A Monster Calls Page #19

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ConOR (CONT’D)

(angry, frightened)

This is when I wake up. This is

when I always wake up.

MonSTER

The tale is not yet told.

CONOR:

Get me out of here. I need to see

my mum!

MONSTER:

She is no longer here, Conor. You

let her go.

CONOR:

This is just a nightmare. This

isn’t the truth.

220.

The Monster leans forward, scaring Conor into falling back.

MONSTER:

It is the truth. You let her go.

ConOR

She fell. I couldn’t hold on to her

any more.

MonSTER

You let her go.

ConOR

She fell!

The Monster leans over him, as terrifying as it’s ever been.

MonSTER

You must speak the truth or you

will never leave this place.

CONOR:

Let me go!

MoNSTER

Speak the truth!

ConOR

What truth?! I don’t know what you

mean!

The Monster’s face surges down close to his, punching its

hands either side of Conor, causing the ground to CRACK all

around him.

MONSTER:

You do know.

A sudden quiet. Conor does know. He’s always known.

CONOR:

(quietly)

No. I can’t.

MONSTER:

You must.

CONOR:

I can’t.

There’s a sudden note of kindness in the Monster’s voice.

MONSTER:

You can. You let her go!

Conor begins to cry.

221.

CONOR:

(shaking his head)

Please-

MONSTER:

You let her go, Conor O’Malley.

Didn’t you?

Conor squeezes his eyes shut tight.

MoNSTER (CONT’D)

You could have held on for longer,

but you let the nightmare take her.

Didn’t you?

ConOR

No.

MONSTER:

YES! You allowed her to fall.

CONOR:

No!

MONSTER:

You must tell me the fourth tale,

Conor O’Malley. You must!

CONOR:

It’ll kill me if I do!

MoNSTER

It will kill you if you do not!

The Monster pounds the ground again, terrifying. More cracks

form, until Conor’s trapped on a broken shelf above the hole,

teetering above it.

MONSTER (CONT’D)

You let her go. Before it’s too

late! Tell me WHY!

Beat, as Conor struggles.

ConOR

No-

The ground collapses more, the shelf teeters.

MoNSTER

(pleading)

Speak the truth!

CONOR:

No.

MONSTER:

Speak the truth Conor O’Malley!

222.

CONOR:

NO!

MONSTER:

SPEAK THE TRUTH!

CONOR:

NOOOOO!

MONSTER:

SPEAK THE TRUTH BOY!

Until, finally...

Conor can’t fight it any longer...

He speaks the truth.

ConOR

I want it to be over! I can’t stand

knowing that she’ll go! I want it

to be finished! I let her fall! I

let her die!

He collapses to the ground. The shelf gives way beneath him,

and he falls-

Screaming into the hole-

The Monster disappearing above him-

Until-

WHOOMP! He hits something, landing on it.

It’s the MONSTER’S OUTSTRETCHED HAND. It has caught him. It

lifts him gently up out of the hole and deposits him:

223.

134 ExT. POST NIGHTMARE (hilLTOP) - SUNSET - momentS LATER 134

Back on the ground on the hilltop behind his house. The

Monster stands above him. Conor sits up, his face beyond sad,

helpless tears coming.

ConOR

Why didn’t it kill me? I deserve

punishment. I deserve the worst.

MonSTER

Do you?

ConOR

I’ve known forever she wasn’t going

to make it. She said she was

getting better all the time because

that’s what I wanted to hear. And I

believed her.

(beat)

Except I didn’t.

MONSTER:

No.

CONOR:

And I started to think how much I

wanted it to be over. I couldn’t

stand how alone it made me feel.

MONSTER:

A part of you wished it would end.

Even if it meant losing her.

ConOR

(whispering)

I let her go. I could have held on,

but I always let her go.

MONSTER:

And that, is your truth, Conor

O’Malley.

CONOR:

I didn’t mean it, though! And now

it’s for real! Now she’s going to

die and it’s all my fault!

MONSTER:

And that, is not the truth at all.

Conor gives into grief. The Monster gently takes him up in

two huge hands, making a comforting bed out of them.

MONSTER (CONT’D)

You were merely wishing for an end

of pain. Your own pain. It is the

most human wish there is.

224.

CONOR:

I didn’t mean it.

MONSTER:

You did, but you also did not.

Conor looks up at the big face in front of him.

CONOR:

How can both be true?

MONSTER:

How can a prince be a murderer and

a saviour? How can an apothecary be

evil-tempered but right-thinking?

How can invisible men make

themselves more lonely by being

seen?

ConOR

(shrugs, exhausted)

I don’t know. Your stories never

made any sense to me.

MONSTER:

Because humans are complicated

beasts. You believe comforting lies

while knowing full well the painful

truths that make those lies

necessary. It is a wonder you can

survive at all.

Conor isn’t sure he buys this, as much as he might want to.

MonSTER (CONT’D)

In the end, Conor, it is not

important what you think, it is

only important what you do.

Long beat as Conor considers this.

ConOR

So what do I do?

MONSTER:

What you did just now. You speak

the truth.

ConOR

That’s all?

MONSTER:

You think it’s easy? You were

willing to die rather than speak

it.

CONOR:

Because what I thought was so wrong

225.

MONSTER:

It was not wrong. It was only a

thought. One among millions.

Conor takes a long breath, he’s exhausted. In fact, he’s

fighting to keep his eyes open.

CONOR:

I’m so tired. So tired of all of

this.

MONSTER:

Then sleep. There’s time.

ConOR

Are you sure? I need to get back to

my mum.

MonSTER

You will. I promise you.

Conor considers this.

ConOR

Will you be there?

MONSTER:

Yes. It will be the final steps of

my walking.

Conor nestles into the monster’s hands.

ConOR

How does the fourth story end?

MONSTER:

Shhh... Sleep...

But he hears no answer as he can no longer fight off sleep.

226.

135 ExT. CHURCHYARD HILLTOP - niGHT - laTER 135

Conor is asleep on the hilltop. The Monster is now just a

tree, but there’s still a suggestion that it’s cradling him.

Conor’s phone buzzes in his pocket but he doesn’t wake. We

hear a car pull up and a door open.

GranDMA (o.S.)

(faintly)

Oh, thank God!

Conor blinks himself awake. He looks up.

GranDMA (o.S.) (CONT’D)

Conor! CONOR!

He sees his Grandma running towards him from where she’s left

her car (lights on, engine running, door open) by the church

next to the graveyard. She’s putting away her phone,

obviously the one who’s been calling him.

GranDMA (CONT’D)

CONOR!

He stands, bracing himself, but when she reaches him she

grabs him in a hug so vigorous they almost tumble over.

She releases him and, being who she is, starts shouting.

GRANDMA (CONT’D)

Where have you BEEN? I’ve been out

of my MIND trying to find you!

ConOR

There was something I needed to-

But she’s already dragging him towards the car.

GraNDMA

No time! We have to go now!

She sprints off away from him, back to the car, and what this

means sinks in for Conor. He races after her.

227.

136 InT/ext. grandma’s car/city streets TO TRAIN CROSSING - night

136

-moments LATER

Grandma drives at extremely high speed, cutting corners,

running red lights. It would be funny if it weren’t so

desperate. Conor sits in the passenger seat, shy of how much

she’s both crying and trying to control herself.

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