PRELUDE

INT: Bedroom

Scene opens with BIRDS EYE VIEW, the ceiling fan’s blades can be seen waving in front of the camera slowly churning the smoke in the room.

A FAN BLADE passes the CAM that serves as a transition tool

We see Incense burning all around the bed that a man (ISAAC [mid 20s/early30s]) is lying in bed. His EYES are barely open, CHEST barely rising between the shallow breaths, a SPOTTED BLANKET draped to cover his privates.

He's surrounded by his family, dressed in white, and they are covering his skin in dots.

A PRIEST wearing a LARGE WOODEN NECKLACE and a BLACK STRAW HAT stands at the foot of the bed.

We come into the scene with THE PRIEST mid prayer.

The CAM cuts between different angles showing the family members HANDS at work dotting his skin as the priest prays.

We see shots of the tools and personal items around the room: a ritual bowl with white paint, a larger bowl with a pour has the pigments and a half used gallon of water next to it, an ornate wooden pipe, a plant

ISAAC'S young daughter (MAHALIA AGE 4) plays with a doll in the corner, too young to register the gravity of the situation.

Priest:

We commit you to the earth. This vessel has completed its journey, yet your fight is not over. We prepare you for death’s battle. We prepare you to face the Scyth. The father commits your mind to your tactics, the mother commits your heart to action, the brother binds your arms to battle and the sister keeps your feet swift. You are dust and to dust you return.

As he finishes this last line the CAM is above ISAACS’s face as they finish dotting it.

He lets his last dying breath out as the priest speaks “you are dust.”

CUT TO:

Ext: Red Bluff MIDDAY/EVENING

We follow that last breath into the sky and transition to a gash in the earth, on a cliff surrounded by the red clay lies ISAAC.

The CAM rest sitting low about 15 ft away. You can see other dotted men and women sitting off in the distance, watching him. Isaac sits up wearily, taking in his surroundings with caution, knowing what's to come.

The CAM cuts to an over the shoulder view of ISAAC, showing a man walking forward, dressed in black with a BLACK STRIPE across his FACE.

His HANDS are covered black as well. ISAACS begins to breath harder, building himself up for the task ahead.

All there is to hear is his ragged breathes.

In the moments of each exhale we show a different grouping of the onlookers

Death: Isaac, are you ready?

Isaac: I've trained on your shadow for years as it swallowed my enemies.

Death: And Ive reveled in the many ways you've sent them to me… You know what is at risk here.

The CAM cuts to show some of the onlookers, all dotted like him, with white contacts. Isaac is now holding two Fire Spinning Ropes.

A CLOSE UP on his grip tightening onto the ROPES.

A PROFILE SHOT framing the two of them in a tense stand-off.

Isaac: The Garden welcomes me.

The CAM goes to a DRONE BIRDSEYE view over the pair as they begin to spin in a fiery dance, pulling higher and higher.

Isaac: I give praise to mother earth. I give praise to all of nature and its beings. I give praise to all my guiding spirits. I give praise to my ancestors. I give praise to all that came before me in this struggle. I give praise to my elders, I thank you for allowing me to wake up this morning. I thank you for my breath. I thank you for my body. I thank you for my journey.

As he speaks we travel through the clouds through the night to a morning sun peaking through the eastern horizon.

CUT TO

CAR SCENE, OPENING

Setting: Baton Rouge early morning

CAM:

We open to a Baton Rouge morning view of the city from the viewpoint of the passenger seat of a car. The side mirror is in view, as if someone is looking out of the window at the same rising sun over the city. Shots of CITIZENS waking through different parts Palus, parents taking out trash, kids heading to school, businesses opening for the day. During opening sequence she is heard on the phone with her friend, the familiarity reflects the safe space created between them. Its all warmth and love, Mahalia's entire person transforming the moment she answers. A worn polaroid of Isaac and his wife, seen in first scene is on her dashboard, we return to this sight repeatedly during the conversation as well.

Mahalia:

hey girlie

No, im on the bridge almost there

I mean it should be a cool job.

The manager was nice and the bartender was…

No, no I never did that!

No that was Janet she-

Yea in the bathroom with-

Mmhmm

Ummm no that was Carter!

Yea but I hope this place isn't like that I can't deal with the drama again.

The young and intoxicated

A whole movie

*pause*

-close up on her mouth in profile

LAUGHS

No I go in at 10 so I'm gonna stop and get some breakfast or maybe just some tea

No I eat!

