BIT BY BIT

Written by

Evan Attard

Address
Phone Number
1 INT. BEDROOM - EVENING 1

Tess (17) lies on her bed, laptop open in front of her as she
holds her phone precariously over her skull. She stares
blankly into the front-facing camera and applies a heavy mask
of foundation under her eyes. The visible fatigue disappears,
making way for a different Tess.

She’s perfectly done up, aesthetically pristine, except for

the raw scratches on the backs of her hands.

On a wall in the background is a set of matching art prints

that read “Be Your Best Self” and “Write Your Own Story.”

She rubs the excess makeup into her neck and swipes at her
screen: peacefully enraptured.

We close in on...

THE PHONE - Tess scrolls through snapchat memories...

Selfies showing groups of girls in their early teens. In

every shot, holding the phone is TESS (13). Beside her: a
girl with a wide smile and thick-rimmed, red glasses. The
girls are energetic, their unwavering attention devoted to
the lens.

Tess looks at the screen contently, as she scrolls up to more

recent memories...

A similar group of teens: Tess (15) is the only one looking

at the camera. The girl with the red glasses laughs with
another friend in the mid-ground, unfazed by the photo.

We keep scrolling upward...

Mostly alone, Tess (16) hides in the corners of her selfies.

We look closer...

She isn’t alone. Friends are still in the photos - now in the
backgrounds... dozens of meters away... shot through
windows... oblivious to Tess and the camera.

We keep scrolling...

The friends are equally distant but in more intimate

situations: watching movies with family; doing each other’s
makeup; the same red-spectacled girl playing with a younger
sibling.

Scrolling...
 2.

Most memories are now just screenshots of snap-map: tiny

avatars on the screen, clustered in houses...

Tess’ avatar always nearby.

INSERT TITLE CARD: BIT BY BIT

2 EXT. SUBURBAN STREET - NIGHT 2

LED light shines on Tess’ face.

She walks in the middle of an empty suburban road; the street

lights reflect off her party clothes.

She’s transfixed in snap-map: she scrolls down to the end of

the street where dozens of avatars are gathered in a house.

Tess’ avatar - not far from the others - is de-saturated,

marked with a white ghost logo... alone and invisible to the
world.

Staring apathetically at her ghost-ridden portrait, she

swipes right and begins typing at an alarming rate.

INSERT - TEXT: Decided to come. Where is everyone?

She waits, staring at the screen.

The respondent’s text bar shows three flashing dots...

They disappear.

Her eyes remain glued to the screen as she digs her shellac
into the flesh on the back of her hand... cutting into
herself... deepening the wounds.

She stares at the phone.

And she waits.

3 EXT. SUBURBAN STREET - NIGHT - CONTINUOUS 3

Tess approaches the house; it emanates coloured light and

electronic music. She doesn’t look up from her screen -
watching as her avatar tracks toward the group.

She stands at the base of the driveway, swipes up on her

screen, and taps on an icon marked “Ghost Mode.”
 3.

She swipes back to the map: her avatar is now vibrant and
ghost-less... she has joined the group.

Tess screenshots the group of avatars.

A faint smile grows.

She excitedly looks around until her eye catches something

that knocks the grin off her face--

The girl with thick-rimmed, red glasses - CHLOE (17) - stands

in the house, socializing, drinking.

Careful not to detach from the group, Tess draws closer to

the side of the house...

She glances back and forth between the screenshot and Chloe,
drinking from a plastic cup inside. She looks at each avatar
in sequence.

The screen has a notable lack of red glasses.

TESS
(to herself)
Why are you hiding from us...?

Inside, people congregate by the door. Some grabbing their

coats, others chugging their drinks. Chloe frantically moves
around the crowd with a smile.

Tess erratically refreshes the map: still no glasses.

PARTY MUSIC echoes as a small group bursts through the front

door and onto the porch - yelling about their taxis,
shivering from the cold, and re-touching their makeup.

Tess scurries around the lawn, trying to follow Chloe as she

glides between rooms, thanking her guests.

HHHRRROOOM--

A taxi comes barreling down the road; the group of teens make
their way towards it.

Tess brushes past them as she moves toward a window by the

entrance; she peers inside...

Chloe is hunched over, breathing heavily. She looks up to

acknowledge some friends, suppressing her sickness.

She finally stands still.

 4.

Tess waits.

Staring anxiously.

Chloe takes a deep breath and regains some composure,

standing straight, perfectly framed by a window.

Tess immediately opens her camera and sets up for a selfie.

She’s barely in frame...

but Chloe is...

