The Unbecoming Of Mara Dyer

Juliet Sanders

Ford/Wells

p. 2

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer 

(Book by Michelle Hodkin)

Screenplay

Cast (In order of appearance)

Claire

Mara (Main)

Rachel

Mara's Voice

Nurse

Mom

Dad

Daniel

Joseph

Noah

Anna

Aidan

Mr. Walsh

Mrs. Morales

Jamie

Newswoman

Ms. Leib

Man

Officer 1

Officer 2

Mum

Sophie

Albert

Ms. Adams

Art girl in back

Mysterious Voice

Principal

Hypnotist

Lassiter

Officer 3

SCENE ONE

The screen comes onto a soft off-white. Words appear as if being written as you watch, cursive letters with sloppy loops and connective lines.

My name is not Mara Dyer, but my lawer told me I had to choose something.

A nom de plume, for all of us studying the SAT's. I know that hearing

a fake name is strange, but trust me-it's the most normal thing about my life

right now. Even telling you this much probably isn't smart. But without my big

mouth no one would know that a seventeen-year-old who likes

Death Cab for Cutie was responsible for the murders. No one

would know that somewhere out there is a B student

with a body count. And it's important that you know, so your not next.

Rachel's birthday was the beginning. This is what I remember.

"Mara Dyer"

New York City

Three girls are kneeling around an Ouija board. Clair, a redhead, pushes a heart shaped piece into Mara's hand. Mara jumped.

MARA'S VOICE: "I'm not normally this jumpy. I hoped Rachel hadn't noticed. It was her birthday, and she was playing with her favorite present of the night. Claire got it for her. I got her a bracelet. She wasn't wearing it."

Mara passes the piece onto Rachel and Claire smiles.

CLAIRE: "It's just a game Mara."

VOICE: "Rachel and I had been best friends since preschool. She was dark and spontaneous, while I was pale and cautious. She was wild. I was less careful when I was around her. She made me brave. Usually.

MARA: "I don't have anything to ask dead people." She crosses her arms.

CLAIRE: "Ask whether Jude will ever like you back."

Claire smiles a snake-like smile while Mara blushes. She tries to laugh it off.

RACHEL: "Actually, it's my birthday, I'm going to go first.

Rachel put her fingers on the piece and Claire and Mara follow her. Mara is unsteady in the candle lit room.

RACHEL: "How am I going to die?"

They all stared at the board. Nothing happened. But slowly the piece started moving, sliding across the board. It moves past A and K and slides through L. It lands on M.

CLAIRE: "Murder?" (It's only a whisper.)

The piece glides in the wrong direction, away from U. It lands on A. It zig zags across the board and hits R. Then back to A. Then stops. They wait. Nothing happens. Nobody dares to breath the over perfumed room filled with the light smoke of the candles littering the floor around them. Rachel sits back against the couch, watching Mara.

RACHLE: "I think it wants you to ask it something."

MARA: (Standing) "If by 'it' you mean Claire then I'm sure that's true. (Her knees shake, she's unsteady, starting to feel nauseous.)

CLAIRE: "I didn't push it." (Her eyes are wide with danger)

RACHEL: "Lets to something else." (she says tentatively. She slides a movie into the DVD player.

VOICE: "Six months later, though, they were both dead."

SCENE TWO

The screen is black. A few seconds in, a beeping slowly starts to crescendo. The camera is from the point of view as Mara's eyes, and its blurry, unfocused. She blinks. The screen groggily slides black and then to blur with each blink. The beeping sounds like a hospital, and the lights are bright. Mara's eyes focus and the camera cuts out of her view. It shows Mara sitting in the bed, blankets pooling around her sides. There are wires protruding from her skin. She looks left and right at the machines lining her bed. Dull and muffled voices can be heard. She sits up and tries to pull some of the tubes out of her skin. Her hair is wild, her eyes tired.

MARA: "Get them out." (Whispered and croaky.)

NURSE: "What was that?" (The camera remains on Mara, the nurse herself is not in the shot.)

MARA: "Get them out!" (Shes screaming now, frantic. She has found her voice. She talks clearly.)

Mara starts clawing at the tubes some more. The nurse comes into view beside the bed and messes with some things. Mara's eyes begin to droop. She falls asleep, the murmured "Mara's" coming form her family fading out along with Mara as she falls out of consciousness.