1.

1 INT. CAR - NIGHT

A car is slowly moving upwards on a narrow mountain road,
slightly covered in snow. On the right side of the road
there are small houses, on the left side there is a
forest. HE is driving cautiously, he is tired but
focused. He is examining the surroundings. The dashboard
clock shows 1:23. On the passenger seat there is a small
backpack. With his left hand, he searches through one of
his pockets, pulls out a note with an address and
directions and puts it on the steering wheel, holding it
in place with his hand. He keeps driving straight ahead
and the road leads to a neighbourghood of small 4-floor
apartment blocks. He checks the directions on the paper
one more time, checks the buildings, and then parks in
front of one of them.
2 INT. APARTMENT BLOCK - NIGHT
He is climbing the last few steps on the last floor. He
looks around, checking all the doors, then stops in front
of one of them. He searches his pockets and pulls out a
key ring with two keys. He is hesitating. He puts one of
the keys in the upper lock, it doesn't fit, then he tries
in the other lock below. He tries to unlock the door, but
it's already unlocked. He pulls out the key and puts his
hand on the door knob. He is hesitating. He opens the
door cautiously and gets in.
3 INT. APARTMENT - HALL/BEDROOM - NIGHT
A tiny hall with a fridge on the left, a small messy
kitchen on the right. Opposite to the entrance door,
there are an open door to the living room and a longer
hall, with the bedroom door at the bottom. The bedroom
door is barely open, light is coming through three small
decortive windows in the door. He throws his backpack on
the floor and rushes to the bedroom. He opens the door
just a bit more and stands in the doorway, looking in.
SHE is sleeping on the left side of an extended sofa
turned double bed, with her back towards the door. She is
covered all the way to the neck with a blanket. She is
breathing deeply, regularly. By the bed, a small lamp is
switched on. The bedroom is a tight room full of all sort
of objects. A suitcase is covered in a pile of clothes.
On the right side of the bed there are several objects -
a laptop, a book, a tea cup, a pack of cigarettes,
several lighters, an ashtray with a couple of cigarette
butts in it, a small mirror, a small cosmetics bag,
several open packs of medication with their info papers
2.
scattered around and a bunch of other objects.
He watches her for a few seconds while standing still in
the doorway. He takes a deep breath of relief. He kneels
by the bed, finds a small piece of paper and a pen and
writes down a few words. His movements are cautious, he
is trying not to make any noise. He folds the paper and
puts it by her side on the bed, then leaves the room and
closes the door as he found it.
4 INT. APARTMENT - HALL/LIVING ROOM/KITCHEN - NIGHT
He returns to the small hall at the entrance. He yawns
and covers his mouth with his hand, then rubs his eyes.
He locks the entrance door. He finds a mobile phone on
the fridge and checks it - it's switched off. He puts it
back on the fridge. He finds a pair of boots randomly
tossed on the floor, he picks them up and places them
neatly by the wall. He enters the living room, takes off
his coat and leaves it on the couch. At the bottom of the
couch there is a small round table with four chairs; on
the other side of the room there is a large closet with
several shelves. He sits down on the couch, takes his
shoes off and puts his face in his palms. He sits still
for a few moments. He takes out his phone from a pocket
and makes a call, then leans on his back.
HIM
(Lowered voice, nearly
whispering)
Hey.
Yes, I'm here, she's ok, she's
sleeping.
He holds back a yawn and covers his mouth with a hand
while listening to the answer. He gets up.

Mhm.
(He sighs.)
No, no idea. I'm letting her
sleep, I'm not gonna wake her up.
(He is listening)
Yeah, I found it, it's switched
off.
He gets up and makes a few steps through the room.

3.
How would I know? Maybe It's been
off for half an hour, maybe for
three days.
(He is listening, he sighs)
Yes, she is breathing.
(He is listening)
Will you stop panicking? I'm
here, I'm staying here. I don't
know, she's just sleeping. You're
just hysterical.
