minute screen play exercise

INT. INDIAN HOSPITAL -  DAY

A Big hospital door opens violently and a tsunami of patients with various states of injuries fills out a humble area.

The room has one barely functioning tv set inside a barred cage that is chained to the wall.

TV shows breaking news of a train crash. All the info is in Hindu.

At the beginning, we don’t hear any sounds; slowly the echoes of commotion filter through, muffled.

A young American tourist MARCUS rubs his ears uncomfortably; bloody bandages covering them surely bother him. His blond hair healthy posture and all American if badly bruise face all stand out in contrast to the rest of natives crowding the place.

MARCUS pulls out a broken laptop out of his cross body bag (we see his address tag on the bag that shows his name and US address) and places in his lap. MARCUS props a tattered notebook on the useless gadget and starts to write with his still functioning hand, trying to capture his emotions & describe the situation. He is clearly angry and his writing reflects it. He vows never to return to India.

At this point, the room starts to really exceed the capacity. MARCUS feels someone’s body resting against his hurt shoulder. A cloth covering the personal space intruder’s upper body unravels.

MARCUS is taken with a strikingly beautiful WOMAN who appears to have no injuries either on her face or her body. It’s only when her inexpertly propped body keeps on sloping in an uncontrollably & inevitably manner that MARCUS realizes she must have become paralyzed.

WOMAN has a dirty rag tagged under her chin; the humiliating bib soaks up WOMAN’s tears and saliva.

With some hesitation, MARCUS reaches out awkwardly and gently cleans her cheek with his functioning hand. Once WOMAN appears to be comfortable for a moment, MARCUS leans back in his spot, his notebook open in his lap. Suddenly, he sees an ant that ventures on the page and starts to go in circles around the sentence he wrote ‘I thank God I am alive’. It finally lands on the word ‘thank’

MARCUS looks at the WOMAN, uncertain

The ant goes to the word ‘ME’.

MARCUS moves WOMAN’s wheelchair to face him. He starts to write an alphabet on a page, along with common words like ‘family’, ‘pain’.

The ant begins to run between words as MARCUS starts talking at WOMAN. We don’t hear his voice; instead the noise of the room seems to going up, drowning the conversation, just as if someone turned the volume up higher and higher till it goes back to halt.

MARCUS rubs his eyes and adjusts his bandages. He realizes that WOMAN is gone. Rubbing his forehead MARCUS opens the notebook, but there are no signs of the ant.

CUT TO:

INT. AIRPORT

MARCUS looks visibly better, his leg awkwardly curved under the seat, one of his arms leaning to the side. Waiting for boarding, MARCUS flips through pages of his notebook, reflecting on his adventure.

An ant appears on his note book’s page and goes between words ‘Don’t’ and ‘leave’. MARCUS gently pushes the ant away of the page, but the insect rolls back and sets up camp by the word ‘ME’. MARCUS realizes he has unfinished business to do. MARCUS gets up and looks at the exit door.  

FADE OUT:

THE END