Post by radburn on Dec 29, 2010 5:15:36 GMT
The screen turns on, and the first thing you notice is is how the camera is angled, how it appears as if the communication device has been dropped onto the floor. You can't really tell where the video is supposed to be broadcasting from, but something in the lighting, or in the way the place is built, seems eerie and frightening. As the camera gains focus, the second thing you notice is a teenage girl, around the age of seventeen, dumping things out of a worn-out brown handbag. She has eye-searingly red hair, reddish-brown eyes, and a frantic look on her face as she searches through the sparse pile of items on the ground. Even though the camera is angled weirdly, you can see everything she picks up, item by item: eye shadow, a few sticks of gum, lip gloss, a deck of playing cards, a pair of scissors, a bottle cap, a flashlight, two bobby pins, a hair scrunchy, hand sanitizer (half-gone), and lastly, a carton of Marlboro Ultralights and a silver lighter, gleaming bright in the stark lights of.....wherever she is. Here the girl pauses and holds the cigarettes up to her face with an expression of surprise. You see her mouth something that could very well be "I'm a smoker?", and then carefully tuck the lighter away into her left jean pocket. By now you notice that she's breathing heavily, probably from anxiety or fear, although she is not quite aware of it. Suddenly, she takes off her old brown blazer and begins to mutter to herself, studying the lining of the coat intently almost as if she is searching for something like a label, or a brand, or a name.
A loud, oddly familiar noise comes out of nowhere and the girl looks up, snapping out of her panic. The noise gets louder and louder, coming closer and closer to where the girl is, and suddenly, it stops. It takes you a moment or so to recognize it while it came closer, but then you realized what that sound was: a railway. The voice that appears on the loudspeaker, although the words are incomprehensible, confirms that the girl is in a railway station. She herself seems to calm down just a bit, and after pausing to think, she begins to stuff everything back into her bag. She pulls the blazer over her white t-shirt and begins to rush to where you assume the train is waiting, the dog tags around her neck clinking with each step. Suddenly, you hear her boots skid to a stop, and the sound of her footsteps running back to you. The camera is lifted off the ground, and you see the station, the railway car, a brief flash of her brown cowgirl boots and then, darkness as she drops the communicator in her bag, and heads back.
You hear the sound of her walking into the railway car, taking a few steps here and there. The sound is muffled through the thick fabric of her bag, but even so, you can tell that she is saying "Where is everyone?" to herself in a shaky voice. The voice on the loudspeaker clicks on again, and as the train begins to move, you hear her sit down, placing the bag (and you) beside her with a light *thunk*.
There are no other sounds other than those of the movement of the railway car. The girl is deathly quiet, unnaturally quiet. The silence is tense, and gives you the feeling that the girl is terribly upset over something, so upset that all the strong emotions of panic and fear and frustration and shock have all cooled down into a numb, brooding sort of emotion. Despair. The silence drags on and on, on and on, going on so long you consider just shutting off the video, you really have other things to do anyway, when out of nowhere the darkness is broken by a shaft of light and a feminine hand coming in then out of view. It takes a minute for the girl to find what she is looking for, but then the hand disappears (clutching something), and now you can see the girl. Her eyes are red and puffy, and her nose is starting to run, but from the way she wipes her nose with her sleeve and holds her head, you can tell she's composed herself. She closes her eyes and takes a few deep breaths, in and out, in and out, until her breathing is like that of a person sound asleep, slow and completely even. A moment of peace. She opens her eyes and looks blankly down at what she holds in her hands. The glint of silver and the red-and-white packaging confirms your mild suspicions - she grabbed the cigarettes and took out the lighter from her jeans. The blank expression turns into one of mild disgust, her nose wrinkling and her lips curving down into a childish pout that you almost laugh at, God, it's like a kid with a plate full of broccoli. Then she lets out a short, bitter laugh as she takes out a cigarette, lights it, and takes a long, deep drag. Three seconds pass as she holds the smoke in her mouth, eyes closed, her cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk, and she slowly exhales the smoke, opening her eyes when there's nothing left to breathe out. She blinks and watches the smoke drift up to the ceiling. "I am enjoying this," she says incredulously, her eyes widening. Then, her head hangs in shame. "Dammit."
