White Petals

A body in is arms, a faulty memory and a multitude of unanswered questions. Life's full of surprises...

INT. MICHAEL’S APARTMENT - NIGHT

MICHAEL

Sarah?

Michael is holding something in his arms, looking down at something we cannot see. 

His face is slowly decomposing, as he only hears the sound of his television in this empty apartment.

Michael looks around, like a child would look for his parents when in a bit of a situation. 

Unfortunately no one was here, or maybe this was his only fortune. 

MICHAEL

Sarah? Are you okay?

Still no answer.

He thinks back at all of the crime dramas he’d watched this summer especially, as he put his two fingers against the neck of the poor women lying in his arms.

She was still warm, but he could feel no pulse. 

NO HEARTBEAT.

MICHAEL (WHISPERS)

Oh no, no, no!

He gives a few gentle slaps on her face, slightly feeling overwhelmed by the situation. 

Her face tilts to the side, empowering Michael’s feeling to think that she was indeed not doing a prank. 

MICHAEL

What have I done...

Michael panics.

He lifts her body off his legs and stands back up.

His hands scratching his head to the brain, like this gesture would turn back time, undo what had just been done. 

Only wearing his boxers and socks, Michael opens the window giving out to a cold winter night. 

He walks back in the middle of the room, and stares at his own end. 

He crosses his arms, trying to stop his whole body from fidgeting. 

He’s aware now.

He looks at her empty face, one that used to be so full of life, so happy. 

She had fear written all over her face, as if she’d seen death just before he’d grabbed her soul. 

Or she had seen the devil within the one she’d trusted.

 

Whatever had made her that scared, it had nothing to do with what had really happened. 

Michael couldn’t take her eyes off her.

All he wanted was to see her get up and walk out, mad as hell because anything would be better. 

His mind was spiralling.

There was no blood, no broken items. 

This didn’t make any sense.

The more he was trying to remember, the less he could remember. 

He stares at her indefinitely, waiting for her to move when she suddenly starts to gasp and breathe air again, before coughing it out like it was radiation poisoning. 

Michael puts his hand on his face as he looks up at his ceiling, feeling relieved.

She stands up just wearing his T-shirt falling just under her pelvis, hiding her private parts.

He looks at her with tears in his eyes.

He can’t help but have a nervous laugh.

MICHAEL

I thought you’d died!

She wouldn’t move a finger, blue marks around her neck as clear as a blue sky on a sunny day. 

She passes her hand on her neck, feeling the injury like she’d just slept in an uncomfortable position. 

Her neck cracks as she looks down at herself. 

Michael observes her, silent. 

The TV is still on, blasting nonsense that was only mumbles to his hears.

MICHAEL

Are you okay?

She looks back up at him, with a tear rolling down her eye. 

She looks devastated.

SARAH

No I’m not okay. What have you done to me?

Michael frowns, realising that none of this seemed normal.

Sarah walks towards Michael, barefoot.

 

He wants to move but is completely incapacitated.

Her eyes hadn’t lost its fear, as if she was looking right at it. 

MICHAEL

Sarah...

She puts her finger on his lips, now head to head with him.

SARAH (WHISPERS)

Shhhhh...

She puts her hand on his face, cold as ice.

 

Michael sheds a tear, refusing to believe.

She wipes away his tear, a soothing smile on her face.

She grabs his hand and lifts it to her neck where she gently makes him feel her injury.

 

SARAH

What is done is done Michael.

She looks at him in hie eyes, never glancing off. 

She really wanted him to know.

SARAH

I’m dead and you know it. Denial isn’t the answer.

He tilts his head to the side as he gazes off the sight of her face. 

MICHAEL (MUMBLES)

I can’t feel my legs.

Michael cannot help but fall to his knees.

He grabs onto her legs, his head against her knee. 

He is taken by a wave of sadness and regret, and cries it off.

MICHAEL

I’m so sorry, I’m so f*****g sorry!

Sarah gets on her knees too, and puts his head against hers.

