Blind Danger By Ariadne Keldoulis z3332592

Logline Unfortunately... Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Ariadne Keldoulis 2013

azza.kelly@gmail.com

INT.APARTMENT. DAY. Light streams through glass balcony doors revealing a living room set up. At first only a couch in dark leather can be seen. We can then also see a small flat screen TV on a dark wooden mantel. The room is neat and tidy with only a few cushions out of place and the floor is carpeted.The room is very minimal and this can also be seen in the colour scheme which consists solely of black, white and shades of gray. The only thing that can be heard is the quiet hum of the air conditioner. A dark grey luggage bag is gently thrown onto the couch. IRENE enters with arms full of clothes and starts to fill her bag, neatly placing the clothes in ordered piles according to their black, white or grey colour. As she does this she frequently glances up. A calendar can be seen on the wall with a date circled and bold lettering that says LEAVE TODAY. IRENE glances at her watch anxiously. An audible ticking emanates from the watch. The watch gives the time and the date. The date matches that of the calendar. IRENE continues to pack at a faster, more hurried pace putting the typical essentials into her bag and purposefully leaves a black marker out. She finally zips up her bag and leaves it on the couch before walking to the calendar on the wall with the black marker in her hand. Standing at the calendar she hesitates with the before slowly and deliberately crossing out the day marked with the circle and bold lettering. The sound of the marker scratching against the paper is heightened and accompanies the markers movement. IRENE picks up her dark coloured handbag which sits on the floor under the calendar and riffles through it. She checks in her handbag to ensure she has everything. Her hand reaches into the bag and pulls out an elaborate Countrylink ticket before she puts it back in. She then takes out a business card but the name of the person is obscured, she turns the card over which reveals her appointment time in sharp focus before also putting this back into her bag. IRENE quickly checks her watch again. IRENE moves back into the hallway and approaches a large closet. She opens the door slowly which reveals the numerous coats all inside. The coats are arranged form darkest to lightest starting from black and going to white. On the wall of the closet a hand written sign can be seen. IRENE traces the list with her finger. The list is in sharp focus and details the contents of the wardrobe and their corresponding colour. She stops around the middle of the list and taps a particular coat. The sign says DEEP RED. IRENE turns back to the contents of the closet. All the coats are in shades of grey. She uses the same pointer fingure to count off five (CONTINUED)

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coats before picking out a deep grey one which matches the description of the red coat. She closes the doors of the closet behind her. IRENE crosses to the adjoining kitchen and passes a small dining table with two chairs. She drapes her coat on one of the chair backs. On the dining table is an open laptop. IRENEs mobile phone lies next to the laptop. A chord snakes from the back of the laptop to the floor where it is connected to an internet socket. The laptop is on. As IRENE passes the laptop her eyes are drawn to the screen of text and focuses on one line in particular. The cursor is blinking next to the words which are in both bold and caps. THIS PROCEDURE IS VERY DANGEROUS! IRENE grimaces and quickly closes the laptop screen and turns away. She approaches the kitchen sink and picks a glass from the drying rack. She reaches out for the tap. She looks at the tops of the taps. Both have a circle of the same grey colour on top. She hesitates and looks up. Above the taps are two little signs. One says HOT and the other says COLD. She turns the tap which corresponds with the COLD label and pours herself a glass of water. She braces herself with her left hand against the sink rim while lifting the glass to her lips.As the glass reaches her lips the mobile phone rings loudly and skitters on the table as it vibrates. IRENE spills some water on the counter as she places the glass nervously and quickly back down. IRENE pivots and hurriedly grabs the phone just before it falls off the table. She picks the phone up upside down and slowly turns it over to reveal the phones screen. The screen is filled with a black and white photo. The photo is of the face of a woman who looks just like an older version of IRENE. In the picture the woman is smiling. The word MUM can be seen at the bottom of the screen. Meanwhile the phone continues to ring and vibrate. IRENE rolls her eyes and takes a deep breath before letting out a long sigh. She uses her other hand to reach towards the phone. She extends her index finger. The nail on her index finger is painted clear and the fingernail is bitten to the quick. IRENEs index finger hovers over the grey REJECT CALL button before decisively pressing it. IRENE stares vacantly at the phone screen which displays a list of rejected calls, all from her mother. 5 seconds later her phone beeps to life and IRENE, startled, looks down and opens a text message form MUM. She opens the text message. The text is all in caps and reads CALL ME NOW! IRENE grunts and clicks off her phone. Still holding the phone she glances at her watch.

