# 5 HONEY

...continuing of from # 4 HONEY

102 EXT ROCKS. OCEAN BEACH. LATE AFTERNOON

DANIEL, carrying a fishing rod and a basket with bread, cheeses, bottle of wine towards:

HELEN and JASPER, fishing from the rocks. JASPER smiles as she sees her father approach. HELEN'S smile is more forced. 

HELEN 
I've already organized dinner! At home!

JASPER 
Mum!

DANIEL kisses HELEN on the cheek, blows a kiss to JASPER.

DANIEL  
Any bites?

JASPER (LAUGHS) 
Just a few mosquitos. 

A LITTLE LATER 

DANIEL baits a hook. HELEN pours wine into two plastic cups.

HELEN 
Did she sign?

DANIEL shakes his head. 

HELEN 
But…

DANIEL holds his hand up: 'Not now'. HELEN is annoyed.

A LITTLE LATER

HELEN finishes her wine, her eyes on: 

DANIEL and JASPER fishing nearby - chatting and laughing together. HELEN pours herself another cup, watches them.

103 INT. BEDROOM/EN SUITE BATHROOM. NIGHT

DANIEL cleans his teeth, his eyes on HELEN undressing in the adjacent bedroom.  She is in a bad mood.

DANIEL  
…step-dad's been pimping her but…

HELEN  
I don't understand why she didn't just sign today! 

DANIEL  
…but she won't make a statement against him…

HELEN 
And you let her keep the money! Sorry, but…!

DANIEL  
Okay, what is it?

HELEN 
What is what?

DANIEL
You’re pissed of about something else, obviously!

HELEN
And you can’t figure out what?

DANIEL
No, I’m not psychic.

HELEN
That’s for sure!

DANIEL shakes his head. He does not want this argument!

HELEN 
That girl at the opening? The one who looked about 14 and couldn't keep her hands off you. 

DANIEL holds his hand up: 'stop'.

HELEN  
Do you think she's attractive?

DANIEL  (ANGRY) 
I'm not going to do this.

HELEN  
If I was a man I'd want to fuck her.  

DANIEL  
Stop. Helen. Please.

HELEN  
The thought didn’t occurred to you?

HELEN glares at DANIEL for a moment, crumbles, starts to cry, wipes tears from her eyes. DANIEL puts his arms around her.

HELEN 
Mum was the only one who understood me.

DANIEL nods, strokes HELEN'S hair. She looks up at him, her eyes brim full of pain and confusion. DANIEL kisses her lightly, affectionately, on the lips.

HELEN 
Why do you close your eyes when we kiss? When we fuck? Make love?

DANIEL has no answer.

104 EXT. RECREATION YARD. DAY

DANIEL, paper bag in hand, walks with REBECCA. They approach SIMMO, aged 15, looking through the window of the Gymnasium.  

REBECCA  
Simmo, you got nothing better to do?

SIMMO  
She's fucking weird, Bec!

REBECCA indicates with a gesture that SIMMO should leave. He does. DANIEL and REBECCA look through the window at:

HONEY dancing alone in the gymnasium. No music can be heard.

105 INT. GYMNASIUM. DAY

HONEY dances gracefully, eyes closed. DANIEL steps into the silent gym. HONEY opens her eyes, smiles, holds her hand up in greeting as she dances in time to music only she can hear.  

REBECCA smiles, shakes her head, indicates to DANIEL that she’ll leave him to it. HONEY dances on until REBECCA is gone.

HONEY  
You think I'm crazy?

DANIEL (SMILES) 
Depends what you're dancing to! (A BEAT) My guess is…not heavy metal? 

HONEY laughs, closes her eyes. DANIEL watches her; notices Honey's journal lying on the floor closeby. 

HONEY stops dancing, walks to DANIEL, drops to the floor alongside her journal, legs crossed, pats the floor beside her: “Sit!” 

DANIEL sits, hands the paper bag to HONEY.  

HONEY claps her hands excitedly, like a little girl, looks inside the paper bag - extracts a packet of cigarettes.

DANIEL  
You shouldn't be smoking at all, you know. 

HONEY  
Thanks for worrying about my lungs.

HONEY pulls out a bar of chocolate.

HONEY  
You're not worried about my teeth? 

DANIEL smiles. 

HONEY  
Thought you were busy today. 

DANIEL  
So, if not heavy metal…?  

HONEY laughs, shakes her head. DANIEL gestures: 'What?'

HONEY  
You have to guess. 

DANIEL  
Is there a prize for guessing right? 

HONEY  
Me. (A BEAT) Angel music.

DANIEL  
Harps?

HONEY  
No. No harps. Just voices.

DANIEL  
They talk to you? The angels?

HONEY  
No, they just sing.  

DANIEL  
Can you see them?

HONEY  
You mean are they real? (A BEAT) Or just in my imagination? (A BEAT) If they weren't real I wouldn't be able to hear them, would I? Unless I was mad, of course. (A BEAT) But I'm not mad. And I'm not bad… 

DANIEL
'But I am, it is true, a little bit sad.' 

HONEY beams a happy smile.

HONEY
And you? (A BEAT) When you're half way up one of your cliffs, do you ever think “I'll just step into space, leave my body, leave my aching heart with its scars…live with the angels forever?”

DANIEL and HONEY look at each other for a long moment.

