Breaking Point

A Screenplay by HelloWritingBlog

Breaking Point is a work-in-progress short film about teenagers, love, and depression.

BREAKING POINT

BY DYLAN HARDCASTLE

SETTING: This short film takes place in Fresno, CA in the year 2015. A young girl, Emilia, is not one of the popular kids, but instead, a quiet, lonely, and sort of nerdy girl. A young boy, Aron, is also not popular, accept among his friends, who are sort of geeky and generally go unnoticed through the school, as does Emilia.

Fade in. Establishing shots of Fresno. Cut to Emilia’s room, alarm going off, and she is getting ready for school. Cut to Mrs. Johnson making breakfast for Mr. Johnson, who is sitting at the table reading the paper. Emilia is coming downstairs.

Mrs. Johnson

Good morning sweety! How’d you sleep?

Emilia

Fine-

Mrs. Johnson

(Cutting her off) That’s great! Don’t forget

your lunch and books.

Emilia sighs and grabs her lunch and her books and heads out the door. She gets in her car and drives away.

Establishing shots of Emilia’s school. Cut to Emilia getting out of her car, struggling to get all of her books out of the car. Once she gets all of them, she is walking to class, still struggling slightly. A group of girls are approaching her.

Ashley

(Smacking the books out of Emilia’s hands,

trying to make it look like an accident.) Oops.

My bad.

All the girls begin to laugh. From a distance, Aron sees what happened and runs over to help Emilia with her books and papers.

Aron

(Crouching down to grab some papers

And books.) Hey, Are you okay?... (No response)

Don’t let it get to you. Ashley is just

mean and all those other girls are

just her chihuahuas. (Laughs under his

breath, waiting for a response from Emilia.)

My name’s Aron by the way. (Standing up,

waiting for a response from Emilia. She

starts to walk away.) You’re Emily right?

Emilia

(Stops. Turns.) I’m Emilia.

Emilia walks away to her class. Aron is watching her.

Aron

Emilia...

Cut to Aron’s house. He is looking through a yearbook for Emilia’s picture.

Cut to the next day at school. Aron is hiding behind a wall, waiting for Emilia. Aron “accidentally” bumps into Emilia.

Aron

(Laughing) This just keeps happening, huh?

(She doesn’t laugh, and is looking down at

her feet.) Hey, listen, I have this bowling

party thing Saturday, and I was wondering

if you wanted to come. (She doesn’t respond.)

Anyway, it’s tomorrow, and I hope you can

make it.

Emilia

(Quietly) I’ll see if I can make it...

Aron

Really?! Uhm.. Sweet! (Emilia starts to

walk away.) I’ll see you there! (Celebrating

to himself.)

Fade out.

Fade in on Emilia’s house. Emilia is following her mom around the kitchen.

Emilia

But mom! Please just tell me I can’t go so that

I don’t have to go.

Mrs. Johnson

No! I’m glad this boy invited you. You need

to go out and be with kids your own age.

You are seventeen. Go out and have fun.

Emilia

Ugh...

Mrs. Johnson

Sorry Hunny. Now go wash up. Dinner is

almost ready.

Emilia

What are we having?

Mrs. Johnson

Spaghetti!

Emilia

(Skeptical) But mom... You’re a terrible

Cook.

Mrs. Johnson

Hey. Sometimes we need to try new

things and...

Before she can finish, the smoke detector goes off and she rushes to the stove.

Emilia

I’ll call Me ‘n Eds.

Mrs. Johnson lets out a sigh of exhaustion.

Fade out.

Fade in at the bowling alley. Emilia just pulled up and is getting out of her car. Aron rushes to her.

Aron

Hey!

Emilia

(Showing sort of a “fake” smile) Hi...

Aron

Are you ready to bowl?

Emilia

I’ve actually never done this before...

Aron smiles at her and they both sort of laugh.

Bowling Montage.

Cut to Emilia’s car.

Aron

I had a really great time tonight.

Emilia

Me too...

