RETRIBUTION

1 of 14

RETRIBUTION

EXT. EMPTY SCRUBLAND – DAWN A lonely stretch of dry grass and scattered trees. Fog rolls low across the ground.

Six GIRLS lie spread across the clearing as if dropped there.

Birds chirp somewhere far away.

One girl suddenly GASPS awake.

MAYA (13) sits up quickly, breathing hard.

MAYA Hello?

No response.

Nearby, ARIA (13) stirs.

Then TESS (14), LILA (12), KATIE (13) and SOPHIE (12) slowly wake.

Confusion.

Fear.

ARIA Where are we?

SOPHIE Who are you?

TESS I don't know any of you.

The girls stand slowly, looking around.

Nothing but empty land.

KATIE This isn't funny. Is someone lming us?

MAYA I went to sleep in my bed.

LILA Me too.

fi

They realise something unsettling.

2 of 14 They truly don’t know each other.

EXT. CLEARING – LATER The girls sit in a rough circle.

Uneasy silence.

Suddenly Sophie notices something.

Six envelopes lie in the grass.

Each envelope has a name written in black ink.

They pick them up slowly.

TESS Did anyone else see these before?

They shake their heads.

Maya opens hers.

Inside: A single printed word.

CONFESS ARIA (confused) Confess what?

The wind picks up.

The girls exchange nervous glances.

EXT. CLEARING – CONTINUOUS ARIA suddenly stands.

ARIA Maybe this is like… punishment.

MAYA For what?

ARIA hesitates.

ARIA Maybe for things we've done.

3 of 14 The girls stare.

Nobody speaks.

Then Aria sighs.

ARIA I'll go rst.

FLASHBACK 1 – THE BULLY INT. SCHOOL GROUND– DAY Students eat lunch.

ARIA sits with two friends, BREE and CHANTELLE. They laugh and mock a girl who sits near them… Jenna ( 12)

BREE She’s a real charity case.

CHANTELLE Do you know here she lives ?

BREE Mother’s unemployed .

CHANTELLE Well that explains a lot.

BREE I seriously don’t know why they let people like her come to our school.

CHANTELLE Standards really have dropped.

ARIA Hey watch this.

Jenna stands and goes to walk past them. Aria sticks her foot out.

Jenna trips.

fi

Everyone erupts in laughter.

4 of 14 Jenna’s eyes ll with tears.

ARIA Maybe next time watch where you're going.

JENNA Why did you do that?

ARIA Because I could.

Later.

EXT. SCHOOLYARD – DAY Jenna sits alone.

Her phone buzzes.

A social media post.

A photo of her falling.

CHANTELLE and BREE are in hysterics Caption: "Graceful Jenna strikes again."

Hundreds of laughing emojis.

CHANTELLE OMG how embarrassing.

Jenna looks devastated.

BACK TO CLEARING Aria stares at the ground.

ARIA I posted the video.

The girls shift uncomfortably.

fi

Two weeks later Jenna took her life.

5 of 14

FLASHBACK 2 – THE THIEF INT. FRIEND'S HOUSE – AFTERNOON KATIE visits LUCY and Lucy’s older sister EMMA. Lucy shows Katie a small jewellery box.

LUCY My grandma gave me these before she died.

Inside: a delicate gold bracelet.

Katie admires it.

KATIE It is beautiful.

Later.

Lucy leaves the room to answer her mum.

Katie stares at the bracelet.

She slowly takes it.

Slips it into her pocket.

Lucy returns.

LUCY Where's the bracelet?

Emma searches the room.

Emma looks directly at Lucy.

EMMA Did you lose it already?

Lucy looks ashamed.

LUCY I didn’t lose it.

EMMA Well it’s not here. Hell… it was a family heirloom. How could you be so careless!

Katie pretends to search for it on the carpet.

6 of 14

BACK TO CLEARING KATIE Lucy got blamed.

SOPHIE Did you give it back?

Katie shakes her head.

FLASHBACK 3 – THE LIAR INT. LOUNGE ROOM– DAY Three siblings stand around a broken antique.

A cricket ball sits on the oor.

The elder brother is furious .

LEO Who did this?

Silence.

Lila… What happened. Mum is going to go ballistic.! Lila hesitates.

Across the room MARCUS, looks terri ed.

MARCUS Please don’t.

LEO What was that? Please don’t …. What happened Marcus?

LILA Marcus did it.

Marcus looks stunned.

MARCUS I didn’t…. I promise… It was broken when I came in.

LEO But it’s your ball isn’t it Marcus.

fi

fl

MARCUS

7 of 14 I swear Leo… It wasn’t me. Lila is making it up because she hates me.

LEO Well you are going to have to pay big time for this Marcus.

Lila gives him an evil smile as Leo leaves the room.

LILA I do hate you Marcus so now you will have to pay.

BACK TO CLEARING Lila’s voice shakes.

LILA Mum was so angry with Marcus that she hit him… so bad he had to go to hospital. All I could think was I was glad it wasn’t me.

Tess frowns.

TESS Why would you do that to your brother?

LILA Because I was scared.

