The REMEMBRANCE

Written by

Miracle Blaise

Ethereel Pictures (c) 2021

+2349014166332

ethereelpictures@gmail.com
 HERE, TIME IS UNKNOWN.

FADE IN:

1 INT. THE OPEN ROOM - TIME (UNKNOWN)

Open. Bare. Lucid, minimally; The nothingness here can be as

heard as it is seen.

It looks an abandoned clinical ward.

TRAY - A filled syringe. Its source. Hands, feminine, take

these objects away with the tray. The table is dust cloaked
mostly.

BLACK.

- - - TITLE CARD -- -- - REMEMBRANCE -- -- -- -- -

Text insert:

Forget //verb;

Be unable to remember.

- - -

Then.. . Blank...

FADE IN:
 2.

3 INT. OPEN ROOM

Neat pair of shoes. A nurse's. We pick the precision in

composure.

The composure is here too: All over this woman. (30)? We may
never know. She wears a skillfully blank smile. The kind that
ensnares you. She is a nurse: Her kit shows us. She has the
tray of syringe.

She is smiling at something.. AT:

Figures. People. Different people -- but dressed the same. In

clinical aprons. Two ladies. A child. Men... They emerge,
somewhat paired... Each person, wondering who it is, this
other person... And where it is they are. . endless questions
linger in their expressions. They wear CONFUSION.

Nurse's smile.

Confused figures - -

Nurse, smiling --

Figures, staring. Analyzing.. seeking to figure:

NURSE
(Smiling)
Hello.
(--)
My name is Nurse beauty.
(Some more smiling)
I see you are all awake. ..

Please.. relax. You will begin proper

treatment and therapy in...

Peeps a wrist watch.

 3.

NURSE (cont'd)
...2 hours.

She owns her smile and composure back again. She moves. Out..
Past them.

They wander. Lost. Each one. In random stares and in stares

at each other.

4 - -

MALE (V.O.)
Hello.

The voice is soothing. Deep. With room to rest in.

He is a neat male figure. Nerd in appearance. From clear

glasses to neatly tucked shirts. The composure is familiar.
We know it.

He is smiling too...

MALE
My name is . .. The father.

He lets them float in a few silent seconds. He smiles well

through the beat.

THE FATHER
I --
(Smiles)
Run this place.

They stare, more..

 4.

THE FATHER (cont'd)

And oh, pardon the structure.
(--)
It hasn't had cause to be renewed in
ages.

Very few people come by here these

days.

ORIKO (31). Rough beards. A hot head in all the confusion.

ORIKO
Why am I finding it difficult
remembering anything?

Oriko looks around him --at the others.

ORIKO (cont'd)
We, all are.

The Father smiles at this. Highly composed...

THE FATHER
You remember nothing.
(-)
It's why you are here.

ORIKO
What you mean is?...

THE FATHER
Every one in this room is suffering
from -- forgetfulness.

He smiles. With a certain knowing. He leaves them more

confused.
 5.

THE FATHER (cont'd)

The temporal term used to classify
your mental state.

ORIKO
And you are?

THE FATHER
Here to help.
(Beat)
To help you.

The nurse returns. Taking a place beside him.

THE FATHER (cont'd)

Beauty will put you through daily
doses of remembering serums.
(--)
I know you see that you have left
your rooms, in pairs.
(---)
I will meet with you like this. In
twos. We will try to remember..
Together.

Concluding, he leaves beauty some smile too.

He is leaving.. He breaks.

THE FATHER (cont'd)

My method of helping is unorthodox.
Maybe, orthodox.
(--)
What ever it is to you. I will need
you cooperation. Entirely.

He smiles even more. He leaves.

 6.

They float, confused.

5 INT. CLOSED ROOM

Oriko saunters in, part-puzzled. It is a small room. Chairs,

enough for all through. Seated, The Father waits.

Second on the pair, TIMI (58) follows rather calmly.

THE FATHER
(barely visible
smile)
Sit. Please.

