Page 1
A large, two-story house tucked away in an oak hammock. Despite a seemingly sunny, hot day, a group of figures wearing black stands outside the house. Three adults, Sadie, Caleb, and Heather, look extremely small against the house. Heather is older. All three share a resemblance.
Heather: “Do we have everything? The candle, the cloth?”
Caleb: “We should. Or else Rabbi Aarons has some explaining to do.”
Heather: “And the first meal? Sadie?”
Sadie: “I meal-prepped ahead of time!”
Heather: “Wonderful, now all that’s left is-”
Close-up on Caleb’s shocked face.
Caleb: “Leah. . .”
A woman, Leah, with brightly dyed hair, wanders through the front gate, her eyes trained on the group. She’s dressed in black as well and acts like she’s slightly on edge.
Leah: “Hey, kiddos. Hello, Heather.”
Heather, who is in silhouette: “Thought you were skipping town after.”
Leah, embarrassed.
Leah: I was, until I saw all the cars comin’ from the funeral home. Then I got the sudden urge to see this old rickety shed again. Anything I can do to help?”
Heather stands tall. Leah is confused.
Heather: “You can move the chairs to the attic. Then you can be on your way back to Boston.”
Leah: “Whaddya mean? I’m stayin’. I’m sittin’ shiva.”
Heather: “Shiva is for family.”
Leah: “Yeah, I am family.”
Caleb reaches out to Heather. Heather has her arms crossed now, and Leah stands before her, her back to us.
Caleb: “Mom-.”
Heather: “Stay out of this, Caleb. You have a change of heart, all of a sudden?”
Page 2
Leah, eyebrow raised.
Leah: “Yeah, and you’ll have to deal with me for seven days. Then I’m out of your hair and back to Boston. Deal?”
Leah doesn’t wait for her to answer. She walks inside the house, fuming. Sadie is following her while Heather and Caleb stand together.
Split panel: Inside, Leah dunks her hands into a bowl of water and an unlit candle sitting by the door. / She wipes her hands dry.
Later: Leah and Sadie move a chair up a flight of stairs.
Sadie: “I’m proud of you! You didn’t say ‘fuck’ once at Mom.”
Leah: “Believe me, I was tempted. I haven’t had to censor myself that much since y’all were kids.”
The two women place the chair against the wall in a small, upstairs attic.
Sadie: “I’m also proud because I know how hard this is for you. It’s just as hard for Mom, too.”
Leah: “Nah, did you see the look on her face? The hardest thing about this for her is that - by the law of God himself - she can’t put her hands on me for the next week.”
Sadie: “I know it’s not my job to baby you-”
Leah: “Yeah, that’s my job.”
Sadie: “But please be mindful, especially of mom.”
Split panel: The candle by the door wavers / the candle goes out.
Heather kneels next to the candle and lights it with an exasperated face. A box in the corner says: Day 1/7 : Exalted and hallowed
Heather: “God keep us, Amen and oy vey.”
Page 3
Split panel as Leah wanders through the house. In one half of the panel, she’s a little girl running around. In the other, she’s older, and the house feels smaller. The mirrors on the wall are covered.
Split panel: She passes an office where Caleb is reading aloud from a book. / She passes the laundry room where Sadie is folding a dress over her arm. Blink or you’ll miss it, but there’s a spot of blood on the dress.
Caleb: “Then should I yet have comfort, and I will beg, shuddering, that he has no pity. . .”
Leah stands in a long hallway where the walls are covered in photographs. Quick glance at the photographs as Leah walks past: Leah (with undyed hair) holding much younger Caleb and Sadie under both arms. Heather in a white wedding dress. Caleb in a university cap and gown. Sadie with a pink bow wrapped around her stomach. A younger Heather is holding onto the shoulders of a handsome man with a big grin on his face.
Leah stands with her back to the hallway entrance. Heather stands in the entryway, in silhouette from the living room light.
Heather: “So many memories.”
Leah turns to look at Heather. Heather is blank-faced.
Leah: “Did this house get smaller?”
Heather: “I suppose you just got bigger. It’s not the only thing you’ve missed.”
Leah shrugs past Heather. Heather is staring blankly into the hallway.
Heather stands in the hallway, pressing her palms against the walls. Her shoulders are crumpling, implying that the hallway is smaller than it should be. Box in the top corner says: Day 2/7: In this world which He created.
Page 4
The family sits at dinner in a tiny kitchen. A box on the corner of the panel says Day 3/7: be revealed in the days of our lifetime.
Split pane: Leah gets up from the table/ she walks back up the stairs
In the hallway in front of the bedrooms is a trail of laundry.
Focus on a tiny sock - meant for a baby - on the ground.
Downstairs, Caleb is cleaning the dishes. Next to him is an open letter. Focus on the first line: We regret to inform you. . .