I'm-

Stop-

No I eat more than you!

You forgot to eat yesterday!

Uh huh Yea whatever

We return to the car window view as the CAM pivots showing our main character MAHALIA for the first time. She looks stressed, rushed, hair pulled up into a big messy bun. She tries to light a cigarette with a match and nearly burns herself.

Mahalia: Ah! Fuck…fuck…fuck….

You heard from Cooley?

She called earlier about this dude in the city

Yea she seem so…

No not that stop

-close up on her mouth

giggles

Stop that she seems whole

Yea Yea like

It's not like she was missing anything before but she's just-

laughs

Remember last year?

LAUGHS

-long pause-

Like how you show up late to my birthday party for my birthday on my day of birth like who does that?

LAUGHS

Anyway she-

She-

Exactly so why would-

Yep Yep so fuck her I mean she hurt my feelings or whatever but that's cool

No No I'm about to park

Yea

Bye

Get off my phone!

Turns on music

CUT TO THE SOUND OF THE BUTTON BEING PRESSED

EXT: Magpie

MAHALIA drives up haphazardly, parking crooked in the parallel spot. We jump cut to her back in the car scarfing down a muffin and singing along.

Cut to:

We see the outer driver side of MAHALIA'S CAR catching her REFLECTION in the SIDE MIRROR as it pulls up to a restaurant

MAHALIA exits the car heading into work, the door swinging open and closed and the cam staying static in its mount.

Timelapse CAM in same position until dark when she walks back out.

Title Screen: honne

As she walks back to her car a man donning a tribal mask sits on the bench outside smoking a long wooden pipe.

He's wearing a cream linen suit, the rustic wooden mask held fast by a scarf wrapping his head.

The same scarf wraps his hands, only his aged brown fingers visible.

MAHALIA doesn't notice THE MASKED MAN as she heads back to her car.

When she opens the door, we lose sight of THE MASKED MAN and once the door closes he's gone.

MAHAHLIA walks through the grocerstore's craft section, its along the back wall of the supermarket to her left, allowing us to see down to aisles to her right.

THE MASKED MAN appears in the second aisle we see.

When she looks over he's gone.

Her phone rings The CAM shifts focus from her to her phone it's her friend, BREA, again

Cut to her on the phone standing in front of the superstore, looking both ways before crossing

What follows is a series of cuts showing MAHALIA in front of a couple religious structures with the conversation dubbed over.

During the conversation we follow her as she interacts passively with these different religions, not taking extreme insterest into much of anything.

We end this sequence in an AFRICAN SHOP where she takes more interest, grabbing some items, buying and leaving.

The MASKED MAN is snuck into every shot

Brea: "you figured out what's going on with you?"

MAHALIA:"you ever feel lost?"

Brea: "what you mean lost? Lost how? Lost like grocery store lost or lost like interstellar lost"

MAHALIA: interstellar meets Logan lost his diary lost"

Brea: "aint no way your logan lost his diart lost, what's the issue?"

MAHALIA: "that's what I don't know if I knew that I wouldn't be lost now would I?"

Brea: "you can know why you lost and still be lost"

MAHALIA: "UGH that's not the point! I feel just... Alive"

Brea: "breathe in real quick, deep breathe"

-WE CUT TO A CLOSE UP OF MAHALIA’S MOUTH AS SHE INHALES AND EXHALES

MAHALIA:*inhales*

Brea: "now let it go"

MAHALIA:*exhales*

Brea: "it's because you're alive! How are you supposed to feel!"

*both laugh*

MAHALIA: "shut up. I just feel like I'm not living like I'm supposed to be living. Like my life is missing something"

Brea: "well for one... You broke."

MAHALIA:"financially challenged!"

Brea: "fiscally devalued"

MAHALIA:"monetarily misunderstood but it don't feel like money is the issue. You know when money is the issue. This feels like a piece of me is gone. Like my days just swallow up my older days and now it's gonna become years eating years and I won't be able to remember what happened because nothing significant will happen. This city can swallow lives you know?"

Brea: "Palus doesn't swallow anything people don't feed it. I look at it this way, you can look at the world like it has infinite potential, a steady well waiting for you to drill and drink. Or you can look at it as an old pump, overused and dried out, with only enough water for the lucky ones. This life has everything you need, you just gotta figure out yourself to know how to get it."

MAHALIA "so perspective is my problem?"

Brea: "perspective is your solution! Go and get some perspective"

MAHALIA "What I'm supposed to do? Climb a tree?"

