Random House
- - 

Scene: The Random House headquarters in London. A woman at her desk highlighting sentences 
in a book. A tall handsome man, blonde hair with blue eyes, comes through the main entrance 
and into the lobby. This is Boyd. He looks distracted wearing a double breasted jacket the 
color of lake water. He stares blankly. CLOSE IN on Boyd's eyes. We see the reflection of a 
woman in a hospital bed. Like waking up, Boyd is now standing in Glen Petalberg's office, 
the managing director of children's publishing.

**** Boyd lays a stack of papers onto Petalberg's desk. 
**** Petalberg looks at the coversheet.

P: "The End of Small Sanctuary".  

Too Early Angel
- -

Scene: A child stands faced away. She is in the center of a city street. There is fog all 
around. Paper and ash rain down. 

A: It kind of Looks like milk. 

**** Her face stretches into a smile. She begins to laugh. 
**** Boyd sees her white teeth through the fog. 

The clouds thicken and her smile fades away. Her laugh echoes between the buildings until 
it disappears.

A: Sometimes I think that a scatterbrained giant has carelessly dropped his cup and spilt 
milk all over the city.

B: We are lost together on the occasion of a simple accident. Alysa and I catch eyes, 
and she tilts her head and smiles. Imperfectly and without roots.

Alysa's Diary
- - 

Scene: Inside the empty living room of a modern home Alysa sits on the floor with trembling hands. 
Sunlight washes over her. She examines a glass of ice. Each cube is rounded by room temperature, 
dissolving in its own remains, and belatedly Alysa understands that this is how a loved one 
disappears. Despite the shock wave of walking into an empty flat, the absence isn't immediate, 
a conversion in form, from solid to liquid.

**** Alysa runs her hand over shoe prints in the carpet. She tries to stand but falls to the floor.

Surviving here is all about perspective
- -

Scene: Crying Boyd walks the hallways of Random House. He extends one arm to the black 
marble wall. It is layered with ash. His fingers leave traces like ice-skates. 

B: When I see you, the world stops. It stops and all that exists for me is you and my eyes 
staring at you. There's nothing else. No noise, no other people, no yesterday, no tomorrow. 
There is only you. 

**** Boyd picks up his pace as though he is chasing after something. 

Through tears we see a blurry shape waddling ahead. It vanishes into Petalberg's office. 

Room of Angels
- -

Scene: Boyd stands at the head of a large oval table surrounded by empty chairs. The sound 
of a girl's voice buried by static. Her words emerge from the conference room phone.

A: Few people get to see who I am. Almost none. The most precious gift I can give is time. 
To bring her out of hiding patiently. Maybe I've learned it's a mistake to reveal her at all.

**** Alysa's voice is overtaken. 

B: Looker, gazer, skimmer, thumb licking page turner. You getting your print fix for the day.
Pencil chewer, note taker, with your checks and x's. First timer, browser, english major, 
flight ready girl,  melancholy boy, invisible companion, thief, blind date, perfect stranger...
 
That is me rushing to the window to see if it's you passing under the shade trees with a baby carriage. 
Me picking up the phone to imagine your unimaginable number. Me standing by a map of the world 
wondering where you are. Alone on a bench in a train station or falling asleep, the book sliding to the floor.

A: You may be sensitive inside, but what I see on the outside...

B: Look at my face...

**** Boyd opens his wallet to remove a small photograph. He shows it to the phone. 

B: This photograph was taken the day I found out Mary was pregnant with you. Do I look 
unhappy to have a daughter?

Penguin House
- -

Scene: Boyd sits in the corner of an elevator. There are shadows beneath his eyes and a thin 
line near the corner of his mouth. We hear the voice of an attorney.

AT: Geographically Pearson is strongest in the emerging markets outside the United States 
and Random House is the largest consumer publisher in the United States and the UK.

**** Boyd tries to stand but cripples to the floor.

B: (?)

AT: By combining the resources of the two companies you are in a much more 
advantageous position to respond to change. 

B: I will finish this book and realize the walls have always been shifting, like a 
dark room. I'm not the person I used to be.

#The End of Small Sanctuary
- -

Scene: The morning of the accident. Pale sunlight floods the living room of Boyd's home. 
Down the hall, through an open doorway, he is getting dressed. Boyd buttons his shirt 
and tightens his tie until it hurts.

>>>> M: I'm alone there now. Waiting for you to come see me but you never do. 

I know I've done terrible things to you. Something you'll never forgive me for. 
I feel so pathetic and ugly laying here, waiting for you. 

Every day I stare up at the cracks in the ceiling and think about how unfair it all is.

**** Boyd finds his wallet between two cushions of the living room couch. CLOSE UP of Boyd's
feet as he walks on the carpeted floor.

>>>> M: The doctor came today. He told me I could go home for a short stay. It's not that 
I'm getting better. It's just that this may be my last chance...

I know how you despair. You have a manly and proud heart. A proud heart can survive a general 
failure because that failure does not take its pride. It is difficult and bitter when a 
man fails alone.

But I'm afraid you don't really want me to come home. Whenever you see me, I can tell 
how hard it is on you. 

**** Boyd gets into his car and drives toward a dark city barely visible through the fog.

>>>> M: Even though our life together had to end like this, I still wouldn't trade it for 
the world. We had wonderful years together. 

I told the nurse to give this to you after I'm gone. That means that as your read this, 
I'm already dead. I can't tell you to remember me, but I can't bear for you to forget me. 
You've given me so much and I haven't been able to return a single thing. 

That's why I want you to live for yourself now. Do what's best for you, Boyd. 

You made me happy. 

B: I still look up when I cross the front of the house, expecting to see her.

**** Boyd parks near the Random House headquarters and exits his car. Stepping into the 
revolving doorway he sees the reflection of himself transposed onto the inner workings of 
the world's largest publishing company.