Written by
Wandisa Zwane
April 16, 2015
INT. APT 3101 - THE BEDROOM
It's 02:31 am and I find myself laying silently on my bed scrolling through Instagram...Twitter...Tumblr....and Snapchat. I find myself struggling to go to sleep. I wasn't even able to sleep for an hour or two. It's not normal as its way past my curfew. I receive a text message. I'm confused because it's
still too early for anyone to be texting me, and I know everyone nearby is fast asleep because we have school. So who could be texting me?
CUT TO: PHONE SCREEN
HER ( via text )
I'm struggling with the math homework, help ? Are you up ?
ME ( via text )
I am actually. FaceTime, call or text?
20 minutes later my phone starts ringing. She was FaceTiming me. I stare at her name for about 5 seconds trying to put myself together.
ME
Hello, Ellie
I wasn't focused on the math. I was hoping that we could forget about the math and just talk about us and the futility of life. For some stupid reason I really thought you were gonna say something cheesy like I can't get you out of my head but can we just talk until we fall in love? But no it never happened as we had an hour long conversation about math.
CUE " MATH CONVERSATION"
The futility in that conversation was cosmic to the point where I began questioning existence. But when the call finally ended I was disappointed.
CUT TO: VARSITY
It's 8am and I'm at sitting in English tired and drained. Still contemplating about the futility of life.
HER
Hey, Tyler thanks for helping me with the math homework.
ME
Uhm Ellie do you want to come over too my apartment over the weekend and chill ?
CUT TO: APARTMENT 3101
It's 12am and the apartment is really untidy. I jump out of bed and clean the entire apartment in a record time of 12 minutes and 44 seconds. I'm going crazy over here as I'm trying to remember if I gave her the correct directions. Thank god I gave her the correct directions as I see the uber pulling up in front of the apartment complex. I start sweating and shaking and I'm fearful that I'm going to have a nervous breakdown. I start cringing.
I open the door the door and it's her standing directly in front of me. I can't breathe. I'm overwhelmed by an awe of emotions. Literally - she's beautiful
ME
I mumbled - Hey Ellie it's so good to see you ( the hug was very awkward because I was nervous - it was one of those hugs where both people don't know how to hug each which makes things really awkward)
HER
Hi
ME
So glad you could make it. How was the drive ( note to self: I should stop making things awkward ) I'm so irritated at myself.
CUT TO: APARTMENT 3101 - LIVING ROOM
She's sitting on the couch. And I'm sitting right next to her. Okay let's just say there was a 30cm gap between the both of us. I was really nervous. I found myself drinking gallons of water. I forgot to offer her anything. I was nervous to the point where I couldn't even make eye contact. I just stared at her forehead and her lips.
ME
Aren't you exhausted I mean that drive was really long ( she lived like 3 blocks away from me )
HER
Not really , I'm just really stressed about varsity and stuff I guess.
We actually start conversing with one another for 5 hours straight.We smoke about 3 cigarettes and have the most fruitful conversation ever about female energy and the power of the the heart. She's really enlightened - I thought she was really basic. We both can't go to sleep because we're actually enjoying the presence of one another. It was cathartic and refreshing actually.
ME
Want go up to the roof and look at the universe?
HER
I'd love too.
CUT TO : COMPLEX ROOF
I brought a blanket up to the roof cause I thought it was cold. It wasn't but we just layed down underneath the open night sky and gazed into the stars. We connected with the universe/ourselves/each other. It was bliss. We ended up falling asleep on top of the roof. To my amazement we were silently wrapped around each other.
CUT TO: APARTMENT 3101 - THE KITCHEN
HER
( chuckling )
How'd you sleep
ME
( Smiling )
I slept pretty well.
ME
Do you have any plans for today?
HER
YES actually...
SEVERAL HOURS LATER: APARTMENT 3101 - KITCHEN/BEDROOM AND LIVING ROOM
The sun is setting and she still hasn't packed her bags.
ME
When are you leaving?
She said she was leaving on Sunday
HER
In 30.
ME
(I tried to not crack in front of her)
Cool.
APARTMENT 3101
About 2 weeks later she surprisingly pitches at my door with her luggage.
HER
I'm moving in with you!
I was excited at the fact that she was moving in with me but I obviously tried acting cool and composed.
CUT TO: WOLVES CAFE
As they're sitting there talking to each other about their families, Osho and meditation over a cup of tea.
ME
I was adopted.
HER
WOW - That's a huge plot twist.
She sat there speechless for about 2 minutes trying to fathom the knowledge I just presented to her.
HER
So do you ever think about your real parents?
ME
All the time - they both died in a car accident when I was 3.
HER
I'm so sorry.
ME
It's okay - I mean I know they're somewhere out there in the universe checking up on me. I speak to them when I feel lonely.
Enough about my tragic past..How are your parents?
I've never told any other soul about my parents before. She was the first person I ever told .