They both smile. Aron leans in to kiss Emilia, but she, regretfully, pulls away slowly. Aron’s friends start calling him to his car.

Aron

(Giggling slightly) Sorry... (Starts to walk away)

Hey, I’ll see you tomorrow

Emilia

(With a big smile on her face) Okay.

Fade out.

Cut to Emilia’s house. She is just arriving at home.

Mrs. Johnson

You’re home late. Did you have fun?

Emilia

(Still smiling) Yeah...

Fade out.

Fade in and out of shots of a dating montage, showing Aron and Emilia at a restaurant, bookstore, watching a movie, and on a picnic.

Fade out.

Fade in on Emilia at home. She is checking the mail and sees a letter from UCLA, stating that she has been accepted and can start within the month.

Cut to Emilia’s house. Emilia and Mrs. Johnson are in the living room.

Emilia

You and dad are what?!

Mrs. Johnson

We are getting a divorce... It’s nothing

either of us did. We just aren’t happy

together anymore. But we will always

have feelings for each-other.

Emilia

I don’t understand. How can you just

wake up one morning and not be “happy”

with the person you’ve chosen to spend

your life with?... I just... I need some air...

I need to get out of here...

Emilia storms out of the house and gets in her car. Her phone begins to ring and she picks it up and looks down at it. She sees that it is Aron calling her, and declines the call. She breaks down in her car.

Fade out.

Fade in at school. Aron walks up to his friends.

Aron

Hey, have you guys seen Emilia?

The guys say no, or shake their heads. Aron, disappointed, walks away.

Cut to Emilia’s house. Aron walks up and knocks on her door. Mrs. Johnson answers.

Aron

Hi, Mrs. Johnson.

Mrs. Johnson

(Clearly hiding something) Oh... Hi

Aron.

Aron

Is Emilia here?

Mrs.Johnson

Um... She’s not really feeling well right

now... Maybe you should come by

another time...

Aron

Oh... Okay... Well can you tell her I

stopped by?

Mrs. Johnson

I will.

Aron

Thank you.

She closes the door and turns to Mr. Johnson who is standing in a doorway.

Mrs. Johnson

That poor boy... He doesn’t deserve

any of this. He doesn’t need to be

put through all of this...

Emilia, who has been listening from around the corner, comes out crying.

Mrs. Johnson

Hunny...

Emilia runs out of the house and into the road. A car is quickly approaching her.

Blackout.

Fade in. Emilia is laying on the side of the road. She, slowly, gets up and looks around at what happened. She sees Aron, laying on the ground bruised, scraped, and dying. Emilia breaks down and rushes to his body, but before reaching him, is pulled back by her parents and watches as the paramedics arrive.

Cut to Emilia staring out her window. Fade in and out of memories with Aron. Then Fade to her parents signing the divorce papers. Then back to Emilia in her room. Her mom walks in.

Mrs. Johnson

I brought you some food... You

need to eat something sweetie...

Emilia does not respond. Mrs. Johnson sighs, sets the plate of food down, and leaves the room.

Cut to school. Emilia is walking around school and Ashley, and her friends approach Emilia.

Ashley

Hey. I’m sorry for your loss,

Emilia. I’m sure Aron was a

great guy... (Emilia starts to

walk away.) ... It’s a shame he

had to go and save your life.

They start to laugh. Emilia cries and runs home. She gets home, runs to her room, and slams the door. She throws herself onto her bed and breaks down.

Over the next few scenes, a voice over of Emilia plays. While is plays, fade in and out of all the places Aron and her went together.

Emilia

Dear mom and dad,

As you know, the past few months have been

really stressful for me. And I’ve just had a lot on

my mind. Happiness is like a game of Jenga and

the person next to me keeps bumping the table,

and down falls my happiness. I wish I could tell you

that I’m sorry for doing this, but that’s just not the

case. My happiness was limited here, and all

that made it better was Aron Fletcher. Between his

passing, your divorce, and verbal torture, I just couldn’t