FADE IN

INT. CLEMENTINE HOUSE – DAY

A two-story, blue and white suburban house circled by a white picket fence, filled with the clatter and hustle of a family.

CLEMENTINE’S BEDROOM

Toy soldiers and dolls litter the floor and hand-drawn pictures cover the walls opposite a desk. A bookcase filled with fairy tales squats beneath a clock that reads 8:42.

JUNE, 8, with short-cut hair and NAVY-BLUE CAP pulled low over teary eyes scrubs at a VANDALIZED FOLDER with a damp cloth.

Words such as ‘SKUNK!’ and ‘YOU SMELL’ peek from beneath her furiously moving rag.

RUNNING FEET and a KNOCK at June’s door. The door handle CLICKS as someone tries to turn it.

JUNE CLEMENTINE
Go away!

BOY’S VOICE
(O.S.)
June, we have to go to school! You’re gonna get in trouble!

JUNE CLEMENTINE
I’m not going to school, Roman!

RUNNING FEET going away. June hunches her shoulders and scrubs harder.

HEAVY FOOTSTEPS come upstairs.

MALE VOICE
(O.S.)
June, honey, it’s time for school.

June blows her cheeks out and pouts.

UPSTAIRS HALLWAY

Heavy green curtains at either end shroud the long hallway in darkness. A shadowed stairway leads further up into the house and another stairway, bathed in sunlight, leads downwards.

HOWARD CLEMENTINE, 32, wearing a black suit, stands at the door.

HOWARD CLEMENTINE
June, open the door please.

MARY CLEMENTINE, 30, in a pencil skirt and blouse, joins the man.

MARY CLEMENTINE
Howard, what are you doing, you have a presentation in twenty minutes!

HOWARD CLEMENTINE
June’s not coming out.

MARY CLEMENTINE
Ugh, again? We don’t have time for this. I’ll call the school, tell them she’s sick.

HOWARD CLEMENTINE
Mary, we can’t just leave her.

MARY CLEMENTINE
I’ll come back during lunch or something, make sure she’s okay.

Mary turns and heads downstairs.

MARY CLEMENTINE
Don’t forget to lock the attic. June ruined her clothes playing in there last time.

HOWARD CLEMENTINE
JuJu, Junebug, Mommy will come back during lunch ‘kay? You don’t have to go to school today.

HOWARD CLEMENTINE
I hope you feel better honey.

JUNE’S BEDROOM

June pulls her hat low over her eyes.

THUMP of footsteps going downstairs.

She stands and rushes to her bed, seizing a worn, STUFFED BROWN BUNNY with a red bow.

Door SLAMS downstairs.

June looks out the window. A dark blue minivan rolls out the driveway and down the street.

THE STUDY

Sunlight streams in through the large parlor-style window. Bookcases line the walls and a heavy grandfather clock ticks in a corner of the room, reading 9:13.

June peeks into the room from behind the door frame. She holds her bunny by the paw, its feet dangling just above the floor.

June glances about before moving towards the desk in sporadic bursts of speed.

From the central drawer, June pulls out a heavy brass key and hugs it close.

UPSTAIRS HALLWAY

June stares up into the darkness of the shadowed stairwell. Bunny in hand, she slowly climbs the stairs.

She comes to a heavy oak door.

June inserts the key into the keyhole and, with a sharp twist of her hand and a CLACK, the door creaks open.

THE ATTIC

Assorted dusty, cobwebbed paraphernalia clutters the dark attic.

A stray beam of sunlight peeps in through a round window, falling at the feet of a large, heavy WARDROBE standing apart from everything else.

June pokes among the clutter and junk, pulling out and shaking colorful snow globes, holiday ornaments, and strange gadgets.

She opens up a MUSIC BOX. Children garbed in Christmas clothing holding hands rise. A crank and the figures start to spin. A cheerful tune plays.

June watches it for some time. She closes the lid, cutting off the tune. A loud CREAK sounds from behind her. She spins and spots the wardrobe in the corner, its door ajar.

She walks over and opens it. A BLANK CANVAS with an ornate gilded frame hangs from the back. The canvas surface RIPPLES like pond water for an instant.

She leans forwards. Her foot catches on the wardrobe’s bottom edge and she trips. Her head touches the canvas and it RIPPLES again as June sinks in.

June SCREAMS.

As she disappears from sight, the canvas begins to take on color as though being painted on, forming stroke by stroke a large vibrantly green forest and a brilliant blue sky.

INSIDE THE PAINTING

June tumbles forwards and finds herself falling. A GRAY VOID swirls above her and she SCREAMS again, clutching at her bunny.

A small patch of attic, like a hole in the ground, can still be seen beyond the void. A TWIN JUNE pops into view, gazing down at her.

The Twin June does not have a cap and holds no bunny. A STRIP OF BRIGHT WHITE HAIR runs down the middle of her head like the tail of a skunk and she grins widely.

As her mirror image shrinks away into the distance, June faints.

End Sample