(He is listening)
I don't know, haven't checked, I
just went straight to her room.
He walks to the kitchen and checks out the room - a tiny,
crowded kitchen, with the door on one end and a window on
the other. On the right side there is a table with two
chairs, one near the door and the other under the window.
On the table there are several bottles of water/juice,
some fruit, a bread in a plastic bag, a box of cereals, a
few dirty dishes, some still having leftovers on them and
all sorts of other junk. On the left side, the cooker,
the kitchen counter and the sink. A large pile of dirty
dishes is lying in the sink. A fully loaded trash bag is
lying by the trash bin.

(Slightly annoyed)
No, it doesn't stink. She hasn't
been smoking indoors. No, there's
no mess in the kitchen.
He holds his phone in place using his shoulder to free
his hands and starts throwing away some of the junk on
the table and gathering the dishes.

(He is listening, he gets
mad but makes an effort to
keep his voice low)
No. Absolutely not. We've had
this talk before. I'm here to
take care of her, not to stress
her out. If that's what she
needed she might as well could
have stayed at home.
He is standing in an uncomfortable position over the
trash bin while listening, holding a dirty plate in one
hand and a biscuits wrapper in the other.
4.

Oh, what do I mean? You know damn
well what I mean. You think she's
hiding in the mountains because
of how happy she is with you?
Yeah, so? I don't give a fuck
about it, what do you think, that
you know what's best for her just
because you're her sister? I...
(His voice starts
trembling)
...I don't know it either, no,
that's the point! I have no
fucking clue, and that's why I'm
not gonna tell her what to do.
(He takes a deep breath
while listening)
So what do you want now? Shall I
go barge in and wake her up?
"Hello, rise an' shine, your big
sis sent me here to check if
you're still alive, and in case
you are I'm gonna nag you about
how badly you need therapy, don't
worry, she's paying, and don't
you dare not be grateful for it
afterwards"? I am not doing this,
end of story.
He throws the biscuits wrapper in the bin and hangs up.
5 INT. BEDROOM/HALL/BATHROOM/LIVING ROOM/KITCHEN - NIGHT
She wakes up. She lifts her head heavily, supports
herself with her arms for a few seconds. She drinks the
last sips of tea from the cup and looks around. She makes
an effort and gets off the bed, holding the cup in one
hand. She walks to the bathroom, she is shaking, she
turns on the light and gets in. She throws the tea bag
into the toilet and fills the cup with tap water. She
rushes to takes a few large drinks. She fills up the cup
with tap water one more time and leaves the room. She
notices her boots standing neatly by the entrance door,
looks at them for a few seconds, confused, then she
returns to the bedroom.
She sits down on the edge of the bed, puts the cup by her
pillow and notices the note from him. She opens the note
and reads (we don't see this but): "Don't freak out if
you find a guy around the house, I just dropped by to see
5.
how you're doing :) L." She drinks some more water, sits
still for a few seconds. She folds the paper carefully
and puts it in between the pages of her book. She gets up
again and goes out of the room.
She takes a look at the now clean and tidy kitchen and
her boots in the entrance hall, then goes to the living
room.
He is sleeping in an uncomfortable position on the couch,
sitting down, with his shoulder and head fallen onto the
sofa's arm. She stares at him for a few seconds, then
notices his coat and shoes. She picks them up, her moves
are slow and clumsy, then she puts his shoes at the
entrance, next to her own boots. She opens the closet,
pulls out a pillow and a blanket and puts them on the
sofa by his side. She stares at him one more time from
the doorway, then goes to the kitchen.
She takes a large cooking pot and fills it with water,
then puts it on the stove and turns on the fire. She puts
several tea cups and a box of tea bags on the counter.
6 INT. BEDROOM - DAY
She is sleeping on the left side of the bed, lying on her
back, legs bent, knees leaning on the sofa's backrest.