DANIEL  
What if there are no angels?  

HONEY thinks for a moment, her eyes on DANIEL'S.

HONEY  
Life wouldn't be worth living if there weren't any angels. 

HONEY pauses, suddenly vulnerable. DANIEL holds eye contact with her for a long moment before she shrugs, looks away for a moment, as if to break some spell and then back at DANIEL.

HONEY  
Have you got an angel watching over you?

DANIEL  
Two. 

HONEY  
Two!

DANIEL opens his wallet, takes out a photo of himself, Helen and Jasper: a happy family.

DANIEL  
Helen and Jasper. 

HONEY  
Jasper…born in March, right? Birthstone...

DANIEL smiles, nods. HONEY takes the photo, looks at it.  

HONEY 
Was it love at first sight?

DANIEL
The moment she was born, yes.

HONEY
I mean, when you met Helen?

DANIEL nods.

HONEY 
Tell me.

DANIEL
What?

HONEY
About how you and Helen fell in love.

DANIEL
You really want to know?

A Saint-Saens Violin Concerto is heard low at first.

HONEY
“Once upon a time...”

DANIEL (LAUGHS)
Once upon a time... 

106 INT. DINING ROOM. DAY 

HELEN fixes photos into a large white faux-leather covered album. A Saint-Saens Violin Concerto plays in the background.
A black and white photo of herself and Jasper asleep in bed, cuddling. It is a beautiful photo. Too beautiful, perhaps, as a result of the photoshop work that has been done on it. 

HELEN'S many photo albums are spread out on the table in front of her and on the white leather couch she sits on.

107 EXT. GYMNASIUM. DAY

The Saint-Saens Violin Concerto contnues over SIMMO looking in through the window at HONEY and DANIEL talking. 

DANIEL (VOICE OFF) 
…and I said yes she could and she said no she couldn’t and I said yes and… 

108 INT. GYMNASIUM. DAY

DANIEL and HONEY sit together on the floor.

DANIEL  
…eventually she got tired of saying 'no'. 

HONEY claps her hands excitedly.

HONEY  
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes…my favorite word in the whole universe: 'Yes'! 

DANIEL  
…and nine months later Jasper was born. 

HONEY 
No way! 

DANIEL (NODS) 
Angel number two.

HONEY
You want a third angel?

DANIEL
Jasper keeps hassling us...

DANIEL realizes that HONEY is referring to herself.  He laughs self-consciously.  

HONEY  
My mother never says yes. It's always no. No, no, no…

DANIEL  
But your mother's dead. (A BEAT) Isn't she? 

HONEY  
Yes, but…

DANIEL
But?

HONEY looks away; evasive.

HONEY
Life is full of 'buts', ay? What ifs. In onlys...

DANIEL 
Usually an excuse not to do something you want to do. 

HONEY  
Or something you're scared to do. 

DANIEL  
What are you scared to do? 

HONEY  (LAUGHS)
Too scared to tell you.

DANIEL nods. 

HONEY 
If you’d walked in my shoes... (you’d understand). What size are you? (A BEAT) Is there anything you're too scared to tell anyone? Even someone you love? (A BEAT) Especially someone you love? 

DANIEL
You’re full of difficult questions aren’t you?

HONEY
I’ll take that as a ‘yes’. What?

DANIEL laughs.

HONEY 
You don’t have to tell me, if you don’t want to.

DANIEL
Very kind of you, ‘someone’. (A BEAT) You want to tell me what you’re too scared to tell anyone.

HONEY (SHRUGS)
You wouldn’t understand.

DANIEL
Maybe, maybe not, but you’ll only find out if you...

HONEY
Take a leap?

DANIEL nods.

HONEY 
Taking a leap without a safety net is pretty scary...for me.

DANIEL
For everyone.

HONEY
You could be my safety net?

DANIEL stares at HONEY, at a loss for words.

HONEY 
Sorry, sorry, sorry. I’m....just a selfish bitch...always thinking about myself...

DANIEL
No...

He reaches out to her. HONEY pulls back, a slightly crazed look in her eyes.

HONEY is silent for along moment, picking at a scab on one of the cut wounds on her arm. 

She looks at her shoulder, panic in her eyes. She flicks at her shoulder.

HONEY stares at DANIEL, stares through him; in a zone. 

DANIEL (PANICKING) 
Honey, what is it? What's wrong? 

HONEY looks at her shoulder, panic in her eyes. She flicks at her shoulder, tries to brush her invisible tormentor away. She turns pale, sweats profusely; looks at DANIEL as if she does not know who he is. 

She looks at her hands as if she does know what they are. DANIEL takes her hand, holds it.  

DANIEL  
Honey!

HONEY holds his hand tight - her whole body shaking now. DANIEL'S mobile rings. He ignores it; looks around, sees SIMMO, in shock, looking in through the window. He signals to SIMMO to get help. 

DANIEL  
What is it, Honey? 

HONEY stares at him blankly, her eyes darting then to one shoulder and then the other.  

109 INT. SHED. NIGHT

As seen from YOUNG HONEY’S bedroom:

HONEY’S MOTHER pours the contents of the can of petrol over her head. 

YOUNG HONEY runs into frame as her mother takes out a box of matches, takes out a match and lifts her hand to light it.

YOUNG HONEY opens her mouth to scream.

...end Episode One of HONEY