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-1“Defrayal”
Written by Jacob Verlinghieri

EXT. OPEN TRUNK – DAY

POV TRUNK SHOT

We see the trunk open, and standing there is a man,

MICHAEL, observing over the contents of the Trunk

Michael appears to be average in appearance – no visible

scars, no odd deformities, no bulging muscles; other than
the massive five-o-clock shadow, he is plain

He speaks

MICHAEL
(After some slight laughter) Beautiful

He reaches into the Trunk

MICHAEL
Up we go

FADE TO BLACK

FADE IN:

INT. WAREHOUSE - DAY

Soon enough we are given the blurry image of what looks

like a MAN, CF, sitting cross-legged in a wooden CHAIR.

FADE TO BLACK

INT. WAREHOUSE - DAY

Picture comes back on again only this time clarity increases

The camera is also doing a sort of sway now to simulate the

rotation of a man’s head and neck. The camera pans to find

That we are set in a warehouse and a pretty empty warehouse

at that; only EMPTY SHELVES and misc. BOXES and HARDWARE
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FADE TO BLACK

INT. WAREHOUSE - DAY

Picture comes on again, only this time the clarity is
perfect, everything is clear.

The MAN we saw sitting earlier has now RISEN to his feet.
He is standing DEAD CENTER FRAME looking towards the
camera, almost studying it

We notice the man is of average build, not too tall, not

overweight, nothing very unique about his physical
features, he is just a plain man dressed in some darker
shaded clothes.

The man now moves closer to the camera, he lowers himself

and his head is almost FULL FRAME now

He speaks in a rather normal speaking tone, albeit deep

MICHAEL
Oh good, you’re waking up...now we can have some fun...

Fade To Black

EXT. UNKNOWN – DAY (or night)

Picture fades back on, only this time we are not in the
warehouse. Our whereabouts are relatively unknown at this
point but

We see a couple, a man and a woman sharing a soft dance

with one another

Picture moves in slow motion as some light piano keys are

played softly over them

The lighting is rather bright and the colors seem to be

almost vivid

CU of the couple dancing and we notice

The man bares the striking resemblance of...Michael

VO begins, it is a very groggily voice of someone who has

just awoken from a state of unconsciousness
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VOICE
Who...who are you?

CUT TO:
INT. WAREHOUSE - DAY

Back at the Warehouse again

Michael speaks

MICHAEL
What was that? Who am I?

CU of the Michael’s hands, he is ripping some duct tape

He begins to walk over towards the camera

MICHAEL
You don’t recognize me? (After a beat) hmm

The man places the duct tape below frame

The voice of the POV begins to speak questioningly

VOICE
(Groggily) Wait, what

The duct tape then muffles his voice and cuts off his
speech

Michael speaks

MICHAEL
Don’t worry...you will

The camera pulls back to reveal a man, John, tied and bound
to a chair (your average aluminum or wooden folding chair)
he is totally incapacitated

The man, once again almost normal in appearance, no

abstract facial hairs, not a body builder, just another
average man in appearance

The man in the chair, now coming to, begins to pan around
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the room and quickly realizes his peril and begins to make
his unhappiness apparent by

Thrashing around violently in his chair in hopes of

breaking free of his restraints but to no avail

MICHAEL shows some signs of slight happiness and sheds a

few smiles and giggles

Michael stares
MICHAEL
Having fun?

The man in the chair will now be referred to as JOHN

John thrashes so much that he eventually knocks the chair

over on its side where he continues to still jerk about

Michael tends to John and attempts to pick up the chair and

sit him upright

MICHAEL
What the hell are you doing? You’re embarrassing me, John.

John doesn’t allow Michael to help him up and resents his

assistance

MICHAEL
You don’t want my help? Fine!

Michael drops the chair back on the ground and walks off

MICHAEL
Do it yourself, then

Michael sits himself down a few yards from John and watches
him squirm until he is exhausted

MICHAEL
Done?

Michael gets up and sets Johns chair upright

MICHAEL
I’m glad you got that out of your system, now are you ready
to cooperate?
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A slight nod from John

MICHAEL
I’m going to remove the tape can I trust you?