HER
I never knew my dad but my mom has been living with a brain tumour for like 2 years now.
ME
Wow. That's must've been so tough for you when you found out about it.
HER
It was. I went through the most vicious cycle of depression for an entire year. But I'm trying to make most of the time I have left with her.
ME
How much time do you have left to see her her and stuff ?
HER
(She starts tearing up)
3 months
CUT TO: APARTMENT 3101 - LIVING ROOM
I'm still fascinated by the fact that she's into Osho, existentialism, metaphysics and epistemology. But I also felt like our relationship had escalated so quickly. We're we rushing things? The relationship felt like it was moving at the speed of light.
ME
Do you feel like we're moving too fast ?
HER
There's no such thing, if it's meant to be it will be, whether fast or slow as long as it's true, it will last as long as you want it to.
I was momentarily tongue-tied as I was trying to digest the words she just said.
ME
......
(Still voiceless)
She still had a lot more to say after that
CUES : "rants"
But in that entire rant she said something that echoed within me.
HER
YOU KNOW I MAKE YOU HAPPY
After she said this I felt like fainting. So not only did she make me voiceless I was overwhelmed by an ocean of indescribable emotions- wow
DAYS LATER: APARTMENT 3101 - KITCHEN
I'd finally recovered from those powerful words she preached to me. So I found myself sitting in the kitchen trying to write a letter to her about how I really felt. I wasn't the best at expressing my emotions through writing but I gave it a shot.
ME
Love is the unforetold explanation for creation. Love is life. It's the merger of minds. The marriage of minds. It transcends through time, it's timeless. It takes you into a dimension filled with possibilities and opportunities. It helps you understand you are that you are not worthless. Every time I am with you I understand we are here for a reason. And every time I stare into your eyes. I realise that you are mine.
I sealed it an envelope and put it on the kitchen counter.
LATER ON THAT DAY:
She opens the letter and starts crying.
CUT TO: THE TREEHOUSE
I introduce her to some of the guys in the treehouse. They welcomed her to the treehouse with open arms.
HER
So what do you guys do in the treehouse?
PAUL : (one of the guys part of the treehouse)
Well in the treehouse we just try to expand. We write, make music, poetry, nothing much really.
MCDONALDS DRIVE- THRU
She was to lazy to go home and cook supper she was s bit hypocritical cause she said we should stop buying junk food. So we decided to go to McDonald's. We were down to our last packet of 2 minute noodles anyway.
CUT TO: HOSPITAL
We went to visit her mother. She introduced me but there was no warmth in the hug we shared. I could feel her shrill body disintegrating. She was really cold. You could see she was dying.
HER
How've you been mom ?
MOM
She couldn't even speak properly. It was sad but when she eventually managed to responded to Ellie's question.
MOM
I'm still fighting but I don't know if I can do this for much longer.
HER
No mum you can't leave me.
MOM
I don't want to make you empty promises my child.
Who's this handsome young man Ellie?
HER
(Smiling heavily)
It's Tyler, my boyfriend
She just called me her boyfriend in front of her mom. She just put a label on our relationship. I thought it was completely platonic.
ME
Afternoon Mam. It's a pleasure to finally meet you.
I knew her name ( Stacy ) but in that moment I felt like a child in primary school - so I decided to be respectful and call her mam. I wasn't sure whether or not I should call her "Ellie's mom" or Stacy. It was just a tricky situation. So I opted for mam.
MOM
( smiling )
The pleasure is all mine Tyler.
She told me to come closer to her cause she wanted to whisper something into my ear.
MOM
Tyler I'm clearly dying as you can see. So I'm leaving with you an important task of ensuring that's my daughter remains happy at all times.Take care of her for me - please
ME
I'll take care of her - she's in safe hands.
MOM
That's the spirit Tyler. Can you give us a moment please Tyler.
HER
Just go down to the kiosk and get me a bottle of distilled water. Please.
(Tyler leaves the room)
MOM
I remember the first time you wrapped your tiny hand around my index finger , you had my soul laying on 3 cms of palm.
( Ellie interrupts )
HER
Mom don't do this , prolonging life is pure idiocy.
(she smiles as a tear rolls down her cheek )
Die so your soul can have its summer ,don't worry about my pain cause I'm really happy for you, your soul can finally taste true liberation, see my tears as autumn leaves falling from trees , I'm naked and all I can show you is the truest forms of love.
MOM
You're so beautiful because you're so true. Our connection has no equation my daughter, as I leave my body just know that my time with you transcends forever.
HER
Mother it's time for you to leave. Take a piece of my happiness, it's futile anyway and I have it in abundance but I shall be lost without you in body, I shall be found when I'm with you in soul.
MOM
Clarity comes with the last breath, as hatred and love become nothing, you are nothing and everything all at once, I'm happy for you have given it to me, tomorrow and yesterday no longer matter
(her heart stops beating and her souls goes home - heart rate monitor indicates her mom has just flat lined)
Ellie starts screaming. The nurses and doctors come sprinting in.
