a story about you - first draft

8/13/2019 A Story About You - First Draft

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A STORY ABOUT YOU.

Written by

Michael Cook, Jr.

Based on "Welcome to Night Vale, Episode 13: "A Story About You""



EXT. CITY STREET - NIGHT

A car is driving down a long, empty street, like the ones youimagine the Midwest to be full of. Small signs of plant-lifeline the sides of the road as the car drives along it.

Inside the car there is a man, dressed in what one wouldconsider normal clothes. He wears a vacant expression on hisface, as though he doesn’t know or care where he is going. Hejust needs to go somewhere. He reaches down to the car radio,turning it on.

CECIL (V.O.)This is a story about you, said the man on the radio, and you werepleased, because you always wantedto hear about yourself on theradio. Welcome to Night Vale.

As the line “Welcome to Night Vale” is said, we see a roadsign to the right of the car, one that welcomes us to NightVale.

As the opening titles play, we are treated to a variety ofimages associated with Night Vale: the glow cloud, the dogpark, the Mayor’s Secret Police, the light above the Arby’s,Cecil in the radio studio, etc.

EXT. TRAILER PARK - NIGHT

We see a trailer park, similar to the one found in BryanFuller’s “Wonderfalls”. The man’s trailer is towards the backof the park. We find him just as he’s turned his car off inthe driveway.

CECIL (V.O.)This is a story about you! Youlive in a trailer out by the carlot, next to Old Woman Josie’shouse.

The man gets out of his car, closing the door behind him. Tothe right of his trailer, lies Old Woman Josie’s trailer. She

exits her front door, heading to her mailbox. She looks atthe man as he exits his car, waving at him. He waves back.

CECIL (V.O.)Occasionally, she’ll wave at you onher way out to get the mail or moresnacks for the angels.Occasionally, you’ll wave back.You’re not a terrible neighbor, asfar as it goes.



EXT. BACK YARD - NIGHT

The man is in his back yard, sitting on the steps at the backof his trailer. In front of him sits a small forest, denselypacked with trees. Above him is the night sky, full of thestars you come to expect from rural towns. Off in thedistance, a dim red light can be seen, flickering on and off.

CECIL (V.O.)At night, you can see the red lightblinking on and off on top of theradio tower. A tiny flurry ofhuman activity against theimpeccable backdrop of stars andvoid. You’ll sit out on the stepsof your trailer, with your back tothe brightness of the car lot, watching the radio tower for hours.

But only sometimes.

CUT TO:

BLACK

CECIL (V.O.)Mostly, you do other things. Thisstory is about you.

The screen is black, like an inverted piece of canvas. AsCecil describes the following elements, they appear on the

screen, the scene changing to match it.

CECIL (V.O.)You didn’t always live in NightVale. You lived somewhere else, where there were more trees, more water. You wrote direct mailcampaigns for companies, sellingtheir products.

EXT. PARKING LOT - DAY

A building appears behind the Man, amongst the trees andrivers. The name of the building obscured by the figure ofthe man as he enters the building.

INT. GLASS OFFICE - DAY

The man is sitting at his desk, a modern computer in front ofhim.

2.



The desk is cluttered, full of half opened envelopes andballed up pieces of paper. The man begins typing on hiscomputer.

CECIL (V.O.)’Dear resident,’ you wrote often.’Finally, some good news in thisdreary world. At last, a reasonnot to kill yourself!’ Then you would delete that and writesomething else to send out, and it would not be seen by anyone.

The sound of a printer printing is heard off screen as the man walks over to retrieve the paper he has printed.

The office slowly morphs into...

INT. APARTMENT - EVENING

An apartment. Not too fancy, but not too shabby either.Respectable. The man is sitting on his couch, watching TV.Next to him is a young woman, dressed casually. They startout sitting casually, then somewhat cuddled together, thenfinally completely cuddled, her head nuzzled between the man’s head and shoulder.

CECIL (V.O.)You had a friend, and then agirlfriend, and then a fiancée, the

same person.

A glance at the kitchen, dinner dishes piled in the sink.