No response

Michael pulls John’s hair to jerk John’s head up

He is now looking directly at Michael

MICHAEL
I can trust you...right?

John nods

Michael proceeds to slowly rip off the tape on John’s mouth

Once the tape is removed there is a moment of silence and

staring until

John reneges on his promise of compliance

JOHN
HELP ME! SOMEBODY FUCKING HELP ME PLEASE!

Michael is pissed

MICHAEL
You piece of shit!

Michael starts getting physical with John – hitting him

MICHAEL
I told you to shut your fucking mouth!

Michael replaces the tape over John’s mouth

MICHAEL
I’m only going to say this once, so listen up. Calm down,
be rational, trust me, John, this will all be much easier
with your compliance, so start complying.

Michael tends to his hand, which is now sore

MICHAEL
I should of known you weren’t to be trusted. You’re a
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liar, always lying...even to yourself. Just trying to

convince yourself that it never happened, right? It’s
pathetic, John, really.

Michael begins to walk OS

MICHAEL
Can’t play innocent forever, Sooner or later you’ll have to
come to terms with what you did

John is now left alone in the room

Recollecting himself from the exhaustion he experienced

after an unsuccessful attempt at freedom he calmly makes
the decision to try another escape

Continually looking back to where Michael left

He slowly but firmly tries to free his hands of the

restraints

Camera flashes back and forth between John and Michael’s

exit location

Progress increases when suddenly

A plastic bag is abruptly thrown over Johns face and is

pulled tightly

Michael is holding the bag

John is fighting for air

MICHAEL
I’m gone for ten fucking seconds and you try and escape!?
I thought I knew you better than that.

Michael pulls the bag tighter

MICHAEL
What were my words? What did I say to you? I told you to
calm down. Now answer me this, where the fuck did you
expect to get to, huh? It’s only you and me here, there’s
not another person for miles, and even if you did happen to
find somebody, what makes you think they would gives two-
shits about your pathetic life?
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At this Michael release his grip on the bag, takes it off

John’s head and removes the tape from John’s mouth

MICHAEL
There, breathe

John fights for air, taking in deep breaths

MICHAEL
That’s right, deep breaths

A moment passes and John’s breathing finally slows once he

has collected enough air

He speaks with desperation in his voice

JOHN
What do you want from me? What did I do?

Michael is now sitting in his original chair with a bag of

ice over his hand

MICHAEL
I want my life back... a life that you stole from me

JOHN
I never stole anything from you. I’ve never seen you
before this day. What the fuck do you want from me, man?

MICHAEL
Oh, John, it hurts me to hear you say that, truly.

MICHAEL
Now

Michael abruptly throws the bag of ice at John and quickly

charges at him

Michael backhands John across the face and then grabs his
head and forces him to look at him in the eye

MICHAEL
Take a good goddamn look at me John, just think, I’m sure
you remember me

Fade to black
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INT. POLICE STATION – DAY

We are at a police lineup, we see John standing, trying

hard to not make eye contact with himself in the 2-way
mirror

On the other side of the mirror we have Michael, looking

very upset and furious

We hear a commanding voice

VOICE
Number 5, step forward and repeat the phrase you have been
given

At this, John takes a step forward and says

JOHN
“Give me all your money or it’s your life”

He steps back

CU on Michael’s face

The voice now speaks to Michael

VOICE
Do you see him?

CU on John’s face

CU on Michael’s eyes then on John’s eyes

MICHAEL
(After a beat) now, he’s not here

VOICE
(To lineup) You all can go

John stands still for a moment, almost stunned, he then

exits

Michael soon follows

MICHAEL
(VO) I knew it was you
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CUT TO:

INT. WAREHOUSE – DAY

MICHAEL
And then it hit me, if I told the cops it was you, you
would be put in a cell for the rest of your life until you
die of old age. Shit, you’d even be allowed conjugals and
free time; it’d be like fucking camp.

JOHN
You son of a bitch

MICHAEL
I wouldn’t let you get off that easy

JOHN
Did you follow me?

