The pawn and the queen
A special thanks to Chris Leo for his help
“Damned the day I met you! Where are YOU? OH GOD… you are so messy.”
I’m frustrated, I am tired… I give up smoking, how could I quit?
“NICOLE! Bloody hell. Where is my briefcase? I thought I put it right there on the table.”
My name is Penelope. Nicole? She is my girlfriend. I am 29 years old, am I a lesbian? Yes, I am. We have been dating for almost five years. We fight, of course, every fucking day. I love her more than she knows. Nicole? She is so beautiful, brilliant and very passionate. “NICOLE! Where are you?” I think she is shopping somewhere. “JESUS! Why are you never here when I need you?”
White arms and plastic fingers
Screenplay by Nicole Groom
FADE IN
INT. HOUSE
A naked female figure, crouched in the middle of the living-room with her head touching the floor. She rolls back onto her stomach and pushes herself up into a kneeling position, her bottom resting on the heels of her feet, and she stretches her back much like a feline.
She’s got long black hair. Thick, shiny and smooth hair. She appeared flawless, milk-white skin. Her name is Chiaki. She is a girl in her twenties. Chiaki is extremely attractive but a little overweight. A big yakuza tattoo is clearly visible on her bare arm. Her whole body is soaking wet.
She felt strange a freezing sensation rising up inside of her. Her body started to tremble.
CUT TO:
INT. HOUSE
Chiaki stood naked in front of the window. London was enveloped in a black fog more dense than anything witnessed during the last years. There was nobody on the street. She realised the light was starting to fade.
CHIAKI
«You are all I need!»
CUT TO:
EXT. CITY STREET
Woman legs with red high heels walking. The legs are bare. It’s rain. Her shoes go in search of puddles. Following the shape of her legs slowly up to her face. Natalie is a young pretty woman in her mid twenties. She’s a beautiful tall, leggy and thin body with green eyes and amazing porcelain skin. She’s got short blonde hair. She lights up a cigarette and holds it between her tapering fingers with nails varnished white. The smoke rises from the tip of the burning cigarette between puffs. She seems nervous. She seems fed up and bored. She’s on the verge of tears.
CUT TO:
INT. HOUSE
Natalie is with her daughter, Stephanie. She is 8 years old. Natalie stretches her arms and while She is lying on her bed She lights up a cigarette. The little girl put on her pajamas and kisses her mother. Stephanie looks very tiny and slim. Natalie looks half dead.
NATALIE
«Am I alive? Where is her father?»
STEPHANIE
«Mom! Mom! It’s me.
Whom were you talking to?»¬
NATALIE
«Nobody! Let’s Go to bed my…darling.
I need to sleep it off»
FADE IN:
INT. HOUSE NATALIE IS SHOOTING UP
A disposable insulin syringe. A spoon. A tourniquet. Alcohol swabs. Cotton balls. Some white dust.
Stephanie hands her Mom the syringe, the spoon and the tourniquet. Natalie’s preparing to shoot up. She puts heroin into the spoon and suddenly she sucks up some water into her syringe to be sure about the amount. She pours the water into the spoon and mixes the mixture. She cooks heroin, boiling it for some seconds.
NATALIE (speaking to herself)
«I need a hit. Just one.»
CUT TO:
Natalie’s still lying whilst Stephanie starts to talk to cute little panda. Stephanie speaks to camera.
STEPHANIE
«My mom is very sick. You know?
She has to take medicine every day. She need it.»
CUT TO:
INT. KITCHEN
A pretty young girl sits in a wheelchair. She is eating some sushi. Her name is Romina. Chiaki is there. She sits on the washing-machine. They talk to each other. Romina has a sunflower in her hair. She is a brunette. She eats slowly, needs time to chew and swallow. Chiaki puts on an enormous white shirt and satin gloves. “love in progress” it can read on the shirt. A man’s silk-covered top hat is on her head. She is smoking and next to her there is an ashtray full of cigarette butts.
ROMINA
«I can’t lose what I don’t have»
CHIAKI
« What are you talking about?»
ROMINA
«I am talking about her.»