SARAH

It’s okay... Everything’s going to be okay...

She lifts his head up and looks in his eyes once more. 

SARAH

All you have to do Michael, is get rid of me.

Michael is stopped from crying as she wipes the last tear.

MICHAEL

What do you mean?

Sarah smiles.

She looks behind her, back at the inert body laying on his living room floor.

Michael looks at it, and immediately wants to disagree but all that was left in the room was him and the body. 

She had gone, simply vanished into thin air. 

He was all alone again. 

LATER THAT DAY.

He is blinded by the first ray of light.

 

How long had he been standing here he thought to himself.

Michael knew he had to do something. 

He gets up and looks for a place to hide her beloved.

He starts to look in every room.

The toilets were too small, the bathroom and kitchen were no place for a corpse, plus he had no freezer big enough to hide her in. 

He searched for a place in his bedroom, even thought of hiding her under his bed but this felt way too morbid for him.

Michael walks back into the living room, and opens his closet. 

Inside was a few empty boxes from when he moved in, his drawer and his old baggage. 

It was big enough to hide her in there, with a bit of reflection to make her fit. 

Michael looks at his bag with discontent.

Every inch of his body didn’t want to do it, so why was he?

After a few seconds of inactivity, Michael reacts and pulls the bag out of the closet. He unzips the zipper and empties the bag of its content which he throws on the floor.

 

There was only useless stuff in there, stuff he’d never used or was done using. Clothes, books, old sentimental items that had no attaches to him anymore. 

He walks to the kitchen, stepping over Sarah’s body and grabs the bin bags. 

He puts all of his old stuff in it and looks at the bag before looking at Sarah.

An idea had popped into his mind.

Michael grabs another bin bag and starts to fit Sarah’s legs inside.

He takes a few steps back and looks at her. 

He goes on to grab another one, and puts it over her head. 

He takes a few steps back again, sweating from moving the body over and over again.

He wipes his arm over his face, and sighs before he rips the third bag.

He pushes Sarah to the side, puts the bin bag on the floor and rolls Sarah on it.

He wraps her up and finally, he covers the entire body of his bin bag.

All he had to do now was making sure it couldn’t undo itself. 

He walks to the living room drawer and takes out a roll of tape.

 

He goes to Sarah and start taping the bin bag turned “body bag” onto her.

Last effort, he lifts her body and fits her in the bag, bending her legs and back. 

Once done, he takes a breath and gets up.

He goes to the kitchen for a glass of water and looks outside through the window.

Cars drive by, people walk the street, lovers kiss and hold hands completely unaware of what was happening above their heads. 

Michael sits on his counter, head down, his hand holding his weight onto the edge of the counter.

He goes to pick up his glass of water but makes it fall to the ground and breaks.  

MICHAEL

S**t!

Michael goes to pick up the pieces and sees himself in the reflection of the water.

He stares at it, barely recognising himself. 

SARAH

What are you going to do now?

Michael turns around, to see Sarah standing behind arms crossed, a little bit stressed.

Michael stands up.

MICHAEL (SHRUGS)

I don’t know. It’s not like I’ve done this before.

Sarah walks away from the kitchen and to the living room.

Michael follows her.

SARAH

Show me.

Michael opens the doors to the closet and pulls the heavy baggage out. 

He opens it and steps back to let her see. 

She stays at a distance, arms still crossed.

SARAH

That’s pretty clever!

Michael looks at her, perplex.

SARAH

What?

MICHAEL

Well, it’s not a virtue.

SARAH

It is what it is.

Sarah walks away to sit on the sofa.

Michael sighs and goes to sit next to her. 

They stay there in silence.

SARAH

Are you going to turn off this TV, it’s starting to drive me crazy.

Michael grabs the remote control and turns it off.

Sarah sighs.

SARAH

What about my belongings?

MICHAEL

What?

SARAH

My stuff! My phone, my clothes, jewellery? 

My car’s parked right at the corner of your house. 

What are you going to do about it?

Michael’s face proved he had completely forgotten.