Brea: "I know you're not religious buuuttttt"

MAHALIA "No no nope. I tried religion. I even tried my people's traditions and that felt weird still."

Brea: "nobody said stick to one! Try a few out! See some new views on life. You gotta and stop being so damn childish.

MAHALIA: "whatever"

INT: MAHALIA’S BEDROOM

Mahalia's room is cozy, layers of draped fabrics of yellows, oranges, browns, and reds cover almost every surface. The hardwood is broken by a fluffy shag rug.

Cam is fixed with her in center walking into her bedroom.

The door closes with the timing of the end of the call.

She starts to pour out a bunch of candles and crystals, a deck of cards and some herbs.

She begins to set up an alter in front of a table with some plants around it.

She unpacks the deck of tarot cards, shuffling the cards cautiously.

Cut to the alter being prepared and incense lit.

she slowly kneels in front of the alter. The only light is coming from the firelight, illuminating her face.

MAHALIA

murmurs "bless the deck" Think of what you want

What do you want....

You want...

You want....

I want to know freedom. I need to find myself.

The cards burst into flames She freaks out and blows out all the candles, bringing the screen to black.

EXT: MAHALIA’S HOME

(cam from POV of phone) MAHALIA is typing intently focused on her phone as she walks out of her home. We see BREA for the first time via a FACETIME screen in the left corner

The content isn't shown but the tapping of her fingers are amplified, BREA'S voice muffled by the fingers incessant tapping.

As she gets a couple steps away from the door

MAHALIA: "shit, lock the door"

BREA: You was talking about how you're feeling lost, you're gonna lose all your stuff if you keep leaving your door unlocked in PALUS.

So she runs back. The CAM is still at phone POV, shaking and blurring as she jogs to door.

The sound of keys are heard and a lock can be heard clicking.

At the sound of the lock the sky above changes, going from the blues of morning to the oranges of evening.

The phone screen begins to glitch

BREA: Hello? Hey youre phone is being weird your camera is

When she brings it back up you see up into the clear sky then trees begin to enter view.

We see MAHALIA as if we are walking in front of her.

Behind her the scene morphs, her home quickly being covered by trees, in moments she's in deep forest.

She walks deeper into the woods, her gaze focused on the content on the phone, moving into wilderness unbeknownst to her. THE CAM cuts to a view 10-15ft ahead of her, she's still looking down. Her foot breaks a twig and it snaps her to her surroundings, when she looks up she notices him, the man in the mask. A wide profile shot catches both of them at opposite ends, staring. She doesn't appear afraid, and he doesn't appear threatening. JUMP CUT and he's a footstep away from her, the CAM maintains the same angle, keeping their faces at opposite edges of the screen. She looks him in his eyes, (actor is wearing white contacts and black paint around eyes) His hand rises to grab the mask, slowly taking it off revealing an older male. He's smiling full of love.

MAHALIA: tears forming “daddy?”

He brings the mask closer to her face,

Isaac: I love you baby, we gon get you right

The mask engulfs the screen in black

CUT TO:

Ext: Forest clearing, Red Bluff Time: evening

The sound of crackling wood enters her awareness with the hums of women backing it. The black of the mask peels away and reveals a human sized fire blazing wildly in front of her. Wild, massive, but controlled within the firepit.

She is sitting next to a cliff wall, with 3 other women who are all covered in robes covered in interconnected squares. Their hair pulled back, styled with red earth, escaping into locs at the nape of their necks. The CAM moves to float around the women who are all meditating and chanting. The women havent registered Mahalia as she takes them in. They have their eyes pressed closed, rocking with the pacing of the music, rocking in tune with one another in a growing feverish passion, the fire seeming to react and move along with them. We float around the 3 women rotating around the fire before settling back on our main character, who now has a woman dressed in a robe like flowing dress positioned behind her. The CAM is in a low upshot with Mahalia in the center of the frame, the Leader is towering above. The Leader grabs her by her temples, she still hadn’t noticed her flanking, entranced by the ritual she just appeared in.

The CAM is now showing a high wide shot above the leader so that you can see the whole scene. As she places her hands onto MAHALIA'S head the other 3 women hop up, now dancing in praise. The CAM holds here.

ISAAC:

“What is it that you want? Speak carefully my child, the universe is listening.”

Mahalia:

What happened to you?

ISAAC:

What happens to all of us? We die. I died love. That's all.

MAHALIA:

But after... where did you go? What happened to you?