FLASHBACK 4 – THE CHEATER INT. STUDY GROUP – NIGHT SOPHIE studies with IVY and JOSH. They’re preparing for a scholarship exam.

JOSH I reckon I am all ready and prepared. How about you Em? IVY As ready as I’ll ever be.

8 of 14 JOSH They’re only giving out 1 scholarship this year. Seems weird that the three of us besties are competing against each other.

IVY You deserve to get it Josh. Seriously you are just a natural… IVY and I have to work really hard to keep up.

SOPHIE I don’t think I’m keeping up at all.

JOSH Dad says if I don’t get the scholarship I’ll probably have to move schools. Money’s tight at the moment since he got put off.

IVY I don’t think I want to even sit the exam knowing that Josh…. You absolutely deserve it. My family’s ne… I don’t even need this scholarship…. But you do. Hey Soph SOPHIE Yeah… you totally deserve to get it.

Later that night.

INT. SCHOOL OFFICE – NIGHT The building is quiet.

Sophie sneaks inside.

She enters the teacher’s classroom.

She searches drawers.

Finds the exam paper.

She photographs it.

Next day.

BACK TO CLEARING

fi

Sophie looks ashamed.

9 of 14 SOPHIE I knew every answer.

KATIE And Josh?

SOPHIE He left school.

No one speaks.

FLASHBACK 5 – THE RUNAWAY INT. MAYA'S HOUSE – NIGHT Parents argue loudly downstairs.

Maya sits on her bed.

Her little sister watches.

SAM Are you leaving again?

Maya packs a bag.

MAYA Just for a little while.

SAM What if they keep ghting? Don’t leave me here Maya. Take me with you.

MAYA I can’t.

SAM Last time you left, you promised you’d never go again. You said you’d never leave me behind again.

MAYA

fi

It’s no place for you out there.

10 of 14 Maya hesitates. Gives Sam a kiss on the forehead But climbs out the window.

The shouting continues. Sam puts her head under the pillow.

Later. .. She grabs a pink backpack looks out the window and climbs out.

BACK TO CLEARING Maya wipes her eyes.

MAYA They’ve never found her.

The girls in the clearing look toward TESS. She hasn’t spoken yet.

Her eyes are xed on the ground.

MAYA Everyone else told the truth.

A beat.

MAYA Your turn.

Tess breathes slowly.

The screen fades—

EXT. RIVER RESERVE – LATE AFTERNOON A quiet bush reserve by a wide river.

fi

Cicadas hum.

11 of 14 TESS (13) stands with EMILY (13) Jade ( 14) and Ava ( 13) Emily holds a backpack.

EMILY I can’t believe you talked me in to skipping school Tess stares at her coldly.

AVA You didn’t need much encouragement.

Emily shakes her head.

EMILY I’ve never done anything like this before.

JADE Stick with us Em and life is going to get a whole lot more adventurous.

TESS Tess steps closer.

Look you said you wanted to be part of our group… so that’s why we allowed you to tag along.

AVA Oh but there’s a few challenges you’ll have to do to prove you are worthy.

Emily looks uneasy JADE Don’t worry Emily you don’t have to smoke or anything. We are in to health and nurturing our bodies.

TESS and AVA Laugh AVA But you will have to do something…. Won’t she girls…..

EMILY Look I think I want to go home now.

JADE But then Mummy will know you were cutting class.

EMILY

12 of 14 I really want to leave now.

TESS Just one little challenge… I promise. You can swim can’t you.

EMILY Yes, of course.

TESS Well, in you get.

EMILY In the creek?

JADE and AVA In the creek.

Emily begins takes off her shoes and socks and necklace, places them on the ground and goes into the water.

EMILY Is that far enough?

TESS Go under the water. Actually go for a dive!

She picks up Emily’s necklace and throws it into the creek. Emily is horri ed. . The necklace is precious to her. She takes a deep breath and goes under the water. She comes up again… another big breath…. And then down again… until…. She doesn’t come up to the surface.

For a moment Tess takes a step forward.

Then stops.

Fear takes over.

Emily slips under the water.

Bubbles.

Silence.

The river moves on.

Tess stands there, shaking.

fi

Finally she and Jade and Ava run.

13 of 14

BACK TO CLEARING Tess stares ahead.

The girls look horri ed.

TESS They said she drowned.

A pause.

Tess swallows.

TESS We never told anyone we were there.

Silence lls the clearing.

EXT. CLEARING – SUNSET The sky grows darker.

The wind begins to rise.

The envelopes suddenly OPEN. Each one reveals the same word.

ACCOUNTABLE A distorted voice echoes from nowhere.

VOICE (O.S.) Every choice has consequences.

The girls spin around.

ARIA Who's there?!

VOICE (O.S.) Truth is the rst step.

Silence returns.

The girls look at each other.

Six strangers.

fi

fi

fi

But now bound by something deeper.

14 of 14 SOPHIE What happens now?

MAYA Maybe…

Maybe we make it right.

The girls slowly stand together.

The fog begins to lift.

For the rst time they see a road in the distance.

A way out.

fi

But only if they choose it.