We've done this before - but let's try it again. You know what to do.

**************

EXT. LAKE DOCK.

SAM, 19, sits on the end of the dock, dangling his feet over the edge, his toes barely touching the water.

It's a beautiful summer day in the woodsy lake country midwest. The water beautifully reflects the sparse clouds above. The only other living creature on the lake is a loon off in the distance which makes her call and then gracefully dives under the surface only to appear a couple hundred yards away.

SAM begins to hear footsteps walking down the dock towards him.

If you decide to jump into the water and swim frantically, turn to page 6.

If you decide to turn around and face the source of the creepy footsteps, turn to page 13.

Oh...it's...we're doing something else...my bad

Sam turns his head languidly and catches a glimpse of LARENA, 18, walking towards him. She sits down beside him and stares into the distance. After a few silent moments Larena turns to Sam.

LARENA
You know Indians used to live here. They called the lake Wo'okeyeh Ejau. It means "peaceful water." Eventually they moved out, others moved in and the name sort of just got lost. I guess everything loses it's meaning eventually.

Sam looks lost in thought for a moment, absent-mindedly tapping the water with his toes. He then turns to Larena.

SAM
Why are you here anyway?

Larena does not recognize Sam's question

LARENA
Were you planning on finishing your dinner?

Sam continues to stare over the water.

LARENA
They weren't too happy when you just walked out like that. Mother was in tears, and when mother is upset, The Kinsman is furious.

Larena turns hear face away, revealing a fresh gash on her cheek, the surrounding sink is still red from the horrible impact.

SAM(weak)
It was still living, Larena, I couldn't finish it!

LARENA(sympathetic)
I know, I only finished half of it

SAM(disgust)
I can't put that thing in my mouth!

Sam hangs his head weakly in surrender

SAM (cont.)
I just can't

LARENA
You want to know what I do?

Sam is vaguely interested

SAM
Do what?

LARENA
How I hide it.

SAM
Larena you amaze me sometimes.

LARENA
Why, because of my charming personality?

SAM
No. You take abuse from that man everyday and you never have anything negative to say about him.

LARENA
Well that's because I know It's not his fault.

SAM
Come again...?

LARENA
Sam we come here every summer, this little cabin is our home away from home, It's where you and me became who we are.

SAM
What's that got to do with dad hitting you?

LARENA
Nothing, that's what I think about to help me get through every moment being here. I figure if I paint a nice picture in my head maybe everything around us wont be so bad... Come on!!! lets go swimming.

Larena hops up on both feet, then dives into the water. A moment passes...nothing.

SAM
Larena!?... Larena where are you?

After glancing over the lake Sam finally sees Larena's lifeless body rise to the top of the water. Sam wastes no time and jumps in after Larena.

CUT TO:

INT. BEDROOM-NIGHT
SAM's eyes shoot open. His pupils shrink in the darkness. His shaky, damp hands move across the bed sheets, searching. They touch his WIFE'S skin. She lies next to him, asleep. He is much older now, maybe in his early forties.

SAM
(hoarse whisper)
Larena...
You...

WIFE
(asleep)
Mmmyeah...
Sammmm...
Who...?

SAM
I...I don't know what it is, I don't know...

He swallows hard, dry saliva.

SAM
I thought she was...
But you're not...I...
I don't know what is was. It was a dream.
It was a dream, but it felt...it felt so real, I...

His WIFE lies peacefully in front of him, her chest softly heaving up and down in her slumber. SAM bows his head in self-defeat. The tangible world he had just left was but an abstraction. It's quite evident now that he is safe in bed.

SAM pulls the sheets from his body and climbs off the mattress.

CUT TO:

INT. KITCHEN--MOMENTS LATER
SAM rummages through the refridgerator. He pulls out a gallon of milk and pours it into a glass he finds drying in the rack next to the sink. A blizzard storms outside the kitchen window. He stares at it for awhile, sipping at the milk. He is still noticeably tense, as the image of LARENA'S cold, lifeless body flashes through his mind. He clenches his head, wipes away the cold sweat...

WE INCH closer to him, too close...he throws the glass against the kitchen counter. It shatters into a million pieces.

He stares out the window as snow rushes by. Slowly, the bitter storm begins to fade and the scenery changes back to the wooded grandeur of the beginning scene. The window disappears...the fantasy molds into reality.

CUT TO:

EXT. WOODED AREA--DAY
They are young again. LARENA lifts a wooden cup from inside the well bucket. She walks over to a tree stump where SAM sits and pours it into his mouth. He grins at her, truly elated. She kisses his forehead, then moves his fingers over her swollen belly.