They do. Taking as much time as fathoming has tasked them so

far.

THE FATHER (cont'd)

Welcome.

He is not getting any reply. He keeps the smile. He adjusts.

THE FATHER (cont'd)

I am..

ORIKO
A doctor.. Psychiatrist.. Killer.

The father barely laughs..

THE FATHER
The father.

Oriko resigns in more confusion.

THE FATHER (cont'd)

I am called that because, I used to
have more kids here than, adults.
(MORE)
 7.

THE FATHER (CONT'D)

(--)
But not for treatment, or therapy..
(New smile)
Those kids bring a beauty to the
nature of forgetting. Theirs can only
help you. Not you helping..

TIMI
What happened?

Pain sears through the purity of his smile momentarily.

THE FATHER
Growth.. is both enemy and friend.

He picks the glow back up. He has a note. He makes a line.

THE FATHER (cont'd)

You. . remember nothing, do you?

TIMI
Barely remembered my name.
(--)
Can you make this clearer please.

THE FATHER
I sought the same truth you do my
friend.

Oriko stares. Part angered by nothing. Maybe everything. The

Father finds his burning stare. Returning it with a welcoming
smile. It breaks Oriko- He pulls up. LEAVES.

They watch him go...

THE FATHER (cont'd)

It is hard the first few sessions.

Timi simply - - stares... The Father, smiles.

 8.

6 INT. CLOSED ROOM

The Father. Another time. Here, ROSE (25), sits. Blank. On

her side. . Another blank figure - A (30).

The Father, to Rose.

THE FATHER
I knew a child once.
(-)
Deaf. Spoke nothing. Heard nothing.
From birth.

Rose rests eyes on something for the first time. Lowering her
stare, she sees The Father.

THE FATHER
Was taught nothing either.
(beat)
It is a form we all take before we
are born.
(looking at A)
Our most purest form.

Silence nurses the scene.

She begins to quiver. Back and forth... In fixed meters,

until... They grow into panic. The Father leans close,
concerned.

THE FATHER (cont'd)

Rose..?

She is in it..
 9.

THE FATHER (cont'd)

Rose..

He moves to her, slowly; A. He holds her hands. It takes its

short while, but she rests. She cools..

The Father leans back slowly. Realization peaks out of his

face. He watches. She grows totally calm. Taking his hold.

The Father scribbles.

7 INT. CLOSED ROOM - LATER

She is blank, again.

THE FATHER
Often times, our subconscious proves
to be more alive than anything.
Reacting on their own to something
even the victim does not know.

She looks at him.

THE FATHER (cont'd)

I use victim.
(Carefully)
You react to that word like you.. .

He is careful..

ROSE
(Subtly)
Like I am one.

The Father is still. He listens only.

ROSE (cont'd)
I can't remember that I am.
 10.

The Father says nothing. Her eyes say SHE IS VICTIM. He sees
it, like she doesn't. A is close, she leans over him,
curling.

8 INT. CLOSED ROOM

Oriko. Stern faced. Timi fixed on a ball. A small colored

ball. One in his hand wrap.

TIMI
This is not giving me anything.

THE FATHER
Think harder Timi.
(- -)
Your age. You should have had
something. A son.. A daughter...
Someone who loved or hated babies.

TIMI
(blank)
Nothing.

The Father, turning to Oriko.

THE FATHER
You ..?

ORIKO
Make up something else.

THE FATHER
You will not open up.
(beat)
It would be of great concern if you
did.
 11.

ORIKO
But you are not concerned that he
decides to squeeze your balls without
asking questions.

THE FATHER
I am not concerned that his ready,
then open.
( )
It is a risk, being open behind so
much doubt, hate...

ORIKO
Anger.
(- -)
You brought me, us, here for a
reason..
(Rises, violently)
And I wonder why no one will ask any
questions!...

TIMI
Calm down. He may be saying the truth
about trying to help.

