Back Home Just outside of Lawrenceville, CA… The wind was blowing fiercely on a heavily shaded church. The late fall biting coldness could be felt, even in Lawrenceville, CA. The leaves were dancing about on the trees as the branches knocked against one another making a loud off-beat clicking noise. A young woman in her early thirties entered the church. Her name was Rosemary Calabro… She slowly crept through the church, her long, thin black coat trailing behind her. She passed the pews and made it to the front set of pews. She genuflected and lit a candle against the wall of the church. As she did so, the rest of the candles magically lit up all at once… Rows of candles were glowing with their flames reaching towards the intensely decorated statues and the beautifully detailed stained-glass windows. The woman once again makes the sign of the cross and genuflects in front of the altar. She slowly moves into a nearby pew, almost mournfully. She is holding a rosary and whispers a chant, “Love above, love below, dark as night, bright with might, sell my soul to the devil tonight. Make Robert mine. Make our love shine…” Her voice fades away into the distant. “Devil, be mine…” Suddenly a burst of flame shoots out from the candles. The stained-glass windows shatter one by one, slowly at first and then faster and faster with the power of a fierce wind howling through each set. The pews are flung over onto their sides by an unseen presence. The only pew left in its original position is the one Rosemary is sitting in. The flames of the candles climb the walls of the church engulfing the whole building. The last thing that can be seen is the smile on Rosemary’s distorted face. She blesses herself with the sign of the cross once more as the flames bury her alive… “Oh my god!” Rosemary awakens in her comfortable bed, above her business, Rosemary’s Supper Club. She is panting very heavily trying to get a breath. “Whew…that was….intense…” She sits up in her bed, and folds her arms over her legs and looks into the mirror on the wall in front of her. “I will make sure Robert is mine, no matter what. Today is the day he realizes that he loves me. I don’t care what Mary thinks. Marriage or no marriage, I will have what’s rightfully mine!” **** East Side Episode one, Shattered Dreams Chapter One Written by William-Charles Wenham **** Lawrenceville, CA on East Side Street, East Side Apartments Lively green bushes and palm trees surround the California apartment building and birds can be heard chirping in the morning sunlight. It is a beautiful late September Monday morning. Rose Andrews, a young woman in her mid-thirties, is walking through the apartment building lobby in her low-cut silk nightgown, decorated with flowers. As she checks her mail, Rose drops something. It’s the local newspaper. Rose gently kneels down to the rolled up paper and picks it up, unrolling it. She quickly reads the front page headline and then suddenly is drawn back to it. “Oh my, God! He’s back?” Rose yells out shocked. **** Mary Ivy, a young delicate-looking woman with naturally curly dark hair, is combing her hair in her well-lit bathroom. Her husband Robert Ivy, a man in his late thirties with a freshly unshaven face, is still lying in a King-size bed with the covers dangling off parts of his muscular body. “Honey, you better get the kids ready for school,” Mary says. She walks into the bedroom, setting her hair brush back on the oak dresser. “They'll be late again and I don't want to have to explain to Principal Mills --" A voice muffled by a pillow replies, “Yeah, yeah, Mary. One sec...” She climbs back in bed with Robert, although it is obvious she won't be staying in there very much longer. “You're as bad as the kids,” she teases. Robert brings his tired young face up from the bed and looks over his shoulder at his wife. “Oh, am I?” The two passionately embrace and kiss for a few seconds as Mary pushes Robert away, deciding the kiss was long enough and she must get ready for work. “Come on, now. Get up...” She playfully pats him on the butt. **** Robert and Mary's son, Bashimah Ivy is in his bed listening to his music playing from headphones. His eyes are closed, but it's obvious he's not truly asleep, but just wants extra time to rest before school. He's singing along to a song on his CD player, knowing he has only a few seconds left to cherish this beautiful and quiet morning. Just then his dad voice trails through the apartment yelling for him to get up. He sighs and sits up in his bed. “God, what does a person have to do to get some sleep here?!” he rubs his eyes and looks out the window. “I don’t want to have to go to school today…” he moans. “But on the other hand, Aimee will be there.” **** Bashimah’s fraternal twin sister, Brenish Ivy staggers out of bed and looks around her room, filled with a pink array of colors. Her younger sister, Scotti Ivy, is still sleeping. “It's a beautiful morning, Sis. Come on. Get your lazy butt out of bed before Mom or Daddy yells at you too.” Scotti yawns, “Why must you always be the good child, Bren?” Brenish sits at her desk and starts checking over the homework she did last night. She turns around in her chair and looks at her sister. “Oh come on. It has its rewards.” “Yeah, well, sleeping never hurt anybody either. Wake me up at noon, okay?” Scotti giggles. All of a sudden their mother can be heard yelling, “No! I have to go, Robert!” “Well, give me a kiss before you go,” their father can be heard. Brenish closes her textbook and gets up and sits on her sister’s bed.  “There they go. They’re at it again.” “N they're not. For once I think they are just talking,” Scotti innocently replies as she throws the blanket off her face. Brenish stands up once again and sits back at her desk and looks at her sister through the mirror. “They never just talk anymore. It's always rush, rush, rush. Work, work, work...I wish Daddy would just quit his part-time job at the hospital and just focus on one job for once. Or at least have Mom home once in while.” “Well, I'm not saying that wouldn’t be nice, but you know it will never happen.” Brenish looks into the mirror mournfully. “They'll probably get a divorce.” “Don't say that!” Scotti cries out. Brenish shrugs. “Why? It's probably true, isn't it?” “Yeah, but you're the optimist of the family. If you think that way, how am I supposed to feel?” Brenish frowns as she puts all of her assignments into her school bag. She gets up from the chair and listens to her parents' conversation, allowing her nightgown to fall to the soft carpet floor. She walks out of the room and into the hallway by the spiral staircase to hear her parents' conversation better. **** Mary is clumsily slipping into her tight black high heels using one hand to pull her high heels over her tiny feet. With a briefcase in one hand with her long black coat hanging from her arm as she manages to give her husband a quick peck on the cheek. “Love ya. See you when I get home. I'll call you during my lunch break,” she says with a quick smiles. “I love you too. Have a good day, hun.” Mary heads towards the door and turns back to yell at the kids. “Don't be late. I won't cover for you this time.” They all yell back that they won’t. “Have a good day at work, Robert.” He smiles and gives her one last hug and whispers in her ear, “Go before you end up late.” They share one last kiss and then Mary rushes out the door. **** Martin Silverman has his backpack hanging off his shoulder as he waits impatiently outside the bathroom. Bruce Silverman, his father, is sitting on the toilet ignoring his son as he reads the morning paper. “Dad! Please, I want to get to school on time...this time...” No response. “Dad...” Martin grows angry and heads for the front door. “Fine! Be like this for the rest of your miserable life. I don't have to put up with it anymore. I'll catch the bus!” He opens the apartment door, frowns and stops. “And one more thing you have to face - you are not the only victim here. Mom left you, but she also left me...don't forget that.” Bruce walks out of the bathroom. “And you know what else you shouldn't forget?” Bruce starts to walk towards his son. “I blame you for this mess! I'll always blame you for this.” He points a finger at his father. Bruce grabs the finger and bends it back. Martin cries out in pain and his eyes start to glow red. The lights in the house flicker on and off quickly, blowing the living room light bulb up. Bruce is thrown against the wall by an unseen presence. Martin glares at his father. Bruce begins to stand up. “Don't you ever say that, Kid. Don't you ever!” Martin looks down at his finger, not listening to his father. He rubs his hand. “Dammit, Dad...I think you broke my finger.” Martin runs into the kitchen where he grabs an icepack from the freezer as he lays it on the island snack bar to grab a towel to wrap it in. Bruce follows him into the kitchen. “Kid. Kid, come back here. Marty, I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. There's no excuse for what I did. I guess I just lost it because of your –“ “Because of my what?” Martin snaps back. “Because of your mom. That's why I've been acting strange these last couple of weeks. The divorce...it's been...Well, I'll try and keep my cool. Honest. I'll try. But it's this damn divorce. It's not easy on me.” Martin’s eyes start to glow red again. “And it's supposed to be easier on me? Is it? “I didn't say that...” Bruce reassures. “Excuse me, I'm the victim here too!”  Martin’s eyes continue to glow. The light bulb above the snack bar bursts. Bruce jumps and yells back, “I know that. But if you don’t learn to control your powers, what do you think is going to happen to your mother? And to you! Now do you want that to happen? You better start to control your tempers. This is not helping. Do you want that  Brenish Ivy to find out about you and tell everyone?” Martin glares back. He can’t believe his father would even think such a thing about her. “She wouldn’t do that Dad. She’s my best friend. She means everything to me! And besides, you’re avoiding the subject! I’m still the victim. I didn't have a say in you and Mom splitting up. I didn’t have a say in whether or not I’d be made a freak by my parents. I didn’t ask for these powers! I just want to be a normal kid for once. Just once in my life, I want to be in, and not an outcast! Is that too much to ask for? But now I can’t have that, can I? Dad, you ruined my life! I'll never forgive you for that.” Bruce is trying to control his growing impatience. “Jesus Christ. You make it sound so simple, don't you? Well, Kid, it's not that easy. With Janice and I –“ Martin’s eyes slowly return to normal. “With you and Mom, what?” “Well, I didn't want to tell you this, but I guess you might as well hear it sooner or later, and well, now is a good as time as any. I just figured it was better for you to have a poor father than a rotten excuse for a mother figure.” “Dad, you're not making any sense.” Martin finds his way to the couch his dad had planned to sit on as his father sits next to him as he keeps turned face to face. “I figured it was better for you not to know. I was only trying to spare you the pain.” “Dad. Out with it,” Martin pleads. “What about Mom? What did she...do?” “Kid, Janice, you mother...” Bruce lets out a sigh. It’s about time his son knew the truth. “She had -- She had an affair. And with her gone, we may never know where your powers will lead us. I mean, every day they get stronger and stronger. Your mom knew how to control hers. But with you, and this divorce – I mean, she left us to go off to Paris with that boyfriend of hers. The question is how strong are your powers going to get before someone will get hurt?” **** Sky Baldwin is curled up alone on her white vinyl couch thinking to herself as she plays with her hair. She is troubled by lies from her past. But her thoughts are interrupted by her fiancé, Sammy Ingrid. “I can't wait to meet your parents tonight,” he says with a smile. He hands her a cup of coffee. Sky takes a sip and puts an arm around Sammy, bringing him in closer to her. “Sammy, dear, wouldn't you like to go out tonight, just the two of us?” Sammy smiles as he hugs her, and backs away to hold her hands close to his heart. Sky stares at his beautiful eyes. “Come on. Aimee's at school and is going to spend the night at Tammy's house, I get done working...basically whenever I feel like it...you get done at five from driving your cab all around Lawrenceville –“ “Could be worse. I could be one of those sleazy reporters for the Lawrenceville Daily Journal.” Sammy laughed. He had dropped out of college years ago, and never got his degree in journalism. He realized he didn’t really know what he wanted to do in life. That’s when he met Sky, and the two had been dating for years afterwards. “I can just imagine you being on of those journalists investigating some crime in Israel or Pakistan...” Sky joked as she took another sip of her coffee and then places it on the coffee table. “Or Carla, that beautiful secretary you have stashed away at GMI all day long doing God only knows.” Sky rubs his hair. “Looks like I'll have to keep an eye on you and my Carla next time...” “Lock her up and throw away the key.” He brings himself closer to Sky. She giggles as he kisses her. “Oh really?” she asks. “'Cuz I only have eyes for you.” The two embrace in a passionate kiss. “Well that is comforting,” Sky laughs as she continues kissing him. “ So Sweetie, come on. What do you say? Just you and me at Rosemary's...without my parents. They would just get in the way and try and run our lives anyway. Our eternal lives together. And that's all I want. I want us to be together forever. Just you and me…” “Sky, I think you are just over-reacting. After all, it's just a dinner date. Just us four getting to know each other before the wedding.” Sky gets up from the couch abruptly and grabs her coat and fumbles with her earrings as she gets ready for work. Sammy stares at her lovingly. He stays seated on the couch as she is getting ready to leave. Sky notices Sammy’s watching her. “What?” she questions with a laugh. “I was just remembering why I gave you that statue of the angel when we first met.” He points at the fireplace. Sky turns behind her and looks at a delicate white ceramic angel statue above the fireplace. She laughs as he gets up and kisses her goodbye, as he runs his fingers through her blonde hair. “My Angel. I'll never let anything happen to you.” Sky kisses him goodbye once more and says goodbye. She walks out into the hallway of the apartment building and closes the door behind her. She lets out a sigh as she presses her body against the door. “You don’t understand – I don’t have any parents. Sky Baldwin never did.”

A failing marriage. A woman with a past. A man seeking revenge. And this is just the first season... Lawrenceville is a big city, with even bigger secrets, just waiting to explode!