OPENING SCENE:
Lindsey sits atop her stairs, listening closely to her mother having a conversation on the phone.
MOM: "Yeah...yeah, she's been doing alright....I dont know..[starts to cry]..she doesnt talk about it...yeah i know, i know, i just..i really worry. Shes just been so different lately..and i cant do anything about it [sobs]. "
Lindsey looks down thinking and walks up the stairs to her room. She closes the door behind her. She starts looking around. She sets her bed. She puts gloves and a face mask on that were near her bed She organizes her dresser and wipes the mirror, glancing at herself, then walking away. She dusts her shelves. She notices the creases on her bed and immediately smooths them. Lindsey walks towards her bathroom and opens the door and turns on the light. Bottles are strewn across the counters, stray hairs in the sink, water on the ground, makeup on the mirror. Lindsey starts to pant and she slams the door. She calms herself as she is still standing there infront of the bathroom door. Then she slowly opens the door, without looking or putting any of her body in but her arm and closes the lights quickly and closes the door behind her. She stands there panting.
SCENE 2:
Lindsey sits in class trying to write as the silent classroom works. Every squeak, crack, sound of writing, sound of someone clearing their throat, cough becomes louder and louder to her until the bell rings and the students get up to leave the classroom. Lindsey's still for a moment, trying to ease the anxiety off. Then she packs up her stuff and leaves the classroom.
She walks amidst the crowded halls. Smells crinkle her nose, body sweat making her cringe and she feels claustrophobic amongst the students. Sounds of laughter and conversation fills her ears. She escapes to the bathroom, sweat tribling down her forehead, and looks in the mirror. Girls are already in the bathroom. When they leave, she catches someone say, "Freak". She glances back at herself, then picks up her stuff and leaves.
SCENE 3:
As she walks out she bumps into Trevor, her crush. They exchange apologies, then get into eachothers' way when trying to walk away. Then he looks like he's about to say something. She waits for him to say something but then he doesnt say anything and nods his head and smiles. Then he expects her to say something but she just nods her head and says bye and nervously laughs. Then they get in eachothers' way again. Exasperated by the confusion, he lets her walk first and then he walks away.
Lindsey walks down the hall to lunch. She takes a deep breath, and slowly walks down the stairs to her lunch table. They greet her as she sits down. They all make casual conversation as she watches them opening their lunches with their bare hands. Obnoxiously eating. Talking with food in their mouth.
KRISTA: "What do you think?"
Caught off guard. LINDSEY: "Uh...the limit does not exist?"
The lunch table laughs.
KRISTA: "I mean about school lunches."
LINDSEY: "Uh..either too much sugar, not enough calcium, or high in cholestrol, have this weird texture to the plastic, which who knows where thats been? I mean its disgusting. "
The lunch table nods silently, trying not to react judgingly. Lindsey realizes how she looked and shrinks in her seat. The table continue talking about random things while Lindsey notices Trevor coming into the lunch cafeteria. He greets his friends and flirtatiously taps a girl on her arm. Then she goes back in her thoughts.
SCENE 4:
She sits at the dining table, staring at a beautiful fresh flower.
She walks to her fridge and opens it to find food unorganized and unkept. She gasps and quickly closes the door. She takes a look at the kitchen counter and the sink, wet and bacteria covered. She goes in a trance, until her dog's barking awakens her. She glances over at Woody who is glancing at her, and she makes her way toward the living room. She turns the tv on and flips to the channel, "My Weird Obsessions." The show talks about how a woman lives by OCD symptoms and how it is taking over her life. Lindsey immediately shuts it off. Woody glances at her in the silence. She rubs his ears.
LINDSEY: "You dont think im crazy do you?"
Woody walks away. Lindsey scoffs. She heads to her room and gets in bed.
Lindsey blinks, and then closes her eyes.
SCENE 5:
She's awoken by her alarm clock beeping abnormally loud. It beeps louder and louder. She tries her hardest to close it but it keeps beeping. She unplugs it but it keeps beeping. She runs to the bath room but closes it immediately because its a mess. She runs to her bedroom door but its locked. She screams and starts to bang on the door. She frantically looks around. She looks at the floor and it flashes into a mess. She screams. (While all this is happening noises from earlier are obnoxiously loud along with the alarm clock). She runs to her window but trips. She leans against her dresser and gets up and sees her dressor with everything astrewn. She screams and looks at her face in the mirror with writing that says, "FREAK". Lindsey shouts "NO!" and runs to her window and opens the curtain to garbage cans and recycling bins filled with maggot covered food and flies buzzing around it with smashed soda cans. She horrifyingly screams until the scream turns into the sound of her alarm clock Lindsey gets up and throws the alarm clock at the wall, crushing it. She pants as she lays back down in her bed, and stares at the ceiling.
