Click to enlarge
"Reflection Creek"
Miriam Ridout
Soundless Dance
Beryl Iverson
INT. THE AUTHOR'S HOME OFFICE
THE AUTHOR, a young woman in her late twenties with messy hair wearing sweats, leans over her notebook writing. Her office is filled with browns and grays.
She suddenly stops her writing. Crossing her arms, she sighs and leans back in her chair looking at her project.
Flipping empty pages, twirling her pen, scratching her head. All symptoms of her growing frustration until she eventually puts her head down in defeat.
Her orange cat paws her to get her attention. Once she sits up the cat jumps into her lap.
He rubs his face on her and meows. The author laughs and pets her pet before leaning back and closing her eyes.
INT. BALLROOM
The author opens her eyes to a beautiful colorful ballroom. There are decorations everywhere, glitter seems to infect her eyes.
Panicking, she looks around trying to find something she knows.
To the right are people staring at her and whispering.
To the left are balconies with wind flowing in onto ornate ballroom dancers.
The eyes of the strangers fill the author's head in this unfamiliar landscape. Behind her is a door, she chooses to run to it as an escape.
INT./EXT. PALACE HALLS
The author runs through the halls of the grand palace. Occasionally she runs past a person who looks at her strangely.
Sometimes she runs past doors with warm light pouring out. She pays no mind to her big dress that is clearly holding her down.
Finally she finds a stained glass window. She looks into the glass to see her reflection multiple times over in different colors. She's no longer messy haired or disheveled in any way, instead her hair is pulled into an elegant braid with jewels running along it and she wears a gorgeous green and black gown adorned in pearls.
As she looks in amazement at her beautiful appearance, sparkles begin to accumulate next to her.
Finally the sparkles catch her attention and she looks over to see THE PRINCE. He is clean shaved and has part of his hair slicked back. He wears blue and white with gold thread and a long cape.
The author looks stunned at this prince suddenly appearing next to her. She opens her mouth to speak, but the prince cuts her off by offering her his hand.
Unsure of what to do, the author reaches her hand out and takes the prince's hand. She blinks.
EXT. MOONLIT GARDEN
The prince and the author are dancing under the full moon beside a lake. Rose bushes and lilies adorn the outside of this picturesque clearing.
The author looks around in shock as they dance.
A glance back at the prince reveals that he only has eyes for her, but doesn't say anything. He looks through her with a simple smile and loving look on his face.
EXT. ROOFTOP
A sudden jump to the roof startles the author.
Struggling to keep her footing she begins to panic. There is nothing but the stars around them as they dance on what seems like an impossible surface.
The author brings her eyes back to the prince after he stops her from falling. She opens her mouth and attempts to speak, but no words come out.
The author furrows her brow at her predicament. She tries speaking once again to no avail.
INT. BALLROOM
Another sudden jump brings the two back to the ballroom which fills the author's senses with bright light, glitter, and vibrant colors. There's a circle around the two dancers as everyone stares at them.
Realizing she's stuck in this dance she attempts to speak to the prince more urgently, but once again no words come out. She tries a few more times as tears fill up her frustrated eyes.
The prince continues to just smile at her without a word.
The author looks around once more at the still extras in the ballroom, but someone catches her eyes.
THE HEROINE is standing on the side. She's dressed in a blue and white ballgown with lilies in her half up hair. Unlike the extras who simply stare, she looks only at the prince with love in her eyes.
The author takes a deep breath and attempts to yell.
STOP
No sound is made, yet the word Appears out of her mouth as writing. The sound of the ballroom stops, the glittering light stills, and the prince is frozen in place.
The author pants as she looks at the prince and releases herself from his embrace.
She walks over to the heroine who is now standing as still as everything else is in the ballroom.
The author grabs the heroine's hands causing her to blink and look around.
Leading the heroine over to the prince, the author sets the heroine up in the position she was in only a short while ago.
The author walks back to where the heroine was standing as the heroine watches her.
She motions for the heroine to look at the prince. The heroine looks slowly towards the prince before falling back into her loving gaze.
The author smiles and takes a deep breath before attempting to speak.
Now, fall in love.
Once again the words appear as writing out of the author's mouth instead of being heard.
The ballroom begins again. Now the extras whisper to each other and drink punch.
The prince looks surprised at his new dance partner before chuckling back into a smile. The heroine closes her eyes and beams at her prince.
The author stands on the side and smiles while watching her two characters fall in love.
A waiter comes by and offers the author a drink which she takes. When she turns back she sees the prince offer the heroine a drink as he takes two from a waiter. The heroine happily accepts and laughs before taking a sip.
The two lovebirds laugh as they walk towards the balcony, deep in conversation too far away to hear. The author smiles as she takes a sip from her own drink.
Finally calm, she looks around the ballroom, seeing people enjoying themselves in dance, drinking, talking, and all kinds of other ballroom activities.
The author takes one more deep breath before closing her eyes.
INT. THE AUTHOR'S LIVING ROOM
The author awakes on her couch. The room is dark except for the bright orange and red light coming in through the window.
The cat sleeps next to the owner and her notebook is open on her messy coffee table with a full cup of coffee next to it. The orange light shines directly onto the notebook.
"Just fall in love." is written in the notebook.
The author smiles as she picks up her cat. Giving the cat kisses as she leaves her living room into her kitchen.
The words on the notebook shine blue as the wind closes the notebook.
