An exhausted young woman battles against her boyfriend's PTSD

SYNOPSIS:

‘Stand To’ is a short drama telling the overlooked story of PTSD’s impact on a veteran’s

loved ones, told through the unique perspective of a traumatised soldier’s exhausted partner.

It opens on our protagonist, Adrienne, lying wide awake in bed, frozen in fear as her partner,

Dean thrashes about in the grip of a nightmare. Next morning, Adrienne invites Dean out

with her and her best friend, Steph, desperate to motivate him. However, Dean rudely refuses,

preferring to play video games. This latest failure pushes Adrienne closer to her limit.

Despite her struggles, Adrienne refuses Steph’s help, determined to be Dean’s saviour.

Reminiscing through flashbacks, Adrienne recounts her relationship with Dean deteriorating

through him going on tour, losing his best friend, Tom, and the onset of his trauma. Adrienne

and Steph talk for so long that Adrienne’s late getting home, which infuriates Dean. Obsessed

with the idea that mistakes cost lives, he becomes dangerously irrational. Nervous, paranoid

and hallucinating, Dean attacks Adrienne, convinced he’s actually storming a bomb factory.

Barricading herself in the bathroom, Adrienne tearfully despairs that the man she loves is

gone.

Reunited with Steph, Adrienne reveals she is in therapy and Dean’s in hospital. But when

Dean’s doctor calls to say that he’s declined further treatment, Adrienne races home to find

Dean’s committed suicide. Consumed with guilt and devastated by her own trauma, the

closing shot is of Adrienne sitting on the floor of her bedroom, ignoring endless calls from

Steph, blankly staring a thousand yard stare.

STAND TO