Her right hand lays on an open book on her abdomen, her
left hand under her head/pillow. Her head is turned
right, her face hidden into her arm. She is wearing a
simple black night gown and black mid-lenght tights. The
blanket is gathered at the bottom of the bed, barely
covering her feet. Among the various junk on the right
side of the bed, the laptop is turned on, the lamp is
switched on, wet tea bags lie in the 3-4 empty tea cups,
an empty, dirty plate has a fork and some leftovers on
it. The door is closed.
He approaches the door from the hallway, watches through
the window for a few seconds then cautiously opens the
door. He leans on the wall/door frame and stares at her
intensely for a few moments. He goes to the window and
opens it, he approaches the bed, turns off the light and
closes the laptop. He carefully sneaks out the book from
under her hand, puts the bookmark on the page where it
was open and puts it by her side. He leans over the bed
and grabs a corner of the blanket, pulls it, aims to
cover her but hesitates, then lets the blanket drop back
where it was. He hesitates for a few moments, then
gathers some of the objects on the right side of the bed
6.
and sits down by her side. He stares at her for a while.
He reaches towards her with his right hand, he hesitates,
he gently touches her lips then quickly pulls back his
hand. He keeps staring at her.
He gets up and sits even closer to her, on his knees. He
reaches out towards her one more time, and starts
following the lines of her face and body, very close but
not touching her, as if caressing her but without
actually touching her. He makes a few small noises with
his fingers. She doesn't wake up. He touches her face. He
touches her right forearm, just above the head, he goes
down towards her elbow, caressing her with his fingers,
goes towards her neck, collarbone, right breast, ribs,
abdomen, then climbs towards the knee on her inner thigh.
He continues staring at her face the whole time, fearing
she might wake up. With his left hand, he unzips his
pants and starts masturbating. He continues staring at
her, fearing. He panicks when he feels like he's about to
come, he grabs one of the tea cups and ejaculates into
it. He sits down by her side, takes a few deep breaths
and continues staring at her intensely. He grabs the
blanket at her legs and gently covers her. He takes the
cups and plate in a hurry and gets out of the bedroom.
He rushes into the kitchen and loses his balance. The
fork falls off from the plate and makes a loud noise on
the floor. He stops, stands still for a couple of
seconds, scared. He puts the cups and the plate into the
sink, grabs the fork from the floor and starts washing
them furiously. He especially insists on THAT tea cup. He
is standing with it in his hand, aims to smash it to the
floor but stops. He meticulously places all the dishes on
the dryer, then washes his hands and wipes them with a
towel. He leaves the kitchen and goes to the living room.
He stands by the table for a couple of moments, puts his
face into his palms, rubs his forehead, takes a deep
breath then sits at the table. He pulls out a laptop from
his backpack, puts it on the table, turns it on and
lights a cigarette.
7 INT. KITCHEN - DAY
He is cooking. On his righ hand, he is wearing an oven
glove. He is constantly moving back and forth between the
cooker and the sink. The entire room looks a lot more
tidy. By the bottles and fruit on the table, there are a
couple of ingredients, his pack of cigarettes, an empty
cup of coffee (another cup, not THAT one) and a large
fire starter for the cooker.
7.
She enters the room. She is apathetic, slow, clumsy, she
is wearing the same clothes she was sleeping in. He
follows her every move. She goes to the window, they
auckwardly pass by eachother in the narrow space between
the table and the kitchen counter. When she has her back
turned towards her, he aims to touch her with the hand
wearing the oven glove, but he stops. She throws herself
on the chair by the window. He leans down, throws a look
into the stove and she starts watching him. When he gets
up, she quickly looks the other way. He looks at her and
smiles.
HIM
Mornin'!
She absent-mindedly starts eating some cereals straight
from the box. On the way to/from the ceral box, her hand
starts shaking.
