First Time - Episode 1
by Justine Perry
Are you still alive?
You haven’t sent me a Snapchat in like, 3 hours…
That’s got to be a record 😜
Lol. I’m alive and…
I’m in love ❤️❤️
With Jonathan?! Ugh, seriously, Jenna?!
A magical prom night doesn’t change the facts…
He’s a tool.
Jenna sighs, and looks over at her prom date, Jonathan.
He’s asleep, breathing deeply in bed beside her.
She quietly rolls out from under the covers…
Slips on one of Jonathan’s oversized t-shirts…
And tip-toes to the cabin’s kitchen.
Rain hammers the roof above, and lightning flashes outside…
Causing dark shadows to lurch across the cabinets.
Weird how a remote cabin can seem so romantic during the day…
And so creepy at night.
Jenna shivers, then goes to the refrigerator for a glass of water.
Magnets hold old photographs to the fridge door.
Jenna’s eyes linger on one, crinkled with age…
An unsmiling teenage couple poses in front of the cabin.
There’s something…off about the picture…
But Jenna can’t quite figure out what it is.
She shudders as she tries to shake the uncanny feeling.
Honestly, I can’t believe your mom let you go to the cabin *alone* with him.
Lol…it took a LOT of convincing…
Aaaand a little bit of lying 😈
OMG! What did she think you were doing after prom?
She thinks we’re at a cabin…with a bunch of other couples.
No way would she let me go just the two of us.
Not after what happened to Aunt Liza.
Aunt Liza?
I’ve definitely told you about her.
She disappeared after her prom?
And they never found her?
Apparently it was a huge media thing for months back in the ‘80s.
Oooooh, right.
My mom doesn’t really talk about her much.
We just have an old photo on the bookshelf that she dusts every day.
It’s kind of weird, to be honest.
Jenna opens the fridge.
It’s empty.
Jonathan’s clearly not the best planner.
Okay, tell me one thing before I go to bed…
You didn’t sleep with him, right?
🙄 No, but…
…but??
Well, we were making out in bed…
And I told him I wasn’t ready for anything more yet…
And he got annoyed.
This is what I’m talking about!
He has no right to be annoyed.
Seriously. It’s your decision, period.
Don’t let that jerk pressure you into anything.
Who are you texting?
Jenna gasps and spins around.
Jonathan is standing shirtless in the bedroom doorway.
I didn’t hear you wake up!
I’m pretty quiet when I want to be.
Jenna laughs, but the sound of the storm outside swallows her voice.
For some reason, maybe it’s the way he’s looking at her…
She can feel her pulse rise.
It’s just Kat.
Oh…
Jonathan’s voice turns cold.
Does she still hate me?
She doesn’t hate you!
Jenna shuffles her feet.
She just thinks I shouldn’t be catching feelings right now…
You know, since I’m going to school across the country in the fall.
Jonathan shrugs.
Plans change.
Jenna shivers.
Wearing Jonathan’s t-shirt, she feels strangely vulnerable.
What’s that supposed to mean?
A silence hangs in the air…
Then Jonathan laughs.
I might still convince you to go to state school with me!
Jenna tries to fake a laugh, but it gets caught in her throat.
She feels her phone buzz.
You didn’t work this hard for the past 4 years—
Before Jenna can finish reading the text…
Jonathan grabs the phone out of her hand.
Hey!
The whole point of staying in a private cabin in the woods…
Is to disconnect.
Jenna crosses her arms.
When did you get so bossy?
Jonathan opens a kitchen drawer…
And drops her phone inside.
We’re going phone-free for the weekend.
Jenna rolls her eyes…
Her gaze turning again to that eerie, yellowed photo on the fridge.
She’s almost afraid to ask her next question…
Alright…if you want all my attention, then tell me…
Who are those people?
Jonathan walks up next to her.
He’s standing uncomfortably close.
That’s my Uncle Donny.
You look like him.
So um…were he and your aunt high school sweethearts?
Jonathan shakes his head.
They met later in life. Through work.
He points to the woman in the photograph.
That was someone *much* more special…
His prom date.
Jenna snorts and punches Jonathan’s arm.
Stop with the flirting already!
I’m serious.
Jenna looks hard at him.
Isn’t that a little weird?
To have a picture of your high school prom date on your fridge like that?
I bet his wife isn’t a huge fan of it…
That doesn’t matter.
Jenna looks sideways at Jonathan.
It’s kind of a family…tradition.
You don’t have to understand everything.
Jenna almost speaks, but bites her tongue.
Maybe Kat isn’t totally wrong about Jonathan…
He can be more than a little rude sometimes.
Jenna sees another photograph of a high school couple standing in front of the cabin…
This one is framed on the far wall.
