Panic Room Page #10

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IN THE PANIC ROOM,

the blue cloud on the ceiling suddenly evaporates with

another angry WHOOMP, leaving a few little pockets of flame

that Meg extinguishes by swatting with a blanket. Only one

of the fluorescent lights is left intact; it casts a

flickering, uneven light on the room.

She stands in the middle of the still-smoky panic room,

breathing hard. She shouts, SCREAMS incomprehensibly, making

no sense whatsoever.

She stops, noticing the look Sarah is giving her. Wide-eyed

admiring, frightened, you are an insane woman.

Meg looks to herself. Her arm is signed, the hair burned

off. The sleeve of her T-shirt is burned back to the

shoulder. Her face is sooty, blackened.

Meg GRUNTS, half frightened by herself.

INT. MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT

Out in the bedroom, it's worse for Burnham, who has lost most

of his hair and shirt. But his skin isn't badly burned,

which is something, I guess.

Still, he's in a rage. He POUNDS the metal door of the panic

room.

BURNHAM:

I'M COMING IN THERE, B*TCH, I AM

COMING IN THERE! I AM COMING IN

THERE!

INT. PANIC ROOM - NIGHT

Meg whirls, goes to the door herself, SCREAMS right back. We

can hardly make out a word she's saying, but it sounds

threatening.

Suddenly, she stops, hearing something else. Outside the

door, Burnham continues to rant, but there's a second sound,

a sound coming from the long wall of the panic room, the wall

that's shared with the brownstone next door.

It's a faint -- very faint -- POUNDING sound, along with a

high pitched, complaining voice, so faint it can hardly be

heard. Sarah hears it too.

SARAH:

Neighbor!

Meg and Sarah leap as one, facing the common wall, SHOUTING

at the tops of their lungs -- get help, call the police,

please, call the police, that sort of thing.

They shout and shout, but the soft pounding continues, and if

their voices are as soft on the other side as the COMPLAINING

VOICE is on this side, they have no hope.

Their voices crack and they begin to cough, too irritated by

the gas to shout for very long. Long after they stop, the

soft POUNDING from next door continues.

Their pleas are not heard.

INT. MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT

The Intruders have stopped their racket too, and are

listening carefully at the common wall. Eventually, the soft

POUNDING stops, the complaining voice complains no more.

Burnham stands there, in pain. Things are falling apart.

Raoul stands in the doorway, silhouetted by the hallway

light. He draws himself up to his full, bulky height. He's

big.

RAOUL:

(to Junior)

We're gonna talk. Downstairs.

Junior nods and starts out. Raoul lets him pass, but when

Burnham tries to follow him, Raoul puts a big hand on his

chest stopping him.

RAOUL:

You stay. Make sure she don't come

out.

Burnham swallows. But stays.

Raoul turns, follows Junior downstairs. As he descends, he

looks up, making eye contact with Burnham. And holding it.

Something on his mind, that's for sure.

CUT TO:

INT. PANIC ROOM - NIGHT

THUNK. Meg's head falls back against a wall; she sags to the

floor, legs folded in front of her, completely drained.

But Sarah's not drained, Sarah's full of nervous ingenuity,

rustling around through the stuff in the panic room, an idea

forming in her head. She finds a powerful-looking flashlight

and loads it up with batteries. She tries it, flashing

around the room.

Halogen bulb, very powerful, hurts her mother's eyes as she

flashes it past. Meg watches her. What's she up to?

Sarah lays on the floor in front of the ventilation tube she

discovered earlier. She squints through it.

THROUGH THE TUBE,

she can see out of the house, into the courtyard behind the

brownstone.

About thirty yards away she can see the backs of the

brownstones on the next block, and directly across (because

the tube doesn't leave much room for lateral vision) she can

see straight into somebody's bedroom.

There's a light on. A SLEEPING MAN is in bed, an open book

on his chest.

IN THE PANIC ROOM,

Sarah sits back.

She grabs the flashlight, looks for a little button on the

top, the kind you can flick the flashlight on and off with.

Shining it on the wall of the panic room, she flashes it at a

wall, three times, on and off. Satisfied, she turns back to

the tube.

Meg, curious, crawls across the floor to join her. Sarah

shoves the flashlight all the way into the tube, leaving

enough room on either side of it for them to see through.

Meg lays down flat, squints into the tube, Sarah alongside

her. She looks at her daughter, curious -- your plan?

Sarah reaches into the tube, finds the little flash button on

the top of the flashlight.

THROUGH THE TUBE,

the piercing halogen beam begins to flash, across the

courtyard and into the bedroom of the Man in the bedroom.

The light flashes on the wall over his bed.

The flashes are in a rhythm. Short. Short. Short. Long.

Long. Long. Short. Short. Short.

IN THE PANIC ROOM,

Meg turns to Sarah, impressed.

MEG:

Morse code?

SARAH:

(nods)

Dot dot dot, dash dash dash, dot dot

dot.

MEG:

Where'd you learn S.O.S.?

SARAH:

"Titanic."

THROUGH THE TUBE,

the flashes continue -- dot dot dot, dash dash dash, dot dot

dot. But the Man continues to sleep, the light on the wall

behind him has no effect.

IN THE PANIC ROOM,

Sarah is frustrated. She adjusts the flashlight.

THROUGH THE TUBE,

the beam of light lowers jerkily from the wall until it is

shining directly into the Sleeping Man's eyes.

IN THE PANIC ROOM,

Sarah strains to keep the light in that perfect spot. She's

starting to sweat. Meg leans over, sneaks a peek at the

watch Sarah wears on her left wrist. The readout:

114

THROUGH THE TUBE,

the Sleeping Man stirs. Opens his eyes. Winces from the

light, which is flashing directly in his eyes.

IN THE PANIC ROOM,

MEG:

Got him!

SARAH:

Come on, come on...

THROUGH THE TUBE,

the Sleeping Man sits up. Raises a hand, trying to block the

light, which keeps flashing on him.

He gets up, out of bed. He comes to the window.

IN THE PANIC ROOM,

MEG:

Yes, yes, yes, yes...

Sarah keeps it up, flashing faster.

THROUGH THE TUBE,

they see the Man come all the way to his window. He leans

against it, cups his hands so he can see better. The flashes

continue, right on top of him now.

Clearly, the Man is reading the flashes! He takes a steps

back from the window --

-- gives them the finger --

-- and angrily yanks shut his drapes.

A moment later, the light goes out and the room is black.

IN THE PANIC ROOM,

Meg and Sarah drop their heads to the carpet, defeated.

Sarah rolls over, knocks the flashlight away, stares up at

the ceiling.

Meg puts a hand in her hair. It was a good idea.

SARAH:

We're never getting out of here.

MEG:

Shhh...

She looks at the wristwatch again.

103

She's concerned.

CUT TO:

INT. MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT

Burnham is concerned as well. He's still in the master

bedroom, but barely, he's standing in the doorway, straining

like hell to hear a conversation that Junior and Raoul are

having in the foyer, one floor one.

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