CECIL (V.O.)She cooked dinner sometimes, butsometimes you cooked.

Back to the Man and Woman, fresh from a kiss.

CECIL (V.O.)You often touched.

They embrace again as the scene fades away...

INT. PARKING LOT - AFTERNOON

We return once more to the parking lot outside the Man’s job.He is walking towards his car, parked a reasonable distancefrom the main entrance.

3.



CECIL (V.O.)One day you were walking from theglass box of your office to yourold Ford Probe, and a vision cameto you.

We zoom out, further and further away from the ground, untilthe earth is nothing but a sphere in the black void that isspace. We continue traveling away from the earth, honing inon a shadowed sphere a great distance away. One filled withshaded trees and jagged mountains, terrifyingly dark.

CECIL (V.O.)You saw above you a planet ofawesome size, lit by no sun. Aninvisible titan, all thick blackforest and jagged mountains anddeep turbulent oceans.

We quickly zoom back into the man, traversing space at arapid speed, until we return to the earth we once knew. Closeon the man’s terrified face.

CECIL (V.O.)It was so far away, so desolate,and so impossibly, terrifyinglydark, and that day, you did not gohome. You drove instead.

EXT. ROAD - AFTERNOON

The man is seated in his car once more, driving down theroad, speeding away from his job, his home, his life. Hekeeps driving as afternoon turns to night, and night turnsback to day. After a period, the car drives past a sign, asign that reads “Welcome to Night Vale”.

CECIL (V.O.)You drove a long time, andeventually, you ended up in NightVale, and you stopped driving.

EXT. BACK YARD - NIGHT

We return to the man sitting on the steps leading to his backdoor, lost in the stars, remembering a time long since gone.

CECIL (V.O.)You have been haunted ever since byhow easy it was to walk away fromyour life, and how few therepercussions were.

4.

(MORE)



You never heard from your fiancéeor your job again. They neverlooked for you, which doesn’t seemlikely, or maybe it’s that in NightVale, you cannot be found. Thecomplete freedom, the lack ofconsequence: it terrifies you.

We see brief glimpses of inside his trailer: there is a lackof pictures there, as though the man possessed little to nopast.

EXT. CITY STREET - MORNING

The man’s car speeds down the empty desert road. We follow italong, vegetation on the side of the road whizzing by thecamera.

CECIL (V.O.)You have a new job now. Every dayexcept Sunday, you drive out intothe sand wastes and there you findtwo trucks.

EXT. SAND WASTES - MORNING

The man is now standing between two trucks. In one truck,there is a pile of wooden crates. The other truck is empty.The man moves crates from one truck to the other, one by one.

A mindless, redundant job.

CECIL (V.O.)You move wooden crates from onetruck to another while a man in asuit silently watches.

We see the suited man up close. Every time we cut to the Manand back to the Suited Man, the Suited Man looks slightlydifferent, as though there is an array of Suited Men who watch over the Man as he works.

CECIL (V.O.)

It is a different man each time.Sometimes the crates tick. Mostly,they do not. When you are done,the man in the suit hands you anamount of cash, also differenteach time, and you go home. It isthe best job you’ve ever had.Except, today, it was different.You moved the crates. The man inthe suit, a stranger, watched.

5.

CECIL (V.O.) (CONT'D)



A loud telephone ring is heard.

CECIL (V.O.)But then, as had never happenedbefore, the man in the suitreceived a phone call. He walkedoff at some distance to take it.

We follow the man as he walks a small distance away. Heanswers the phone and listens to the conversation.

SUITED MANYes sir!

CECIL (V.O.)He said. And-

SUITED MAN

No, sir!

CECIL (V.O.)Also he made hawk shrieking sounds.It wasn’t terribly interesting.

Back to the Man as he continues moving boxes. After severalboxes, he pauses. Looking intently at one box. He glancesaround the side of the truck, checking to see whether theSuited Man has returned from his phone call. Seeing the coastis clear, the man quickly carries the wooden box to his car,shoving it into his trunk, and returning to work.