MICHAEL

F**k!

He gets up and starts to run to the bedroom.

He turns around to Sarah, but once again she’d vanished. 

Michael stares at the empty sofa before heading for the bedroom. 

He walks in and starts looking for her stuff. 

Her purse was on the bedside table, along with her phone.

Michael goes to check it.

Seven missed calls from “Dad”

Three missed calls from “Amelia”

Four text messages from “Amelia”

Michael hits his forehead, thinking it was dumb not to have thought of that himself.

He grabs her stuff, along with her jewellery, clothes and car keys before heading back to the living room back to the baggage where he shoves her stuff in there.

Michael closes the bag and keeps the car keys.

He gets dressed and heads out with the baggage.

 

He makes his way down the stairs, and all the way to the street.

Once standing on the street, he realises that he doesn’t know how her car looks like. 

He looks at the key for an indication but has a better idea, sort of.

He walks down the street to the corner and start trying every cars that seems to look like it could be hers. 

After a few cars, Michael finally founds the one he was looking for. 

He opens the booth and puts the baggage in it. He closes it, puts his hood on and gets to the driving seat.

 

He turns on the ignition and drives out. 

He leaves the area and with no idea what he was going to do with it or where he planned to do it, he kept on driving.

In total silence, Michael drove.

He notices himself feeling quite peaceful.

Was he going to get away with it?

INT. IN THE CAR - LATE MORNING

Michael is still driving, still no idea in mind about where he should go. 

He drives all around the city.

SARAH

Any idea where you’re going?

Michael turns to her, still not used to having a dead girl talking to him.

SARAH

Eyes on the road! I'm not dying twice.

Michael turns his head back on the road.

MICHAEL

I’ve never done this before, I don’t know where to go.

Sarah sighs.

SARAH

Me neither. 

Michael rubs his eyes, feeling tired and confused.

SARAH

My guess is, the best thing would be not to drive 

around the city with a body in your car. 

It’s not like you’re going to be able to dump me 

around here anyway.

Michael shakes his head.

MICHAEL

You’re right.

Michael leaves the city and start driving into the country. 

THEY DRIVE FOR A FEW MINUTES.

Sarah is still on the passenger seat, her feat crossed on it like what was happening was normal.

Michael notices.

He looks at her.

MICHAEL

How can you be so relaxed?

Sarah shrugs.

SARAH

I guess I’ve got nothing to worry about anymore...

Michael gets his eyes back on the road.

SARAH

I’ve never felt so relaxed in years to be honest.

MICHAEL

I’ve killed you, shouldn’t you be upset or something?

Sarah not wearing her seat belt, she turns her entire body towards Michael.

SARAH

Yeah, you have to explain me this though, 

why did you kill me?

Michael gives another look at Sarah before turning his gaze away as he sighs.

MICHAEL

I can’t remember. 

Sarah turns back towards the road. 

SARAH

That’s usually something someone remembers.

Sarah and Michael are now deep in the countryside. One car would drive by from time to time, sometimes a pedestrian, but other than that, they were all alone. 

MICHAEL

Usually, killers don’t have their dead victims 

helping them hiding their own body.

Sarah giggles.

SARAH

Life’s full of surprises.

Michael stops by a private ground, with a pontoon bridge  leading to a river. 

 

MICHAEL

What do you think?

Michael turns to Sarah but once again she’d gone.

Michael stays in the car for a minute, feeling bad about what he was going to do.

He knew something was wrong with him, devilish-like even. 

He started to have doubts, thinking that maybe he was better off telling the police what he’d done. 

EXT. SOMEWHERE IN THE COUNTRYSIDE - DAY

He gets out of the car and walks into the field across the road. 

He makes a thousands steps back and forth, scratching his head again, getting angrier and angrier at himself for what he’d done. 

He stops right where he stands, and looks for his phone. 

He checks his pockets, his jacket but no luck. 

He goes back to the car and looks everywhere but his phone was nowhere to be found. 

