THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA
THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE
AND THE MILLERS
SCREENPLAY BY ANN PEACOCK
BASED ON THE NOVEL BY C.S. LEWIS
TRANSCRIBED BY STUART C
REWRITTEN BY REGALGIRL94
BOMBING LONDON
Random German bombs fell out of the dark, cloudy sky in the dead on night. They whistled to the ground before destroying their crash sites as they landed. A little boy with dark hair, dark wondrous eyes and a gaping mouth stared up at the bombs in awed horror from the window. A woman was running around frantically when she caught sight of him, "Edmund! Get away from there! What do you think you're doing?" She looked to her other son, "Peter!"
An older boy with blonde floppy hair and blue eyes grabbed Edmund from the window, "Come on! To the shelter, now!" He tugged him towards the exit.
A girl with shoulder length dark hair to match Edmund's was grabbing things from next to her bed with a flashlight when she noticed a much younger girl frightened in bed. The red haired little girl was crying in fright as her older sister shouted, "Lucy, come on! Lucy!"
The Pevensies were running to the shelter, shouted things like 'hurry up' or 'run!'. Edmund turned around, as if forgetting something as they ran outside, "Wait, dad!" He ran inside ignoring his brother's shouts and mother's cries.
Once inside he grabbed a picture just as he got blown against the wall upon impact. Peter shouted, "Come on idiot," he threw Edmund onto the ground of the shelter, "Why do you always have to be so selfish! You only think about anything but yourself. Why can't you ever do as you're told!" He turned and slammed the shelter door.
NEW YORK CITY, 2003
The dark of the night was chased away as a girl turned on the lamp on her bedside table. The dark haired girl sat up in her bed with a groan. She couldn't sleep. She had always been too restless, never really sitting still. She looked over to her window and saw the dark night wind pushing a tree branch against the glass, making the scratching noise.
Her door was opened as a dark skinned woman opened it and poked her head inside, "Are you alright, Jo?" She had a thick African accent as she looked concerned at Jo.
Jo smiled gently, "Yes, Lulu. I just couldn't sleep." Lulu smiled softly at her as she came over to sit on the edge of her bed. She gently took her surrogate daughter's hand and said with comfort, "You know, when I first started watching you and your sister, I was scared and young and didn't know how to take care of children as well as a house hold."
Jo smiled, remembering when Mother had hired Lulu when she and her sister were just four years old. She had been scared – Lulu, not Jo – and tentative. But she had always been attentive to her and Richelle's needs and raised them like they were her own children. Sometimes Jo even called her mom.
Jo and Richelle's dad died when they were just a year old. They don't remember him. But when they were about six Lulu found a box full of pictures and toys that their dad had took and bought for them. He loved them both very much and Lulu made sure they knew it. He was just much older than their mother. He had had two wives before their mother in search for a life partner and their mother was his last attempt. But she just wanted his money.
Having Jo and Richelle was an attempt to save their failing marriage. Mother wasn't much of a mother from the get go. But their father loved them more than anything up to his death. And for that, Jo – and Richelle – was always more loyal to her father's memory than to her mother's expectations.
Lulu smiled at Jo, "But you came into my room one night, and told me that you were glad I came to you and your sister. You said that I was welcome. And no one has ever been so welcoming and kind to me as you and your sister. And I knew that everything would be okay. And someday I'll be able to bring my children to this country and then all my children will be together."
Jo smiled back at Lulu, "Thanks mom." Lulu's eyes always watered when Jo or Richelle called her mom. Lulu bent forward and kissed Jo's forehead, "Go to sleep child. You have an early flight tomorrow."
TRAIN STATION... 1942
A robust, balding man with a uniform and cap called out loudly, "Attention, would all parents ensure that their children have the appropriate identification papers."
Mrs. Pevensie fussed over Lucy, "You warm enough? Now honey you have to keep this on you. Be sure and keep this on."
Edmund grumbled, "If Dad were here, he wouldn't make us go." Mrs. Pevensie faltered at the mention of her husband away fighting in battle.
Peter glared, "If Dad were here, then the war would be over and we wouldn't have to go."
