State of Being

8/7/2019 State of Being

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State of Being

An Original Screenplay By

Hafsah MijinyawaExtra Credit Paper

HUM 160 Section 02


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FADE IN

INT. BRIEFING ROOM

In the middle of a vast room, several FIGURES sit at a long

table. Seven on the right side, one alone on the left. Theyare all covered by shadow. Their faces never seen.

The FIGURE on the left side lifts its head. This side ofthe table is backlit, leaving the figures featuresconsistently covered in darkness. Hair cascades from thehead. The figure speaks in a female voice.

WOMAN (V.O.)I suppose the only question I haveis...why? Why did it happen? Thatsthe one thing my mind cant quitegrasp. Why did it have to be me?

Why did they have to take me?Whats so special about me? Can youanswer that? Can any of yougentlemen answer that?

A frosty silence is the answer from the darkened right sideof the table.

WOMAN (V.O.)(CONTD)Ive prayed and prayed that Id seemy familys faces again. Mydaughters. My son. My hus...

(emotional)...husband. But that wont everhappen, will it? Not since thosedamn...damn...whatever theywere...fucked up my brain. Fuckedup my reality! I just want to gohome! I want to go home. I want togo home!

She breaks down, sobbing. On the other side, one of thefigures leans over and pushes something out of the darkness-- a photograph -- across the table towards her.

Her attention is drawn to it. She picks up the photograph.

It is a picture of two girls, a little boy and a happilysmiling husband and wife.

The woman sobs. She puts her finger on each person in thephoto, naming them.


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WOMAN (CONTD)Tommy...Caroline...Elizabeth.Jason. I remember...remember itlike it happened only moments ago.Its funny, you know? How quicklytime seems to go by...

EXT. (FLASHBACK) BACKYARD - DAY

A pair of WOODEN WIND CHIMES clank against each other in thegentle breeze. Music is playing from an unseen radio -- theBEATLES.

Beyond the wind chimes, the blurred figures of CHILDREN canbe seen in the backyard, playing with a soccer ball.

The breeze increases. The CHIMES clank harder.

A WOMAN, the wife from the picture before, moves her long,rebellious brown hair out of her eyes. Shes wearing brightred cats eyes sunglasses and a green 60ies style sundress.She sips a glass of pink lemonade and smiles, looking onat...

...her children. The boy and the two girls, plottingstrategy nearby the swing set.

The WOMAN looks at her HUSBAND, who is relaxing on a wickerlawn chair, neon yellow horn-rimmed shades over his eyes.

WOMAN (V.O.)There was a strangeness to thatday. The colors were so bright...sovivid.

The HUSBAND reaches for his GLASS of pink lemonade andbrings it to his lips.

The WOMANs eyes focus on it, frowning slightly.

The GLASS sparkles and glimmers. Briefly blinding.Reflecting the soft pinkness of the liquid and ice insideit.

The tree the HUSBAND is sitting under is overcome by asudden GUST, and comes ALIVE, green and magnificent, wavingand rustling overhead.

The WOMAN looks up, staring, spellbound, then --


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WOMAN (CONTD)It was only a sound. My daughter,screaming.

The WOMAN turns, her eyes suddenly wide, alarmed.

CAROLINE is running towards her screaming. But her voice is

just a faint murmur.

Her HUSBAND is staring at her, pulling down his sunglasses,stunned. Hes saying something, but the WIND makes it hardto hear...

WOMAN (CONTD)And then everythingjust....stopped.

The wind subsides. The tree calm.

The WOODEN WIND CHIMES clank their last.

A glass filled with melting pink colored ice lies in thegrass.

INT. A WHITE ROOM

The WOMAN is lying naked on a table made of glass, a searingwhite light strategically blinding certain areas of herbody. The table appears to be levitating above the ground.

The WOMANs eyes dart around the room.

There seems to be nothing here other than her...wait...alongthe walls...BIZARRE REFLECTIONS. DISTORTED, ELONGATED, ALIENFACES.

The WOMAN whimpers. She tries to move but is paralyzed.

WOMAN (V.O.)I could feel them...hear theirthoughts...wanting to know aboutme. Wanting to feel me...wanting tosee what I was made of...how Iworked...what I smelled like.

The WOMAN cringes as SHADOWS loom over her. There is a tinnyCHATTER of high, distorted voices -- the CLINK of machineryor metal.

Shes crying, tears streaming down her face, her frightenedeyes growing wider, darting faster from unseen face tounseen face.


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WOMAN (V.O.)(CONTD)They said...it would not hurt...butthat it would be painful in adifferent way. I didnt understandanything...except that they weremonsters. Utter and

complete...MONSTERS. Their faces.Horrible faces..

Now, a glimpse of what it is that is torturing her -- just aHAND, a hand like nothing human. Pasty, nearly translucentskin, gnarled with veins pumping bright orange blood.Patches on the hands pulsate and glow, like a fish. Whatevertheir faces must look like, it couldnt be an improvement.

Now, a BLADE. If Apple manufactured surgical tools, this iswhat it would look like. Curved and sinuous. Designed bothfor function and beauty. The white blade goes down and theWOMANs eyes cross.

The blade CUTS between her forehead.

She SCREAMS -- no sound -- and then --

DARKNESS...For a while, then...

WOMAN (CONTD)It was like Id been...reborn. Howcan it seem as if youve lived ahundred years...but had it pass inseconds?

A POINT OF LIGHT appears within the darkness. Its in thedistance. Slowly it becomes larger -- like a door that isopening.

Nothing but whiteness can be seen beyond it.

We move towards it and suddenly -- The WOMAN is here.Dressed as before. Her eyes shining and startled. Somewhereoffscreen, contemporary ROCK MUSIC blares. She is...

EXT. PARK - DAY

...standing beneath a clear blue sky. A modern metropolistowers beyond in the distance.


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INT. (FLASHBACK) BREIFING ROOM

The womans SHADOW lifts her bowed head.

WOMANIt was all very real to me, Mr.

Finch. And very vivid. Like a colorpicture. From the beginning ofit...to the end of it. And whatsodd is that...the more I thinkabout it...the more I begin todoubt that I ever walked off thatship. The more I start to wonderif...I ever really left at all.

(beat)Come to think of it, Mr. Finch...Idont believe it.

(beat)I want to see it. I want to see

this 21st century you tell me Ihave been brought to.

(beat; explodes)Why dont you all stop fuckingaround and show me!! Just step outof the fucking shadows and prove tome Im actually on Earth and notstill your goddamn murder hole,you... freaks!

The FEMALE FIGURE stands up, violently knocking the chairback. She steps backwards, away from the table, and into thelight.

For the first time, we see her face. "She" is humanoid andcovered with a translucent greyish skin lined with throbbingveins pumping purple blood. "She" is wearing a black hoodedtunic --the hood in shadow appearing to be "hair".

"She" is an alien.

All at once, the chamber is flooded with lights. The sevenon the other side rise in unison, emerging from the shadow.They are also aliens. No suits or analytic expressions. Justtranslucent, pulsating, freakish blankness.

FADE TO BLACK

THE END

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State of Being