Alone

By: Elizabeth Nicholson

INT. BEDROOM (NIGHT)

A girl with sleep paralysis. Her eyes are closed, her body

motionless. She is awake, and asleep. She feels a presence,

moving- closer towards her. She wants to believe that it

can’t harm her, that it won’t harm her. It’s getting closer,

closer. So close to her that she feels a pressure pushing

down on her chest. It’s near her face now; she can feel it

staring at her. She really wants to get away, but she can’t

move at all. Her heart is beating fast.

She wakes up, alone, and out of breath.

CLOSE UP:TO HER FACE. SWEAT IS CLEARLY VISIBLE ON HER FACE.

INT. JANE’S BEDROOM, MORNING

Jane is researching about sleep paralysis. She comes across

a website that discusses the symptoms she has had and links

those symptoms to supernatural incidents. Many of these

incidents involved evil spirits that possessed people with

sleep paralysis.

INT. KITCHEN, MORNING

Jane is making breakfast with her mother.

She is telling her mom about her sleep paralysis.

MOTHER

Jane, please understand that

whatever it is, it’s all in your

head. It’s not real.

JANE

But mom, I read about it online!

They said it can haunt me. I can

feel it staring at me.

MOTHER

Jane, trust me, this is all in your

head. Just remember, whenever you

feel its "presence", sing the song

I used to sing to you when you were

younger. You remember right? (The

mother starts to sing a very

delicate song)

Jane closes her eyes and starts to hum along with her

mother, and she suddenly feels safe. Her mom begins to looks

around the room, anxiously.

JANE opens her eyes and smiles at her mother.

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 2.

MOTHER

Anyways, we’ll go to the doctor

tomorrow, I made an appointment for

you.

JANE

Okay. Thank you.

INT. DOCTOR’S OFFICE

The doctor asks JANE about her symptoms, runs some tests on

her, and finally diagnoses her with sleep paralysis.

DOCTOR

Okay, so with these test results,

all you really have is just sleep

paralysis.

MOTHER

(gasps, and covers her mouth)

Is it bad??

DOCTOR

It’s nothing too bad, we’ll just

put her on some antidepressants to

help regulate her sleep cycles.

JANE

And..will this make it go away?

MOTHER

Jane! Stop with this nonsense.

DOCTOR

Uh. Will what go away? The sleep

paralysis? Yes, you should feel

much better after a couple of

weeks.

JANE

I meant the spirit? Will it leave

me alone?

MOTHER

(With a very nasty, annoyed

tone)

It’s all in your head. Just stop!

JANE

It’s not in my head! I feel it

every time I sleep.

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 3.

DOCTOR

What you think is a spirit, is

actually just your body reacting to

the paralysis. There’s nothing evil

about it.

MOTHER

(With an agreeable, comforting

tone)

Yeah you see, I told you it wasn’t

anything evil.

JANE

It has to be real. I read about it

online. Please, help me.

DOCTOR

Oh, anyone can write whatever they

want on the internet. It usually is

never true. Jane, it’s fine. Let me

write you a prescription and you

can be on your way.

JANE

I don’t believe you. There has to

be something there...(interrupted

by the mother).

MOTHER

(With a sweet tone)

Thank you so much doctor. I think

you’ve made us both feel better.

DOCTOR

(Nodding sarcastically)

Anytime.

JANE and her MOTHER go to the pharmacy and buy the

medication.

INT. CAR RIDE BACK HOME (LATE EVENING)

JANE is silent the whole time. Her MOTHER nags about the

sleep paralysis. After a couple of minutes, she finally

tells JANE to take the medication.

MOTHER

Jane, take the medication now. The

doctor said you have to take two

pills twice a day.

4.

JANE looks at the bottle of medicine, and reads the

instructions. (Take 2 pills, twice a day). She opens the

bottle and swallows 2 pills.

INT. HOME (BEDTIME)

JANE is getting ready to go to bed, and so is her mother.

JANE

I don’t know if I can go to sleep

mom.

MOTHER

It’s okay, you took the medicine,

everything should be alright. Look,

I’ll even leave the door open for

you.

The mother leaves the door ajar, with the light turned on in

the hallway.

MOTHER

Okay? Is that better?

JANE

Yeah, I guess so.