ORIKO
How about he tells us how we got into
trouble in the first place... Where
he found us. And what he knows that
we don't..!

The Father smirks, nicely. He unwinds his crossed legs. Sets

his note down. He rises. Begins at folding his sleeves.

Oriko simply watches. Timi does too.

A punch. The Father sends Oriko sprawling into:

 12.

9 EXT. STREET - DAY

Oriko, lifting himself from a punch he is still dazed by.

Trying to get a view of the attacker, the sun defocuses his
glare violently.

10 INT. CLOSED ROOM

Returning over Ice. Timi cares for the scar over his chick
bone. The Father seats: his back to both figures.

THE FATHER
You have a fighting spirit.

The Father turns. Rises..

THE FATHER (cont'd)

Yes.
(BEAT)
You can fight your way through
anything. Through remembering.

He leaves.

11 INT. OPEN ROOM

A boy plays. It is a few pieces of stones he makes patterns

with. Behind him, MERCY (23), watches unnoticed. The smile on
her face is longing and motherly.

THE FATHER (O.S.)

They'd give life to anything.

Startled.
 13.

THE FATHER (cont'd)

Sorry.
( Smiling)
Thought you heard me coming.

He joins in the pleasure of watching ODI play. He is (11). He

is calm.

MERCY
He has nothing to worry about.

THE FATHER
He remembers only now. Whether it is
by choice or not.

MERCY
Something is not right about.
..this..

THE FATHER
About. ..what?

'What?', is this entire environment and situation. She shows

it in her roving eyes.

MERCY
Everything. Forgetting. Forgetting
everything.

The Father draws closer.

THE FATHER
The way you smiled watching him play.
I'd know somewhere in your life out
there, you were a great mother.
 14.

MERCY
I could have been a whore. Or single.
I don't even have a clue.
(- -)
You must know something.

THE FATHER
I do.

Desperate. She turns. All front to him. He smiles simply.

THE FATHER (cont'd)

I know how a great mother looks after
a child she perceives helpless.

He squeezes reassurance into her shoulder. Odi gets her

attention trying to pick a new stone from beneath her feet.
Near teary, she looks shortly, then lifts a feet. He takes
his stone.

THE FATHER (V.O.)

You are the first to access
something. Something all the others
would show more appreciation for.

12 INT. CLOSED ROOM

Oriko. In his typical peppered mood.

ORIKO
I am not grateful for nothing.

THE FATHER
You can chose to be. Gratefulness is
an opening.
 15.

ORIKO
To licking your ass?

TIMI
To licking yours!.

Oriko turns, sharp -- shocked. Timi conforms to self control.

TIMI (cont'd)
The man is trying to help. It is all
he has been trying to do...

Silence crawls. . .

THE FATHER
Games. We will be trying happier
things.

13 INT. CLOSED ROOM

Paper. Bare paper over The Father's chair. A takes one. Rose,
blank, curled up.

A crafts through the paper. Shaping it fluidly...

He has an airplane. He smiles. He moves to her. He takes her

hand. He puts it in...

Slow, but she takes it..

He smiles at the reception. She shares a weak smile. At the

plane. Then at him. They lift the plane together.

14 INT. CLOSED ROOM

Mercy laughs through a story she tells illustrating

ambiguously with stones.
 16.

Odi marvels through it.. Bursts of excitement at intervals.

15 INT. CLOSED ROOM

Oriko, Timi. Just the both of them.. They share silence.

Until...

TIMI
You are a father inside you.

Oriko looks. Then chuckles.

ORIKO
Punch him. Then if it doesn't work,
patronize him.
(--)
If you are all a part of this
together?

TIMI
You are probably still alive then
because I keep speaking up for you at
our small incognito meetings.

Silence. Then giggle. Then more giggle, both of them... They

share loud, genuine laughs now.

ROSE (V.O.)
You don't understand anything I say
do you.

16 INT. CLOSED ROOM

Rose --to A.

A stares, smiling.. Understanding nothing. They sit opposite

each other. Over the floor.
 17.