He remembers that Sarah’s phone was in the booth and doesn’t hesitate. 

He walks to the booth, opens the baggage, move over the body to grab the phone and starts dialling. 

He walks away from the car into the field again and press call. 

He waits a few seconds for the tonality to begin.

No cell reception.

Michael takes the phone off his ear, looks at it and sees that there is not a single bar.

He starts walking around with his hand high up hoping for a signal to appear but no luck.

He keeps on trying but he has no luck. 

STRANGER

There’s no cell reception around here boy!

Michael turns around his heart beating faster than a humming bird.

He walks towards Sarah’s car, the booth wide open. 

The stranger walks towards him.

STRANGER

If you go a few miles back, I think you should 

be able to make a phone call. 

The stranger smiles nicely to Michael, as he is getting dangerously close to the booth.

MICHAEL

It’s okay, I just, euh... wanted to give a 

call to my girlfriend. 

Michael shrugs with the most obvious faked smile on his face.

MICHAEL

She worries a lot.

Michael goes back to his trunk and closes it before the man can actually see anything.

At least, that’s what he’d hoped for.

STRANGER

Ah, women eh?

Michael smiles.

The stranger goes to shake his hand and can’t help but notice the phone.

STRANGER

Quite the phone you’ve got there, 

your name is... Sarah?

The strangers reads the name written on the back of the phone in glitter stickers.

Michael looks at the man completely almost out of lies.

Michael laughs nervously, trying to appear as normal as possible. 

MICHAEL

I... I broke mine before I left, 

she gave me her old one.

 

The stranger can’t help but laugh.

STRANGER

This looks ridiculous.

MICHAEL

I know, people tell me every time!

The stranger laughs again and sighs.

He gives a quick look at the car, and points at the booth, taking one of his hand out of his pocket.

STRANGER

What’s in the trunk? Looks quite heavy.

Michael is about to have a heart attack.

He shrugs.

MICHAEL

Nothing but stuff.

The stranger takes a few steps back as he shakes his head.

Michael looks at his other hand hidden in his jacket pocket.

STRANGER

You’re quite the liar boy, I’ve got to admit.

Michael is confused.

MICHAEL

Excuse me?

STRANGER

You don’t have to play that game with me anymore, 

It’s not the first time I see around this parts.

Michael takes a step back.

MICHAEL

You must be confusing me with someone else, 

it’s the first time I’m here.

 

The stranger quickly turns to look offensive.

He takes his second hand out of his pocket and takes out a knife.

 

Michael tries to step away but has the car holding him where he’s standing. 

STRANGER

Lie to me again and depending on what’s in there, 

I won’t be so forgiving.

Michael doesn’t try to convince him otherwise. 

STRANGER

Step away from the car now.

The stranger has the knife pointing at him, following him as he moves away his hands in the air.

MICHAEL

It’s not what you think.

The stranger walks towards the trunk as he looks at him.

STRANGER

That’s what scaring me.

The stranger takes his eyes off him and opens the trunk.

Michael feels tears coming to his eyes, about to be unveiled.

MICHAEL

Please, you don’t want to do this. 

The stranger grabs the zipper and opens the baggage. 

He sees the bin bag, and with his knife, cuts through.

The stranger looks away as he steps back.

STRANGER

Oh my dear god!

Before the stranger can turn away, Michael jumps behind and get rid of the knife which falls under the car.

 

He has him by the neck and start choking the man, both fallen to the floor.

As he can’t say another word, Michael is spending all of his strength unwillingly.

MICHAEL (CRIES)

I’m so sorry!

The stranger tries to get free but Michael holds him too tight. 

MICHAEL

Why did you have to look!

Michael keeps hold of him until the man cannot move. 

He wants to let go, but couldn’t. 

The stranger had already stopped moving. 

Michael can’t hold himself from crying so looks up at the beautiful day that was upon him. 

He lets go of him slowly, until he doesn’t anymore. 

He drags himself away from the body and the stranger’s head hit lifeless against the concrete of the road.

