Mika M. - Red Hills

THE WHOLE KNIFE THING
A RED HILLS Prologue
PRESENTED BY CATS CROSSING
Story, script, and thumbnails
by Cat Cross (Mika M.)
Art by TomatoBird
LOGLINE
Red Hills's favourite kindergarten teacher, Marsha Swank, is
prompted by her counselor to divulge a piece of her family's
past that Marsha would prefer stay buried:
The Whole Knife Thing.

ABOUT RED HILLS
GENRE/FORMAT
Serialized, slice-of-life, mystery drama that shifts into supernatural
territory as characters fall further down the rabbit hole of what exactly the
town of Red Hills even is. The length of this issue is 12 pages and it serves
as a prologue to the series's ongoing plot.
THE STORY
This issue focuses on Marsha Swank, a kindergarten teacher in Red Hills and
mother of main characters Corduroy (Cody) and Chrysanthemum (Chris), in the
moments leading up to a decision that would tear the Swank family apart.
Two years later, taking place in 2010, Marsha and Cody return to Red Hills.
Cody's estranged father, Don, went missing following a car crash that involved
both him and Chris. The mother-daughter duo move back in with Chris to help
her out and potentially contribute to the investigation into Don's
disappearance. This is where the main story begins.
THE CHARACTERS
The focus of Red Hills lies on the Swank sisters. Cody, a socially inept
13-year-old, isn't wholly connected to reality. She's afflicted with
distressing “transmissions” entering her head and “invisible bugs”
covering her skin. Grounding her the most is her best friend of six years,
McKenzie “Kenny” Reed. While Cody's social skills leave much to be desired,
it's through making her own webcomic that Cody is able to explore and
communicate her feelings to the world. Much of said feelings have to do with
fellow artist and crush, Ashley “Ash” Patch.
While Cody is completely disinterested in her father's disappearance, Chris
wants answers. In-between shifts at the town's only gas station, Chris throws
herself into her father's private research into the machinations of Red
Hills's wine industry. What follows for her is a descent down a spiral
staircase of religious paranoia, local government cover-ups, and animal cells
where there should be plant cells.
As for Marsha: when she's not in the classroom, she's getting sloshed and
gathering gossip at the local pub. It's during one of her drunken escapades
when she begins a flirty relationship with Red Hills's sherif, Jack Patch.

THE POINT
This story takes a retrospective look at the changes in society post-2008
financial crisis from the perspectives of both a child with no idea what's
going on and a young adult coming to understand the corrupt world surrounding
her. It's a taboo subject many millenials, gen Zs, and those of us in between
are only just now beginning to fathom. This series is also unabashedly
nostalgia bait for the generation of middle schoolers who spent their days and
nights browsing deviantArt and pirating anime through multi-part uploads on
Youtube. Supernatural elements gradually take shape as hyperbole to accurately
describe the emotional experiences of the characters.
Main Cast Sketches from 2020~2021

ARTISTIC VISION
My ideal artist for Red Hills would be my homie, TomatoBird.
TomatoBird is a digital artist from San Francisco who
specializes in bible fanart. The two of us initally met
through the fandom for the 2019 anime, Sarazanmai. It's kind
of hard to not become friends in a fandom consisting of about
12 people! I was struck by how she's able to convey emotion, a
story, an entire character arc into a single piece.
Her fancomic, The Homewrecker, is a brilliant piece that's so
far the only English language addition to my doujinshi
collection. I think she'd capture the messy, supernatural
melodrama of Red Hills perfectly.

MORE TOMATOBIRD

LOGO DEVELOPMENT

CHARACTER DESIGNS

THE WHOLE KNIFE THING: A Red Hills Prologue
BEAT SHEET by Mika M.
Act 1 Act 2 Act 3
Page 1 – Marsha is confronted by her counselor about an event she’s
mentioned before called “The Knife Thing.”
Page 2 – Marsha deflects at first but then decides to elaborate.
Page 3 – Marsha begins her flashback by talking about how her
daughter, Cody, refused to sleep as a baby.
Page 4 – Marsha talks about how her husband, Don, would make up
excuses to not take care of Cody.
Page 5 – One night Marsha wakes up to the sound of Cody crying again,
but Don isn’t in bed with her.
Page 6 – Marsha walks into the nursery but doesn’t see either of the
two. She hears a door open off-panel.
Page 7 – Marsha hurries into the living room and sees Don dripping
wet with rain. She can hear Cody’s cries coming from outside.
Page 8 – Marsha calls Don “fucking insane” and shoves him aside to
bring Cody back in, all while Don is screaming at her about how “that
kid” is a “fucking demon.”
Page 9 – Don continues to impose himself on Marsha while yelling, so
she takes a knife from the kitchen (continued)
Page 10 – and points it at him as a threat to “stay the fuck away”
from her daughter.
Page 11 – We return to the counselor’s office. Marsha has her head in
her hands, sitting in silence with her counselor.
Page 12 – Marsha re-composes herself and tells the counselor she has
“a better idea of what to do now.”