CHIAKI
«Natalie!»
ROMINA
«Yes, Natalie. I miss the love. Memories go
back to my childhood. I miss the sound of the waves,
I miss the countryside where I grow up, friends, my cat. I guess there is still a child in me somewhere.
I can’t stop thinking about that day when she wore nothing except for a pair of earrings. They were large, smooth. I can remember exactly what happened.
I tried to be someone else. I tried to kiss her.
She rejected me. My life stopped there.»
CHIAKI
«I know what it means. She kidnapped me. Her eyes, her lips, her legs. I longed to tell her how I felt. I’ve never tried that.»
ROMINA
«I am so tired.»
CHIAKI
«Do you want a coffee?»
ROMINA
«Yes, I do»
Chiaki’s making coffee. Natalie opens the front door. She is with her daughter. Stephanie dresses up as a fairly-tale. Pink clothes covered her body. Stars, diamonds are everywhere.
CHIAKI
«How are you doing?»
NATALIE
«not bad. We need to dress this
room up with flowers and posters.
GOD is coming soon.»
ROMINA
«He called this morning.»
CHIAKI
«Did he call here?»
ROMINA
«Yes, He did.»
CUT TO:
INT. EMPTY ROOM
Chiaki, Romina and Natalie look amazing. Natalie was the queen Chiaki and Romina are the pawns. Natalie dresses in all black, from her shoes to her cloche hat, beautiful angel wings covered with feathers well up over her back, white, glossy, big, shining and sleek wings. Chiaki is barefoot, Romina has got wings as well but she is naked.
NATALIE
«Are you ready? This is the big day.»
ROMINA
«I am scared. God loves you. You are
The Queen. The most beautiful woman I
have ever seen. God will help you!»
NATALIE
«Shut up! It’s not true. All of us
Will become angels today.»
CHIAKI
«Before I’ll lose my human female
Sexuality, I have to tell you something.
I love you and I am going to love you
Forever.»
INT. EMPTY ROOM
God opens the front door. Natalie, Chiaki and Romina are ready, one next to the other, they are waiting for something.
CHIAKI (whispering)
«I can’t believe that! God is androgynous»
GOD
«Are you ready, Girls? How you can see (Now you can see?), It’s me. I am God. I’d like to have a name. Unfortunately, it’s just God, no way to have something such as Amanda, John, or better, Andrea.
I am a sort of developer. I made the world in six days. Human beings believe that legend. It’s a fake. I spent 3 million ages to develop everything. However, I still made too many mistakes.
Ok!!! Let’s get started. I am going to delete your
human female sexuality, memories and
something else.»
ROMINA
«I was scared. I believed we had to pass an exam.»
GOD
«No!Noooo! What bullshit is this. I need to disconnect something from your brain. That’s it.
You will be angels very soon.»
Camera shows a screen. Noise. The videotape is finished. God is not God. God is a doctor. The Angels are not angels but they are just patients. They were in a medical centre in order to doctors can check and study their diseases, Cotard’s syndrome, it is a rare neuropsychiatric disorder in which a person holds a delusional belief that he or she is dead, does not exist, is putrefying or has lost his/her blood or internal organs. Rarely, it can include delusions of immortality.
NOISE – NOISE – NOISE
“JESUS!” I finished to read the screenplay. Nicole should stop writing. She is fool. “Nicole Where are you?” Maybe She is dead. “OH GOD!” It’s true. Now I can remember, she is dead, she died last year. “Nicole I need you, I feel so bad. I need you more than you can imagine. Nicole! Speak loudly! I can’t hear you. I am dead as well. When? What’s going on? Help me! Help meeee! Helpp…
Nicole Groom spent 45 years before dying in a white, small, cool room. Doctors tried to help her but her syndrome was too hard to treat. Treatment is difficult, and tricyclic and serotoninergic antidepressant drugs have shown little efficacy. Electroconvulsive therapy has shown greater promise, “curing” Cotard’s sufferers in five studies of its efficacy with that treatment.
Nicole Groom 15/06/1928 – 19/06/2009 R.I.P.
