In Dreams: Screenplay

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In Dreams: Screenplay Page 3

by James Eddy

breath)

  I guess that works both ways

  JOHNNY

  (A beat)

  Besides you know that she’s noticed too

  OLIVER

  Who?

  JOHNNY

  (Looking at

  him intently)

  Oh, yer know. Nice girl, kind of delicious. The one who’s so pretty it actually hurts yer feelings!

  OLIVER

  Oh right... She’s not even real

  JOHNNY

  And you're completely sure about that?

  Oliver

  No, but...

  JoHNNY

  Take a chance on something mate. She seems sweet and it's not a coincidence that yer keep seeing her

  OLIVER

  It’s not reality either

  JOHNNY

  JESUS CHRIST! Haven't you ever met someone and felt like you'd known them forever?

  (Oliver shrugs

  his shoulders

  and Johnny

  walks all

  the way

  up to him)

  Please don't make yourself into a lost cause my friend. I'm trying to help yer. These things happen all the time. It just isn’t usually like this. When people meet in dreams, it’s because they're meant to get to know them. That's why there's sort of deja vu when they see each other in reality. It's cool that it happens but it's usually only one way... I dunno why, but you two have both been in each other’s dreams. And now she's started giving yer clues to finding her in the daytime

  OLIVER

  So?

  JOHNNY

  So, she seems like a sweetheart.

  Oliver shakes his head.

  OLIVER

  Then why doesn’t she just tell me where she is?

  JOHNNY

  Because she can't. I don't really understand why. It’s just that you’re not meant to use other people's dreams to directly affect their reality. Or something like that anyway. I dunno... It just means that giving yer clues is a pretty big deal...

  (A beat)

  Look, I can’t tell yer what to do but in the end you've gotta make up yer own mind on what yer wanna believe mate

  OLIVER

  (A beat or two)

  All right... But why did she... Well you know...

  JOHNNY

  Disappear? She woke up. Simple as that. That's how you ended up here and that's why yer probably haven't got long left

  They start walking again until the school building appears in the background behind them.

  JOHNNY

  (Gesturing towards

  the building)

  Shall we?

  OLIVER

  I can’t! I can’t go back!

  JOHNNY

  What’s the matter? Are yer afraid something bad’s gonna happen to yer?

  (A beat or

  two as they

  look at each

  other and

  then Johnny

  looks at

  his watch)

  SHIT! I’ve gotta leave... Help me to pack will yer?

  OLIVER

  What?

  JOHNNY

  Help me put my stuff in the car

  CUT TO:

  EXT. STREET - DAY

  Oliver and Johnny stand by a black car, which is parked in a cul-de-sac. Boxes surround them.

  OLIVER

  Oh, Okay

  Oliver and Johnny pick up the boxes and put them in the car. Johnny stops and turns to Oliver.

  JOHNNY

  I need some money! Can you help me with money?

  OLIVER

  Right... Okay I’ll uh see what I can do

  Oliver runs down the road away from Johnny and the car. He looks around as he runs and when he notices something ahead of him he runs even faster towards it. He stops at the foot of a tree, looking at what appear to be the leaves on its branches but on closer inspection they turn out to be book tokens. He grabs several handfuls of these tokens and runs back to Johnny and the car.

  OLIVER

  (Slightly out

  of breath)

  Couldn’t... Couldn’t find money... I got these though

  He holds out the book tokens to Johnny.

  JOHNNY

  (Taking the

  book tokens)

  That’ll do fine...

  (A beat)

  Now get in

  Oliver and Johnny get in the car with Johnny on the driver’s side and Oliver as the front passenger.

  CUT TO:

  INT. CAR - DAY

  Johnny starts the car.

  OLIVER

  Where are we going?

  Johnny doesn’t answer and simply starts to drive. He drives to the bottom of the cul-de-sac to turn the car around. As he does this Oliver tries to put on his seatbelt. The seatbelt is missing and he fumbles around trying to find it. He turns to where Johnny had been but the person he sees isn't Johnny. Oliver is looking into the face of Jim Brady, who immediately puts his foot down hard on the accelerator. Oliver looks on as Brady drives along the cul-de-sac at high speed and heads straight towards a house. He drives straight through the small front garden and smashes into the front of the house.

  END DREAM SEQUENCE.

  INT. BEDROOM - MORNING

  Oliver wakes suddenly and is lying in his bed in the morning light.

  Fade TO:

  INT. LIVING ROOM - MORNING

  Oliver sits on the sofa, eating his breakfast cereal. He stands, walks to a bookshelf, and looks at the books. A calendar, pinned to one of the shelves and covering some of the books, is pushed out of the way as he reaches past it and pulls out one of the books. He opens it and looks through it quickly, scanning its pages, until he eventually stops on a page. The page of the encyclopaedia is about Admiral Horatio Nelson. He reads through it until he stops on the word ‘Trafalgar.’

