"Termination"

Termination



Ext. Outside a house. A man, PAUL stands in front of a door to a house. He raises his hand to open it, but his hand lingers, not yet touching the door knob.



Int. PAUL is now inside the house. JACKIE his wife, is screaming at him.



JACKIE

No, don’t fucking say that. This is that bad. What the hell are we going to do?!



PAUL

…I don’t know



JACKIE

Figure it the hell out Paul! This whole family is relying on you. No, don’t touch me.



Jackie yanks her arm away from Paul.



Suddenly Paul is back outside, his hand resting on the doorknob. He never went in. Paul turns around to leave, when an idea comes to him. He moves with more purpose now, getting into his car and retrieving an address from a book/phone before driving off. As his car pulls out, one of the curtains is pulled back, with Jackie looking out.



Paul comes out of a store, having purchased a large butcher knife. He drives to a house and parks his car in front. He sits there for a long time, thinking, picks the knife up, inspects it, and then begins honking incessantly. After sometime, a well-dressed, middle aged man, LINCOLN, steps outside.



We are now inside of Lincoln’s office, Paul is sitting down, visibly angry.





LINCOLN

Paul I’m sorry, there is nothing I can do



PAUL

Jesus man, you can do what’s right!



LINCOLN

You mean what’s right—for you. Look at the big picture here, my hands are tied. If I continue to employ you….I mean you stole corporate information for Christ’s sake!



PAUL

We stole it!

LINCOLN

There is a paper trail leading back to you Paul



PAUL

This isn’t court right now, goddamnit! This is me you’re talking to. You gave me the go-ahead! You know that.



LINCOLN

…They can prove your guilt without breaking a sweat. But if I…



PAUL

Distance yourself from me. That’s what this is.



Lincoln only looks at Paul.



LINCOLN

…You won’t be able to get a job right away, not in this state. But I think in a few months I might be able to get you something-



PAUL

NO. We can’t move right now, and I can’t afford to not work



LINCOLN

This isn’t a negotiation. Do you want my help or not?



PAUL

Fuck you.



LINCOLN

…Ok





We are back inside the car with Paul, his resolve hardens and he gets out of the car, walks up to Lincoln and before he can say a word Paul stabs him multiple times. Lincoln falls to the ground, bleeding to death. Paul stares at Lincoln



We are suddenly back in the car with Paul, still holding the knife. He looks up at Lincoln who is standing outside. Paul decides to drive off.



Paul is inside his house, on the couch Jackie sits next to him.



PAUL

…I don’t know what were gonna do.



JACKIE

[thinks for a second] Do we ever? I mean not to be a downer but...since when did we ever have a plan?



PAUL

I don’t even have a job now, I mean-



JACKIE

Look, Paul. What I’m saying is that I can barely remember a week when we didn’t have some insurmountable problem, but ya know what? Were here now. So who’s to say this time is the one that’s gonna break us?



PAUL

Yah but, it’s really not looking good right now



JACKIE

You just got fired. Damn straight it’s not looking good right now. But the beauty is, this ‘not good’ situation were in, it’s only temporary



PAUL

…You’re right. I’ll think of something-



JACKIE

We’ll think of something. The well-being of this family doesn’t rest squarely on your shoulders



PAUL

[laughs a little] Getting another job won’t be easy, I’m probably already on a few black lists…you sure we can figure this out?



JACKIE

….No. I’m not sure. But, I’m not sure we won’t be able to figure it out either. So for now, we do our best, see what happens.



Paul stares at Jackie for a bit, finding himself a little reassured. They hug



[END]

Current Status:

May need one more shoot to correct grain on some specific night shots.

Scoring in process.