GLORIA Joe Wilkowski

INT. LIVING ROOM - EVENING A MAN lies on his couch. mask hugs his face. He watches the news. An oxygen

On the table next to him, an empty glass of wine and half-eaten plate of food. A lottery ticket. ball number 34. The numbers read 11,23,58,13,21. Power

Behind the meal, a PHOTO OF A WOMAN dressed in new-age clothing, bracelets, and a smile. She points to the sky. The sound of the newscast becomes audible. FORECASTER ...as Gloria approaches. FORECASTER #2 And we- weve seen this pattern before. Looking at the ancestry of male honeybees, tropical cyclones, pinThe broadcast cuts out. The Man does not react. Then the electricity. Light pours in from behind closed window shades. INT. BATHROOM The Man looks in the vanity mirror. He stretches his fingers out. Cracks his neck. a psychoactive is taking effect. Moves as if

He is AWARE. Physically. Mentally. Spiritually aware. The Man looks deep into his reflection. His eye is cosmic. Its pupil dilates outward. Its iris flows inward.

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EXT. BACKYARD The Man steps outside. the accompanying tank. He wears his oxygen mask and carries

He sets the photo of The Woman on a picnic table. A SUPER-MASSIVE BLACK HOLE dominates the night sky. The celestial objects that move toward its center illuminate the earth in an ominous blue light. EXT. BACKYARD - THE END OF RELATIVE TIME The Man sits at a picnic table. The Woman in the picture points up at the approaching nothingness. He carefully disassembles the frame and pulls the photo out. He flips it over. On the back a NOTE is written. "There are no ends, only new beginnings. On night as bright as day, we will be together." - Gloria. The Man trembles. table. The glass from the frame falls from the

It SHATTERS, but does not make a sound. As The Man stands and looks to the sky, time stretches. Gloria moves closer. She engulfs everything that comes near. She breaks all of the rules, consumes anything that gets too close. She destroys everything, but all mankind owes their existence to her kind. Shadows pass as foreign planets swing by. EXT. BACKYARD - EVENT HORIZON (TIMELESS) Gloria engulfs the sky. The Mans attempt to run inside is met with undeniable GRAVITY. The time between his feet leaving the ground and the hairs on his head being broken into their quantum bits is indistinguishable. (CONTINUED)

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In his inability to escape, he becomes one with every earthly thing. The blue light becomes blinding. DROWNS the earth, and thenBlack. EXT. NEW SPACE - NEW DAWN (BEGINNING OF RELATIVE TIME) A hiccup in space. A WHITE HOLE bursts into existence. A BIG BANG. Universal beginnings fly by. Then they slow. The gases cool. Millennia pass in seconds. Galaxies - Solar Systems - Planets form. A BLUE AND GREEN ONE that resembles Earth. EXT. HILLTOP - 100 BILLION YEARS LATER Two children run to the top of a grassy knoll. THE GIRL beats THE BOY to the top. in celebration. She throws up her finger It GROWS and CONSUMES and

The boy pauses in a moment of faded recognition. EXT. HILLTOP - 100 BILLION YEARS, 4 MINUTES LATER The children look out at the setting sun. GIRL You think if the wind blows hard enough, it would justShe clasps her hands together tightly. The boy worriedly considers.