The Prison

SYNOPSIS:  Rachel has had enough of her husband, Brad’s short temper, controlling mannerisms, and increased violence.  Her only friend is also a battered wife who lives across the street.  Both women literally become prisoners in their own homes, and their only form of communication with the outside world is to each other through their front windows.

After nearly six years of looking out the window, Rachel finally devises a plan to free herself and her daughters.  But she can’t go to the authorities when her father-in-law is the chief of police.  Her only way out is to kill her husband.  With her girls and friend in tow, she runs as far away as she can with only a kind, yet bizarre stranger to help them on their journey to freedom.

Unbeknownst to Rachel, Brad survives her attack.  As he recovers, he has a completely different recollection of their past life together, leaving everyone who knew them to wonder why his wife would ever want to leave him.

Rachel and her group soon find themselves in a situation far more threatening than the lives they left behind.  Worse yet, just when she needs someone the most, no one from her past even seems to remember who she is.  Rachel soon learns she can’t trust anyone or anything, and she finds that even without bars, she’ll never be able to escape THE PRISON inside her mind.

As you travel with Rachel through the twists and turns of this psychological thriller, you’ll soon be convinced that bars aren’t the only things that separate a captive from society.  It soon becomes evident that in this “he said – she said” account of events, someone has broken from reality.

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Word Count: 82,000
First Draft: August 16, 2013 – September 23, 2013
Status: Vaulted
Genre: Psychological Thriller

HISTORY:

In August, 2013, I dreamed the entire plot of The Prison.  When I woke, I thought it was the most captivating dream I’d ever had, and I even wondered if perhaps I’d previously seen it in a movie.  I dreamed it again the next night with greater detail, and then a third night with even more focus on the minutiae.  In my dream, this story featured an all-star cast, except for myself and my sister Michelle who were the main female protagonists.  (Yes, the delicious Brad Pitt and yummy Johnny Depp were the male leads.  Ooh la la!)  So, I kept the first names of everyone and wrote the story exactly as I dreamed it.  I’ve dreamed other such repeat stories in the past but never did anything with them past telling them to willing listeners.  However, after three consecutive nights of this intense plot, I knew then that I had to write it down.  While a good deal of this dream replayed portions of my own past, it originated completely in my subconscious and developed entirely in my sleep.

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QUICK PITCH: 

Rachel, a battered wife, must kill her husband to free herself from his cruelty, then takes her children and only friend on the run to escape the pending retribution of her police chief father-in-law, with only a kind, yet bizarre stranger to help them along their way.  Worse yet, just when she needs someone the most, no one from Rachel’s past even remembers who she is… including herself, in this psychologically thrilling tale of Sleeping with the Enemy meets Secret Window.

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