She looks over to her bag, and in the way her eyebrow rises you know she just noticed, after all this time, that her communicator was on. She bends her face closer to get a better look. "What the-?"
The voice on the loudspeaker announces that she has reached her destination, and her head snaps up to look outside the windows. She sticks the cigarette in her mouth and reaches for her bag. She takes one last peek inside, her eyes making contact with yours, just for a brief second, before she reaches in and turns it off.
A loud, oddly familiar noise comes out of nowhere and the girl looks up, snapping out of her panic. The noise gets louder and louder, coming closer and closer to where the girl is, and suddenly, it stops. It takes you a moment or so to recognize it while it came closer, but then you realized what that sound was: a railway. The voice that appears on the loudspeaker, although the words are incomprehensible, confirms that the girl is in a railway station. She herself seems to calm down just a bit, and after pausing to think, she begins to stuff everything back into her bag. She pulls the blazer over her white t-shirt and begins to rush to where you assume the train is waiting, the dog tags around her neck clinking with each step. Suddenly, you hear her boots skid to a stop, and the sound of her footsteps running back to you. The camera is lifted off the ground, and you see the station, the railway car, a brief flash of her brown cowgirl boots and then, darkness as she drops the communicator in her bag, and heads back.
You hear the sound of her walking into the railway car, taking a few steps here and there. The sound is muffled through the thick fabric of her bag, but even so, you can tell that she is saying "Where is everyone?" to herself in a shaky voice. The voice on the loudspeaker clicks on again, and as the train begins to move, you hear her sit down, placing the bag (and you) beside her with a light *thunk*.
There are no other sounds other than those of the movement of the railway car. The girl is deathly quiet, unnaturally quiet. The silence is tense, and gives you the feeling that the girl is terribly upset over something, so upset that all the strong emotions of panic and fear and frustration and shock have all cooled down into a numb, brooding sort of emotion. Despair. The silence drags on and on, on and on, going on so long you consider just shutting off the video, you really have other things to do anyway, when out of nowhere the darkness is broken by a shaft of light and a feminine hand coming in then out of view. It takes a minute for the girl to find what she is looking for, but then the hand disappears (clutching something), and now you can see the girl. Her eyes are red and puffy, and her nose is starting to run, but from the way she wipes her nose with her sleeve and holds her head, you can tell she's composed herself. She closes her eyes and takes a few deep breaths, in and out, in and out, until her breathing is like that of a person sound asleep, slow and completely even. A moment of peace. She opens her eyes and looks blankly down at what she holds in her hands. The glint of silver and the red-and-white packaging confirms your mild suspicions - she grabbed the cigarettes and took out the lighter from her jeans. The blank expression turns into one of mild disgust, her nose wrinkling and her lips curving down into a childish pout that you almost laugh at, God, it's like a kid with a plate full of broccoli. Then she lets out a short, bitter laugh as she takes out a cigarette, lights it, and takes a long, deep drag. Three seconds pass as she holds the smoke in her mouth, eyes closed, her cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk, and she slowly exhales the smoke, opening her eyes when there's nothing left to breathe out. She blinks and watches the smoke drift up to the ceiling. "I am enjoying this," she says incredulously, her eyes widening. Then, her head hangs in shame. "Dammit."
She looks over to her bag, and in the way her eyebrow rises you know she just noticed, after all this time, that her communicator was on. She bends her face closer to get a better look. "What the-?"
The voice on the loudspeaker announces that she has reached her destination, and her head snaps up to look outside the windows. She sticks the cigarette in her mouth and reaches for her bag. She takes one last peek inside, her eyes making contact with yours, just for a brief second, before she reaches in and turns it off.