THE BLOOD ON OUR HANDS
Written by Andre Da Silva
Address: Goa, India
Phone Number: +91-7558780086
OVER BLACK:
CHILD (V.O.)
Don't leave us, Jamie. What if they find us?
JAMIE (V.O.)
They won't. Trust me. I have to go find something to eat for the three of you. You're losing strength, little one and we have a long way to go.
CHILD (V.O.)
We'll be alright Jamie. We can eat when we get there. Please don't go.
JAMIE (V.O.)
You'll be fine. Jackson is on his way. He'll be here before I get back. All you have to do is be a good little boy, sit tight and watch over your sisters. (pause)
Can you do that for me?
EXT. FIELD - EVENING
JAMIE (mid-twenties), sits in the distance, hunched over with his back toward us, not a soul around him.
There are scars in a line on his arm from cuts he made before. His finger runs over them as he looks at them.
His gun rests on the ground next to him as the evening sun diminishes and the sky darkens.
He holds his hand over it and with reluctance, picks it up.
CHILD (V.O.)
Don't leave us, Jamie. Please don't go.
He stands, holsters the gun in the waistband of his jeans and walks away.
EXT. CEMETERY - EVENING
Hands, rough and worn. Their muddy fingers intertwined in a prayerful fashion. This is JACKSON (mid-to-late-twenties).
He sits down in the middle of the tiled pathway, gravestones in straight lines all around him and an enclosure a few meters to his front.
Jamie watches him from the entrance, angered by his peaceful posture.
JAMIE
Did you bury these people?
JACKSON
I did. I dug every grave and buried every man and woman marked by these gravestones. I used to consider it my penance. My own retribution for my own wrongdoing.
JAMIE
And do you consider yourself absolved of your wrongdoings?
JACKSON
A part of me likes to think so.
JAMIE
Did you bury any children, Jackson?
Jamie charges towards Jackson. Jackson stands up and turns around.
JACKSON (calmly) Hello, old friend.
JAMIE
Did you bury any children you helped kill?
Jackson grins as he takes a beat to let the heat of the conversation dissipate.
JACKSON
I'd heard that you were alive, that you were living down, far past the mountains. I'm glad they didn't get you, Jamie. How long has it been?
JAMIE (beat)
Seven years.
JACKSON
This is the first time we've spoken to each other in seven years and this is the conversation you want to have?
JAMIE
This is the only conversation I want to have. You let them die, Jackson.
JACKSON
I am just as responsible for what happened as you are, Jamie. We should never have taken them.
Jackson turns around and walks toward the enclosure.
JAMIE
We were saving their lives. You know what they did to them in that godforsaken orphanage.
Jamie follows.
JACKSON
And look at what they did to them after we got them out.
JAMIE
So we should've just left them there to be abused?
JACKSON
We should've left them there because if we did maybe all three of them would still be alive.
JAMIE
You didn't even see them. I did.
INT. CEMETERY - ENCLOSURE - EVENING - CONTINUOUS
The enclosure is filled with headstones in the floor with the remains of those cremated, all arranged in systematic fashion. In the corner, a table with a notebook and garlands.
JAMIE
The boy was still alive when I got back. He told me everything he could.
Jackson stops at the entrance to the enclosure.
JACKSON
And the girls?
JAMIE
There was nothing left of them. Their clothes, their bodies. (shaking his head) They burnt them alive, Jackson. And they made him watch. All of it. From the moment he told me with his dying breath, about what he saw, about what all of those men did to them, all I've done is replay that day in my head over and over. I still hear their voices.
JACKSON
We shouldn't have tried to be heroes. There are certain things that do not necessitate our involvement and that was one of them.
He walks to the table with the garlands and picks one up.
JAMIE
Why didn't you come back?
JACKSON (heading back outside) This is from another time.
JAMIE
You went out for ammo and you said you trusted Ridgeback, that you could go to him, get the ammo and be back soon.
EXT. CEMETERY - EVENING - CONTINUOUS
Jackson walks along the tiled pathway towards one of the graves and Jamie follows.
JAMIE
You weren't caught or captured. And you weren't shot or killed.
JACKSON
Years have passed.
JAMIE (emphatically)
Why didn't you come back?
JACKSON (beat)
I got scared.
He crouches down and places the garland around a gravestone.
JACKSON (CONT'D)
Ridgeback said he heard about what we did at the orphanage, how we broke them out. He also heard about how the gang was hot on our tail and that them finding us was only a moment away. Then he told me how many there were. And that they had magazines and magazines of bullets with our names on them. At that point I knew all the ammunition in the world couldn't save us all, even if I got back in time. So I decided to save myself.
JAMIE
You ran.
Jackson nods.
JACKSON
I heard stories of that day from travelers passing through. Most of them were gruesome and I tried to find comfort in the ones that were less so. But I knew I was responsible for what happened, not just because I ran but because we made the choice to meddle in something that we never should have.
JAMIE
You could've warned us.
JACKSON
There was no time, Jamie.
