THE UNWRITTEN LIVES IN AN AUTHOR'S MIND

Written by

Elise Truchan

NYU Abu Dhabi

+971 501002580
 FLASHBACK TO:

INT. ELEANOR’S WRITING OFFICE - NIGHT

ELEANOR, (31) an author who often spends more time being

distracted by the voices in her head than writing on a page,
sits at her writing desk with an open laptop and notebook in
front of her. At this moment she’s focused solely on the
words coming out of the pen she holds in her right hand. A
desk lamp lights her face and a faceless MAN slowly walking
toward her from behind with a large book in hand. Eleanor
sets down her pen on the paper and leans back in her chair.
Her eyes furrow and nose crinkles as she smells a familiar
but unidentifiable scent. The man uses the sharp corner of
the book to slam it into the back of her head and everything
goes black.

BACK TO PRESENT

INT. PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL - ROOM - DAY

Eleanor, dressed in a baby blue hospital gown with milky

white eyes, is startled out of her memory stupor when she
hears a squeak of a rodent. Stationed in a plastic chair next
to a wide window, her head tilts to the left to face the door
as her senses awaken but her eyes remain seeing nothing.

Eleanor stands slowly and walks to the door with her right
hand reaching out in front of her. Her fingers brush the
smooth white door and find the metal handle. She twists the
handle easily and pulls the door inward. Eleanor steps out.

INT. MEDIEVAL CASTLE - CORRIDOR - DUSK

As Eleanor’s foot passes the threshold her eyes become

unclouded. She glances left and right at the arched stone
corridor of a medieval castle stretching out to both sides.
Bulky wooden doors and torches line the hall. The narrow slit
of the door directly across from Eleanor’s room burns red
with the color of the dying sun. Her bare feet slap against
the stone as she takes two steps forward, grabs the thick
iron handle, twists it until the lock clicks open, and shoves
her shoulder against the heavy door to push it inward.

INT. MEDIEVAL CASTLE - CHAMBER - CONTINUOUS

The door scrapes open to reveal a small chamber with no

furnishings or objects save for fortune telling cards
scattered across the floor and a large window set against the
opposite wall.
 2.

The sun nears the horizon slowly splashing brilliant colors

in the interior of the room. Arms spread out to either side
of her on the window sill facing the dying sun lies YRSA,
with eyes far wiser and bitter than a young girl should have.
At the sound of the door she only slightly glances back at
Eleanor who is stuck in the doorway, unsure of how to
approach the anger of an unwritten life. Eleanor opens her
mouth to speak but Yrsa cuts her off.

YRSA
Come to write your wrongs?
(turns fully to face
Eleanor)
Of course not.
(snarls)
You don’t have time for any of us.
(mockingly)
The great Eleanor only has time to
placate the rats in her life. Screw
all of us who haven’t earned the
duo a silver coin.

Eleanor pales as Yrsa’s anger grows and her voice rises.

YRSA (CONT’D)
Damn those of us whose lives were
deemed too menial to be written!

Yrsa takes furious steps forward toward Eleanor as she

speaks, but before Yrsa reaches her, Eleanor quickly yanks
the handle and shuts the door with a loud slam.

INT. MEDIEVAL CASTLE - HALL - CONTINUOUS

Eleanor leans her forehead on closed door breathing heavily,

takes a long breath in, closes her eyes, and then releases
it. Her eyes flash open when she hears the rodent squeak’s
louder and more panicked than before. A door to her right is
partially open. Eleanor curiously makes her way down the hall
and pushes the door further open.

INT. MEDIEVAL CASTLE - ROOM - CONTINUOUS

Eleanor takes in the large, vaulted ceiling room as she steps

into the room. A tall window lies on the opposite wall but
the black curtains are drawn to filter out the light of the
sunset. Another squeak from the right of the door causes
Eleanor to snap her head to the sound. In the corner of the
room beholds HILDEGUND, an old wrinkly witch haloed by a mess
of curry black hair that hides the madness within,
crosslegged and cupping a small rodent in her hands,
illuminated by a torch set against the wall.
 3.

HILDEGUND
Thistles and ice and rats and
thieves. One bites, one sneaks, one
pinches but only one is the key to
the question that you hold, dear.

ELEANOR
(visibly distressed)
How can I help her? How can I help
you?

HILDEGUND
(shakes her head)
No, no, that is as clear as the tip
of your pen. Angers of our past can
be written away. Answers to our
futures will be written by you.

ELEANOR
(upset)
I can’t! I’m sorry but I can’t. I
can’t write anything, I have barely
been able to think since...
(falls to her knees next
to Hildegund)
I need you to tell me, who did this
to me? who is the...

Hildegund moves her cupped hands to be only inches from

Eleanor’s face. She uncovers the rodent in her hands to show
Eleanor.

ELEANOR (CONT’D)
...rat.

Hildegund drops the rat in front of Eleanor. Squeaking wildly

he scurries to Eleanor’s left and across the room. Eleanor
scrambles to her feet, tripping to stand as she chases after
the rat. The rat runs into a servants corridor that is barely
big enough for Eleanor to squeeze in after.

INT. MEDIEVAL CASTLE - SERVANT’S CORRIDOR - CONTINUOUS

Going as fast as she can in the dimly lit, tight passage, the
only thing Eleanor can hear is her breath echoing off the
stone walls, her heart beating against her chest, and the
sound of the rat’s paws scrapping against the floor.

