Screenplay

INT. APARTMENT - EVENING

PAISLEY, a young woman packs up and searches for something
in her dead sister’s apartment. She puts items into an empty
box as she goes through drawers and shelves.

There is a knock on the door. Paisley crosses to the door

and opens it. STEVEN, a man who works for the cable company,
is there.
STEVEN
Hi there. I’m with the cable
company. I was scheduled to pick up
the cable box today.
PAISLEY
Yes, of course. Come in.

STEVEN
(entering taking in the packed
boxes and lonely walls)
Where you moving to?

PAISLEY
(crestfallen)
Oh. I’m not moving. I’m sorting
through my sister’s things. She-
She passed away last week.

STEVEN
Ah. Right. Sorry for your loss. So
the cable box?
PAISLEY
In the bedroom closet. Help
yourself.
Steven heads to the closet. Paisley opens a drawer and takes
out a picture of her sister at the Texas Chocolate
Conference with a first place ribbon attached to a plate of
chocolates. The picture is taped to the top of a set of
chocolate molds.
There is another knock on the door. Paisley opens it.
LOTTIE, a woman dressed to the nines, stands there with a
plate of fruit and various flavored dipping sauces.

Lottie and Paisley take each other in.

PAISLEY
Can I help you?

(CONTINUED)
CONTINUED: 2.

LOTTIE
I saw the lights on and brought
these. The dips are fresh from my
shop.
(looks down to the tray)

PAISLEY
Thanks.
Paisley reaches for the tray, but Lottie enters the
apartment and heads to the kitchen with purpose.

LOTTIE
I thought whoever was coming to
sort through Jessica’s things would
need the extra support.

Lottie sets the tray down and starts rifling through the
drawers.
PAISLEY
I’m sorry, but who are you?

LOTTIE
I’m a fellow chocolatier, Lottie
Leonard. I work in the chocolate
shop across town from Jessica’s and
heard the awful news. Are you her
sister?

Lottie finds the silverware and pulls out some spoons and
adds them to the tray with napkins.
PAISLEY
Yeah. Paisley.
LOTTIE
Well, I thought the chocolate would
be better than some casserole dish.
Oh poor Jessica. She really was the
best chocolatier in town. Such a
shame her death was so unexpected.
PAISLEY
Thanks.

LOTTIE
They say she was about to make a
huge announcement about a break
through in flavoring.

(CONTINUED)
CONTINUED: 3.

PAISLEY
Yes, she was. She thought it would
change the world.
Lottie smiles.

Steven walks back in the room, cable modem in hand.

STEVEN
That’ll be all. I got what I
needed. You have a good evening
’mam.
PAISLEY
Do I need to sign anything?
STEVEN
Nope, it’s all taken care of.
Steven exits the apartment.
LOTTIE
Do you mind if I use the restroom?

PAISLEY
Of course. It’s through there.

INT. APARTMENT BEDROOM - EVENING

LOTTIE shuts the door to the bedroom and walks to the

bathroom and starts to run the water before turning back to
the closet. She carefully sorts through the clothing, intent
on finding something.

PAISLEY
(O.S.)
Everything alright?
LOTTIE
Yes! Be right there.
Lottie heads back to the bathroom and flushes the toilet.
She heads back into the bedroom. Before she leaves, jewelry
on the desk catches her eye.

She walks over to the window and unlatches it. Quietly

pulling up the window an inch. Turning around she crosses
over to a bundle of jewelry on the desk. She begins to
examine a charm bracelet.
Paisley enters.

(CONTINUED)
CONTINUED: 4.

PAISLEY
That’s my charm bracelet.
LOTTIE
It’s lovely

PAISLEY
My mom got both Jessica and I
matching bracelets. Every time we’d
got to a new place, we’d get a
charm: a snake from Texas, a
lobster from Maine...I was hoping
to find Jessica’s bracelet.
LOTTIE
Oh yeah?

PAISLEY
You see, we always got different
charms to represent different
memories. She got a new
one recently. She was very excited
to show me...
(looking away)
Sorry. I don’t mean to bore you.
LOTTIE
(eying the bracelet)
Not all. Not boring at all.

PAISLEY
Well if you don’t mind, I’m getting
ready to meet up with some of
Jessica’s friends.

LOTTIE
Of course. I was just heading out.

EXT. APARTMENT - NIGHT

Lottie waits around a corner while a neighbor locks up a

door down the hall.
She approaches the slightly opened window and carefully
pushes upward.
 5.