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IRENE Shit IRENE quickly grabs the glass of water, downs it and puts it in the sink. She hurriedly grabs her coat and then darts back over to her handbag and drops her phone inside. She flings her handbag onto her right shoulder before quickly picking up her luggage. IRENE leaves the living room and walks down the hallway past the coat closet holding her luggage in her left hand, dragging it behind her while her handbag rests on her right shoulder. She stops at the door and rests her right hand on the doorknob. She sighs. She turns the handle slowly and opens the door. The doors lock can be heard tumbling out of place before she is able to open it. White light streams through the door as she steps through and slowly lets the door close behind her with a soft click. EXT. TRAIN STATION. DAY IRENE stands on a train platform. Her luggage is on the platform close to her left foot. IRENE is rummaging in her handbag which hangs via one strap form her right shoulder. She retrieves her boarding pass and lets out a sigh of releif. She then zips up her bag and shifts both straps back onto her shoulder. She stands still. While IRENE stands still the rest of the platform is buzzing with action. Other commuters are waving goodbye to their families, pacing, talking on their mobiles, hugging loved ones, riffling through their luggage checking they have packed everything. Everything appears like in an old film with people being shrouded in shadow and appearing in shades of black white and grey. A whirlwing of conversations, platform announcements and the ticking of a clock can be heard before being interrupted by a short, sharp whistle being blown. The train roles in. The doors slide open with a whoosh and IRENE walks toward the open doors. INT. TRAIN. DAY IRENE is the first to enter the train carriage. The interior of the train is well lit. She places her luggage on the top luggage rack before briefly checking her ticket and then walking down the carriage aisle until arriving at her seat. IRENE shuffles in sideways and sits in the window seat, she places her handbag on the floor and turns to look out the window where everything is moving and it is still day outside.

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Around IRENE people move and enter the train to take their seats. Once everyone is seated on the train the train leaves the station. IRENE still sits still in her window seat gazing out, her face is blank. INT. TRAIN. EVENING The carriage is full. A train conductor walks slowly down the aisle offering food tickets to passengers on either side of the train. He stops at the seat that IRENE is sitting in. Next to IRENE sits a small young boy. The train conductor looks past the little boy to IRENE. TRAIN CONDUCTOR May I offer you a red card so that you can collect a hot meal for dinner this evening, maam? IRENE looks up at the Train Conductor. His face is lined with wrinkles and he holds a grey card up to her. IRENE focuses her gaze on the card before responding. IRENE No thank you. Im fine The train conductor nods and then continues down the aisle out of sight. IRENE glances briefly at the boy sitting next to her and then turns and gazes out the window again. The small, young boy sits in the seat beside IRENE. He has toys of varying shades of grey sticking out of the chair pocket in front, a juice box resting precariously next to him. He has the side tray opening and a colouring book sits on it. The image is half filled in and it is obvious that the image of the ball remains uncoloured. He sits anxiously looking at the picture and then at the pencils, all laid out in front of him. He looks confused. He turns to IRENE, a look of hope in his eyes. He taps her animatedly on the shoulder. SMALL BOY What colours should the ball be? IRENE turns and looks at the image. She considers it before sighing and shaking her head. The boy is not put off by this and shrugs before leaning across the aisle and asking someone else sitting on the train. IRENE turns back to the window and a tear rolls down her cheek.

5. EXT. HOSPITAL. DAY IRENE arrives at the hospital. It is a large clean white building. She stands in front of it with her handbag on her right shoulder and a small light grey overnight bag held in her left hand. She stares at the hospital sign. She stands there for a while. At the same time patients, family members and paramedics are all entering and exiting through the main doors. There are people in a rush while others take their time. One patient is being rolled out in a wheelchair, talking animatedly with the orderly. To the right is a small group of people smoking. A cacophony of sounds accompanies this bustle of people. Finally IRENE steps towards the hospital doors. They slide open for her and she enters. As the doors close behind her the sound is muted and cut off. INT. HOSPITAL FOYER + WAITING ROOM. DAY. IRENE stands at the white nurses station holding out the business card. A nurse, dressed completely in white holds a black phone to her left ear, listening intently. The nurse glances at it, and then glances at IRENE before picking up a dark grey clipboard and handing it to IRENE. The form states in clear writing PATIENT ADMISSION FORM. IRENE fills out the form answering each question slowly and deliberately. She then hands it back to the nurse, who is still on the phone. The nurse takes the clipboard with her right hand and looks at it carefully. She then puts it down on the desk in front of her and covers the phones receiver with her right hand and smiles at IRENE. NURSE Just take a seat She gestures with her head to the right. IRENE looks to the right and sees a waiting room which also appears to be all white. She looks back to the nurse who is on the phone and listening to the other side of the conversation with a look of concentration on her face. IRENE picks up her bags and walks to the waiting room. She sits on a black empty chair, surrounded by other black empty chairs and places her bags on the floor at her feet which produces a heavy thud. The waiting room contains a line of these chairs, a dark wooden side table with magazines on it and posters depicting eyes on the walls. The room fills and empties of people with a flurry of activity while IRENE sits still looking downward. A clock on the wall shows time passing very quickly. The ticking seems almost like it has been sped up. (CONTINUED)