  CUT TO:

  EXT. TRAFALGAR SQUARE - MORNING

  Trafalgar Square is full of people walking around. Oliver wanders around quickly but more or less aimlessly looking for something of some significance in the fountains or Nelson's Column itself. He finds nothing and eventually gives up and walks away.

  CUT TO:

  INT. LIVING ROOM - DAY

  Oliver looks at a piece of paper. On the paper the words - Nelson, Wellington, Knickers, Off, Ready, When, I, Come, Home are written. Added to this are the letters K, O, R, W, I, C, H, which are jumbled into a number of different orders - W, O, R, K, I, C, H, W, I, C, H, R, O, K, etc. Oliver sits on the sofa with this piece of paper on his lap. He gets up and walks to the bookshelf. He stops to look at the calendar hanging from it. The calendar illustrates 'February' with a photograph of 'Bamburgh Castle, Northumberland'. Oliver takes the calendar off the pin it is hanging from. He folds over one page, followed by several others.

  OLIVER

  Fuck!

  Oliver looks at the photograph for September. The photograph is of a statue - described as “Statue of the Duke of Wellington in the grounds of Norwich Cathedral.” Oliver moves quickly over to the bookshelf, takes an encyclopaedia off the shelf and goes through the pages. He moves to the sofa and sits down to look at the words written on the page. He goes through the page on Admiral Nelson he had read earlier. He turns the page and stops on the words ‘educated in Norwich'.

  CUT TO:

  INT. BEDROOM - DAY

  Oliver runs around the room looking for and putting whatever he can find into a suitcase, which lies open on the bed.

  CUT TO:

  EXT. LONDON LIVERPOOL STREET STATION - DAY

  Oliver walks into the station.

  CUT TO:

  INT. LONDON LIVERPOOL STREET STATION - DAY

  Oliver walks through the station and then along one of the platforms before getting aboard the train to Norwich.

  CUT TO:

  INT. TRAIN - EVENING

  Oliver smiles as he looks out of the train window as it travels at high speed through the English countryside.

  CUT TO:
<
br />   INT. NORWICH STATION - EVENING

  The train pulls into the station and comes to a stop. Oliver steps onto the platform along with many other people who were on the train. He walks through the ticket barriers and then out of the station.

  CUT TO:

  EXT. NORWICH STATION - EVENING

  Oliver pauses to take a deep breath of the fresh air and then starts walking again. He walks another 50 yards through the station car park before he stops and looks to his left. He sees a building with an illuminated sign on its side that reads “The Nelson".

  CUT TO:

  EXT. HOTEL NELSON - EVENING

  Oliver walks along the pavement that leads to the hotel. He turns left and walks inside.

  CUT TO:

  INT. HOTEL RECEPTION - EVENING

  He walks up to the reception desk.

  OLIVER

  (To the

  receptionist)

  Hi there, I’d uh like a room please

  CUT TO:

  INT. HOTEL ROOM - EVENING

  Oliver walks into the room with his suitcase and shuts the door behind him.

  FADE TO:

  INT. HOTEL ROOM - EVENING

  Oliver is alone in the room. He takes things out of his suitcase. The last thing he does is put an alarm clock on his bedside table before moving the suitcase off the bed.

  FADE TO:

  INT. HOTEL ROOM - NIGHT

  Oliver is in bed. He leans across to turn his bedside light off.

  CUT TO:

  BLACK SCREEN:

  SUPER: "Three Nights Earlier"

  FADE IN:

  BEGIN DREAM SEQUENCE:

  INT. THEATRE - Evening

  There is a large audience looking at the empty stage. Actors then walk in from the right - These are ROMEO, OLIVER AS MERCUTIO, BENVOLIO, with 5 or 6 others in masks and several torch bearers. It is a performance of Romeo and Juliet, Act I Scene IV.

  ROMEO

  What, shall this speech be spoke for our excuse?

  Or shall we without apology

  BENVOLIO

  The date is out of such prolixity

  We’ll have no cupid hoodwinked with a scarf,

  Bearing a tartars painted bow of lath,

  Scaring the ladies like a crowkeeper;

  Nor no without book prologue, faintly spoke

  After the prompter, for our entrance;

  But, let them measure us by what they will,

  We’ll measure them a measure and be gone

  ROMEO

  Give me a torch; I am not for this ambling;

  Being but heavy, I will bear the light

  There is silence as Oliver struggles to remember Mercutio’s line.

  EMILY

  (Off screen)

  Nay gentle Romeo, we must have you dance

  Oliver looks up and sees that Emily is floating in the air above him. He looks back

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