An Existential Romance

By

Amanda Farmer

November 17, 2012

FADE IN

EXT. FIELD - SUNSET

In a still, scenic field, a person heaves dead bodies into a

pile. All around crickets chirp.

WOMAN (V.O.)

Can you call it a dream if you’re

not really asleep? It’s like this

sort of half-dream,

half-hallucination hybrid I guess.

Where I’m some sort of grave digger

or not really a digger I guess

because I’m not digging -

it’s...I’m, like, a body piler,

just, like, heaving bodies into a

pile. I don’t know.

Action continues under voice over.

WOMAN (V.O.)

So I’m piling all these nameless

corpses into a neat stack - I mean

as neat as you can get with bodies.

It’s not Tetris. And it kind of

strikes me that I shouldn’t be

doing this, you know. Not like

this. These were probably people...

I mean, of course they were. They

were people. So I decide I’m gonna

pick one and really focus on it and

just, you know, think about what it

might have been before.

Zero in on male corpse.

WOMAN (V.O.)

So I pick this dude corpse - he’s

in his 30s or so - and I spend a

moment thinking about who he must

have been. Probably had a wife or

husband who got on his nerves.

Probably was a pharmacist - I don’t

know. Pick something. So I take a

minute and pull together a little

back story for the guy. And

suddenly he becomes for me, like,

the protagonist of this body pile.

And I’m feeling pretty good about

myself - you know, respectable for

having the perspective to think of

(MORE)

2.

WOMAN (V.O.) (cont’d)one of them as a person... when I

notice something.

Zero in on female corpse.

WOMAN (V.O.)

Like, four or five bodies over,

there’s this girl body I didn’t

notice before, and I realize it’s

me. I mean, it’s...me! Just lying

there, getting all wooden.

INT. THERAPIST’S OFFICE - DAY

THERAPIST

And how did that make you feel?

WOMAN

I was pissed! Like, I’m right

there, and I didn’t even notice

myself. I chose some other goober

as the protagonist - didn’t even

look twice at my own body.

THERAPIST

No sympathy?

WOMAN

What do you mean, for my body?

THERAPIST

Because you’re one of the nameless

dead.

WOMAN

No, I’m not symp-- I’m just, I’m

mad.

THERAPIST

Does the thought of dying make you

angry?

WOMAN

No, see that’s not it, because

check it out.

3.

EXT. FIELD - DUSK

WOMAN (V.O.)

So the bodies start to wake up.

They open their eyes, and they

start talking to themselves about

TV shows and their jobs and

whatever. And it dawns on me that

they’re alive and they just have no

idea that they’re part of a pile of

bodies. They don’t know what it

looks like from my perspective up

here - body piler me, I mean. And I

get really, really scared.

INT. THERAPIST’S OFFICE - DAY

THERAPIST

Is this a problem you’ve always

had? The nightmares and trouble

sleeping?

WOMAN

No. Just since I was 23.

THERAPIST

What happened when you were 23?

Pan into a new scene...

INT. MUSEUM - DAY

The woman, apparently as a 23-year-old, sits in a medal

folding chair, surrounded by empty medal folding chairs,

with a shocked look on her face.

WOMAN (V.O.)

Actually, I guess it’s more about

what happened leading up to me

turning 23.

Just as quickly as we panned into the scene, we pan out to

another scene...

INT. VARIOUS

VHS clips of girl growing up.

4.

WOMAN (V.O.)

I had a pretty easy upbringing.

Like, I was generally pretty good

at stuff - school was super easy, I

was a decent athlete, good at music

- and when I wasn’t good at

something, my parents would placate

me, so everything felt really

simple and orderly. "Effort leads

to accomplishment." You know. And I

guess...I guess I was happy, you

know - I was good.

THERAPIST (V.O.)

But when you were 23...

Quickly pan back to scene with WOMAN in folding chair, but

earlier, so she’s surrounded by a few others...

EXT. STREET - DAY

Voiceover while we see: A man is giving a lecture. The

WOMAN, enthralled, reacts.

