Coins and Promises

(SCENE: A busy city street. Gary and his 6 year-old daughter Anne are shopping)

Anne: Look Daddy!

Gary: What is it, Anne?

Anne: Gold! It’s a gold circle!

Gary: I’m sure it’s just a wrapper or something, honey. Why don’t you just leave it there on the ground.

Anne: It’s not a wrapper. It’s a coin. Look!

Gary: Oh my goodness, Anne! You’re right! But I’m sorry. It’s probably not real gold.

Anne: I think it’s real, Daddy.

Gary: Of course you do, sweetie, but people don’t just leave gold coins on the ground.

Anne: Can I keep it?

Gary: Sure you can. We’ll take it home and wash it.

Anne: Hey Daddy, who’s this man on the front of the coin?

Gary: I don’t know, let me see. What? This can’t be! It’s… it’s a beast with horns! I think it’s supposed to be the devil, Anne. And so lifelike!

Anne: Can I play with it?

Gary: Once we get home.

(SCENE: Anne’s Room. She is playing with the devil coin)

Anne: Would you like some tea, devil coin?

Devil Coin: Bother me not with tea, child!

Anne: Wha?

Devil Coin: I’m sorry, Anne. I didn’t mean to yell.

Anne: You can talk?

Devil Coin: I can talk.

Anne: Are you magic?

Devil Coin: I am beyond magic, Anne.

Anne: Daddy said you were the devil. Are you bad magic?

Devil Coin: I can give you everything you’d ever want. Does that sound like bad magic?

Anne: No…

Devil Coin: Exactly. It’s only bad magic if you want bad things.

Anne: Well I don’t want bad things! I want to be good.

Devil Coin: Oh I’m so happy you found me then!

Anne: So how do I make good things happen?

Devil Coin: Just hold me and concentrate on what you want.

(Anne picks up the Devil Coin and squeezes her eyes shut)

Anne: Daddy’s favorite cupcakes! You did it!

Devil Coin: I did. Just remember, Anne. You can never tell anyone about me.

Anne: Okay. I promise.

(SCENE: 20 Years Later. Anne is thin, pale, and smoking a cigarette in an extravagant and luxurious penthouse. Her hair is pulled back and she’s wearing dark glasses. She is surrounded by servants)

Anne: Everybody get the fuck out of here.

(The servants quickly try to leave, but one of them didn’t hear remains behind)

Anne: God. I’ll just do it myself.

(Anne takes the coin shuts her eyes, and the remaining servant disappears. Anne sits for awhile and then slowly looks to where the servant had been)

Anne: I have become a monster!

Devil Coin: That was my plan all along, you bitch!

Anne: That was your plan? But what about all the good you did?

Devil Coin: Necessary sacrifices. They provided justification. They provided distraction.

Anne: Whatever. I don’t even care anymore.

Devil Coin: I know. I know you don’t.

(The camera pans outside and we see that the world is burning and in ruins. There is suffering everywhere.)

(SCENE: A twenty-eight year-old named Arnie is walking down the street and he sees something platinum. He picks it up. It is a platinum coin)

Arnie: Why…what’s this! It’s a platinum coin with Jesus’ face on the front.

Jesus Coin: Hey Arnie. It’s time to make a difference.

Arnie: Wha?!

Danger in Aztec Village

Paulo: There it is, Mr. Riley! The secret Aztec temple!

Mr. Riley: Yes. You were right, Paulo. I had hoped it would be here. The prize is close now! I can sense it! I can taste it!

Paulo: Prize, Mr. Riley?

Mr. Riley: Paulo, are you sure you told no one else of this place?

Paulo: No one else. Those were your orders. I came directly to you.

Mr. Riley: Very good. Very good…..Paulo, I want to thank you for leading me here. Without your help, I never would have found the temple. You see, within this temple there lies a silver shield. And according to legend, when the shield was combined with a magic Aztec sword, the bearer of the shield and sword will transform into a huge robot that has the powers of the sun god.

Paulo: That is amazing!

Mr. Riley: Yes it is amazing. And I have reason to believe that the legend is true.

Paulo: It’s true?! Then we must get this shield! We must find the sword!

Mr. Riley: Oh, Paulo. I wish I were a stronger man. I wish I had the generosity to share the power of a sun god, but I don’t. And it pains me Paulo, because I truly love you. You’ve been much more than a servant to me, and I want you to know how hard this will be.

Paulo: What, Mr. Riley?

Mr. Riley: Oh, Paulo. I must kill you now. But be at ease. Your death will be remembered. It will be glorious.

(Paulo, startled, sees that Mr. Riley is serious. He begins to run away. But calm as all shit, Mr. Riley reveals a glowing and serrated warrior sword he had hidden. Mr. Riley chases Paulo through the jungle, catches him, and swings the magic sword as if it had no weight at all. Paulo’s head falls to the ground and blinks twice. Paulo is dead.)

