MIGHT JUST TAKE YOUR LIFE

BY

ANGELITA FRANCO

Lalena is a common girl with dreams of grandiosity.  She is soft but ambitious and a little expectant of life to give her something exciting. She has beliefs that the world is a playground and her will is to attract vibrant events to give her a lift in her experiences.

Tasha is a playgirl. She is just fine where she is, at all times. She aims to live her life just as it is. Unaware of evolving, she is living day to day with confidence and devil may care attitude. She likes to flirt with men though she is cagey in her approach. She attracts men, sizes them up and then makes herself hard to get.

Hansen Alister is a playboy. He ratchets up the points from the girls he finds most attractive by pretending he can care less about the luxuries he has under his belt. He is creepy yet intriguing, conniving and suave at schmoozing the girls into his territory.

INT: BEDROOM

LALENA sit on her knees before an altar. On the altar there is a fat candle burning, incense smoking, a drawn seal pentagram on a paper. Lalena is just finishing a chanting sound…

                                                            LALENA

Bramala, Bramala, Bramala, Bramala, Bramala….
My will is to attract a very wealthy man who will take
me to every part of the world. This man is adventurous
and generous, he is mysterious and elegant. He is full
of surprises. He will excite me and I shall give him a new life.

Lalena finishes her ritual. Puts out the candles with a fire stopper. She puts the lid on her incense and puts the paper pentagram under the mantle.

She takes off a robe she was wearing. She is wearing a see through dainty night slip.
She has furry 3inch house slippers on.  She goes to the mirror, thoughtfully brushes her hair and puts it up in a roll, clipping it to her hair in the back.

She sits on the edge of her bed.  She looks at the time on the nightstand.  Clock says it’s 1am.  She gets under the blankets in her plush bed and begins almost instantly to dream.

DREAM SEQUENCE:

A shadow stands at a door threshold. The threshold separates 2 dimensions. The dimension where the shadow stands is an abyss. The shadow is a watcher, watching through the threshold into a world of hard labor and grievous plagues in humanity. 

The Shadow sees a woman standing at an outdoor washbasin scrubbing garments on a washboard over a barrel. The woman wears heavy linen clothing, an apron and, rough leather sandals.  There are men handling various duties and children scampering around the out of doors wash area where the woman is at work. There is no pavement, just mud, in this land.

The year is 1334.

There is a child propped up very close to the woman washing.  He is waddled with a blanket. He seems to be feverish, with beads of sweat on his face and chest. He goes in and out of consciousness.  His age is 3 years old.  Suddenly his eyes close for good. His lips become sad as the little life he tried to hold onto leaves him. His body goes limp.

An older man who was just setting some tools by the washbasin looks at the boy and sadly says “What a shame.” The woman who is washing clothes pulls the blanket taught over the boys face.  She seems to have no feeling about the boys’ death.

The dark angel crosses the threshold and envelopes the plagued child, carrying away his soul into the dark dimension.

INT: BEDROOM: MORNING

The clock on the nightstand reads 10 am.  Lalena awakens. She has a grim look on her face after such a dream. She sits up and there is a dark dim glow in her, upon her stomach.

INT: BEDROOM: EVENING

Lalena is at her mirror putting finishing touches on a well-done hair and make-up application. She slips on her stilettos, walks to the door, grabs a coat and her purse as she leaves for the local bar.

INT: BAR

Lalena sits alone on a stool drinking a cognac in a bar.  It is dark inside dimly lit by red orb containers with votive candles flickering small flames.  The bar is somewhat quiet, with a few frequenters lounging about with their company and drinks.

In walks a man, HANSEN ALISTER. He’s in his early 40’s.
He is dressed in a well made worn out suit.
The suit is shabby, just as shabby as the mans hairdo –which is hidden under a brown grimy hat.  He looks unkempt.

Lalena winces her face when this strange man sits next to her.
The man smells strong and wretched.
He orders a drink.

                                                            Hansen

                                    Whiskey straight up.  Make it a double.

He pulls out a handful of wadded up bills. Crumpled and carelessly shoved into his pocket. When he finds a twenty he lays it on the bar. He uses a finger, the finger that wears a magnificent diamond chunk to slide it to the bartender.

Hansen looks at Lalena. She is caught ogling his ring. Obviously her attention has been swallowed up by the man’s peculiar presence.

                                                            Hansen

                        Taking the edge off.  I just buried a good friend.

Lalena gasps, slightly startled. His statement confirming a grim vibe, subtle yet definitely present.

                                                            Hansen

                        Don’t worry. She’d been dead a long time.

Lalena squirms with unease. She’s stumped; his attempt at soothing a macabre reality catches her off guard. She figures she has no right to assume anything. She doesn’t know this man, anything good or bad, yet.

                                                            Hansen

                                                So, where’s your date?

 Lalena

                                          No. I mean, I don’t have a date.
                           I’m not waiting for anyone. I’m just having a drink.
                                                           
Hansen

Oh, Well you look fit for a ball the way your all done up. 
I would like to take you out, somewhere nice. Or even keep you company
 a little longer. But I better get goin home to clean up.

Hansen finishes his drink in a gulp and sets the glass down.

                                                            Hansen

I stepped through the manure at the gravesite.
I’m sure I do not smell one bit of good.           

                                                         Lalena

                                                Ohhh….

Lalena looks more eased of curiosity, but still leery of the peculiar man.

Hansen shifts in his seat just before getting up to leave. A few hundreds fall out of his pocket. He doesn’t notice, but Lalena does. She pretends not to notice so she says nothing.

(Right then, the transfer of the dim dark glow Lalena carries in her stomach; the spirit of the child she has harbored from the passage of time in her sleep; as Hansen walks away the dark spirit glow leaves Lalenas belly and attaches itself to Hansen’s chest. The place where is found the heart.)

                                                            Hansen

Anyway, maybe we can go out some other time soon.
                           Here’s my number.

Hansen writes his number with a LaCross pen from his pocket on a napkin.
He winks her an eye as he hands the napkin to her.
He makes his way to the hostess to order his car.
The valet pulls up a very fine car to pick him up.

Lalena is watching him as he is heading out the door and getting into his fancy car.
She is full of emotion and feels an unmistakable attraction to him. Suddenly she remembers the money he dropped. She stoops down and picks it up; she stands up and calls out to him…as if she’s really going to try to give it back!

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