INT. APARTMENT BEDROOM - NIGHT

Lottie crawls through the window, carefully closes it and
begins to search the apartment in earnest.

EXT. PARKING LOT - CONTINUOUS

Paisley pulls her car into a parking spot and sits for a
moment in contemplation.

INT. APARTMENT BEDROOM - NIGHT - CONTINUOUS

The bedroom is in disarray as Lottie discovers an electrical
box hidden in the wall behind piles of clothes. Her hand
reaches for the door and pulls it open.

EXT. PARKING LOT - CONTINUOUS

Paisley turns off the car and slowly exits the vechile
before heading towards the apartment.

INT. APARTMENT BEDROOM - NIGHT - CONTINUOUS

LOTTIE is examinng a strange message taped inside the door
in loopy handwriting. Lottie pulls out her phone and takes a
picture with her phone.
Keys RATTLE outside the door.
Lottie looks up, startled. She rushes to the window. and
peers through the blinds.

EXT. APARTMENT - NIGHT - CONTINUOUS

PAISLEY is putting the key in the lock.

INT. APARTMENT BEDROOM - NIGHT - CONTINUOUS

LOTTIE waits until PAISLEY starts to open the door before
sliding the window open again. She begins to crawl out when
she knocks over a box, sending it CRASHING to the floor.
 6.

INT. APARTMENT - NIGHT - KITCHEN - CONTINUOUS

PAISLEY hears the crash and rushes into the bedroom, in time
to see the back of a figure in black climbing out the
window.

Paisley pursues the figure down the stairs of the apartment

building.

EXT. APARTMENT - NIGHT - CONTINUOUS

PAISLEY pursues the black figure down to the ground florr of

the building, but the figure is no where in sight. She turns
around and heads back up.
LOTTIE, hiding behind a dumpter takes a deep breath and
pulls her phone out to look at the picture she took earlier.
She stares intently at it and works out the code before
leaving.

INT. APARTMENT BEDROOM - NIGHT

The bedroom is a mess clothes, books and personal items are

strewn across the floor. The closet looks particularly
baren.
PAISLEY carefully approaches the closet and notices the open
electrical box. She examines it closer up and sees the note.
A look of recognition crosses her face, she goes to pull off
the note and a small folded piece of paper falls to the
ground from behind the note. She picks up the note and reads
the message: "Don’t eat the chocolate."

She remembers something and rushes out of the apartment

phone in hand.
The note flutters to the ground.

EXT. APARTMENT ROOFTOOP - NIGHT

LOTTIE walks out onto the patio roof of Paisley’s apartment.
She quickly approachs a potted plant with freshly tilled
soil. Lottie digs her hand into the pot and digs around
until she finds a small box.
With shaking hands she opens the box.

(CONTINUED)
CONTINUED: 7.

LOTTIE
Finally.
A silver charm bracelet is lying on the cushion inside along
with a handful of neatly wrapped pieces of chocolate. The
clasp has been damaged along with a charm on the bracelet.
Upon closer inspection it reveals something is inside. A
tiny note rolled up.
Lottie carefully opens the piece of chocolate and takes a
small bite. The chocolate is divine. Unlike anything she’s
tasted before and she proceeds to eat the whole thing.
Before she can pull the note out she hears approaching
footsteps. Panicked Lottie grabs the remaining pieces of
chocolate and the note. She quickly runs to the stairs to
the lower floor.

Seconds later Paisley runs out onto the seemly empty roof
top. She sees the charm bracelet and box laying on the
floor. She carefully picks it up.

EXT. APARTMENT - PARKING LOT - NIGHT

Lottie, struggling for breath, unfurls the tiny piece of
paper. Her eyes grow big and she clutches her heart. Leaning
against the brick wall she slowly slides down. She starts to
convulse slightly before collapsing like a rag doll. Her
limp hand drops the paper with the inscription inside:
"Just Desserts - Steve."

INT. APARTMENT - EVENING

Steve greets Paisley and asks to collect the cable box.

INT. APARTMENT BEDROOM - EVENING

Steve carefully rifles around the room before finding the

code in the electrical box. He takes a picture and quietly
attaches a note to the back of the code before grabbing the
cable box.

EXT. APARTMENT ROOFTOOP - NIGHT

Steve is seen pulling the original message from the box with
the charm bracelet. A formula can be seen. Steve then places
a handful of chocolates in the box. He pulls out a needle
with clear liquid and injects each piece.
 8.

Steve stands up and walks away smiling, patting the formula.

EXT. APARTMENT - PARKING LOT - NIGHT

Lottie lies still in the flickering parking lot.

THE END