ISAAC:

Do you know our traditions?

MAHALIA:

Who would teach them to me? Mom is-

ISAAC:

I know... Look there is more to life than the ending you see. You're just a rock skipping along a lake. When that rock slips beneath the surface, does it disappear forever? No, it just continues life underwater. Do you know where you are?

MAHALIA:

no...

ISAAC:

This is our people's land. Every cell within you has walked these trees, has molded itself from this soil. You can always find me here. Do you understand?

MAHALIA:

This is where you are... Trapped...

ISAAC:

*huge laugh* No, not trapped. This is where I was freed.

MAHALIA:

Then I want freedom

The CAM moves to a direct front shot of MAHALIA. The ritual leader grabs her head and pulls her up The scene blends the transition from the cliff side to the her bedroom.

cut to:

INT: BEDROOM

MAHALIA's face is painted, half-dotted in the style of her father now too. She stands looking bewildered and amazed. Empowered.

There is a box in the middle of the room and she walks over to it, opening it and finding a polaroid photo of her father, ISAAC, and her mother, the same from her car. She flips the photo over and it says - (you define your destiny, we are watching) - The photo catches fire, and she holds the photo up to her face and watches it burn down until she can't hold it anymore.

It falls down to finish burning next to the box. We see her reach into the box and grab something, with a huge smile stretching across her face.

EXT: HOME

CAM tone is much warmer, MAHALIA carries herself happier, fuller with a confidant walk.

MAHALIA walks out of her home, dressed in the first brighter colored clothing of the film. Before closing the door she looks back and the focus of the cam shows THE MASK hanging on the wall.

(FADE TO BLACK)

During credits she begins to experiment with the fire ropes that her father used.

The Jake's (Jake, Jacob, Jacoby), Rich, De'alla- God of Passing and Escort of Spirit, Aten- God of Bargains and Oathes

Int. Home

It's midday, quiet. Soft music plays in the background, and the home is slightly smokey with incense. This home is created from peace and harmony with self. The mail slides through the slot and there's a notifying knock on the door.

A young man walks up, shirtless, only a gold chain adorning his chest and wearing sweatpants (RICH). He looks about 23, dreadlocks. His demeanor is calm, relaxed as if he just rolled out of bed, his freeform dreadlocks poking outward haphazardly. He picks up the mail and begins to flip through the different envelopes as he slowly walks away from the door. He sees one with a gang of stamps on it, being returned to sender multiple times over.

Rich

How many times they gonna send this shit back.

He turns back to the door and tries to catch the mailman before he gets too far.

As soon as he unlocks the door it explodes open.

Enter The Jakes.

3 masked men bumrush the door, all brandishing pistols. JAKE pistol whips the homeowner as JACOB runs further into the home. JACOBY closes up the door and locks it.

{camera} We see a profile of the scene from a bird’s eye view.

The homeowner falls to the ground and the mail slides towards the camera. The title, REQUITE, is on the envelope which was the cause of it all.

FADE TO BLACK AS THE SOUNDS OF A ROBBERY CONTINUE

INT. Atens Abandoned Temple

{camera} Close on an older pair of hands moving beads in his hands

The older man sits there, Jake prostrated in front of him. He wears a mask adorned with gilded leaves and flowers. His body is painted in cracked yellow, forearms covered with a red tint, red handprints on his chest. The alter from earlier sits behind him.

Aten

Look me in my eyes, get your head up from this dusty floor.

Jake rises to his knees in a samurai kneel, a little afraid to.

Aten

You are but a child in this world. A child of mine with a stone in your gut. What is it that brings you 'ere?

Jake

(eyes staring forward into the dirt, searching himself for the answer)

Death is in love with me, and I'm tired of feeding her. I can feel her surrounding me and I want to... I want... Life.

Aten

If it's the life you seek then it's life you've found. But what do you give for life?

Jake

Anything

Aten

(leans in closer)

Anything is a lot of currency in my experience. Can you pay in full what I ask of you?

Jake just stares back. The unsure air around him dissipates and he stills himself, staring back into the black holes of the masked man in front of him. Aten grunts with approval and the sound cuts out save for the priest's voice.

Aten

We have a deal then… Jake. 20 is my number for you. 20. Be patient. Death cannot touch you as long as you remain in service to me. D’allah remains powerless. I am patient. You need not give anything today, but when I call for you...

(the air grows tight, the sounds of the forest cut out and all goes silent. Aten holds out a necklace in his hand.)

