INT.

WOONSOCKET HIGH SCHOOL- AFTERNOON

A teenage girl in history, sits at her desk, anticipating the

ring of the bell.

The bell RINGS

AALIYAH, a quiet girl, 14, extra cautious and a bit

skeptical.

Aaliyah begins walking to her next class. In a dissociative

state, making her way to the staircase.

Aaliyah blacks out. Dropping to the ground.

AALIYAH
(Her eyes begin to flutter open
and confusion overcomes her)
What's going on?

NURSE
You had an anxiety attack and fell
down the stairs.

AALIYAH
(beginning to realize all of the
aches in her body, rubs the side
of her head)
I need to sit up

TEACHER
(Helps her sit up)

NURSE
If you can make it up this flight of
stairs to the wheelchair, I'll bring
you to my office to lie down.

AALIYAH
(After a few minutes with her head
spinning, she begins to try and
stand up, tumbling over.)

NURSE
(Helps her up the flight of stairs
into the wheelchair with the help
of the teacher)
You have to lie down this time, for at
least 30 minutes.
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 2.

AALIYAH
(Putting her head back and lets
out a slight sigh)
Okay.

INT. WHS NURSES OFFICE- AFTERNOON

Aaliyah laying down in the nurse's office, feeling terrible,

watches the time slowly pass, anxiously waiting for her 30
minutes to be up.

AALIYAH
Okay, I'm fine now. I'm going back to
class.

NURSE
(Writing her a pass)
Are you sure?

AALIYAH
(Wanting to get out there already,
she nods.)

NURSE
Here you go

Walking down the hallway to band class, trying to see

straight, she sticks close to the wall. Eventually finding
her way into class.

The day passes and Aaliyah trudges through all groggy.

AALIYAH
(Getting in her grandmother's car)
Hello.

Patty, courageous, 59, very empathetic, shaved head.

PATTY
(Looking at Aaliyah with a little
bit of concern)
How was school today?

AALIYAH
Not great. I fell down the stairs
today, and I'm a little sore
everywhere.

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 3.

PATTY
(A look of anger washes over her
face.)

With a raised voice.

And they didn't call your mom?!?!

AALIYAH
I guess not. I laid down for a bit and
then carried on with my day.

PATTY
(Dialing numbers on her phone)
This unbelievable! They're lucky we
don't sue!

Aaliyah sits there patiently, listening to the only side of

the conversation she could hear.

PATTY
(On the phone with an unknown
person)
This is ridiculous. She could've
gotten seriously hurt. I think it's
time you take her to the hospital.

AALIYAH
(Now aware of who she was on the
phone with)
I will be okay. I just need to rest,
I'm tired.

PATTY
You can't sleep. You might have a
concussion. Your mom is going to bring
you to the hospital when she gets out
of work.

INT.- GRANDPARENTS' HOUSE- EARLY EVENING

Aaliyah lays on the couch with tv in the background, waiting

for her mother to finally get off work

The dog starts barking. The door opens and closes.

Tara, 33, a people person, with long brown hair that is

always in a bun.

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TARA (MOM)
(In a slight sing-songy voice as
she begins walking up the stairs)
Where's my daring daughter?

PATTY
She's on the couch.

MOM
(Makes her way to the living room)
How are you feeling?

AALIYAH
So so tired. And sore.

MOM
Well, I have to get you to Hasbro, so
get your things together.

AALIYAH

Getting her things together.

Do we have to do this?

TARA
Things haven't been getting better.
You fell down a flight of stairs at
school. This is getting serious. We
need answers now.

AALIYAH
(Sighs)

Grabs her bag and says her goodbyes to her grandparents.

Makes her way down the stairs slowly, preparing for the long
night ahead of her.

Alright then, I'll meet you in the

van.

INT- INSIDE OF THE HOSPITAL- EVENING

Aaliyah and her mom get her checked in, and look for two
empty seats, beginning the long wait of being in the
hospital.

AALIYAH
Do you actually think that they're
going to figure out what's wrong with
me?

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 5.

MOM
It's a hospital, Aaliyah. That's their
job.

After what seems like hours of watching the interactive

projections they put on for the kids, Aaliyah is finally
called.

CHECK IN NURSE
Aaliyah Soto.

Aaliyah and Tara get up and proceed to follow the nurse.

