Beautiful Creatures

1

ETHAN:
It's been the same dream

every night for months now.

[THUNDER CRASHES]

I can't ever see her face, but I know her.

Like I've known her all my life.

And it feels like something terrible

is gonna happen when I reach her.

But at the same time, I'm not scared at all.

I want her...

...no matter what happens.

But I never get to her.

And then I die.

[GUNSHOT]

[GASPS]

At first I was scared I was losing my mind.

Until I realized that would be no great loss.

I start junior year tomorrow,

so insanity's inevitable.

What's worse is waking up every night...

...wanting someone I've never met...

...loving a girl who doesn't exist.

I've been stuck my whole life in Gatlin...

...South Carolina's least-famous

middle-of-nowhere.

By the time we get a movie,

it's already on DVD.

And our theater always gets the titles wrong.

We're too far away from Charleston

to have a Starbucks. How sick is that?

We have 12 churches and one library...

...with more banned books

than books to read.

Same damn families

have lived here for generations.

They keep reenacting the Civil War

like it's gonna turn out different.

Mama used to say there's only two kinds

of people in Gatlin:

The ones too stupid to leave

and the ones too stuck to move.

Dad can't leave his room since she died.

People said it was God's will.

I think it's the only way people

ever get out of here.

I can understand why young men

signed up for the Civil War.

Anything is better than a life standing still.

But I think even the dead stay in Gatlin.

Sometimes, it sounds crazy,

but sometimes I imagine I'm one of them...

...fighting for the cause

on Honey Hill near Greenbrier.

[VOICES SHOUTING]

[GUNSHOT]

GENEVIEVE:

Ethan!

ETHAN".

I imagine all kinds of things lately.

Sometimes...

...I'm Billy Pilgrim...

...from Vonnegut's banned book

Slaughterhouse-Five.

"To be unstuck in time,

in a constant state of stage fright...

...never knowing what part of my life

I'd have to act in next."

I just love the sound of that.

Dad?

Dad?

I got breakfast.

Ugh. Is this what we're wearing

our first day of school?

I'm a junior now, Amma.

If I dress like I care, I lose credibility.

I thought you were getting a haircut.

- Who said that?

- I did.

Pay attention to the days

marked on these containers.

- Thanks, Amma.

- You decide what colleges you applying to?

All of them, as long as they're

a thousand miles away from here.

Amen to that.

- You go running last night?

- Yeah.

- Help you sleep any?

- I envy people in comas.

Your father come out at all?

No.

MRS. LINCOLN:

Lying lips are abomination to the Lord.

Now, when a wicked man dies,

his expectation shall perish.

And the hope of unjust men perisheth.

Ow.

- You get away now! Go on!

- Come on, I gotta take him to school!

- We have to finish these. Do them tonight.

- Mom, you know what happens--

Wesley, where are you going

without kissing your mother?

What is wrong with you, boy, eh?

Now, you be good.

- So is she a good kisser or what?

- Shut up!

My mother has officially flown

that extra bat-sh*t mile since Dad died.

She thinks the end of the world's coming

because all these earthquakes in the news.

It's like, how does loving Jesus

make that woman so crazy?

[ETHAN CHUCKLES]

She damned Daddy to hell so many times,

I bet he drank just so he'd get there quicker.

ETHAN:
My dad is acting like old man

Ravenwood. They're all bat-sh*t.

Hey, did you hear that new girl

in our class is a Ravenwood?

I thought old man Ravenwood

lived in that house all alone.

It's his niece from out of town.

She moved here.

- Why would anyone move here?

- I don't know.

It'll be the first Ravenwood anybody

in Gatling's seen in almost 20 years.

How was your summer, sugar?

- Fine, Emily. And yours?

- Wonderful.

Why didn't you go to the Labor Day Carnival?

It was such a good time.

I wasn't up for it, heh.

I don't understand what's happened.

I know you don't. I'm sorry.

You said to give you the summer, and I did.

I didn't hear from you once,

but I was a good girl.

I didn't call.

But I missed you.

Hey, no big deal, right?

How's about you and I go see a movie

or something?

Just us. Oh, that would be just heaven. Heh.

Sure.

[BELL RINGING]

MR. LEE:

Everyone, take your seats.

Ethan, baby, I wish you'd quit reading

those kind of books.

They're bad for your mind.

As a requirement of this course...

...you will need to select a topic

for a term paper...

...based on materials

covered in chapters 12 through 24.

SAVANNAH:
Is that her?

EMILY:
Must be. What is she wearing?

She looks like death eating a cracker.

Now, just take any seat, miss, uh, uh...?

Ravenwood. Isn't it?

Mama says nobody's seen old man Ravenwood

leave that creepy house in years.

- Mama says he's a devil worshiper.

LENA:
Actually, it's Duchannes.

Well, uh, now, that's an out-and-out lie.

I happen to know for a fact

that you're Macon Ravenwood's niece.

Well, bless your heart, sugar.

You must have been first in your litter.

STUDENTS:

Ooh.

Mama says devil worshipers

hate fresh air. Makes them choke.

Well, we all know what makes you choke.

[STUDENTS CHATTERING]

MR. LEE:

That's enough, Mr. Lincoln.

- And that hat's gonna look nice on my cat.

- He's such a fool!

MR. LEE:
This year, you will participate

in the annual reenactment...

...of our glorious victory:

The Battle of Honey Hill.

[STUDENTS GROANING AND MURMURING]

Ethan?

MR. LEE:
The reenactment will be held

on the day of the battle, December the 21st.

Even though that is the middle

of Christmas Break...

...you will be expected

to participate wholeheartedly.

[BOB DYLAN'S "SUBTERRANEAN HOMESICK

BLUES" PLAYING ON CAR RADIO]

[SINGING]

Get sick, get well, hang around an ink well

Ring bell, hard to tell

If anything is going to sell

Try hard

[MUMBLING LYRICS]

[GASPS]

[TIRES SCREECH]

Are you nuts? You almost killed me!

What are you doing

standing in the damn road?

I need help, genius!

- Forget it!

- Wait, wait, wait!

I'm sorry! Look, get in!

This is a shortcut, nobody

comes down this road. You'll drown--

- Is this old man Ravenwood's car?

- You're one of them, aren't you?

What are you?

The All-American jock star, prom king...

-"jock?

- Look, can you insult me in the car?

It's getting a little Titanic out here.

You know, I never understood

why Leo had to die in the end.

Why couldn't they take turns?

"You float on the wooden thing 10 minutes,

I'll float on the thing 10 minutes."

She kept saying, "I'll never let you go, never,"

and then she lets him go!

If I get in the car, will there be more

of this fascinating conversation?

Because I'd rather drown.

No, I got groceries back there.

I can't believe you told me

the ending to Titanic.

- You've never seen it?

- No.

You really are from out of town.

Hey.

Thanks.

You know where you're going?

Rarely.

Hey, I'm sorry about those clichs in class,

but I'm not one of them.

"Clichs"?

Girls who once were human, but for whom

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