Corpse Bride Page #11

TOWN CRIER:

VAN DORT FAMILY CARRIAGE CRASHES IN VILLAGE SQUARE! NO SURVIVORS!

A beat later, the very shaken Van Dort parents emerge from the cabin.

TOWN CRIER:

TWO SURVIVORS!

WILLIAM:

(explaining)

Our driver, Mayhew, expired while at the reins.

NELL:

Quite rude!

The Crier RINGS his BELL again.

TOWN CRIER:

UNGRATEFUL SURVIVORS BLAME VICTIM!

WILLIAM:

(to no one in particular)

So much for impartiality.

TOWN CRIER:

IN OTHER NEWS, THE DEAD WALK THE EARTH!

WHIP PAN BACK DOWN the street, where a NOISY, JUBILANT CARNIVAL is marching this way. It's the dead wedding party, just arrived.

INT. EVERGLOT DINING ROOM - NIGHT

Barkis Bittern stands, holding up his wine glass for a toast. Normally, he'd have to wait for the room to grow silent, but it's already library-quiet.

BARKIS:

As many of you know, it was a quick courtship for Victoria and I. But love is like that -- spontaneous and unexpected. Unbridled! Serendipity may have brought us together, but no force on Earth could ever tear us apart.

Just then, some of The Dead SMASH through the WINDOWS. Amid the SCREAMS, the Hanged Man tries to restore calm.

HANGED MAN:

Sorry to bust in, but we need some tables. We've got a celebration of our own.

Skeletons and ghouls lift several tables, carrying them right out the door, along with the plates and silver.

Amid the commotion, Victoria and Hildegarde run from the room.

Maudeline strives gamely to maintain her composure, until the Hanged Man lurches up to her and rips his head through the painted portrait.

HANGED MAN:

We haven't been properly introduced, have we? It's me! The Duke!

He strikes the same heroic pose as his portrait, the frame hanging around his neck. There is a shocked and horrified silence.

Maudeline SCREAMS -- more from the horror of the revelation than anything else.

MAUDELINE:

You... the Duke?

HANGED MAN:

Darling, how do you think you got this very grand house, and all your lovely 'family heirlooms'?

Noticing Victoria's absence, Barkis goes looking for her.

HANGED MAN:

Come on, you stuffy buggers! The real party's happening down the hill!

CUT TO:

EXT. VILLAGE SQUARE - NIGHT

It's been transformed beyond recognition into a brightly-colored, pulsating party zone. The Green Grocer's racks of lettuce heads are now skulls, while the skeleton children run with bolts of fabric from the Widow Munch's seamstress shop.

To the consternation of the watchmaker, Wellington is re-setting all the CLOCKS to RING at once. Down the street, Paul the Head Waiter leads a crew of ghouls through the baker's shop, spraying frosting everywhere.

Amid this tumult, we FIND Corpse Bride and Victor. He looks around, smiling.

VICTOR:

I like this place better already.

Realizing the undead mean them no harm, The Living are gradually warming up to the situation. Nell is swept into the revelry, caught up dancing with the Dead Dwarf General.

Pulling mother away, Victor introduces them to Corpse Bride.

VICTOR:

Mother, Father. This is Emily.

WILLIAM:

(going with it)

Pleased to meet you.

NELL:

What's your last name, Emily?

CORPSE BRIDE:

Merrimack.

NELL:

Why, the Merrimacks are a _very_ good family. Their grandfather was an Earl!

WILLIAM:

Well done, Victor!

CORPSE BRIDE:

We're just about to get married... (quickly) ... again.

Up near the statue -- and the crashed carriage -- Elder Gutknecht stands at a makeshift altar. Corpse Bride and Victor join him.

Elder Gutknecht flips through his book.

ELDER GUTKNECHT:

Let's skip the boilerplate and get straight to the vows. Living first.

Corpse Bride slips off her ring, and hands it to Victor.

VICTOR:

With this hand I will lift your sorrows. Your cup will never empty, for I will be your wine. With this candle, I will light your way in darkness. With this ring, I ask you to be mine.

He slides it back on her finger. She smiles, but there's a trace of guilt there.

ELDER GUTKNECHT:

Now, you.

CORPSE BRIDE:

With this hand I will lift your sorrows. Your cup will never empty, for I will be your wine...

As Corpse Bride speaks, she sees Victoria off to the side, watching with quiet horror.

ELDER GUTKNECHT:

Go on, my dear.

Shaken, Corpse Bride continues with her vows.

CORPSE BRIDE:

With... with this candle I will light your way in darkness.

She pauses, then...

CORPSE BRIDE:

With this...

She stops.

Victor looks puzzled, waiting for her to continue.

VICTOR:

What's wrong?

The Corpse Bride looks up at Victor. She smiles as a tear rolls down her tattered cheek.

CORPSE BRIDE:

_This_ is wrong.

She takes off the ring and hands it to him. In her eyes we see a sad tenderness for the fleeting love that almost was, and an acceptance that it never could be.

CORPSE BRIDE:

I love you, Victor, but you're not mine. My dreams were taken from me. Now I've stolen them from someone else.

Only now does Victor follow her gaze across to...

VICTOR:

Victoria!

She slowly walks towards them.

VICTORIA:

I thought you _were_ married.

VICTOR:

I heard you were too.

She holds up her hand, revealing the ornate wedding ring. Corpse Bride reacts with alarmed confusion.

CORPSE BRIDE:

Where did you get that ring!?

Barkis comes up behind his wife...

BARKIS:

Victoria, I...

CORPSE BRIDE:

You! You were the highwayman who strangled me. You took my ring!

Barkis looks over at the Everglots, and Pastor Galswells, who have just arrived.

BARKIS:

Nonsense. I'm a respected attorney...

CORPSE BRIDE:

The ring has my name on it. Check the inscription.

Victoria pulls it off her finger, and reads the inscription:

VICTORIA:

'For Emily, with all my love.'

With a sudden rage that surprises him, Victor launches himself at Barkis.

VICTOR:

Murderer!

He lands a few blows before Barkis sloughs him off.

Barkis makes a break for it, but suddenly finds himself caught by one of Black Widow's sticky threads. He falls to the ground, where everyone pounces on him.

Victoria turns to Pastor Galswells.

VICTORIA:

I want an annulment.

PASTOR GALSWELLS

Done.

Victoria and Corpse Bride exchange their rings. Nothing is said, but the real hand-off is clear. Corpse Bride smiles at Victor.

Meanwhile, there's still a tussle over Barkis. Both the living and the dead want a piece of him.

MAGGOT:

You disgusting piece of filth! I would not crawl through your entrails!

POLICEMEN pull Maggot off. They lift up Barkis, carrying him away. This doesn't please the dead.

PAUL THE HEAD WAITER

We should have him! He hurt our friend!

ELDER GUTKNECHT:

It's their world, their rules. He is living.

MAGGOT:

Not forever.

Black Widow CALLS AFTER Barkis...

BLACK WIDOW:

We'll be seeing you.

Amid all the chaos, Corpse Bride simply walks away. We settle on Victor and Victoria, watching her leave.

VICTORIA:

I feel terrible for her. To lose so much.

VICTOR:

I think she's finally free.

CUT TO:

EXT. VILLAGE FOOTBRIDGE - DAWN

Corpse Bride crosses the bridge alone. Soon she is obscured by the fog flowing around her.

EXT. FOREST - DAWN

As Corpse Bride moves through the trees, her veil catches against the bark. She twists back on herself, slowly spinning, caught up in the gossamer threads. Before long, the veil has wrapped around her like a cocoon.

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