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INTERN IRENE? Finally IRENE looks up. A young intern stands in front of her. The intern is dressed in dark grey scrubs and looks at her calmly. INTERN If you could please follow me so we can get you prepped for your surgery The intern starts to walk down the corridoor. His footfalls can be heard. IRENE stands and starts to follow the intern. An orderly comes in and takes her bags while she is led out of the room. INT. SURGERY PREP. DAY. IRENE is in a hospital room wearing a light grey patients gown. The first intern is accompanied by another and the two interns help her onto a gurney. She lies down on the gurney and is wheeled out of her patients room. IRENE is wheeled down a bright corridor. The clicking of the wheels against the polished floor is accentuated. The lights on the ceiling roll past quickly and the two interns faces can be seen as they move down the corridor. IRENEs breathing can be heard as she breathes slowly and purposefully while the lights continue to roll by. INT. SURGERY. DAY. IRENE is wheeled into a room fitted out for surgery. There are large lights and pieces of medical machinery everywhere.Everything seems to beep. A surgeon as well as many other nurses and doctors are in the room standing with masks on their faces. The lead surgeon stands next to his surgical instruments and slowly puts on gloves. The surgeon approaches IRENE and stands over her. The surgeons face darkened by shadow, can be seen in contrast to the bright, clinical ceiling. He wears glasses and laugh lines crease his face. He has small ears and a small amount of dark hair escapes the blue surgical cap that he wears on his head, bracketing his face. The face mask obscures the lower part of his face. He reaches away from IRENE and then brings his hands into view holding an oxygen mask. The oxygen mask is then fitted over IRENEs face.

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SURGEON Now just slowly count back from 10 for me. And when you awake we can talk again. The surgeon moves away and only the sharp surgical light overhead can be seen. IRENE 10... 9... 8... 7... 6... With each number IRENEs eyes start to flutter close so less and less light can be seen IRENE 5... The image goes completely black IRENE Finally INT. PATIENT ROOM. DAY. IRENE wakes up in a hospital bed. Her bed sits in the middle of the room, a side table with three drawers sits to the right of the bed, and a free standing light brown wardrobe lies further to the right of the bed. A comfy armchair in a deep blue sits in the corner to the left of the bed. Her handbag has been placed on the armchair. The corner of a window and a light purple curtain can be seen to the far right of the bed. On top of the side table there is a vase full of red flowers. IRENE looks very deliberately at everything around her. The white of her hospital gown is in stark contrast to the dark blue woven blanket placed on her lap. She gently touches and looks at the individual petals of the red flowers. She even lifts the flowers up and studies the deep green of the stalks and the lighter green of the leaves. IRENEs expression is one of wonder and puzzlement with an underlay of deep calm and satisfaction. She places the flowers back in the vase. IRENE lifts the covers off her lap and sits to the side, dangling her legs off the bed. She slowly puts her feet one by one into fluffy, bright yellow slippers. She walks around the bed to the window. IRENE first fingers the light purple cloth before staring out the window. Outside it is a bright sunny day where the light blue sky contains a few scarce fluffy white clouds. The light blue sky contrasts the deep blue of the ocean below it which is littered with small colourful specs which are evidently (CONTINUED)

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people. The sand is a golden yellow and also filled with other colours from the bright multi-toned beach umbrellas to the block coloured towels lying haphazardly on the sand. The beach is full of activity. The coastline can also be seen with cliffs of varying earthy, rocky colours jutting up into the sky. The stark creamy colours inside the hospital room contrast with the scene which can be viewed from the window. IRENE stands in the centre, silhouetted and looking out of the window. IRENE Its beautiful