I recommend watching/listening to it; the words and music kind of drift off at weird places in the script, so just know that as you read, the music isn't one hundred percent the main attraction. This is simply a story based around the words of the song. Enjoy!
Car Crash (song by Matt Nathanson)
Camera pans across a frothy river. There are craggy, rigid cliffs along one side.Atop one of the tallest cliffs, a long, frightened female figure stands. At first, from a distance, she appears merely a dot, a smudge at the top of the cliff. The camera zooms, centering on her, the wind blowing her longer brown hair off of her left shoulder and out to the right-- the stereotypical lonely-female-on-cliff-above-sea look. A young male, maybe a year older than the girl, stands in a wetsuit just behind her.
The girl wears an identical wetsuit, her short, obese frame looking natural, despite the severe chills racking her body. She looks down, terrified of what she's about to do.
Alicia: I can't believe I'm doing this! I can't do this. No. (Starts to retreat away from cliff. She is stopped by Logan, gangly and barely older brother of the girl. They are close, and care deeply about each other, being each others' best friends.)
Logan: Alicia, come on! It'll be okay!
Alicia: I... I can't. Not after that.... (Terror paralyzes Alicia, cue Car Crash by Matt Nathanson)
Logan: Hey... hey... remember? "I'm wide awake and so alive... ringing like a bell...." (Alicia nods and takes a deep breath, eyes closing, as the scene fades to a park shelter in a light spring rain. Alicia is singing into a tree branch 'microphone'. She grabs Logan's hands in her spare hand, pulling him out into the rain with her. He resists slightly, but dashes out with her.)
Alicia: (continued singing to Logan) Tell me this is paradise. And not some place I fell. 'Cause I keep on falling down. (Takes his hands and starts to spin) I wanna feel a car crash. I wanna feel a capsize. I wanna feel the bomb drop, the earth stop til I'm satisfied. I wanna feel a car crash, I wanna let go (Lets go of Logan's hands and they both fall, Logan laughing) and know I'll be alright, alright.
The two lay there for a while during the instrumental. Logan glances at Alicia. Music cuts.
Logan: Hey sis... you want to go on an adventure?
Alicia: (Staring at the gray sky above her as the camera is hovering above them) Sure. Where to?
Logan: I wanna jump off a cliff.
Alicia: (rolls onto her stomach and props herself up) Wait. What kind of cliff? Like a bottomless-pit cliff or what?
Logan: (Casually) Like one over a river. There's a rafting company that'll take you out there and they'll let you jump. Keep you safe and everything.
Alicia: I... I don't know, Logan. It sounds kind of dangerous.
Logan: Worse that'll happen is someone jumps in to bring you back up. They're trained to do that, you know.
Alicia: Will we be wearing life jackets?
Logan: (thoughtfully) They wouldn't let you in without one. Besides, your big brother wouldn't let anything happen to you.
Alicia: (Smiles) Let's do it.
Cut forward to the cliff. No wind this time. Sun is out. Logan and Alicia on top of the cliff. Both have donned wetsuits and life jackets.
Logan: Are you ready?
Alicia: Hell yes! (grins mischievously)
Logan: I'll go first. The guide is waiting down there. I'll see ya then (smiles and sticks his tongue out at her. He takes a deep breath and steps with both feet off the rock. Alicia watches nervously as he hits the water and surfaces. He lets out a shriek of exhilaration and Alicia smiles.) Yeehaw! Your turn!
Alicia prepares herself to take the jump, closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. She steps with one foot at first, intending to bring the other in line with it and let herself jump that way. Her water shoe gets caught. The camera precedes her fall, capturing her from below as the following ensues. Her arms fly forward, and she swings head first into the crags she was trying to clear. Her shoe comes loose, and screaming, she free falls headfirst into the water. The camera shifts to the faces of Logan and the guide, which display looks of horror.
Guide: Stay here. I need you to hold the rope tight and keep the boat from drifting off. (Logan swallows and nods weakly and the guide dives into the water)
Logan: (beside himself and visibly freaking out) Come on, Alicia...
The camera pans across the water, capturing Logan in the boat, looking anxiously into the water between him and the camera. He is watching the area where the guide went down. Moments pass and neither the guide nor Alicia surface. Finally, the guide surfaces for air empty-handed. Logan's boat leaps up from a heavy jolt from below.
The camera snaps to Alicia, under water and panicking, quickly losing strength and air, trapped underneath the boat. The harder she hits the boat without finding a way out, the more panicked she gets and the less air she has. The guide swims in, grabbing her from behind as she goes limp and thrusts her above the surface. Her life jacket keeps her above water now.
Logan: Alicia! (Alicia doesn't answer, not even sputtering, the guide hoists himself into the raft from the opposite side so as not to tip the boat.)
Guide: Logan, grab the shoulders of her vest. We need to push her down and lug her into the raft. On the count of three, you push her down so her chin touches the water at each number. On three, use the buoyancy to bring her into the raft. Ready? (Logan grasps the shoulders on the vest and nods, panic filling his face now.) I'm going to stay over here and count to three so we don't tip the boat. Okay? 1... (Dunk) 2... (dunk) 3!
During the above monologue, the guide is pulling out a mask from his bag on the other side of the boat, and assembling it. Logan does as he's told and Alicia is in the boat. The guide unbuckles her vest as Logan frets and the guide begins CPR, placing the mask over Alicia's mouth to allow him to give her air. The camera pulls up above them as the guide begins compressions and Logan looks sickly. The screen fades to the opening scene on the cliff with the overcast skies. Alicia's eyes open as Logan's voice fades in.
Logan: You'll be fine. I promise.
Alicia: I can't!
Logan: (tips her chin up to look at him and song resumes.) "Push me til I have to fly. I've shed my skin, my scars. Take me deep out past the lights where nothing dims these stars." (Looks off of cliff at the guide below them, watchful) "Nothing dims these stars."
The chorus goes on once without anyone moving or talking. "I wanna feel a car crash
I wanna feel a capsize
I wanna feel the bomb drop, the earth stop
'Til I'm satisfied
I wanna feel a car crash
'Cause I'm dyin' on the inside
I wanna let go and know
That I'll be alright, alright
So right. It's all wrong. I'm wide awake and so alive."
Alicia: (mouthing words) "I wanna feel a car crash, I wanna feel a capsize. I wanna feel the bomb drop, the earth stop til I'm satisfied. I wanna feel a car crash cuz I'm dying on the inside. I wanna let go and know it'll be alright..." (Smiles.) Alright. (Music pauses. She jumps. The camera stays above, anxiety building after she hits the water. Finally, she surfaces in slow motion and she gives a cheer.)
The scene closes with grins and laughter as Logan jumps off the cliff and he and his sister congratulate each other. Fades out.
I hope you guys enjoyed it. LEAVE FEEDBACK PLEASE!
