The Screenwriter and the Reaper

Untitled Episode

It's Friday night, a cold rainy evening in Santa Barbara, California, Henry Martin is hunched over his computer, his desk is cluttered, on the floor, remnants of crumpled paper, the beginnings of failed attempts to write a movie script that could alter the perception of viewers'. Despite his years in the film industry, he remained a shadow, a name that people would ask" Who's Henry Martin? He yearned to be among the legends such as Hitchcock, Kubrick and Scorsese.

Frustrated from wracking his brain to conjure up a masterpiece, in a fit of rage he screams to the heavens in his empty room, "I would give anything to be among the master's!" He gets up from behind his desk, puts on his coat and grabs a handbook for notes and heads out to the Coffee Hut. A hole in the wall cafe that is open late serving coffee, and light meals. He places his order and grabs his coffee. As he turns, he bumps into a woman, Sofia Degas, and accidently knocks her things to the ground. With an apology, he helps her gather her things and notices that her work is written in screenwriter's format.

Henry asks Sofia if she is a writer, and she says that she is a struggling artist trying to break her way into the film industry. In a hypnotic trance, Henry introduces himself and says, " What a coincidence, I am a director and a writer myself." The 2 of them hit it off with a chemistry that is rare at an accidental meeting. This new friendship is like a breath of fresh air and the 2 of them create a partnership. Their likeminded philosophy of somehow writing things that are concise and eloquent, has the ability to speak volumes. But to capture the viewer's attention and bring them into the feelings and emotions they wish to share can possibly be done through 3-D. So, it has now been decided to create a masterpiece in 3-D.

Their first movie written together was Love Story and skyrocketed to the top of the charts. The movie has been out for a week, and everybody is anxious to see this movie. Somewhere in America, the theatre is filled and at the end of the movie, the lovers are driving down a road. It's raining, and the road is not too steep. The car's breaks fail on this wet road and slides off the road. As the viewers watch the movie, the 3-D car comes out of the movie screen and violently crashes into the movie-goer's seats. The people scream, and you can see the collateral damage of this car crash. The lights in the theatre turn on and, in an instant, the car vanishes, but the lives of these patrons in the cinema are dead. Police and detectives come to investigate and have no clue. This is out of our control, this is a paranormal issue and we are unable to do anything.

The police and detectives seek out the assistance of paranormal investigators to understand what has transpired. 3 paranormal teams are brought together and combine their skills along with the authorities and soon discover that the theatre was once a speakeasy in the roaring 20's and has had a history of paranormal activity. Still baffled as to why this has happened, it still eludes them and the investigation comes to a close.

Henry and Sofia, undeterred, write another film, an action film about a bank heist. Again, in a random theater in America, the theatre is packed. Towards the end of the movie, a great shootout between the thieves and the authorities and the getaway. The theater goers watch with anticipation, but as the bullets fly out of the screen and into the patrons in their seats, a blood bath unfolds, and 88 patrons lose their lives.

Again, the police and detectives call upon the paranormal team to investigate and no explanation can be given. Henry and Sofia appear on television talking about their movie. The 2 of them are also speechless and say that during the film, nothing appeared to be outside the norm, they can't explain anything. They didn't write movies together to inflict graphic c*****e on the masses. This was for pure entertainment.

Henry and Sofia take a break from writing, though one incident in each movie has occurred and nothing else has happened since then, a strange occurrence that just happened to take place by the unknown forces of nature. No reason, no explanation, though apologies have been made.

This time Henry and Sofia think about another 3-D film. They believe that the past 2 films have scenarios that could have happened because those were based on the rules of reality. Perhaps if we create a fictitious movie where such things are not real, maybe this will not follow us like a dark cloud. So, they wrote their first monster movie, a horror film about a creature that has been woken from a deep slumber in the ocean depths. There are no recorded creatures like this in earth's history, no legends, no folklore of any kind. A sea serpent with tentacles that can breathe on land and also has gills to breathe under water.

This time, the 2 are taking a different approach by creating one of the most horrific movies ever to be conjured up to give people the fright of their lives and it is a hit and, for once, nothing happens. The movie is so terrifying that some have a hard time getting through it. Time passes and still nothing and now it is released on DVD. Special 3-D glasses are sold with the DVD movie, a set of 2 per movie as this was done with the past 2 movies when released and made available online and are purchased.

In the homes of the public, the movie is now on DVD and people are excited about watching it. Friends gather to watch this crazy feature and throughout the movie this sea creature is decimating coastal towns and villages. Our heroes of the movie have followed the creature's movements and finally discovered it's lair.

On the shore of this remote, unpopulated coastline, they discover a cave and look into the black abyss and go in with flashlights and caution. At home, the movie goers see this and then see out the eyes of the creature, the sea beast is looking towards the mouth of the cave, a dim light from the sun and the silhouettes of the heroes approaching with their flashlights. In the homes of the viewers watching this movie, their home slowly begins to conform to the cave and all possible exits begin to slowly vanish.

On a sudden instant, the creature begins to defend itself, tentacles start grabbing boulders and throwing them at the heroes. Whatever debris that resides in the cave, the creature uses it as a weapon to defend itself. Just then, the creature reaches out for one of the heroes with its tentacles and eats them. The people watching this film are trying to escape as they too are being killed by the creature and there is no escape from the living room. Creepy critters climb out from everywhere and join in on the attack. All our heroes have been killed except for 2 who survived and defeated the creature. In the homes of millions, the worst blood bath that has ever been recorded has taken place. No survivors in any of the homes of movie goers, the only clue to such a spectacle is the DVD case and the DVD still in the player.

Henry began to cry, his fame was not what he thought it would be, he brought death to millions, he wanted fame and held Sofia close to share his vision with her. What he wanted was not what had unfolded. At this moment, Sofia reveals her identity to him as the 2 are embracing one another. The temperature of Sofia's body begins to drop rapidly as she speaks with a soft voice filled with love and compassion. Henry looks up at her in this embrace and her skin begins to sag on her face and her flesh starts melting off her entire body. Her structure becomes a skeletal figure and then her shape begins to emerge, a black cloud so dense that you can't see through, like black smoke cascading off her body to the ground and skeletal features with sunken black eye sockets with fiery embers of something insane. Henry screams in sheer terror.

Sofia says, remember when you said you would give anything to be among the master's, did you think I was not listening? Honey, I am death herself. I needed a vessel to collect souls and now I have come for you, our love will grow, and we can be together, forever. Sofia spreads her black wings that envelop the room, a blackness that has never been seen, the smell of sulfur and rotting flesh fill the room. Henry cries out in absolute terror as she envelops him with her arms and wings and takes him to only God knows where, and they vanish.

The world is left with unanswered questions. Where are Henry and Sofia? Their echos of film collaboration had the world wondering and yet lingering, how? Why? A tale of ambition and consequences that transcended the boundaries of dimensions, life and death. The screenwriter and the reaper, forever bound in a macabre dance of arbitrary literature to collect your soul. These movies are now banned but not destroyed.