HER
(She looks at her hand,
then puts it on the table)
Mornin'
HIM
I came to...
She gets up, takes THE CUP from the drier and fills it
with tap water.
HIM
...to see how you're doing.
She returns to the chair and sits, with heavy moves, then
drinks the whole water in a second. He cringes looking at
her. She takes out a cigarette from his pack and lights
it with the fire starter.
HIM
I made some (...), maybe you're
hungry.
As she smokes, she starts dropping the ashes into his
empty coffee cup.
8 INT. LIVING ROOM/HALL/BEDROOM - DAY
He is sitting at the living room table, working on his
laptop. We can hear a door opening (the bedroom door). He
stops working and starts listening. A second door opens
and then closes (bathroom). We can hear the shower being
8.
switched on. He gets up, walks to the corner between the
two halls and stands there, listening carefully.
He enters the bedroom, looks round, observing all her
objects carefully. He goes to her suitcase and starts
touching the pile of clothes on top of it. Every now and
then he stops and listens to the sounds coming from the
bathroom, afraid of being caught. He grabs a pair of
jeans, folds them and puts them neatly back on top of the
suitcase. He grabs a t-shirt and starts folding it. He
feels its smell and stops, takes it closer to his face,
smells it and touches his cheek with it. He cuts the
gesture abruptly, then folds the t-shirt and puts it on
top of the jeans. He listens to the sounds from the
bathroom.
He gets up, aims to leave but stops to look around one
more time. He notices the small cosmetics bag on the bed.
He is hesitating. He picks it up, opens it and examins
its content - bandages, a small bottle of hidrogen
peroxyde, a pack of band-aids, a hand cream, a pack of
razorblades. He takes the razorblades out and stands
paralyzed for a second, holding them into his hand. He
puts them in his pocket and leaves the room.
9 INT. BEDROOM/KITCHEN - NIGHT
The bedroom light is on, the rest of the apartment is in
complete darkness. He is sleeping in the living room, she
is awake in the bedroom. She picks up the cosmetics bag,
looks into it and starts searching furiously. She dumps
all of its content on the bed. She goes to the fridge,
takes a box of milk and goes to the kitchen, forgetting
the fridge door open. She is moving slowly, with
difficulty, exhausted, she is shaking.
She takes a (different) cup from the drier, pours milk
into it with slow, heavy moves. She stands by the kitchen
counter, drinks some milk and spills a bit over herself.
She sits down on the floor with the cup in her hand. She
drinks some more milk and puts the cup down on the floor
by her side.
She is staring blankly and shaking. She tries to embrace
her own body, she grabs her flesh from elbows to wrists,
sinks her fingernils violently into the skin, obviously
disturbed. She gets up suddenly, grabs a knife from the
dish dryer and sits back down. She holds the knife in one
hand and strtes at the forearm of the other. Drops of
blood start falling into the milk.
9.
10 INT. BATHROOM - NIGHT
She meticulously performs a precise, calculted after-care
ritual over the batroom sink, cleaning and bandaging her
arm.
11 INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT
She washes the knife thoughroughly and puts it back on
the dryer. She us calm, composed. She spills the milk
into the sink and cleans the cup. We can hear the sound
of him getting out of bed from the living room. She
freezes, rapidly fills the cup with tap water, stops the
water and sits on the chair by the window, with her
bandaged arm hidden under the table and her right hand on
the table, holding the cup. He appears into the doorway.
HER
(agitated speech but her
body remains frozen)
Did I wake you up? Umm, sorry, I
was very thirsty. I had no more
water left in the bedroom and,
you know, tap water from the
bathroom really sucks, I really
hate it, it just tastes strange,
you know, and...
HIM
That's ok.
He grabs the second chair and puts it in between the
table and the kitchen counter. He sits, never taking his
eyes off her. He reaches out for his pack of cigarettes,
pulls one out, looks around for his lighter and sees it
in the table corner, inbetween her left hand and the
wall. She hands it to him awckwardly with her right hand.