THE WHOLE KNIFE THING: A Red Hills Prologue
Written by Mika M.
PAGE 1
SCENE – The year is 2008. MARSHA and her COUNSELOR sit in a small,
cramped office. On the walls are motivational posters, certificates,
and a calendar almost as cramped as the office they occupy. There are
colouring supplies propping up the COUNSELOR’s laptop mount. Said
laptop and supplies are perched atop what was probably intended to be
a nightstand now worked into a makeshift desk. There’s a bookshelf
dangerously close to the COUNSELOR’s chair filled with textbooks,
self-help guidebooks, and a copy of the DSM-IV. It’s perhaps not the
most therapeutic setting, but it’s what they’ve been afforded.
1.1) Top of the page, long establishing panel. Our point of view
is peeking into the office from the window on the door. Is that
allowed? I don’t know but I’m using artistic license here. It’s the
type of window with little chain-link wiring in it.
1.2) First in a sequence of three panels with the lighting
becoming increasingly intense between them. We’re transitioning from
day to evening. Show the COUNSELOR from the side, mostly silhouetted
by the blaring sun beating against her closed blinds. Again, I don’t
know if a window like is that allowed in this setting but don’t worry
about it!
COUNSELOR
“The more you tell me about your husband,
it makes me wonder...”
1.3) Panel of MARSHA sitting, cut from the chin down so all you
can see is her posture. She’s leaning back and her arms are folded in
front of her. She’s closed off. She’s been hiding something.
1.4) Back to the COUNSELOR, looking at her from the other side of
the room. Essentially, this is MARSHA’s point of view.
COUNSELOR
“Could you tell me a little more about...”
1.5) Takes up the rest of the page, close up on MARSHA’s face.
MARSHA doesn’t look surprised by what the COUNSELOR is about to say.

She looks more exasperated than anything. Be sure to stylize the
COUNSELOR’s dialogue here.
COUNSELOR
“The Whole Knife Thing?”
PAGE 2
2.1) Top of the page. Gag panel, so the style is more simplistic
and goofy. Our view is on both characters, with MARSHA’s face in full
view. Start from MARSHA’s corner of the room, extend past the
COUNSELOR and beyond the wall. There should be nothing but black
behind the wall, like looking past the bounds of a video game level.
The COUNSELOR’s dialogue stretches across this space. MARSHA scratches
the side of her jaw with one finger and a smile on her face,
pretending she doesn’t know what the COUNSELOR is talking about.
MARSHA
“The Whole Knife What?”
COUNSELOR
“You’ve mentioned it a few times now,
so if you feel like it,
maybe we could explore that a bit—”
2.2) Middle of the page. MARSHA springs to her usual bubbly self
with a flashy background. MARSHA points the finger she was using
before to the ceiling and brings her other hand to her chin, acting
cutesy.
MARSHA
“Oh, that knife thing!
I really should’ve phrased it better!”
2.3) MARSHA makes the “Cuckoo” sign with her hands. It’s the one
where she draws circles in the air at the sides of her head with her
index fingers.
MARSHA
(SFX: HA HA HA!)
“Now I just look like a crazy lady! A real cuckoo!”

COUNSELOR
“Marsha...”
2.4) From MARSHA’s POV, we see the COUNSELOR looking up at MARSHA
with a tender and sympathetic smile on her face.
COUNSELOR
“I’m not here to judge you.”
2.5) MARSHA pauses mid-rotation, looking down at the COUNSELOR
with a blank expression.
MARSHA
“...”
2.6) MARSHA folds an arm on her knee, perching her chin on her
other hand.
MARSHA
“Alright, I’ll tell you all about it.”
PAGE 3
3.1) Profile shot of MARSHA looking down in the top-right corner.
Behind MARSHA is the office setting, but in front of her are her
recollected memories. Gutters are now black. Depict the following
scenes not with strict panel borders, but with something like misty
clouds.
MARSHA
“So, it all starts WAY BACK when my youngest was born.”
3.2) Close up of baby CODY in MARSHA’s arms.
MARSHA (CAPTION)
“Cody. Little Corduroy.”
3.3) Zoom out from the previous panel. MARSHA is holding CODY
while in her hospital bed with DON by her side. DON has a neutral look
on his face while MARSHA looks overwhelmed with joy. MARSHA is looking
up at DON while speaking to him. DON is notably not making physical
contact with MARSHA.

