Constantine Page #2

JOHN:

I need a mirror. Now.

Shaken, the Mother produces a small compact. John pushesit away, turns to the doorway crowd.

JOHN:

A large mirror. At least -(

sizes up the child)

--three feet high.

(CONTINUED)

6.

CONTINUED:

The hallway crowd discusses possibilities.

JOHN:

MOVE.

Tenants run to retrieve a mirror. Hennessey looksworried.

John grabs the bed --shoves Hennessey aside as he swingsthe bed around, legs gouging hardwood all the way. Faces

it toward the window.

INTERCUT -APARTMENT 5G BELOW

Several of the MEN from the hallway crowd storm throughan OLD WOMAN'S stuffy apartment, locate a huge ironframed

mirror and rip it and half the plaster from thewall.

JOHN:

centers on a drapery ROPE, pulls hard. Drapery HOOKSEXPLODE off the curtain rod as he swings open the window,

looks down into the alley where that yellow taxi isparked.

JOHN:

Chaz?

CHAZ (20s) looks up from his cab. Cool. Frustrated.

You just know he'd love to be up there, not down here.

JOHN:

Move the car.

CHAZ:

Why?

JOHN:

MOVE THE DAMN CAR.

John frees the drapery rope, ducks back into the room.

CHAZ:

Park the car --Move the car...

Chaz shifts into reverse, moves the car three feet.

CHAZ:

There, I moved the damn car.

7.

INT. HALLWAY

Four men struggle to carry up that enormous mirror. The

Old Woman follows, begs them to be gentle. They swingthe mirror around, take out a chunk of banister. She

freaks.

INT. APARTMENT 7B

Hennessey can only watch as John threads the drapery ropethrough the fire escape railing, drapes it back throughthe window and loops it over the ceiling fan.

He climbs onto the bed, leans over the child whose eyeshave closed and she's shaking badly. Her body seems tobe going into shock. Isn't strong enough for this.

John has no choice --slaps her. Eyes pop back open.

Dark and dilated. He yells down at her in Aramaic andEnglish.

JOHN:

Amar natash bow basar! --Rescind

from the flesh I command thee --

The girl chokes as if ready to spit.

JOHN:

That's it --time to go home.

Jeanie SCREAMS --

JEANIE:

Tiempo para morir!

Her body suddenly PULSES half again larger. John recoils

for a beat. Odd. He continues in Aramaic --

JOHN:

Amar natash bow basar --

Another PULSE and this time a SHAPE is clearly seenexpanding under the child's skin --as if the demon

inside were trying to burst right through.

John backs off --watches as the shape ripples her flesh,

like fingers caressing from the other side. John glancesto Hennessey. What the hell?

MIRROR arrives at the doorway, BANGS against the JAM.

John waves them in. The four men heft it into the room.

JOHN:

Lift it. Over the bed. Up.

(CONTINUED)

8.

CONTINUED:

John ducks, settles on the girl as they raise it overhim.

JOHN:

Hennessey, tie it off --

Hennessey is glad to be called into service --quicklyties one end of rope to the mirror. John straddles the

girl, positions his head between her and the mirror abovehim.

JOHN:

Now close your eyes --all of you

--and whatever happens --do not

look into the mirror.

The men close their eyes. Muscles tense under the

weight.

JOHN:

Amar natash bow basar! --rescind

from the flesh I command thee!

Jeanie reacts --that SHAPE reappears, contorts the youngbody all out of proportion.

John unblocks the mirror for a second and Jeanie is

reflected inside. It's not just the image of a younggirl in there, but something else. The surface of the

mirror FLEXES in the hands of the men. One starts to

look --

JOHN:

No!

Jeanie SCREAMS --breaks free of the straps. She rises

up, grabs John tight around the throat. Nails dig deep.

HENNESSEY:

John?!

JOHN:

(looking intomirror)

Not yet!

John struggles, puts his hands over her mouth --cuttingoff her air supply. Question is, who's going to pass outfirst?

Jeanie's body is racked by whatever's inside her. She

goes into shock, body collapsing --shaking --close to

death.

(CONTINUED)

9.

CONTINUED:

JOHN:

Look! Look at me!

But she's passing out first. John quickly takes themedallion that caused the earlier reaction --

JOHN:

Goddamit --look!

--and presses it against her forehead. Eyes snap wideand John unblocks the mirror. Jeanie locks on her

reflection and the image in the mirror changesdrastically.

JOHN:

Smile pretty you vain prick.

The child's reflection has now changed to a pissed offDEMON. One that knows it just got suckered in.

MIRROR VIBRATES wildly in the men's grip. Demon

reflection ripples the glass --bending it outward into

three-D space as the girl takes her last breaths --

JOHN:

Now, Hennessey. Now!

Hennessey PULLS the rope with all three-hundred-pluspounds as John gives the demon face a full extendedFINGER.

JOHN:

For your boss.

Demon pushes for him but mirror is jerked into motion.

Swings right out the window but catches on a sliver ofwood --

JOHN:

No you don't.

John jumps up and helps push the mirror free.

EXT. APARTMENT BUILDING -HUGE MIRROR

Falls SLOW MOTION from the 7th story --tumbling end over

end, sunlight beams glancing off the glass, PROJECTINGthe image of the Demon into the LA cityscape. ONTO

buildings, sidewalks, a passing truck --until all three

hundred pounds of IRON AND GLASS come CRASHING down ONthe taxi's hood.

(CONTINUED)

10.

CONTINUED:

CHAZ:

SH*T!

Demon's image SHATTERS on impact --GLASS SPLINTERING

into a million diamond-like fragments that choke the air.

The GROAN of something evil reverberates into the citybeyond.

Chaz looks up, sees he missed dying by three feet.

INT. APARTMENT -CONTINUOUS ACTION

Jeanie GASPS --takes her first breath as a child again.

And CRIES. Mother pulls her in, hugs her tight. Note

the girl's fingernails. No longer black.

John's beat, reclaims that stub of a cigarette, stillburning. Takes a drag. He pushes past Hennessey who isapproaching the mother.

HENNESSEY:

Now about the fee...

John slips FROM VIEW into the kitchenette, hides the factthat he has to lean against the door to keep his balance.

He catches his breath, looks up and is staring right at achild's crayon drawing magneted to the fridge. A drawingof a figure poking another in the side with a long stick.

This image is repeated over and over.

John tugs it off the fridge, tucks it away.

INT. APARTMENT BUILDING -STAIRWELL -LATER

Hennessey follows John down the spiraling stairs, passingthe gathered tenants. A few are freaked, crossthemselves. Others horrified. But many want to touchthem, shake their hands.

A shadowy FIGURE several floors up stares over the rail

at the heroes below. Note the slick suit, the polished

veneer.

This is BALTHAZAR and he definitely does not rent here.

He flicks an ancient COIN between his fingers.

JOHN pauses, gazes up through the stairwell as if sensingsomething. No one there. Balthazar is gone.

(CONTINUED)

11.

CONTINUED:

JOHN shakes off the feeling, continues down the stepswhere Hennessey is shoving his HAT in front of thetenants. They're gladly giving to the cause.

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