THE WINDOW ROOM
 
 
 
written by
 
 
Jessie Ni
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
INT. APARTMENT BEDROOM - MORNING
The morning light filters through this small bedroom
windows's blinds down to a modestly-sized bed.
A YOUNG MAN lies on the bed, already awake, eyes darting
rapidly about nowhere in particular. He breathes unevenly,
holding in his breath for a while before expelling it
rapidly.
Suddenly, we hear a phone ringing. His eyes seize up, before
closing.
About the room, we see various souvenirs and objects that
suggest a long-lasting relationship, full of travel.
A calendar, tacked to the wall, holds a sticky note on July
15, reading "5 years". A small candy lies in a cut-out tray,
next to an empty space. A poster to the Grand Canyon adorns
the wall.

A stick engraved with initials and a heart hangs from the

doorknob.
The phone rings for longer than it should.

The young man weakly extends his arm out to the phone, even
though it's way further than he can reach. He gives up and
lets his arm go slack.

He turns to lie prostrate, muffling his distress.

The phone rings.

He reluctantly slides out of bed, and, hunched over, puts the

phone to his face.
YOUNG MAN
Hey...
He listens. We don't hear the other side. He doesn't know
how to proceed. He tries to be friendly.

YOUNG MAN (CONT'D)
So... what's-

His face collapses. He sighs deeply.

YOUNG MAN (CONT'D)
Yeah. We need to talk.

He interrupts the other side and starts to pace.

 2.

YOUNG MAN (CONT'D)
Look, if this is about what
happened yesterday-
(beat)
You know what I was doing, it was
important.
(beat)
What do you mean I don't- Just
because I'm stuck in here doesn't
mean I- Oh. You really don't
believe me.
He paces more angrily.

YOUNG MAN (CONT'D)
This is what it's really about,
huh. It's not that I'm not
spending enough time with you, no.
It's that don't trust me at all.
(pause)
You- you're just saying that. When
was the last time you let me take a
day off?
He realizes his mistake. He sits down on the bed to recover.

YOUNG MAN (CONT'D)
No. Wait. No, I didn't mean it
like that. I do want to spend time
with you. I care about you. Every
day, I spend hours and hours with-
(in reply)
Except yesterday. But I was-

Beat. He gets off the bed in frustration, his free hand

raised up. He walks to the wall.

YOUNG MAN (CONT'D)
Am I not allowed to be busy
sometimes?

He brings his hand down in exasperation. He sighs.

YOUNG MAN (CONT'D)
This is stupid. We're going in
circles.

Pause. A moment of silence passes as he leans against the

wall, retreating to a happier place.

YOUNG MAN (CONT'D)
(slow, gradually quicker)
Do you remember when... we were
walking along that lake in Vermont.
(MORE)
 3.

YOUNG MAN (CONT'D)
And we came upon a group of geese.
And one of them started chasing
us... and honking its throat dry,
and we were running for our
lives... You were scared shitless.
(chuckling)
That look on your face when-

His face turns. He walks over to the door.

YOUNG MAN (CONT'D)
What? It was last summer.

He picks up the stick off the doorknob.

YOUNG MAN (CONT'D)
The- the lake house? That little
cabin? We hiked up the mountain
together and saw everything...
(pause)
You told me that was one of the
happiest times of your life.

He turns the stick over. It's blank.

YOUNG MAN (CONT'D)
(uneasy)
Well I just... thought we could
come back to that moment.
He turns around.

YOUNG MAN (CONT'D)
Uh- do you... remember the stick we
carved together?

He registers her yelling in response. He heads over to the

desk where the candies are.

YOUNG MAN (CONT'D)
No. No. I don't know what's- I
think something's going on.
He pulls out the tray from the candy box. It's empty. He
tries to look for the candy around and under the table.
YOUNG MAN (CONT'D)
(frustrated)
No. Not that. Of course I know we
have issues. We've been talking
about them for weeks now. We don't
even talk about anything else.

He stands back up.

 4.

YOUNG MAN (CONT'D)
Do you even remember one happy
moment we had?

He turns to face the door. It's open. In the opening, he

sees what seems to be a mirror image of the same room.

He puts down the phone, astonished, and heads to the door.

He enters the mirror room.

Everything about this room is the same, except the bed,

posters, and materials on the table are missing. On the
dresser, there is a blue binder.

He walks slowly to the dresser, takes the binder, and returns

to the chair, inspecting the room. He sits down and opens
the binder.
YOUNG MAN (CONT'D)
(whispering)
Was anything... wrong?

He slowly flips a few pages of the binder. There are many

pictures on medium format film of their time traveling
together.
YOUNG MAN (CONT'D)
(whispering)
What did I do...

He looks towards the blinded windows.

He contemplates the pictures for a few more moments.

YOUNG MAN (CONT'D)
Do you still love me?
He starts to close the binder, but at the last second, he
notices something strange with the pictures. They are
starting to fade and turn dark brown, the color of the film
stock.
He frantically flips through more and more pages. They are
all turning the same dead color.
His frantic eyes emerge above the binder as he puts it down
on the table.

He stands up and turns to look at the room. The furniture is

starting to disappear. He flips through the binder again.
Some film strips are missing.
 5.

He throws the binder onto the table, but before it lands,

both the binder and the table disappear.

He stands in the middle of the room, utterly alone.

He lies down on the ground, completely defeated.

YOUNG MAN (CONT'D)
Yesterday...
(pause)
I didn't want to do anything. It
was all bullshit.
Pause. He's resigned.
YOUNG MAN (CONT'D)
Yeah.
Pause.
YOUNG MAN (CONT'D)
I guess that's goodbye.
Sitting, he brings his knees in and curls up as the lights
dim and the frame gradually recedes into the distance.
 
THE END