HOPE – WORKING TITLE

ATTREYA

INT. PITCH BLACK/TABLE - NIGHT

In pitch black darkness, the sound of someone searching something

to the drawers could be heard. That person finally finds a matchbox
and lights one up, revealing the characters face. The character is
in late thirties and dirty. The character is sitting on a table
with an unlit candle in front of it.

As it lit the candle, it shows an open book and a pen in front of

the character. The character checks for the remaining matches in
the box, there are two more available. It keeps the box down and
starts to write on the paper

CHARACTER (V.O)
To whomsoever, it may concern. I am writing this letter to anyone
who finds me when i am long gone. Truth to be told, i tried very
hard to... i did my best-No

It scratches the entire line, rips the page off the book and throws
it away. Grimly, it begins again

CHARACTER (V.O)
Dear All-My life changed completely ever since that one night. I
sadly do not recollect which, but what I do know is that, ever
since that one night… there hasn’t been a morning in my life.

INT. BEDROOM – NIGHT

The silhouette of the character going to sleep is seen. It is

setting an alarm of 5.30 AM.

CHARACTER (V.O)
I guess I had put an alarm to wake early the next day. Was about to
start something nev, I feel. Btt don’t recollect nov

The alarm went off as per the time set. The character wakes up and
notices the vindov nearby the bed. It’s still dark ottside. The
character drags itself out of the bed and walks away

CHARACTER (V.O)
When I had voken tp, it didn’t feel like a morning to me.
Nevertheless I decided not to go back to bed.
INT. BATHROOM SINK - NIGHT

The character brushed its teeth. Gurgled

INT. KITCHEN – NIGHT

The character poured itself a cup of black coffee.

INT. HALL – NIGHT

Walking inside the hall and overlooking the windows in the gallery,
the character sips the coffee and sits on the couch. It starts
getting drowsier. It is about to fall asleep, any moment now.

CHARACTER (V.O)
Felt as if the morning was just around the corner, so decided to
stay up. Indeed it was tougher than I thought.

The eyes open slovly and it notices that it’s still dark ottside.
It goes up to the windows and opens them to check the streets,
which are empty and unusually silent. It decides to go back to bed

CHARACTER (V.O)
By the time I woke up again, I think it was 12.00. I thought maybe
I was dreaming at first. But when I checked the windows, it
convinced me that I WAS dreaming and I decided to go back to bed.

INT. BEDROOM – NIGHT

The character walks in on a dark room and slumps on the bed

CHARACTER (V.O)
It was a big mistake

INT. TABLE – NIGHT

The character was writing the letter keenly until it stops. It is

thinking. After a brief pause, it continues

CHARACTER (V.O)
The newt day, I remember… I tried liuing on my life, waiting for
the stnrise… I mtst haue

INT. HALL – NIGHT

It is vashing its face… brtshing its teeth

INT. BATHROOM – NIGHT

It is standing over the shower. It is sitting near the bucket. The
light goes off for a moment

INT. KITCHEN – NIGHT

It is making coffee

INT. HALL – NIGHT

The character is now eating from the plate. It is staring at the Comment [A1]: Multiple shoots of th
sequences to be down for fast flash
time on the watch. It is 12.00. forward

CHARACTER (V.O)
I must have stepped out one night.

The character opens the door and notices the lights in the verendah
are switched off making it completely dark. It decides not to go
out and closes the door

CHARACTER (V.O)
or maybe, I must have thought to. All I remember is that I waited,
without sleeping even for a second anymore. I waited, until one
night, something hit me

The character walks towards the kitchen with the plate and mug in
its hands, but when it reaches in between both the rooms, he stops

CHARACTER (V.O)
I vasn’t afraid of darkness. I know I was not.

In snaps, it clicks on all the lights of its home.

Back to the hall, it sits on to the couch, a bit uncomfortably

CHARACTER (V.O)
Btt it vas not comfortable, despite all those lights… it neuer
really felt lit.

It is traveling all across the house with a mug in hands and

attempting to be normal as the tube lights creak a little bit.

It comes back and sits in the hall, sits and sips over his mug. It
feels a bit relaxed before all the lights in the house go off.

CHARACTER (V.O)
I was desperate for light.

INT. HALL – NIGHT

It switches on the TV and searches for the channel which had the
brightest light

INT. HALL – NIGHT

It switches on the TV and searches for the channel which had the
brightest light

CHARACTER (V.O)
anything that gave me light, I used it.

INT. KITCHEN – NIGHT

It opens the fridge and sits in front of it

INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT

It is using phone flash light to search for emergency lights and

candles. It notices that there were only two candles. It takes both
and moves out

CHARACTER (V.O)
it was tough trying to stay awake in all this, but every time I
found a new source, I felt renewed.