He takes it and takes the chance to "accidentally" touch
her hand. He gets up.
HIM
There's no air in here...
He walks closer to her towards the window, watching her
constantly, and opens the window. She sneaks out past
him, hiding her left arm, and leaves the room.
12 INT. HALL/LIVING ROOM - DAY
She is wearing the same clothes, plus a large, black
hoodie over the night gown. She finds a note on the
10.
entrance door - "I WENT OUT TO GET CIGARETTES, BE BACK IN
10 MINUTES". She enters the living room and examines the
bed and his few personal belongings on the table -
wallet, keys, phone, a notebook etc. The sofa is extended
into a two-person bed, with a sheet, a blanket and a
pillow. His clothes are gathered neatly in one corner of
the bed. She touches several clothes and objects of his,
his laptop. She browses through his notebook then puts it
back, meticulously trying to place it in the exact same
position where she found it. She turns on his laptop and
browses through it. She is completely still for a few
moments, then she abruptly shuts it down and leaves the
room.
13 INT. KITCHEN/HALL - DAY
He is In the kitchen, cutting some salami with THE KNIFE
and eating the slices voraceously. She comes in and
freezes at the door when seeing him. A pot of coffee is
boiling on the stove.
HIM
(with his mouth full)
Mornin'!
He picks up THE CUP nr.2 from the dryer and pours himself
some coffee.
HIM
You want some?
She is watching his every move. She feels sick, as if she
is about to vomit, and she runs to the bathroom. He runs
after her and stands in the bathroom door, blocking her
way in. She tries to run into the bedroom, he blocks her
way one more time. She tries to turn around and run the
other way but he grabs her hands/wrists from behind and
holds her still. The sleeves of her hoodie slide down
towards her elbows, making her bandages visible. She
fights back, tries to run away, but he holds her still
with force, almost violently. He hesitates for a moment,
then sinks his face into her hair.
HIM
(almost whispering)
Why?...
She is inert. A few tears roll down her face.
HIM
(louder)
11.
Why??
(shouting, he starts
shaking her)
Why, damn it, say something,
speak! Why...
He grabs both of her wrists with his left hand and puts
his right hand around her waist. She fights back, tries
to escape by crawling to the floor but they both fall
down on their knees. They sit still on their knees for a
few moments, he continues to hold her with force.
HIM
(on a completely different
tone)
Why... do you want to... feel
something?...
He sneaks his right hand under her night gown and her
thights. She is inert, her head hanging down in apathy.
He gives up his gesture, loosens his grip and embraces
her. She is inert, then suddenly turns towards him. He
tries to say something, but he closes his lips with her
index finger. She gives him a short kiss in the corner of
his mouth, then gets up, goes to the bedroom and closes
the door behind her.
14 INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
He is sleeping on his side. The light is turned on on the
long hall, then on the small entrance hall next to the
living room door. She comes and stands at the living room
door. She looks at him from the distance for a couple of
moments, then comes closer to the bed. She leans towards
him and traces the outline of his body with her hand as
if caressing him, extremely close but never touching him.
15 EXT. APARTMENT BLOCK GARDEN - NIGHT/EARLY MORNING
She is sitting on a bench in the garden in front of the
apartment block, with a cup of tea by her side. She is
wearing a pair of jeans under her night gown and hoodie
and his winter coat on top of them. She lights a
cigarette and drinks some tea. She looks around: a supply
delivery truck approaches the hotel nearby. A street
sweeper starts his day, dragging a garbage dumpster on
wheels with him. A few vendors prepare to open their
kiosks. Daylight is slowly creeping in.
12.
She pulls the much too large coat tighter around her and
slides a hand into one of its pockets. She touches
something in it and frowns, curious. She pulls out her
pack of razorblades. She stares at it. She smokes. She
drops the razorblades back into the pocket.

THE END.