CENTRAL PARK - HANDHELD CAMERA
SNOW. Falling flakes large as cotton balls, each crystal catching the muted daylight for just a moment before it lands. Blanketing the trees, the streetlamps, the statues. The PARK is empty. The wind is still. It is quiet, so very quiet. If you listen closely, you just might hear the falling snow.
EXT. BETHESDA FOUNTAIN - MID-AFTERNOON
The ANGEL is wreathed in ice. The LAKE, frozen over, has transformed into a field of white. EDEN stands by the water's edge. He wears a long wool coat over a black turtleneck, loose cut jeans, and leather boots.
YOU, dear friend, stand beside him. Your exhales come out as pale clouds. Your cheeks are frosted, but you are warm, bundled beneath your favorite Winter coat.
EDEN
(looking to the LAKE)
What a year it's been. This City has been a gift. It wasn't too long ago that living here was a dream, but dream has since become life, and now, as it comes to an end, I must remind myself to be grateful each and every day for this City's bounty.
(to YOU)
Thanks for accompanying me through it all. It would not have been the year it was without you.
YOU
You haven't been very long.
EDEN
(turning to the ANGEL)
No, and I suppose I am grieving for it.
A year is not a long time. And yet it feels too long, as though I've overstayed this chapter of being. It's strange, isn't it? I could imagine a lifetime here in the City, but I also can't imagine staying another day. I am weary of something I love, restless for something I do not yet know.
I suppose I am yearning once more. I feel that I must leave before I may return. That I must be lost to find myself. That I must destroy something beautiful before it curdles. Does this make any sense at all?
YOU
No, not at all.
EDEN
(laughing)
I suppose not.
EXT. THE POND - LATE AFTERNOON
At the Southeast corner of the PARK, before the large boulder with a killer view from its top. EDEN insists on making the climb, but YOU hesitate. The snow falls heavy and the improvised steps have blurred to soft impressions beneath the snow.
The two of you make your way up slowly, packing the snow beneath your feet meticulously before planting each step. Step by step, until YOU and EDEN reach the top. The view does not disappoint.
There is the POND beneath you, the BRIDGE to its right, and the skyscrapers that rise above it all. Surrounding the POND, a grove of snow-clad trees. Each tree weaves pale lace in its canopy.
EDEN
(shaking snow from his boots)
What a view. Takes my breath away every time.
YOU
It's beautiful.
EDEN
I had been here, a year before. I carried sorrows I no longer remember. It had been days after the snows, and even with so much of it melted, I had felt wonder, the same wonder I feel now, with you.
It's reassuring to know that wonder remains the same. It lifts you out of yourself to somewhere remarkable, no matter where you are.
YOU
Wonder is an underexplored emotion.
EDEN
It is, and what a shame that is the case. There's something so genuine, so healing about it.
(he pauses, then looks at you)
I feel like a different person. So much has changed over this year, hasn't it?
YOU
Has it?
EDEN
I think so, but I suppose we are, to ourselves, our fairest and most biased judge. I suppose I judge the parts of myself that I am still growing, still figuring out. I'm sure quite a lot has remained constant in your eyes. Hopefully only the best.
YOU
Your style certainly hasn't changed.
EDEN
I must disagree. The loose jeans are new.
(he smiles)
I'm finally with the times.
EXT. THE RESERVOIR - DUSK
The reservoir is completely frozen. The sky is darkening, and soon it will be dusk. YOU and EDEN walk the path around the water. Every once in a while, a gentle wind stirs, and a shower of diamonds falls from the trees.
YOU
What's next?
EDEN
California. It's time to return, at least for a little while. Frankly, I've little idea what's in store for me there. But I miss my friends from the other coast, and making the jump feels right, even if it's equal parts terrifying and exciting.
YOU
The bicoastal experience.
EDEN
(he pauses and smiles -- there is a small snowman propped on a bench)
So it is. A blessing and a curse. Trading one home, one precious circle of friends, for another.
YOU
Will you be making another cross-country drive?
EDEN
(he chuckles)
I thought about it. No, at least, not yet.
That would make this a move, but I'd like to think of it as something else. Something in-transit. I'll be living out my bags for a little while. Just a carry-on and a single checked luggage. It'll be an experiment: how little do I need to make myself a home?
YOU
And Duna?
EDEN
Back in Long Island, for a month at a time. My mother is overjoyed. Duna is so spoiled at home. Shrimp, every night, for the foreseeable future. My mother cooks with more passion for my cat than she ever did for me.
(he smiles sadly)
We'll figure it out as we go.
YOU
So will we all.
EDEN
(he stops to look at the skyline, now aglow)
I moved into the City holding onto everything that made me me. I surrounded myself with reminders of my identity, my past, my story.
I'm leaving the City having shed it all. I fly out next month with just two bags and the weight of my skin.
(he gestures to the barren, snow-draped trees)
After all, there's beauty yet to be found when all has been lost.
EXT. 59TH STREET SUBWAY STATION - NIGHT
The city is awash in electric flame. The snow, freshly fallen, is brilliant, bathed in the warm orange glow of the streetlamps. The evening feels bright, alive, brimming with possibility, but it is time to say goodbye.
YOU
So, this is it.
EDEN
So, it is.
YOU
You'll write?
EDEN
(he makes for the station steps)
Absolutely.
YOU
I'll see you around.
EDEN
You will.
(he pauses, then looks back and winks)
Forevermore.