Branches Book

BRANCHES

Emma Fresco

HEROES

FADE IN: EXT. EMPTY HOUSE – DAY

A soldier, LIAM (20s), has come home from war. In uniform, and with a backpack strapped to his back, LIAM stands outside an empty house. He looks serious yet hopeful and reaches into his pocket to pull out a piece of paper. On it is the address for the house. LIAM looks up with no emotion as he walks toward the front steps of the house and stops at the door. INT. HOUSE ACROSS THE STREET – CONTINUOUS CLAIRE (15), a curious and determined girl who loves to surf, sits at her desk by a window. She has dirty blonde hair and is not very tall. She is looking at a website on her computer that shows live feeds of surf breaks when she hears banging in the distance. She looks out of her window to see LIAM knocking on the door of the house across the street. EXT/INT. LIAM'S HOUSE, LIVING ROOM – CONTINUOUS LIAM gives up knocking and begins to look under potted plants for a key. After eventually finding the key, LIAM opens the door to a dark and lifeless room. It looks as though someone lived there but abandoned it. All the furniture is dusty. LIAM stares at the room and forgets to close the front door. He drops his backpack on the living room sofa in a familiar way and turns on a lamp. LIAM begins to walk into the next room passing old photographs. He stops to look at one photograph in particular. It is a picture of an eight-year-old LIAM and a forty-year-old man: his uncle. The two stand on a dock, LIAM excitedly holding a fish and the man holding a fishing pole with pride. LIAM continues into the next room.

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