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Buttercup
by Brianna Pollard (briannapollard@mail.com)

Rated: PG-13   Genre: Drama   User Review:
NOT YET
RATED

A young girl finds herself uneasy at a mental hospital, but then comforted by the people she bonds with.


This screenplay is copyrighted to its author. All rights reserved. This screenplay may not be used or reproduced without the express written permission of the author.



BUTTERCUP

INT. MENTAL HOSPITAL - DAY
                                                            
Nurse Lydia is walking Kaylin through the hallway towards
the children's unit.
                                                            
                       NURSE LYDIA
Hi-ya sweetheart! How are you
doing today?
                                                            
                       KAYLIN
      (sarcastic tone)
Not so good, obviously.
                                                            
                       NURSE LYDIA
Well I'm so sorry to hear that! My
name is Nurse Lydia. I'll be in
the children's unit nearly
twenty-four seven! Can I ask what
your name is?
                                                            
                       KAYLIN
My name is Kaylin. Can I ask you
something too?
                                                            
                       NURSE LYDIA
Well sure sweetie! What is it?
                                                            
                       KAYLIN
Why did you choose to work here? I
mean, out of anywhere else, you
chose to spend your days in a
mental hospital. I would never
volunteer to be here; but that's
if fourteen year olds had any
freewill.
                                                            
                       NURSE LYDIA
Honey why would you ask me
something like that? You make it
seem so bad.
                                                            
                       KAYLIN
It's terrible! Look at the little
boy over there in that
consultation room.
                                                            
Kaylin points to Ty
                                                            

2.

                       KAYLIN
I overheard he's in here for
throwing a rocking chair at his
grandma! Why would you want to be
surrounded by people like that all
day?
                                                            
                       NURSE LYDIA
      (chuckles)
Oh he's a regular here, his name
is Ty. He'll be rooming next to
you. And to answer your question,
I love to help people. I want to
make others happy.
                                                            
                       KAYLIN
Wait a second, he's rooming next
to me? Why? What if he tries to
hurt me?
                                                            
                       NURSE LYDIA
Well, that's what I'm here for,
along with the rest of the staff.
You're all perfectly safe under
our supervision.
                                                            
                       KAYLIN
If you say so.
                                                            
Nurse Lydia opens the door to the children's unit, they
stand in the lobby area of the unit
                                                            
                       NURSE LYDIA
Looks like we've made it to your
unit! The door straight ahead will
open up to your room.
                                                            
Nurse Lydia points towards door ahead
                                                            
                       NURSE LYDIA
Your roommate's name is Lacy. You
might want to avoid her as much as
possible. She's very (pause)
unpredictable. And she can get
violent.
                                                            
                       KAYLIN
I didn't know I would be having a
roommate. Especially a crazy one.
Is there any way I can have my own
room?
                                                            

3.

                       NURSE LYDIA
No honey I'm sorry. But let me
know if I can get you anything.
Make yourself comfortable.
                                                            
Kaylin sighs, then walks into her room and finds blood on
the floor, she shrieks with horror
                                                            
                       KAYLIN
Oh my god is that blood? What the
hell kind of place is this?
                                                            
Kaylin runs out of her room to get Nurse Lydia
                                                            
                       KAYLIN
Nurse Lydia, hurry! Quick! There's
blood on the floor!
                                                            
Nurse Lydia scuffles over to where the blood is
                                                            
                       NURSE LYDIA
Oh that must have been from Lacy.
I think she may have started her
period.
                                                            
                       KAYLIN
That's disgusting! Does she not
know how to put on a pad or use a
tampon? I don't want to room with
her!
                                                            
                       NURSE LYDIA
I'm sorry but you have to. There's
no more rooms. I'm going to go get
some bleach to clean this up.
                                                            
                       KAYLIN
Wait.
                                                            
Kaylin motions to the shower
                                                            
                       KAYLIN
Why isn't there a shower curtain?
                                                            
                       NURSE LYDIA
We had to take down the shower
curtains because people would take
em' down and hang themselves.
                                                            
                       KAYLIN
Are you kidding me? Does that have
something to do with security
forcing me to remove my bra?
                                                            

4.

