Fool

By Alison Erlanger

FOOL INT. bedroom of lucas mCguff. DAY LUCAS McGUFF awakes from a sleep in his somewhat cliched 'teenager' room. It's the weekend, and Lucas is eighteen, and a mischievous burnout. The floor of his room is covered in empty beer bottles and dirty clothes, the walls coated with posters and photos of friends. One friend in particular appears frequently in the photos; his best friend MICHAEL. Lucas awakes to look at the calendar on the wall; April the first. His face lights up at the prospect of 'April Fools day' pranking his friends. Lucas: (melodically, to himself) Awesome!

Lucas crawls out of bed, just in underpants. Scratching himself, he ponders for a moment on what to send his friend to freak him out. His eyes light up as an epiphany hits him. Lucas sends a text message to Michael Lucas: Mikey, this was never going to be easy to tell you but it's going to get out sooner or later. I mayyyy have slept with your girlfriend dude. I wasn't going to tell you but as it turns out she's kind of pregnant... so... you should probably do something about that. Peace, Luke

Lucas chortles to himself and continues with his day in a blase fashion. He smells a discarded t-shirt from the floor, nods approvingly and puts it on. INT. KITCHEN, DAY Lucas makes his way into the kitchen, still in a very lethargic state. He prepares a bowl of cereal and goes to pour some milk in, only to see that the carton is dry. Lucas:

(moaning begrudgingly at the thought of having to get more milk) Ughhhhhhh Lucas puts down the empty carton and makes his way outside. EXT. Street, day Lucas rides his bike contentedly down the main drag of his suburb. He is sans helmet and has iPod headphones in each ear. As he arrives at the milk bar, he removes the headphones and retrieves his mobile out of his pocket, checking for a message response from his friend Michael. When he sees that there hasn't been a response he swallows nervously before laughing uncomfortably and entering the building. Lucas: (laughs to himself reassuringly) He'll be ok INT. Milk bar, day Lucas enters the milk bar and smiles at the SHOPKEEPER, waving politely. Shopkeeper: Good morning sir, how can I help you? Lucas: (making his way to the fridge) All good dude, just grabbing some milk. Lucas opens the fridge and reaches for a carton of milk. INT. MILK BAR. DAY-DREAM. DAY As Lucas reaches for the milk, Michael appears unexpectedly behind him, a sharp battle axe in hand and sadistic smile on his face. Michael laughs manically and stares at Lucas. Without a word he plows the axe into Lucas' chest, blood gushing out of him like a fountain. LUCAS (Strained - as partially decapitated)

Where did you even get a battle axe from? Lucas coughs up a bit of blood and closes his eyes. INT. MILK BAR. DAY Lucas opens his eyes and gasps for air, evidently shaken from such a lucid daydream. The milk falls to the floor and spills down the aisle. Lucas again checks his phone, this time very concerned at Michael's failure to respond. Lucas exits as the Shopkeeper yells at him. SHOPKEEPER Are you going to pay for that or what? Lucas exits. EXT. STREET. DAY Lucas picks up his phone and dials Michael, only to receive message bank. Micheal's message bank Hi you've called Mikey, I'm doing something better than answering this call at the moment so leave a message and I'll get back to you when I'm done (beep) Lucas gulps and starts breathing heavily. He shuts his eyes and another vivid vision comes into his head INT. LUCAS' APARTMENT. DAYDREAM. DAY Michael is screaming at his girlfriend and making violent gestures towards her. The words can't be made out exactly in Lucas' vision but words such as 'cheating' and 'slut' can be lipread and it is very apparent that Michael is accusing her wrongfully of her infidelity with Lucas. Finally Michael raises an open palm and smacks her across the face, the sound echoing for some time throughout Lucas' subconscious Lucas snaps back into reality once more, again breathing heavily and in a state of shock and disorientation. He runs his hands through his hair, heavily distressed at this point. LUCAS (Whispering to himself, in a state of complete panic) It was just a prank... Just an April Fools day prank... What have I done...?

Lucas mounts his bike without hesitation and makes his way recklessly to Michael's house, heavily breathing all the while. He pedals furiously and is in a state of complete distress. Rapidly, he approaches his destination. EXT. BRIDGE. DAY-DREAM. DAY As he pedals along, once more Lucas has a premonition-like dream. Michael stands on top of a bridge, crying and holding a photo of his girlfriend. He is hysterical. MICHAEL (to the photo) I was in love with you!! How could you do this to me? Michael dramatically throws the picture off the bridge, and jumps after it himself, plunging to his death. EXT. Micheal's House. DAY Lucas arrives at his friends house, having envisioned the worst of scenarios. Lucas is a mess, sweaty and terrified. The house is old and in need of a clean-up. Lucas hesitantly goes to ring the doorbell, before shaking his head, acknowledging the critical urgency of his entry, and lets himself in. INT. Micheal's house. DAY Lucas barges through the door, limbs flailing, screaming. LUCAS Mike!! Mikey!! Where are you!! I need to talk to you Lucas runs around the house frantically for a few moments, however it is in vain, the house appears completely empty. Lucas eventually falls to his knees, out of exhaustion and despair. He puts his head in his hands, voice broken and almost crying. LUCAS (fearing the worst) Oh my god... oh my god.... Michael is seen creeping up behind him in the dim house, his eyes sporting dark bags and mouth a sadistic smile. He has a sharp knife in his hand, but is using it to cut pieces of apple

MICHAEL I got your message, Lucas. Lucas' entire body spasms at the sheer shock of hearing his voice. LUCAS (panting, delirious) Dude, Oh my god! Hey! The message, nah man... it's not what you think! The calendar... It's April dude! She's not even... Michael cuts him off by placing a grubby hand over Lucas' stuttering mouth MICHAEL I read it, Lucas. And it's OK. LUCAS (muffled through Michael's hand) What? MICHAEL I read your message. Its alright, you can relax. Michael removes his hand from Lucas' face and slices another piece of apple off the fruit. He places it in his mouth carefully and chews slowly. There is a very uneasy tension in the room. LUCAS Man, I'm so glad.. I was freaking out there for a moment. Yeah I can explain, just let me get my breath back! MICHAEL (Low, almost a whisper) There is no need to explain, Lucas. I understand. I'm not going to cut your balls off. LUCAS (laughs nervously)

Oh thank god man, whew... In one swift movement, Michael drops his half eaten apple on the ground and hold his knife up high. His face is twisted in rage. MICHAEL (Slowly and sadistically, a smile creeping over his face) April Fools... Michael advances on Lucas, who scrambles frantically away. He looks around, cornered. There is no escape from his impending doom. The screen goes black. LUCAS (V/O) (Screaming loudly, in excruciating pain.)

THE END