Answer.

The word escapes as a whisper in a myriad of voices.

Int. Jake's home

The boys' john each other Jacoby laughs while sloppily eating a bag of chips.

{camera} Open with a pan shot of photos on a mantle. There are family photos, a drawing from a young relative, and an ornately framed lithograph of a curved knife and a rabbit in the middle.

{camera} Close up on their mouths as they talk

Jake

Fool ass, fake ass, 3 dollar having ass, cheesecake pressed clown ass lah boy

Jacob

Ole stank ass, bubble gut, 2 cent with no sense ass duck ass lah boy

JAKE

You maaaaaaaadddddd. You can't get no hoes BUTTERBEAN?

JACOB

That's what your sister thought too until she found out why they call me the Superman Luva.

Jake

My sister outchea heavier than you're soft ass, Jacob. What you bout?

Jacob

That necklace can't protect you forever.

{camera} Close on the necklace around Jake's neck. Smoke rises from the Blunt in hand, drifting dreamily between the lens and his necklace.

Jake

I'm blessed, you can't touch me.

Jacob

You call it blessed, that shit's a curse. You a whole demon outchea.

Jake

I don't know what YOU been on but me? I'm aligned with my God.

Jacoby

Explain Rich den?

Jake

MAN FUCK Rich. That boy raped a lil girl a while back.

(all nod in remembrance)

Privileged cats always try to push shit until they get their shit pushed back.

Jacob

Rich might've been the person he was, but don't get all righteous on me fool. We were there for the plan and everything, you can't pull that card.

Jacoby

Yeashdont try that

Jake

Whatever man. The mission is the mission, we don't get to question that.

Jake rises as Jacob and Jacoby continue to talk, the conversation muffled as we tune into Jake walking towards a hallway. The camera follows as he walks forward, swinging around him as he enters the dark hallway. He walks towards us, eyes fixed on something unseen.

Int Totem in an Abandoned Building

Jake is walking up to this alter, beginning to prostrate himself at its feet, necklace in hand. On the alter lies a knife and rabbit, whose already been cut in half. An pine branch with a couple of pine cones still attached. A straw field hat sits on a candelabra. Sounds of the woods floods over the senses.

The totem is about half his height and seems like a relic, left here by worshippers long dead. Rediscovered by Jake. A voice booms out, vibrating the air with a raspy baritone.

Aten

Your life belongs to me... Jake. You can't rest yet...

We hear a women's laugh.

SLO MO CLOSE UP Jake turns his head, panning into the darkness behind him.

Int. Jake's living room night

{camera}

The pan leads to a back view of Jake, lit by a lamp in front of him. The cam slowly advances through the dark until Jake's head is taking up the most of frame.

CLOSE UP OF REVOLVER IN HIS HAND AND THE BULLET DANCING BETWEEN HIS FINGERS.

Jake is kneeling in his living room. He has a revolver in his hand and is sliding a single bullet between his fingers

Jake (WHISPERING v.O.)

Death is easy, life is hard. Death can be quick… It can be quick.

Jake clicks the bullet in, spits on it, spins it and claps it close.

Jake (V.O.)

Give it all up. Or keep going? 1 out of 6. 17%.... 17%.... 1 out of 6.... Quick. It'll be quick.

A cloaked black figure stands behind him, looming in above him. DE’ALLA, Death wants to take him. She speaks to him in a gravely whisper, her VOICE LAYERED WITH LUST

De'alla

Let it go Jake. Come to my arms.

Jake lifts the pistol up to the bottom of his chin. His eyes are empty. His breathing is steady. The white noise of silence growing louder in his ears he steadies his last breath. As his eyelids close the world closes in around him, the silence rings louder.

{camera} We slowly zoom in towards the barrel of the gun

*Click*

CUT BACK TO FULL BODY SHOT AT SOUND OF CLICK

Jake collapses into himself as he muscles release the tension. The cloaked black figure behind him is gone. Aten is standing behind him, a beam of orange light illuminating him from the top.

Aten (v.o)

You're mine Jake.

He checks the gun and an empty shell of the bullet falls out. He looks at it perplexed as it drops onto the floor, the clanking metal on tile echoing. He tosses the gun aside and walks off camera frustrated. We pan down to the shell.

Int. Jake's living room midday

The camera's position hasn't moved as the Jakes sit on the couch, quiet, watching TV.

TV (v.o)

A spree of home invasions has put the city on edge, the precipice being the home invasion of the Prime Constable's nephew, Richard Galespa who has been missing since the incident.

