"The End" - a short film script
Written by David Dellecese
Copyright 2001
No portion of this script may be performed, reproduced, or used by any means, or quoted or published in any medium without the prior written consent of David M. Dellecese.
SFX: CAR CRASING. AMBULANCE SIRENS. PEOPLE TALKING IN BG.
FADE IN:
EXT. PARK - DAY
A GIRL dressed in black, stands by a tree, looking on at something off camera, as a young MAN in his twenties or thirties walks over to her and starts watching too.
MAN
Man, will ya look at that. Did ya see it happen?
GIRL
Hmm? Oh. Yeah. Came out of nowhere. Don’t even think he ever saw it comin’.
MAN
Nice day.
GIRL
Yeah, it is.
MAN
I never really get outside anymore. Shame on days like today, ya know?
GIRL
How come you don’t get outside?
MAN
Work work work, ya know?
GIRL
I hear that. Never ends, does it?
MAN
Nope. On a lunch break or somethin’?
GIRL
Me? No, I’m…actually on the job right now.
MAN
Sweet. Fresh air, scenery, no cubicle AND a paycheck.
GIRL
Yeah…kinda…somethin’ like that. So, what do you do?
MAN
Me? Oh, I work for a company in downtown. Numbers and processing and stuff like that. Just a roller coaster of excitement, lemme tell ya.
GIRL
Is that what you always wanted to do?
MAN
Are you kidding me?
(beat)
I don’t think so. Nah. In my more foolish days I wanted to be a writer.
GIRL
A writer? Cool. I’ve met a lot of writers.
MAN
Really? Anybody I’d know?
GIRL
Not personally, I don’t think. They’re all dead.
MAN
Damn, you’re a dangerous girl to know. (pauses) Yeah, it used to be so much fun. I used to have this really old typewriter my mother gave me that I use to write all kinds
of stories on. It was…really great, actually.
GIRL
How come you didn’t do THAT?
MAN
Are you kidding me? You know how hard that field is to get into? There’s NO money in the starving artist occupation, believe me. Been there, done that. Yeah, they make it seem so cute in the movies, but it’s not. It’s cold. It’s hard. And it doesn’t pay the bills.
GIRL
So you settled for being a numbers guy?
MAN
Well…yeah…I mean…I can’t go through life just hoping for something to finally break. Life’s too short to waste on that stuff.
GIRL
Life’s too short to waste settling for something you don’t enjoy, too.
MAN
Oh, god, you’re one of those motivational people, right? You go around and give speeches about how we can all do so much better than what we have if we only want it bad enough, right? Sorry, lady. I don’t buy it. Save it for that poor shmuck over there who got hit by the…the…oh my god.
(beat)
That’s me.
GIRL
You’re a swift one, you know that?
MAN
What the HELL is going on here?
GIRL
Not hell. At least not yet. Geez, I hope you didn’t do anything THAT dumb to end up THERE.
MAN
What is going on?! Who ARE you?!
GIRL
Oh, me? Oh, sorry. Didn’t even introduce myself. Ugh, how rude of me. Idiot. Idiot. Idiot. I’m Death. Nice to meet ya.
MAN
No No No No No No No No NO! This can’t be happening!
GIRL
Okay. Ya know, YELLING is NOT gonna make me go away.
MAN
I gotta get outta here.
The MAN runs away from the GIRL, as far as he can, until coming to a tree ands topping to catch his breath.
The GIRL then walks out from behind the tree.
GIRL
Hello.
MAN
(shocked, scared) Jesus!
GIRL
You might as well learn early on, you can’t run away from me. Nobody can. I’ll find ya wherever you go.
MAN
Why? Why me? Why now?
GIRL
Why not you? Why not now? What’d you have some big numbers to crunch this afternoon or somethin’?
MAN
Chess.
GIRL
What?
MAN
Chess! I’m supposed to play you in a game of chess, right?
GIRL
Ugh. If I have to look at one more chessboard, I swear, I’m gonna vomit. How that rumor got started I have no idea. Never liked that game. Never.
MAN
You’re not Death. You can’t be Death.
GIRL
(Sarcastic) Oh, great. Denial. This is always a fun part.
MAN
That’s it! You’re not Death! Death is old, and bald, and…a guy!
GIRL
You watch way too many movies. That Bergman guy got an EARFUL from me when his time came, believe me. Nope. No cloak. No sickle. Just me. Sorry to disappoint.
(beat)
Hey, do you want a cookie? I could REALLY go for a cookie.
MAN
If you’re Death, then why are you so happy and nice, huh? Answer me that!
GIRL
What? Just cuz you’re all miserable about dying, I should be too? I don’t think so. Easier to be nice than to be mean, I say.
MAN
Well what about ME?! I’m a nice person, I’ve led a good life! Why did I get hit by a car while that drug dealer outside my office goes home with a few thousand dollars more than he had this morning?!
GIRL
(sigh of frustration) Oh, you mortals are ALL the same. Ya know, I usually really like you…but then there’s the occasional blockhead who just won’t give up on this
questions of the universe kick.
