“GUARDIAN”
A Short By Gareth Green
Draft 2 2/12/2007 FADE IN:
INT. ROOM - TIMELESS
BLACK
A wing flutters, the only white in darkness. It moves back and fourth in a hypnotic sway. A dove’s wing? No. Its feathers are huge, enormous in fact. Too large to belong to any kind of bird. Too beautiful. The wing ceases to move and the darkness engulfs us once more. All but for a solitary feather, floating on a slight draft. It settles besides a young hand.
INT. BEDROOM - MORN
White breaks through drawn curtains splashing light across a duvet. Underneath it MATHEW, a thirty something with scraggy hair and his life before his eyes, is lay; eyes open and staring towards ANNE. She sleeps peacefully, undisturbed as Mathew brushes her hair from her face.
MATHEW (V.O) Last night I dreamt. CUT TO:
INT. COFFEE SHOP – DAY
MATHEW and ANNE are sat before each other besides a window; the coffee bar is visible in the back. They’re both wearing their street clothes, Mathew with a brown jacket and Anne with a wooly jumper.
Anne is smiling behind her coffee cup, intrigued by the question. Her eyes never break from Mathew’s stare.
ANNE (With a smile) Really? About who?
MATHEW About you.
Anne places the cup on the table. ANNE Really? How did I look? Wait, like Marilyn Monroe, right?
Anne strikes a mock Monroe pose and blows a kiss towards Mathew who laughs at the display. She nudges him with a hand.
ANNE (CONT.) (Mock stern) Seriously though, how did I look?
MATHEW Like an angel.
Anne’s smile falters only slightly, she’s taken aback by the statement but the realization is almost unseen.
ANNE An angel? Wings and all?
CUT TO:
INT. BEDROOM – MORN
MATHEW is sat up in his room, the light from between the curtains cutting across his troubled face. He’s rugged and unshaven, ill around the eyes. Mathew gives a glance towards where ANNE once lay, but does no longer.
MATHEW (V.O) Wings and all.
He turns back towards his hand, a single white feather between his fingers. Too beautiful to belong to anything of this world.
CUT TO:
EXT. STREET – DAY
MATHEW and ANNE cut through the centre of a busy pavement, walking side by side. They laugh and joke as they go about their day. They are wearing the same clothes as they did in the coffee shop. CUT TO:
INT. COFFEE SHOP – DAY
ANNE is still talking, taken in by the conversation. Almost eager to find more. MATHEW remains with loving expression on his face, a smile cracking at either corner of his mouth.
ANNE What happened?
Mathew recalls the dream, his faint smile fading.
CUT TO:
INT. ROOM – TIMELESS
The room is dark and sterile. A medical bed is set up in the centre, besides a life support machine. It beeps steadily. MATHEW is lay in the bed, damaged and broken. Medical tubes protrude from his throat.
MATHEW (V.O) I couldn’t move and everything around me was cold. I remember the dark most of all. So still.
CUT TO:
INT. COFFEE SHOP – DAY
Anne smile has faded slightly, she seems almost concerned.
ANNE Sounds like a nightmare.
MATHEW It was. At least until you appeared.
CUT TO: INT. ROOM – TIMELESS
ANNE enters the room, her face streamed with tears. Her clothes are worn. She comes to stand before MATHEW’s bed. CUT TO:
INT. COFFEE SHOP – DAY
ANNE is smiling again. She flutters her eyelids sarcastically.
ANNE (Sarcastically) Aw, isn’t that sweet.
Mathew laughs.
MATHEW Okay, you don’t want to hear the rest?
ANNE Of course!
Anne places a hand on his.
ANNE (CONT.) I want to know.
CUT TO:
INT. BEDROOM – MORN
MATHEW is sat at the foot of his bed, still looking rough and rugged and still holding the feather in his hand. He has a puzzled expression on his face.
MATHEW (V.O) Well you appeared and suddenly I was warm.
Mathew looks up, catching a glance of the last few feathers from a wing as they move from the doorway.
MATHEW (V.O) I’d been so cold for so long I’d forgotten what it felt like to be warm.
Mathew cautiously makes towards the doorway and out of the apartment.
CUT TO: INT. COFFEE SHOP – DAY
ANNE still has a hand a top of MATHEWS.
ANNE I did? But how?
CUT TO:
INT. STAIRWELL – MORN
MATHEW opens a door to the apartment block stairwell. Distant footsteps can be heard climbing upwards a few floors above. Mathew takes a glance up the middle and toward the roof. He notices a glimpse of a wooly jumper and a woman’s hand. Anne?
ANNE (V.O) (Cont.) I mean what did I do? Did I say anything?
Mathew dashes after her, climbing the stairwell.
CUT TO:
INT. ROOM – TIMELESS
ANNE is still stood at the foot of MATHEW’s bed. She whimpers slightly before holding a hand up to her face. Moments pass before she starts round to his bedside.
MATHEW (V.O) No. You just hovered above me, staring. Watching over me.
CUT TO:
INT. STAIRWELL – MORN
MATHEW has reached the top of the stairwell and is now faced with a door leading out to the roof. It is partially open, revealing the bright white of a morning sun. Mathew pushes it further and out into the air.
MATHEW (V.O) And I felt safe again. CUT TO:
INT. ROOM – TIMELESS
ANNE is stood besides MATHEW’S bedside. She leans in and holds his head against her chest. The life support machine bleeps steadily in the back.
MATHEW (V.O) I felt safe because I knew no matter how dark and cold life could get, I’d always have you to watch over me.
CUT TO:
INT. ROOFTOP – MORN
MATHEW comes to a halt, his eyes set dead ahead of him. ANNE is stood at the edge of the building, angel wings stretched to their tips. Feathers flutter hypnotically in a light breeze. The wings bob in the air, gliding gently back and fourth. Anne smiles.
MATHEW (V.O) -My own Guardian Angel.
CUT TO:
EXT. ROOFTOP – MORN
MATHEW walks towards ANNE, his own eyes tearful. He stops before her, his eyes never faltering from her loving gaze.
CUT TO:
INT. ROOM – TIMELESS
ANNE kisses MATHEW’s head-
ANNE (Low) I love you.
-and reaches for the life support. CUT TO:
EXT. ROOFTOP – MORN
Both MATHEW and ANNE are still stood at the edge of the building, before the whole city. MATHEW leans close to her, wrapping his hands in hers.
MATHEW I love you too.
They kiss, silhouetted by the light of the morning sun.
CUT TO:
INT. ROOM – TIMELESS
ANNE leans away from MATHEW’s broken body. She is whimpering terribly so. Mathew’s life support machine flat lines. He is dead.
CUT TO:
INT. COFFEE SHOP – DAY
Silence. There is no exchange of jokes or playful nudges. Just a gaze.
MATHEW Sorry. I guess I got a bit carried away.
Anne smiles toward him.
ANNE You know I’ll be watch over you.
CUT TO:
EXT. STREET – DAY
MATHEW and ANNE are happy together. They turn to cross the road, MATHEW stopping mid way as something in the air grabs his attention. A single feather descends from the sky, dancing around MATHEW in a breeze. The feather is huge, enormous in fact. Too large to belong to any kind of bird. ANNE (V.O) (Cont.) -Always.
Mathew reaches for the feather.
A car hits him head on and Mathew topples of the bonnet and into a mess upon the floor. Darkness engulfs everything but the solitary feather, floating on a slight draft. It settles besides a young hand.
FADE TO BLACK: