TITLE: BELLEFONTAINE, OHIO – 225 W. HIGH AVENUE
EXT. HOUSE – DAY
A small, neglected, and dilapidated gray house sits on the corner of a quiet residential neighborhood, as a blanket of low-lying clouds slowly drags across the sky.
This is the tiny, decaying town of Bellefontaine.
As we PUSH IN on the house, we notice ITEMS scattered across its front porch: rusted chairs; empty beer bottles; two small GRILLS; bag of CHARCOAL; bottle of LIGHTER FLUID, etc.
SUPER: APRIL 15TH, 2015
The door opens and RANDY SPEIDEL (45), a lanky and withered man who looks well beyond his age, exits carrying TWO CATS.
He sets them down on the porch.
RANDY SPEIDEL
Go on now.
One cat wanders off, but the other cat tries to run back inside. Randy blocks the doorway. He leans down, picks the cat up, turns it around, and places it onto the stairs.
RANDY SPEIDEL (CONT’D)
Shoo. Get.
Finally, the cat follows Randy’s orders, as it saunters down the stairs and into the front yard.
As Randy watches the cats walk off, JODI SPEIDEL (46) enters carrying a THIRD CAT.
JODI SPEIDEL
(re: cats)
They get off okay?
Randy nods.
Jodi steps down the stairs and into the yard. She brings the third cat’s face up and touches its nose with her own.
JODI SPEIDEL (CONT’D)
Kiss.
Jodi sets the cat down on the grass. As she watches it wander off into the yard, behind her, Randy picks up one of the small grills and carries it inside.
After a beat, he steps back out onto the porch.
RANDY SPEIDEL
Close all the windows?
JODI SPEIDEL
I did.
Randy nods, then bends down and grabs the bag of charcoal and bottle of lighter fluid. He sets them on top of the second grill as Jodi climbs the stairs back up to the porch. Then–
JODI SPEIDEL (CONT’D)
Hey.
Randy turns and faces Jodi.
JODI SPEIDEL (CONT’D)
I love you.
They hug, holding onto each other for a long beat. Then–
RANDY SPEIDEL
Love you, too.
Emotion starts to overcome them as tears well up in their eyes… but Randy shakes it off by breaking their embrace. As they each attempt to regain their composure–
RANDY SPEIDEL (CONT’D)
You got the note?
JODI SPEIDEL
Yeah.
Jodi pulls a small PINK NOTE out of her pocket.
She shows it to Randy, who skims it and nods in approval. Randy bends down and picks up the grill, charcoal, and lighter fluid, and then heads back into the house.
Jodi looks across the yard. The cats are now gone. She SIGHS.
She turns around and presses the pink note through the head of a rusty nail pounded into the door, then enters the house and closes the door behind her. It locks with a faint CLICK.
We PUSH IN on the note. It reads:
“WARNING: DO NOT ENTER. CARBON MONOXIDE INSIDE.”
FADE TO BLACK.
TITLE:
Chronic illnesses had forced Randy and Jodi Speidel to stop working. Unable to pay their bills, the couple went without heat for the winter, and soon had their water turned off.
They ate one meal a day, and eventually stopped feeding their cats. With $33 to their name, the Speidels carried their cats outside, then carried two charcoal grills into their home.
After tacking a pink note to the door to warn responders, they locked the doors and windows of their one-bedroom home, lit the charcoal, and died of carbon-monoxide poisoning.
Together.
THE END
