EXT.

DESERT SUNSET

The vast emptiness of desert. A tumbleweed blows by an empty

parking lot.

INT. PAWN SHOP SUNSET

A radio hisses and crackles into clarity. A voice over the

radio begins to speak.

RADIO (V.O)
A friendly desert community, where the
sun is hot, the moon is beautiful, and
mysterious lights pass over head while
we all pretend to sleep, welcome to
Night Vale.

Music begins to play.

JACKIE, 19, black hair, beanie, and a nose ring, walks over
and turns off the radio.

Jackie squints looking out the window at the sunset.

JACKIE
Almost closing time.

Jackie walks behind the counter and puts her boots up on the
counter and starts to read a magazine.

A bell above the door rings as it opens.

OLD WOMAN JOSIE walks in carrying a large canvas bag and

empties it on the counter in front of Jackie. A pile of
plastic garden flamingos fall out.

Old woman Josie begins to speak to the wall next to Jackie.

OLD WOMAN JOSIE

It is not for myself I give up these
little ones.

Old Woman Josie waves her hand over the plastic flamingos.

OLD WOMAN JOSIE

But for the future.

JACKIE
Alright Man, I'll give you eleven
dollars.
 2.

Old Woman Josie tightens her gaze at the wall.

JACKIE
Ah okay, tell you what, I'll give you
a good night's sleep.

Old Woman Josie shrugs

OLD WOMAN JOSIE

I'll Take it.

Old Woman Josie falls to the floor dead.

Jackie fills out a claim ticket.

Old woman Josie comes back to life and stands up.

OLD WOMAN JOSIE

Be careful not to touch those
directly.

JACKIE
Umm...sure okay.

Jackie hands Old Woman Josie her claim ticket.

Old Woman Josie walks toward the exit.

OLD WOMAN JOSIE

Good-bye, dear, come by sometime and
talk to the angels. They've been
asking about you.

Jackie waves good-bye as the door closes behind Old Woman

Josie.

A few moments later the door opens again. Jackie looks over
and sees DIANE walking up to the counter.

JACKIE
Hey Diane, can I help you?

Diane looks through her purse and take out a handkerchief.She

hold the handkerchief to her eye and cries a single tear into
it.

DIANE
I'd like to offer this.
 3.

JACKIE
I'll offer you eleven dollars, that's
the deal.

DIANE
I'll take it.

Diane hands the handkerchief to Jackie, then falls to the

floor dead.

Jackie begins to write out the claim ticket and places an

eleven dollar price tag on the the tear soaked handkerchief.

Diane comes back to life, and stands back up.

Jackie hands Diane her claim ticket.

DIANE
Thank you.

Diane places the ticket in her purse and turns to leave.

Jackie walks over to the front door and turns the "OPEN" sign
around to say "CLOSED". She walks back behind the counter and
begins to gather pack her stuff into an old backpack.

Just she's about to leave a man wearing a tan jacket, and

holding a deerskin suit case walks in.

MAN IN THE TAN JACKET

Hello, My name is Everett.

Jackie jumps and gasp in surprise.

MAN IN THE TAN JACKET

I'm sorry, are you closed?

JACKIE
No, that's okay,no. Can I help you?

MAN IN THE TAN JACKET

Yes, I hope so. I have an item to
pawn.

JACKIE
I...uh...yeah?

MAN IN THE TAN JACKET

Thank you for your help. Have I
 4.

introduced myself?

JACKIE
No.

MAN IN THE TAN JACKET

Ah, I apologize. My name is Emmett.

The man in the tan jacket outstretches his hand towards

Jackie.

Jackie shakes his hand.

The man in the tan jacket lets go.

Jackie keeps her hand shaking in the air for a few seconds
longer before realizing the hand shake is over.

MAN IN THE TAN JACKET

Yes well, here is the item.

The man in the tan jacket pulls a small strip of paper out of
his jacket pocket, and places it on the counter infront of
Jackie.