Why do bad things happen to good people, right? Why did YOU get hit by a car. I don’t know specifically about your case, but I can tell you this. You can’t have good until
you’ve gone THROUGH bad. That’s part of living. What makes it so…neat.
(sighs) You’re still not getting it, are you? Okay. You have apples. All your life ALL you get are apples. So you have no idea what an orange is or tastes like…what the
experience of biting into it is like…how different it is from the apple…until you’ve had both.
MAN
(starting to deflate, going into sadness) But there’s still…still so much I wanted to do.
GIRL
Honestly…would you have done it?
MAN
Well, I mean…dammit. You’re right.
GIRL
Never regret the things you do, only the things you don’t do, my friend. Cuz if you put it off and put it off, before ya know it, it’s too late.
That’s the thing about you mortals. You ALWAYS regret. And you always take for granted too. It’s like you walk around your whole lives with your eyes shut.
MAN
You sound like every cliché I’ve heard since I was two, you know that?
GIRL
Clichés are good. Think about it. Why would people say them so much if they didn’t want SOMEBODY to finally listen.
Ya know, Some places in your world get four…FOUR different seasons a year! That’s amazing! Have you ever just sat outside in the fall and watched the life cycle happening before your eyes?!
Ooo, and you’ve got apples! How awesome is THAT?! You can bite into an apple whenever you want!
I mean, just stop a second and think about what an incredible concept fruit is!
MAN
What is it with you and produce?
(beat)
You really need to get out more.
GIRL
No, humans do.
(beat)
I only get a day off once every hundred years. (pauses) You think I LIKE spending my ENTIRE existence wandering around collecting YOUR dead. I’D like to have an UN-life, ya know.
MAN
If you’re so into us mortals realizing this stuff, then why the HELL do you cut things so short before we get a chance to?
GIRL
Hey, that’s not MY call. That’s done by the “powers that be." I’m just a middle-man. Sides’, what value would life have if it never came to and end?
You’re all rushing to get to the finish line of life you never take the time to savior everything in the journey along the way.
And the majority of you mortals all sit around dwelling on what you don’t have rather than embracing what you do. And by the time you DO realize it…there I am.
(pause)
Hey, uh…not to rush ya…but we really gotta get goin’.
MAN
(sighs) Yeah. I know. Hey. Do I need to be afraid? I mean…what happens next?
GIRL
(caring and reassuring, delivered with a smile) You’ll see.
The two start walking as things become brighter and brighter.
FADE TO BLACK
THE END
Copyright 2001
No portion of this script may be performed, reproduced, or used by any means, or quoted or published in any medium without the prior written consent of David M. Dellecese.
SFX: CAR CRASING. AMBULANCE SIRENS. PEOPLE TALKING IN BG.
FADE IN:
EXT. PARK - DAY
A GIRL dressed in black, stands by a tree, looking on at something off camera, as a young MAN in his twenties or thirties walks over to her and starts watching too.
MAN
Man, will ya look at that. Did ya see it happen?
GIRL
Hmm? Oh. Yeah. Came out of nowhere. Don’t even think he ever saw it comin’.
MAN
Nice day.
GIRL
Yeah, it is.
MAN
I never really get outside anymore. Shame on days like today, ya know?
GIRL
How come you don’t get outside?
MAN
Work work work, ya know?
GIRL
I hear that. Never ends, does it?
MAN
Nope. On a lunch break or somethin’?
GIRL
Me? No, I’m…actually on the job right now.
MAN
Sweet. Fresh air, scenery, no cubicle AND a paycheck.
GIRL
Yeah…kinda…somethin’ like that. So, what do you do?
MAN
Me? Oh, I work for a company in downtown. Numbers and processing and stuff like that. Just a roller coaster of excitement, lemme tell ya.
GIRL
Is that what you always wanted to do?
MAN
Are you kidding me?
(beat)
I don’t think so. Nah. In my more foolish days I wanted to be a writer.
GIRL
A writer? Cool. I’ve met a lot of writers.
MAN
Really? Anybody I’d know?
GIRL
Not personally, I don’t think. They’re all dead.
MAN
Damn, you’re a dangerous girl to know. (pauses) Yeah, it used to be so much fun. I used to have this really old typewriter my mother gave me that I use to write all kinds
of stories on. It was…really great, actually.
GIRL
How come you didn’t do THAT?
MAN
Are you kidding me? You know how hard that field is to get into? There’s NO money in the starving artist occupation, believe me. Been there, done that. Yeah, they make it seem so cute in the movies, but it’s not. It’s cold. It’s hard. And it doesn’t pay the bills.
GIRL
So you settled for being a numbers guy?
MAN
Well…yeah…I mean…I can’t go through life just hoping for something to finally break. Life’s too short to waste on that stuff.
GIRL
Life’s too short to waste settling for something you don’t enjoy, too.