CHECK IN NURSE
Alright, I'm just going to take your
vitals and your weight if you'd just
come right over here.
(Pointing to scale around the
corner)

Aaliyah steps on the scale.

CHECK IN NURSE
(Writes on paper)
Alright, you're all set. Now let's go
right back over here.

Aaliyah, the nurse, and Tara begin talking about the reason
for being brought in.

TARA
We just don't know what to do anymore.
It happens everywhere, and now she's
getting hurt. The school won't even
call me anymore. This isn't just
anxiety attacks. She becomes
unresponsive and her body convulses.

CHECK IN NURSE
(Continuing to write on paper)
And how long has this been going on?

TARA
For a couple of months now. We've even
tried seeing her doctor to change her
medications and nothing works.

CHECK IN NURSE
Does she have a history of seizures or
epilepsy?

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TARA
No. None at all. She's always been
completely healthy and active.

CHECK IN NURSE
Alright, well, we're going to get you
into a room to see a doctor and run
some tests.

AALIYAH
(Clearly annoyed)
We're going to be here forever. I have
school tomorrow.

TARA
I don't think you'll be going to
school tomorrow.

AALIYAH
How long do you think we'll be here
for?

TARA
I don't know.

AALIYAH
Are you going to stay with me?

TARA
I'm not going to just leave you.

AALIYAH
Okay.

INT. - HOSPITAL ROOM - NIGHT TIME

Doctors have come in and ordered some tests, also paging

Neurology.

Aaliyah is seen hooked up to all sorts of monitors. She hears

the doctors explaining what they are looking for as she feels
very unwell.

Aaliyah goes out and the doctors and nurses scurry around,
eventually putting epilepsy medication into her to see if
that would help.

AALIYAH

After a few minutes, she begins to settle down.

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(Opening eyes very slowly, taking

a look around the room and
noticing the crew of people she
had)
I don't feel very good at all. I can't
see straight.

DOCTOR
Hi Aaliyah, I'm going to be your
doctor. I'm from neurology. We've just
put some epilepsy medication into you.
Can you tell me how you feel?

AALIYAH
I feel very dizzy. Loopy. I feel like
I'm on drugs.

Aaliyah hears the doctor talking to the nurse and mom very
faintly.

DOCTOR
It seems like the medication has only
made her looped up and slightly
incoherent. I'm going to take a look
at the brain scans tomorrow and see if
anything came up. For now, you and her
should get some rest.

Doctors leave and turn off the lights on the way out.

INT. - HOSPITAL ROOM - WAY TOO EARLY IN THE MORNING

The nurse knocks on the door and asks if Aaliyah's awake.

Getting no response, she comes on over

NURSE
(In a whisper)
Hi Aaliyah. I know it's really early
but I just need to take some vitals
really quickly.

AALIYAH
What time is it?

NURSE
It's about 5 am.

AALIYAH
Can I go back to sleep?

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NURSE
As soon as I'm done.

The nurse finishes up and heads out of the room. Aaliyah

rolls over the best she can, attached to all of these
monitors, and goes back to sleep.

A couple of hours later, Aaliyah is awoken by another knock

at the door. This time it's around 8 am and multiple people
come in.

Aaliyah wakes up her mom.

DOCTOR 1
Good morning ladies. I've brought a
couple of people from my department
with me. We just wanted to talk about
your scans and our next options.

AALIYAH
So you have an answer?

DOCTOR 2
It looks like that medication is out
of your system now. Are you feeling
better?

AALIYAH
Better than yesterday.

MOM
You've figured out what it is then?

DOCTOR 1
Unfortunately, we did not. The scans
came back almost clear. There were
some slight spikes and one spot that
was a little bit concerning. So we're
going to try another test, almost
similar to the one you did yesterday.
I'm going to have one of my fellow
doctors here explain, I have to run.

Doctor 1 leaves. Leaving only doctor 2 and a nurse.

DOCTOR 2
So what we're going to do Aaliyah, is
have the nurse here hook you up. What
she's going to do is just stick these
wires to your head and it'll be pretty
much the same thing. You leave it on

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 9.

and it does all of the work for you.

AALIYAH
How long do I have to leave it on?

DOCTOR 2
At least today and tonight.

AALIYAH
I have to stay here another night?

DOCTOR 2
Unfortunately. We need to figure out
what is wrong with you.

AALIYAH
When can I leave?