LARENA
It's everything there's ever been, isn't it?
It's the most beautiful thing in the world...

SAM's face grows solemn.

SAM
Please, Larena...
Don't stay here...
With the way things are now, please don't stay.

She looks at the ground as if about to cry.

LARENA
I can't leave his father...
I can't leave him like me...without a father...

SAM
Please, Larena...
Please, he isn't real.
He isn't good,he isn't real, he's not...

SAM stares at her with hard eyes.

SAM
You know he won't care about this baby anymore
than he cares about you now.

LARENA looks up from the ground with her face masked in happiness.

LARENA
Did you like the water?
It was good, wasn't it?

Haha...we should call it "MELODRAMA FEVER."

Sam becomes dizzy and his vision begins to swirl.

LARENA (faintly in the distance)
Did you like the water?
It was good, wasn't it?
Did you like the good?
It was water, wasn't it
Did you good the water?
It was like, wasn't it?
etc.

Sam looks in paranoia at the surrounding well which has become coated in green floppy mushrooms that sway and float erratically, and eerily alive. A dense cloud of yellow mist rises from the well and curls out in tiny tendrils.
Sam looks at his cup of water, and sees some dark object float lazily to the surface, he realizes that it is Larena's lifeless body, he drops the cup, and it shatters into a million pieces

CUT TO:

INT - Kitchen

Sam is back at the kitchen counter, with the shards of his glass lying fragmented in a puddle of milk that drips slowly and rhythmically off of the counter to the ceramic tile in soft DRIPS

The CRUNCHING of springs is heard, as his wife gets out of bad and groggily leans against the doorpost on the opposite side of the room. Wife rubs her eyes

WIFE
What are you doing Sam?

Wife yawns and rubs eyes. Sam looks at his wife, eyes wide in fright.

SAM
I think I'm going f*ckin' nuts, babe.

WIFE
Yeah, well...
You know...

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Hall,

INT. PISSAT--MORNING
SAM sits next to FAT MIKE. MIKE is his freind, but MIKE id also fat, so everyone calls him Fat Mike. It is what it is. They drive. SAM lets go of the wheel for a moment to crank down the window and light a cigarette.

SAM
This screenplay's killin' me, Fat Mike.
It's f*ckin' killin' me, I'm dying.

FAT MIKE
Yeah, well...
You know...

SAM
It's just the ideas, the ideas.
I can't sleep, I'm constantly thinking,
but it's all sh*t, right? You know?
Nothing's good enough...
It's not profound...or it's too profound...
I had this dream about some hillbilly girl with a broken jaw jumping into a lake...
I mean what is that?

FAT MIKE
Doesn't smell like sundance...

SAM
Well I wasn't aware it had a smell, Fat Mike.
What does it smell like to you?
Bacon?

FAT MIKE
You know, i don't think it's funny when you do that.
Say things like that...
I don't think it's funny.
This stature isn't a choice for most people.

SAM
Yea, most people, but what about you?
You work out and stuff?
You eat mcsalads instead of mcshakes?

FAT MIKE catches a McDonalds out of the corner of his eys as they speed through town. SAM clenches the wheel.

SAM
I broke a glass today...
Threw this glass of milk and it shattered into a million pieces.
(beat)
It dripped umm...
Dripped...
You know...dripped slowly, rhythmically...in soft drips...
(beat)
Got all over the f*ckin' place.

FAT MIKE
You didn't throw it away though, did you?

SAM
Throw what away?

FAT MIKE
The milk...
You didn't dump it out?
You didn't let it go to waste?

SAM takes a drag and stares at him as if he were from outer space.

FAT MIKE
What??
You could've...put it on your...
...put it on your cereal...

FAT MIKE's voice fades slowly into silence. He looks down at his lap, ashamed.

FAT MIKE
You think you know all the answers...

SAM
You think you look good naked.

FAT MIKE
No I don't...

SAM
Well there you go.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Hall,

CUT TO: EXT. SIDE OF THE ROAD
Fat Mike stands over SAM's dead body, blood drips from his mouth and there is hatchet in SAM's head.
CUT TO: INT. PASSAT
SAM awakes from yet another day dream.

SAM
Hey Fat Mike, are you hungry? You wanna grab some McDonald's? Wendy's? Denny's? Chuck E. Cheese?...
(mumbling) My left leg...

FAT MIKE
What?

SAM
What's up?

FAT MIKE
Hmm?

SAM
You say something Mike?

FAT MIKE
No. I mean yeah. I mean...What the f*ck!?