As she walks toward it, Jenna feels Jonathan watching her.
The back of her neck prickles as she gets close to the photo…
But before she can get a good look, Jonathan speaks.
His voice is strangely flat.
This will be my first time.
Jenna wheels to face him.
What?
You heard me.
I…I already said I’m not comfortable doing anything more this weekend.
Oh, I’m not talking about THAT…
I don’t want to sleep with you, Jenna.
First time for what, then?
Jenna glances nervously around the room…
Searching for a clue as to what his words could mean.
Her eyes fall once more on the framed photograph on the wall.
In it, she recognizes Jonathan’s father.
He’s young, and standing next to…
Aunt Liza.
Jenna turns back to Jonathan…
And sees that he’s holding…
A knife.
It’ll be my first time…
Taking a human life.
Jenna’s heart rate skyrockets.
She stumbles backwards, putting distance between the two of them.
I…
I don’t understand.
She frantically looks for an escape.
Like I said, you don’t need to understand.
Then he pauses, grinning.
It’s a good story, though.
My dad was really proud of his prom date…
He always told me stories of the dance, the visit to this cabin…
How she made it all the way to the woods out back before he caught her.
He even showed me news clippings from it.
His words send shivers down Jenna’s spine.
So…
Jonathan’s grin widens, like a kid.
A psychopathic kid.
When I suggested asking his date’s niece to prom…
He loved the idea.
Seizing what may be her only chance…
Jenna turns and sprints down the hallway.
Maybe she can make it to the front door before—
A dark shape bursts in the entryway.
Jonathan anticipated her move…
And cut her off through another hallway.
Jenna whirls around, bolting up the stairs.
She can hear his footsteps pounding behind her.
Jenna runs into a bedroom…
And slams the door shut, locking it tight.
From the other side of the door comes a gentle knocking.
Knock, knock.
I just want to go home! Please!
You don’t get it, Jenna.
Dad would be so disappointed if I couldn’t finish off my prom night right.
Jenna can feel warm tears on her cheeks.
I was…I was going to go to college.
She chokes back a sob.
I was going to—
Like I said, Jenna…plans change.
Something slams into the door, and Jenna lets out a scream.
The sound comes again, and this time, the door cracks.
One or two more hits could break it down.
Jenna runs to the window and pushes it open.
She crawls out onto the sloping roof…
Then carefully crab walks her way down toward the gutter.
There, as if on a balance beam, she gingerly takes small steps…
While trying not to look over the gutter…
And down into the dark chasm below.
You picked the wrong window to climb out of, Jenna!
She looks back and sees Jonathan leaning out the window.
He’s shouting through the rain.
It’s a 60 foot drop down the edge of a mountain!
Jenna keeps inching along.
There’s a drainpipe on the side of the house…
If she could just get there and shimmy down to the ground…
But she needs to move fast.
Because Jonathan is now coming after her.
Jenna tries to crawl back up the sloping roof toward the peak…
But the shingles are too slick with rain.
She slips, bloodying her knees.
Lightning flashes nearby, illuminating the black sky for a moment.
It glints off of Jonathan’s knife.
Jenna can’t give up now.
She crawls further up, until finally…
She’s standing on the peak of the roof.
But Jonathan’s only a few feet behind her.
Just as he lunges toward her…
She aims a foot at his chest.
She karate-kicks…
Hard.
Jonathan tumbles backward down the roof…
And off the edge.
Gasping for air, Jenna scoots down the roof’s peak toward the other side of the house…
Away from where Jonathan just fell.
She climbs into a window below.
But just as Jenna gets inside again…
She hears Jonathan’s strained voice behind her…
Babe! Help me!!
Please!!
Walking across the room…
She peers out the window left open from her escape.
And below she sees Jonathan’s fingers clinging to the edge of the gutter.
He must have managed to grab onto it right before plummeting off the roof.
I…I totally fooled you, right?
Jenna tentatively leans out the window…
And sees him dangling from the gutter.
For a moment, Jenna wants to believe him…
To believe this is all a bad joke.
But she knows it’s not.
Jenna sees his fingers edging farther up onto the gutter.
With her help, he’d be able to pull himself up to safety.
Okay, I get it. Not funny. I’ll give you a ride home.
Just come help me up.
For the first time all night, he sounds like the Jonathan she knows.
Smart, funny…
Normal.
You said you just wanted to go home, right?
Jenna hesitates.
Well, plans change, right Jonathan?
In one quick motion, Jenna slams the window shut.
The force rattles the walls…
And reverberates down to the gutter.
She watches as Jonathan’s fingers lose their grip…
And smiles to herself while she listens to his screams…
As he plummets to the rocks far below.
App