ParaNorman Page #18

going around in circles!

SANDRA BABCOCK:

Maybe we should pull over and ask

someone?

PERRY BABCOCK:

Oh, right, you think maybe we

should stop at a graveyard and dig

up some other eighteenth-century

corpses?

SANDRA BABCOCK:

It’s not a bad idea.

PERRY BABCOCK:

I wish I understood you.

136 I/E. STATION WAGON - CONTINUOUS 136

From the back seat, the Judge turns to Norman and GROANS.

PERRY BABCOCK:

Please don’t tell me he needs to

use the bathroom.

Norman listens as the Judge continues GRUMBLING, then

leans forward over his father’s seat, pointing.

NORMAN:

Turn down there!

137 EXT. OLD FOREST TRAIL - CONTINUOUS 137

The car turns tightly off a secluded road onto a dirt

path running into the thick of the surrounding woodland.

SANDRA BABCOCK:

Oh my, do you think that’s it?

ParaNorman 83.

139 EXT. OLD FOREST TRAIL - MOMENTS LATER 139

The headlights of the car illuminate a huge fallen trunk

ahead along the path, and Perry pulls the car to a stop,

wheels CRUNCHING on dirt and roots.

Everyone gets out of the car. The trees around them are

thick and dense. Aggie’s furious storm WHISTLES through

the branches far above them.

Norman turns to the Dead Judge. The Judge nods solemnly,

pointing ahead.

Norman steels himself and begins to march forward through

the thick brambles, the others following behind.

PERRY BABCOCK:

So, why are we here?

NORMAN:

Someone’s gotta talk to her, Dad.

PERRY BABCOCK:

Yeah, um, why’s that person you,

exactly?

As they continue, the surrounding trees press in on them,

just like in Norman’s vision. Branches and thorns lash at

their faces while thick roots entangle their feet.

Norman’s family are falling behind and realize too late

that the encroaching trees are about to crush Norman.

SANDRA BABCOCK:

Oh my goodness, look out!

NORMAN:

Mom!

SANDRA BABCOCK:

Perry! Do something!

Perry is finding it difficult to move; a tree bears down

on him, its roots snagging his thrashing limbs.

PERRY BABCOCK:

I’m trying!

SANDRA BABCOCK:

Kick it in the knothole!

Norman hops nimbly between two huge trunks as they SMASH

together, blocking off the way ahead with gnarled wood.

Sandra struggles free and shouts over the branches.

SANDRA BABCOCK (CONT'D)

Norman?!

ParaNorman 84.

139 CONTINUED:
139

NORMAN (O.S.)

I’m okay Mom! Wait for me here!

Don’t worry!

SANDRA BABCOCK:

Be careful!

Now separated from the others, Norman turns to go ahead

on his own. Ahead of him a phosphorescent glow shines off

the trees, and he knows he is very close.

140 EXT. OLD FOREST CLEARING - CONTINUOUS 140

Exhausted but determined, Norman finds the source of the

supernatural storm; a clearing sculpted out of the forest

by Aggie’s fury.

In the center of it all is the tree, bleached white as

bone and grotesquely twisted. The trees around it CREAK

and GROAN as though they’d like to uproot and plant

themselves someplace else.

Beneath this tree lie Aggie’s remains, buried three

hundred years ago. Now a mess of roots and rocks open out

like an ugly wound, and within them a tiny childlike

figure is barely visible through a spitting furnace of

spectral energy. Ectoplasm rages up around the tree’s

finger-like branches like a mushroom cloud of negative

energy. It’s a child’s tantrum turned atomic.

NORMAN:

Hello?

Words echo around him in response.

AGGIE:

You’re not welcome here. Go away.

Norman shivers as the voice RUMBLES coldly.

The raging wind intensifies as Norman turns back around.

NORMAN:

Uh... I really need to speak with

you.

AGGIE:

Who are you?

NORMAN:

I’m Norman. Norman Babcock. You

don’t actually know me, but I know

you. We’re actually kind of the

same, you and I.

Norman takes another step closer, ducking as petrified

branches and rocks fly over his head on the wind.

ParaNorman 85.

140 CONTINUED:
140

AGGIE:

You’re not dead.

NORMAN:

Well, no, apart from that.

AGGIE:

And you’re a boy.

NORMAN:

Well, yes, that too.

AGGIE:

You’re not like me at all.

Norman hesitates, knowing he’s on dangerous ground.

NORMAN:

Well, I know how you feel?

AGGIE:

No you don’t. You don’t know

anything about me.

NORMAN:

I know your name is Agatha

Prenderghast.

The ghostly voice wavers for the first time.

AGGIE:

What?

NORMAN:

And I know you’re probably tired.

Right? Because, I mean, it’s

really late and it’s been a long

night and we’re, like, only eleven

years-old, and...

The voice snaps back like a clap of thunder.

AGGIE:

I don’t want to go to sleep, and

you can’t make me! I burnt the

book into dust, and now I don’t

have to listen to that stupid

story any more! Leave me alone!

Norman is terrified, but advances on the tree, the rocks

under his feet churning.

NORMAN:

No. I’m not leaving. Just listen

to me.

(takes a breath)

Uh... once upon a time... long

ago... there was a little girl...

ParaNorman 86.

140 CONTINUED:
(2) 140

AGGIE:

What?

NORMAN:

A little girl who was different

from the other people in her

village.

The voice chants petulantly over him as if putting its

demonic fingers in its ears.

AGGIE:

I’m not listening! LA-LA-LA-LA-LALAAA!

NORMAN:

She could see and do things that

no one could understand, and that

made them scared of her.

AGGIE:

I don’t like this story!

NORMAN:

She turned away from everyone, and

became sad and lonely, and had no

one to turn to.

AGGIE:

Stop it!

If Aggie weren’t floating three feet above the ground,

she’d be stamping her feet. Her voice blows bits of bark

off the surrounding trees.

NORMAN:

But the more she turned away from

people, the more scared they were

of her, and they did something

terrible!

Arcs of white energy CRACKLE through the air. Where they

hit the ground, they send up white flames.

NORMAN (CONT’D)

They became so scared that they

took her away and killed her!

AGGIE:

No!

NORMAN:

But even though she was dead

something in her came back.

AGGIE:

Stop!

ParaNorman 87.

140 CONTINUED:
(3) 140

NORMAN:

And this part of her wouldn’t go

away, not for three hundred

years...

AGGIE:

Shut up!

NORMAN:

And the longer it stayed, the less

there was of the little girl!

AGGIE:

I’ll make you suffer!

NORMAN:

Why?

Aggie goes to shout, but stops, unsure of her answer.

AGGIE:

Because... because...

NORMAN:

Because you want everyone to hurt

just as much as you are! So

whenever you wake up you play this

mean game, but you don’t play

fair!

AGGIE:

They hurt me!

NORMAN:

So you hurt them back?

AGGIE:

I wanted everyone to see how

rotten they were!

NORMAN:

You’re just like them, Agatha.

AGGIE:

No I’m not!

NORMAN:

You’re a bully.

AGGIE:

No I’m not!

Norman has almost reached the eye of the storm. The world

behind him is a whirling torrent of burning white chaos.

NORMAN:

They did something awful, but that

doesn’t mean you should too!

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