Mr. Riley: Adios, Paulo.

(Mr. Riley marches right on into the Aztec temple. It is full of skeletons and snakes and a bigfoot, but Mr. Riley uses his magic Aztec sword to kill them all. There is one skeleton that is lying off in a corner. This skeleton carries the shield. Mr. Riley picks up the shield and walks outside of the temple. He holds the sword and the shield toward the sun which looks bigger than normal.)

Mr. Riley: Por estas energías combinadas, soy sol del capitán!

(Mr. Riley looks down at his hand and sees that it is turning into a shiny robot hand)

Mr. Riley: I….I can feel it HAPPENING!

(Mr. Riley says the word “Happening” with a robot voice)

SCENE II:
(An alley. A homeless man named Pikset is sleeping under cardboard and newspaper. A vision appears to him)

Ghost of Quetzalcoatl: Pikset! Wake up!

Pikset: What is it?

Ghost of Quetzalcoatl: I am the ghost of Quetzalcoatl, Aztec god.

Pikset: Oh no!

Ghost of Quetzalcoatl: Yes. I have a warning. The robot sun god has returned

Pikset: Am I crazy? Am I dreaming this? What is going on here!

Ghost of Quetzalcoatl: Pikset, you are the last decendant of Moctezuma, the Aztec ruler. You are needed to stop the circuitry of a man who has turned into a robot with all the powers of the sun!

Pikset: Tell me more, oh Ghost of Quezalcoatl!

Ghost of Quetzalcoatl: Okay. It may be the end of times, Pikset! It may well be! I know not because it is unforeseeable. But it has been foreseen that only you can save the people of Earth. So please, do that.

Pikset: Okay I will, but people are going to think I’m crazy.

Ghost of Quetzalcoatl: No. They won’t. Because think about it. There is a man who has all the powers of the sun. And the sun has a ridiculous gravitational pull. Not only could he burn whatever he wants, but he can also pull anything towards him. Think, Pikset. Can you even imagine anything as dangerous as that?

Pikset: I cannot.

Ghost of Quetzalcoatl: I know. Go then. Save everybody. But one last thing.

Pikset: What?

Ghost of Quetzalcoatl: You have to quit heroin now.

Pikset: But…but…I don’t know if I can!

Ghost of Quetzalcoatl: Well the world is doomed if you don’t.

Pikset: Then I must. I have a feeling I’m about to go through one of the hardest things of my life.

Ghost of Quetzalcoatl: You are. You feel that way because you have the gift of The Sight.

Pikset: I think a part of me always knew that.

The Open Blue

Pitch: Reclusive man wakes up to find ocean has risen hundreds of feet in sea level. The world and its cities have drowned. Boats filled with survivors converge on the man's mountain home as everyone struggles to find their humanity and remember the laws that bind us together.

Richard is 40 years old and very very reclusive. He's got a past, and he now lives high, high in the mountains in a very remote cabin from which he rarely leaves. To minimize contact, he orders food, clothes, and other essentials online. A FedEx employee delivers a stock of groceries once a month.

But one day wakes up and the groceries don't come. They don't come the next day either. Richard starts to panic as his supplies grow lower and lower. On the third day, he leaves his cabin. He packs what he has and steps outside. As he opens the door, he can't believe what he sees. It must be a dream, and he heads down the mountain to make sure. The Ocean. The sea level is hundreds of feet higher than normal. The world appears to have drowned.

And then the boats come. At first just a single small dot on the horizon, it soon multiplies, getting closer and closer to the mountain turned island. There is nowhere for Richard to hide.

As the new arrivals get to the island, Richard's curiousity wins over his reclusivity. He asks what has happened, what has made the water level rise, but nobody seems to know. It was sudden, it was quick, and it was merciless. All survivors were already on boats when it occured. The survivors wait and pray for the water to recede.

Richard is seen as the leader on the mountain/island, and for awhile, things are organized and contained. He comes out of his shell, and begins to fall in love with Hannah, one of the survivors.

But the food supply is very limited, and with an ever increasing number of boats coming in the low food supply starts to be the cause of violence and murders. Richard struggles to keep the peace, as the other survivors regress and become more and more animal.

Boats continue to converge on the mountain/island, and as they do the violence escaltes. There's not enough room. There's not enough food. The island/mountain's survivors are divided on whether or not to attack new boats as they come in, and this leads to a huge, bloody war. The war in turn, ignites a fire that begins to consume the island. Food supplies are burned, and bodies lie everywhere. Richard and Hannah decide to sail away from the island, but Hannah is killed during their plight. The film closes with the boat sailing away from the smoldering island, and Richard huddled up in the boat. There is no one else. He has achieved the solitude he once desired and has found it empty and cruel.