BOISTEROUS CHATTER--

A group of boys barge out the front door.

Chloe moves out of frame to yell something playfully in their

direction.

Tess maneuvers around the grass to avoid the crowd.

She shifts around the bodies--

She’s losing the shot - losing Chloe--

Chloe disappears into the house...

Tess makes her way to the door; her right thumbnail

rhythmically slices at the skin on her left hand.

She peers through a window.

Inside, Chloe picks up a few empty solo cups and beer cans,
then walks out of sight.

Tess looks down at her phone and refreshes the map: No one
inside.

Tess looks back at the road as the last cab pulls away...

She looks apprehensively at the door in front of her...

And turns the handle.

4 INT. HOUSE - NIGHT - CONTINUOUS 4

Tess walks through the front hall, lurking behind columns and
doors. Music pulsates through the hall.
 5.

She watches Chloe... throwing an oversized sweater over her

skin-tight outfit.

She looks tired... but not unhappy.

Chloe grimaces and pulls something slimy out of her hair. She
looks at it and smirks at her own misfortune.

Tess averts her eyes to the sight of Chloe’s candid

naturalism.

Chloe heads for a couch in an adjacent room, turning off a

few lights and tossing her phone on a nearby counter as she
walks.

Tess moves toward the phone...

As she gets closer, she can see the screen, still unlocked.

She stops abruptly--

Chloe has stepped back into the hallway, sluggishly walking

back toward her phone. She picks it up.

Tess is frozen still.

Chloe hasn’t seen her.

Chloe lingers in the hallway, half-drunkenly resting against

the wall.

She replays a friend’s snapchat story from the night... the

music drowns out as the drunken laughter and camaraderie of
her friends begins booming through the Bluetooth speakers.

She smirks at their plastered shrieks and swipes up to

respond to the story: “Get home safe <3”

Tess approaches...

Slowly...

Quietly.

She carefully grabs a vase on a nearby table and continues

toward Chloe.

The deafening sounds of clanking bottles and partying

ricochet off the walls.

Chloe swipes into snap-map and sees Tess’ avatar on the

screen--
 6.

CHLOE
What the...

Chloe turns around - her eyes widen.

She raises a hand to protect herself from--

SMASH

Tess swings the vase at Chloe’s temple.

Chloe stumbles backward, most of the blow having been taken

from her defensive hand.

Blood cascades down her forearm.

Tess watches, taken aback by the abundance of it.

Chloe looks back at Tess, then at the blood pooling around

her.

She tumbles backward, limp.

Her phone falls from her hands as she crashes onto the tile.

...Her skull follows with an unceremonious CRACK.

Blood seeps out from her lifeless body.

Tess’ emotionally uncertain eyes waver between the body and

Chloe’s phone.

She slowly sits on the ground beside the now shattered, red
glasses.

She picks up Chloe’s phone and carefully wipes off the blood.

She uses it like it’s her own - the glow of the map plastered
on her face.

She swipes up to disable Ghost Mode.

Tess leans toward Chloe... staring at her glassy eyes. She

slides Chloe’s phone back into her pocket.

Tess checks the map on her own phone - they are together.

Her lips flirt with a smile.

CUT TO BLACK
 7.

ROLL CREDIT OVER--

WEB REPORTER (V.O.)

...This image of the Cherryhill
Killer, inadvertently captured in
the background of a photo taken by
a neighbour to the victim in the
seconds before the crime took
place...

Alternating between credits and--

1 INT. BEDROOM - EVENING 1

Tess lies on her bed, laptop open in front of her, staring

breathlessly at the screen.

On screen is a photo of her own silhouette through Chloe’s

window, holding the vase and walking. She looks... good, the
image having nicely captured her figure.

Tess scrolls into the comments:

SOPHIA YAM: RIP Chloe. We love you <3

DEAN O’DONNELL: @SeanChen. Lowkey, Cherryhill Killer is
thicccc.
JULIAN GRECH: @Cherryhillkill doors unlocked. You can kill me
whenever you want.

Tess smiles at the messages.

Tess picks up her phone from the bed-side table, positioning

it above her head, Snapchat camera onlooking as she tests
facial expressions.

She flips to her default filter and begins typing:

INSERT - TEXT: Meet @CherryHillKill #comingout

She posts it on her story, anticipation mounting on her face.

DING..... DING... DIN-DING... DING.. DING

She watches as the messages roll in. One after another. The
artificial white light reflects off her expression, her
excitement slowly dissolving as she reads.

She slowly digs her coloured fingernails into the skin on her
hand, and slices into the scratches.

CUT TO: BLACK