MAN
Oh, god, you’re one of those motivational people, right? You go around and give speeches about how we can all do so much better than what we have if we only want it bad enough, right? Sorry, lady. I don’t buy it. Save it for that poor shmuck over there who got hit by the…the…oh my god.
(beat)
That’s me.
GIRL
You’re a swift one, you know that?
MAN
What the HELL is going on here?
GIRL
Not hell. At least not yet. Geez, I hope you didn’t do anything THAT dumb to end up THERE.
MAN
What is going on?! Who ARE you?!
GIRL
Oh, me? Oh, sorry. Didn’t even introduce myself. Ugh, how rude of me. Idiot. Idiot. Idiot. I’m Death. Nice to meet ya.
MAN
No No No No No No No No NO! This can’t be happening!
GIRL
Okay. Ya know, YELLING is NOT gonna make me go away.
MAN
I gotta get outta here.
The MAN runs away from the GIRL, as far as he can, until coming to a tree ands topping to catch his breath.
The GIRL then walks out from behind the tree.
GIRL
Hello.
MAN
(shocked, scared) Jesus!
GIRL
You might as well learn early on, you can’t run away from me. Nobody can. I’ll find ya wherever you go.
MAN
Why? Why me? Why now?
GIRL
Why not you? Why not now? What’d you have some big numbers to crunch this afternoon or somethin’?
MAN
Chess.
GIRL
What?
MAN
Chess! I’m supposed to play you in a game of chess, right?
GIRL
Ugh. If I have to look at one more chessboard, I swear, I’m gonna vomit. How that rumor got started I have no idea. Never liked that game. Never.
MAN
You’re not Death. You can’t be Death.
GIRL
(Sarcastic) Oh, great. Denial. This is always a fun part.
MAN
That’s it! You’re not Death! Death is old, and bald, and…a guy!
GIRL
You watch way too many movies. That Bergman guy got an EARFUL from me when his time came, believe me. Nope. No cloak. No sickle. Just me. Sorry to disappoint.
(beat)
Hey, do you want a cookie? I could REALLY go for a cookie.
MAN
If you’re Death, then why are you so happy and nice, huh? Answer me that!
GIRL
What? Just cuz you’re all miserable about dying, I should be too? I don’t think so. Easier to be nice than to be mean, I say.
MAN
Well what about ME?! I’m a nice person, I’ve led a good life! Why did I get hit by a car while that drug dealer outside my office goes home with a few thousand dollars more than he had this morning?!
GIRL
(sigh of frustration) Oh, you mortals are ALL the same. Ya know, I usually really like you…but then there’s the occasional blockhead who just won’t give up on this
questions of the universe kick.
Why do bad things happen to good people, right? Why did YOU get hit by a car. I don’t know specifically about your case, but I can tell you this. You can’t have good until
you’ve gone THROUGH bad. That’s part of living. What makes it so…neat.
(sighs) You’re still not getting it, are you? Okay. You have apples. All your life ALL you get are apples. So you have no idea what an orange is or tastes like…what the
experience of biting into it is like…how different it is from the apple…until you’ve had both.
MAN
(starting to deflate, going into sadness) But there’s still…still so much I wanted to do.
GIRL
Honestly…would you have done it?
MAN
Well, I mean…dammit. You’re right.
GIRL
Never regret the things you do, only the things you don’t do, my friend. Cuz if you put it off and put it off, before ya know it, it’s too late.
That’s the thing about you mortals. You ALWAYS regret. And you always take for granted too. It’s like you walk around your whole lives with your eyes shut.
MAN
You sound like every cliché I’ve heard since I was two, you know that?
GIRL
Clichés are good. Think about it. Why would people say them so much if they didn’t want SOMEBODY to finally listen.
Ya know, Some places in your world get four…FOUR different seasons a year! That’s amazing! Have you ever just sat outside in the fall and watched the life cycle happening before your eyes?!
Ooo, and you’ve got apples! How awesome is THAT?! You can bite into an apple whenever you want!
I mean, just stop a second and think about what an incredible concept fruit is!
MAN
What is it with you and produce?
(beat)
You really need to get out more.
GIRL
No, humans do.
(beat)
I only get a day off once every hundred years. (pauses) You think I LIKE spending my ENTIRE existence wandering around collecting YOUR dead. I’D like to have an UN-life, ya know.
MAN
If you’re so into us mortals realizing this stuff, then why the HELL do you cut things so short before we get a chance to?
GIRL
Hey, that’s not MY call. That’s done by the “powers that be." I’m just a middle-man. Sides’, what value would life have if it never came to and end?
You’re all rushing to get to the finish line of life you never take the time to savior everything in the journey along the way.
And the majority of you mortals all sit around dwelling on what you don’t have rather than embracing what you do. And by the time you DO realize it…there I am.
(pause)
Hey, uh…not to rush ya…but we really gotta get goin’.
MAN
(sighs) Yeah. I know. Hey. Do I need to be afraid? I mean…what happens next?
GIRL
(caring and reassuring, delivered with a smile) You’ll see.
The two start walking as things become brighter and brighter.
FADE TO BLACK
THE END