Mrs. Pevensie moved onto her youngest boy and looked gently at him, "You will listen to you brother, won't you Edmund?" Edmund didn't answer, instead sulking to himself as he brushed his mother off. Mrs. Pevensie swallowed as she stood to Peter and brought him into her arms, "Look after the others."
Peter let one tear fall as he choked, "I will mum."
Mrs. Pevensie kissed his cheek before looking at her oldest daughter, "You be a big girl now Susan." Susan nodded sadly after she hugged her mother. The woman nodded to herself, "There now... off you go."
Peter grabbed Lucy's hand as he led his siblings over to the train. Looking to the side he caught sight a group of solders marching through the station. He looked wistfully at them, thinking of his father. He wished he could do what his father was doing, and make him proud.
The attendant looked irritated at him and Susan huffed, "Peter!" She snatched the papers from his hand and handed them to the attendant who then urged them on so he could get through the other children.
Susan tried to help Edmund onto the platform when he snapped, "I know how to get on a train."
Peter looked back at his mother one last time, "Bye mum, we'll miss you." Once on the train they all poke their heads out the window to wave to their mother while she waved them off as she whispered, "Goodbye my darlings."
MIDDLE OF NOWHERE
Once dropped off, the train didn't wait before moving along the tracks. The four of them all stood past the high platform and looked around in confusion. Susan put a hand on her hip, "The Professor knew we were coming..."
Edmund lazily twisted his identification tag to look at it, "Perhaps we've been incorrectly labeled?"
Just then the heard the trotting of hooves as a horse and buggy pulled up with a woman steering it. She had her back as straight as a pole and a pursed lips. Peter looked up hesitantly, "Mrs. Macready?"
The woman answered, "I'm afraid so. Is that it then? Haven't you brought anything else?"
The children looked at themselves self-consciously as Peter answered, "No, ma'am. It's just us."
Mrs. Macready muttered, "Small favors." And ushered them in the buggy.
IN THE HOUSE
Mrs. Macready led up the stairs to their room while educating them of how they were to behave, "The professor is unaccustomed to having children in his house, and as such, there are to be a few rules we need to follow. There will be no shouting or running, no improper use of the dumbwaiter," She turned sharply to Susan who was reaching out to something, starting the poor girl away from it, with a scandalized voice, "NO touching of the historical artifacts," She straightened up and kept walking, "and above all, there hall be no disturbing of the Professor."
As the children got ready for bed, the radio sounded, "German aircraft carried out several attacked on Great Britain last night." Susan rushed over to the radio and shut it off.
"The sheets feel scratchy," Lucy whined softly. Susan softened as she sat by her side, "Wars don't last forever, Lucy. We'll be home soon."
"If home's still there," Edmund said with disdain.
Susan huffed unintelligibly and gave him a stern look, "Isn't it time you were in bed?"
Edmund scoffed, "Yes, mum," he drawled sarcastically.
"ED!" Peter snapped. He turned to his youngest sister and tried to comfort her, "You saw outside. This place is huge. We'll be able to do whatever we want here. Tomorrow's going to be great. You'll see."
THE DIRK'S HOUSEHOLD, 2003
The driver pulled up the dirty driveway as Richelle gazed out the window. Her hair was longer and curlier than her sister's but just as dark. She looked up at the large imposing house and got out of the car, jogging to the stairs as her sister grumbled behind her.
She walked into the household and was immediately met by an old woman, maybe in her eighties. The woman froze mid-step when she saw her, "Oh... it's you."
Richelle smiled noncommittally, "I'm guessing I look like my late grandfather. I was always told that my sister and I look like my father..."
The woman shook herself, "Of course, dear." She then rushed forward to hug her, "Oh, it's so good to see – I mean meet you. I wish it were under better circumstances." Richelle nodded in agreement as Jo walked in behind her.
The woman gasped when she caught sight of Jo. Richelle assumed it was because of their identical appearances. "Oh this must be your sister. Now let me guess..." She pointed to Richelle, "You're Richelle and you are..." She gazed at Jo, "Jo. It's so nice to meet you both."
After hugging Jo – awkwardly on Jo's part – she backed up. Richelle smiled, "It's nice to meet you two Mrs. Davis. Even under the circumstances."