MOTHER

Goodnight!

JANE

Goodnight.

As the mother leaves the room, she begins to hum the song.

She goes to her bedroom, and takes two pills (they are the

same pills that Jane was recently prescribed.) The mother

seems uneasy, as though she is afraid to go to sleep. She

continues to hum the song.

In the other room, JANE takes a couple of deep breaths and

tries to relax. She gets her book and starts reading. This

always helps her fall asleep quickly. She is asleep within

20 minutes.

This has been the first night in weeks in which Jane did not

feel the spirits’ presence.

In the other room, her mother wakes up abruptly. Her face is

sweaty and she is out of breath. Her medicine failed her

that night.

5.

INT. KITCHEN, MORNING

The mother is in the kitchen making breakfast. She seems

distressed. JANE walks in with a big smile on her face.

JANE

Mom, guess what! I had the most

peaceful sleep last night!

MOTHER

(apprehensively)

You see, I told you nothing would

happen! You’re just so paranoid all

the time....Did you take the

medicine again?

JANE

Yupp, just did!

MOTHER

Good.

JANE

Oh mom, Stacy is having a sleepover

party this weekend at her house.

Can I go?

MOTHER

Yes.

JANE

Awesome! Thanks!

INT. STACY’S BEDROOM

The girls are having a fun time watching movies, eating

cupcakes and talking about boys. They finally go to sleep,

around 3 a.m.

JANE has been taking her medicine regularly, and for the

past week she has not experienced sleep paralysis nor has

she felt the spirit.

Although, tonight, she experiences sleep paralysis again.

And the spirit haunts her.

She wakes up around 5:00 a.m., screaming. This wakes up and

frightens the other girls, and Stacy’s mom runs into their

room.

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 6.

STACY’S MOM

What the hell happened here?

STACY

I think Jane had a nightmare or

something.

STACY’S MOM

Jane, are you alright?

JANE is frozen, she can’t say anything.

STACY’S MOM calls JANE’S MOM, and after a couple of minutes

JANE’S MOM arrives. Later that day, she takes JANE to the

DOCTOR.

INT. DOCTOR’S OFFICE

JANE is back at the DOCTOR. The DOCTOR talks to the MOM and

asks if JANE had been taking the medicine. The MOM says yes.

DOCTOR

Jane, I should have mentioned it

before, that until the medicine

takes its full action, the symptoms

of sleep paralysis might reoccur

from time to time. There’s nothing

to be worried about though. Just

keep taking the medicine and you’ll

be fine.

MOTHER

She probably just had a nightmare.

JANE

I thought you said it’ll go away.

MOTHER

Stop it. There was nothing there to

begin with.

JANE

You stop it. How can you not

believe me? Doctor, help me,

please.

DOCTOR

Jane, keep taking the medication.

It’ll go away soon.

No one seems to believe JANE that a spirit is haunting her.

She decides to prove to everyone that the spirit exists.

7.

INT. BEDROOM (NIGHT)

JANE sets up her camera one night, in hopes of catching the

spirit in action.

She sets the camera right above her bed, with perfect view

from all angles.

INT. MORNING, JANE’S ROOM;

JANE jumps out of bed and rushes to see what the camera

might have captured.

OVER THE SHOULDER: JANE IS LOOKING AT THE CAMERA SCREEN AS

SHE PRESSES THE PLAY BUTTON.

(the audience sees the

cameras’ screen as it loads to

play).

We see JANE’S room, and her bed, with JANE sleeping in it. A

shadow appears in the corner of the room. We see it slowly

moving towards the bed. We could see a slight figure to it:

it is about 6 feet tall, with long lanky limbs, and a wide

pointy face. The face is slightly blurry, and only a few

features could be seen on it. The eyes are pitch black and

very wide apart. It has no nose or eyebrows. Its mouth is

very thin and very long. The figure walks towards JANE. It

stops right next to her, and slowly lowers its body over

hers. It gently brushes her hair, placing it behind her ear.

It lowers itself closer to her face and breaths slowly on

it. The spirit looks at the camera, and starts to move

towards it....When it reaches about a foot away from the

camera, it stops and looks straight into it. About 10

seconds later, the spirit lifts its hand, waves to JANE, and

smiles at her.