"SORRY, BABY" (2025)

Winter. Snow falls onto a pitched roof a cottage. Gold light emanates from inside. The street is dark, the sky near black. Some stars.

A car heads towards the...

From inside, AGNES (late 20s) spots the car approaching.

She grabs a weathered hiking boot and shoves it on her foot.

Outside, the car parks. LYDIE (late 20s) emerges from it.

Agnes flies outside in her untied boots.

Agnes wraps Lydie in a hug. They head for the car’s trunk.

Lydie grabs her bag, it’s heavy.

They waddle inside, each carrying an end of the suitcase.

Agnes and Lydie sit on the couch under blankets in socks. They sip on something warm. OLGA, Agnes’ cat, sits nearby.

They sip.

Agnes, Olga, the cat, and Lydie sleep soundly, cuddled on the couch. Snow falls.

The sky is blue, Lydie’s car is coated in snow.

Agnes and Lydie walk through a sparse forest in big coats.

They arrive at the frozen-over lake. Under their feet, frozen rocks wait for summer.

They spot a FATHER and his SON put on ice skates on the shore. They wave, Lydie and Agnes wave back.

Lydie and Agnes lie on the shore, on a blanket.

Agnes grabs Lydie’s hand and holds it close.

The father and son look over.

Agnes cooks a rice thing. Olga, the cat, stares at Lydie.

Lydie stares at Olga, Olga stares back.

12 Angry Men plays. Lydie watches, Agnes sleeps, her legs in Lydie’s lap.

Lydie moves Agnes’ legs, gets up and mutes the movie.

She peruses Agnes’ desk: the stacks of unmarked and marked papers, a syllabus, with red ink edits scratched onto it. A battered copy of Nabokov’s Lolita lays open, face down on the desk, rumpled post-its stick out of it.

She picks it up, skims it, sees a particularly revolting passage she remembers from her first and only read of the book. She grimaces.

A LOUD KNOCK at the door interrupts her. Lydie tosses the book aside, done with the pervert who wrote it. Another LOUD KNOCK sounds as Lydie arrives at the door. She swings it open and finds GAVIN (30s, bumbling, trying).

He checks.

Agnes appears behind Lydie.

She points to the house across the street.

Agnes closes the door.

The wind whips.

Through the window, Agnes, Olga and Lydie sleep in Agnes’ bed. The window’s panes of glass are almost completely covered in taped up sheets of paper, except two holes where pages have been removed. Like a puzzle missing two pieces.

The next day. Agnes and Lydie brush their teeth. Lydie spits.

Toothpaste splatters out.

Agnes and Lydie, bundled up, walk down the snowy driveway. They look like little ants.

A no-frills sandwich shop with a big sign that reads Sandy Pete. Agnes and Lydie wait in line.

The voice belongs to PETE (60s, no-nonsense, heart of gold), the owner of the shop.

Agnes reaches for her wallet.

Agnes and Lydie sit, eating their sandwiches.

Agnes touches Lydie’s stomach through her jacket.

Agnes makes a circle with her fingers.

She points to her uterus.

A candlelit table. Agnes, Lydie, NATASHA (smart, wants you to know it), LOGAN (anxious, happy), and DEVIN (boring, confident) eat.

Agnes looks up upon hearing that name.

Lydie’s hand appears in Agnes’ lap, grabbing Agnes’ hand, holding it tight.

Beads of sweat fall from Agnes’ hairline.

Agnes goes.

Agnes tries to breathe. She is on the verge of a panic attack. She turns on the faucet to cover the heaving.

She sweats. Her body gags again.

Lydie sleeps, Olga sleeps against Lydie’s stomach. Agnes comes in, slips under the covers, and joins Lydie in bed.

By the door sit Agnes’ boots. Snow turned to dirty water drips off them.

Lydie and Agnes read over coffee/tea.

Olga looks at Lydie, “Agnes does not leave the house.”

Agnes kneels by Lydie’s feet.

Agnes puts her hands on Lydie’s uterus.

A clear sky as Lydie’s car trunk slams shut.

Lydie gets into her car. Agnes squats outside the car and motions Lydie to roll down the window. She rolls it down.

Lydie drives off, waving. A cloud moves over Agnes’ house.

Hail attacks the roof as Agnes sleeps on a stack of half- graded papers. Olga bites Agnes’ face, waking her.

Was Olga trying to eat Agnes? Did Olga think Agnes was dead?

Agnes heads to bed. As she passes the front door, she checks the doorknob. Good, it’s locked.