DOCTOR
NUURSE HAND ME THE DEFIBRILLATOR !!
HER
(in agonising pain and disbelief that her mother is dead she starts screaming)
SAVE MY MUM, PLEASE SHE CANT LEAVE ME !! YOU CANT LET HER DIE.
DOCTOR
Nurse get her out of here.
She's kicking and shoving the other nurses as she is being escorted out the room.
NURSE
Don't worry the doctors are doing all they can to save her.
Tyler comes back from the kiosk with the distilled water to find Ellie on the floor crying.
ME
What's wrong?
HER
( Her face goes pale )
She's gone ....
2 DAYS LATER: BACK AT 3101
Ellie has locked herself in my/our room. We haven't spoken to each other for like 2 weeks.
She finally decides to come out of the room.
HER
(Breaks down, again )
It's her birthday today.
I've never seen her so broken and disfigured before. She's in pieces - distorted.
NARRATOR
Death is the door between two lives; one is left behind, one is waiting ahead. Death is the ultimate experience of this life - Osho
“Birth leads to death, death precedes birth. So if you want to see life as it really is, it is rounded on both the sides by death. Death is the beginning and death is again the end, and life is just the illusion in between. You feel alive between two deaths; the passage joining one death to another you call life. Buddha says this is not life. This life is dukkha – misery. This life is death"
HER
I WONT CRUMBLE - IM A BIG GIRL NOW. MOMMA RAISED ME TO BE A STRONG WOMAN SO IM GONNA DO THAT.
She put up this facade as if nothing ever happened. She didn't allow herself to mourn the death of her mother. She was apathetic for the next 2 weeks.
This was a tricky phase because she either woke up angry or sad. She just rampaged through the house, didn't attend lectures - she just left a trail of destruction wherever she went. I even have the scars to prove it.
A FEW WEEKS LATER: THE DEATH ORDEAL IS FINALLY OVER
She gained about 5 kilograms in that entire period. She just kept on stuffing her face with ice cream and chocolates
HER
Tyler thanks for being there in my moment of absolute depression.
ME
I thought you were never going to be able to get yourself out of that dark abyss you were trapped in.
AT THE BEACH
The sun is setting and the couple is walking along the sand enjoying each other's company.
ME
I've got something for you Ellie
( I hope she likes it )
HER
Yes?
ME
Close your eyes
(Takes out a heart shaped pediment from back pocket and places it around her neck )
You can open your eyes now.
HER
(Smiling)
It's lovely, thank you
ME
(Smiling back)
I'm giving you my heart but not my soul.
HER
(Blushes)
ME
(In my head)
I'm giving her my heart she better not break it.
Have you ever had that feeling before in a relationship where you think you love the other person more than they love you. To the point where you'd even get their names tattooed onto your chest. Cause that's how I feel right now.
IN THE CAR:
I'm driving Ellie to the airport. OR Tambo in fact. I'm playing some Jamie ** but I quickly change it and play my favourite song Female Energy.
CUE "FEMALE ENERGY"
ME
You excited?
HER
Yes I'm really really excited for this.
ME
I'm really gonna miss you
HER
Me too.
Ellie was completing her mothers bucket list - so she had had to travel all the way to Tibet and learn Buddhism. Nothing much really she was leaving for 2 months.
But little did Tyler know that this was going to be the last time he sees Ellie because her plane never landed in Tibet - the plane crashed and it sunk with no no one surviving.
STILL IN THE CAR:
Ellie hands Tyler a letter
HER
Tyler please don't open this until you get home.
ME
(Smiling)
I'll try my best.
Car parks at drop and go zone at the airport. Tyler takes out Ellie's bag from the boot.
They hug and kiss
Ellie cries.
CUT TO : "APT 3101 - LIVING ROOM "
Tyler opens the letter.
CUE "ELLIES VOICE AND ON OUR SWEATERS "
It's funny how for someone who has been so used to being lonely, the second I grip onto something that seems real, my biggest fear is losing that grip - even though for the longest time ever I've become immune to the feeling of loneliness. The same way people become dependent on other beings, people can become dependent on loneliness too - you become immune to self reassurance, your insecurities, your vulnerability and after a while it seems ideal and okay, but only because it's all you've got. You allow yourself to be consumed by this self indulgent energy making you think you don't need anybody because how else do you get by when you know that you have nobody. So when someone comes creeping in through the front door, with nothing but good intentions - you shut them out because you've lost sight of the difference in the realness of someone coming through the front door and the fakeness of someone coming through the backdoor. I struggle to fathom your presence because I didn't see you coming, through any door, you were just always there in plain sight. I don't know how to describe what I feel when I'm around you because I have never felt anything like it. All I know is that it leaves me in a place
An incomplete screenplay.