                       NURSE LYDIA
Unfortunately, yes. We've had
patients rip out the under-wire
and try to cut themselves with it.
                                                            
                       KAYLIN
That's ridiculous. And all because
of that, I'm left here in a white
tee shirt and no bra. Do you have
anything I can cover up with?
                                                            
                       NURSE LYDIA
Yes I do actually, a pretty pink
cardigan. Let me go get it, and
also that bleach to clean up the
mess in here. Lacy will probably
be back soon from her session.
                                                            
Nurse Lydia leaves the room, Kaylin paces around the room
                                                            
                       KAYLIN
      (whispers to self)
First a little boy who throws
rocking chairs and now a girl who
lets her period blood drip all
over the place? Why am I even
here? I don't belong here.
                                                            
Lacy enters
                                                            
                       LACY
      (in a bizarre
       voice)
Hi what's your name?
                                                            
                       KAYLIN
Uhm, Kaylin. Are you Lacy?
                                                            
                       LACY
Yes! Did you know I had sex in a
car once? There was this man, and
he touched my vagina!
                                                            
Lacy bobbles her head around and laughs oddly
                                                            
                       KAYLIN
Oh my god. Uhm, you aren't a
virgin? You seem pretty young.
                                                            

5.

                       LACY
Of course not silly! I'm only
eleven years old too! I've had sex
bunches of times! Do you know what
sex is? It's where a penis...
                                                            
Kaylin cuts off Lacy's sentence
                                                            
                       KAYLIN
Yeah yeah yeah, I know what it is!
We probably shouldn't talk about
this though.
                                                            
                       LACY
      (angry tone)
Fine then, I'll tell the nurse!
                                                            
Lacy runs out of the room to Nurse Lydia, who is holding a
pink cardigan and some bleach, Kaylin follows
                                                            
                       LACY
Nurse Lydia, do you want me to
tell you about the times I had
sex?
                                                            
                       NURSE LYDIA
No Lacy, that isn't appropriate to
talk about. Please quiet down.
                                                            
                       LACY
      (Louder tone)
But it was great! Some man put his
penis in my vagina!
                                                            
Nurse Lydia puts down the bleach and puts the sweater on the
desk, heads over to Lacy hurredly and grabs her shoulders
                                                            
                       NURSE LYDIA
Lacy, please talk like a lady.
                                                            
Lacy starts punching Nurse Lydia and spits on her
                                                            
                       NURSE LYDIA
Stop it Lacy!
                                                            
Nurse Lydia reaches in her pocket for the tranquilizer
needle and stabs Lacy with it on the butt, Lacy loosens up
and passes out into Nurse Lydia's arms; she carries her out
of the unit
                                                            

6.

                       KAYLIN
      (whispering to
       self)
Wha...what just happened?
                                                            
Kaylin looks to her left, where Ty is peeping out of his
door; Ty notices her
                                                            
                       TY
She got put night-night.
                                                            
                       KAYLIN
Oh, wow. Uhm, what do we do now?
                                                            
                       TY
We can watch TV! I know where the
remote is.
                                                            
                       KAYLIN
How do you know that?
                                                            
                       TY
I've been here lots of times.
                                                            
Ty heads over to the desk and gets the remote and turns on
the TV, then the two sit down on chairs
                                                            
                       KAYLIN
Why do you get sent here so often?
                                                            
                       TY
I get really angry sometimes and
hurt people.
                                                            
                       KAYLIN
Oh. Why do you do that?
                                                            
                       TY
I don't know. I feel like I can't
control it.
                                                            
                       KAYLIN
Well instead of hurting people,
maybe you can let out your anger
in different ways, like punching a
pillow or something.
                                                            
                       TY
Yeah, I can do that!
                                                            
Ty punches the air a few times
                                                            

7.

                       KAYLIN
Yeah, just like that! Now you
aren't hurting anyone!
                                                            
                       TY
What's your name?
                                                            
                       KAYLIN
My name is Kaylin! And yours is
Ty, right?
                                                            
                       TY
How did you know that?
                                                            
                       KAYLIN
I have magical name guessing
powers!
                                                            
                       TY
Wow that's so cool!
                                                            
Ty points to TV
                                                            
                       TY
Look, Speed Racer is on TV!
                                                            
                       KAYLIN
Oh, you like Speed Racer?
                                                            
                       TY
Yeah me and my grandpa always
watched it together. Hold on a
second I have a surprise!
                                                            
Ty runs to his room to get a Speed Racer car painting
                                                            
                       TY
I did this earlier in arts and
crafts. I want you to have it!
                                                            
Tyler hands her the painting, Kaylin takes it
                                                            
                       KAYLIN
Oh really? It's very good Ty!
You're such an artist!
                                                            
Ty beams with excitement and smiles
                                                            
                       TY
Really? No one ever cares about my
stuff.
                                                            

8.