WOMAN (V.O.)

Yeah, but when I was 23, I was at a

science museum, right? And there

was this guy giving a speech about

Quantum Physics. I had studied that

a little in school, but there were

some things about it that

just...hit me this time.

THERAPIST (V.O.)

Like what?

WOMAN (V.O.)

Like how much randomness there is

to everything. How little we know.

Chaos theory. How much of us is...

essentially...empty space.

She remains seated in shock as the others get up, walk away.

Time passes, lights dim, etc.

INT. THERAPIST’S OFFICE - DAY

THERAPIST

And that thought spun you into a

crisis?

5.

WOMAN

Well, yeah. (beat) And then, you

know, my friend died, and I lost my

job, and the guy I was with dumped

me for no reason. So... there were

a few things that kind of drove the

message home.

THERAPIST

The message that life is sad?

WOMAN

No, not sad. Like, scary. Like,

totally out of hand, you know?

Suddenly I felt like one of those

dogs sliding around in the back of

a truck, you know, with no control

over where I was going.

Silence.

THERAPIST

Tell me, why did you decide to see

a therapist?

WOMAN

Oh, I just...I have a lot of

thoughts. Like, stuff that just

kind of--

She makes a diarrhea sound.

WOMAN

--pours out of my head. And I type

it into Word documents and save it

on my computer. But I can’t really

go back and make sense of it.

Organize it, I guess. So, I was

hoping you could, like, help me.

Get organized.

THERAPIST

In terms of your thoughts?

WOMAN

Yeah, or like give me tips on how

to think or how to be. Or, you

know, just feedback on how I’m

doing.

THERAPIST

How you’re doing...?

6.

WOMAN

In life. Like, am I ok?

The THERAPIST considers.

THERAPIST

You seem to have a preoccupation

with death and dying, as evidenced

by your recurring dream of the

nameless bodies.

WOMAN

Yeah, but no, remember we’re alive

so we’re, like, nameless living

people--

THERAPIST

And it’s unusual for something you

heard in science class to cause 5

subsequent years of sleepless

nights.

WOMAN

It was a museum, and it’s not like

I totally don’t sleep, I just--

THERAPIST

I think you’re highly neurotic.

Beat.

WOMAN

...Highly?

THERAPIST

Mmhmm.

WOMAN

Really. Wow. Wow...

THERAPIST

Does that surprise you?

WOMAN

I mean, yeah, kind of. I guess I

thought other people thought about

this stuff, too. I... Are you sure?

THERAPIST

Do you want my honest diagnosis or

do you want me to placate you?

Silence.

7.

WOMAN

What do I do?

THERAPIST

I’m giving you a prescription for

an anti-anxiety medication. This

should help you feel more

"organized" in your thinking, and

should also probably help you

sleep. Overall, it’ll help you be

less... afraid of things.

The WOMAN fidgets.

WOMAN

Yeah...I don’t really like taking

pills. That scares me.

EXT. STREET OUTSIDE THERAPIST’S OFFICE - DAY

The WOMAN numbly walks onto the street holding the written

prescription in her hand. Passersby rush past, not making

eye contact with her.

She comes to a zealot standing on a crate.

ZEALOT

And he who turns to Jesus shall not

perish but have everlasting life.

And he shall not die but shall live

in the arms of the father...

The WOMAN feels...something. Something too much. Suddenly,

she walks directly, with a purpose, to the opposite corner.

She picks up a crate that sits beside the trash can.

She turns over the crate and steps onto it.

She breathes in. Then...

She screams. A lot. Wildly. Loudly. She screams and screams.

All around, passersby stop to look at her. Some judge. Some

scowl. All are stunned.

She stops screaming, wild smile on her face. Looks each

stopped passerby dead in the eye.

She meets the eyes of a man. After a moment, he smiles.

Her eyes widen.

8.

EXT. FIELD - DUSK

In the pile, two bodies grab hands.

FADE OUT