This is a film script developed from a recent dream.
FADE IN:
TITLE: THE HIDDEN APARTMENT
A SHORT FANTASY FILM
CAST:
– PROTAGONIST (woman in her 40s, sharp, quiet, overstimulated)
– EYOEN (daughter, early 20s, fiercely loyal, dry wit)
– GRANDMA (anxious, nostalgic)
– MAMA (hyper-organized)
– AUNT AX (fix-it energy, always has tools)
– THE RAT (mysterious, dignified)
– THE DOGS & CATS (naturalistic but overly present)
INT. BATHROOM – DAY
Chaotic layers of voices, barking, meowing, drawers slamming, phones pinging.
The PROTAGONIST sits fully clothed on the closed toilet lid, hands over ears. A tiny vent hums. The door rattles.
GRANDMA (O.S.)
Have you seen my ankle wrap? The old one, not the good one!
MAMA (O.S.)
Did you order a new shower curtain yet?
AUNT AX (O.S.)
I’ve got to replace that towel hook. The wall didn’t hold the bracket!
PROTAGONIST
Can’t I just have one room to myself?
DOG (O.S.)
BARK-BARK-BARK!
EYOEN (O.S.) (defensively)
She’s using the bathroom. Respect the portal of peace!
The noise dims. The PROTAGONIST breathes. A RAT enters silently through an invisible door in the wall, twitching its nose. It returns to the wall, where a faint seam of light shimmers open.
PROTAGONIST (quietly, to herself)
Did I see that?
CUT TO:
INT. HALLWAY – MOMENTS LATER
The PROTAGONIST cracks open the bathroom door. EYOEN stands guard, arms crossed.
EYOEN
Holding the line. You owe me a donut.
PROTAGONIST
Come on. There’s something wondrous in here.
The crack in the bathroom wall has broadened into a narrow, warped hallway. The RAT scurries ahead. Behind them, the family bickers faintly. Dust motes float.
EYOEN
Is this part of the building?
PROTAGONIST
If it is, it’s in another dimension.
They step into the passage. Time slows. Footsteps echo. The color is still grey but lightening.
The family, DOGS, and CATS follow. The hallway widens, now carpeted in pale yellow grass—the only color.
PROTAGONIST
We should buy this place!
EYOEN (mock-serious, adopts a paper mustache)
For the low, low sum of one million doubloons, you can own the secret wing of this highly prestigious apartment complex.
PROTAGONIST (smiling for the first time)
Let’s offer a hundred bucks. After all, there’s no separate entrance.
EYOEN
Shrewd. I see why they fear you.
They reach a circular DAIS. Everything is quiet. Fog shrouds the view.
A rumble.
DOG (appears mid-run)
WOOF-WOOF! (bounds ahead)
A tidal wave of glittering, silvery-blue seafoam crashes over them. Grey color washes away. The fog lifts, revealing a rainbow.
EXT. MAGICAL GARDEN – CONTINUOUS
Everyone stands blinking. The PROTAGONIST, soaked but calm, takes in the view.
Floating PLATFORMS drift through an airy multi-level GARDEN. A golden WHEAT FIELD floats past.
SHAUN THE SHEEP and friends gambol on a terrace. A claymation DRONE lowers fruit into baskets. Flowers bob and mutter. CATS purr like thunder. The RAT perches queenly on the PROTAGONIST’S shoulder.
GRANDMA
I smell pound cake. And memory foam.
AUNT AX
I could install shelves if those platforms will hold the weight.
EYOEN (grinning at her mother)
You finally got your room.
PROTAGONIST
I always wanted to live someplace weird.
Music swells—gentle woodwinds, layered synth, toy piano. Colors deepen.
The camera rises to show the full height of the GARDEN world: fantastical, tender, alive.
FADE OUT.
END.