CECIL (V.O.)You moved crates. But then, animpulse, an awful impulse, cameover you, and for no other reasonthan that you are trapped by thefreedom to do anything in thislife, you took one of the crates,and put it in your trunk.

After a while, the Suited Man returns to supervise, just asthe Man finishes his task. The Man walks to the Suited Man, who hands him a wad of cash, ushering him on his way. The Manreturns to his car, and drives off.

CECIL (V.O.)By the time the man came back fromhis phone call, you were done withyour job. He gave you the money -it was nearly five hundred dollarstoday, the second highest it hadever been - and you drove home withthe crate in your trunk.

6.



INT. THE MAN’S TRAILER - EVENING

The Man is in his kitchen, the crate sitting alone on thefloor near the table. He’s messing about near the stove,clearly attempting to throw a meal together so that he couldeat. A small red light can be seen reflecting off of certainsurfaces, this is the red light from the radio tower off inthe distance.

After a time, the man sits by his table, eating his food andstaring intently at the crate. The silent, menacing crate.

CECIL (V.O.)When you got home, you took thecrate into your trailer and left itin the kitchen. The crate did not make a ticking sound. It made nosound at all. Nothing made a sound

except you, breathing in andbreathing out. You cooked dinner -you always cooked dinner - and thered light on the tower blinked onand off in your peripheral vision,a message that was there and then wasn’t, and that you could neverquite read. You wondered how longit would take them to miss thecrate. You did not wonder who they were. Some mysteries aren’tquestions to be answered, but justthe kind of opaque fact, a thing

which exists to be not known.

The Man switches the radio sitting by the window on. Cecil’svoice comes through the speakers, speaking his narration sothat the Man can hear it.

CECIL (V.O.)Which brings us to now, to thisstory, this story about you. Youare listening to the radio. Theannouncer is talking about you.

A low, guttural howl is heard.

CECIL (V.O.)And then you hear something else, aguttural howl out of the desertdistance, and you know that thecrate’s absence has beendiscovered. The crate. Well, itsits, that’s all, on the kitchenfloor.

7.



The Man leaves his chair, kneeling next to the box. He sniffsit at first, letting out a small sigh as the aroma fills hisnose. He next touches the side of the crate, feeling its warmth, comparing it to the surrounding air. He finally putshis ear softly against it, and we hear the low melodic soundthat emits from inside it. As he moves his head away, wefocus on the crate.

CECIL (V.O.)That’s all. It’s warm, warmer thanthe air around it. It smells sharpand earthy, like freshly groundcinnamon. And when you put your earagainst the rough warm wood, youhear a soft humming, an indistinct melody. It does not appear to bedifficult to open. All you wouldneed to do is remove a few nails.

The Man gets to his feet, grabbing his keys from the table,and exiting the house.

CECIL (V.O.)You do not open it.

EXT. CITY STREET - NIGHT

The Man is driving down the street, heading toward the smalltown. A dim glow of light can be seen off in the horizon,growing closer as he continues driving. The radio inside his

car is on, Cecil continuing to talk through it.

CECIL (V.O.)You decide, instead, to go to theMoonlight All-NIght Diner, and havea slice of pie. The wind is hot,like always, and smells like honeyand mud . Night is your favoritetime. Daylight brings only a chainof visual sensations, none of whichcohere into meaning for youanymore. Life has become out offocus, free of consequence.

We focus on the road, the white dashes that line the middleof it zooming past us. Suddenly the headlights go out. We seethe Man’s face. It’s clear this was purposeful. We zoom awayfrom him, making the familiar trek to the planet that livesin his imagination. The planet is much closer now, perhapsaround the distance that the moon is from the Earth. We hoverthere for a moment, taking in the scenery of dark trees andthe ragged mountains before rushing back to the Man.

8.



A small glow of light reflects onto his face; the moonreflecting off the unlit dashboard.

