EXT. ROAD- EVENING
A small house nestled against a wood, with a removals van parked outside. QUEENSTOWN REMOVALS emblazoned across the side, red on yellow. Two burly men are struggling to lift a couch out of the back. The front lawn is strewn with boxes and furniture wrapped in plastic. Huge forested hills dominate the view behind the house.
INT. SITTING ROOM- EVENING
A blonde ten year-old boy, SEBASTIAN, sits glumly on a plastic-wrapped couch in the middle of the room. Staring into space, he looks like he’s been crying. His father JOHN is hunched over a long cardboard box, using an open scissors to slice through the tape sealing it. He stops and turns to Sebastian.
JOHN
(sighs)
You’ll make new friends Seb. It’s a new adventure! It’s exciting!
Sebastian gives him a cynical look.
JOHN (CONT’D)
This place is full up to the eyeballs with adventure!
SEBASTIAN
I had adventures at home.
He stands up and walks out of the room.
JOHN
Seb! Don’t be like that!
SEBASTIAN
(off-screen, dejectedly)
I’m going to bed.
JOHN
It’s not unpacked yet!
INT. BEDROOM- NIGHT
Sebastian is asleep in a cardboard box full of blankets. The windows have no curtains and moonlight is streaming in. He is awakened suddenly by the sound of tearing paper.
INT. LIVING ROOM- NIGHT
Sebastian emerges groggily from his bedroom in bright red pyjamas.
SEBASTIAN
(whispering, half-asleep)
Dad... it’s late.
The sitting room is silent. He can hear the sound of his father snoring across the hall, his feet can be seen through the opening of the door. Confused, he can still hear the sound of tearing paper.
EXT. GARDEN- NIGHT
He opens the back door. Its a clear night, the moon is glowing huge in the sky and the layer of dew on the grass is sparkling in the silver light. A light wind carries the faint sound of tearing paper.
SEBASTIAN
(whispering)
Hello? Who’s there?
The tearing stops. Silence. A twig snaps. Light scurrying footsteps. Something scuttles through the bushes at the end of the garden.
SEBASTIAN (CONT’D)
(whispering still, but louder)
Hello? Is there someone there?
Leaving the back door open, he tiptoes out onto the grass. He ducks down, trying to catch a glimpse of whatever was making the noise.
SEBASTIAN (CONT’D)
Here puss puss puss puss
More rustling. A shadow moves from the bushes and disappears into the trees behind. Sebastian skips into a run and slips between a gap in the bushes, into the woods.
EXT. WOODS- NIGHT
The moon lights up the floor of the woods, the trees cast dark shadows. A small shadow appears around the edge of a tree. Sebastian squints into the twilight and a pair of bright honey-coloured eyes look straight at him. Startled, Sebastian tumbles backwards and lands on his ass on the ground.
SEBASTIAN
(panicking)
Who’s there?
The eyes disappear and he hears the sound of something scurrying away. He scrambles to his feet, looks back at the lights of his house through the trees and starts to blunder back nervously. He stops and turns again to the woods, shadows flitting from tree to tree. He takes a deep breath and sets off running after the noise. He leaps over roots and swings around tree trunks, stopping every few steps to listen, before taking off again at full speed. He stumbles over a root and tumbles forward. He lands, but not on soil or branches. He lands on a layer of brown paper. He lifts himself up and looks around. The forest floor is covered in a layer of brown paper, stretching off into the darkness. The trees are all wrapped in brown paper, tied up with white string. Every tree he can see is wrapped, from top to bottom, shining in the moonlight.
SEBASTIAN (CONT’D)
(calling into the dark)
What is this? Are you... are you wrapping the forest?
He looks back over his shoulder, back where he came from. The edge of the paper is ripped and some of the unwrapped tress still have scraps caught in their branches.
VOICE
(offscreen, whispered)
Unwrapping
He whips around to where the voice came from.
SEBASTIAN
Unwrapping?
JOHN
(off-screen, shouting from the garden)
Seb! Sebastian where are you? Are you out here?!
Sebastian turns back towards the house, unsure of what to do. He turns back to the voice.
SEBASTIAN
Why are you...
JOHN
Sebastian!
He hears his father crashing through the undergrowth.
SEBASTIAN
Coming Dad! I’m coming!
He runs back towards the lights of his house. His father meets him half-way and lifts him up into his arms, gasping with relief.
JOHN
(panicking)
What are you doing out here? Is everything okay?
SEBASTIAN
I was...
(pauses)
I was sleepwalking.
John carries Sebastian back to through the woods. His arms wrapped around his father’s neck, his chin resting on his shoulder, Sebastian’s eyes never strayed from the deepening shadow enfolding the trees.
INT. BEDROOM- NIGHT
John carries Sebastian in and lays him back down into his box.
JOHN
Sleepwalking. It’s probably the long flight. Messed with your sleeping pattern or something.
SEBASTIAN
(still spellbound)
Yeah...
JOHN
(hesitant)
Okay. Goodnight then. Don’t worry, you’ll have a proper bed tomorrow. See you in the morning.
He walks out and pulls the door closed behind him. Sebastian lies awake in the box.
INT. SITTING ROOM- NIGHT
Sebastian door opens noiselessly and he tiptoes into the sitting room, his father can be heard already snoring in bed. He picks up a scissors resting on a cardboard box.
EXT. GARDEN- NIGHT
The back door opens and Sebastian emerges, he stoops down and puts the scissors on the top step.
SEBASTIAN
(whispering into the dark)
Try this. Much easier than ripping it with your hands. Or paws or whatever.
He stands up and waits for a response. When none comes he goes back inside.
INT. SITTING ROOM- MORNING
Sebastian walks into the room while his father is rummaging around in a pile of cardboard and bubblewrap.
JOHN
Have you seen my scissors anywhere Seb?
Sebastian shakes his head innocently.
EXT. GARDEN- MORNING
Sebastian opens the back door and looks down. The scissors is gone, in its place is a kiwi sculpted out of scrunched up brown paper. A smile lights up his face.
INT. CAR- MORNING
John is driving, Sebastian is sitting in the back seat in a purple school uniform, trying to zip up his new schoolbag.
JOHN
(talking to Sebastian via the rear-view mirror)
Any more sleepwalking or anything last night?
SEBASTIAN
No, just that one. Sorry if I scared you Dad.
JOHN
Not your fault, you were asleep.
SEBASTIAN
I suppose. Dad?
JOHN
Yeah?
SEBASTIAN
Is this place new?
JOHN
What do you mean?
SEBASTIAN
I mean, is it a new place, like how long has New Zealand been here?
JOHN
Eh... I think it’s... its the most unspoiled place there is. People are very new to this place, relatively speaking.
SEBASTIAN
You mean humans?
JOHN
(laughs)
Humans? Who else would it be?
He doesn’t answer, he turns and looks out the window. A piece of brown paper flutters in a hedgerow. An unseen hand pulls it out of sight.
The car drives down a long winding road through a valley, from above the snow-capped ridge of the mountain range surrounding them can be seen. The car disappears into the valley, and in the distance, the sun rises over the brown paper wrapped peak of a mountain.