JAMIE
You left us to die, Jackson. All of us. You left those children to die.
Jackson stands up.
JACKSON
It was a mistake. And I carried that mistake with me wherever I went. I walked for ages with nothing, and every day I hoped death would take me so things could be made right. But then I stumbled upon this town.
EXT. TOWN - EVENING (FLASHBACK)
A younger Jackson stands on a dusty road.
CUT TO:
In front of an old house, a MAN kneels next to his deceased FATHER, hugging him.
JACKSON (V.O.)
A poor man, a good twenty years older than we are now, held his father in his arms, long after he passed. He asked me to help bury him as he had nobody else..
The man raises his head and looks at Jackson, who stands a few meters before him.
JACKSON (V.O.) (CONT'D) ..and so I did.
EXT. CEMETERY - EVENING
Jackson looks at the gravestones around him.
JACKSON
I dug a grave for him here. I said a prayer for the two of them and then I helped the man bury his father.
CUT BACK TO:
CUT TO:
EXT. CEMETERY - EVENING (FLASHBACK)
The man holds Jackson's hands in his, and trembles as he bows before him.
JACKSON (V.O.)
He was thankful.
Jackson looks down at the man as he bows, pulls him up and hugs him.
JACKSON (V.O.) (CONT'D)
That was when I knew that this could be my way of making things right, Jamie.
EXT. CEMETERY - EVENING
CUT BACK TO:
Jackson is still standing next to the gravestone with the garland.
JACKSON
I have brought peace to the people of this poor town. I helped them bury their loved ones. Assured them that their mothers and fathers and the people they loved were taken care of when they were no more. It allowed me to make peace with what happened. It allowed me to let go of what I'd been carrying with me for so long.
He starts walking back to the enclosure.
JAMIE
Let go? You never saw them.
JACKSON
I know what happened.
JAMIE (grabbing Jackson's arm) YOU NEVER. SAW THEM. I DID.
The two are now face to face.
JAMIE (CONT'D)
And I see them everyday. I have to carry that day with me everywhere I go because you ran away.
(MORE)
JAMIE (CONT'D)
For the longest time I thought they got to you too, and I held myself responsible for the death of my friend. Until I heard that this was where you were, all this time, looking after a graveyard in the middle of nowhere. I have a duty to make things right, Jackson. I owe it to those kids that depended on us with their lives.
Jamie pulls out his gun.
JAMIE (CONT'D)
I owe it to them to kill the man responsible for their deaths.
JACKSON
You are no harbinger of justice, Jamie. You weren't there with them either. You weren't there to defend them and that is why you are here. If you wanted to put down those responsible you would've gone back to that orphanage. You would've emptied your bullets in the men that did the horrible things they did. You aren't doing this to do what's right. You're doing this because you need something to transfer your guilt to. Even if that something is the corpse of your friend. We're all trying to run away from our sins, Jamie. But you don't outrun them or pass them on. You carry them with you and you live with them.
JAMIE
I want to be free of this.
JACKSON
Then do not think of it.
JAMIE
I CAN'T. I HEAR THEM. I see what they saw. I feel what they felt. And I have to ensure you do too.
He aims his weapon at Jackson.
JAMIE (CONT'D)
It is only fair.
JACKSON
I have made peace with what happened.
JAMIE
To hell with your peace.
JACKSON
I have made peace with what I did. Do not do this because you have not.
JAMIE
To fucking hell with your peace! You will feel their pain and mine.
JACKSON
I will not!
JAMIE
YOU WILL FEEL THE GUILT OF THE BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS!
Jamie puts the pistol to his own temple.
Jackson's eyes widen. His mouth opens.
BANG!
CUT TO: BLACK
EXT. CEMETERY - EVENING - CONTINUOUS
Jackson's face, still in shock, has been reddened by a spray of blood.
Jamie's corpse lies on the ground and he looks at it.
Blood spills out from his head, onto the pathway.
Jackson kneels down before Jamie and looks in horror at the final state of his friend.
He shuts Jamie's eyelids with his fingers.
He holds him by his underarms and drags him away.
We see a shovel hitting dirt and then Jackson digging a grave.
EXT. CEMETERY - NIGHT
Jackson lowers Jamie's legs into the grave and stands over it when he's done.
We hear a shovel hitting dirt and then see Jackson filling in the grave.
He splashes soapy water over the blood-stained tiled pathway. He kneels down and scrubs at it in the dim light of a candle next to him.
The spray of blood on his face from before has dried, but their stains are still noticeable, even in the dim light.
CHILD (V.O.)
What if they find us? Please don't go.
He slowly stops his scrubbing.
JAMIE (V.O.)
You left us to die, Jackson.
We see a shot of Jamie's corpse and the blood on the pavement.
JAMIE (V.O.) (CONT'D) All of us.
A shot of Jamie caressing the scars on his wrist from before.
JAMIE (V.O.) (CONT'D)
And you will feel the guilt of the blood on your hands.
Jackson resumes his scrubbing, but harder than before. The sound of which grows louder and louder, the further we move away.
THE END