Rich's Family Crest is shown side by side with a photo of Rich, his father and his uncle.

JACOB

(sitting up)

Damn I didn't know he was plugged like that! He gonna have the city on fire.

Jacoby

Awwww shit disshitgonbebad

Jacob

Jake, did you know who this dude really was? His uncle is really wild.

Jacoby

Wild dirty.

TV (v.o)

The search for Mr. Galespa continues. Friends and family, saying he was last seen the night before the robbery.

Jake sits pensive, fingering the necklace like a rosary.

{camera} Close on Jake's hand as he slides the beads of his necklace between his fingers.

cut to

INT. Jake's room

Aten (v.o)

When I call...

The words echo through the room.

Jake's eyes pop open and he clutches the necklace. His head rises and he looks towards the door.

A figure stands there, De'alla silhouetted, drenched in shadow. We hold on to it for 10 seconds slowly panning forwards, then it steps into the room.

Back Alley

The Jakes are hanging out there, Jacob and Jacoby kicking a soccer ball back and forth, talking shit. Jake is sitting on a curbside, watching. Their car sits at the mouth of the alleyway, with broken cars and old tires lining the alley.

Jacob

Survival of the Fittest. Darwinism my brudda that's the only way to eat when shit gets heavy.

Jake

That's some northerner's shit, save that.

Jacob

If it ain't that, then what it is then, huh?

Jake

You been listening to the Thynes too much. Competition brings sparks, but cooperation keeps the fire. That survival of the fittest shit just trying to snuff out everybody else's flame.

Jacob

Finite resources my boy. If everybody can't eat, someone is gonna start taking.

Jake

The community provides though. If you look around, there's gardens for food, butchers, carpenters, brick layers, tailors, and all of them work on a trust system if you don't have it so why we talking about survival of the fittest?

Jacob

So how do you make sense of what we do? How you look at yourself with all this community talk and we out here knocking heads.

Jake

We done what we've had to do but it's who we do it to that's the key. This is bigger than us, maybe we'll see the picture later but right now, just back me man. You worried about who? Rich? Fuck Rich, and fuck his crooked ass uncle too.

Jacoby

He got a point.

Jacob

(to Jacoby) Now he wanna act like every time we do some shit it's to somebody fucked up. You know.

We see a pair of teens stepping out from the tall grass adjacent to the alleyway the Jake's are in. They are wearing masks, the crest of Rich's family loosely painted on them, shirtless carrying spears. They creep forwards like wild cats prowling.

Jacob

Rich is just one! We DO this shit. I'm just tired of Jake acting like this ain't what it is

-cut to Jake scoffing, focused on a small coin on the ground.

Jacob

So that outweighs ALL the shit we do? ALL the shit? C'mon son? ALL THE SHIT? Really? Karma is truth, and this shit swings around on a pendulum.

Jacoby

Karma is a thing. And its outchea, yea.

Jake

Y’all don’t think this shit haunt me?! (strained silence) I shouldn’t have made the deal, but we here now and when that time comes we'll figure out if one evil really outweighs-

Stick Up Kids

Say Jake!

Jake looks left as the kid pulls back, arching his back ready to release a javelin, tense as a spring. When he let's go we hear a shot.

(the amplified sound of a bow pulling back and releasing, gunshot at point of release.)

The Jake's run to the car for cover, pulling out their pistols and blind firing back in the assailant's direction but the kids disappear just as quickly as they appeared.

Jake's corpse lays there, lifeless. His eyes still open, peering out past into the next plane. We can see Jacob and Jacoby pause at seeing the corpse, then get into the car and drive off.

The camera stays right above the body as the car pulls away.

Montage of wide angle shots

Flips between shots of pedestrians in wide empty spaces, often dwarfing the subject: dwarfed by buildings, dwarfed by an opposing crowd, dwarfed by nature.

Narrator

PALUS is unlike every other place you may know, think you know, or have imagined. PALUS is a living, breathing, evolving entity of its own. Power, magic, gods, gri gri, enchantments, curses, hoodoo, juju, ley lines, the paranormal along with other extrasensory experiences that shake your perception of reality thrive within the borders of this swampland. PALUS is you. It becomes you, consumes you, and let's you back out to the world. You may leave, but PALUS doesn't let go.

PALUS is separate from the history known and taught to you.

PALUS is black.

PALUS is black.

PALUS is black.