CUT TO:

MICHAEL (V.O)
I did

*Small montage/warp of Michael stalking and spying on John

MICHAEL (V.O)
I followed you for a long time, John

CUT TO:

INT. WAREHOUSE - DAY

We are reunited with the two

JOHN
You sick fuck!

MICHAEL
You deserve every bit of what I do to you

JOHN
It was an accident! It was a fucking accident!

MICHAEL
Have you ever heard of a man named Napoleon Bonaparte?
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JOHN
Let me go!

MICHAEL
Well he once said, “There is no such thing as accident; it
is fate misnamed”

JOHN
You can’t do this to me!

MICHAEL
Just look at us now...you sitting there, me standing
here...its fate

JOHN
This is not fate; this is a crazy, diluted, psychopath’s
pathetic act of revenge

Michael begins to lose it

MICHAEL
Psychopath? You took away the only fucking thing that
mattered to me! I LOVED HER!

JOHN
I’M SORRY!! Did you hear me; I said I was fucking sorry!!!

MICHAEL
(Clapping his hands) LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! The man wishes
to repent for his sins, how lovely, let’s give him a round
of applause, shall we?

JOHN
What are you doing? If you want to kill me, then KILL ME!
Get it over with!!!

MICHAEL
Fine, I think it’s about that time anyway

Michael goes off searching through his bag

JOHN, after an afternoon of applying pressure to his

restraints, begins to break free
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MICHAEL
How do you want it, John, Eh? With the same gun you used
on her?

JOHN
That’s right, go ahead; shoot me. Then you’re no better
then me!

MICHAEL
No better than you? I’m simply ridding the world of a
murderous pig! You, on the other hand, took away an
innocent girl’s life. Show me the connection! No, no, You
shut up.

Michael runs over and kicks John’s chair hard

MICHAEL
You shut your goddamn mouth

Michael goes back to the bag

Michael fumbles through the back, unable to find the gun

MICHAEL
FUCK! Where’s the gun? Where did I put the damn Gun!?

Michael moves past John, heading towards the exit

MICHAEL
(To John) Don’t you go anywhere!

As Michael leaves, John is able to free one of his arms

EXT. MICHAEL’S CAR’S TRUNK – LATE AFTERNOON

Michael is rummaging through the trunk looking for the

weapon

He finally stops his searching and takes a moment to calm

down when

A blunt object (undisclosed) makes forceful contact with

the back of his head

Michael falls into the trunk

Behind him is John

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John now slams the trunk on Michael’s back

JOHN
You sick fuck, you sick fuck

He continues to slam the door when

BOOM!

A gunshot is heard and John abruptly stops

He now stumbles back as there is a gunshot wound in his

abdomen

He falls to the ground

Michael staggers out of the trunk and overtop John, gun in

hand

CUT TO:

EXT. CITY STREETS – NIGHT

We see Michael like we’ve never seen him before, happy and
elated

On his arm we see a very beautiful young woman, apparently

Michael’s love interest

They walk, arm in arm down the street, apparently heading

home from a night on the town

They turn into an alleyway

Michael then takes her hand, leads her forward then spins
her around and she lands back into his arms

MICHAEL
I love you

Just then

A shady figure appears from the darkness

FIGURE
“Give me all your money or it’s your life”
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The hooded figure raises his head and we see that it is JOHN

Sound stops

Slight music begins to build

We see John And Michael arguing

Michael hands him his wallet and John beckons for the girl
to give him her necklace

She shakes her head no and John gets very agitated

He threatens her with the gun and

Michael Steps in to stop him

He jumps on John’s arm, in an attempt to knock the gun away

Unfortunately, John fires the gun before Michael could

disarm him

The beautiful young woman is hit...she falls

Both John and Michael stop

Michael stares at his ill-fated love, stunned

John drops the gun and runs

Michael runs to his girl

He is teary eyed and hysterical

Music picks up immensely as Camera pulls back from a

straight overhead
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FADE TO BLACK

EXT. PARKING LOT - DAY

We are reunited with John and Michael

John lay prone on the ground

Michael raises the gun towards John’s head

John speaks

JOHN
I didn’t have a choice

MICHAEL
(After a beat) You always have a choice

Fade to Black

(beat) Boom!

CREDITS

END