DOCTOR 2
When we have an answer for you. For
now, I'm going to let the nurse hook
you up. We'll be by again later.

MOM
Thank you.

Doctor 2 leaves.

NURSE
Alright Aaliyah, this is going to be
cold. It is also sticky so you will
need to wash your hair a couple of
times when you get home.

AALIYAH
At least I can keep my hair.

NURSE
(Slight giggle)
You're right about that. There are
quite a few of these and they are
going all over your head. It's
important to stay still and not take
any off. If one falls off, just page a
nurse and we'll put it back on. Any
questions?

AALIYAH
Nope.

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 10.

NURSE
Okay. Here we go!

The nurse finishes attaching all of the wires and then exits
the room.

Aaliyah to her mom

AALIYAH
We have to stay here another night.

MOM
I didn't expect this to be a quick
thing. I think I'm going to stop by
the house to shower and grab some
things. Do you need anything?

AALIYAH
A shower.

MOM
Well, you can't do that right now. Is
there anything else you'd like?

AALIYAH
A change of clothes, my charger, and
my blankets. Maybe some food on your
way back because this food sucks.

MOM
Okay. Make sure you text all of that
to me.

AALIYAH
My phone is dead.

MOM
I'll try to remember it all. If the
doctors come back, let them know I'll
be back.

AALIYAH
Will do.

Tara (mom) leaves and Aaliyah is left alone in her room.

Aaliyah has some episodes while her mom is gone. Causing the
nurses to barge into the room when they see her heart rate
rise and her oxygen levels drop.

Aaliyah stops breathing during an episode and flails widely.

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 11.

The nurse comes running in.

NURSE
(Look of concern)

The nurse takes her hand and puts it into a fist, rubbing her
knuckles across Aaliyah's chest until she finally exhales.

The nurse stays with Aaliyah until she is fully back.

NURSE
Is there anything I can get you?
Water? Juice?

AALIYAH
What kind of juice do you have?

NURSE
We have apple juice and orange juice.

AALIYAH
I'll take some apple juice, please.

NURSE
I'll be right back!

The nurse returns with apple juice, gives it to Aaliyah,

makes sure she's okay, and then leaves again.

INT. - HOSPITAL ROOM - EVENING

Tara aka mom has returned with Aaliyah's things and has
helped her change into her own pajama pants.

The doctor knocks on the door and enters the room.

DOCTOR
How are we doing?

AALIYAH
This isn't really comfortable and will
probably suck to sleep with on my
head.

DOCTOR
It's important we see if you have any
brain activity going on during the
night. Try not to move around too much
in your sleep, they might fall off.

AALIYAH
I'll be careful.

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 12.

The doctor leaves the room and Aaliyah turns to her mom.

AALIYAH
Did you get food?

MOM
Your dad said he was going to bring by
Chinese food so I didn't grab
anything. I'll run down and grab it
when he gets here.

AALIYAH
Sounds good.

A few minutes later, Tara's phone buzzes and she stands up.

TARA
He's here, I'll be right back up.

Tara leaves the room and returns after about 10 minutes.

TARA
I stopped by the cafe to get myself a
sandwich. Here's your food.

Tara hands Aaliyah her food and helps her roll the table up
to her.

They both eat their food while watching the tv.

When Aaliyah is finished, she yawns.

AALIYAH
I'm so tired, I think I'm going to go
to sleep now.

TARA
I think I'm going to do the same.

Tara cleans up the dinner mess and unfolds her bed.

They both try to get comfortable the best they can and head
to sleep.

INT. - HOSPITAL ROOM - VERY EARLY

The nurse knocks on the door and walks into the room

NURSE
(In a whisper)
Good morning again! I'm here to take

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 13.

your vitals.

Aaliyah's eyes open.

AALIYAH
It's time again.

The nurse takes her vitals and then exits the room quietly.

Aaliyah rolls back over and goes back to sleep.

A couple of hours later the doctors enter the room.

DOCTOR
Good morning. I apologize it's a bit
early but I've stopped by to let you
know a nurse will be coming in soon to
take that off of your head.

AALIYAH
That sounds good to me.

MOM
When will we know the results?

DOCTOR
Hopefully within the next few hours.

The doctor leaves and the nurse enters.

NURSE
Are you ready to take these off?

AALIYAH
So ready.