The old woman nodded, "Now, come. You must meet the others." She ushered them into a sitting room. Jo looked behind her and grabbed Lulu's hand before following. In the other room there was three old men and two old women.
Mrs. Davis led them over to an old man who was standing with a joyful smiled on his face. He wrapped an arm around her as she smiled and said, "Girls, this is my husband, Edward Davis."
The girls smiled to him as another old woman came up to them and said, "Oh, it's so good to meet you girls. We're sorry about your grandfather though."
Jo was glancing around the decorative room as she drawled, "It's okay. We didn't know him."
Richelle tried to awkwardly laugh off her sister's obvious tension. She looked at the people, "Thank you for having us but we're quite jet lagged..."
Mrs. Davis perked up, "Oh, of course there's quite a time difference. I'll show you up to your rooms."
Later that night, Jo was still up when she heard rustling. She got up out of bed and walked over to her large door and opened it. She looked down the hall and saw one of the old men shuffling down the hall. She recognized him from the sitting room earlier, he had contented himself to sitting alone in the corner.
She was about to call out to him when she noticed that his eyes were closed. Was he sleep walking? Jo walked up to him gingerly as put a hand on his shoulder, "Sir... Sir wake up!"
His eyes popped open suddenly, startling Jo to shriek. She slapped a hand over her mouth to muffle the sound. Jo's wide eyes met the man's twinkling blue eyes. His winkled face morphed into a smile as he whispered – as if in bliss, "Jo Miller..."
Jo slowly nodded, "Yes sir. Um... I think you've been sleep walking. Your and your sibling's rooms are supposed to be at the other end of the house."
The man nodded, to himself, "I hope I didn't wake you..." But something about the way he said it, made her think that he knew he didn't wake her.
But Jo shook her head reassuringly anyway and said, "No, I was already awake. Insomniac, I'm afraid. Why don't I walk you back to your room?" The old man smiled to her as she took his arm and started leading him down the hall.
"Have you liked what you've seen of England so far?" Jo was surprised when he asked. She thought he was too tired to talk.
She stuttered for a little before nodding, "What I've seen. It's a lot greener than the big city."
The man chuckled quietly, "I would suspect as much."
It was quiet for a moment, "Who are the others..? I only really met Mr. and Mrs. Davis..."
The old man smiled to himself, "Of course... Mrs. Davis and the other woman who greeted you are my sisters. The other man beside Mr. Davis is my brother and the last woman is his wife."
"Your other sister isn't married?" Jo asked in conversation.
He shook his head, "No, widowed I'm afraid. Her late husband past away three years ago. Heart attack."
The common 'I'm sorry' or 'that's terrible' got caught in her throat. Instead she asked, "And you...?"
"No," he sighed, "I never married..."
Jo looked at him surprised, and wondered why she cared. "Why not? Didn't you ever find someone?"
The man was quiet for a moment and Jo wondered if she was being too nosy. If she'd gone too far. But he did speak, "There was someone... once. She was the most special person in the world. Nothing could break us apart."
"Was it love at first sight?" Jo asked curiously.
He shook his head with a hearty chuckle, "Good Heavens no. We couldn't stand each other at first. We always argued. But somewhere in that passion, we found our love for each other. And then... nothing could tear us apart it seemed."
"Then why did you never marry her? If you don't mind me asking..."
"Of course not..." he sighed, "Well it seemed something actually could tears us apart... Even if we didn't want it too..."
Jo felt her heart drop... she must have died. She couldn't ask him how though. "I'm sorry sir."
The man looked at her for a moment, with his twinkling blue eyes, "We were both young, we had our time together... And I never took one minute for granted. Neither did she. Unless she was mad at me..." He trailed off with a chuckled before taking a strained breath in, "And though I thought my life was over the moment I lost her... all I have to do is remember her... remember our time together..." He trailed off for a second, as if lost in memories, making Jo smile. He continued, "And I remember that we will be together again. And that is what keeps me living today."
"That's beautiful, sir. She must have been very special."
He smiled softly to himself, whispering, "She is..."
okay so tell me what you think! This is my first Narnia story and I've already finished this one and am more than half way through the Prince Caspian sequel. But I still want your reviews and support please!
RegalGirl94 XOXO