American Horror Story: Introvert

Lights focus on a rusty car pulling into the last parking spot

In front of a house in a suburban neighborhood.

The camera zooms in on our hero, reluctantly unbuckling,

Checking her phone one more time, Google searching:

“Excuses to turn around and leave”.

The car door opens, our hero exits, she moves

Like a former tom-boy, current book nerd who

recently gained fifteen pounds and feels it but

Is trying to swagger confidently in her tight jeans and studded boots

(The audience wonders if she’s already drunk).

Zoom in on the jeans for a moment.

The swagger moves her to the front door, only after, for once

Stopping to smell the flowers because- what better time

To slow down and enjoy life than right before a party?

Our hero pauses with her hand on the door, the camera pulls back

To show a few people scattered in the next room

And then the next as our hero finds sudden speed and

X-ray vision; she almost jogs to the backyard after realizing

She doesn’t know anyone at this party but the hosts.

Show the hosts laughing, spilling drinks, show

Our hero’s wide eyes and lips pressed tight as the hostess

Goes in for a tight embrace.

Zoom in on a plate full of food, quivering slightly, show her

Hand moving up and down rhythmically as the food disappears.

Show one glass of water, then two, emptying quickly

Match the arc of her eyes with the angle of her watch as she

Lifts the glass over and over again, especially when another person

Moves within speaking distance.  

There hasn’t yet been more than two sentences of dialogue.

The camera takes a shot from above: our hero is cross legged

On the floor in the dark, empty hallway, in between two sleeping dogs,

Texting furiously. A shot of the text:

“That cool guy who makes all the short films is here. He

Has cool glasses and a pretty girlfriend.”

Sudden shot of the cake, a burst of “Happy Birthday”, our hero

Is intrigued. She smiles for the first time and rises to meet the cake.

She waits in the back of a crowd in a blindingly bright kitchen,

An obvious shot of the movement out of the corner of her eye,

Then a slow motion shot of our hero’s head turning and her eyes widening again,

Her face twisting into something like a confused smile, brows furrowed,

As the girlfriend of the cool guy with the cool classes

Progresses ethereally toward our hero donning a coy smile of her own.

Slow motion shot of the cool guy’s girlfriend reaching up an arm

And sliding it around our hero’s shoulder; next we only see

A slick mouth next to a perspiring ear, pause, pause, pause.

All noise but the pounding heart of our hero stops and then-

“Honey, your fly is down” is heard like an avalanche and our hero,

Slow motion startled, drops her plate of cake. The camera follows

It’s fall down to the tight jeans, the open zipper, the studded boots.

Focus on the horrified and disappointed face of our hero.

End scene.