOLLOWING THE CAR - DAY

Chrysse drives.