Day 5: Adam

The following are the first few pages of a screenplay I wrote for today's creative challenge. Yes, it's a day late — but it took me a while to get the formatting right on the web!.

I'll add some spoilers and context at the end.

EXT. SCHOOL PLAYGROUND - MORNING

A class of second-graders are playing on a jungle gym outside of a school. It’s a cold blustery morning.

ADAM, 7, is climbing to the top of the platform to get to the slide. A GIRL classmate is following behind him.

GIRL
Adam! I said wait!

Adam keeps climbing. He reaches the top. The girl arrives right behind him.

GIRL
You said I could go first!

ADAM
Nu-uh!

GIRL
Let me—

The girl PUSHES ADAM aside and moves toward the entrance to the slide.

Adam loses his balance and reaches for the corner support beam of the jungle gym to hold on. But the ICY MATERIAL makes him slip, and...

Adam TUMBLES OFF jungle gym.

We see a top-down shot of Adam, lying in the pea gravel. He COUGHS, looks around and starts to wiggle around to get back up.

He’s fine, but—

TEACHER 1
Adam! Adam! Oh my God, Adam! Shit. Shit.

A female teacher runs toward Adam from the side of the playground.

TEACHER 2
Dammit, I thought you were watching him!

Another female teacher swoops in.

TEACHER 3
Code red! Code red! Prepare transport!

And, another.

They all rush in toward Adam, who’s trying to stand up.

ADAM
I’m fine, I just—

TEACHER 1
Adam, I need to you stay put. Do NOT move.

ADAM
No, I’m—

TEACHER 2
Listen to her, Adam.

The first two teachers pin him down so he can’t move.

TEACHER 2 (CONTD)
How quickly can we get him to Blue Heart?

TEACHER 3
I don’t know with traffic. Transport is on the way.

CUT TO:

EXT. STREET - DAY

An AMBULANCE SCREAMS down the road, led by multiple police escorts.

INT. AMBULANCE - CONTINUOUS

Adam is lying on a stretcher, surrounded by female paramedics. He’s sporting heart and breathing monitors. He looks alarmed and annoyed.

PARAMEDIC
Almost there, buddy. Hang on.

INT. BLUE HEART MEDICAL CENTER - LATER

The bay doors FLY OPEN to the hallway of the triage center. The same paramedics are running — really hauling it — with Adam on a gurney.

They are running toward a special door. A female doctor is waiting for them. She SWIPES HER BADGE to let them in.

The room LIGHTS UP. It’s fancy with high tech equipment.

DOCTOR
Right there please. Adam, can you hear me?

ADAM
Yes. I’m fine! I just fell off—

DOCTOR
I want you to know that you’re going to be OK. We’re going to get you all fixed up.

ADAM
I just fell off the playground! I’m fine.

DOCTOR
(to the other medics)
Prep the O.R. and get me a sedative. We need to be prepared for anything.

EXT. HOSPITAL MAIN ENTRANCE - CONTINUOUS

Another police escort rolls up, this time with an armored car limousine. It stops in front of the hospital entrance.

Adam’s mom JAN, 46, steps out in dress shoes and walks hurriedly through the front door. Randi, 37, dressed in a suit is waiting there and walks with here.

RANDI
They’re prepping him now.

JAN
What happened, Randi? Is he OK? Was it another fight?

RANDI
I think it was a fall this time.

They speed walk past the women at the information desk and toward the triage area.

JAN
Oh God. Is he conscious?

RANDI
Yes, he’s doing fine.

JAN
Any bleeding?

RANDI
No, but we can’t be too cautious, Jan. We don’t want another Blue River on our hands.

Jan reacts with a WORRIED LOOK.

INT. PATIENT ROOM - CONTINUOUS

The door beeps open and Jan enters with the Randi. She rushes over to the bed.

JAN
Oh, my baby! Are you OK?

ADAM
Mom, I’m fine! I just fell. I don’t need to be here.

