Unbreakable Page #7

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Elijah just stands staring for the longest time. Beat. He walks closer to them.

When Elijah speaks, his voice has a whispery quality to it.

ELIJAH:

You've never been sick?

DAVID:

I don't know for sure.

(beat)

...I don't think so.

David and Elijah quietly look at each other. Beat.

ELIJAH:

Well if this ain't a riddle

worthy of the Riddler?

CUT TO:

EXT. LIMITED EDITION - LATE AFTERNOON

Three chairs have been placed on the walkway in front of the bay window of the

store. The words, "Limited Edition" are etched in the window.

David, Jeremy and Elijah are seated watching the people stroll by. Elijah's cane

is on his lap.

Jeremy sips a drink in a paper cup.

ELIJAH:

So let's get some of the

usual questions out of the

way. Why am I using a cane?

Raise your hand if you were

thinking that.

Jeremy raises his hand.

ELIJAH:

I fractured my leg. It's the

fifth time I've done that

particular bone. It didn't

really heal well this time.

ELIJAH:

Raise your hand is you're

wondering who the hell

breaks the same bone five

times?

Jeremy and David raise their hands.

ELIJAH:

I have something called

Osteogenesis Imperfecta.

It's a genetic disorder. I

don't make this particular

type of protein very well

and it makes my bones very

low in density, very easy to

break. I've had fifty-four

breaks in my life. I have

the tamest version of the

disorder... Type one.

(beat)

There are type two, type

three, and type four. Type

four's don't make it very

long...

(beat)

That ends our lecture on the

medical anomaly known as

Elijah Price.

Elijah stares at his two rapt listeners.

ELIJAH:

How certain are you that you

haven't been sick in your

life?

DAVID:

Seventy-five percent.

ELIJAH:

Seventy-five percent? That's

not nearly good enough for

me. I'm extremely skeptical.

DAVID:

Skeptical about what?

ELIJAH:

Your answer to my question.

It's one thing to have never

been injured in your life,

but to state that you've

never taken ill, well that's

a whole new level.

JEREMY:

Dad's been injured.

Beat.

ELIJAH:

What's he talking about?

DAVID:

In college. A car accident.

ELIJAH:

Was it serious?

David nods.

JEREMY:

He couldn't play football

anymore.

Beat. Elijah looks shaken.

ELIJAH:

I assumed because of the

train.

DAVID:

You assumed wrong.

Elijah closes his eyes. When his eyes open, the life force in them has

diminished. Beat.

ELIJAH:

It's over.

(beat)

You can go now.

Elijah uses his cane to get up and walk back through the doors of the store.

INT. LIMITED EDITION - LATE AFTERNOON

David and Jeremy enter the store. Elijah leans on a walking stick before one of

the framed sketches. He gazes at it quietly.

DAVID:

I think you skipped a couple

steps.

Elijah turns.

DAVID:

You forgot the "Now I'm

going to tell you what the

hell is going on" step. See

usually that comes before

the, "It's over" Step. And

it always, always comes

before the "You can go"

Step.

(beat)

What is over?

ELIJAH:

The life of an idea that has

lived too long in my head.

David stares at Elijah impatiently.

ELIJAH:

There are probably only four

or five individuals in the

world who can claim more

knowledge of comics than

myself. I've spent a third

of my life in a hospital bed

with nothing else to do but

read. I have studied the

form intimately. I have seen

the patterns in them... The

references to social and

cultural events and the

atmosphere that surrounded

them. I've come to believe

that comics are our last

link to the ancient way of

passing on history.

ELIJAH:

The Egyptians drew pictures

on walls about battles, and

events. Countries all around

the world still pass on

knowledge through pictorial

forms.

(beat)

I believe that comics, just

at their core now... have a

truth. They are depicting

what someone, somewhere felt

or experienced. Then of

course that core got chewed

up in the commercial machine

and gets jazzed up, made

titillating - cartooned for

the sale rack.

Elijah gazes at David.

ELIJAH:

This city has had its share

of disasters. Well

publicized ones. It was

around the time of that

plane crash, when it first

entered my head. And there

it stayed, as I waited and

watched the news over the

years...

(beat)

And then one day I see a

news report on a train

accident and its sole

survivor who was

miraculously unharmed.

(soft)

And just like that, an idea

blossoms into the flower of

possible reality.

DAVID:

What was your idea Elijah?

Beat.

ELIJAH(soft)

If there is someone like me

in the world, and I'm at one

end of the spectrum...

Couldn't there be someone

the opposite of me, at the

other end?

(beat)

A person who can't be hurt

like the rest of us. A kind

of person they were talking

about in those stories.

Elijah points at the framed comic sketches.

ELIJAH(soft)

A person they believed was

put here to protect the rest

of us. Guard us.

JEREMY:

You thought my dad was a

real-

DAVID:

Jeremy don't take another

sip of that drink.

Jeremy looks down at the paper cup in his hands.

DAVID:

Throw it in the trashcan

near the door and wait for

me outside. Do it now

please.

David waits for Jeremy to exit the store. Beat.

DAVID:

At the church... You were

following me weren't you?

ELIJAH:

Technically no. I gambled

that you would attend the

church service. I just

waited for you.

David glares at Elijah.

DAVID:

What's this about? This is

obviously some scam. Is this

where you tell me one of

those pictures is like an

investment?

ELIJAH:

You've misunderstood.

DAVID:

I see guys like you all the

time in my work. You find

someone you think is

emotionally vulnerable and

you tell them a fantastic

story, utterly convincing...

and somewhere in there, you

slip it in... 'I just need

your credit card number','I

just need a small down

payment.'

David shakes his head. He smiles out of frustration. Beat.

DAVID:

Did you know that this

morning was the first

morning I can remember, that

I didn't open my eyes and

feel that sadness... Do you

know what I'm talking about?

That little bit of sadness?

(beat)

I thought the person that

wrote that note had an

answer for me. For why I

survived that train. For why

my life feels so out of

balance...

(beat)

But I guess that's what you

were counting on.

Elijah stares carefully at David. Beat. David glances over to the entrance.

Jeremy watched through the window concerned.

DAVID:

I'm going to leave now.

(beat)

Good luck with your sale.

Elijah watches David walk towards the front door.

ELIJAH:

What type of job do you have

David?

David opens the door. He looks back at Elijah.

ELIJAH:

You mentioned you've met

'guys like me' in your work.

(beat)

What type of job would that

be?

Beat.

DAVID:

I work at the stadium as a

security guard.

Beat. David closes the door behind him. Elijah watches through the window as

Jeremy takes David's hand as they cross the street.

Elijah gazes out the window in a bit of a daze.

CUT TO:

INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT

ALL LIGHTS ARE OUT EXCEPT THE SMALL BEDSIDE LAMP ON DAVID'S SIDE.

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