CECIL (V.O.)As you drive, you turn off theheadlights for a moment. At that moment, you feel again, above you,not even far away now, that planetof awesome size, lit by no sun. Aninvisible titan, all thick blackforests and jagged mountains anddeep, turbulent oceans. You seenothing but the faint moonlight onyour dashboard, but you know theplanet is out there, yawning in theunseen spaces.

Suddenly the headlights turn back on, and we see the familiar

sight of asphalt and white lines rushing by the car.

CECIL (V.O.)The moment passes. You turn yourheadlights back on, and all you seeis a road. Just asphalt! Justthat. And you pass a man wavingsemaphore flags, indicating thatthe speed limit for this stretch isforty-five.

We see the man with his flags, waving them around, wooshingby us as we speed by him. Off in the distance, glows a mint-

green light. As we get closer, we see that it’s the-

EXT. THE MOONLIGHT ALL NIGHT DINER - EVENING

The diner. The Man pulls into the parking lot, parking nearthe front door, his eyes squinting slightly at the glow ofthe mint-green sign sitting atop the door.

CECIL (V.O.)The Moonlight All-Night is radiantgreen, a slab of mint light in the warm darkness. You squint when you

see it, like it hurts your eyes,but it does not hurt your eyes.You park near the front door.

As the Man gets out of the car, we see another man, probablyhomeless, rolling around on the ground.

9.



CECIL (V.O.)A man rolls by on the ground, hiseyes bleary and sightless, whispering the word-

HOMELESS MAN(whispering, repeatedly)

Mudwomb... mudwomb... mudwomb...

CECIL (V.O.)over and over. But you don’t havethe money to tip him, so you goinside.

The man awkwardly skirts around the homeless man, enteringthe diner.

INT. THE MOONLIGHT ALL NIGHT DINER - CONTINUOUS

The Man enters the diner, choosing an inconspicuous boothnear the corner and sitting down. A waitress walks over,young, naive, handing him a menu.

WAITRESSWelcome to the Moonlight All NightDiner, what can I get you?

THE MANI’ll have a strawberry pie, thanks.

She takes the menu from him, waving her hand a bit.

WAITRESSComing right up!

She walks away and the Man looks at the ceiling of the diner,seeing a set of speakers embedded into it. Cecil’s voicebegins to fill the Man’s ears once more.

CECIL (V.O.)You order a slice of strawberrypie, and the waitress indicatesthrough words and movements that it

will be brought to you presently.The radio speaks soothingly to youfrom staticky speakers set into afoam-tile ceiling. It is telling astory about you! Your story, atlast.

Suddenly, a man, the Apache Tracker, slides into the oppositeend of the booth, facing the Man.

10.



He is dressed in the stereotypical outfit one would expect aNative American to wear. Strangely though, as the ApacheTracker moves around, he morphs into an actual NativeAmerican, then back into his caricature of one. He reacheshis hand and touches the Man’s.

CECIL (V.O.)A man slides into the booth acrossfrom you. You recognize himvaguely, although he looksconsiderably different now. (gaspof surprise) It is that man whoappeared to be of Slavic origin,but who dressed in an absurdcaricature of an Indian chief andcalled himself the Apache Tracker.Except now, it’s difficult for youto miss, he has actually

transformed into a Native American.You wonder if the pie will getthere soon. The Apache Trackersmells of potting soil and sweat.He leans across the table andtouches your hand, lightly.

The Man sits there awkwardly, looking the Apache Tracker overtime and time again.

CECIL (V.O.)You do not pull the hand away,because you know that there will be

no consequence for any of this.

The Apache Tracker removes his hand.

APACHE TRACKER(in Russian)

Vy v opasnosti. <You are indanger.>

CECIL (V.O.)He says

APACHE TRACKER

(in Russian)Oni idut. <They are coming.>

The Man nods. The Apache Tracker taps the table, leaningforward and pursing his lips, he taps the ground. The Mannods again.

11.



CECIL (V.O.)You nod. He taps the table. Then,bringing his thick eyebrowstogether and pursing his lips, heleans down and taps the ground.You nod again.

Somewhere during this exchange, the Waitress arrived andplaced the strawberry pie on the table. It now sits in frontof the Man, beckoning to be eaten.