Agnes crawls into bed...

Agnes is back at the door. She unlocks it, then re-locks it, then tries the doorknob. Good. Definitely locked. She leaves, we stay on the door, then...

The CHIRPS of Maine in springtime. Then:

THE YEAR WITH THE BAD THING

Four years earlier. The same cottage.

Inside, Agnes and Lydie sit at the kitchen table, typing furiously. After some time, Lydie lets out a loud sigh.

PROFESSOR DECKER (50s) walks from his car to the building. He drops his briefcase, oops, picks it up, makes it to the door.

Logan, Devin, Natasha, Lydie and Agnes sit around a big table. Lydie naps on her hand.

The door to the classroom opens, Decker rushes in.

Agnes leafs through her pages, yes, she finished.

He smiles at Agnes, then sees Lydie sleeping.

She checks the last page.

Lydie types. Agnes sits on the couch with her legs up against the wall. She reads Sontag’s essay On style.

Agnes’ phone CHIMES abruptly. Agnes looks: a text message from Decker. She opens it.

It’s a photo of a page of her thesis. Three sentences are underlined in red. Then, a text appears under the photo: This is extraordinary.

Agnes smiles. Lydie’s clacking turns into a slow clap on the keyboard. Agnes leans her head back to face Lydie.

Agnes goes back to her book.

Agnes leans her head back again.

Decker takes notes on some typed up pages. A photo of a young boy nearby. A KNOCK on the door.

It’s Agnes.

She sits, he sets his pages aside.

Decker laughs.

A BUZZ from Decker’s phone interrupts him.

He checks it.

He types something.

Agnes laughs.

He types something else.

Another BUZZ from his phone.

Decker grabs his jacket and leaves.

Decker’s face appears in the doorway.

He leaves again. Agnes walks to the shelf. She looks at To The Lighthouse. When his footsteps are gone, she leafs through the set-aside pages of Decker’s book. She reads...

Agnes parks and walks into the...

As Agnes passes, the lesson fades out behind her...

Agnes arrives at the door that reads Preston Decker. She KNOCKS. She waits. She knocks again. Nothing.

She pulls out her phone, sees something on it, and furrows her brow. She heads back down the hall outside...

Down the street, past the English Department, towards a residential block. We walk with Agnes, who arrives at...

She checks her phone. Yep, this is it. She KNOCKS-- oops, there’s a bell. She rings it.

The door swings open, there stands Decker.

She walks in.

The door shuts. We stay on the door...

We are still on the closed door...

Then, Agnes SHOVES it open. Agnes CLUTCHES her marked-up thesis in one hand and GRABS her boots with the other. She SHUTS the door behind her, still in her socks.

She’s frozen for a moment. What the fuck just happened.

Then, she SITS on his steps, robotically, pulls on one boot, then the other. She looks around. Empty. Where is everyone?

With her laces loose and flying, Agnes heads back down the street and returns to the...

Students are leaving class, that means it’s 7? She passes a group of students, a YOUNG GUY sees her dangling laces.

Agnes knows that.

She gets into her car.

Agnes looks at herself in the rear-view. She’s flushed. Is this the way her face has always looked?

She clicks on her seatbelt. As she does, she notices the button of her pants is dangling. She studies the button. When did that happen?

Abandoning that, she turns her car on, backs out, prompting a LOUD BANG-- She JUMPS, and turns, to sees WILKINSON furiously shouting at her.

Agnes turns off her car as WILKINSON stomps down the street.

Agnes turns on the car again, makes sure both sides are clear, and backs out.

We drive with her. Lamp post light illuminates her face.

She arrives at her...

Agnes holds her thesis in one hand, her pants up in the other.

Through the window, Lydie arrives from another room.

Upon seeing Agnes’ face, she drops this.

Lydie looks down.

Agnes sits in the bathtub, with her knees tucked into her chest. Lydie sits on the toilet, focused.

Lydie stares at Agnes as Agnes thinks. A moment goes by.

Agnes can’t meet her eyes.

Lydie walks over to her naked friend and wraps her in a hug.

Agnes rests her chin on Lydie’s shoulder.

Lydie looks through her dresser. Agnes, in a big tee, lies on Lydie’s bed. Lydie pulls out a pair of sweatpants.

She pulls out another pair.

Lydie grabs a big pair of socks.

Agnes shoots her legs into the air. Lydie threads Agnes’ legs through the sweatpants.

