A Beautiful Mind

[TheLordOfAwesome]

LUCAS ABERNATHY - PREGAME: START

Lucas shifted around in his seat, trying to become comfortable as he stared up towards the wall-mounted plasma screen TV from his recliner chair, legs propped up. His eyes glazed over what was actually happening on screen, occasionally shifted his attention to the laptop resting on his lap. Images flashed on the TV screen, a roar emanates from the speakers mounted on the walls of the room, his eyes barely noticing as the title of the show a displayed on the screen: Finding Bigfoot An aerial shot comes onto the screen as speed up footage of a car drives down a country road, surrounded by trees on all sides as country music plays through the speakers. A voice over comes on, explaining what is going on but Lucas barely pays it any mind. Something about going to a museum to talk to some people who doubt the existence of Bigfoot or something along those lines.

"We want to talk to them about why they think Bigfoots don't exist." a man on the TV screen said. "Of course, I know they're wrong, but I really want to hear why they think I'm wrong."

Lucas's thoughts were a little more preoccupied...

"It is night, we see a girl running, the camera pans quickly to follow the girl as she runs through the woods."

Lucas normally sat and watched TV when he was coming up with his project ideas, usually on the hope that'll help stimulate him enough to come up with ideas. Currently, he was thinking on his newest film idea, Murder Witch Cult of Chattanooga (name subject to change). He had been thinking on this particular idea for a while now, but every time he thought of something for the film he discarded it; dissatisfied. At one point he had an actual draft for a script, but hated so much that he just tossed the damn thing. This was probably going to be his last film project in high school and it was going to be his first feature length picture, so it had to be good. He wasn't going to settle for something subpar.

Of course now here he sit, trying to come up with the plot from scratch again. Starting with the opening.

"The girl is battered and bleeding, gashing across the exposed flesh of her arms and legs." He thought. "She also needs to look vulnerable, so I need the right actress. Zen and Nia would be good choices. This is a minor role with no speaking lines."

The people on the screen talk about Bigfoot howls.

"She falls down, and looks behind her. POV shot, we see the orange glow of flames. We hear the distant sounds of various animal cries, maybe some medieval drumming? Don't know, haven't decided. Regardless it is coming closer as the shot lingers for a few seconds. We don't see what is making these noises, but there are a lot of them. Sound effects should be easy enough to rip from the internet, but flame glow might be harder to pull off. Could get a bunch of people to carry torches, but I would need quite a few. Could add the effect in during post..."

He hummed to himself in thought as he lifted the remote, changing the channels.

"Regardless, girls gets back up and starts to run again, deeper into the woods as the sounds get closer. Once more we follow her as the sounds get louder and louder, becoming deafening."

Eventually he settled on a channel once more, the HGTV from the looks of it as House Hunters was currently on. Now watching this new show, ideas began to form within Lucas's mind.

"What if the girl on her escape found an abandoned house?" He pondered. His eyes turned to his laptop, looking at the open document on the screen. Quickly he began typing the idea down, to ensure that he'll remember it for later. "She could run to it and lock herself within it, hoping that the structure would protect her from her unseen pursuers."

A thought occurred.

'Where would I find such a house though? More importantly, one that is safe enough that people can walk in. It's not like an abandoned house is going to be up to code..." He opened up Google Chrome, typing into the search bar "abandoned houses tennessee". Clicking on the first link Lucas was taken to a page that showed off eleven different abandoned location across Tennessee. There were a few locations that seemed interesting, but none of them were what he was looking for. His eyes drifted back up to the television screen and he saw a woman showing a couple the basement of a house.

Basement...

"A basement would be a great place for some scares. Maybe before the opening ends the girl looks down into the basement, seeing darkness and nothing more. Have a shot of her looking down into the basement, she is scared and breathing heavily. And behind her, out of focus, a dark figure silently drops from the ceiling to the floor. Cut to black, title fades in."

He closed his eyes, visualizing the scene in his mind. "Yes, good. Good." He muttered to himself and typed it down in his notes. He picked up the remote again, shifting through the channels before settling once more. Of course the moment he suddenly felt the bile inside him rise up as he realized what was playing on the screen.

Twilight.

Quickly he changed the channel again, now on some auction show, and placed the remote down now that he was free from the tween cinematic dreck that was the Twilight movies.

"I could make a better vampire romance story..." He bitterly thought. "It would be like Beauty & The Beast, only with more blood, Gothic Horror, and baby eating..."

Actually, that was an interesting idea. A horror romance story... He'd have to toy with that idea a bit. It probably won't be something he does in the near future with his friends, but it could be something he'd do once he becomes a proper Hollywood director and he could probably pull it off. He reasoned that if del Toro could make a movie about a mute lady fucking the Creature from the Black Lagoon then he could do Gothic Horror Twilight. But less sparkles and more baby eating.

Oh, he could already picture that scene already! The vampire could sneak its way into a small farm at the outskirts of a European city like a phantom. There they would find a family of three, a father, mother and cute little baby sleeping soundly, unaware of the monster currently in their home.

The vampire would devour them all.

The vampire would start with the infant, tearing its body open with its fangs to feast upon the child's innards, blood spraying all over the once clean crib. Then it move on to the parents. Without a sound, they would bite into the father's throat, who awakes and begins to  struggle against the creature to no avail as his throat is torn out by the vampire's teeth. His frantic movements wake his wife and she begins screaming as she watched, horrified, as the vampire drinks from the gaping wound in her husband's still convulsing corpse.

Lucas shudders.

Such a beautiful scene... If only he could make it realized now.

He couldn't forget this and began typing it down into his notes, saved away in its own little corner of the document with the heading "Untitled Romantic Horror Vampire Movie".

"Now with the mother awake, she runs over to the crib, intending to pick up her baby before fleeing. But upon seeing the mess of meat and bone that had once been her only child, she breaks down and falls to her knees, weeping. The vampire would find her soon and-"

"Lucas..." A stern, famine voice said beside, startling him out of his morbid thoughts.

His mother stood before him, having gone completely unnoticed by Lucas as he was absorbed in his thoughts. She was a tall woman, almost as tall as he was, and dressed in business suit. Her blonde hair draped down to her, styled so they were out of her face and her brow was wrinkled  as she looked down on him with her icy blue eyes.

"Oh, hey Mama." He greeted, smiling to his mother. "How long have you been there?"

"Lucas, do you plan to sit on the couch and watch TV all day?" She questioned, completely ignoring his question.

He frowned slight as his eyes darted to his computer screen. "I'm not watching TV, I'm working on my projects." He explained, motioning his laptop towards hi mother.

"By sitting and watching TV?"

"Yes! It helps me come up with ideas!"

"Lucas," She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Go outside and go do something more physically active and maybe get something to eat. You'll have plenty of time to work on your stories later."

Lucas sighed. She wasn't going to let up on this. For some reason his parents were really concerned with his physical health when he did his projects and always pestered him to develop "better habits". Not sure why, he was doing fine! But he supposed it would be better to do what she asked and not have her on his case. Shutting the laptop he moved from his position on the recliner to stand up. He approached his mother and gave her a peck on the cheek as he walked past her.

"Love ya, Mama."

"Love you too, Lucas."

Lucas made his way to the front door, fishing his car keys from his pocket. Ideas both dark and horrible swirling within his mind, making a mental note to jot them down for later use.

(Lucas Abernathy continued in on a quick sick rampage...)