TITLE: THE DISCOVERY
EXT. BUSH TRAIL – AFTERNOON
Sunlight filters through tall trees.
Four friends walk along a narrow dirt trail.
LILY leads the group, confident and adventurous.
JUNE kicks stones along the path. ARLO holds a phone, filming everything. SOPHIE studies the ground as they walk.
ARLO (to camera)
Exploration log. Day one. The mysterious bushland behind the sports fields.
TOM
It's not mysterious. It's literally just trees.
LILY
We haven't been this far before.
They keep walking.
Suddenly Sophie stops.
SOPHIE
Hang on.
The others stop and turn.
LILY What?
Sophie kneels near a patch of disturbed dirt beside a fallen log.
SOPHIE Look at this.
Something metal sticks out of the soil. Tom crouches and brushes dirt away.
A small rusted metal box appears.
JUNE No way.
ARLO
Please tell me that's treasure.
LILY
It's probably just someone's old lunchbox.
Tom pulls it free.
Dust falls off it.
The box is dented and old.
SOPHIE
That looks really old.
ARLO
This is great content. He zooms the camera in.
JUNE
Moment of truth.
June slowly lifts the lid.
CREAK.
Inside are:
• a compass
• a bundle of old photographs
• a folded piece of paper
The friends stare.
LILY
Whoa.
Sophie picks up one photograph. It's faded.
Four kids stand in this same forest — from decades ago.
SOPHIE
They were here too.
ARLO
Maybe they buried it. Lily unfolds the note.
LILY (reading)
"If you found this, it means you're the kind of person who looks closer."
They listen.
LILY (CONT'D)
"Most people walk past things without ever noticing them."
June glances around the forest.
JUNE
That's kind of true.
Lily flips the paper over.
Her eyes widen.
ARLO
What?
LILY
It says… "This is only the beginning."
Sophie leans closer.
SOPHIE
Beginning of what?
Lily points to something drawn on the page.
A simple map
And a symbol — an arrow carved into a tree.
Arlo looks up.
ARLO
Wait.
He points.
About ten metres away, carved into a tree trunk —
The exact same arrow symbol.
The group stares.
JUNE grins.
JUNE
Well… now we have to follow it.
Lily grabs the compass.
LILY
Let's go.
They head toward the tree.
Arlo films as they walk deeper into the bush.
The box remains open on the ground.
Inside the lid, faintly scratched into the metal, are the words: "CLUE ONE."
FADE OUT.