Bloody bones | John Burt

(If you're not afraid yet, you will be)! Synopsis: The West African coast, 300 years ago. Late at night Jairobi, slips from her bed, leaving her grandfather and younger brother Wazoni asleep in the hut that they shared. She speaks briefly to her sister, who is walking outside with her infant. On the baby's arm, we see a birthmark shaped like a crescent moon with a drop of blood falling from the lower point. Jairobi then slips off into the jungle to meet with her betrothed. As she reaches the meeting place, an elephant graveyard, she sees her betrothed's body tied to a tree and she is captured by his murderer. Mahandino and his warriors surround her. Mahandino tells Jairobi that he will now take her to wife, now that his rival is dead. She refuses and enraged, Mahandino rapes her and cuts her face to make sure no one else will want her. Jairobi fights like a wildcat, and as she struggles the Blood Moon birthmark on her thigh shows. As Mahindino begins to cut her face, Jairobi curses him to their god, Wannatae. Now frightened as well as enraged, Mahandino beats her to death with an elephant rib bone. At the same time Jairobi's grandfather, the village shaman and her brother wake at the same time. Grandfather, knowing something terrible is happening to Jairobi, picks up an ancient book and puts a curse on it. He shoves it into Wazoni's hands and sends him running to find Jairobi. It has begun to pour down rain and as he runs down the path all Wazoni knows is that he must bury the book once he finds her. Guided by her screams, he arrives at the clearing just as Mahandino looms up in his path. Mahindino is terrible to look at and attacks Wazoni. Terrified the boy scoops up the wet earth and begins to bury the book, even as Mahandino gives him terrible blows from the rib bone. As Wazoni throws earth over the book, Mahandino's bones begin to snap and tear through his skin. Howling he is dragged into the earth, even as Wazoni scoops the last bit of earth over the book and succumbs to his injuries. Ninteen years later, slavers have arrived and are loading men and women from Jairobi's village into rowboats to begin the long journey to America. Among them is Jairobi's nephew, bearing the family Blood Moon birthmark on his arm. It is modern day, and Sarah Hool is on an archaeological dig on the West Coast of Africa. She has been digging at a distance from the camp and unearths an ancient, leather bound book that appears to be stained with blood. Not knowing why, she slips the book into her knapsack and tells no one she has found it. Once home, at the University of Birmingham, Alabama, she consults with her fellow professor and best friend Earthalene. Earthaline is an expert in African Languages and together they begin to decipher the book. They sit with their heads together, and as Earthaline leans over, we see the Blood Moon birthmark on her arm. Things begin to happen from there. Early in the morning Earthaline is wakened by the neighborhood girls chanting "Bloody Bones, Bloody Bones, won'tcha come out and play?" She is amused and a bit nervous. She hasn't heard that chant since she was a child, and she remembers her grandmother scaring her with stories of Bloody Bones, that he would come up the stairs, step by step and "Get her," is she didn't go right to sleep. Arriving at the university she visits Sarah in her office. Sarah is tired, she saw a shadow slip into her living room last night and she had been too frightened to sleep. They are interrupted by a frantic call from Earthaline's daughter Jenny, who is visiting from college. Jenny tells Earthaline to come home immediately, their elderly neighbor has been murdered, beaten to death and the police are asking questions. And so it begins, Bloody Bones is terrorizing Birmingham, he is manifested by the children's chant and chases them down. He is continuously hunting Jairobi's descendants and the police are at a loss to explain all the murders. Sarah travels to New Orleans to learn from Ashanti Man who tells her why the book is cursed and what they must do to bury Bloody Bones forever. Sarah barely makes it back to Birmingham in time to confront Bloody Bones before he destroys Earthaline and Jenny. If you would like to read the entire script and see how it ends, go to my page at studios.amazon.com. You can search by my name - Johnny Edward Burt - or by the project name - Bloody Bones. Read it, rate it, review it - let me know what you think! Thank you! (If you're not afraid yet, you will be)!