ITERUM SERIES

Ep. 101

"Paint It, Red"

Created and Written by

Vincent John Compono

Phone: 917-943-3725
Email: [email protected]
 ITERUM

OPENING TITLES - ITERUM LOGO

SCENE 1

EXT. PARKING LOT - DUSK.

City buildings, industrial warehouses, the docks, desolate
alleyways, a man and woman on the side of the road, looking
around briefly, before entering a black car.
The air is breezy. Debris skids along the rocky pavement.
Car driving down the road, and the sky yellow from flickering
streetlights.
A sputtering neon sign buzzes faintly.
Same man and woman, CASSIE (30’s,) and MARCO (40’s) pull into
the lot, park their stolen car, staring at a rundown
building, as the only place that can offer them what they
need.

INT. CAR. NIGHT (CONTINUOUS)

MARCO
This is it. We either walk out of
here with new lives-
CASSIE
Or we’re screwed.
Marco stares down at his hands, rubbing them together.
MARCO
No one has to die anymore, Cass.
CASSIE
Let’s just get it over with.
MARCO
“Fresh start.”

They exit the car and approach the building.

 2.

INT. BUILDING - NIGHT.

The building reeks of mildew and a sour, retched odor. It’s
warm and sticky.
Marco and Cassie walk down a hallway that feels like it’s
breathing; expanding slightly with each step.
The lighting flickers inconsistently.
SIDE ROOM – Marco’s HALLUCINATION
Inside: a dusty payphone, dried blood on the receiver, hangs
from the wall.
A FLASH –
A man screams. A boy cries out,
"Daddy."
Gunfire.
The phone clatters.
A woman's panicked voice, "Oh, my
God. What have you done?"
Marco grips the doorframe.
The payphone starts swaying gently. It stops.
Marco backs out of the doorway.

The room is dark again, empty.

SIDE ROOM – Cassie’s HALLUCINATION
A faint lullaby from a music box echoes.
Cassie steps inside and sees the box. A chain dangles from it
—identical to the one around her neck.
She clutches her necklace.
A wedding dress laid across the floor, blood-stained.
Children’s laughter and cheers from a happy crowd, turn to
screams. She backs out, eyes wide.
The room returns to noraml, goes dark.
They regroup in the hallway, shaken. They know what they saw,
but can’t explain it.
There’s a red door at the end of the hallway.
 3.

MARCO
The hell is this place?
CASSIE
Freaky.
They stop in front of the red door, look over their shoulders
one last time.
Cassie goes to knock lightly, then anxiously turns the knob.
They step inside.

SCENE 2
INT. ROOM - NIGHT.
The room is sparsely furnished, a night stand, dresser, small
couch. The lone window is boarded up. In the corner, a woman,
MIRANDA (30’s), leans off by the window ledge. FLORENCE,
(30’s), her stepbrother, paces the room, a zippo lighter in
his hand, as he flips the lid off and on, clicking it. He
stops moving when he notices Marco and Cassie.
MIRANDA
Oh, hey, didn’t think anyone else
would show up tonight.
Cassie and Marco exchange a glance, surprised.
Marco is on guard, scanning the room, one hand reaches in his
coat pocket, a defensive instinct. Cassie gives him a look
and shakes her head at him. He takes his hand out, calms
himself down.
MARCO
You’re here to see him?
MIRANDA
Same dream. Waiting. New lives,
huh?
CASSIE
“Fresh start."
Miranda smiles in solidarity with Cassie.
MIRANDA
You wonder, why you, yet?
CASSIE
Recommended, right?
 4.

