127 Hours Page #16

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EXT. CANYON. SUNRISE.

Hundreds of miles of canyon - sunrise. The inner canyons

change from dark umbers and black shadows to immense bands of

pastel yellow, white, green and a hundred shades of red, a

hallucinogenic movement towards light.

V.O.

`Good morning America!' etc.

There's a chorus of 'Good Mornings' from American TV & radio

shows. Literally dozens of them from Texas to Oregon,

Massachusetts to the Carolinas.

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TITLE:

" TUESDAY ":

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53.

INT. CANYON. MORNING. VIDEO FOOTAGE.

Aron joins the morning chorus.

ARON:

Good morning everyone! It's 6:45

Tuesday morning in BJ Canyon. The

weather is great! I figure by now

that Leona, my housemate - Hi

Leona! - has missed me hopefully

since I didn't show up last night.

Another hour and a half they'll

miss me for not showing up for

work. Hi Brion at work! Best case

scenario is they notify the police

and after a 24 hour hold they file

a report, a missing persons report.

Which means noon tomorrow it's

official that I'm gone. I do still

have the tiniest bit of water left.

Well, actually, I've resorted...I've

had a couple pretty good gulps of

urine that I saved in my Camelbak.

I sorta let it distill...it tastes

like hell. So it's 70 hours since

I left on my bike from Horseshoe

Trailhead during which time I have

consumed 3 liters of water and a

couple mouthfuls of piss.

Pause.

Did I say the weather is great?

Well, it is. Though flash floods

potential is still present. There's

4-prong major canyons upstream from

me that all converge in this 3 foot

wide gap where I am. The rock I

pulled down on top of me, it was

put there by flood.

PAUSE:

Still, I'd get a drink.

He shudders, it's ridiculous.

Then composes himself during a long blink and looks straight

at the camera.

ARON (CONT'D)

Mom, Dad, I really love you guys.

I wanted to take this time to say

the times we've spent together have

been awesome. I haven't appreciated

you in my own heart the way I know

I could. Mom, I love you. I wish

I'd returned all of your calls,

ever.

(MORE)

54.

ARON (CONT'D)

I really have lived this last year.

I wish I had learned some lessons

more astutely, more rapidly, than I

did. I love you. I'll always be

with you.

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INT. CANYON. MORNING.

Switches off the camera.

He charges into setting up the 6:1 haul system again. Much

quicker this time. He clears the rope - the rock - of his

possessions and puts his sunglasses on.

ARON:

Ready for lift-off.

He bounces his full weight in the stirrups and pulls on the

haul line. It looks a better set up.

ARON (CONT'D)

Come on, move, dammit.

Nothing. He stops. And stares directly at the knife below

him. Absolute stillness. Nothing moves. Not him. Not even

the insects.

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INT. CANYON. MORNING.

The knife stares back.

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INT. CANYON. MORNING.

Without warning he suddenly tourniquets his arm again . Twice

around the fore arm, knotted twice and clipped with a

carabiner that he twists 6 times. He secures the fix by

attaching the purple webbing.

Looks to his watch

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C/U:
DIGITAL NUMERALS

7:
58AM.

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55.

INT. CANYON. DAY.

He folds open the knife, grasps it in his fist and picking a

spot just above the rock's grip on his right wrist, he

hesitates and then violently plunges the blade into his arm

up to the hilt.

He lets go leaving the knife embedded. He swoons and stares

at it. He slowly grasps the tool more firmly and wriggles it

slightly, the blade connects with something hard. He taps the

knife down and feels it knocking on the radius of his upper

forearm bone.

He puts his ear close and we can hear the little thocking

sound.

ARON:

Whoa, that's the bone.

He pulls the knife out opening the wound more. There's barely

any blood. He pokes at the gash with the tool.

ARON (CONT'D)

Ouch!

He can see the epidermis, thick and leathery rough. Yellow

fatty tissue under the skin in a membrane layer around the

muscle. He thocks, thocks again and some blood finally seeps

out and blocks his view. He pulls the knife out and thinks.

He's sweating and puts the tool on top of the chockstone.

He immediately pulls up his water bottle and stares into it.

With a little shake he opens it and drinks it all gulping

open throated. He shakes any last drop down and runs his

tongue up into the neck. He screws the lid back on and

loosens the tourniquet. There's no discernible increase in

blood loss.

He picks up the video again.

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