Get Away

EXT. CHARLIE AND LISA’S HOUSE DAY

The weather is bright and sunny, the couple are packing their
car ready for their cabin get away. CHARLIE looks over at LISA
and playfully rolls his eyes, gesturing with his hands to hurry
up. LISA is holding the phone to her ear using her shoulder as
she fumbles to lock the door behind her. The shot is framed in a
way we can see LISA’s wrists which look bruised.

LISA
(in foreign language)
Yes mum, I know! I... mum! We're leaving for the
beach hut now! I’ll call you when we get there.

LISA looks over her shoulder at CHARLIE who is tapping his

wristwatch and looks impatient as the color becomes desaturated.
LISA turns back around and begins to whisper into the phone, the
saturation returns to bright and colorful.

(whispering)
Mum... Charlie needs this. I need this. We just need
to forget about what happened for a week and
everything will be okay again.

LISA pauses as we hear muffled audio coming from the phone as

her mother responds.

(in foreign language)

I love you too. Bye.

LISA hangs up the phone and walks towards the car, we can see
CHARLIE waiting leaned against the door with a tight, forced
smile. LISA opens the car door and gets into the backseat.
INT. CAR EVENING

The weather is still cheerful as CHARLIE is driving with a smile

on his face, he glances back at LISA briefly who is on her phone
and his smile begins to fade. He lifts his fingers off the wheel
slightly and taps them back down trying to grab her attention.

CHARLIE
So! Are we excited for our lovely get away? You and
me, cocktails and a cozy little beach hut eh. Gonna be
grand, ain’t it?

LISA continues to stay fixated on her phone, she’s tapping away

typing up an email.

LISA
(no emotion)
Mhm.

CHARLIE grips the wheel tighter.

CHARLIE
(sarcastic)
Oh no! Lisa, we’re going off a cliff!

LISA continues to tap away at her phone.

LISA
(no emotion)
Yeah.
The camera begins to zoom into CHARLIE’s face, everything around
him unfocuses and the colors desaturate once more as we hear
audio of a car wreckage and LISA screaming.

LISA
Babe?

CHARLIE snaps back to reality and chuckles nervously, the camera

quickly zooms back out and brings the frame into focus as the
colors return to normal.

CHARLIE
(not focused)
Sorry, what’s up?

LISA
Can we pull over for a second? My legs are tired.

CHARLIE
But we’re making good time. If we pull over now then
it’ll be dark by the time we arrive.

LISA sits there in silence after his statement, the camera

focuses on her.

LISA
(internal monologue)
The doctor said we need to communicate better but, I
don’t want to upset you. Poor guy, I can’t imagine how
much you must be hurting.
LISA gathers some courage and tries an excuse to get him to pull
over.

LISA
(hesitant)
I just really need to stretch.

CHARLIE raises his eyebrow with a smug look as he keeps his eyes
on the road.

CHARLIE
(smug)
Well this is what happens when you’re on that phone
all the time.

LISA furrows her brow looking visibly irritated by this

statement.

LISA
(stern)
Charlie I want to talk about this before we get there,
or it’ll just be eating me up inside.

CHARLIE snaps back at Lisa cutting off the end of her sentence.

CHARLIE
(snappy)
There’s nothing to talk about.
The two sit in silence for a little bit, fidgeting awkwardly
before LISA speaks up.

LISA
You didn’t need to lose your temper like that.

CHARLIE aggressively swerves and pulls over to the side of the

road.

EXT. CAR, SIDE OF THE ROAD AFTERNOON

It’s beginning to get dark out. CHARLIE is leaning against the

side of the car smoking a cigarette, trying to calm down whilst
LISA is sorting out the luggage in the boot to fit better. LISA
sighs and looks up at CHARLIE. CHARLIE throws his cigarette butt
onto the ground, immediately pulling out another one and
lighting it. LISA’s phone begins to ring and we see CHARLIE’s
brow furrow and his eyes shift to his right. The camera pans
slightly and shows LISA answering a phone call. The colors
desaturate once again as we hear muffled audio of LISA talking
in the background.

CHARLIE
(internal monologue)
Stupid bitch on her stupid phone, with her stupid
overbearing mother and her stupid job. Why can’t she
ever talk to ME instead? She gets to be on her phone
24/7 for ‘work’ but whenever I’m on my phone she
thinks I'm cheating! I looked at Sarah once! It
was window shopping at best.

CHARLIE takes a long drag of his cigarette, and we hear muffled

talking as everything comes back into focus, except this time
the color does not become saturated again and remains moody. The
talking gradually becomes clearer as we see LISA on her phone
once more.
 LISA
(into phone)
Haha, yes, yes you too Mr. Otonashi! Haha, yes,
thank you! Bye!

LISA hangs up her phone and sighs as she walks towards CHARLIE.
She places her phone back into her pocket and leans against the
car next to him.

LISA
(hesitant)
Sorry babe, I’m all yours now.

CHARLIE scoffs and throws another cigarette butt onto the

ground.

CHARLIE
(sarcastic)
Yeah, sure.

LISA pauses and looks out the window pausing for a few seconds
and then looking back at CHARLIE.

LISA
Listen Charlie, I’ve been thinking and I think that if
we want things to go back to normal we’re going to
need to talk about the last few months...
 CHARLIE
(impatient)
What is there to talk about? Mum dies, I get sad, I
get better. Happily, ever after.

LISA looks down at her feet passively, she furrows her brow a
bit and looks up at CHARLIE.

LISA
(stern)
You know what I mean Charlie. The Sarah situation.

CHARLIE steps away from the car and looks at LISA. He looks
furious.

CHARLIE
(angry)
No no no, don’t you start this! Nothing happened
between me and Sarah I looked at her once! And you
got in front of me I didn’t mean to hit you!

LISA
(stern)
I know babe but if we don’t talk about these things
and just bottle them up, we won’t be able to be happy
together! Maybe mum was right, maybe we do need to
spend some time apart.

CHARLIE grits his teeth as he gets more and more infuriated.

Stepping towards LISA and pointing his finger directly into her
face.
 CHARLIE
(angry)
Of course she would say that! And of course you would
listen to her! Why don’t you think for yourself for
once instead of letting your awful mother think for
you!

LISA grabs her coat out of the back seat and storms off in front
of the car. She looks back at CHARLIE as she continues to walk.

LISA
(shouting)
You and Sarah can have each other! I’m done Charlie!

CHARLIE looks stunned.

CHARLIE
(shouting)
Lisa wait!

CHARLIE climbs back into the car and starts it up. We see a shot
of LISA’s back walking as the camera follows from behind. After
a few seconds we see lights appearing on her back getting larger
and larger.

INT. CAR NIGHT

We see CHARLIE sat in the front seat, the camera is focused on

him, and we hear the radio playing. He is looking forward
stoically as he drives with the back of the car out of focus we
can see a silhouette of what looks like LISA in the back. LISA’s
phone begins to ring as the back of the car focuses, revealing
that the silhouette of LISA is just luggage with her phone
smashed up in the backseat and CHARLIE is in the car alone.
CUT TO BLACK