DOCTOR
Ma’am, I need you to step back. We’re following a very specific procedure, and I am—

JAN
He’s fine, he just said so. I don’t think—

DOCTOR
(heated)
I am ordering you to step back. We’re not going to get nailed for breaking protocol!

Jan steps back, six feet away from Adam’s bed.

DOCTOR
We need to do a full suite of tests before we can dismiss code red.

The doctor continues to bark orders in the background as Randi approaches Jan.

RANDI
(speaking quietly)
You need to make a statement soon. We have to get out in front of this.

JAN
Do we even know how it happened?

RANDI
It was recess. A teacher from the school says him, maybe one or two of the girls. Someone pushed someone else.

JAN
Well, we have to do something about that, right? People are going to want someone to blame. I’ll check with the school now.

Jan pulls out her phone and unlocks it. A PHOTO OF A MAN is her phone background. She dials a number and puts the phone to her ear.

JAN
(on the phone)
Yeah I need to speak to whoever was out on the playground. Immediately. And I need to know who pushed him.

Jan walks out of the room, still on the phone.

Meanwhile, Adam is lying on the bed. He looks hopeless as medics continue to work around him, running various tests.

We slowly push closer into his face—

CUT TO:
INT. HIGH SCHOOL CAFETERIA - DAY

A closeup of Adam’s face, TEN YEARS LATER.

The cafeteria is filling up with people — high school girls, specifically.

At a lonely round table sits ADAM, 17. He’s overweight, wearing baggy clothes with greasy hair. He keeps his eyes down toward his lunch tray.

He takes a sip of milk out of the individually-sized carton.

Girls walk right past him as if there were a magnetic force coming from the center of his table, repelling them away.

INT. CLASSROOM - LATER

A teacher stands in front of the room. She’s projecting a slide with the title “AUTOIMMUNE DISORDERS - 2026 TO TODAY.”

Adam sits in the back of the classroom, surrounded by girls.

TEACHER
And that covers most autoimmune disorders, except for the one we most recently discovered. You might call these the most frightening, since we still don’t know how to prevent it or treat it.

She advances the slide presentation to reveal a slide titled “HADES.” It shows a medical illustration of The Vitruvian Man, except red crosshairs cover the man’s heart and lungs.

TEACHER (CONTD)
The first reported case of Hades was in 2026. It’s also known as the man killer. You’re all familiar with it, so we don’t need to spend as much time here. Scientists are still searching for answers about how we might fight this, if it were ever to appear again.

The teacher pauses, and glances cautiously at Adam and smiles.

TEACHER
We’re just glad we still have a shot. With young men like Adam.

Adam looks uncomfortable. He sinks into his desk chair.

SNARKY GIRL (O.S.)
(quietly)
Man? He’s got bigger tits than me!

Giggles erupt through the classroom.

TEACHER
Excuse me! That’s extremely inappropriate.

Laughter continues. Adam looks down and sinks further into his chair.

So what the hell is this? It's the first six pages of a screenplay titled Adam, and it's probably a feature. Or maybe a TV show (nobody makes movies anymore).

But we were watching Roma last night — highly recommended, by the way. And after the movie, I was thinking, "Gosh, men are jerks a lot of the time. I wonder what the world would be like without men?"

A world without men? People wouldn't fight as much probably. Wars would cease, right? And everyone would just be chill.

But without men, it would be awfully tough to continue the human race.

Unless...

Unless a disease happened to wipe out any remaining human males on the planet, but women pregnant with baby boys eventually gave birth.

Then, all of the sudden, these boys would become very valuable to society.

And high school for these boys would be super interesting, knowing that they're definitely gonna have to hook up sooner rather than later with a girl to save the planet. And it's even more awkward if none of the girls are attracted to this boy, because he's mopey and gross.

(Side note: This character is entired inspired by the experience of Me, in High School).

But to be honest, the guys would probably still be jerks.