Cherry Falls Page #11

MISS DUNLOP:

You're sweet. I really wish

someone had thrown a party

like that when I was your age.

My life might have been very

different.

SHE SLOWLY HEADS DOWN THE STAIRS.

cut to:

INT. LIBRARY - MICROFICHE ROOM

The newspaper headlines from 1970 pass by.

Jody is watching them flash by.

She slows down, then goes back. She's found what she's looking for.

A picture of LISA SHERMAN. It's her yearbook picture. She looks eerily

identical to the picture that Jody drew. The headline reads 'High School

Senior Attacked In park'.

Jody hears footsteps coming up the stairs. She looks up. The footsteps

stop.

The old library is still. She senses that someone is watching her.

JODY:

(a little scared)

Is that you Miss Dunlop?

No answer. She hears a bit of rustling from behind one of the shelves of

books directly behind her.

A book accidentally drops to the ground.

She realizes that someone is right there, watching her.

JODY:

Who's there?

She sees a pair of shoes behind the book shelf but she can't see the face.

The shoes start around the book shelf, toward her.

Jody leaps to her feet, ready to run. Her mom appears.

JODY:

Mom? You were spying on me.

Mom looks at the monitor, at the picture of Lisa Sherman's face.

MARGE:

I want you to come home with

me right now, Jody.

JODY:

Who is she?

MARGE:

She's nobody you should be concerned

with.

JODY:

Whoever tried to kill me

was made up to look exactly

like this picture of Lisa Sherman,

clothes and all. I think that

concerns me.

MARGE:

Don't make me order you.

Jody sits back down.

JODY:

You going to drag me out and me in my

room until I go to college?

Marge sits down next to Jody and takes her hand.

MARGE:

If I have to. Please

let me protect you.

Jody is at a crossroads. Jody doesn't know what to do. Her mother hugs

her, puts her arm around her, and almost lifts her out of her seat. She

leads her down the stairs, away from the old newspaper.

INT. LIBRARY

Jody's mom leads her across the vast hallway. They come to the door

leading out of the library. Jody stops and looks back. She sees the old

spinster Miss Dunlop, stacking the books.

JODY:

Wait.

MARGE:

What?

JODY:

(asserting herself)

I'm not leaving. I want to

know why you and dad are

so freaked out. Three of my

classmates are dead.

Mom doesn't like this at all.

CUT TO:

EXT. LIBRARY

A beautiful garden on the edge of the library. The autumn wind is blowing.

The leaves are at the height of foliage. Jody and her mom are seated on a

carved stone bench.

MARGE:

Years ago, something horrible

happened in this town. When I

was still in high school. A girl

named Elizabeth Sherman was attacked by

four drunken seniors.

JODY:

Attacked how?

MARGE:

She was raped. At least that's

what she claimed.

JODY:

You didn't believe her?

MARGE:

(confessing)

No, I believed her. She was in

pretty bad shape. Inside and out.

But the boys were never formally

charged.

JODY:

Why not?

MARGE:

They were children of our leading

citizens, stars of the football team.

And she was a loner. An angry girl

that no one really liked. She'd called

them 'queers'.

JODY:

People thought these guys had a

right to rape her because she called

them 'queers'?

MARGE:

They were proving to her they weren't.

They were very drunk. Things were different

back then. You think kids are sexually

bottled up today....

JODY:

And the police did nothing?

MARGE:

EVERYONE JUST KIND OF LOOKED THE OTHER WAY.

JODY:

How could you?

MARGE:

I don't know. We just did. I guess

I was kind of scared going against the gain.

Against the whole town.

JODY:

The word is Mob.

MARGE:

I've regretted it ever since.

Never run with the herd just because

they're the herd.

JODY:

Who were they?

Marge freezes. She didn't want to be asked that.

MARGE:

Who?

JODY:

The men. Do any of them still

live around here?

MARGE:

Two men left town right after

it happened.

JODY:

You're not telling me something.

Marge takes a deep breath, unsure what to say.

MARGE:

Mr. Sisler was one of them.

JODY:

(shocked)

The principal?

MARGE:

Yes.

JODY:

Who was the fourth?

Marge is stricken. She looks down.

MARGE:

God. It's like everything that was

ever repressed in this town is suddenly

bubbling up through the ground.

Jody gets it.

JODY:

Dad?

Her mother can't deny it any longer.

JODY(CONT'D)

(horrified)

THAT'S why he called Mr. Sisler first.

He was one of them.

MARGE:

Not a day has gone by where your

father has not torn himself to shreds

for what happened. We both have...

JODY:

NO!

Jody gets up.

MARGE:

He dedicated his life to law

enforcement after...

Jody runs off, very upset.

EXT. LIBRARY

Jody jumps on her bicycle and speeds off.

EXT. GARDEN

Marge sits down and stares straight ahead, crushed.

EXT. INDIANA DIRT ROAD

The rusty old mailbox on the forgotten dirt road reads 'Lisa Sherman'

Brent's police car turns into the driveway.

INT. CAR

Brent pulls up to the house. he sits and stares for a moment.

EXT. LISA SHERMAN'S HOUSE

It's a dilapidated old house, uncared for, overgrown, a 'For Sale' sign

stands crookedly in the front yard.

Brent gets out of the car and heads to the front door, stepping over rusty

tools and old auto parts.

EXT. FRONT DOOR

Brent lifts his hand and is about to knock. He can't. He walks around in a

circle, composing himself, preparing himself to face Lisa Sherman after

all these years. He draws the gun from his holster and knocks.

No one answers.

He knocks again.

No one answers, again.

A WOMAN, THE CARETAKER, appears from the side of the house.

CARETAKER:

Hello?

BRENT:

I'm looking for Lisa Sherman.

CARETAKER:

She's not here.

BRENT:

You know where I can find her?

CARETAKER:

St. Michael's.

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