THE MANI think my pie is here.

CECIL (V.O.)You say unnecessarily, as the pieis quite visibly placed in front ofyou. You did not order invisible

pie. You hate invisible pie.

The Apache Tracker stares at the Man, letting a long hissingnoise escape through his nose.

CECIL (V.O.)He looks at the pie for a longtime, and then lets his breath hissout slowly through his nose.

APACHE TRACKER(in Russian)

Oni pridut snizu. Pirogi ne

pomogut. <They are arriving frombelow. Pies will not help.>

The Apache Tracker abruptly leaves the table, leaving the Mana confused and hungry mess.

CECIL (V.O.)He leaves. What an asshole thatguy is!

The Man begins to eat his pie, and after a while he hasfinished it.

CECIL (V.O.)You finish the pie and ask for thecheck.

THE MAN(whispering into thedrinking glass with astrange hissing voice)

Check pleassssssse.

12.



CECIL (V.O.)You say, whispering it into yourdrinking glass as is custom, andthen lifting the tray of sugarpackets to find it, filled out andready to be paid.

The Man lifts the tray of sugar packets located near the wall, discovering a filled out check hidden there. He dropssome cash onto it, and places the sugar packets back on topof it. He turns away, hearing a swallowing sound, and gets upfrom the table.

CECIL (V.O.)You drop a few dollars onto thecheck, place it back under thesugars, wait for the sound ofswallowing, and leave the diner.

As the Man is walking out of the diner, the Waitress knodsher head up and down, moving it to the beat of some song onlyshe can hear. We see her head bobbing slightly as she tracesthe light that glows atop the menu sign.

CECIL (V.O.)The waitress nods as you leave, butnot at you. She nods slowly andrhythmically to music only she canhear, her eyes riding the curvedline of neon lights above the menu.

EXT. THE MOONLIGHT ALL NIGHT DINER - CONTINUOUS

The Man returns to his car, getting inside it, backing out ofhis parking space, turning the radio on, and speeding offonto the-

EXT. CITY STREET - CONTINUOUS

-Street, making his way back home from the Diner.

CECIL (V.O.)

As you start the car, the man onthe radio says something about the weather.

A song plays on the radio as the Man drives home. We see moresigns from the Night Vale universe as the Man passes theradio station, the dog park, etc.

After a while, we end up back in...

13.



INT. THE MAN’S TRAILER - NIGHT

The Man’s kitchen. Sitting on the floor is the crate, still making not a sound. The Man kneels down in front of it,embracing it. He discovers that the crate is much warmer thanhe remembered it being. Suddenly, he becomes lost in thought.Flashes of his drive home fly through his mind. He remembersnothing but empty roads. No cars, no people, just emptiness.This frightens him, and he grabs the crate and rushes out ofthe house.

CECIL (V.O.)The crate is in your kitchen whereyou left it, and you get down onyour knees to embrace it morefully. It has grown warmer, evenhot. It still is not ticking. Ithad taken you no time to get back

home. Now that you think about it, were there any other cars on theroad? Where did all the cars go?The man with the semaphore flagsexplaining the speed limit - he wasn’t there either. Your heartpounds. Without allowing anotherstray thought to wander throughyour mind and delay you, you grabthe crate and throw it in yourtrunk.

EXT. TRAILER PARK - CONTINUOUS

The Man throws the Crate into the trunk, hopping into his carand turning it on quickly, the radio popping on as he backsout of the driveway.

CECIL (V.O.)You turn the ignition, and your carradio comes alive with a pop, justas the announcer says that your carradio comes alive with a pop. Whereto now? You don’t know, but you gothere anyway. A pair of

headlights, a pair of eyes, and twoshaky hands, speeding through thesilent town.

EXT. CITY STREET - CONTINUOUS

The car races down the street once more, the road flashing bythe screen as the car quickly speeds.

14.



