The Rapture Page #9

He takes the identification and goes back to his bike.

SHARON nods yes. He studies the license. We look at him for

a moment. He is not a bad man, and he is studying SHARON,

less as another speeder than as a woman in obvious trouble.

In the beginning, SHARON is catatonic; her answers are short

and sparse. As FOSTER continues to press her, she starts to

unravel. She realizes what she has done.

FOSTER:

Here. Where's your little girl?

SHARON:

She's with God.

FOSTER:

She died?

SHARON:

Yes.

FOSTER:

Mary.

SHARON:

Yes.

FOSTER:

How?

SHARON:

I killed her. I was going to kill

myself too, but you can't get into

Heaven if you kill yourself. You can

get into Heaven if somebody else

kills you but not if you kill

yourself. Life is some kind of

punishment, isn't it? You have to go

through with it, even when you know

what life is for.

FOSTER:

What is life for?

SHARON:

Ask God.

FOSTER:

What does he say?

SHARON:

I think He says that, basically, you

have to love Him, no matter what. But

I don't love Him, not anymore. He has

too many rules. He told me to meet

Him in the desert. And I did and I

waited. He didn't come. He broke His

promise. He let me kill my little

girl. And He still expects me to love

Him? I'm afraid of Hell, so I have to

wait out my life, waiting for God.

Now:
He'll forgive me and He'll let

me join my daughter and my husband

in Heaven, but first I have to say I

love Him. You can send me to the gas

chamber, and if I let God into my

heart before I die, then I can go to

Heaven, because God is merciful. How

fast was I going?

FOSTER:

A hundred miles an hour.

SHARON:

A hundred miles an hour. If I had

gone off a bridge and died, would I

have gone to Heaven?

FOSTER:

I don't know.

SHARON:

Neither do I.

Dissolve to:

INTERIOR:
PRISON. DAY.

A guard leads SHARON down a row of cells. A door is opened

and then locked behind her. A woman on the next bed is

reading the Bible, and when she lowers the book, we see it

is ANGIE, the swinger with the tattoo. SHARON says nothing

to her.

ANGIE:

I know you. I should be embarrassed

to even tell you where we met, but

I'm not ashamed, I'm not ashamed of

anything anymore, I found God, God

found me. I was preaching the word

of God at a shopping mall in Palm

Springs, and they had me kicked out.

So I went back in, and they had me

arrested. Have you heard the word

of God?

(No reply.)

It's the greatest gift of all time.

You have to trust completely in God.

He'll forgive all your sins.

SHARON:

Who forgives God?

And she turns away from her.

Fade-out.

INTERIOR:
PRISON CELL. NIGHT.

SHARON hears a sound from her cell. A flaming sword slices

the air. The sword stops flaming when it cuts through the

air. The sword is held by the ARCHANGEL MICHAEL. ANGIE

sleeps.

Another angel drifts into this scene outside the cell. MARY

appears dressed as she was when she died.

MARY:

(sincerely, with a

little difficulty)

God is coming back, Mommy. There

are wars and rumors of wars, Mommy,

and a curse devours the Earth, and

those who live in it are held guilty.

SHARON:

He said He was going to take us to

Heaven.

MARY:

Mother, listen to me. The living

outnumber the dead. The Armies of

the Lord are waiting for the Day of

Judgement. Don't you still love God,

Mommy?

SHARON:

He left us, alone, in the desert.

He let me kill you.

MARY:

Do you still love Him?

SHARON:

How can I love a God who let me kill

my baby?

MARY:

God loves you because you love Him.

SHARON:

Why?

MARY:

I know you want me back, but I can't

come back, Mommy. I'm dead.

SHARON looks as they vanish, then, after a beat, looks down.

Cut to:

INTERIOR:
PRISON. NIGHT.

We move through the cells. A trumpet plays one long,

extended note. The prisoners look outside.

ANGIE:

That's the first call. It's Gabriel

blowing his trumpet. There will be

six more calls. We have until the

last call to repent. After that,

it's too late. After that, it's too

late.

We hear the hoofbeats again, getting louder. People look up.

The sound seems to be in the middle of the room. The sound

of the hoofbeats is impossibly loud, and we see on the TV

screen the faint image of a white horse over a ballgame.

Then the game disappears, and we see the feet of the horse.

ANGIE:

It's God. He's giving us a last

chance to save ourselves. At war,

the First Horseman of the

Apocalypse.

The horse is replaced by a trumpet. The channels are changed,

and the golden trumpet blowing the pure tone is seen across

every channel. It is a long trumpet raised high before a

deep blue background. A hand holds the trumpet, but we don't

see the angel's face. ANGIE begins to sing:

ANGIE:

(sings)

Hark! the herald angels sing,

Glory to the newborn King;

Peace on earth, and mercy mild,

God and sinners reconciled!

Joyful all ye nations rise,

Join the triumph of the skies;

With th' angelic host proclaim

Christ is born in Bethlehem.

As she sings, the trumpet sounds again. The hoofbeats grow.

The blast gets louder. Prison bars start to collapse. All of

the bars fall out of the walls, collapse to the floor with a

great noise. Women step slowly out of their cells. A

helicopter sounds in the background. Everyone sits quietly.

No one knows what to say.

ANGIE:

What more do you need?

SHARON:

Get out of here.

ANGIE leaves. SHARON is alone in the cell. FOSTER walks

down the corridor.

SHARON:

What are you doing here?

FOSTER:

I want to know what happens next.

SHARON:

Are you scared?

FOSTER:

I don't know. I never had any faith.

But you did.

SHARON:

Yep.

FOSTER:

So?

SHARON:

So.

FOSTER:

Well, if the world is coming to an

end, this isn't the place to be.

Let's go.

EXTERIOR:
ROAD. DAY.

SHARON rides behind FOSTER on his motorcycle.

Hoofbeats are closer. The red horse ridden by a rider

wielding a long sword chases them. The rider holds a pair

of scales. The trumpet continues to sound.

Cut to:

EXTERIOR:
THE ROAD. NIGHT.

SHARON and FOSTER are on the bike. The night sky is filled

with the image of a huge bull ridden by a ghostly woman

holding an immense candelabra.

Cut to:

EXTERIOR:
FARTHER DOWN THE ROAD. DUSK.

The motorcycle comes to the crest of a hill.

Smoke surrounds the two. It is impossible to go ahead. They

stop driving. The smoke obscures everything now. Hoofbeats.

The world is dissolving. The FOURTH HORSEMAN, DEATH, riding

the pale horse, appears in the fog of smoke and comes slowly

toward them.

SHARON and FOSTER get off their motorbike and watch the

horseman. Then, they begin to rise slowly into the smoke.

She doesn't want this.

SHARON:

No! No, I don't want to go.

(To FOSTER:
)

Don't let me go. No!

They disappear into the smoke.

Dissolve to:

EXTERIOR:
LIMBO. NIGHT.

We are in the dark. The noise has stopped. Then we see them,

barely lit, a hint of something like moonlight on them. A

voice, MARY'S:

MARY:

Mom?

(MARY walks out of

the darkness. She is

beside them, holding

her panda.)

Hi, Mom.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes