5
Reckoning
by Mary-Cade Mandus
I've taken the liberty of adding a second door in the warehouse (I've always thought it would be highly unlikely for criminals to box themselves in a room with only one exit. And, I don't know about the building/fire codes in NYC but here a building must have more than one exit to pass fire inspection). While watching the warehouse tape for the umpteenth time I noticed a lot of debris piled around the walls and imagined another door hidden behind. So I put one there. I hope no one will mind.
Warehouse
Interior
Dialogue
Diane – "Don't make me shoot you, Denby. You don't want to die"
Denby - head cocked…listening to some inner voice…weighing options
Balance beam of ice
Then…
His groan of resignation…endorsed by their sighs of relief…reprieve
Gun…slides, glides, skates across floor…an offering
Liberation…Manuel's body sinks into its earlier pose
Denby – remains kneeling…in supplication…before
Diane - his nemesis, his savior, his…damnation
She shifts forward to claim his gun
Their eyes…lock…angel to devil…never wavering
Her body crouches, arm stretches, hand reaches…
Freezes
Denby watches as…her eyes Faye Wray…Up, up, to a point behind…him
No need to turn.
It’s all there…written
in an emotional kaleidoscope flickering across the pale screen of her face
He knows…a gun is pointed…at his back
His muscles - tensing…preparing
Timing…synchronizing…
Watching…only she can show him the way
Her gun goes up…left, his body launches…right
Bullet gouges…shoulder…Denby’s teeth clash…
Stunned, vulnerable…body cringes…prepares…for the next one
Reverberating, echoing, fusing with gunfire…Her cry…
Harrrry!
Dannnny! Nooo!
Her gun…firing, discharging…
Missing
Danny…staggering…crumpling
Collapsing, anyway
Eyes wrapped in a blindfold of pain…still…Denby sees
In the open door…behind Diane
Andy…
Smoking gun…steady hand
Falling tears
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