The paper reads "KING CITY".

JACKIE
Interesting.

MAN IN THE TAN JACKET

No, not very.

Jackie sits down in her chair and puts her boots up on the
counter.

JACKIE
Eleven dollars. (BEAT) Where did this
come from? Why are you offering it to
me? What would I do with it?

Jackie sits up and looks at the paper more intensely.

Jackie looks back up at the man in the tan jacket.

JACKIE
No,no, I'm sorry, my mistake. Thirty
dollars and idea about time.

MAN IN THE TAN JACKET

Done.
 5.

Jackie pulls thirty dollars out of the register and hands it

to the man in the tan jacket.

JACKIE
Personally I don't think time works
properly in Night Vale. For example
I've been nineteen for awhile, for
like a really long time. I feel like
I've been nineteen for almost forty
years. It's weird, I can remember all
of my friends and they're all in there
forties now, but we graduated high
school together. I moved out of my
mom's house last summer, or was it
like thirty summers ago. The seasons
keep passing and I celebrate my
birthday, but I always celebrate my
nineteenth birthday. My mom tells to
just stop being nineteen and just grow
up. My friends ask me if I'm ever
going to be twenty, But I just feel
nineteen. Maybe time doesn't exist,
and we all move along at our own pace.
Maybe I'll be twenty when I FEEL like
I'm twenty, when I feel grown up.

MAN IN THE TAN JACKET

That's very interesting. I've never
thought of it that way. Generally, I
don't think at all.

The man in the tan jacket falls to the floor dead.

Jackie then starts to fill out the claim ticket.

Jackie stops and places her pen on the counter and stares at
the slip of paper that says "KING CITY".

The man in the tan jacket comes back to life and stands up.

JACKIE
Oh, I'm sorry, I'll finish your
ticket.

MAN IN THE TAN JACKET

There's no need.

JACKIE
No, your ticket, there's a way these
things are done.
 6.

Jackie writes down the claim number on the ticket. She then
hands it to the man in the tan jacket.

MAN IN THE TAN JACKET

Thank you.

The man in the tan jacket bows, turns toward the door and
walks out.

JACKIE
Good-Bye.

MAN IN THE TAN JACKET

Good-Bye.

JACKIE
Oh, wait, You didn't tell me your
name.

The man in the tan jacket starts to push open the door, he
stops and turns his head over his shoulder.

MAN IN THE TAN JACKET

Oh, You're right, My name is Elliot. A
pleasure to make your acquaintance.

Jackie picks up the piece of paper. She then goes to fill out
the pawned by form. She begins to fill it out until she gets
to the name line.

JACKIE
Aw,shit. What was his name again?

Jackie looks down at the paper in her hand. She looks out the
window into the empty parking lot. Wind begins to pick up the
sand from the surrounding desert, and the man in the jacket
walks away into a dust storm. The sun sets over the horizon.

MONTAGE BEGINS: JACKIE PERFORMS HER CLOSING DUTIES WITH THE

PIECE OF PAPER IN HER HAND.

- Jackie sweeps the floor.

- Jackie wipes down the windows.

_ Jackie pulls a tarp over a wooden table with sign over it

that says forbidden and secret section.

- Jackie realizes she still has the paper in her hand and
 7.

puts it on the counter top.

- Jackie holding a bag of dog food spreads around a cup

inside a play pen of puppies.

- Jackie throws a cup of dog food over into a dark corner,

ticking of claws can be heard running towards it. A thick
scaly tail flops out of the shadows, a large tuft of purple
fur on the end. Heavy slobbering sounds start to eat the
food.

MONTAGE ENDS:

Jackie finishes filling out inventory papers when she

realizes she is still holding the piece of paper that reads
"KING CITY".

JACKIE
How the hell..?

Jackie walks over to her desk and drops the slip of paper in
the back of the top drawer.

