A Most Violent Year Page #6

That sits for a beat.

ABEL:

Okay.

ANNA:

Thank you for coming by Andrew.

ABEL reaches into his pocket and takes out a remote for the

automatic garage door opener. As it opens you can see the

pride in his face as this remote is a fairly high-tech new

item. They all sit and watch as it opens the whole way then

stops in silence.

ANDREW is now standing outside in the driveway.

ANDREW WALSH:

Very impressive.

ABEL:

Thank you.

ANNA:

It only cost him a year of the

kid’s tuition.

ANDREW WALSH:

And one more thing. I got a call

from the union... O'Leary.

This grabs both their attention.

ANDREW WALSH (CONT’D)

They’ve been getting word back from

our drivers.

ANNA:

What word?

ANDREW WALSH:

There is real concern about their

safety.

ABEL:

Who?

ANNA:

All of them.

ANDREW WALSH:

The drivers are feeling

unprotected.

ANNA:

Because they are.

ANDREW WALSH:

I just think you should talk to

them about it. Before it grows into

something.

ABEL:

Okay.

ANDREW WALSH:

Good night.

INT. ABEL AND ANNA’S BEDROOM - NIGHT

ABEL is lying in bed, awake. ANNA is as well. He is staring

at the ceiling. Their dog is lying at the foot of the bed

asleep as well. Eventually the dog wakes up and looks out

towards the doorway. He growls ever so lightly. Then he

stops, listens, and starts growling a little more.

ANNA looks up ever so slightly.

ANNA:

What’s he doing?

34

ABEL is now standing up to go look.

ABEL:

Quiet... don’t worry. It’s nothing.

ANNA tries to go back to sleep.

INT. HALLWAYS/KID’S ROOMS - NIGHT

ABEL walks out of the bedroom and slowly heads down the hall

to his kids’ rooms. He looks in each room and the CHILD is

sleeping soundly with nothing out of place.

INT. KIDS’ ROOMS/HALLWAY- SAME TIME

As he comes out of the last bedroom back into the hallway he

sees his dog standing at the top of the stairs looking down

over the balcony into the living room. The dog is starting to

quietly growl once again.

ABEL’S face goes from total comfort that his kids are safe to

total paranoia. He slowly walks down the hall. He stops off

in his bedroom closet and grabs a mid-size baseball bat/billy

club. Now he is heading down the stairs with the club trying

not to freak himself out.

INT. OPEN LIVING ROOM/ENTRY HALL/FRONT DOOR - NIGHT

ABEL walks down the stairs and the dog just stands at the

top, still growling every now and then. ABEL comes into the

living room and everything seems perfectly normal. He then

relaxes and turns towards the dog.

ABEL:

Quiet. It’s nothing. Come down

here.

He snaps his fingers and calls the dog. The dog finally comes

down the stairs.

ABEL now heads towards the kitchen in a relaxed state, but

then the dog starts growling again and looking out the

windows next to the front door. ABEL comes over, he opens the

front door but the dog refuses to go out.

ABEL (CONT’D)

Go. Oh come on. Go.

ABEL thinks he hears something. He clicks on the lights and

pulls his bat back up into position. He heads outside.

35

EXT. FRONT DOOR TO ABEL’S HOUSE - NIGHT

ABEL comes to the end of the front walk and there is nothing.

The dog has now followed him outside and is slowly heading

over to a area where a small exterior hallway leads to a side

entrance. It is dark. The dog starts barking and going crazy.

ABEL slowly heads over to the covered passageway.

All hell now breaks lose. A BURGLAR, in all black, comes

blasting out of the shadows. The dog tries to bite him as he

goes by. ABEL swings his club and hits BURGLAR square on the

shoulder but he keeps coming. He knocks ABEL over and runs

towards the driveway. ABEL is up and chasing after him faster

than we expect.

EXT. BASE OF THE RAVINE DEEP IN WOODS- CONTINUOUS

There is a pretty good moon out so we can see them running

full throttle through the very thick woods. ABEL is keeping

up with him and in fact may be gaining on him.

ABEL is still in his pajamas. He has a rage that has been

building up inside him for a good two weeks that is now

pouring out of him in the energy to chase this guy down.

They come to the top of a small ravine which ABEL seems to

know from his runs through the woods and ABEL takes a bit of

an easier/quicker path down.

EXT. WOODS BEHIND ABEL’S HOUSE - CONTINUOUS

ABEL now cuts him off at an angle and swings the bat at his

legs. BURGLAR trips and goes flying. ABEL falls as he swings

at him. They both sit on the ground for a beat. ABEL is

exhausted. They stare at each other.

A brief look of panic comes across BURGLAR’s face. Then he is

up again and running off into the woods.

ABEL gets himself up and chases after him.

EXT. ROAD NEXT TO THE WOODS - NIGHT

ABEL comes out of the woods into the middle of the road, and

in the distance we see BURGLAR run up to a waiting van with

its lights and engine on. The guy gets into the passenger

side of the van, and it peels out.

ABEL is left standing in the middle of the road, barely able

to breathe and holding the bat.

36

EXT. ABEL FRONT DOOR - NIGHT

ABEL comes walking back towards his front door. ANNA is

standing with all the lights on and with the dog sitting next

to her. She looks at him in shock.

ANNA:

Where were you?

ABEL:

(looking to the dog)

A lot of help you were.

ANNA:

Abel?

They both look down at his bare feet. He has been in some

kind of shock and hasn’t even noticed that his bare feet are

cut up to pieces from running in the woods through the ice.

His feet are bleeding all over the walkway.

INT. POWDER ROOM OF ABEL AND ANNA’S HOUSE - NIGHT

ANNA is in warrior mode. Any panic in her voice has

disappeared, and she is speaking with a calm yet deadly

seriousness. She is cleaning the cuts on his feet and putting

bandages on them as they talk.

ANNA:

Who was it?

ABEL:

What do you mean, how am I supposed

to know who it was?

She gives him a look.

ABEL (CONT’D)

I don’t know.

She gives him another look.

ABEL (CONT’D)

I think it was just some punk,

looking to rip us off.

ANNA:

If you...

ABEL:

Ouch! If they had wanted to send a

message he could have... and he

didn’t.

37

ANNA:

Seems like a message was sent loud

and clear.

ABEL:

Please. Don’t get going on this. We

are a big new house. He probably

wanted the TV. He didn’t have a

gun, he had nothing. The alarm will

be in on Monday. It was some kid.

They aren’t coming back.

She looks at him with considerable concern.

He leans in and starts kissing her. She holds still at first

then gives in.

INT. TRAINING ROOM AT STANDARD HEATING OIL - NEXT MORNING

ABEL is in a suit but is kneeling and almost lying on his

back showing three SALES RECRUITS what they should be looking

for. Another INSTRUCTOR looks on. We see ABEL in his element.

He is a salesman.

ABEL:

What you are looking for here is

the opening to the burn chamber.

Now at this point you have not

tipped your hat in anyway. From the

minute you walked in the house you

should have been working to create

an impression of total

impartiality. But now...

Rate this script:3.0 / 1 vote