PALUS is built from the descendants of migrants, who came to build across with those native to the lands. PALUS is etched into a corner, a foothold of culture from across the seas, 20 generations removed from its traditions and gods. PALUS isn't the spirituality you think you know. PALUS IS YOU.

GROUND ADJACENT TO SWAMPY AREA, BLUE HOUR

We END THE MONTAGE OF SCENES TO see a grassy lot, a patch bunching up. Fingers rip through and push outward feverishly.

NARRATOR

PALUS doesn't let go.

Arms scramble around trying to find a handhold.

NARRATOR

Palus doesn't forget.

Jake rips himself from the earth, sprawling out onto the grass once he's freed himself, taking labored breaths. The camera remains low, panning away as he reassesses himself.

Jake clasps the muck at his neck, pulling forth the necklace and laughing and coughing up globs of blood and dirt.

Text appears across the screen. "Death Count: 12 (strike through 12) 13"

A couple of drops of water fall onto his face as it begins to rain. The sound of rain evolves into a shower and we hear the squeaks of the knobs turning off.

Int. Jake's house

ATEN

(low grumbling voice)

You owe me, boy.

Jake stops abruptly, shocked that a voice is coming from his own home. We can see the confusion on his face as the camera pans zooms in, circling him, searching in his memory as to what he left open? What hole was exploited?

Aten

Your soul, it's a heavy one you know that?

Close Low angle upshot on Aten's face. The corners of his mouth are just barely turned upwards.

Aten

3 souls it will take to fill your place in Abwebo. 3 souls you will need to collect for me.

Jake

HOW THE FUCK YOU GOT IN MY HOUSE MAN?! You know you don't have to do it like this right?

Aten

(unfazed)

3 souls boy. Leave this on their bodies so she knows they are mine to collect.

3 small burlap bags hit the floor, the camera catching their trajectory and slide.

Aten

(with camera focused on bags)

Replace that. Collect them. 3 souls. 3 days. Or I come to collect you.

Jake reaches down to pick up the bags.

Jake

(joking) Say bruh I know you gave me this necklace but we gotta discuss boundaries or some-

His sentence is cut short when he looks up and realizes he's talking to an empty space. The priest is long gone.

The loud sound of a clock ticking grows as he grabs the last bag and walks into his room. The camera stays in the hall as the door closes.

Camera stays on focused on the door, cut to same shot of different door outside of the Public Library with a graffiti tag saying “I am Jake's complete lack of surprise”

Ext. Public library

The sliding doors of the library open

Jake walks through the door, and up to Jacob and Jacoby. They are lounging at a table, they don't look shocked to see Jake walking and talking again.

Jacob

Took a lil longer this time.

Jake

I'm the unkillable, the unfuckwittable.

Jacoby

Yea yea yea, goodtahseeyuhbrudda.

JAKE

Same same, what yall heard?

JACOB

Stick up kids off of 38th. How much it cost this time?

JAKE

(drops bags onto the table)

3. We need 3 at least.

JACOB

You ever thought about what would happen if you didn't?

JAKE

I mean, if I don't then...

He gets a vision of a fire burning, screams & Aten flashes across the screen.

I don't want to find out to be real. You don't know how cold the earth is.

JACOBY

Whereya came up dis time?

JAKE

I can't even tell. I don't remember much about coming out. I just remember the shower after.

Jacob

How much time we got?

JAKE

3 days. (lights up blunt) We gotta move. Now.

Int. Childhood Home

A slow-motion shot of the necklace skidding across a wooden floor.

Public Park

6 guys are playing 3v3 basketball at an outdoor court. The camera is stagnant as the guys run across the court back and forth. The Jake's car sits at center court, in the parking lot adjacent to it.

-cut to

Jake's Car Int

We sit with them for a few moments while they observe the guys play ball.

Jacob

That's him. There was one other but he’s not right here right now.

{camera} close up on one of the guys, the shooter.

Jake

So he thinks he can hunt with the wolves huh?

Jacoby

(yawns) Walking corpse.

Time-lapse of them sitting in the car as the day changes to dusk.

wide shot Through the back window of Jake's car.

Jacoby

But that don'tevenmake sense bruh, she didn't call?

Jacob

Bruh she didn't even follow back on twitter bruh. Shaking my damn-

The shooter daps up the other guys playing and gets into his car.

(Jake from the backseat)

So we follow him.