Agnes obeys. Lydie pulls the sweatpants over Agnes’ butt.

Lydie shouts from the kitchen as Agnes, head on the pillow, stares out at nothing.

They eat ice cream in bed.

Light hits Agnes’ face, her eyes flutter open. She, quietly, as to not wake a sleeping Lydie, wanders to the...

Agnes grabs the coffee beans. Almost empty.

She grabs her wallet and jacket and heads for the door. She stops, seeing her boots from last night.

She stares at them. They stare back.

She picks them up, throws them into a paper bag, then throws the bag into a closet. She slides on her significantly less- waterproof sneakers, and leaves.

Agnes’ sneakers crunch on the gravel, otherwise, it’s very quiet. It must be early, she thinks.

She sees something on the path ahead. About eight feet away sits a KITTEN, only a few months old, sitting, staring at Agnes.

This is baby Olga. The kitten cocks it’s head to the side.

Agnes walks around the cat, down the block.

A loud truck, one of the cement grinding ones, rumbles by, breaking the silence of the morning.

The driver who gives her a “hello” nod, she gives one back. The truck suddenly BUMPS something, Agnes looks, scared for the kitten.

But it was just a piece of broken tire-- On the sidewalk, her kitten sits, still in tact, still staring at her.

Agnes squats down, and holds her hand out towards the kitten. The kitten runs to her, and pushes its head into her hand.

The kitten rubs against Agnes’ leg. She picks it up.

Agnes, with a bag of coffee in hand and her kitten tucked into her jacket, picks up a can of cat food.

She holds it to the kitten’s nose. The kitten doesn’t care.

She picks up another.

She holds it to its nose.

She heads towards the checkout where she spots a man walking to the register, it’s DECKER.

Agnes ducks back into the aisle.

THE MAN SHE THOUGHT WAS DECKER Yep. Thanks.

Agnes, hearing a voice that doesn’t sound like Decker’s, turns towards the man. It’s not Decker.

The fake Decker gives her a plain smile, and leaves.

Agnes tucks the kitten’s head into her jacket, and drops her cans and coffee beans on the counter.

The kitten lets out a loud MEOW. The Clerk notices.

The kitten pops its head out.

Agnes walks in on Lydie eating toast.

She hands Lydie the coffee.

Agnes holds up the baby cat.

Agnes, in a gown, sits on the patient chair. Lydie rolls around on the swivel chair.

The DOCTOR comes in.

The doctor signals he needs Lydie’s chair.

The doctor sits. Lydie joins Agnes on the patient chair.

The doctor gives Agnes a look.

Agnes counts to two in her head.

A DING sounds from Lydie’s phone. The doctor’s head whips around, he’s annoyed.

Lydie reads something on it. Her eyes widen.

The doctor leaves.

Agnes shows Olga the litter box.

She points to the food bowl.

She points to the water bowl.

Agnes lies in bed, she can’t sleep. Baby Olga sleeps on the pillow next to her. She pets its little face. Wind hits her window. She looks out at the darkness.

Agnes checks the lock. It’s unlocked. She locks it, then pulls on it to check.

She slinks back under the covers, and shuts her eyes tight. Shit, she has to pee.

Agnes flashes on the lights, ouch, so bright. She sits, pees. Suddenly, she feels she is being watched. She looks out the narrow bathroom window.

Through trees and their swaying branches, we see Agnes’ face PEER through the bright narrow window. A wind WHIPS.

Agnes wipes quickly and turns out the light.

Agnes grabs a towel and drapes it over the window. It falls, too heavy.

She leaves the towel on the floor, spotting her marked-up thesis. She rips off the first page, grabs a piece of tape and secures the paper to the window, writing face out. That’s a curtain?

Agnes keeps taping up paper, until all the glass she can reach is covered. She inspects her work. This will do. Olga watches on, confused.

Lydie sits next to Agnes as she types into the computer.

Agnes heads to her bedroom. Lydie reads Agnes’ report.

Lydie reads. Agnes returns. Lydie wraps Agnes in a hug.

Agnes walks toward the door, passing TWO UNDERGRAD GUYS eating Sandy Pete sandwiches on the steps of the building.

Agnes approaches the receptionist.

ELIZABETH and CLAIRE, two corporate women, intercept her.

They lead her to a...

Elizabeth shuts the door. Around the table are a dozen empty chairs.

Agnes sits down near the window. Claire and Elizabeth counter.

Claire and Elizabeth nod, signaling, “We really mean that.”