She gets out of bed, sets it perfectly, and walks to her computer. She searches OCD. She reads the symptoms and gasps, putting a hand over her mouth. She continues to read when Woody comes in her room, making her jump.
SCENE 6:
Lindsey gets to school early and is locked out, so she sits on the bench. Meanwhile, she notices Trevor approaching. He notices her and nods and looks away, while she says hi and waves but then looks away to not look like shes trying to hard, but then looks back at him again only to make eye contact with him.
TREVOR: "What are you doing out here?"
LINDSEY: "Its locked."
TREVOR. "Oh."
He takes the seat next to her at the end of the bench. Lindsey has her hands between her legs nervously looking around while Trevor looks over at her then casually acts like he's scratching his head.
TREVOR: "So..uh..you goin to the game friday?"
LINDSEY: "Nah. Organized sports isnt usually my thing." She looks away in embarassment and scolds herself silently.
TREVOR: "Same..(Lindsey looks over surprised) so you wanna hang out?"
LINDSEY: "Uh yeah, sure. What...what do you wanna do?"
TREVOR: "Hm i dont know...im not much into planning stuff haha"
Lindsey nervously lies: "Yeah ha..same."
People start approaching the school. Trevor gets up, says goodbye and
"So 8 oclock ok?"
Lindsey nods and they both wave shyly at eachother. Lindsey's shown still sitting at the bench. She looks around in disbelief, and curses.
SCENE 9:
Shots of her room. Clean, dustless dresser. Organized bookshelf. Clean windows. Lindsey sit against the backboard of her bed staring out her window. The clock is ticking, and it gradually gets louder and louder until she looks over at the clock and its 730. The calender says its Friday. She gets a text a moment later from Trevor, asking if she was still up for the date. She hesitates, but replies yes.
She walks to her closet and opens it. Color coordinated and perfectly set. Her dresser is shown, hair brush and hair products on it. Lindsey aligns them. She sprays perfume on herself.
Shes standing infront of the mirror, her nice clothes are on. She brushes her hair stroke by stroke, making sure no strand goes untouched, and no strand goes unattached. She applies her eyeshadow very carefully, shading in all the right places. She applies blush to her checks artistly. She looks at herself in the mirror and fakes a smile. She remembers the word freak written on her mirror.
SCENE 10:
The doorbell rings. She smoothes her creases on her clothes, smoothes her hair, and looks at herself in the mirror one more time. She takes a deep breath, and opens the door. Trevor stands there and smiles. He says hi, then Lindsey steps outside when he thinks he's going inside her house. They both laugh nervously, still unaware of what their doing. Then Trevor replies
"Hungry?"
Lindsey smiles.
SCENE 10:
They pull into a McDonalds.
Lindsey looks around frantically, not thinking they were actually going to be there. She opens the door handle carefully with her index finger and thumb and steps on the pavement carefully. She looks in at the McDonalds.
They sit eating their burgers. Trevor happily eats his, smiling at Lindsey with a mouth full of food.
Lindsey sits there, faking a smile. She watches him eat, the sounds of food crunching and mushing. The grains of salt, the oils spilling out of his burger, the water dripping down the soda. Suddenly all sounds get louder. The working in the kitchen, the slamming of car doors, the cars speeding by. The munching. The ticking clock. The change jingling in someones pants. Someones loud laugh nearby. The drop of plates. The soda machine. Loud footsteps. Someone whispering "Freak". Trevor talking with his mouth full.
Lindsey trembles from the sounds booming in her head. She clasps her head with her hands.
TREVOR: "Is something wrong?"
She whimpers. Then she gets up and bolts out of the McDonalds. Running down the street. Every sound, noise and smell echoing through her mind. She cries and is frightened by every light and car passing her by. The word "Freak" is spoken louder and louder. She stands there, not sure where to go. She starts thinking.
She's walking through a forest. Bare, muddy feet. She sits on a blanket, the sun shining down. Flowers are growing by weeds. Puddles of water. Birds chirping. Moldy wood on trees. She laughs, joking with her sister. They joke around, throwing food at eachother.
Shes back to reality. The memory bringing her to tears. Trevor runs down to her, touching her arm.
TREVOR: "Hey why'd you leave? Are you okay?"
LINDSEY: "Yeah..yeah im fine im.." Trevor and Lindsey lock a gaze. He knows she's upset.
"I cant let it go..i just cant." Trevor hugs her tightly amongst the cars whizzing by them.
SCENE 11:
Lindsey's opening her bathroom door slowly, cautiously.
TREVOR: "You can do it." He nods at her reassuringly. She hesitates, but walks in with bare feet and turns on the light. She looks at the messy sink. And looks at the picture of her and her sister on the mirror. Then she reaches towards the filthy sink with her bare, trembling hand. Before she touches it, the screen goes black.
THE END.