Jackie grabs her jacket and her backpack. As she puts her arm
through her jacket sleeve, she realizes she is holding the
slip of paper.

JACKIE
WHAT THE FU...?

Jackie drops her backpack. She opens her hand with the paper
in it. She watches the slip of paper fall to the floor. She
blinks and then slowly looks over to her hand. The slip of
paper is back in her hand.

JACKIE
How? Why?

Jackie lets go of the paper again, and blink it's back in her
hand. She tries to throw the paper, and blink it's back in
her hand. Jackie places the paper on the desk, and stares
intently at the paper, unblinking.

Jackie's eyes begin to water and she blinks, and the paper is
back in her hand.

JACKIE
Well this is going nowhere.

Jackie closed the store and exits through the back door.
 8.

A black sedan sits across the road with two men in black
suits sit, taking pictures and listening with a mini
satellite dish and head.

Jackie waves goodnight to men.

The men rush to hide their surveillance equipment and roll up

the windows.

Jackie gets in her old blue Mazda coupe with double red
strips.

Jackie holds up the piece of paper.

JACKIE
King City, huh? (BEAT) I will find the
man in the tan jacket and I will make
him take this piece of paper back. If
I could do that without having to
learn anything about him or about what
the paper means, that would be ideal.

EXT. THE MOONLITE ALL-NIGHT DINER MORNING

Jackie pulls up to the crowded parking lot of the Moonlite

All-Night Diner. She parks and gets out of the car.

INT. THE MOONLITE ALL-NIGHT DINER MORNING

Jackie finds an empty booth in the corner and sits down.

Jackie stares at the paper in her hand.

The waitress walks over.

WAITRESS
Morning Jackie, What can I get for
you?

JACKIE
Oh, good morning, I'll have a cup of
coffee, like usual.

WAITRESS
Is that paper important? You've been
looking at it pretty intensely since
you came in.

JACKIE
Oh no, well, I'm not sure. It won't go
away no matter what I do. I tried
locking it in a lock box, setting it
 9.

on fire, even soaking in the shower

this morning. But ever time I get rid
of it, it always comes back.

WAITRESS
Sounds neat.

The waitress walks away to get coffee.

JACKIE
Finally, a dependable companion.

Jackie stabs the paper with her butter knife.

JACKIE
Dammit. Dammit. Dammit.

The waitress brings the coffee back and places it in front of

Jackie, and walks away.

JACKIE
Thanks.

The paper looks back at Jackie, "KING CITY", reads the paper.

JACKIE
Yeah, yeah, so I've heard.

Jackie drops the paper in her coffee, and blink it's back in
her hand.

JACKIE
FINE!

Man in the booth behind Jackie jumps.

MAN IN BOOTH
OKAY!

JACKIE
I need a plan.

MAN IN BOOTH
What was that?

Jackie turns to the man in the booth.

JACKIE
A plan, dude. I need my life back the
way it was.
 10.

MAN IN BOOTH
Ah. okay kid.

JACKIE
I need to find the man in the tan
jacket.

MAN IN BOOTH
What was that you were just saying?

JACKIE
I need to find someone else who saw
him. There must be somebody in this
town who talked to him and can tell me
about him. I'll need to start talking
to people , all over town. Try to find
anyone who knows him. Listen carefully
to what they have to say and what they
don't say.

MAN IN BOOTH
Did you just mention a man in a tan
jacket?

JACKIE
Aww never mind, it doesn't matter.

Jackie turns back to face forward.

Jackie pulls out a pen and starts to write on a napkin.

JACKIE
I'll need to make list.

Jackie writes "LIST" at the top of the page, when she looks
at the napkin it says "KING CITY".

JACKIE
WHAT! NO!

Jackie angrily looks at her hand.

She tries to write "LIST" again, but again it says "KING

CITY".

JACKIE
No, no, NO!

Jackie throws the napkin across the table. She then tries to
write on the table. As she writes and looks down, it says
"KING CITY".