Underground Rivers by Mike French

the knife and lay it on his stomach. The tip of the blade on the buckle of his belt. Seems appropriate. Then we cling to each other. Two lost souls. Rocking. Sobbing. For the end of the world. Anna for baby blue-eyes. I for my blue-eyed boy. And all the while the white rug’s changing colour. So deeply red, it’s almost black at the heart.

Corripio Fatum
    by Rory Auld
    EXT. LIBRARY ENTRANCE. EVENING.
    KEVIN runs up the steps and comes to a halt, leaning against the wall. His hair is matted with sweat and his face is bright red.
    Looking around, he checks to make sure he is alone. He seems to have escaped his pursuers for the time being. Sliding to the floor, he lets out a large sigh of relief.
    Before he can become relaxed, he hears sounds of voices coming from around the corner of the library.
    ALAN (O.C.)
    Come on! I know he came down this street and there’s only one place he can be.
    Kevin staggers up and rushes into the library.
    No sooner is he in the door, then ALAN, JIM and JEFF appear, also heading into the building.
    INT. LIBRARY. EVENING.
    ALAN, JIM and JEFF stand in the middle of the library. It’s empty of people, except for the one librarian who is busy working. Alan scans the room, for any sign of KEVIN.
    ALAN
    Alright, spread out and find him ... and do it quietly. I don’t want to get booted out of here, before I get the chance to get my hands on him. Got it?
    Jim and Jeff nod and walk off in different directions. Alan stands waiting.
    Kevin stands behind a shelf, looking between the spaces in the books. Off in the distance he can just make out Alan. Slowly he bends down and walks along the line of the shelf, heading deeper into the library, in the hope of escaping his pursuers.
    After a short distance, Kevin comes to the end of the shelf and looks around. He is trapped. The shelf ends and opens into a large common area filled with tables for people to sit and read in quiet. But standing in the middle of that area is Jeff, his gaze, watchful: waiting for Kevin to make a mistake and show himself.
    Kevin takes a step back and spies an open door to his right. Above it is a sign: STAFF ONLY - LIBRARY ARCHIVES.
    Taking only a second to think, Kevin lunges forward from behind the shelf and through the door into the libraries archives.
    INT. LIBRARY ARCHIVES. EVENING.
    KEVIN enters the dimly lit room. It is filled with shelves upon shelves of dust covered books. More than Kevin could hope to read in one life time. He tentatively walks forward.
    After a short distance the sound of the door behind him slamming shut makes him jump and he turns around, trapped in the archives, no way of knowing if he is free to leave the library or not.
    With only one choice now presented to him, he begins to head deeper into the room. Slowly and as quietly as a mouse he advances.
    Every once in a while he stops to look at the books around him, but he dare not touch them.
    Turning a corner, he stumbles over a pile of books that have been left on the floor and collapses, knocking a nearby shelf. A dozen or so books land on top of him and as each one hits him, he lets out a small grunt of pain.
    After the last has landed, he pushes them off and sits up; he picks up the nearest book and examines it. It is simple with black leather bindings and on the side, in large white letters, it reads BOOK. Kevin opens it and skims through the pages. All of them are blank. Kevin flicks the book back to the first page and seeing that it is still empty goes to close it. As he does so he accidentally cuts his finger on the edge of the paper.
    A single drop of blood lands on the page and for a moment nothing happens. Then the paper absorbs it. Suddenly the pages begin to ruffle back and forward. Kevin drops the book in fright. After a short time the pages stop and fold open. Kevin slowly approaches. The first page of the book now reads:
    Corripio Fatum by Kevin Clarke.
    Kevin flicks through the pages once again, his face a mixture of