Short Term 12 Page #12

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pieces in the middle of the floor.

She leaves the room, searching for Marcus.

INT. GROUP HOME HALLWAY -- CONTINUOUS

She exits the room.

Looks back toward the cool down room.

Down the hall.

GRACE:

Marcus?

Peeks into Sammy's room, then another...nothing.

GRACE (CONT’D)

Marcus?

Then, she sees him, sitting on the floor just inside Luis'sroom.

GRACE (CONT’D)

Marcus, what are you doing in

Luis's room?

Marcus doesn't respond, but just stares blankly at nothing.

And then Grace sees the large shard of glass in his hand, andthe blood covering his fingers.

GRACE (CONT’D)

Oh God.

She drops to his level and pulls the glass from his fingers.

Marcus stares off, holding in the tears.

Grace reacts, moving quickly into the room. And then she

sees Luis, lying face down on the bed, not moving.

GRACE (CONT’D)

Luis!

Grace runs up to him.

GRACE (CONT’D)

Luis!

She shakes him. Luis turns over and looks at her. He takes

out one of his ear phones.

LUIS:

What?

As Grace puts the pieces together, she hears a THUMP. Shelooks back to Marcus, who is now lying on the floor with astreak of blood across the door behind him. She rushes to

him.

GRACE:

No. Sh*t!

Grace kneels next to Marcus and turns over his arm to reveal

the fresh cuts down his wrist.

GRACE (CONT’D)

Sh*t! Mason! Somebody! Anybody!

Come! Help me!!

She looks back to Luis, who looks really scared.

GRACE (CONT’D)

Luis! Luis, I need your pillowcase right now! Give it to me!

Luis rips off his pillow case and tosses it to her.

GRACE (CONT’D)

Quicker please.

Grace wraps the pillow case around Marcus’ arm.

GRACE (CONT’D)

Marcus, Marcus! Marcus, please lookat me. Marcus, look at me. You'regonna to be okay. I just need youto look at me. Marcus, look at me.

Grace panics.

GRACE (CONT’D)

What the f*** is taking so long?!!

EXT. GROUP HOME -- NIGHT

The group home sits silently in the moonlight.

INT. GROUP HOME LOUNGE -- NIGHT

The kids are in the lounge playing a board game with Jessica

guarding the door.

Luis sits on the couch watching tv, still shaken from theincident.

INT. GROUP HOME HALLWAY -- NIGHT

Nate is on all fours in the empty hallway, wiping Marcus's

blood from the door. He stops, suddenly, unable to go on.

INT. HOSPITAL WAITING ROOM -- NIGHT

Grace sits in the waiting room along with a few other injured

and sick people. Grace is completely drained. Her hair is

frazzled and she has Marcus's blood on her shirt. She stares

off at nothing. A nurse walks by but doesn't say anything.

Mason walks up and sits down after talking to a nurse.

MASON:

They still don't know anything.

He rubs his head.

Grace frantically picks at her bandaged thumb again. She

nervously bounces her foot on the ground. She puts her headdown for a moment, then quickly stands to her feet.

GRACE:

I can't do this.

She walks out of the room.

MASON:

Grace.

Mason follows her out.

EXT. HOSPITAL PARKING LOT -- NIGHT

Grace walks out to the parking lot and begins to unlock herbike from around the street lamp.

MASON:

Hey, Grace, where are you going?

GRACE:

I can't do this.

Mason finally reaches her.

MASON:

Okay, let’s go. I’ll drive us

home.

He tries to hug her but she shrugs him off and pushes himaway. The gesture humiliates him.

GRACE:

I don’t want to go home. That’s

not what I’m talking about.

MASON:

I know it’s been a really f***ed upday, okay?

GRACE:

Mason, you have no idea what I’mgoing through right now.

MASON:

Then tell me. That’s how this

works. Talk to me about it so that

I can take your hand and fuckingwalk through this sh*t with you.

That is what I signed up for, okay?

But I cannot do that if you won’tlet me in.

Grace shakes her head.

GRACE:

I can’t. I’m sorry.

MASON:

(beat)

You’re sorry?

(beat)

Grace, are you serious?

(beat)

I’ve been waiting for you for areally long time, and I wouldn’ttake a second of it back, because Ilove you so god damn much, okay?

But I have been waiting for threeyears for you to tell me why youstill don’t trust me. I’ve been

waiting for you for three years foryou to just once take the advicethat you give your kids everyfucking five minutes and learn totalk about what’s going on insideyour head. You can’t do that for

me?

Grace shakes her head.

MASON (CONT’D)

Whatever it is, okay? Just talk to

me.

GRACE:

I can’t do this.

He watches her shift her weight, avoiding eye contact.

GRACE (CONT’D)

I can’t...I can’t marry you.

Mason stares at her for a moment, looking for somethingrecognizable, but she just looks away.

GRACE (CONT’D)

I can’t have your baby. I can’t do

any of it. I can’t do it.

MASON:

So what do you want to do? You

want to get an abortion?

GRACE:

I already made the appointment.

The statement sobers him. He realizes this time it's for

real.

MASON:

Do whatever you want, okay?

Because I'm done.

He turns and walks back to the hospital.

Grace watches him go, the panic bubbling up inside her.

EXT. CITY STREETS -- NIGHT

Grace flies down the road, peddling as fast as she can. A

deep rage bubbles inside her.

EXT. JAYDEN'S DAD'S HOUSE -- NIGHT

Grace throws her bike in the front lawn and walks quickly

toward the house. A beautiful silver Audi sits in the

driveway.

All the lights are off inside the house. She walks straight

to the garage door, reaches up and grabs the key from above

the door. Her hands are shaking. She ignores it, opens the

door and walks in.

INT. JAYDEN'S DAD'S HOUSE, GARAGE -- NIGHT

She walks through the garage, tripping over a bucket of

sporting equipment with a BANG. Tennis rackets, balls, and

an old baseball bat scatter across the floor.

She stalls for a moment, staring at the metal bat, then

instinctively grabs it and walks into the house.

INT. JAYDEN'S DAD'S HOUSE -- NIGHT

Grace walks carefully down the hall to the back room, her

fingers quivering. On the wall is a happy picture of mom,

dad and Jayden. She reaches the door, listens for a moment,

then carefully opens it and steps inside.

INT. JAYDEN'S DAD'S HOUSE BEDROOM -- NIGHT

As she slips into the room, Grace gets her first view of him,

Jayden's dad.

He sleeps on his back, chin to the ceiling, mouth wide open,

breathing loudly on the other side of the bed.

Grace nervously grips her bat and walks around the bed to his

side, slow and quiet.

She stands over him, looking down at his open mouth. Her

grip tightens around the bat.

Her breathing quickens as she positions the silver bat over

his open mouth.

His hot breath fogs the shiny surface.

She slowly raises it over her head, keeping her eyes focused

on her target. Her hands shake with adrenaline.

She stands there motionless for a long moment, musclestwitching, sweat falling from her chin to the floor. She

squeezes down on the handle, shifts her feet, and takes onelast look at his face.

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