With Held | Teen Ink

With Held

March 22, 2015
By JeffBiers SILVER, Georgetown , Pennsylvania
JeffBiers SILVER, Georgetown , Pennsylvania
9 articles 17 photos 2 comments

Favorite Quote:
One thing I learned over all the heartbreak, pain, and suffering is that life goes on.


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.

         

         

         

         
                   

                             
                   


The author's comments:

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.


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