The Shadow Creatures

                                    "THE SHADOW CREATURES"
FADE IN.

INT. BEDROOM- NIGHT

A MOTHER tucks a young GIRL, pale skinned with dark hair, into bed.

                                              Girl
                             Mummy, read me a story?

                                                Mother
                             I’m sorry honey, mummy’s very tired.
                                                Maybe another night okay?

The young girl nods reluctantly before the mother kisses her goodnight and walks to the door. Lingering for a moment to make sure the girl is falling asleep, she switches off the light. The girl falls asleep

INT. BEDROOM- NIGHT

Later

The girl wakes up with a jerk as the ringing of the church bell outside of the window marks midnight. She looks to the wall in front of her bed and notices some dark shadows that seem to have been formed from the trees banging against the windows outside.

The girl crawls further under the covers as she notices that the shadows are beginning to move and change form. The shadows begin to form strange looking people. Though the shadows now seem to have human form they still possess plant characteristics, such as branch like hair. The shadows attempt to move closer towards the young girl but realize they are trapped against the illumination of the street lamp outside.

The girl becomes more and more terrified as the shadows seem to be conversing with each other. The girl screams and in a panic she leaps toward a torch that is placed on top of a chest at the right side of the room. The girl turns on the torch and points it at the shadows, which begin to bumble around in terror, as if they were being burnt.

The girl appears slightly confused before looking toward her knee and realising that she has hurt herself. She holds the torch toward her wound, sees the blood dripping from it, and begins to cry.

The shadows at the other side of the room recover from the panic of the torch, and begin watching the girl cry. Out of sympathy, they begin doing comical dances and slap stick scenes in an attempt to make the girl feel better.

The girl begins to giggle through her tears and then looks at the shadows with compassion. She gets up and walks over to the wall, though the shadows seem a little reluctant to be close to the girl, one of them begins crouching toward the girl, and puts its hand out. The little girl puts her hand on the wall were the shadows hand is in a way that makes it look as if the girl’s shadow is holding hands with the shadow on the wall.

She then walks toward her bed and pulls a red sheet away from it. Draping the sheet around her in order to create a hooded cloak, she creeps closer toward the curious shadow creatures. As she comes to stand in front of them, the girl quickly turns to look at the shadows and pretends to be frightened as they slash and grab toward her. One of the shadows morphs into a howling wolf and the girl dances around her room in glee, swirling her cloak around until she is exhausted. 

The girl smiles and looks toward the shadow creatures, but is distracted by the sound of someone walking along the corridor outside her room. She quickly rushes back to bed, replaces the sheet and pretends to be sleeping. The door opens and light from the corridor is let in. The mother looks around the room and notices nothing unusual. She lingers at the door again to watch the girl for a moment, then walks back into the corridor and closes the door.

The young girl pokes her head out from under the covers and looks toward the wall. The shadows are in their original tree form now, though she notices a branch that seems to be waving at her. She smiles, crawls back underneath the covers, and falls asleep.