INT. SHOPPING MALL - UNKNOWN People walk here and there. NOISY ARCADE GAMES go off. The shops, are busy. A GUY with a black collared shirt and khakis walks towards us carrying some fast food in a bag. Beat. GUY (V.O.) This is me. This is where I work. We scan across the mall once again, there doesn't seem to be much happening. GUY (V.O.) (CONT'D) I work in the mall, along with five hundred other employees of varying backgrounds and skills. Right now, in that bag is a classic single with cheese and mustard only. Fries, and a chocolate shake. Now if you were to take a guess as to whose food that is, you would naturally say mine. Right? Well it's not. It's my managers. The Guy rounds the corner towards his store. GUY (V.O.) (CONT'D) Now, if somewhere in my vague introduction you began to question my place of employment, you're already ahead of the game. The Guy finds himself walking into a NOW SHOWING - MOTION PICTURE COMPANY. GUY (V.O.) (CONT'D) I work here. Now Showing. The store for movie lovers. INT. NOW SHOWING ENTRANCE - UNKNOWN Guy walks in and hands the bag to his manager, who shows him absolutely no gratitude in return. She just pulls the food out and begins eating. GUY (V.O.) A person of lesser humanity, basically anyone other than myself, would complain about the actions of my dear store manager and possibly confront her about her obvious rudeness. But like I said, a person of lesser humanity. The Guy walks towards a shelf of DVDs and begins alphabetizing them, making things neat. GUY (V.O.) (CONT'D) So this is what I do, I help maintain and run a DVD store. Beat. GUY (V.O.) (CONT'D) So, here's your plot twist... The Manager shuffles some papers into a neat stack, and clips them together. She lays them out on the counter. MANAGER Okay, I'm going on break. I'll be back in half an hour. Here are my keys... She takes off her lanyard and dumps them with the papers. MANAGER (CONT'D) If you have any problems my cell phone number is... She grabs a pen and an old receipt, and jots down her number. MANAGER (CONT'D) Be back. She grabs her purse and walks out of the store. GUY (V.O.) Technically what she just did is against policy, and she'd be opted for termination. Guy stares out into the mall. He just stares. GUY (V.O.) (CONT'D) But, if it weren't for her illegal little walk-outs I'd never have time to do what I really do... CUT TO: INT. BACKROOM - BRIGHT FLUORESCENT LIGHT Guy charges into the back and flicks out a hooked pocket knife. He approaches a stack of sealed boxes. They all look the same, except for one. One with a BIG BLACK STAR stamped on it. Guy slowly inches the box out of the stack, and drops it on the floor. GUY (V.O.) I'm a bag man. He slices the seal, and opens the box completely. One half of the box, is filled with blank DVD cases. The other...bags of heroine, and cocaine. The Guy's watch STARTS BEEPING. He looks at it, it reads "2:41". GUY (V.O.) (CONT'D) Jack. The Guy reaches under a nearby shelf and un-tapes a handgun. GUY (V.O.) (CONT'D) Remember, security, is a must. He stuffs the gun behind his belt. The Guy grabs a Now Showing bag. In it he puts two blank DVD cases, and a bag of cocaine. CUT TO: INT. NOW SHOWING FRONT DESK - NEXT A YOUNG MAN in a red T-shirt and khakis stands at the front. The Guy approaches the counter with the bag. He tosses it behind the counter quickly. GUY How's it going today sir? JACK Pretty good. GUY Need help finding anything today sir? JACK Yeah, I wanted to check to see if you had a movie in stock. GUY All right. The guy approaches a computer on the counter, and opens a program. JACK Yeah, the title of the movie is "Two Thousand White Snowflakes". The guy types that in. GUY Yes, we have it on DVD. JACK Awesome, I'll take that. The Guy leaves the counter and walks over to a random DVD shelf, and picks out two movies. GUY (V.O.) Am I proud of what I do? No. Do I condone what I do? No. However, I do have to live. Oh yeah, if you're wondering at all, that whole thing between me and him, that was code. People are watching this place, all the time. Across the hall, in GameDepot three of the employees stand with their arms folded. Staring right into Now Showing. Guy approaches the counter with the movies, and crouches behind the counter. He puts the movies on the ground and grabs the bag. He stands up and hands the bag to Jack. Jack puts a COUPLE OF FIFTIES on the table. JACK Thanks. GUY Anytime. Jack walks out of the store. GUY (V.O.) (CONT'D) Three more to go. His watch reads, "2:50". Behind the counter, Guy