Just like Sarah, his eyes were full of fear.

Michael tries to get up but feels a hand on his shoulder. 

SARAH

Shhhhh...

Sarah grabs him and hugs him. 

Michael holds on her as tight as he can, lying on her shoulder.

MICHAEL

I didn’t want to kill him, I didn’t want to...

SARAH

I know, I know... It’s okay.

Michael moves away from Sarah, and wipes away his tears.

MICHAEL

What kind of evil are you to tell me that 

it’s okay to kill someone?!

Sarah suddenly shows sadness, in the most heartbreaking way.

Michael looks at her trying to pull away but somewhat hypnotised.

 

SARAH

How can you say this to me? I’ve been there 

for you even though you took my life!

MICHAEL

I’m sorry, but all you’ve done is lead me down 

a path that was darker than the one 

I should have chosen!

Sarah’s face from there turns to anger. 

Through his eyes, she looked as if she was the devil itself, with no disguise, no monstrous face or petrifying flames hovering over his hands. 

 

SARAH

You killed me! You’re a murderer!

Michael looks away, pulling from her gaze.

MICHAEL

Go away! You're not real!

SARAH

Psychopath! Junky! 

If only this was your first time!

MICHAEL (SCREAMS)

GO AWAAAAYYYY!

Michael screams his lungs out until his breath takes the best of him. 

Sarah disappears, gone forever.

Michael looks back at where she was standing, and felt relieved when he saw nothing.

He quickly becomes conscious that there was a body lying on the floor and gets back up to tidy the mess he’d made.

Michael closes the bag and the trunk before lifting the old man on his shoulder, with great struggle. 

He walks through the muddy grass, onto the pontoon and throws the stranger in the river.

 

Out of breath and out of strength, he walks slowly back to the car. 

He arrives at the car, gets in and turns on the engine. 

He drives in and parks the car close to the water, where it wouldn’t be found straight away.

He paces to the trunk, in a hurry to finish this off.

He opens it, grabs the bag and walks to the pontoon one last time.

 

He throws the bag in the water and takes a moment to breathe. 

He looks at the reflection of the water and sees himself again, but doesn’t recognises himself.

All he could see was darkness and it was horrifying.

Michael goes back to the car and grabs a tissue before wiping traces of him in the car.

 

He wipes the outside of the car from the handles to the windows.

Tissue by tissue, he goes inside and does the exact same thing.

Once done, Michael grabs all of the tissue and throws them in the river.

He watches them float away, driven by the course of the river.

The further they would be, the more he would see them like white petals. 

Michael looks until there is nothing more to see, then walks away. 

He leaves the car behind, and everything with it.

 

Michael goes back to the road and starts walking back.

He walks.

And walks

AND WALKS.

Until a car stops by his side.

Michael is surprised.

He looks at the driver’s seat and sees Sarah for a second.

What followed was a young woman, completely different from Sarah, beautiful and a face carved out of joy.

Michael leans to the window frame, themselves lowered by her to talk to him.

GIRL

Wherever you’re going, that’s a long walk. 

Don’t tell me you’re one of those weirdos 

that likes to walk so they can think?

Michael giggles, amused.

MICHAEL (SMILES)

No, I’m not this kind of weirdo.

The girl leans out to unlock the door for Michael.

GIRL

Get in then!

Michael opens the door and sits in.

He closes it and the girl starts driving.

GIRL

Where are you going?

MICHAEL

In town.

The girl smiles.

GIRL

Perfect! That’s where I’m going too!

Michael smiles back before looking out the window.

GIRL

You look like someone who’s in need of love.

Michael looks at her.

MICHAEL

I’ve just lost mine.

The girl is taken by surprised, suddenly overwhelmed with emotion of pity and sadness.

GIRL

I’m sorry for your loss...

Michael looks ahead, trying to think of words that would express his feelings without telling her the whole story.

MICHAEL

She... I... It wasn’t how I imagined it. 

I saw it better, lighter. 

But I regret pushing her away.