The corridor comes an abrupt end, opening into a small

chamber. Without the walls to brace herself, Eleanor trips
over her feet, gasps, and begins to fall forward. A hand
suddenly wraps around her waist and steadies her, and gently
pushes her back up against the wall.
 4.

CONRAD, (29) a dashing animal trapper with a number of knives

lining his leather clothes, leans close to Eleanor so that
his face is only inches away from hers. As he grins, Eleanor
squeaks and blushes furiously as she looks into Conrad’s
shining eyes. Conrad’s right hand remains around Eleanor’s
waist, but his left hand lifts up to show the struggling rat
he holds by the tail. Eleanor glances at it.

ELEANOR
(stuttering)
Thanks...

Eleanor’s hand slowly moves to try to take the rat from

Conrad, but he smiles mischievously and moves it out of her
reach.

CONRAD
I don’t give up my prey so easily.
If you want a rat, you’ll have to
catch one yourself.

ELEANOR
(quietly)
I don’t know how.

CONRAD
(dangles the rat in
between their faces)
You have to open all you senses to
snare you prey. You never know when
a rat may come slinking across your
path.
(arm holding the rat
lowers)
Rats are a tricky breed but if you
catch the right one it may just
make the juiciest rat stew.

Conrad drops the rat and it lands in between Conrad’s black

boots and Eleanor’s bare feet. As it scurries between
Conrad’s boots, Conrad grins at Eleanor and steps out of her
way. Eleanor takes one step forward to follow the rat,
pauses, then whips back around to kiss Conrad passionately on
the lips. She pulls away breathless and Conrad winks.

Eleanor turns back toward the rat and sprints straight toward
it. The rat runs through a wide open door at the far side of
the small room and jumps off the top stair of a wide
staircase. Right behind it, Eleanor launches herself off of
the stairs and grabs the rat in midair.
 5.

INT. PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL - STAIRWELL - CONTINUOUS

Eleanor crashes and rolls onto the landing of the bleached

white stairs of the psychiatric hospital. Instead of
clutching the rat she is gripping a book titled “Smell of
Danger” with Conrad’s grinning face plastered on the front
and Eleanor’s name at the bottom. Eleanor uses one hand to
feel around for handrail to pull herself to her feet as she
becomes readjusted to being blind in the world outside of her
head. She hears RENNY, a nurse at the psychiatric hospital
who doesn’t question the going ons in Eleanor’s head, from
the top of the stairs that she just leapt from.

RENNY
(walking down the stairs)
If you aren’t more careful they’re
gonna fire me for leaving you
unattended.

Renny reaches the landing Eleanor is on, takes her by the

arm, and begins to lead her back up the staircase.

RENNY (CONT’D)
Your editor just arrived. He’s in
the visiting room. He doesn’t look
real happy.

ELEANOR
(mutters)
Is he ever?

INT. PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL - VISITING ROOM - CONTINUOUS

RENNY leads ELEANOR into the white and light blue visiting
room. Windows reveal it to be sunny outside while other
patients and visitors sit, walk, and talk quietly. Renny sits
Eleanor down at a small folding table across from EUSTACE,
wearing a simple dress shirt, slacks, and a harsh glare,
leaning back in his chair with his arms folded.

EUSTACE
Eleanor, the clock’s ticking, the
publishers need an answer. I
thought you would be able to focus
here, but like always you can’t. If
you can write this we’ll finally
earn what we deserve.

Eustace leans forward suddenly to emphasize his point,

causing his breath to waft over Eleanor. She lifts her head a
fraction of an inch and breathes through her nose. Her nose
scrunches, her brow furrows, and realization slowly crosses
her face.
 6.

ELEANOR
(under her breath)
Tuna. That’s what it was.

EUSTACE
(strains to hear Eleanor)
What?

ELEANOR
(to Eustace)
When you get angry you get Tuna
Salad from Wayside Shop just like
you did that night.
(incredulous)
I didn’t give you the draft on time
so you went to Wayside. I thought
you weren’t coming back to the
office, so I tried to finish it.
(blankly)
I guess you didn’t bother to knock.

As Eleanor realizes what happened, sweat begins to form on

Eustace’s brow.

EUSTACE
You don’t know what you remember.
(tries to compose himself)
How about you just focus on writing
this last book and then we both get
paid?

ELEANOR
(leans forward)
No. They’re not the distraction.
You are.
(calls to Renny)
Guard!

Renny returns to Eleanor’s side as she stands.

ELEANOR (CONT’D)
(to Eustace)
Honestly,
(grins)
The people here are much better
company anyway.
(to Renny)
Kindly return me to my chambers. I
have unfinished business with
friends of mine. They want their
lives written.

Eleanor graciously takes the arm of Renny as if she were the

princess of the psych ward.
 7.

As she walks away from the table, Eleanor’s eyes uncloud and
the room transforms into the throne room of the medieval
castle. The other patients and visitors’ clothes transform
into the gowns and tunics of nobles, the nurses’ scrubs
transform into servants wear, and Eleanor’s hospital gown
transforms into a dark blue ballgown fit for a queen. The
tables and chairs turn into wooden and metal furnishings
while the windows let in the light from the rising sun. As
Eleanor and Renny near the open double doors leading into the
next room, Eleanor turns to look back at Eustace. In
Eustace’s place is a large black rat breathing heavily and
staring back at Eleanor.

ELEANOR (CONT’D)
(staring at the rat with a
wicked grin spreading
across her face)
And tell the kitchen I want rat
stew for dinner.

THE END