takes out the gun and makes sure it's loaded. It is. Someone walks in. It's just a regular customer, they're staring at the new releases. GUY (CONT'D) How's it going? CUSTOMER Pretty good, you? GUY Pretty good. CUSTOMER Good. GUY Well, if you need any help, you know who to ask. CUSTOMER Thanks. The Guy watches the customer disappear behind one of the long shelves of DVDs. QUEEN (O.C.) Hey. Guy's head quickly whips in the direction of the voice. AN ATTRACTIVE WOMAN stands there in a simple blue T-shirt with khakis. GUY Hey, welcome to Now Showing. QUEEN Hey. I'm looking for something for my Husband. The word Husband seems to echo in The Guy's head. GUY Yeah. Well, what does your husband like? We've got just about everything here. She pauses for a moment, trying to remember. QUEEN He likes- GUY Just about everything. QUEEN Oh. Yeah. Guy glances over at GameDepot the three guys are still staring. GUY Ma'am, since it's your first time in Now Showing, may I interest you in a Replay card? It's our store card that saves you money on all of your purchases. Put simply it saves you ten to fifteen percent on anything you buy in the store. QUEEN Um, sure. Guy grabs a gift card looking thing on the wall. GUY Let me also give you their number in case you have any questions. Guy grabs an old piece of paper and starts to write something. He staples it to the card. The paper reads, "BE MORE PREPARED". GUY (CONT'D) You fill that out, I'll be back in a second. CUT TO: INT. BACKROOM - NEXT Guy walks in and grabs the box. CUT TO: INT. NOW SHOWING FRONT DESK - NEXT Guy puts the box behind the counter, as Queen reads what he wrote. QUEEN Looks good. He begins to "scan" each barcode and put the items in the large bag. The Queen grabs her purse and puts a couple fifties on the counter. Guy gives the bag to her and takes the money. GUY Have a nice day ma'am. QUEEN I will. Beat. GUY (sighs) Two. Guy looks around the store to see if the customer is still there. GUY (V.O.) (CONT'D) I've been doing this for three years. By now you'd think that I'd be fine with it. But everytime I still get nervous. I still freak out. I keep thinking that maybe this is the day. That maybe, this is when it all comes down, when I get busted. So, I'm always on my toes. Guy keeps scanning the store, there's no sign of the customer. Guy moves around the counter and walks over to get a better look. He's gone. The customer is completely gone. GUY (V.O.) (CONT'D) Always on my toes... Guy panics. He gives the store one last look the charges into the back room. CUT TO: INT. BACKROOM - NEXT Guy busts in. The Customer is looking in a box, he has a walkie-talkie in his hand. CUSTOMER Hey, wait! Guy runs up to a shelf and grabs a Nightmare Before Christmas pillow and tackles the guy to the ground. He puts the pillow over his face, and sticks the gun in it. A MUFFLED GUNSHOT goes off, and the guy goes limp. Guy falls back, some blood on his face, tiny feathers raining down around him. He grabs the walkie talkie out of the customer's hand and looks at it. He looks at the power switch. It hasn't been turned on. GUY (V.O.) Ya know, luck just might have something to do with it too. He drops the walkie talkie. GUY (CONT'D) Thank you. Guy stands up and uses his black shirt to quickly wipe the blood off his face. He tucks the gun back in his pants. Guy approaches an intercom on a desk in the room. He presses a button. He's listening to see if anyone's in the store. Nothing. GUY (V.O.) (CONT'D) Someone wise once said, "Only the good die young." Guy gives the room a good look around. His eyes look back to the body, the head is now sitting in a puddle of blood. Guy reaches in the pocket and pulls out the wallet. He opens it, a badge. A big gold badge. A PICTURE falls out of the wallet and right into the blood. Guy looks down to see a little girl's face staring back at him. GUY (V.O.) (CONT'D) At this rate, I'll live forever. CUT TO: INT. NOW SHOWING FRONT DESK - NEXT Guy approaches the front desk and grabs a phone, he dials a number. GUY Hello sir, just reminding you that a couple weeks ago you special ordered a movie called, "bullet" and it came in just now. Guy grabs a red and white slip from under the desk that says, "RETURN/EXCHANGE" on it. He puts it on the counter. Beat. GUY (CONT'D) All right. See you then. He hangs up the phone and brings his attention to another person walking through the entrance. AN OLDER MAN in a green T-shirt and khakis. King. GUY (CONT'D) How's it going, sir? KING Hey. I'm looking to