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 you looking forward to this week then? Nice cabin, just the two of us, gonna
be lovely eh?

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
Oh we’re making good time, if we pull over now 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)
Maybe you could get off your phone for a bit?

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 and her phone. Talks to her boss and her fucking mother all the time
but has to find her courage before she talks to me. Does she think I’m stupid? On
the fucking thing 24/7 for “work” but I’m cheating when I look at Sarah Once.
That 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)
If you like.

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’s there to talk about? Mum dies, I get sad, I get better, end of. 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)
 Oh fuck off! Don’t start that shit again, nothing happened between me and Sarah!
I looked at her once and you act like we ran away together!
CHARLIE hesitates
And you got in front of me! I didn’t mean to hit you for Christ sake!

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)
Yeah well she would say that wouldn’t she? And of course you listen to her
because it’s just too much effort to think for yourself for once in your life!

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