Agnes looks out the window, and spots the two undergrad guys.

WILLIE and SAM, the undergrad guys, eat their sandwiches.

Elizabeth and Claire stare at Agnes, concerned.

She consults a paper in front of her.

Claire nods, letting that land.

Agnes passes the now-empty spot where the boys ate. She feels eyes on her through the window.

Ahead of her, she sees DECKER, he’s turned away. She stops. He turns, Agnes realizes it was just another man who looks like Decker.

Across the street, Natasha spots Agnes.

She walks around Natasha.

Agnes continues down the block.

Agnes watches Olga paw at the taped-up thesis papers.

She checks the time: 7:22 pm.

Agnes passes a man on his porch. This is GAVIN, she doesn’t know him yet.

Agnes turns back.

Agnes waits. Gavin emerges holding lighter fluid.

She walks down the street, then turns back.

Agnes walks down the street, away from her house.

Gavin watches as Agnes head back.

Lydie reads Giovanni’s Room on the couch. She’s enrapt, and it’s making her horny.

She squirms a little on the couch, eyes glued to the page.

Agnes returns sooner than expected. Agnes puts the lighter fluid down on the coffee table.

Lydie stands abruptly.

Lydie sits back down.

Lydie jumps up.

Agnes leaves to go help.

The SHUFFLE of papers and the CREAKING of wood in a small courthouse. Then:

THE YEAR WITH THE QUESTIONS

The next year. Summer. The rows are packed with sixty other potential jurors. And Agnes is one of them. She taps her sneakers together, nervously. The CLERK (60s) leans into her microphone.

People shuffle towards the front of the room.

Agnes scratches in the first few questionnaire answers.

Name: Agnes Ward

Age: 28

Gender: She hesitates on this one. She lightly checks the F, barely. Then she circles the space in between the F and the M. Then draws an arrow pointing from the F to the space.

Are you married? No

Are you in a relationship? No

She hesitates, then adds, I have a very important best friendship though.

She looks around self-consciously, then crosses out that last part.

The CLERK approaches her microphone, prompting Agnes to checks her Juror number again: 47.

The dismissed jurors make their way out of the courthouse.

Agnes and eleven other potential jurors sit in the box. ELEANOR WINSTON (40s), the prosecutor, stands at the podium.

Agnes claps. Everyone looks at her. She stops immediately.

Eleanor turns to her next paper.

Three people raise their hands. Eleanor consults her sheet.

Agnes looks up. A nine year old. Decker has a nine year old.

Eleanor turns to her next page.

Andrea Fuller and Tracey Dover eat Sandy Pete-wrapped sandwiches. Other potential jurors eat in the background.

Summer rain now falls on the windows.

Eleanor looks at her paper.

Agnes stands.

Agnes sits.

Agnes leans into the mic.

Eleanor’s eyes flash with recognition.

The Judge reads from Agnes’ questionnaire.

Eleanor swallows.

The Judge nods. Eleanor whispers something to the Judge.

Agnes makes her way out, wiping sweat from her face. She leaves, the Clerk leans into her mic.

The SOUNDS of a bed moving.

THE YEAR WITH THE GOOD SANDWICH

The next year. Fall. Gavin makes love? to Agnes. She looks at the ceiling. Then her dresser. She wishes Lydie was here.

He finishes, exhausted. He lies on her, breathing. She itches her nose.

Agnes sits in an empty classroom, the same classroom we met Decker in. WALTER (70s) goes to close the door.

He sits, too.

Agnes gets up from bed, leaving Olga alone. Over this scene, we hear the phone call.

Outside the window, Agnes takes a piece of her thesis off the window. There’s a faded marking “Excellent” on it, another says “Great”.

She pulls down another page, it’s page 17. She finds the red marker note she was looking for: “Extraordinary”.

Agnes, in the dark, wonders if she has.

SOPHIE (40s) walks Agnes to Decker’s former office. The label with his name has been, for the most part, scraped off.

Sophie opens the door, Agnes follows her in. It’s really empty.

Sophie leaves. Agnes sits in the chair. She opens a drawer. Empty.

She scans some abandoned books. She picks up Winter in Time by Preston Decker. His sophomore novel.

She throws the book in a cabinet, closing the door quickly behind it.

Agnes teaches Lolita to a room of sixteen students, including THOMAS, who reads a passage aloud.

Agnes looks, it’s Natasha. Upon being spotted, Natasha wipes a non-existent smudge off the window.