The nurse takes off the wires one by one. Trying to take the
glue off with it the best she can.

NURSE
There. That was all of them. Feel
better?

AALIYAH
Yeah. All I need to do now is wash the
glue off of my head.

NURSE
You can shower before you are
discharged. You have to keep all of
those wires on you so for now you can

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 14.

wash up with some wipes.

AALIYAH
Okay. Thank you.

The nurse gets Aaliyah the wipes and then leaves the room.

Aaliyah's body has been so weak and tired from all of the
episodes she's been having, so her mom helps her wipe up,
just like they've been helping her use the bathroom.

After they're done, they both go on their phones for a bit.

Then they see that schools have been shut down for a week
because of the rise of covid.

Aaliyah thought this was convenient since she couldn't be at

school anyways.

Hours pass and a group of doctors walk in.

DOCTOR
Hi Aaliyah, and mom. We've taken a
look at these scans too and they seem
to be normal. So I've brought with me
the psychology department. We're going
to hand this over to them now so they
can do evaluations and tests since
everything seems to be normal.

Aaliyah isn't fully aware of what's going on right now since

she's had a lot of episodes today. So her mom talks for her.

MOM
Do you think we can maybe start later
when she's more awake?

DOCTOR 2
Of course, we can. We need her fully
here with us in order to do the
evaluation anyways. I'll make some
more rounds and then we'll come back.

Everyone leaves the room and Tara is left alone with Aaliyah
whose eyes are now completely closed.

A few hours pass by and there's a knock at the door.

Aaliyah is now sitting up.

DOCTOR 2
Well hello! It's nice to see you up.

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 15.

We met a little while ago but you

weren't fully with us then. I've come
to do an evaluation on you. This is
the next step since your scans and
tests came back clean.

AALIYAH
Okay. I'm ready when you are.

Aaliyah and the doctor go through the long process of

evaluation. Aaliyah having a few episodes on the way, makes
it to the end, exhausted.

The doctor then tells them goodbye and leaves the room.

No doctors are seen for the rest of the day. Just the nurses
in and out to check her vitals.

Aaliyah and her mom head to sleep.

INT. - HOSPITAL ROOM - MORNING

Aaliyah is awake early this morning, not being able to sleep

great last night. The nurse is surprised to see her awake.

She takes her vitals and then heads out the door leaving
Aaliyah alone to watch tv until her mom wakes up.

Aaliyah and her mom order breakfast and the doctors come in
the room very soon after.

DOCTOR 2
(Standing in front of his student
doctor and doctor 1.)
Good morning. I believe we have
figured out what's been going on with
you.

TARA
You've figured it out? How? What is
it?

Aaliyah sits up and listens attentively.

DOCTOR 2
What we believe Aaliyah has is
something called PNES. Which stands
for Psychogenic nonepileptic seizures.
This means that what she's having
mimics a seizure almost completely,
but it is doing none of the brain

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 16.

damage to her that an epileptic

seizure would.

TARA (MOM)
How could this be? How could she
develop something like this so late in
her life? She's an active, healthy
girl.

DOCTOR 2
Well, this disorder can stem from
trauma, anxiety, major stresses, and
other things like physical, sexual, or
emotional abuse. It explains all of
the symptoms she's been having like
the convulsions and loss of body
function. It also explains why nothing
was coming up on the brain scans when
we were running our tests.

This can be very difficult to deal

with, especially with no guarantee
this will get better when you go home.
But what we can do is get you set up
with all of the resources you'll need
before you go home. We'll also have
someone come in and talk to you about
how to deal with this and the steps
you can take to make these episodes
safer so you don't get hurt or fall
down any more stairs. If you have any
questions for me, page the nurses and
ask for me. Hopefully, we can get you
guys out of here by the end of the day
today. Take care guys.

The doctor leaves and Aaliyah is in disbelief. She doesn't

know how to take this diagnosis. She doesn't know whether to
be happy that we have an answer or sad because now she has so
many more questions.

Her mother starts to get their things together, quietly.

Waiting for Aaliyah's leg function to return and for the
nurses to come back with the papers.

Some time passes and the nurses eventually come back and make
sure the girls understand everything. They let them know that
some specialists will be giving them a call in the next few
days. Aaliyah and her mom say thank you to the nurses one
last time and finally walk out the room doors, ready to begin
the next adventure.

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