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With Held
SCENE 1 - OPENING
A College girl sits up in bed at night, She breathes heavily
as if she was having a bad dream. She leans over and grabs a
notebook from her nightstand.
She brings the notebook back to her and turns on the light.
She begins to write in the journal as a voice over of her
comes on the screen.
EMILY
Another night. Another dream. I
walk along a bridge.
{As Casey speaks we see her enacting this dream she has
had.}
EMILY (CONT.)
This bridge is known for people
committing suicide...
{Casey looks over the edge of the bridge}
EMILY (CONT.)
I feel I have no hope and I am
paralyzed.
{Casey goes to step on the edge of the bridge}
EMILY (CONT.)
I feel as if I have nowhere else to
go...
{Casey closes her eyes.}
CUT: CASEY OPENING HER EYES IN BED.
EMILY (CONT.)
I guess the only thing I have left
to do is try and go back to sleep.
She closes the journal and puts it back on the night stand.
She shuts off the light and lays back down in bed.
CUT: TITLE "WITH-HELD"
SCENE 2
Casey walks into the bathroom and steps onto a scale. She
sees the weight. Goes over to her journal and writes. Her
voice is once again heard.
EMILY
Lost two pounds since yesterday.
Casey walks back into her room. We see a flower vase but the
flowers are drooping. She walks over to her bed. She grabs a
pill bottle and takes some. She stares at the ground.
PAN: OUT OF ROOM.
Another girl walks past looks in real quick and keeps
walking. She walks into kitchen where a couple girls are
sitting.
JILL
Should we talk to her? I'm getting
scared..
The other girls sit in silence.
CUT:
Emily walks out of the house to go to class. Jill walks into
her room and looks around. She sees the journal grabs the
book and walks out.
Jill walks into the room with the book. The other room mates
are at the table eating. She puts the book on the table.
HANNA
What's this?
JILL
Emily's dream journal. There has to
be answers in this to why she's
like this.
AMANDA
You guys can't tell she's
depressed?
HANNA
It's kind of obvious.
JILL
How?
AMANDA
She hates being around us. She is
always sleeping. She's sad all the
time.
They open up the journal with drawings and other sorts of
things inside. as each page is turned the drawings get less
and the writing gets more. Then the drawings get more dark.
We see written in the book "The Basement"
They start reading out loud.
CUT: EMILY IS WALKING DOWN AN ALLEY
{As Jill talks we see these motions on screen}
JILL
'I feel my way down an alleyway. I
can barely see it's so dark but I
know where to go. That some
unearthly being is guiding me. I
see an entry way and go in. I walk
down the stairs to this basement. I
see these dark clouded walls. There
is a door as I come closer to the
door it fades further and further.'
The girls look at one another and back at the book.
HANNA
We need to figure out what these
dreams mean.
CUT: TO THEM OVER COMPUTER
SCENE 3 - RESEARCHING
They are on the internet and search dream meanings.
The screen shows "Bridges in dreams. They mean moving toward
the end. That the direction you're going is suicide."
The girls look at each other and look down. Then they look
up at the screen and start searching for "Basements" They
read "Basement is a symbol for holding in feelings"
AMANDA
Oh my god... So these dreams aren't
just random events. They are
actually things that show her true
feelings.
HANNA
If she doesn't know what these mean
then she can't help herself.
They look back to the computer screen as the camera cuts to:
SCENE 4 - THE GHOST
Pan: over Emily as she sleeps. She tosses and turns she sits
up very fast to a person in the room.
Emily stares back at the person. The person is staring at
the wall facing away from Emily.
EMILY
Are you okay?
The girl turns around. We see that it is Emily. Emily's
ghost walks forward and we see the slit throat.
EMILY (CONT.)
What...
Emily's ghost smiles.
EMILY'S GHOST
You fear me.
Emily looks horrified. She shakes her head.
EMILY'S GHOST (CONT.)
You fear death.
Emily closes her eyes.
EMILY
This is all a dream.
She opens her eyes and Emily's Ghost is face to face with
her.
EMILY'S GHOST
You need to move on.
Emily starts to shake as Emily's ghost backs away from her.
EMILY
I understand.
EMILY'S GHOST
Friends. They are here.
Emily's ghost fades away into nothing.
SCENE 5 - THE KNIFE
Emily sits in the living room with all her roommates. They
all are looking at her as she stares at the ground.
HANNA
I want you to know we are here.
AMANDA
We want to help.
EMILY
I know. I'm trying to let it all
out.
The others get pretty happy.
JILL
Alright that's a step forward
Jill smiles at Emily. Emily looks at them and get's up. She
goes into the kitchen and grabs a knife. She turns to the
others who are questioning what she's doing.
AMANDA
What...
JILL
Emily!
HANNA
What are you doing?
Emily presses the knife to her throat and slices. Blood
flows from her neck. It's the same marking as her ghost. The
blood flows.
CUT: EMILY'S EYES.
Emily lays in bed and opens her eyes. On screen we hear a
babies cry. She gets up and walks out her door. She goes
down the hallway and we hear the room mates speaking in a
weird echoing voice while the baby continues to cry.
HANNA (O.S.)
We are here to help.
JILL (O.S.)
We know.
AMANDA (O.S.)
We understand.
JILL (O.S.)
The bridge is you leading down a
path toward suicide.
HANNA (O.S.)
The basement is you holding in your
feelings.
AMANDA (O.S.)
The ghost of you reveals that you
are afraid of death, and that you
need to abandon this way of
thinking.
JILL (O.S.)
The knife is a symbol for you
getting everything out. You told us
everything. We understand.
HANNA (O.S.)
The baby is a sign there are new
horizons. You are going to have a
new beginning.
JILL (O.S.) HANNA (O.S.) AND AMANDA
(O.S.)
You are going to feel better. You
will get over this rough time. and
we will be there for you.
Emily walks to a door with "101" written on it. She opens
the door and we cut to black.
"With-Held" comes onto the screen.
End Film.
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This is a story about a college girl struggling with depression. Her roommates become scared for her sake so they check her journal. They then sees the dreams she has been having. They reveal personal trouble with in herself.
This has been made into a film and has been nominated for multiple awards and is even up for a Student Academy Award.
This story means a great deal to me personally.