INT. KITCHEN – NIGHT

It is yawning and struggling to keep its eyes open while reading.

INT. HALL – NIGHT

It is dozing off in front of the TV. As its neck drops of second

time the TV switches off on its own. DARK

INT. TABLE – NIGHT

The character lights the candle again is reduced to less than half
now. It reads the letter which it wrote all the while. There is a
lot of scribbling in almost every second line.

CHARACTER (V.O)
My mind had actually stopped working. I was unable to construct any
logical reason behind why this was happening with me

INT. KITCHEN SINK - NIGHT

There are many unwashed cups as visible in the emergency light,

lying as it pours the last cup of coffee it had. While it is doing,
it suddenly turns around to see something
 CHARACTER (V.O)
Some nights it was alright, but the rest I had this feeling of
paranoia kick in for no reason.

INT. HALL - NIGHT

The emergency light is facing towards the empty wall. It tries to

make shadow animals as it struggles not to fall asleep. It dozes
off for a second, before keeping its eyes open with the help of his
fingers

CHARACTER (V.O)
To remain awake was nothing short of survival for me. There were
very few things I could do to remain awake.

As it opens its eyes again, it sees a pile of books in front of it.

It immediately brings them close and counts the pages. It searches
its pockets for a match box, there were only few matches left in it

CHARACTER (V.O)
Things which were slowly driving me crazy. When it is dark around
you, two things are uery easy… to be afraid, or to be asleep. Both
veren’t an option for me

INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT

It is removing clothes from the wardrobe as the emergency light is

dimming slightly. It removes the matchbox from its hand and lights
a stick to see for more clothes and pick all of them up leaving the
matchbox there.

CHARACTER (V.O)
There are some things vhich are possible only if yot panic. It’s
like an instinct. You might end up getting what you want.

INT. HALL - NIGHT

It has not sit down in front of the pile of books and clothes in
front of it. It is breathing deeply as it watches over the pile.

CHARACTER (V.O)
I often breathed deeply just to remind myself that I was alive. Or
maybe to ensure not to end up doing anything foolish, that would
result on me not being alive
Staring at the all of them, it is calculating something to itself.
It notices the diary and pulls it. Reaching out to any empty page
it looks at the pile again and the emergency light goes off

CHARACTER (V.O)
But after all, it is human nature to push the limits. History
remains proof of those innumerable moments of madness by humans. I
felt I needed to document my own history, before I-

INT. TABLE – NIGHT

The character is staring at the candle for a moment in silence. It

looks over the letter which is a shabby mess by now. It moves
forward to write again, before something snaps and he scribbles
that part too

CHARACTER (V.O)
At this point, I believed I deserved to be granted a last wish. I
have tried my best to fight against it. But now, the thought of
even seeing the morning feels like a fantasy which I know would
never fulfil-

It turns over the page and starts writing again. This time the
light in front of the candle has lessened to almost minimum now.
That moment he stops writing.

CHARACTER (V.O)
Alright, I know I am not looking at the bright side, but there
isn’t any at all. Euen vhen there vere lights, it didn’t feel…

With a renewed energy, it starts writing again, only this time, in

a superfast speed to finish before the candle goes off again.

CHARACTER (V.O)
The real darkness was inside me, even when there was a lot of light
arotnd me… euen nov vhen there’s little remaining. There were so
many things I could have done, instead of the stuff I did, which
eventually rendered me hopeless. Maybe there’s still time for me
to-

INT. PITCH BLACK/TABLE – NIGHT

In the pitch black darkness, the last matchstick is burned as the

character’s thotghts are heard tntil the matchstick btrns dovn.
Credits roll
 CHARACTER (V.O)
To anyone out there who needs to hear this- Darkness is not our
enemy, it neuer vas. It’s like a mirror, like a reality check vhich
we often ignore or chose to deny. It never meant the eradication of
all things good in your life, but just the absence of it for a
certain period. The light which you need to find, which I needed to
find was within me, not in outside. For all those nights I stayed
awake, I never did it with the thought of seeing a morning, but the
fear of darkness. Btt that’s vhat it’s all abott. I might not haue
the light arotnd me nov, btt I haue something inside me, that says…
the morning is just around the corner. This was the light that I
needed… the light of hope.

END

PC [optional]

INT. HALL – DAWN (EARLY MORNING)

The eyes open slowly and it notices that something’s change. It

slowly wakes up from the sofa and notices the early dawn. It goes
up to the windows and opens them to check the streets which are
still silent. Sitting near the window, tears slowly roll out of its
eyes as it closes its eyes

END