A Monster Calls Page #15

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168.

106 InT. grandma’s CORRIDOR/ UPSTAIRS - night 106

Conor waits down the hallway, “spying” on his Grandma,

watching the light come out of the loft room. He hides behind

a corner of his bedroom door. His Grandma leaves the room,

her arms full of papers. Conor ducks into the darkness of his

room as she passes.

A paper drifts down to the floor as she does. Looking out

from the crack of his dark bedroom door, he can see that it’s

a DRAWING OF HIS OWN.

What’s she doing with that? He makes to reach out and take

it, but Grandma is there first, picking it up and walking to

the TV ROOM with it. She shuts this door behind her.

169.

106A Conor watches her, confused. Conor goes to the TV ROOM DOOR

106A

again and listens, hearing his own voice again.

This time he OPENS THE DOOR QUIETLY.

170.

107 int. grandma’s tV ROOM - momENTS LATER 107

Conor stops by the open door of the TV room. His Grandma, her

back to him, is watching TV. We can see the PILE OF HOMEMADE

DVDs his father found sitting next to the television. One is

open.

171.

107A Ext. Amusement park / roller coaster - day 107A

Onscreen, Conor is astonished to see himself, filming

him and his MUM, LOOKING HEALTHY AND VIBRANT getting into a

ROLLER COASTER car. They giggle, up to something. The seat

restraints close.

Mum (on VIDEO)

(Shh, here they come.)

Onscreen - The image disappears as Conor hides his phone. We

hear their seats being checked by an attendant. Conor raises

the phone again. They look around to make sure they won’t get

caught, smiling like fiends.

MUM (oN VIDEO) (CONT’D)

(If you drop that, it’ll leave a

permanent mark across your face.)

CONOR (on VIDEO)

(Nah, it’ll probably hit you

first.)

Onscreen - Mum slaps his arm playfully

In the doorway, Conor watches, transfixed, as does his

Grandma, still unaware of his presence.

Onscreen - They both laugh in surprise as the car lurches

forward and starts up a steep incline.

Mum (on VIDEO)

(You know what I’m thinking?)

Conor (on VIDEO)

(What?)

MUM (on VIDEO)

(We shouldn’t have had all that

Indian food for lunch.)

On the chair, Grandma gives a snort of private laughter.

Onscreen - Conor makes a fake vomiting sound. His mum makes

one, too, until it becomes a competition and dissolves into

laughter. Then they’re nearly at the top.

Mum (on VIDEO) (CONT’D)

(Ready? Here we go.)

ConOR (on VIDEO)

(Here we go.)

Onscreen - They look into the camera. At the last second, Mum

grabs Conor’s arm lovingly, then they plunge over the top.

172.

The scene seems to end, but there’s a weird splice on the DVD

that surprises Conor but not Grandma, she’s seen this before.

It cuts to an even older video.

173.

107B Int. Conor’s sitting room (kitchen) - day 107B

Onscreen - we cut in mid-scene. MUM’S HAND is making a

big scribble on a big piece of paper, overlapping itself with

lots of empty spaces. She turns the camera to a MUCH YOUNGER

CONOR, 5 or 6 YEARS OLD. He holds a coloured pencil.

In the room, Conor is surprised.

Mum (o.S.)(on video)

(Okay, remember? Just look hard.

Colour in what you see.)

Onscreen, LITTLE CONOR approaches the drawing with his

pencil, looking at the scribble.

YOUNG ConoR (on VIDEO)

(I see a gremlin.)

Mum (On VIDEO)

(Well, go ahead, draw it in.)

In the room, Grandma is rapt, moved.

Onscreen - Little Conor looks back at his mum, unsure.

MUM (o.S.) (on video) (CONT’D)

(Like this.)

Onscreen - Mum sets down the camera so it stays filming them.

A YOUNGER, HEALTHIER MUM goes to a smaller part of the

scribble and colours in shapes that make a LITTLE MOUSE WITH

WHISKERS. She turns to Conor. With a firm expression, he

starts to colour in squares.

In the room, Conor watches closely, as rapt as Grandma.

Onscreen - There’s a clumsy edit and Mum is filming again on

a picture of a GREMLIN. The eyes have a reflection in them.

MUM (on VIDEO) (CONT’D)

(That’s really good, Conor.

Especially the eyes.)

(points to eyes)

(Life is in the eyes and if you can

catch that...)

In the room, Conor is stunned at these repeated words of his

mother, “life is in the eyes.” Grandma puts a hand over her

mouth to hold in her emotion.

Onscreen - Mum turns the camera to take a selfie of her and

LITTLE CONOR, on their eyes.

MUM (On VIDEO) (CONT’D)

(You’ll see when we watch. You’ll

see our eyes.)

174.

Onscreen - Little Conor sticks out his tongue. Mum laughs and

does, too. They laugh and she films the Gremlin again.

Mum (on VIDEO) (CONT’D)

(My wee little artist.)

The video ends frozen on the Gremlin’s eyes. Conor breathes

out, and his Grandma hears him. She turns to look at him.

But it’s loving. Silently, they both go back to watching the

frozen image of the Gremlin’s eyes.

175.

108-108AEXT/INT. grandma’s DRIVEWAY/ guest room - next morning

108-108A

Conor looks out his bedroom window. See his DAD pull up.

176.

109 Omitted 109

177.

110 EXT. pier - DAY 110

Conor and his dad walk along an old pier under the cloudy

sky.

DAD:

I’ll be back. I will, I promise.

Conor says nothing.

Dad (CONT’D)

And you’ll come for Christmas in

LA! That’ll be fun-

ConOR

I don’t want to leave Mum on her

own for Christmas.

Dad stops walking. Conor looks up at him. It’s almost a

challenge to contradict him.

DAD:

Conor-

CONOR:

She’s going to get better. They’re

giving her this new medicine and

she’ll come home. It’s the whole

reason. It has to be.

DAD:

Reason for what?

CONOR:

So you just go back to LA, go back

to your other family-

Dad

Conor, this new medicine your mum’s

taking-

CONOR:

It’s going to make her well.

Beat, as Dad makes the important decision.

DAD:

No, Conor. It probably isn’t.

CONOR:

Yes, it is.

DAD:

It’s a last ditch effort, son.

She’s too weak. She keeps getting

infections

178.

CONOR:

It’ll heal her. I know it. I’m

telling you, it’s the whole reason

it came-

DaD

Reason what came? What are you

talking about?

CONOR:

(hastily, clinging

desperately to hope)

The monster! It comes every night.

It’s a tree that turns into a

monster at 12.07-

dad

Conor... What?

CONOR:

At first I thought it was a dream

but there’s always berries and

leaves and stuff when I wake up-

dad

Conor.

CONOR:

(even louder)

And I’ve got one story to go and

then I’ve got to tell my own and I

think that’s when it’s going to

heal her-

dad

Conor, stop this!

Conor finally stops. Looks, upset, at his father. Dad puts

hands on Conor’s shoulders to talk to him, gently.

Dad (CONT’D)

I don’t know what this dream is,

Conor, but that’s all it is. A

dream. I’m sorry. You shouldn’t

have to face this, but not every

story has a happy ending.

Conor starts at this. He knows not every story does.

DAD (CONT’D)

This is what I meant when I said

you were going to have to be brave.

Long pause.

CONOR:

(like he’s realising

something)

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