She takes his skin beneath her crawling finger tips. She has
them on his face now. She traces.

She traces his lips.

-- She leans in..

They kiss. Gently..

17 INT. CLOSED ROOM

Oriko and Timi, sit ups. Test for strength, both of them.
They laugh through it.

18 INT. CLOSED ROOM

Mercy -- asleep. Inside her wrap, Odi. Stones, around them.

19 INT. CLOSED ROOM

Passionate kissing... Rose to A..

20 INT. CLOSED ROOM

Hand battling... Oriko to Timi.

21 INT. CLOSED ROOM

Odi braids through her hair; Mercy's.

---
 18.

22 INT. CLOSED ROOM

The Father. He sits alone. Behind him --Nurse beauty. Both

are lacking any kind of smiles at all.

THE FATHER
You think they are ready.

NURSE
What we find out will tell us.

The Father. He breathes. Worry runs through him quickly.

THE FATHER
Do it.

She marks a few bare seconds. She turns to leave.

He breathes heavy, seeking relief in one deep exhale. He

takes his glasses down. He wipes them clean.

FADE TO BLACK.

23

MERCY (V.O.)
Odi!
 19.

24 INT. CLOSED ROOM

He struggles in his sleep keenly. She worries over him. She

feels him. He must be having a fever.

MERCY
Odi.

25 INT. OPEN ROOM

Timi makes a joke in a circular sitting formation all four

take. Mercy and Odi would be absent it seems.

TIMI
The way the both of you get into it,
there is nothing to remember if you
ask me.

Timi shares laughs with Oriko --They share a handshake.

TIMI (cont'd)
(between laughs)
You have made enough memories to last
you all your life time.

They keep at the laughter.

Oriko gets a hit. Pain. His head... He pauses to wince. Timi

slows, observing.

It hits again... Clenching to his head, he crunches his

tongue in pain.

TIMI (cont'd)
Are you okay mate..?

Oriko turns slow.. eyeballing Timi intensely in what is a mix

of confusion, shock, and fury..
 20.

TIMI (cont'd)
Mate...

Oriko's glare is clearly anger as;

WE FLASH TO:

26 INT. ROOM - DAY

P.O.V - Oriko.

Timi. From years back. A drunk violent mass of man. He

scatters through things. Crawling away from him is a woman,
Oriko's mother, OKI (30). He reaches her --Grabbing her by
the hair. He pulls her along...

Oriko (11), watches in fright.

WE RETURN TO:

27 INT. OPEN ROOM

Oriko breaks the handshake. Quickly. Retreating in a short

stride.

TIMI
Mate.

Oriko storms out.

 21.

28 INT. CLOSED ROOM - DAYS AGO

Oriko, alone. Something lays over the table, in an envelope.

Slowly, he takes it. It is slightly open. He looks in at... A
butcher knife.

He is curious and scared...

29 INT. CLOSED ROOM

Mercy, water, towel... She cleans through the shivering body

of Odi.

As she - -

FLASHES TO:

30 INT. MERCY'S ROOM

She opens her eyes, blurred out from sleeping. As they clear,
some men stand over her. Masked. ARMED. She makes to scream.
Her effort ends in a cupped hand over her mouth.

They hold her as, one rips her upper cloth violently. She
cries.

31 INT. HOSPITAL OFFICE

She sits there. Blank, heavy.

MALE VOICE
It is a month old Mercy. And you
don't seem sure of what to do.
 22.

32 INT. MERCY'S ROOM

She cries. Upturning things.

WE RETURN TO:

33 INT. CLOSED ROOM

Mercy, over the boy. She moves away. The boy shivers. She
segues from compassion to anger, disgust....

34 INT. OPEN ROOM

Oriko, entering -CHARGING, Butcher's knife in hand. Timi

backs off in absolute fright. The loodshot look in his eyes
show he is out for a kill.. Through them we see:

35 INT. TIMI'S ROOM - DAY

Timi. Putting out blows. Little Oriko races to stop him; he

is hurled away.

