Joshua

FADE IN:

INT. JOSHUA’S BEDROOM - DAY

JOSHUA (Early twenties, haggard and unkempt) lays in bed, clutching the blankets to himself tightly, his eyes screwed shut.

Suddenly, a BEEPING noise. An alarm clock. Joshua’s eyes snap open, and he bolts upright.

JOSHUA (V.O.)
Morning. Dear god. It’s the morning.

Joshua turns and looks at the alarm. He picks it up and hurls it across the room. The alarm bounces harmlessly off the wall and falls onto its side, the beeping stopped.

JOSHUA (V.O.) (CONT'D)
Not a good sign. Oh god, not a good sign at all.

Joshua’s eyes dart to the door. He eyes the lock, then a set of key’s laying on the bedside table.

Joshua leaps up and grabs the keys, and stumbles over to the door, and locks it. He sighs, relieved.

JOSHUA (V.O.) (CONT'D)
Good start. Now... to finish...

Joshua runs over to the window, hurls it open and throws the keys down into the backyard.

EXT. APARTMENT BUILDING - DAY

The keys tumble to the ground and land on the sidewalk with a friendly jingle. Joshua leans out the window, and then quickly goes back into his room, slamming the window shut and closing the blinds.

INT. JOSHUA’S BEDROOM - DAY

Joshua peeks through the blinds.

JOSHUA (V.O.)
No sign. I’m clear.

Joshua sits down on the floor, smiling to himself.

JOSHUA (V.O.) (CONT'D)
Yes, excellent. I’m good, I’m fine. I’m safe.

Joshua eyes the door.

JOSHUA (V.O.) (CONT'D)
As long as the door is strong enough...

He stares at the door as it seems to slowly grow and fill the entire room. Suddenly, from the other side, a small SCRATCHING noise is heard.

Joshua clamps his knees tight to his body.

JOSHUA (V.O.) (CONT'D)
Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no oh no.

The SCRATCHING increases in intensity.

JOSHUA (V.O.) (CONT'D)
Oh yes, oh yes. Too late, it’s in. Why did I throw the keys out the window? Stupid! Stupid folly! Stupid irresponsible folly! No chance now, I’m stuck. Good going Josh. Good going. You really saved the day.

Joshua stands up and starts to pace back and forth.

JOSHUA (V.O.) (CONT'D)
Okay, calm down. You’re a rational person. You can think, you can reason. Maintain, man. Maintain. That’s the key.

Joshua eyes the window.

JOSHUA (V.O.) (CONT'D)
The key... good god. What if it goes outside and gets the key? I knew I should have just eaten them.

The SCRATCHING at the door intensifies further.

JOSHUA (V.O.) (CONT'D)
No, no. That would be stupid. MAINTAIN Joshua, keep in mind you’re a healthy young male, perfectly capable of handling--

Suddenly whatever is on the other side of the door HURLS itself against it, causing the room to shake.

JOSHUA (V.O.) (CONT'D)
Oh lord. Oh god. Oh god oh god oh god.

Joshua scampers over to the other side of the room.

JOSHUA (V.O.) (CONT'D)
No, no no no no. Hold, Joshua! Hold. Don’t let the panic set in, that’s all. You just have to maintain and--

Joshua turns and looks back and forth.

JOSHUA (V.O.) (CONT'D)
I’m hungry. Did I leave any food in here?

Joshua crawls over to a pile of clothes and starts digging through them.

JOSHUA (V.O.) (CONT'D)
I’m gonna starve! Oh serious deadly irreversible folly! I need food, good GOD I have to go to the bathroom.

Joshua eyes the door once more.

JOSHUA (V.O.) (CONT'D)
Maybe I could get out the door, run to the bathroom, maybe get a sandwich or something before it could--

A ROAR, inhumanly loud and monstrously resonated from behind the door.

Beat.

JOSHUA (V.O.) (CONT'D)
Or I could stay in here. Yes, that’s probably for the best. Best for everyone, really. Nobody wants a messy apartment. Blood is hard to clean out, isn’t it? That’s what they say on CSI, and anything on TV HAS to be true, right? They wouldn’t let them lie, right?

Joshua looks to the side.

JOSHUA (V.O.) (CONT'D)
Hey, are those cookies?

Joshua walks back to the pile of clothes and pushes them over, revealing a mostly empty package of cookies.

JOSHUA (V.O.) (CONT'D)
Ooh.

Joshua eats one of the cookies.

JOSHUA (V.O.) (CONT'D)
See? Things are already getting better. Any moment now the... will go away, then I can go outside, make some tea, go to the bathroom, brush my teeth, maybe masturbate once or twice, then--

Joshua suddenly whirls around, a crazed look in his eyes.

JOSHUA (V.O.) (CONT'D)
Oh lord, what if it doesn’t go away and I’m stuck here forever trapped in this room being menaced by some horrible thing a mere inch of plank wood between us, gnawing away at the drywall, clawing and scratching, while I sit in this room, crying and going stark raving mad from the insanity of crazy as is in me, oh lord oh fuck oh god oh god oh god oh god--

Joshua stops, and takes a deep breath.

JOSHUA (V.O.) (CONT'D)
Calm down, Josh. The thing is in your head. Just forget about it, and--

On the other side of the door, the beast slams itself against the door, again and again, causing the door to shake and rattle, the hinges to bend precariously.
Then... the banging calms down, and fizzles into a polite KNOCKING.

Joshua looks at the door and tilts his head. He slowly walks over to the door, and turns the lock. He then opens the door and leaps back.

SYLVIA, a young woman about the same age as Joshua, looks startled at him.

JOSHUA (CONT'D)
...yes?

SYLVIA
Uh, I found these keys outside, and they had your apartment number, and the front door was open, so I thought that, uh, maybe...

Sylvia trails off. Joshua reaches forward and politely takes the keys from Sylvia’s hands. He looks at her, and his face instantly breaks into a huge smile.

JOSHUA
Oh, thank you.

Sylvia nods, uncertain.

SYLVIA
So, uh... I’ll be next door, if you need me. Or anything.

Joshua nods.

JOSHUA
No worries! Thanks for getting my keys for me!

Sylvia heads for the door.

SYLVIA
You’re... you’re welcome.

Sylvia leaves. Joshua sits down on his bed, and breathes a sigh of relief. He gets up, and smiles.

INT. JOSHUA’S BATHROOM - DAY

Joshua drops the lid of the toilet seat down and flushes the toilet. He walks over to the sink and starts washing his hands, smiling to himself.

JOSHUA (V.O.)
See, Josh? It was all your imagination. You should know better than to let yourself get carried away like that.

Joshua turns the water faucet off.

INT. JOSHUA’S KITCHEN - DAY

Joshua closes the fridge door, and starts walking back to his bedroom, munching on an apple.

JOSHUA (V.O.)
You can’t let your imagination run away from you like that. You’re just a bit tightly wrung. So just go back into your room, take a nap, and--

Joshua walks into his bedroom and closes the door behind him.

Beat.

Suddenly Joshua SCREAMS and a horrible ROAR overcomes it, and then a RIPPING sound, followed shortly by what sounds like a body hitting the door.

FADE OUT.

THE END.