"Rise Above This"

“Rise Above This!” A feature screenplay synopsis By Aaron Marcus Webb After fighting years of abuse and neglect, a troubled teenager sets out on a journey of self-discovery in a complex world designed to destroy her. Synopsis Taj Jackson is a twelve-year-old girl who only wants to obtain the love and affection of her mother, Sheila, a single mother who struggles with drug addiction and works as a stripper and prostitute in Chicago. While out at all hours of the night, Taj is left home alone to take care for herself. When Sheila is home, she subjects Taj to verbal and physical abuse. Taj is also raped by Sheila’s pimp/boyfriend, Ron. In the late stages of a pregnancy, Taj is struck by Sheila. Taj takes a fall and her water breaks. Later, at the hospital, Taj stillbirths. A child protective officer appears to address the repeated abuse and the obvious rape of Taj. Taj insists to her mother out of fear that she didn’t say anything to the officer. Sheila tells her to get up to go home. At home, Taj is forced to clean up a messy house while Sheila prepares for a night out, this time working the streets of Chicago. Sheila tells Taj that it was a blessing the baby died because she didn’t need it. Later that night, Sheila sneaks in to avoid revealing bruises she received from Ron. Taj questions why, and Sheila insists what she does pays the bills, puts food on the table, and she will not accept a job in retail or customer service answering phones. An upset Taj storms out, but Sheila tells her to come back. Sheila tells Taj if she gets too grown she will have to leave home. Taj is later forced out and she lives on the streets. A homeless man, Ray, a veteran struggling with mental illness, becomes Taj’ protector on the streets. They camp together. He instructs her on survival on the streets, and he tells her to go back home because this is no way for a child to live. Taj tells him that she was kicked out of her home while her mother’s boyfriend moved in. One morning, Taj awakens in Ray’s tent alone. Ray, who left the previous night to get food, never returned home. She is now alone, cold, and scared living on the streets of Chicago. Taj goes back home to possibly get another chance to come back only to discover her mother has been murdered at the hand of Ron. It’s only after her mother’s death that Taj learns she has had aunts and other family living in Chicago all along. She also meets her grandmother, Percelle, an outspoken lady who struggled raising Sheila in the Mississippi Delta town of Harmony. Percelle regrets the kind of relationship she had with Sheila and asks Taj to come stay with her in an attempt to make up for the loss she feels involving Sheila. At Percelle’s house, Taj finds that life in Mississippi is troublesome because everything she does is wrong or evil in the eyes of her grandmother. Percelle is always watching Taj looking for her to make a mistake. She tells Taj to never get involved with her cousin, Mathias, because he is a drug dealer, pimp, and fence working the area. Taj is immediately drawn to Matthias, especially his nice and sexy BMW coupe, but she is also afraid of the scorn of Percelle. Taj meets Ruthie, a bi-racial girl struggling with identity one day at school, the same school her mother, Sheila once attended. She immediately falls in love with Ruthie, but Ruthie has a boyfriend, a high school jock, and a son, Taylor. To pacify her time, Taj gets involved with Pamela, a girl from Percelle’s church, hanging out and smoking weed with Lacresia, a friend from school, and reading her mother’s old diary, a set of spiral notebooks Sheila wrote in when she was in high school. Taj learns that Sheila had the same kind of relationship with Percelle that she is currently having with her. When Percelle learns that Taj has corrupted Pamela by having sex with her, she tells her that she will, “bust hell wide open”. Taj leaves home several times as she struggles with her relationship with Percelle. One night while out riding around and smoking weed, Taj and Lacresia are pulled over by Sheriff Nelson, a tall and dominating figure with questionable ethics. He arrests them for having weed. Percelle is livid. Taj is confronted by Mathias who is impressed with her street smarts. He wants to recruit her to work with him, which she immediately declines. Mathias asks her to hold on to a duffle bag, which she reluctantly agrees to. She finds out the bag contains $500,000 which she learns Mathias stole from a drug connect, Duke, from New Orleans. Taj takes the money to stash in a crawl space underneath Ruthie’s house. Ruthie doesn’t want the money in her mother’s house, so Taj agrees to take the money back to Mathias. Taj and Ruthie grow closer and closer together, despite the fact that Ruthie has a boyfriend, but their relationship is strained due to the presence of Taj. Duke arrives in town looking for his money. His two henchmen terrorize Mathias who swears he doesn’t have any money. Duke doesn’t believe him because Mathias’ co-conspirator, Miklos already confessed to stealing the money and implicated Mathias. Duke decides to not kill Mathias until he has received his money. Scared, Mathias confides in Taj, telling her that he stole the money and that he wants out of the life he never really wanted. He even tells Taj to take the money and get out of town. Taj refuses vowing to never turn against family. Duke and his henchmen show up at Ruthie’s house, which Taj immediately confesses that she has the money underneath the house. Taj goes to get it and discovers the money is gone. She realizes that Mathias has double-crossed her. They go to look for Mathias. After forcing Mathias off the road as he is attempting to skip town, Duke and his henchmen get into a gunfight. At this moment, Ruthie tries to flee danger and is shot and killed. Taj is also shot in the shoulder. Duke and his henchmen are now dead, and Taj learns that Mathis has also been shot. Mathias tells Taj to take the money right before he dies. Taj takes the money. Later in the hospital, Taj, reading the last of her mother’s notebooks, learns that Sheila was raped by Sheriff Nelson when he was a deputy years prior and Sheila was in high school. Sheriff Nelson is Taj’ father. Taj goes to confront him, revealing his secret, and vowing to never ask for anything from him because he is not her "father". Taj leaves the town of Harmony on a quest to go to New York City to remember her mother, who wanted to become a dancer and live in New York. Several years later, Taj completes an autobiography of her life entitled, "Rise Above This!" She dedicates the book to Ray, who she believes saved her life. She learns that Ray was murdered on the streets during the time she was with him. Ray’s daughter reminisces on the good times she had with her father and mother living as a family. Sheila reflects on what family really is. The End Email: aaronmarcuswebb@gmail.com Phone : (469) 456-3086