MARCO
How long have you two been here?
FLORENCE
Long enough.
Florence flicks open the lighter, lights it, the flame goes
out quickly. He tries a couple more times, just sparks.
FLORENCE (CONT'D)
Shit, thought I just filled this.
He slams his lighter shut.
MIRANDA
Where did you get that?
FLORENCE
Had this forever, haven’t I?
Florence studies the lighter, the insignia, the Latin words
transcribed into it, trying to remember where it came from.
MARCO
We were told we’d be in and out.
FLORENCE
Ha, think again.
CASSIE
So, what now? Do we just sit here?
FLORENCE
Until “the man” tells us. Or
there’ll be instructions. We’ve
never done this.
MIRANDA
No one does it twice. I mean how…?
CASSIE
We don't have time for this. Let's
just go, get some bullshit fake
ID's and-
MARCO
And then what? Who's gonna trust
us? All we got. We're left to the
wolves.
FLORENCE
What's the hurry? How late is it?
 5.

MIRANDA
You know, there’s a lot of ways to
get a new life. You could just run.
From place to place. Go to Hawaii,
relax on a beach somewhere, on a
hammock, cold drink, sunshine,
something. See the world, just hide
out.
MARCO
Some things you can’t out run.
CASSIE
And hiding out just means you’re
trapped.
MIRANDA
But y’know, the man who gives you a
new life. He doesn’t just hand them
out. He watches.
CASSIE
What do you mean, “He watches?”
MIRANDA
To see if you’re worthy. Like a
loan. He checks up, checks in.
CASSIE
So, what? It can be taken back?
MIRANDA
Or worse. Paid back.
Cassie looks to Marco, both of them uncomfortable; a creeping
unease fills the room.
FLORENCE
Means I guess you can’t just waltz
in and leave your old life behind
and bounce. If that’s what you’re
thinking. That’s not how it works.
MIRANDA
You’ll be tested.
FLORENCE
From what we heard.
MIRANDA
He‘s got rules.
MARCO
Tested for what?
 6.

CASSIE
Rules?
MIRANDA
For everything.
FLORENCE
For who you’ve been. Then for who
you'll become. Have to prove it.
The words hang in the air, their implications heavy.
CASSIE
We don’t have anything to prove. We
were told to come. We've earned it.
FLORENCE
Earned it? You think you can just
earn a new life? After everything,
whatever you’ve done? Baby, that's
crimes of indecision. I know the
kind.
MARCO
What kind is that?
FLORENCE
The kind in a trenchcoat lookin'
like a Jackson Pollack painting.
CASSIE
We did what we had to.
FLORENCE
And they’ll say it was “their job.”
MARCO
We didn’t get to choose our way
through life.
Marco's hand brushes inside his coat pocket, feeling for his
gun, again, reflex.
MARCO (CONT'D)
Why are you here?
MIRANDA
Secrets. See, our family—
FLORENCE
Randy-
Florence glares over at Miranda, afraid she’d expose too
much. She just smiles back at him, and
 7.

introduces herself to Marco and Cassie.

MIRANDA
Miranda. That’s Florence. My
stepbrother.
CASSIE
Cassie. That’s Marco.
FLORENCE
Doesn’t matter what our names are
now.
MARCO
Did it ever?
The hallway floors outside their door start to creak loudly.
The sound of heavy footsteps.
Suddenly there‘s an eerie screech coming from outside, then
there’s a scratch at the door.
The single yellow bulb flickers.
The four of them get still.
CASSIE
Is that him?
But the door doesn’t open. The musty air holds them in a
chokehold of tension.

SCENE 3
INT. ROOM - CONTINUOUS.
A deafening silence hangs between the four of them for what
feels like hours. Only sounds - an ongoing hum from the air
vents, like ghosts moaning in the walls.
CASSIE
We can’t stay here.
MARCO
The way things are happening
lately. With Freddy -
CASSIE
He was a wild man. Could’ve got us
killed -
 8.

MARCO
Now these kids -
CASSIE
We did what they told us.
MARCO
So think about it. Every move we
make is wrong. They took our lives
away from us. Where did it get us?
Where did we even come from? We can
take our lives back. New ones.
CASSIE
Yea, but what's it gonna take from
us?
MARCO
What's left?
Cassie turns back around towards Florence and Miranda.
CASSIE
So, any idea when all this “magic"
starts happening?
MIRANDA
Could be minutes. Could be hours.
Who knows? The “reset”, whatever
process, it’s not for everyone.
CASSIE
This is bullshit. We don’t even
know if he’s coming.
FLORENCE
We’ve gotten this far.
MIRANDA
Which means we’re too far in it
already.
The bulb flickers again.
A shadow of feet appear at the floor from behind the door
then disappear.
The group look around at each other, nothing happens.
MARCO
Something’s here.
CASSIE
What is it?
 9.

