BETWEEN THE BARS Copyright 2008 INT. PRISON CELL - NIGHT A young man with dirty blonde hair wearing an orange jump suit stands with his arms hanging through the bars of his jail cell. His name is ELLIOTT. A single tear runs down his face. He closes his eyes. FADE TO BLACK: INT. VISITOR'S AREA - DAY. Elliott sits on one side of a glass window, JILL, his wife sits on the other side. She has red hair and green eyes, very beautiful. They are talking to each other through a phone. ELLIOTT What do you want me to do? JILL How about tell them the truth? ELLIOTT I can't do that, I've already told you. JILL So you'd rather rot in here then take care of your family? ELLIOTT That's not true and you know it. JILL Give me a fucking break Elliott. You don't have to be in here, but you choose to be. I can't sit around and wait for you to get out. SAM needs a father figure in his life and if you're not going to be around then I have to find someone who will. ELLIOTT What are you saying? JILL I'm leaving you... Elliott stares blankly at Jill. JILL Did you hear me? I said I'm leaving you. Does that mean anything to you. ELLIOTT Jill, I love you. Please don't... Jill cuts Elliott off. JILL Obviously not enough to leave here. Jill hangs up the phone and leaves the visitors area. Elliott is left sitting with the phone in his hand. CUT TO: EXT. PRISON YARD - DAY. Elliott stands in the corner watching everyone in the yard working out or playing a game of basketball. An older man with greying hair and glasses walks up to him. This is CARL. CARL Hey kiddo. ELLIOTT What do you want? CARL I came by to see how you were doing (beat) so how you doing? ELLIOTT Just leave me alone please. CARL Looks like someone's had a bad day. Elliott looks out through the chain link fence, nothing but desert. ELLIOTT She left me. CARL Who? ELLIOTT My wife. Carl laughs. CARL Shit son, my wife left me 20 years ago. Elliott looks at Carl for a moment, then back to the desert. CARL Sure I was sad at first, for almost a year in fact. But I got over it. You will too. I'm just telling you this now so you don't go around like a fucking zombie for the next year. My advice? Get over it quick. Elliott doesn't responde. CARL You ever gonna tell me why you're in here anyway? Elliott looks back at Carl. ELLIOTT I'll tell you the day I leave. Elliott walks away, Carl yells to him as he walks away. CARL Shit son, I don't have that many years left in me. INT. PRISON CELL - NIGHT Elliott lies in his bed looking at the ceiling. His cell mate, NATHAN is on the bottom bunk. NATHAN Two more days man, two more days of this shit hole then I'm out. Elliott doesn't responde. NATHAN You listening to me song man? Elliott still doesn't responde. NATHAN Shit song man, just because you're going to be here for awhile doesn't mean you have to shit on my parade. Elliott turns over to his side and pulls the covers over his body. He closes his eyes. CUT TO: EXT. HOUSE - DAY. Police sirens can be heard in the background. Elliott sits on the floor of a house with blood covering his face. He stares blankly at a body lying on the floor. LUKE, Elliott's brother is pacing around the room with a hand gun in his hand. LUKE Fuck, shitman, what are we gonna do? What the fuck are we gonna do? ELLIOTT You shot him. LUKE I know I fucking shot him. Elliott listen, the cops are coming, we need to get the fuck out of here. ELLIOTT This is our house Luke, they're gonna know you did it. Luke looks out the window and sees a cop car driving towards the house from down the street. LUKE I can't go back man, I can't go back. I go back and I'll never get out. Elliott help me. You need to help me. ELLIOTT What do you want me to do? What the hell do you want me to do? Luke paces around the room again. LUKE I dunno man, I dunno. Please, you have to think of something. Elliott stands up from the ground and grabs a hold of Luke. ELLIOTT It was self defense, you can get off with a light sentence. Luke pushes Elliott away. LUKE Fuck that man, with my record they won't believe it. I'm fucked. The breaks from the cop car are heard and the doors slam shut. LUKE Fuck, Elliott please, what do we do? Elliott looks around the house and back at the dead body. He turns to Luke. ELLIOTT Give me the gun. LUKE What? ELLIOTT Give me the gun, run out the back door. You've got time before other cops get here. Go now. Luke hands Elliott the gun. LUKE Thanks brother. I owe you. Luke runs out the back door of the house. Elliott wipes the fingers prints from the gun off and holds it in his hand. The door flies open and two cops with guns enter the house. COP#1 Get on the fucking floor now. Elliott places the gun on the ground and kneels down with his hands over his head. CUT TO: INT. PRISON CELL - NIGHT Elliott violently wakes up from his dream covered in sweat and breathing heavily. Elliott calms himself down and lies back in bed, looking up at the ceiling. FADE TO: INT. PRISON CELL - DAY. An officer walks up to Elliott's cell. OFFICER Elliott Carver? Elliott rises from his bed. OFFICER You've got a visitor. CUT TO: INT. VISITOR'S AREA -DAY. Elliott sits down at the glass window and sees his brother Luke on the other side. Luke picks up the phone and Elliott follows after him. LUKE Hello brother. ELLIOTT Hello (beat) Luke. Luke stares at Elliott with a sad look on his face. He brushes it off and continues to talk with Elliott. LUKE Listen (beat) I'm (beat) I'm leaving town. ELLIOTT What? LUKE Yeah, I'm leaving town. Heading to a place up north. ELLIOTT What? Why? LUKE Start a new life. Elliott becomes angry. ELLIOTT A new life? A new life? What about my life? LUKE I'm sorry Elliott. I never asked you to do this. ELLIOTT You told me to do something. You told me to take care of things and this is the thanks I get? A see ya later, I'm leaving you here to rot in the fucking prison cell. LUKE Listen, you're... Elliott cuts Luke of. ELLIOTT No you listen. I took the bullet for you. I took the fucking bullet for you. What the fuck have you done for me? LUKE Elliott, I... Elliott cuts Luke of again. ELLIOTT You're my fucking brother. Don't leave me here alone man. LUKE Elliott... ELLIOTT I took care of you, now you need to take care of me. Please. Luke stares at Elliott through the glass. Luke lets out a small sigh, then he slowly speaks into the phone. LUKE I'm leaving with Jill. Elliott stares at Luke, dumbfounded. LUKE You're in here and she needs someone in her life who can take care of her and the baby. I made a promise to her. Not to get into anymore trouble. I intend to keep that promise. Elliott's face becomes red, his eyes water. LUKE Don't think of it as a bad thing. Think of it as your older brother taking care of your family. I'm doing a favor for you man. Elliott is in tears. ELLIOTT A favour? LUKE Listen, she's waiting in the car for me right now. We're leaving now and I just wanted to drop by and tell you. So there's no bad blood between us. Elliott's sadness turns to anger. ELLIOTT Bad blood? You're my fucking brother and you stole my life. You stole my fucking life. LUKE Good bye Elliott. Don't come looking for us. Luke hangs up the phone and begins to walk away. ELLIOTT Don't you fucking hang up on me. Don't you fucking hang up on me. Hey, hey. Elliott's face is beat red and tears tremble down his face, he bangs on the glass, but Luke pays no attention to him. ELLIOTT Don't do this to me. Don't do this to me, you mother fucker. Come back here. Come back here... Elliott can't finish his words, he sits there and cries. The police officer picks Elliott up and walks him back to his cell. Elliott wipes as many tears from his face as he can. The cell doors close an Elliott stands in his cell. Nathan does sit ups in the corner. Elliott turns to the bars and leans up against them. He places his arms through the bars and leans his head against them. A single tear rolls down the side of his face. Fade to black.