return this. King brings out a Now Showing bag with something obviously inside. GUY What's wrong with it? KING Ya know, turns out we already bought it. I have my receipt, and it's not opened so I was wondering if I could get my money back. GUY You sure can. Just fill this out. Guy points to the slip he put on the counter only moments before. KING Can do. Guy crouches behind the counter and removes the contents from the bag. Two pouches of what looks like diamonds. He puts them in the box, and tapes the box up. He rolls up his pant leg, and pulls down his sock. A black pouch is tucked inside. He unzips it and pulls out quite a few bills. He takes a pen and writes some number on the top bill. GUY Here you go sir. He hands the money to King. KING Thanks. Guy takes the slip and puts it in his pocket. Just as King leaves, a man in a blue jump suit and a black duffle bag walks into Now Showing. JUMPSUIT I'm here to pick up bullet and look at your circuit breaker. GUY In the back. Beat. GUY (V.O.) (CONT'D) For three years I've never had a botched pickup, or delivery. Ever. That's why they come to me. I'm the best. Whenever there's a problem, I handle it. And I handle it well. Beat. Guy stares at his hands, a tiny drop of blood sit on his finger. GUY (V.O.) (CONT'D) I considered quitting once. But you can't. Once it's in your system, you have to keep doing it. It won't let you. It grabs you by the soul, and sucks you in. Beat. GUY (V.O.) (CONT'D) Ya know, they never think about this, but I'm the most powerful person in the business. All their money, all their power comes through me. I'm the safe, I'm the piggy bank, I'm the best friend. I could walk away right now and change my name, live it sweet on the Riviera. Buy some island, and disappear... Guy's watch STARTS BEEPING. He looks at it and it reads, "3:16". Guy looks up panicked. GUY (CONT'D) Five minutes... Guy's eyes dart left and right, the sound of a vacuum cleaner vaguely comes through the walls of the back room. Guy books it around the counter, and runs towards the back. CUT TO: INT. BACKROOM - NEXT The man in the jumpsuit is steam cleaning the stain on the floor. GUY Where is he? Jumpsuit looks back at guy and motions towards the duffle bag. GUY (CONT'D) Oh, okay. How much longer? JUMPSUIT (over the machine) About six or seven minutes. GUY You have four. Jumpsuit looks back at the stain. JUMPSUIT There just- GUY (yelling) You have four! Guy burst back through the door. INT. NOW SHOWING FRONT DESK - NEXT He's a man on a mission, he storms to the front of the store. EXT. NOW SHOWING - NEXT He charges straight out into the mall. He looks down the hall and sees his Manager, she's making her way back. INT. NOW SHOWING FRONT DESK - NEXT Guy runs back in, and up to the intercom. He presses the call button: GUY Now, you're out, Now! (screaming) Now! The backroom door squeaks open. He's coming out. Guy quickly looks out the door and sees his Manager, she's here. He's panicking, PANTING HEAVILY. He moves out from behind the desk, ready to try to explain everything. Jumpsuit, covered in blood, with the duffle bag emerges from the shelves and stops immediately, he sees the manager too. He shoots a glance to Guy. Guy stares wide eyed at Jumpsuit, and back at his manager. She walks in, and stops in her tracks. The moment seems to last FOREVER, Guy's heartbeat THUNDERS IN HIS EARS. She slowly turns her attention to him. This is it, his day has come... MANAGER What the hell are you doing? Suddenly, the world seems to settle down. Guy looks to Jumpsuit. He's not there... He looks to his hands. The blood-spot has disappeared. MANAGER (CONT'D) I said. What, are you doing? Guy looks around the store, some customers meander through the aisles. There's even a customer at the front waiting to be rung up. MANAGER (CONT'D) How long has he been waiting? GUY I, uh... MANAGER Did you space out again? Guy sighs. MANAGER (CONT'D) Okay, I'm gonna take care of this customer, you go take your break or something. GUY Okay. CUT TO: EXT. NOW SHOWING - NEXT Guy walks out of Now Showing and into the mall. He looks into GameDepot, they're not staring anymore. They're tending to customers. Guy starts walking down the hall, the EASY-LISTENING MALL MUSIC starts to fill the air. Guy approaches a bench and sits down. He sighs. Beat. Guy looks around, and reaches under the bench. He pulls out a paper bag with a big black star stamped on it, and sets it in his lap. He gets up with the bag and heads down the hall. He throws it in a trash can. END.