Agnes reads a student’s paper. Natasha BURSTS in.

Natasha surveys the office dramatically.

Natasha plops down in the chair facing Agnes.

Agnes puts down her pen.

FLASH TO INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT

Agnes’ imagination: Decker FUCKS Natasha intensely, consensually, messily, drunkenly on red sheets. Natasha MOANS loudly, for no reason. It’s violent and detached and loud.

Agnes drives home. Sunset light shines in her eyes. Oh no, she can’t breathe, it’s a panic attack... She pulls off the road into the Sandy Pete’s parking lot.

She jolts her car to stop. She leans over, heaving. She clenches her eyes shut, her eyes cry.

A KNOCK at the car window interrupts her.

Agnes looks up. It’s Pete, but she hasn’t met him yet.

Agnes heaves.

He points to the Sandy Pete sign.

Agnes tries to join him.

Agnes does a little better.

Agnes breathes again, shakily.

Agnes tries to speak, she can’t.

Agnes shakes her head.

Agnes and Pete eat sandwiches on a parking block.

They each take a bite.

Olga deposits something on the sheet while Agnes sleeps.

Agnes opens her eyes, and sees a little mound on her bed.

She flips a lamp on only to discover it is not shit, but a HALF-DEAD BLOODY MOUSE on her bed.

The mouse jolts its head. Its head is almost severed, but is holding on.

Agnes pulls open her bedside table and grabs Decker’s Winter in Time. Using her bedside glass of water, she slides the convulsing mouse onto the book. She looks at it.

The mouse screams.

She runs to the closet and pulls out the paper bag with her boots in it. She lets her boots fall out and runs back to her dying mouse. She slides it inside the bag.

She holds up Winter in Time, and SLAMS it down on the paper bag. It’s still... Then, a TWITCH.

Agnes SLAMS the book down again. The bag is still. She waits. It’s over. Decker’s picture, on the back of his book, is lightly coated in red.

Agnes, sneakers on, runs towards Gavin’s house, his lights are on.

Gavin appears at the door and swings it open.

Agnes faces him with her eyes full of tears.

Gavin thrusts into Agnes, burying his face in a pillow next to her. She smells his hair. He moans.

Agnes pushes him off and mounts him. He FINISHES within seconds. She continues to THRUST against him aggressively.

After a few intense, hunched moments, she FINISHES, for the first time in a long time.

Agnes lies in the bathtub. Gavin walks in.

Gavin considers standing to pee, then realizes Agnes’ face is right there, so he sits to pee.

Agnes tries to make space for him in the small bathtub. He holds his penis self-consciously.

He sits down, they barely fit.

They sit there for a bit.

Gavin stands up, letting his penis breathe... so to speak...

Gavin turns towards her. Agnes stares at it.

She looks.

Gavin sits, and wraps her in a timid but real hug.

Agnes is sad, that’s not what she meant. Behind her, Gavin sighs, enjoying the temperature.

Agnes reaches for the faucet and twists it on.

The RUMBLE of a car down a gravel road.

THE YEAR WITH THE BABY

The present. Beginning of spring. Agnes, in her boots, waves as Lydie’s car pulls up to the house.

Lydie rushes out of her car.

FRAN, Lydie’s partner, gets out of the car.

Agnes mimes “birth”.

Lydie runs to the backseat and pulls out JANE, her baby.

Agnes fumbles into a slight curtsy.

Jane’s bored face crinkles into a cry.

Lydie pushes inside as Fran gets the bags from the trunk.

Agnes, with Olga nearby, pours lots of coffee into a thermos. Lydie and Fran walk in, holding an annoyed Jane.

Fran deposits Jane in her crib.

Agnes stands up straight, energy of receiving medal of honor.

Fran, panicked, looks at Lydie.

Lydie grabs the thermos, kisses Agnes on the cheek and leaves with Fran, who mumbles in protest. Agnes looks at Jane...

Lydie comes back in, alone this time.

Agnes looks out the window, as she did with the sandwich guys, and watches Lydie (and Fran) get smaller.

Lydie laughs at something Fran said, then reaches for Fran’s hand. The couple glows, weightless without the baby, weightless without Agnes.

Then, Agnes looks at Jane. Jane stares back.

Agnes goes to pick Jane up.

Agnes picks her up, sits her down on her lap. Done with that.

She puts Jane back in the crib. Jane’s lip begins to tremble.

She picks Jane up again, and studies her face.

Outside, a cloud goes by.

CUT TO BLACK.