Struck by Lightning Page #8
How could you
throw my letter away?!
- Protect me?!
I didn't want you
to get hurt like i did.
All your talk about growing up
and becoming a writer and all...
all these
delusions you have
won't happen.
Dreams don't come true,
carson.
Take if from me,
i am living proof.
The world
is a very cruel place.
You would've left,
been eaten alive,
come back utterly destroyed,
and i didn't want that.
I can't believe this.
This is so unfair.
Life is unfair,
you know, it is.
And the sooner you realize that,
the faster you grow up.
And the faster you grow up,
the sooner you'll see
the world
for what it really is.
You know, thank you.
Thank you for being
the perfect example
of something
that i refuse to become!
AT bad day
you're looking far away
oh, looking
for the great escape
gets in his car
and drives away
far from
all the things
that we are
force a smile...
force a smile...
force a smile...
[cell phone ringing]
[Sheryl]
Carson, i need to talk to you.
I need to apologize.
I need to apologize.
What are we gonna do
with all of these?
I'm donating them
to my grandmother's home.
They're sending someone
after school
to come and pick 'em up
and pass 'em out.
At least they'll be read.
Or chewed.
I'm so sorry
things didn't work out
the way that
you wanted them to.
Me, too.
Looks like i'll be seeing you
around clover community college.
Maybe we'll be adventurous
and start
a literary magazine there.
Malerie,
why do you film everything?
I mean, i'm sure
you don't want to remember...
everything.
What isn't worth remembering?
With good memories
come bad memories,
and i've got a lot of both.
At least this way
i can fast forward through
all the bad stuff.
A counselor once told me
that it doesn't matter
if you're stuck in the past
or if you
try to forget the past.
What matters is
what you do in the present.
That's why
i just try to soak it up
as much as possible.
I think you just found
something to write about.
- [Period bell rings]
- I gotta go.
If i'm late for the bus,
the driver said
he'd make me ride in the trunk.
It is not fun.
Carson.
Are we...
friends?
I think we're best friends,
malerie.
Cool.
Cool.
Cool.
[Grandma] he used to be
such a happy boy.
He used to write me stories.
he ever wrote me.
"Once upon a time
there was a boy."
[Laughs]
Then it became,
"once upon a time
there was a boy
who wanted to fly."
And it just got
better and better over time.
Now i never did find out
whether the boy got to fly.
[Carson] and then
it suddenly came to me.
I had one more story to add.
I had been so busy
dwelling in my own self-pity
i had forgotten
what i actually accomplished.
I successfully
published a literary magazine
filled with the thoughts,
concerns,
hopes and imaginations
of my jaded high school peers.
For the first time in my life,
i was truly happy.
[Thunderclap]
[Sheryl]
Carson, where are you?
What are you, at your father's?
Are you two like
best friends now or something?
Just call me back.
[Carson] i don't know
what's more pathetic,
the fact that i was
actually struck by lightning
or that it took three days
for anyone to find my body.
Whoa.
It's carson phillips,
he's dead.
[Doorbell rings]
What?!
Are you sheryl phillips?
[Answering machine]
Hi, you've reached carson.
Leave a message, mom.
- Carson?
- [Beep]
I need you
to come home right now!
This isn't funny.
Hi, you've reached carson.
Leave a message, mom.
Ahh! Carson!
There are cops outside
that say you're dead!
I need you to co...
i need you to come home!
I need to talk to you!
I need you
to come home right now!
Hi, you've reached carson.
Leave a message, mom.
[Machine beeps]
Please answer your phone.
Answer your phone.
I need to know you're okay.
[Sobbing]
I need to know you're okay.
Hi, you've reached carson.
Leave a message, mom.
[Beep]
Hi, you've reached carson.
Leave a message, mom.
[Beep]
[Reporter] a few days ago
right here where i'm standing,
clover high school senior
carson phillips lost his life
when he was
struck my lightning.
A service
will be held this sunday
He will be missed.
[Carson]
It's amazing how popular
you become once you die.
I think i speak
for the entire faculty
when i say...
your son was an absolute joy.
[Carson]
Oh, kiss my embalmed ass.
but even death couldn't suit
some of
the impressions i left.
Absolutely not.
Your book club will not
spare a page to remind people
that carson phillips
was zapped in the parking lot.
Sir, those pages
are reserved for prom.
- I'm just saying one page.
- Plant a tree.
How do i begin
[Carson] i never graduated,
i never went to northwestern,
i never wrote
for "the new yorker,"
i never won
the nobel peace prize,
i never changed the world.
I never got out of clover.
- [Carson] it's a lot like...
- [malerie] lightning.
[Carson]
Yeah, exactly.
These were just delusions
that occupied my time.
And thank god they did.
[Claire]
Okay, so we all agree,
leopard print will be our theme
for our safari prom.
And of course
it will all be faux fur.
[Carson]
Because a life without
meaning, without drive,
- without focus...
- on second thought,
the safari prom idea
kinda sucks.
Let's come up
with something better.
[Carson]
Without goals or dreams...
isn't a life worth living.
"To grandma,
"once upon a time
there was a boy who flew."
[Carson]
Life comes at you fast,
it runs through your body
and tries to escape
and be expressed
in any way possible.
In a way,
it's a lot like...
lightning.
AT:
i've been
all over the world
i felt the seasons
i've been on
both sides of the ocean
i've been in-between them
so i think i know love
when i feel it
it's everything
you wanna be
well, just be it
now don't get me moaning
it's already outta control
and it's shocking,
shocking
yeah
so i think i know love
when i feel love
yeah,
i think i know love
when i feel love
it's everything
you wanna be
whoa, oh, oh
oh
oh
oh
i've been
all over the world
i feel the seasons
i've been on
both sides of the ocean
and i've been
in-between them
so i think i know love
when i feel it
yeah,
it's everything
you wanna
everything you wanna be
so just be it
everything
everything you wanna be
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"Struck by Lightning" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2025. Web. 20 Jan. 2025. <https://www.scripts.com/script/struck_by_lightning_19014>.
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