Next Door

The following is a screenplay that tells the story of two African American teenage girls, Lena and Jada, whose lives are interrupted by the mysterious teenage boy, Owen, who moves in next door to Lena. Lena, plagued by loneliness and insecurity, thinks she's found a friend in Owen, but Jada is instantly suspicious of his arrival and rightfully so. After the girls witness numerous strange and increasingly disturbing events, it is revealed that Owen's scientist parents have somehow opened a portal to a parallel universe that serves as a mirror to our own. The human reflections from the parallel universe are parasitic beings who feed on insecure youth and have manipulated Owen into acting as a scout in search of hosts for them to inhabit. When the girls discover this truth, they are forced to choose between fighting the literal manifestations of the worst parts of themselves or giving into their insecurities and letting their evil parasite counterparts take control. Although Lena and Jada are similar in many ways, the main difference between the two is the level of support they receive from their families and those around them, which almost directly contributes to their individual insecurities and how effectively their evil counterparts were able to manipulate them. The purpose of this thesis is to explore the insecurities experienced by young, intelligent, black girls and the subtle impacts of having a strong family unit