MARSHA (CAPTION)
“She was just the cutest baby!
When I first held her in my arms, I said to Don,”
MARSHA (WITHIN FLASHBACK)
“You think this baby is really ours?”
MARSHA (CAPTION)
“But then again, I was zoinked out
on painkillers at the time!”
(SFX: HA HA HA!)
3.4) MARSHA and DON at home, in bed at night. We’re facing
MARSHA, who is wide awake with bloodshot eyes.
MARSHA (CAPTION)
“Well, so, when we took her home,
we immediately had a huge problem.”
3.5) Top-down shot of CODY crying and writhing in her crib.
MARSHA (CAPTION)
“She JUST. WOULDN’T. SLEEP!!”
CODY
“AAAAAAGHHHUUUUU!! GHAAAAAAAAA!!”
PAGE 4
4.1) Styling from last page carries over here. MARSHA is faced
away from us, holding a still-crying CODY over her shoulder.
MARSHA (CAPTION)
“And, of course, as the woman in this house,
I got no help from Don.”
4.2) Middle of the page, first in a sequence of three narrow
panels. MARSHA holding a wall-mounted landline phone to her ear, the
dinner table in view behind her with CHRIS already seated and playing
a Gameboy Color.
DON (OVER THE PHONE)
“I can’t make it tonight. I got sacked with tons of work.”

4.3) In the doorway, facing the SWANKS’s front door. DON is
putting a coat on CHRIS, who has a flushed face with snot coming from
her nose. MARSHA is half-way through putting her coat on and facing
DON as he speaks to her.
DON
“I’ll take CHRIS to the doctor, you stay here with the baby.”
4.4) Birds-eye view of the two in bed. MARSHA is sitting up off
the side while holding her forehead, signifying she has a headache.
DON is laying away from her unsympathetically.
DON
“I’ve got work in the morning. What’s your excuse?”
4.5) Reverse shot of the page’s first panel, zoomed in more on
MARSHA’s face. Her eyes have dark circles around them and she looks
out of it.
MARSHA (CAPTION)
“I didn’t want to think the worst of him.
I really didn’t...”
PAGE 5
5.1) Back to standard style, but with black gutters. Establishing
shot of a dark, rainy night outside MARSHA and DON’s room. We’re
viewing from the tree in the front yard so we can see the raindrops
hit the leaves.
MARSHA (CAPTION)
“But that night, he made it impossible.”
5.2) MARSHA in bed, obscuring the other side of the room. Her
eyes are closed. CODY is crying in the background, her cries
represented by ribbons flowing through the house.
5.3) Close up on MARSHA’s face. MARSHA’s brow furrows, her face
tenses.
5.4) Same close up. MARSHA’s eyes droop open.
5.5) MARSHA sits up, revealing the full view of the bed along
with DON’s absence from it.

5.6) MARSHA turns to look at DON’s empty spot, looking more
alert.
5.7) MARSHA looks up slightly, paying closer attention to CODY’s
cries.
PAGE 6
6.1) Long profile shot of MARSHA walking down the hallway, past a
photo portrait of CHRIS and CODY. Both sisters are in the fanciest
dresses their family could buy with what little money they had. CHRIS
is putting on the biggest, goofiest smile she can for the camera while
holding CODY. CODY has CHRIS’s fingers in her mouth.
6.2) MARSHA peeks into the nursery with a sense of curiosity.
Maybe DON’s actually contributing this time? That sort of thing is
going through her mind. Allow that to inform her expression here.
6.3) Zoom out, we’re now viewing from the empty crib. MARSHA’s
expression changes from confusion to horror. Her mouth is agape in a
quiet gasp.
6.4) Zoom back in on MARSHA’s horrified face.
6.5) MARSHA hears a door off-panel (SFX: KA-CHA) in the direction
of the living room. She whips her head to the direction of the sound.
PAGE 7
7.1) MARSHA hurries into the living room. Our view is coming from
just behind DON’s leg so we can see MARSHA’s full stance. She’s
holding the wall as if she’s supporting herself.
7.2) Reverse the view to just beside MARSHA’s face, so we can
still see her expression as both she and the viewer see DON soaking
wet with the back door open. CODY’s cry ribbon is flowing in from
outside.
7.3) Zoom in on the open back door, putting even more emphasis on
CODY’s cries and the pounding rain outside.

