A Nightmare on Elm Street Page #8

NANCY:

She was my best friend! Don't

you dare say I don't take her

death seriously!

(lower, near tears)

I just meant their fights

weren't that serious.

The girl holds the woman's eyes a moment, then looks away.

NANCY (CONTD)

(to herself)

She dreamed this would happen...

LT THOMPSON:

What?

NANCY:

She had a nightmare about somebody

trying to kill her, last night.

That's why we were there; she was

afraid to sleep alone.

A tear splashes off the arm of her chair.

MARGE:

She's been through enough for one

night. You have her statement.

The mother and daughter rise; THOMPSON raps on the door and

PARKER opens it.

LT THOMPSON:

(to MARGE)

I suggest you keep a little better

track on her -- she's still a kid,

y'know.

MARGE wheels on him.

MARGE:

You think I knew there were boys

there!? You try raising a

teenager alone.

Then she and the girl are gone. THOMPSON glares at PARKER.

LT THOMPSON:

(low to PARKER)

See they get home okay.

PARKER shoves his hands in his pockets. ON HIS FACE we

FADE TO BLACK:

39. INT. NANCY'S KITCHEN. MORNING. 39.

BURN ON:

THE SECOND DAY:

FADE UP ON MARGE SIMSON opening a new bottle of gin, pouring

herself a careful shot, drinking it, then chasing it with

coffee. Nearby a TV drones the morning news. We can't yet see

the SCREEN.

TV NEWSCASTER (OS/FILTER)

In the headlines this morning --

a local teenage girl was brutally

murdered during an all-night party.

MARGE TURNS, startled, seeing NANCY coming downstairs.

The girl looks a little better than she did in the Police

Station, but her eyes are still red-rimmed, and a vacant stress

masks her face. She looks to the TV. Stops.

TV NEWSCASTER (CONTD)

Police say the victim, fifteen-year

-old Christina Grey, had quarrelled

earlier with her boyfriend, Rod

Lane, a punk rocker with a history

of delinquency. Lane is now the

subject of a city-wide manhunt.

According to --

39A. The TV PICTURE has begun featuring a HANDHELD NEWSREEL SHOT of a

dark rubber BODY BAG being carried to a CORONER'S VAN. Just

before the thing is lifted inside, TINA'S bloodied, white ARM

slips from its zippered side and lolls into the dark night air.

A man rudely shoves it back inside and pulls the zipper up the

rest of the way.

39B. WIDER -- as NANCY pales visible. MARGE darts to the TV and slaps

it off, then turning to NANCY. She looks at the girl a moment,

then goes to her and hugs her.

MARGE:

(kind)

Where you think you're going?

NANCY:

School.

MARGE:

I could hear you tossing and

turning all night, kiddo. You've

no business going to school.

NANCY pulls away, determined.

NANCY:

I gotta go to school, Mom.

Please. Otherwise I'll just

sit up there and go crazy

or something.

MARGE studies her face a moment.

MARGE:

Did you sleep?

NANCY:

I'll sleep in study hall, promise.

I'd rather keep busy, you know?

She absently drains the woman's coffee cup -- then pecks her

cheek.

MARGE:

Right home after.

NANCY (cont'd)

Right home after. See you.

MARGE watches the girl disappear outside, then lights a cigarette

from the one already burning in her fingers.

40. EXT. STREET. DAY. 40.

MUSIC slips back in, subtle but tense as we TRACK with NANCY as

she walks alone down a sidewalk edged with thick flowering

Oleander. She c*cks her head, puzzled, as if sensing something.

MUSIC mounts. NANCY looks across the street.

40A. REVERSE IN HER POV. A MAN is over there in dark clothes, reading 40A.

a newspaper, but really watching her.

40B. NANCY shrugs and continues on, then stops and looks back again. 40B.

40C. IN HER POV we SEE the MAN is gone. 40C.

40D. Next moment -- with a MUSIC STING -- a BLOODIED HAND jumps out 40D.

from the opposite direction, clamps over NANCY'S mouth and drags

her into the bushes.

41. EXT. BUSHES. DAY. 41.

NANCY struggles, twisting against the powerful assailant.

A WIDER ANGLE REVEALS ROD LANE -- barefoot, clad only in jeans

and leather jacket, still caked with dark blood. The rest of his

skin is pale as a ghost's.

ROD:

I'm not gonna hurt you.

He releases her warily. NANCY makes no move to run or scream,

even though several STUDENTS pass on the nearby sidewalk. This

reassures ROD just a little.

ROD:

Your old man thinks I did it,

don't he?

NANCY:

He doesn't know you.

(eyeing the blood)

Couldn't you change?

ROD:

The cops were all over my house.

(shivers)

They'll kill me for sure.

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