They all stop to listen in.

Cassie opens the door carefully, looks down the hallway,
nothing. Marco goes out with her.
The hallway begins to tilt and slightly spin, in their minds,
giving a sense of vertigo. They step back into the room.
The door starts to sway slowly, behind them, closing on its
own.
CASSIE (CONT'D)
What if it doesn’t even do
anything, us being here?
FLORENCE
We all have our reasons to be.
MARCO
Regardless.
CASSIE
(Back to Marco)
We’re sitting ducks. Who the hell
knows who - Kita - the agency,
who’s after us. When?
Miranda peers out through the slight crack in the boarded
window. She notices marks on the boards, scratches of a
design. She runs her fingers over it. She feels something
familiar about the design.

MIRANDA
It's 'the where.'
The door clicks closed.
Marco goes to grab the knob.
MIRANDA (CONT'D)
Something about this place. These
marks even. So interesting. Their
carvings. A diagram.
MARCO
Or someone trying to claw their way
out. It’s locked.
CASSIE
We're trapped?
 10.

MIRANDA
You don’t get to choose when he
comes. He just does things on his
own time.
MARCO
And what happens if we fail? These
tests?
MIRANDA
There is this one guy. I heard.
They say he lost his eyes.
Miranda opens the dresser on the night table. She searches
through it, pulls out a business card, a small gold chain,
some change, a mini sunflower, couple of old polaroids, faded
with burnt marks on them.
MARCO
Right, cuz he saw too much. We get
it.
CASSIE
Oh, come on. And how do you know so
much anyway?
MIRANDA
We get around. We’re champion
runners. Right, Flor?
CASSIE
How do we know we haven't failed
already?
There's a bang coming from inside the walls. Painting on the
wall tilts loose, hanging off to one side.
A mechanical humming starts and stops.
Shadows appear at the doorway and pass quickly.
FLORENCE
Eh, don’t mind my sister. There are
these stories, y’know. She likes to
get things wound up.
MIRANDA
There’s a price for coming back
different. We don’t know what’s for
certain. That’s the beauty of it.
 11.

CASSIE
Yea, nothing like a little blind
faith when your locked in a room
and your life is on the line.
MARCO
Well, I don’t care how long it
takes. Or whatever stories, however
the fuck they got us locked in
here. We’re not going back.
CASSIE
No, we came for what we were
promised. No matter what happens.
Cassie and Marco look at each other to accept the situation.
Once again, hypnotized by the dream pitch which they were
sold on, almost mouthing the words together, in their minds,
"fresh start."

SCENE 4
INT. ROOM - CONTINUOUS.
The four of them settle in, united in desperation.
Trapped in a waiting game, at the mercy of something they
can’t control.
The clock in the quiet room ticks. For a moment when each of
them look at the clock, the hands go backward, or speed up
quicker.
The door stays closed.
Suddenly, they hear footsteps coming down the hall, notice a
slight shadow under the doorway.
Two yellow folders slide under the door.
They each look at the folders, look around at each other.
Florence clicking the lighter on instinct.
The door then opens just slightly.
The lighter clicks again and this time the flame appears,
rises.
The flame from the lighter burns.
 12.

As Marco, Cassie, Florence, and Miranda look down at the

folders, there's an insignia, a logo, matching the one on the
wooden boards. Underneath the logo, words in Latin spelled
out. Same words on Florence's zippo:

"Iterum Incepi - Via obscura, sine

fine."
(IT BEGINS AGAIN- THE PATH
IS DARK, WITHOUT END.)
FADE OUT