PAGE 8
8.1) Mid-shot of MARSHA looking hurt and betrayed. She looks on
the verge of tears even though none are coming yet.
8.2) Zoom in just a bit. MARSHA is absolutely furious, screaming
at DON. Feel free to add in details like little spit flakes around her
mouth or a more pronounced vein on her head.
MARSHA
“ARE YOU FUCKING INSANE?!”
8.3) MARSHA rushes outside, shoving DON into the side of a
kitchen cabinet while doing so.
8.4) MARSHA tearfully picks up a still-crying CODY, soaking wet
and muddy from being laid on the grass.
DON
“I’ve had enough of it, Marsha!
I can’t take this DEMON living in our house!”
8.5) MARSHA returns to the doorway, her body dripping with rain
and her knees covered in dirt. She’s fully crying at this point.
MARSHA
“WHAT ARE YOU EVEN-
HOW COULD YOU SAY THAT?!
SHE’S YOUR DAUGHTER!!”
8.6) Close up on DON’s head below the eyes as he yells at MARSHA.
DON
“YOU KNOW IT’S NOT
MY FUCKING KID!”
8.7) Close up on MARSHA’s face, her now scrunched up in
bewilderment.
MARSHA
“What?!”

PAGE 9
9.1) MARSHA is making her way into the kitchen, walking backwards
as DON imposes himself on her.
DON
“You’ve been in bed with the
Lord of the Flies
our entire goddamn marriage...”
MARSHA
“Don, I would never cheat on—”
9.2) DON continues to follow MARSHA, not giving her or CODY an
inch of space.
DON
“You aren’t satisfied having the hard life
so you’d rather deal with Beelzebub
than settle for some god-fearing
mutt off-the-street like me...”
MARSHA
“DON, THIS IS CRAZY TALK!”
9.3) MARSHA’s fully backed into the kitchen counter, holding CODY
in one hand and reaching back with the other.
DON
“And this thing was part of the deal, right?!
To torment me, every day for the rest of my life?!
I’m not taking it, Marsha!!”
9.4) MARSHA’s hand searches the counter.
DON
“I’m not taking this sick game anymore!!”
9.5) Same shot as last panel, MARSHA clutches onto a knife.

PAGE 10
9.1) Full page shot of MARSHA whipping the knife in front of DON
with gritted teeth. Our POV is from beside DON’s silhouette so we can
see the shock on his face.
MARSHA
“You stay the FUCK away.”
PAGE 11
11.1) We return to the COUNSELOR’s office with a long panel
profile shot of MARSHA and the COUNSELOR sitting at either sides of
the room. MARSHA has her head in her hands, we’re unable to see her
expression. The COUNSELOR still has the same tender, sympathetic
expression from before but without the smile this time.
11.2) Shot of the COUNSELOR from MARSHA’s side.
11.3) Shot of MARSHA from the COUNSELOR’s side.
PAGE 12
12.1) MARSHA abruptly raises herself, brushing her hair back with
closed eyes. She’s trying to look nonchalant. The COUNSELOR is a bit
startled from the sudden movement.
12.2) MARSHA leans back, her hands behind her head with a smile
on her face.
MARSHA
“Well. Finally got THAT off my chest!”
12.3) POV is from behind MARSHA’s shoulder. The COUNSELOR smiles
at MARSHA again.
COUNSELOR
“Would you say you feel more...
sure of yourself after that?”
MARSHA
“Yeah...”

12.4) Takes up the rest of the page, medium shot of MARSHA with
her eyes closed. She has a more relaxed smile on her face. Y’know, one
that’s sure of herself.
MARSHA
“I should’ve dumped him years ago.”
LAYOUTS (PAGES 1-6)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Hello. I am the Cat who Crosses. I'm coming to you live from
my natural habitat in the Pacific Northwest. I'm a writer and
an artist. I have also done podcast things. My interests
include manga, listening to music as .opus files, those Bratz
games on the PS2, longing to return to the days of Web 1.0,
and cows. I think they're very neat.
If you'd like to find me and not hunt me for sport,
my website's got you covered: https://itskyatto.neocities.org
It is there you will find my social medias, a gallery of my
art, and some secret pages that are begging to be found.
Good luck out there!