Aftershocks
Jim Noone erased his memory, disappeared, and adopted a new identity to escape his past. His plan worked perfectly - until the woman who loved him follows one last hopeless lead to find him. Semi-linear “puzzle” movie with a twist ending. Character-driven drama.
Excerpt (pages 66-68):
INT. TARGET STORE - NIGHT
Jim walks through a crowded Target store, the disk in his
hand. He turns a corner and finds himself walking down a
sporting goods aisle. In the middle of the aisle a TWELVE-
YEAR OLD KID swings a baseball bat. Jim reaches the Twelve-
Year Old Kid and stops. The kid looks up at Jim, a little
scared by his intensity.
JIM
(to the kid)
You wanna play baseball?
The kid just looks at Jim.
JIM (CONT’D)
You wanna hit a home run?
The kid nods.
JIM (CONT’D)
Let me see your swing.
The kid swings the bat.
JIM (CONT’D)
Not bad, but harder this time. You
wanna hit a home run, right?
The kid smiles and nods, and swings the bat as hard as he
can. Jim is pleased.
JIM (CONT’D)
That’s great. That’s great. Okay,
let’s hit a home run.
Jim takes a step toward the kid, about three feet away. He
crouches down and leans forward, with his hands on his
knees so that his head is now completely within the kid’s
strike zone. Jim turns so that the drive in his head faces
squarely toward the kid. Jim taps his head, where the drive
is.
JIM (CONT’D)
Here you go, kid. Give it a shot.
Right here.
The kid just looks at him.
JIM (CONT’D)
Come on, right here. Hit a home
run.
The kid just looks at him. He won’t swing the bat. Jim is
getting impatient.
JIM (CONT’D)
(tapping his head)
Right here, kid, right here. Go for
it. Home run, right here.
PUSH IN CLOSE TOWARD:
Jim as he closes his eyes for a long moment, expectant. But
nothing happens.
JIM (CONT’D)
(eyes still closed, angry)
Come on, kid!!! Home run!!!
Angry, Jim looks up and sees the Twelve-Year Old Kid and
his MOTHER standing there, looking at him. The mother is
disturbed and offended, with her arm tightly around her
son. Jim sees her and his face falls. He is almost
embarrassed.
A beat. Then the Mother leads her son down the aisle, away
from Jim.
JIM (CONT’D)
(calling after the mother,
half-apologizing)
It wasn’t supposed to work like
this.
INT. JIM’S HOUSE - NIGHT
Jim sits at his computer desk with the same disk in his
hand.
JIM
…wasn’t supposed to work like
this…
Jim inserts the disk into his computer.
ON COMPUTER MONITOR:
The screen reads, “THIS DISK IS UNREADABLE BY THIS
COMPUTER. DO YOU WISH TO RE-INITIALIZE?”. There are two
boxes given as options: “EJECT” and “ERASE.”
BACK TO SCENE:
Annoyed, Jim grabs the mouse and drags it towards “EJECT,”
but then he stops himself. He thinks for a long moment. He
seems to understand something, as if a wonderful idea has
come to him. A resigned, acquiescent half-smile comes over
his face, as if he’s giving into some irresistible force.
Jim drags the mouse toward “ERASE.” But he doesn’t click
the mouse button.
Then Jim stands and walks out of the room.
Jim re-enters with a legal pad and pen. He clears some
space on his desk and begins writing in the pad. The
PHONE BEGINS RINGING. Jim ignores it, driven.
After a moment, Jim stops. He tears the page he was
writing on and throws it away. He looks around his desk for
something, but he cannot find it. The phone continues to
RING.
Jim stands and walks out of the room again. His answering
machine picks up with a BEEP.
KATHY (ON MACHINE)
(intimate)
Hey, just wanted to see what you
were doing. I hadn’t heard from you
since… since the other night.