Ext. Streets of Palus

The Jake's cruise a car behind the target. The camera rocks from the view of center back seat as they drive through the bumpy streets. Trails of smoke float from the front seat

Int Childhood Home

A slow motion shot of wooden necklace skidding across floor

Ext. BACK ALLEY

The car the Jake's tailing pulls into an alleyway next to an old washeteria. The Jake's pull into a spot as the targets cruise in to block the entrance to the alley with their car. The shooter hops out and 4 guys walk up to him all talking amongst one another.

A cross shot from within the Jake's car watches them.

JAKE

Let's hit the block.

JACOBY pulls out 3 pistols from under the seat and passes them around. The car creeps back.

Ext. BACK Alley, culley opening

The Jake's emerge from this hole in the fence, prowling out towards the alley. The camera remains in a profile shot as it tracks their approach.

The music fades to silent as they begin to raise their pistols and the camera stops tracking them, holding still as they progress off screen.

The music picks back up after about 5 seconds, swinging left to show the alley and a slew of bodies strewn out. There's at least 8 PEOPLE laying out. Jacob and Jacoby are dragging bodies into a line. Jake is above the last guy, rising up from him with a blood stained shirt.

shooter

You… you’re dead you know? (Laughing) they’re gonna hang you.

Jake

You can't kill what's already dead.

Jake lets off one more round. He reaches down, dips his fingers in a wound and drags the blood in two lines under his left eye down to his jawline as the life leaves the shooter.

He drops a bag onto the body.

INT CHILDHOOD HOME

In slow motion shot of the necklace sliding, a ball rolls past

BACK ALLEY

Jake walks up to another body and drops a bag.

INT FIRST HOME

In slow motion shot of the necklace, another ball rolls past

Back alley

Jake crouches at the last body in the line of bodies that Jacob and Jacoby have made and place a bag on his chest.

Int Jake's Home

The necklace slides across and pushed another ball rolls past, sliding into the back of Jake's shoe. He's kneeled in the same position in front of an alter set up the same way as the alter in the warehouse from earlier.

The camera circles him, showing us him but not what is in front of him. We see all of the people from the alley standing behind him, hands bound to one another by rope.

In an over shoulder shot we see what he sees: ATEN sitting in the same chair as before, with the totem behind him. He’s rotating the 3 balls in his hand, 3x larger than the humans in front of him.

Close up on Aten's mouth as a smile crawls across his face.

Aten

You are free, Jake. Look around you and see you’re work. This is the price for your life.

JAKE

(Looking around at the faces of those he’s killed)

Aten…. I have one more request.

Cut to black

END.

This series is a collection of scripts written within the universe of Palus, following the lives of different individuals existing in this living city. It’s an exploration of blackness, as observed by me through the many shades that surround me in southern Louisiana. I’ve traveled across America, seen the many different places and spaces that black people occupy and I’ve come to one conclusion: there’s no place like the south. I say this to say that we live in a space where we see black people everywhere we go. It’s almost familial across the south. This series was an extrapolation of that feeling, like… what if instead of slavery, we just set up an annexed country made up of what would become the Confederacy? What would this black and native land look like and feel like with New Orleans as the capital? Crazy yea, but it’s my story so read it or get to gettin’.

the setting.

-Palus is the result of the migration of Africans, French, Spanish settling and mixing with the Ishak, Chitimacha Tribe, the Coushatta Tribe, the Jena Band of Choctaw Natives, and the Tunica-Biloxi.

With this they built a city-state and a massive Country, and they brought over all of their gods and beliefs to this land, mixing, melding, evolving into new religions and still carrying the old.

The unique aspect of Palus in this world is that this veil between reality and the realm of the gods is thinnest here in God’s Swamp, heightening chances of interactions with the other.

Government Structure:

Ran by the leaders of each industry, a Representative Democracy.

Questions to consider through the series?

• Consider what music becomes without the background of AMERICAN Slavery?

• Without the brashness of Racism, does blues and jazz sound the same? What songs can be sound tracked to give this feeling of freedom?

• Does the effects of poverty lead to the same choices? How does society guide that? Do we(I) fall into the same mental traps when given a new guideline?

• How does the different areas of upper/middle/lower class look in this world?

PALUS IS NOT A UTOPIA

1. Extreme poverty exists

2. Xenophobia exists between different cultures

3. Social issues still persist

4. How does the religion you chose/created function in this world?

   • How do its practitioners worship?

   • Are they accepting of the conflicting beliefs?

   • How does the God(s) present in this reality?

   • How do they communicate with the faithful?