Always Bad by Zach Jansen - Short, Drama - Kevin and Anna Beth meet in the woods and become good friends.  Kevin's 40.  Anna Beth is 6. 10 pages - pdf, format 8)

Nice set up and misdirect. Should be part of something larger.

"torn up teddy bear inside IT" If you took out "it" which you could have, an entire line could have been saved. Try and keep your action as short as possible.

"automatic, how kids do" There was no need for that. We know just by what she said.

I don't get it. I understand that Kevin is the little girls father, and that he did something horrible. I'm assuming he was once a pedophile because they had his picture on some paper. (even thought that's unrealistic in my opinion) Whatever he did something wrong, but that doesn't explain the cage. Why was their paint/blood on the floor? What was in the cage? Rex? If so, why was there a teddy bear in it and soiled sheets? What reason would Rex be in the basement?

I understand you wanted to set a tone so we would assume Kevin was a really evil guy, but a beginning like that HAS to connect with the ending to make this a strong story.

I also think the writing could have been tighter. There was a lot of action that I felt was unnecessary, or placed on the same line as the sentence before instead of making a new paragraph. This could have been 7 pages instead of 9.

If you have the time, look over my newest script "Z Relief"