The girl looks briefly at Michael, feeling his pain.

GIRL

Whatever happened, I know that sometimes, 

love shows it’s true value once it’s gone... 

And that if it showed once, then it will surely 

show itself again. All you have to do is keep 

an eye open, however hard it may be. 

Michael wants to cry, but holds himself not to. 

MICHAEL

If I had a glass I’d drink to that.

The girl laughs.

GIRL

Why don’t we postpone it for a later time?

Michael looks at her and nods.

MICHAEL

Good idea.

GIRL

I’m Annie by the way.

Michael smiles.

MICHAEL

Michael, it’s a pleasure riding with you.

She laughs.

ANNIE

Yeah, we’re riding all right!

Michael laughs too, as he turns his head to look ahead. 

They drive out of the country to the city.

Annie parks on side of the road, to let Michael out.

ANNIE

That would have taken you hours to get here, 

what were you doing out there?

Michael smiles as he closes the door to the car.

MICHAEL

I was walking so I could think.

Annie giggles amused by his sarcasm. 

She looks inside her glove box and fetches her phone.

She touches a few things on it before showing it to him.

ANNIE

Well in case, if this idea comes into your head again, 

give me your phone number. I’ll text you 

so that next time I can bring sense in 

that brain of yours.

Michael nods.

MICHAEL

Fair enough.

Michael types in his phone number, types her in his and gives it back to her. 

MICHAEL

Later Annie.

ANNIE

See ya.

She drives away and Michael is once again alone.

He walks back to his apartment where he takes a shower. 

He comes out, turns the TV on and goes to his drawer, as calm as anyone could be.

He finds drug pills, his name written on it, usually on subscriptions. 

Michael closes the drawer, pills in hand and goes to the kitchen where he fetches a bottle of whisky. 

He sits in the sofa, pours himself a full glass of whisky.

He then pours a dozen pills and put them in his hand.

He sits straight, takes a deep breath and puts all of the pills in his mouth.

He then grabs the glass of whisky and drinks it in one go. 

His face shows a little disgust and pain but quickly comes back to the same relaxed, “in control” face. 

He lies down on the sofa, and looks at the TV.

He quickly loses consciousness.

LATER THAT DAY - NIGHT

Michael wakes up, and sits up on the sofa. 

It was the reflection that himself saw, who was acting as replacement. 

Cold. Calculative. Assertive to detail.

Michael gets up and grabs his phone. 

He puts it to his ear, and waits.

INT. MICHAEL’S APARTMENT - NIGHT

Someone knocks at the door.

Michael is sitting on his sofa, the TV still on. 

He gets up mechanically and walks to the door. 

ANNIE (SMILES)

Hi.

Michael smiles back.

MICHAEL

Hey.

Michael opens the door wider to let her in, as he looks out one last time to see if anyone was around.

He closes the door.

Sarah is standing a few feet away, sad.

1ST

Hey.

Sarah turns, surprised.

SARAH

Who are you?

The 1st looks at Sarah.

1ST

We’re like you.

She points behind her and five other girls walk out from the darkness.

They stand behind the 1st, all wearing the same face Sarah was wearing right now. 

Sarah doesn’t take too long to figure it out.

Her face decomposes itself from horror.

SARAH

I knew this wasn’t his first time 

but I never expected so many of you!

The 1st nods, followed by everyone else.

1ST

We’ve all been through what you’ve 

just been through. Literally.

3RD

You failed.

The 1st turns to the 3rd and gives her a look of disappointment.

She turns back to Sarah and starts walking towards her.

She takes her hand.

1ST

He’s been living the same day of horror again and again. 

Every time with someone different. 

And there is nothing we managed to do to stop it! 

Sarah looks at the 1st, heart broken.

SARAH

He’s going to kill her.

The 1st looks back at Sarah.

She takes a long time to answer.

1ST

Maybe this one will be able 

to do what we could not. 

END.

Author's Note

Try not to pay attention to the layout, it may be a bit "off". I tried to check it all but I may have missed some.