Behind the car, a helicopter, equipped with a searchlight,can be seen hovering above the Man’s trailer. It’s clearsomeone is looking for him. Police sirens flash off the car’sside windows, the noise filling the air. Ahead of the car, apurpleish cloud resides in the sky, the car rushing towardsthe cloud.

CECIL (V.O.)Behind you, you see helicoptersearchlights sweeping down ontoyour trailer. There are sirens. Apurplish cloud hangs over the town,glittering occasionally as itrotates. The whole works.

As the Man drives, Cecil describes the scenery that flashesby the windows of the car.

CECIL (V.O.)

You drive past the Moonlight All-Night, still aglow and full ofpeople eating what sounds good onlylate at night, and Teddy Williams’Desert Flower Bowling Alley andArcade Fun Complex, which has takento not only locking but barricadingits doors at closing time. Youpass by City Hall, which, asalways, is completely shrouded

after dark in black velvet. Movingfarther out, following the pull ofthe distant, uncertain moon, youpass by the car lot, where thesalesmen have been put away for thenight, and Old Woman Josie’s house, where the only sign that theunassuming little home could be aplace of residence for angels isthe bright halo of heavenly lightsurrounding it, and the sign outfront that says ‘Angels’Residence’. And the town is behind

you, and you are out in the scrublands, and the sand wastes. By theroad you see a man, holding acactus in one hand and a pair ofscissors in the other. He shakesboth at you as you pass, and howls.

The car drives by the man and his cactus, the howling seepinginto the car through the windows.

15.



EXT. DESERT - CONTINUOUS

Suddenly- there is nothing. Just the car, a dirt road, andthe desert. The car drives a bit further, then comes to astop, the man getting out of the car, slamming the doorbehind him. In front of the car, the headlights illuminate anarea of desert. Nothing but sand.

CECIL (V.O.)And then, you are alone. Just you,and the desert. You stop the carand get out. Pebbles crunch in thesand in response to your movement.The radio murmurs behind the closeddoors of your car. The headlightsilluminate only a few stray plants,and the wide dumb eyes of somenocturnal animal.

The Man turns to look behind the car. The purple cloud hasgotten bigger, sinking closer to the earth, passing throughbuildings, engulfing anything with dim flashes of light.Screams and gunfire can be heard.

CECIL (V.O.)Looking back, you see the bulge oflight that is your Night Vale. Thepurple cloud, now floating over theheart of the city, reaches itstendrils in and out of buildings.You hear screams, and gunfire.

The Man goes to his trunk, opening it and laying a hand onthe crate. It pulses slightly, and he removes his hand,touching it to the side of his face. He turns to face thetown again. Buildings are on fire, several people aresuspended midair by long beams of light. The screamingcontinually gets louder and louder as the ground begins toshake.

CECIL (V.O.)You open the trunk and lay one handon the crate. It pulses with somekind of life. Still no ticking

though. You look back. Severalbuildings are on fire. Crowds ofpeople are floating in the air,held aloft by beams of light, andstruggling feebly against powerthey cannot begin to understand.The ground shifts, like it wasstartled.

16.



Suddenly, there is quiet. The ground stops shaking, thescreaming subsides. In the distance, a black car can be seen making its way to the Man. It eventually pulls up and comesto a stop. Two suited men step out of the car, onesignificantly taller than the other.

CECIL (V.O.)It’s so quiet, when it finallycomes. You see the black car longbefore it arrives. it comes to ahalt nearby and two men step out.You don’t run. Neither do they.

THE MANHow did you find me?

CECIL (V.O.)You ask.

SHORT SUITED MANEverything you do is beingbroadcast on the radio for somereason. That made it pretty easy.

CECIL (V.O.)Says one of the men, the one whoisn't tall.

THE MANYeah.

CECIL (V.O.)You say.

THE MANI see that now.

SHORT SUITED MANYou have the item?

CECIL (V.O.)The man who is not tall asks.

The Man says nothing. The Short Suited Man signals the tall

one, who goes to the trunk, sees the crate, and nods back atthe short man.

CECIL (V.O.)You say nothing. The man who is nottall signals the man who is notshort, and he walks past you, looksinto your trunk, and nods.

