The Crow: City of Angels Page #3

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to the ankh, then slips the silver chain over her head. Sarah

stands, pulls on a jacket, heads out.

EXT. SARAH'S LOFT, STREET - DUSK

An ill-wind kicks up trash and grit. Sarah glances down. Dozens

of the glassine imp envelopes swirl around Sarah's feet like

confetti. One of the envelopes has stuck to her heel. As she

peels it off, she catches sight of...

A PALE FACE:

in a shadowed entryway. It's a TEENAGED GIRL (16), strung out

on drugs. The girl cowers in a narrow stairway, hugging herself,

shivering from withdrawal.

Sarah draws closer, notices some of the grinning imp drug sachets

at the girl's feet. The girl shies away, frightened, suspicious.

SARAH:

(DRYLY)

Nice place you've got here.

GRACE:

(a muttered whisper)

No place else to go.

Sarah can't help but recognize a part of herself in this lost

soul.

SARAH:

Gotta name?

GRACE:

Grace. So what?

SARAH:

Listen, Grace, how does some hot coffee sound? Maybe a little

food?

GRACE:

What do you want?

SARAH:

Nothing. Guess you just remind me of someone I used to know.

After a moment, Grace offers a reluctant nod. Sarah helps her

from the entryway, into the warmth of the dying light. Grace

blinks, shields her eyes.

As they walk away down the street, camera rises up to include...

THE CROW:

perched on a nearby rooftop, watching them.

CUT TO:

EXT. GRAY GARGOYLE TATTOO SHOP - NIGHT

the Gargoyle is an usassuming ink shop - the sole oasis of light

in an otherwise desolated block populated by derelict warehouse

buildings. Flickering neon BUZZES in the window.

Nearby is a battered road sign - "END CITY LIMITS". Someone has

spray-painted "OF THE F***ING WORLD" over "city limits". In the

distance, the bridge of the River Styx rises through the mist

like a skeletal dinosaur.

SUPER TITLE:

"OCTOBER 30TH - LA NOCHE DE LA SANTA MUERTE"

INT. GRAY GARGOYLE TATTOO SHOP - NIGHT

CLOSE ON a sparking tattoo "gun", the needle WHIRRING as it travels

over a patch of Vaseline-smeared skin.

SARAH (V.O.)

Almost finished. Doing okay?

CUSTOMER (V.O.)

Yeah, stings a little.

SARAH (V.O.)

That's why they call me the Mistress of Pain.

PULL BACK TO REVEAL Sarah expertly guiding the needle, wearing

glasses, surgical gloves, concentrating.

Sarah's buzz-headed CUSTOMER sits in a ratty dentist's chair.

Sarah is finishing coloring a Japanese dragon which winds its

way over the man's forearm. She makes another line of color then

sits back, smoothing more Vaseline over the man's arm. She picks

up a jeweler's loupe, makes an adjustment on her needle...

Behind Sarah we glimpse the cluttered tattoo shop - walls covered

with sheets of flash (ready-made art), bookshelves crammed with

reference works. Sarah's partner, NOAH, a chain-smoking proto-punk

Brit, consults with a YOUNG GRUNGE COUPLE.

LATER -

Noah is closing up shop, while Sarah sterilizes some needles

in an autoclave.

NOAH:

What a downer - this kid wanted me to tattoo "If you're reading

this, you're too close" on his bleedin' bum!

Sarah smiles. Noah fires up a fag, flops down into a dentist

chair. The two slip into a familiar, good-natured banter.

NOAH:

Christ, I'm knackered.

SARAH:

Beats pushing ink in Detroit.

NOAH:

That it does, Princess, that it does.

(REMEMBERING)

Oh, I bought you a little present...

Noah reaches into his shirt pocket and pulls something out. It's

a handmade candy sugar skull with a little strip of paper glued

to the bottom - a fortune.

NOAH:

They do 'em for the Day of the Dead.

(tossing the skull to Sarah)

Nice, huh? Necrophagia, Princess. Eat the dead.

SARAH:

(reading fortune)

"Life is just a dream on the way to death." I like that.

Sarah studies the skull, then pops it in her mouth, nodding.

Noah rises, stretching.

NOAH:

Want to grab a beer, then?

SARAH:

No, I gotta go home. Haven't been sleeping much lately.

NOAH:

So, what's the dirty dog's name?

SARAH:

I've just been having some weird dreams.

(REFLECTING)

You ever dream that you're dying someone else's death?

Outside we hear a MOTORCYCLE pulling up, then someone KNOCKS

on the front door.

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