Split panel: Leah lying on her bed, looking at her phone. / Her phone screen is an article from The Magnolia Gazette with the headline: Young Woman Who Caused Scene at Local Community Event Blames Mania. There’s a picture of Leah without her hair dye and extremely wild eyes standing in a pile of mess.
Page 5
(split panel) The photo of Caleb’s graduation / Caleb in the present, holding the rejection letter limply at his side as he weeps with a blank expression on his face.
Split panel: The photo of Sadie with the pink ribbon wrapped around her belly / Sadie standing in the dark wearing a white dress with a splash of red across the stomach.
Split panel: A young Heather with her arms wrapped around her husband's (the kids’ father’s) shoulders / Heather, middle-aged and angry, standing like a soldier at attention with medical wires wrapped around her hands.
Leah is sitting on her bed, staring in front of her with a panicked expression. The world around her is shaky and audibly oppressive. Box in the corner of the panel says: Day 4/7: speedily, imminently.
Page 6
Repeat the panel from the last page, but in a grayish light with the sense that it is raining extremely hard outside. Leah sits staring slightly panicked ahead of her.
Sadie (offscreen): You have any 3s? . . .Leah?
Leah looks up. She’s sitting at a table with cards in her hands. Heather, Caleb, and Sadie are staring at her. Box in the corner of the panel says: Day 6/7: beyond all earthly words and songs of blessing, praise, and comfort
Leah: “No.”
Heather sighs and puts down her cards. Caleb stares at her.
Heather: “I'm done.”
Caleb: “Mom, you’re no fun when you quit.”
Close-up of Leah’s face.
Leah: “Whatever ever happened with that Masters program in Washington, Caleb?”
The rest of the family stares at Leah once more. Caleb is shocked. Sadie is glancing at him. Heather looks at the table with a glare.
Caleb: “Oh- I didn’t go. We talked about it, remember? I didn’t have the money.”
Back to Leah, alone.
Leah: “. . .And. . .Sadie. . . where’s the kid?”
Heather turns her glare to Leah.
Heather: “That’s enough now.”
Sadie and Caleb.
Sadie: “Mom. . . it’s okay.”
Page 7
Heather stands up, anger outlining her.
Heather: “Oh, please.”
Leah, standing up and facing Heather.
Leah: “I just wanna know everything that I missed! I’m trying to piece together the details here. You’re the one shutting me out!”
Caleb and Sadie stand between the two arguing women, but they look small.
Caleb: “That’s enough!”
Sadie: “Guys, please. . .”
Heather: “It’s not my fault you’re hardwired to blank out on your family! I gave you a room when you got out of that hospital, but I NEVER got anything back from you!”
Leah: “I didn’t ask for shit! I needed therapy and a Mom. You were a fucking monster!”
Heather, close up, red-faced and shaking.
Heather: “And yet here I was picking up the pieces, helping Caleb find work, comforting Sadie, helping your Dad! I guess none of that was good enough for you, huh? You wanted more than this fucked up family could give you, huh?
SMACK as Leah slaps Heather. Caleb and Sadie are mortified.
Close-up on Leah.
Leah: “Fuck you. And fuck the shiva. I’m out.”
Split panel: Leah approaches the door / as her hand reaches out, the door locks with a loud CLICK, and the candle goes out.
Page 8
Shot of the family in disbelief. The rest of the family is rushing up behind Leah.
Sadie: “Leah, stop!”
Leah: “What. the. Fuck?”
Focus on Heather.
Heather: “If you want to go so badly, go. You don’t want to be here. They don't want you here. I don’t want you here.”
The family. Around them, there’s a massive groaning noise. The house shudders. Photographs suddenly begin falling off the walls. Leah has stumbled to the ground, breathing heavily and shaking.
The family, from underneath.
Heather: “WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!”
Split panel: A photograph falls from the wall / It skitters across the floor.
The photograph is of the family: The father, Heather, Caleb, Sadie, and Leah, all smiling. A large crack has formed in the glass, and the splintering cracks split up the family members. The eyes of the father are glowing red.
Close-up of Heather, horrified.
Heather: “David. . .”
Split panel. Leah, hands buried in her hair. / Heather with her hands clutching her chest.
Leah/Heather: “I’m sorry. . .”
Page 9
Leah and Heather turn to face each other. The photograph is between them.
Heather, starting to cry, but holding back.
Heather: “I thought I was doing enough for you. . .but I couldn’t face how I treated you. You were everything broken that I couldn’t fix.”
Leah, weeping.
Leah: “You didn’t need to fix me. I should’ve seen you were hurting like I was. . .I just wanted to help you. . .”
The two women come together and weep.
Tears land on the still-cracked photograph.
Caleb and Sadie join the hug on either side of Heather and Leah.
Outside: the house shudders and comes to a standstill.
Page 10
One large panel. Heather, Caleb, Sadie, and Leah, stand on the porch. The sun is setting behind the house. In the corner of the page is a box that reads: Day 7/7: May there be abundant peace from heaven, and life, for us.