(to unload)
Chaz
FADE IN: (1/2023)
EXT. OREGON - FORREST - MORNING
MAN & WOMAN lay on the forest floor. They are looking to the sky.
Woman
Zoom cheetah.
Man looks to woman. She returns his glance. Both look away to the sky.
Man
I am on a runaway train.
Woman
She races, to and from, across the desert. I look to the sky, belly sick and heart full. (pause) The darkness threatens to consume all I love.
Man
It took off with a rush but mellowed out quick. I was bored when he showed up. (pause) We acclimate fast to chaos.
Woman
Turns out, I love.
Man
I moved to the open train door for a better view and the thrill of danger.
Woman
She circles me. In and out of view. Reborn. Each time I imagine she may ride off never to return.
Man
Another train pulls up beside mine, and it has the same reckless motion to it, too fast and wobbly. On it a man. Standing like me.
Woman
Back she spins. Returning that maniacal grin that fills my night with joy.
Man
I decide right away that we are kindred. Neither content to take a seat.
Woman
She runs wild. Primal. We dance, we swing. On the biggest of life's glorious swings we rock back and forth.
Man
How did we get here? He is looking right at me or just past me. I can't tell. Who is this interruption and what is this heat?
Woman
We try. Not to touch.
EXT. OREGON - FORREST - EARLIER - SUNRISE
Man and Woman sit back to back on the grass.
Man
It's an odd feeling that reminds me I'm alive.
Woman
Mostly I lay alone and she just zooms in and out of my life. Fear. The water is boiling inside this wasteland and the noise is deafening. Soon it will spill on everything.
Man
I'm staring right back at him. There is confusion in those eyes. The more I look the harder they pull. Deeper and deeper we dive together. Into the uncertainty.
Woman
Burning us.
Man
We don't say anything.
Woman
When it's done there will be only heat. Not even vapor. Gone, the water that gave us birth.
Man
We can't hear. We tried. Noise is everywhere. It adds a charm to this ride. So we just stare.
Woman
My belly holds the real and the dream apart until we walk to the deep deep dark.
Man
One moment I was speeding. Just me and the train. The next he is here. Alive. A life. Available. Always
Woman
This moment is special. I know. But not yet how. It's the last we had, happy as the best hiding a truth, a naked secret. Already revealed. Not yet reviled.
Man
He's leaning out his train car and saying something. It's too noisy. He's laughing. I did something funny or probably foolish.
Woman
That part is coming.
Man
I am in trouble now.
Woman looks at the man. He returns her glance. A long silence ensues. They look away. Emotion bubbles below the surface. Revealed in the eyes. Both look to the sky. Tears forming.
EXT. OREGON - LAKE - SUNRISE
Woman stands alone by a lake.
Woman
You can't touch me. She tries anyway. We are robbed. Something more than physical is stolen from us in this dark night. The delusion we held close. Without it I see we will have the longest walk home. A walk I begin to worry may never end. I'm sad now but it's the slightest hold of an arm that guides me back to sleep. She takes my sad burning heart in her arms. "Pull me closer" she seems to coax, but I know it's only my messy mind and belly sick. So I walk limp depressed for the days to come. They will be darker than even this moonless night. I know not yet why. We both know who. But not yet how. She pulls tighter as we get closer and the end is near. I stay limp. She feels nice. I don't hold her. She feels nothing.
EXT. OREGON - RIVER - SUNRISE
Man stands alone by a river.
Man
We move closer. He is serious now. Something important is happening. Don't you hate that feeling: something big is happening right in front of you and you are lost. Nobody told you how to be. So you just stand there, or keep doing what you were doing. I lean out further toward him. I am riding this damn runaway train and can't remember why. How much did it cost and where does it stop? Something is happening just on the edge of my mind. Damn this train. I'm definitely in trouble. I just don't know why. He is speaking louder and I turn my ear to him. Over the noise, I can't hear a word. His voice comes through like a song. It captures me. I look to those eyes and he is reaching for me. I reach back. Suddenly reaching him is all that matters. My whole body is aching to touch. I strain.
EXT. PORTLAND - STACKS COFFEE SHOP - MORNING
Man and Woman sit across one another sharing a coffee but neither drinking. They stare stoically.
Woman
Her voice rocks me to sleep. I wake covered. Sleep under sky. How did I get here?
Both
(whispers) Cheetah
Man
We almost fall. The world reminds us: leaning out is dangerous. Get back in your train. Did our hands touch?
Both
(whispers) Grounded
Woman
It's cozy here in the freezing desert. We fell together, I slept alone. Now I wake to her presence. Enveloped in the kindest of trouble. Love discovered now. Green. Warm. Alone. Never will I feel this love again. Not like this. A body might have been easier. Something stolen. Less real.
Man
All laughter is gone. There is real pain behind those eyes. His voice is a memory fading fast. I keep glancing to my hand. The pain is now mine. Why did I get on this train? It is worse now: that feeling that something important is happening.
Woman
Flood pierces the haze and I am returned.
Man
I missed it. Knowing that it was but is no more. Is worse.
Woman
I am me, the most me in years.
Man
The part of my mind clawing for answers accepts failure.
Woman
The last we of a lifetime.
Man
So we stand there. Sad.
CUT TO:
Man and Woman sit next to one another. They hold the same cup of coffee between them, looking straight ahead.
Woman
She holds the paddles that scorch my heart, shocking it back to a roar, so far beyond the rhythm she had been teaching it only a few nights past. Was it on purpose? This confusion we created, did we build it on purpose? We did. We built as the desert watched with sorrow.
Man
Our trains are reckless, speeding, and exciting, but we stand, eyes locked and defeated. These trains could be going to the same place. They might split at any second. I lean out towards him. The train moves closer, bending to my will. I see this man. It doesn't make sense but I see him true. I think he knows. He sees me too. I lean. Closer.
Woman
You'll get what you need in the end.
Man
Stupid, you are going to scare him. He doesn't look scared. He looks sad.
Woman
Pain
Man
How did you get here?
Woman
Clarity
Man
Where are you going?
Woman
Loss
EXT. OREGON - FIELD - DUSK
They stand looking to the sky.
Man
I fall to my knees. I feel pitiful. It's crushing. I don't know why. Something important has happened if only I could remember what.
Woman
As I love and let love, pretense and excuse fails to bind our lives. We stand free under the night.
Man
Jump, I love you. Please. Jump.
Woman
She woke and found what we'd lost. Freedom and truth flow unchecked and the pain soon after. She pulled too close and I reached for her much too hard. Much too reckless.
Man
He can't hear me. He steps back. Maybe he hears. Tears now. It's over. I look down the track and see the fork. These trains aren't going to the same place.
Woman
Was this fight even real? She said we'd fight. Why had I laughed? She tried to save us.
Man
Like a ton of bricks. The important thought that almost escaped lances through my mind. This won't last forever. Don't wait for him. I have to jump.
Woman
What even happened.
Man
I must look a madman.
Woman
Alone. I cry now.
Man
There it is again. Something important that I should know.
Woman
What even happened.
Man
Turns out I don't know much about trains.
Both
Nothing happened but the world ending. I might cry for a while.
FADE OUT:
THE END
© Chaz 2022