                       KAYLIN
I promise, I do.
                                                            
Ty jumps out of his seat
                                                            
                       TY
Do you wanna play hide and seek
with me?
                                                            
                       KAYLIN
Sure buddy! You hide.
                                                            
Ty hides behind a chair while Kaylin closes her eyes
                                                            
                       KAYLIN
One...two...three...
                                                            
Nurse Lydia enters
                                                            
                       NURSE LYDIA
What are you guys doing in here!
The TV isn't supposed to be on!
                                                            
Tyler pops out of his hiding spot, giggling
                                                            
                       TY
Sorry Nurse Lydia, we were just
playing around!
                                                            
                       NURSE LYDIA
That's sweet, but you need to go
get ready for bed Ty, it's almost
seven o' clock!
                                                            
                       TY
      (sad tone)
Okay.
                                                            
Ty leaves room
                                                            
                       NURSE LYDIA
How in the world did you get that
boy to smile? I've never seen him
play with anyone.
                                                            
Nurse Lydia walks over to the desk to grab the cardigan
                                                            
                       KAYLIN
He actually seems really sweet.
                                                            
Nurse Lydia gives Kaylin the cardigan
                                                            

9.

                       KAYLIN
Thanks.
                                                            
Kaylin puts on the cardigan
                                                            
                       NURSE LYDIA
He's one of our toughest anger
management cases. And with
you...he's an entirely different
person. He's never that playful.
                                                            
                       KAYLIN
Really? I wonder why.
                                                            
                       NURSE LYDIA
There's something special about
you, Buttercup. What are you even
here for anyways? You seem
perfectly fine to me. Come sit
down so I can braid your hair.
                                                            
Kaylin sits down and Nurse Lydia starts playing with her
hair, braiding it
                                                            
                       KAYLIN
Well, I had a suicide attempt at
school. This girl found out and
ratted me out to that school
police officer guy, he told the
guidance counselor, and they had
me Baker Acted here. Now I'm on
suicide watch for three days.
                                                            
                       NURSE LYDIA
What on earth would drive a
beautiful young girl like you to
want to take her own life away?
                                                            
                       KAYLIN
I just don't feel like I have a
purpose. I get made fun of at
school a lot, my family sucks, my
boyfriend dumped me, and my
friends back-stabbed me. Oh, and
getting a bunch of referrals at
school didn't help. I figured it
would just be better to go cut
myself and bleed to death in the
bathroom since no one at school or
my family would care anyways.
                                                            

10.

                       NURSE LYDIA
You can't let things like that get
you down Buttercup. This too shall
pass. Don't you know that? I bet
the problems you had two years ago
don't exist anymore. These
problems will eventually fade away
too. They aren't worth throwing
your entire life away over!
                                                            
Nurse Lydia finishes braiding her hair, then gets up to
clean the bathroom in Kaylin's room; Kaylin follows
                                                            
                       KAYLIN
I guess you're right, but I just
hate myself. I don't like who I
am.
                                                            
                       NURSE LYDIA
And why not?
                                                            
Nurse Lydia scrubs the floor
                                                            
                       KAYLIN
I don't know. I guess I'm just too
shy. It's hard to make friends and
I'm really quiet. I feel awkward
and everyone bullies me for not
having friends. And I don't feel
pretty on the outside either.
                                                            
Nurse Lydia stands up
                                                            
                       NURSE LYDIA
You're very beautiful, and the
older you get, the more you'll
grow in to your looks and your
body. As for being quiet, there is
only one thing I can tell you.
Life is too short to be shy. It's
a simple saying, but it always
makes me feel like I can conquer
the world.
                                                            
                       KAYLIN
I really like that quote! I'm
gonna start using that. Thanks
Nurse Lydia, that really helps.
                                                            
Nurse Lydia stands up
                                                            

11.

                       NURSE LYDIA
Well you need to get to bed now,
but one more thing. You say you
feel like you have no purpose?
Well, the meaning of life is to
give life meaning. You have to
create your own meaning, you won't
just stumble across it.
                                                            
                       KAYLIN
That makes a lot of sense
actually. How did you know exactly
what words would help me?
                                                            
                       NURSE LYDIA
I knew because I created my own
purpose in life, which is helping
others.
                                                            
                       KAYLIN
I hope one day I'll figure out
mine.
                                                            
                       NURSE LYDIA
I think you already have.
                                                            
Nurse Lydia smiles and motions towards Ty's room
                                                            


FADE OUT.


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