THE DEER examines the collateral trauma of school shootings, told through the interiority of a female firsl responder.
Joy, an obsessive helicopter mom, is wife to Isaac and mother to 8-year-old Miles. Joy doesn’t sleep. When she does sleep she has nightmares. She’s on edge, controlling, often short-tempered. For relief, Joy goes running. A lot. But the forest trail holds hidden dangers for Joy. A discarded doll is mistaken for a corpse. A car backfiring sounds like a gunshot. What is Joy so afraid of?
When Joy’s son is 15 minutes late getting late home, Joy freaks out. She blames her husband for his lack of vigilance. They argue, but are interrupted by their son’s arrival. Joy shifts her anger to her son. When she sees him shrink from her rage, she hugs him, hard, apologizing.
Reading Miles a bedtime story, his favorite - The Pied Piper of Hamlin - Joy asks him why he likes it so much, as the children leave their parents to live inside a mountain. Miles tells her that the mountain keeps the children safe. Joy realizes her anxiety is negatively impacting her son.
Out for a run, Joy hears rustling behind her. A deer stands in the trail, watching her. Calm, serene. Joy stares in wonder at this beautiful creature. For the first time we see the tension release in her face when - - off screen sound of a gunshot - - Joy bolts up in bed- - it was a nightmare.
On a real run, Joy gets a phone call. She jumps in her car and takes off. Sirens. An ambulance passes. Then another. Joy arrives at a school surrounded by emergency vehicles, but instead of joining the other parents she ducks under the police barrier tape.
Nobody stops her. Joy is a first responder crime scene detective and witness to the leading cause of death for children in the US - - gun violence.
There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside of you. - Maya Angelou