WE RETURN:

36 INT. OPEN ROOM

A intercepts an almost successful knife blow, throwing

himself to the floor with Oriko beneath him.

Oriko, struggling to get back up... Timi, caught by the wall

in absolute confusion and fright. SOMETHING HITS HIM;
Memories:
 23.

FLASH TO:

37 EXT. TIMI'S APARTMENT - DAY

Timi throws things out.

TIMI
Don't come back, dead or alive.

The duo watch their things from a distance, Oriko hanging

over his mother's hand.

WE RETURN:

38 INT. OPEN ROOM

Timi, resigned to a sense of deadness. Saggy shouldered, he

moves slowly to the knife between them, over the floor.

He takes it.

He moves in defeat. Arriving over both figures. He draws A

away.

He hands Oriko the knife -- He moves back in resolve to self

condemnation. He drops to his knees. His head, dropping with
it.

Oriko, over the floor, feeds his bitterness again:

FLASH IN:
 24.

39 EXT. ROAD - DUSK

Oki shivers over bare floor. Oriko frozen, does nothing. Fear
keeps his pupils dilated and open.

She quivers into daedness.

He turns around. Races away, as fast as legs can carry a boy.

WE RETURN TO:

40 INT. OPEN ROOM

Oriko, charging towards his father. Tightly holding up the

knife and a loud cry --

Meters away. Everything freezes.

41 INT. CLOSED ROOM

Mercy, frozen too, a knife in her hands. The boy, beneath

her.

42 INT. CLOSED ROOM

The Father. He stands here. Hands in pockets. Nurse behind

him. He wears sadness.

THE FATHER
I thought they would be ready.

NURSE
Some, may never.
 25.

THE FATHER
(deep breath)
I cannot save them all.

NURSE
No.

THE FATHER
Do it.

--

She leaves. He stays, sad. Strongly.

43 INT. OPEN ROOM

A fog rises. Covering everything. Oriko sleeps. Everyone

does.

44 INT. CLOSED ROOM

Mercy sleeps into the fog.

45 INT. OPEN ROOM - LATER

Over the floor, all of them. All six, asleep. The Father is
here. The nurse behind him.

NURSE
They will remember again..

He looks around him. Still wearing sadness.

CUT TO:
 26.

46 INT. BUS - DAY

Rose and A, other passengers. They smile at each other. A

slides his hands into Rose's as she turns to steal the view
outside.. .

THE FATHER (V.O.)

They will always remember.
(Beat)
We will not always help them forget.

Something hits her:

FLASH TO:

47 INT. BATHROOM - DAY

A pins Rose down successfully. He runs himself into her heart-

seared. She cries, PAINFULLY.

THE FATHER (V.O.)

Their hurt is stronger than our
will...
(-)
And their darkness, our light.

48 INT. BATHROOM - LATER

She sobs, naked. Wrapping herself for cloth.

BLACK.

THE FATHER (V.O.)

How can we help them..?
 27.

NURSE (V.O.)
The remembrance.
(beat)
Take away the remembrance.

THE FATHER (V.O.)

Do it.

CUT IN:

49 EXT. BUS STATION - DAY

Oriko gives Timi a hug after a stretch of hesitation.

Timi sulks on his shoulders.

THE FATHER (V.O.)

Wait.

50 INT. BRIDGE - DAY

Mercy. Bare footed, she stands over this bridge snivelling

heavily.

She takes a step close--

ODI (O.S.)
Mummy!..

She freezes. Turning in the call's direction. She sobs harder

now. Breaking to every thing.

FADE OUT:
 28.

51

FADE IN:

52 EXT. A'S APARTMENT, PORCH - DAY

A, in blood. His blood.

Rose stands over him. Blank. Bare of emotions.

THE FATHER (V.O.)

Let them remember...

She sits. Beside him.

We exit. . . . . .

THE END.