17.



SHORT SUITED MANEven easier.

CECIL (V.O.)Says the man who is not tall.

A click is heard offscreen, the back door of the Man’s caropens. His fiance, from the earlier flashback, steps out ofthe car, a tear streaming down her eye.

CECIL (V.O.)There is an unexpected click. Oneof the rear doors of the black carhas opened, and your fiancée hasstepped out. Her eyes are wet, likeit was the night you left. Shedoes not appear to have aged, butthen, you can’t actually remember

how long it has been. Could ithave been last week? Or was it tenyears ago?

THE WOMANWhy?

CECIL (V.O.)She asks.

THE WOMANWhy? Why?

CECIL (V.O.)You don’t know what to say.

The Tall Suited man pushes the Man against the car, holding aknife to his throat. Silence fills the air, the Woman shakingher head, stifling tears. The red light from the distantradio tower is reflected off the Man’s eyes.

CECIL (V.O.)The man who is not short steps upto you, puts a knife against yourthroat. Nobody says anything.Your fiancée shakes her head. Her

eyes are empty, broken, gushing .The radio is saying all of this asit happens. You hear it dimlythrough the car door. You can’tstop smiling. All at once, theconsequences. All at once you areno longer free. It’s all comingback around, all at once. Life,bleary, washed-out, snaps back intofocus.

18.

(MORE)



The red light on the tower stillblinks in the distance and every message in this world has a meaning. It all makes sense andyou are finally being punished.You can’t think of a time you haveever been happier.

The Woman gets back into the back seat of the car, completelyunnoticed. The short suited man opens the crate, pulling outa small, extremely detailed house. He examines it for a moment. In that moment, it appears that lights and shadows move around inside the tiny house.

CECIL (V.O.)Your fiancée abruptly gets backinto the car. Neither of the menseem to notice her. One opens the

crate with a couple of quick taps,and pulls out of it an intricate miniature house. The hours that must have been spent building it!Every detail is accounted for!Inside the house, you think you seefor a moment lights and movement.

SHORT SUITED MANUndamaged.

CECIL (V.O.)Says the man who is not tall.

The Man beams. The Tall Suited Man pushes the knife harderagainst the Man’s throat, but the Man seems lost in thoughts.We quickly pull out once more, seeing the dark planet full ofdark trees and jagged mountains. It is closer than ever,breaching through the Earth’s atmosphere. The man reaches hisarms up, trying to reach it.

CECIL (V.O.)You beam at him. The knife pressesharder against your throat, but itdoes not hurt. Your eyes wander upand you see above you the dark

planet of awesome size perched inits sunless void, an invisibletitan all thick black forests andjagged mountains and deep,turbulent oceans. A monster.Spinning. Soundless. Forgotten.(Whispering) It’s so close now.(Slightly louder) You see it justabove you.

19.


(MORE)



Maybe even if you tried very hard,you could touch it. You reachup...

The Man stretches as far as he can.

Suddenly -

BLACK.

INT. RADIO STUDIO - NIGHT

A small studio, just a desk and a microphone. Behind the desksits a man, dressed fairly nice, a vest overtop of his buttondown shirt and slacks. What appears to be tattoos of purpleeyes lines his arms and forehead, a pair of purple tinted

headphones rest around his neck. This is CECIL, the radioannouncer.

We look around the room, exploring the posters on the walls,the clutter on the desk, up Cecil’s arms, never seeing hisface, as he closes out the radio broadcast.

CECILThis has been your story. Theradio moves onto other things:news, traffic, political opinions,and corrections to politicalopinions. But there was time, one

day, one single day, in which it was only one story, a story aboutyou. And you were pleased, becauseyou always wanted to hear aboutyourself on the radio. Good night,Night Vale. Good night.

We pull back, out of the building, up through the purplecloud hovering above the city, buildings still on fire,people still screaming. All this seems normal as we pullaway, the screen engulfed in a purple mist.

FADE TO BLACK.

CREDITS.

20.


a story about you - first draft

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