Lesson 16: Exchange Feedback

[Deb Johnson]

Deb’s Horror Outline Version 3

Title: Last Words

Logline: A cursed typewriter types the last words of the living before they perish.

Act 1

Open:

A young man, Jake, and a woman, Sarah, shelter from a raging tornado. Jake yells “None of this is real,” and is sucked up into the frenzy. Sarah opens a piece of paper with the same words typed on it – she screams… the debris from the tornado “attacks” her.

The next day:

A camera drone buzzes above this small, tornado-decimated town. There is a scattering of work crews and emergency vehicles. The drone is operated by Tunney, 23, a storm chaser/YouTube sensation.

Gabe, an investigative journalist, 30, and Aaron, a local historian, and newspaper reporter, 35, observe Main Street and are challenged by animals displaced from the storm. They visit Mama Lee, 65, resident of the only surviving house in the downtown area. They see a dead body in her backyard.

Ella, 16, an aspiring journalist, rides through the debris on her bike. She is anxious to meet Gabe.

Cassie, 40, a paranormal blogger, and Isa, a paranormal expert, 30, arrive at what’s left of the church. Part of the building collapses, narrowly missing Cassie and Isa. They hear a muffled call for help under the debris.

Gabe, Aaron, Ella, Mama Lee, and Tunney all make their way over to see what’s going on and to help.

Warning:

They find Sarah, who is critically injured. Cassie recognizes her. Emergency workers arrive with a stretcher. The Seven all move deeper into the basement, looking for more people.

Sarah, conflicted, cries out “Don’t go in there, it’s a trap. You’ll all be killed. There’s no escape.” Then she dies. A piece of paper drops from her hand – typed on it are the exact words she just spoke. They are all confused.

Denial: All seven, in their own way, deny the supernatural.

An emergency worker calls them out but Ella, eager to follow the group, tells the emergency worker about a gas leak at the post office. He leaves.

Safety taken away:

A large tree topples over the basement opening. The Seven are now trapped inside. They must wait for a truck with a winch/pully to arrive.

Aaron leads them to a secret tunnel but finds it’s collapsed. (There are many throughout this town.)

The seven hear a typewriter and enter the office. One by one they receive their “last words.” They all react in their own way. Ella is most disturbed and destroys her paper.

(Note: This is an electric typewriter, circa 1986, with a one-line LED display and continuous feed paper.)

Aaron and Cassie discuss the history of the ‘typewriter hoax’ and he mentions he has some historical records back in his office that she’s free to look at.

TURNING POINT – END OF ACT 1

Ella finds the paper she destroyed in her back pocket. She screams and faints. Tunney catches her.

ACT 2

The Seven convene in Aaron’s office/library around old books and newspapers. Aaron produces an old photo of a non-electric Woodstock typewriter – says it can’t be the same thing. Mama Lee agrees with Aaron and tries to comfort Ella – explaining away the second paper (maybe she only thought she tore up the first one).

They somewhat agree that it’s a hoax but before they all separate, Ella makes them all connect on a group chat so they can keep in touch… just in case.

Cassie is thrilled by the story and blogs a sensationalized version that paints the typewriter as a benevolent spirit that wants to help people.

Isolated/Trapped/Abducted:

Tunney drives away to meet his friends to bungee jump. As he drives, he has a flashback of his hit-and- run experience. He killed the injured boy. Haunted and Panic-stricken, he utters his “last words” and bungee jumps to his death.

Learning of his death, the SIX reconvene in the library and learn that the number of words is equivalent to the number of hours they have left to live.

Aaron is attacked by the mayor, whom he wronged. He escapes through an underground tunnel. Gabe and Ella pursue him (they fear for his safety).

Isa, Cassie, and Mama Lee uncover documents that reveal the historic victims of the typewriter were specific people who told lies to gain wealth and position. (Isa has a flashback of her own misdeeds but does not confess to the group).

Mama Lee suggests they just go and destroy the typewriter. The three ladies take off.

Aaron runs through an underground passage, and it caves in on him.

When the three ladies approach the typewriter, Isa goes into a trace and can see that the typewriter gets its power from the souls it collects.

Isa stops them from destroying the typewriter. She tells them that it will somehow become stronger. They don’t believe her.

Gabe and Ella find Aaron’s dead body.

The Five reconvene.

They discover a historic journal that Aaron was hiding. It identifies the malevolent spirit behind the typewriter. They discover that it wasn’t always a typewriter; it has had different iterations over the centuries and is now contained in an electric typewriter. Isa feels vindicated but they wonder why Aaron was hiding this information.

Emergency workers condemn the building and force them to leave. They all split up.

Ella hides out in her bedroom. The room is covered in posters of a TEEN HEARTTHROB. She lays on her bed and has a flashback of how she harassed/bullied a boy at school (the one she claimed was bullying her) and made his life miserable.

Cassie decides to leave town (to escape) and gets hit by an armored truck.

Ella is drawn out of her house by an apparition and killed. The boy changes back and forth from the HEARTHTHROB to the boy she wronged. He has a knife, and he kills her.

ACT 3

Gabe and Isa decide to go back to the typewriter so they can confess their sins. Mama Lee refuses to go with them.

In her house, Mama Lee has a vision of her children being abused by her husband and she stands by and does nothing. Her house collapses on her.

Back in the basement, Isa warns Gabe about the danger of destroying the typewriter.

Isa admits her culpability in their relationship. That it was her deception that broke them up.

Gabe admits his cowardice. That he’s a slave to his publisher and slants stories to tell a certain narrative. He also admits that he hates his job; he’s afraid to try to be anything else. The words on his paper disappear. A blinding, unnatural light engulfs him – leaving him blind/disoriented.

They are released from the room and flee.

As they go through town, Isa is shot and killed by a looter.

Gabe is pursued by the malevolent spirit. He destroys the typewriter.

Gabe leaves town. He opens his phone to get directions. The typewriter appears as a new app on Gabe’s phone.