The Onion Gift (Screenplay)

When two inseparable sisters are finally split by death in their old age, the one left behind enlists the comfort of folk magic from her childhood to bridge the divide.

ACT ONE

INT. COTTAGE - SOMETIME IN THE PAST – NIGHT

The cottage is vaguely Slavic, and could be from the 1600’s but no location or time is clearly defined.

SISSI and FRAUKE share a bed. They face away from each other, laying practically back to back, in the shape of a moth. 

SISSI

“Frauke?”

FRAUKE shifts and places her hand on the SISSI’s shoulder 

FRAUKE

(feebly)

 “I’m here, Sissi. I’m here.”

SISSI pats FRAUKE’s hand, shakily. She closes her eyes.

(“ALL THINGS WERE QUITE SILENT” played on pipes begins playing) 

SERIES OF SHOTS – FLASHBACKS OF SISTERS 

shots of past events play between interior shots of objects in the cottage. 

Past events: 

- two little girls play in the woods

- two young women at a dance stand away from the others

- two older spinsters at someone’s wedding

Interior shots:

- two tea cups on a table

- the drawer of a bedside table

- a few onions that catch the moonlight in a darkened pantry.

Intercut INT./EXT. COTTAGE – NIGHT - DAY

We slowly PULL out of the window to bring a modest cottage with two chairs outside into full frame. Around the cottage, brambles and dead trees shoot out from ground like old bones. A small village sprawls the hills beyond the cottage.

A REVERSE TIMELAPSE occurs, which shows the cottage become new again. The trees come back together, a lush garden sprouts all around from the dry brambles, and the village un-builds itself, as time goes back.

EXT. COTTAGE – DAY

MOTHER, a middle aged woman in peasants’ clothes, opens the cottage door. Her arms are filled with a basket of roots. Two young girls rush past her outside to play. The two girls run hand in hand into the nearby woods, with their own basket.

MOTHER watches them with what starts as a smile, but fades as they get farther away. She sits alone and peels roots by a wood pile.

EXT. WOODED AREA – MOMENTS LATER – DAY

The girls play in the woods, they collect roots and herbs as they go. They travel fairly far; the daylight begins to wane. SISSI suddenly trips and falls. She has tripped over a grouping of stacked stones. 

She clutches her leg in pain for a moment, tears begin to fill her eyes, but stops suddenly when she notices what she tripped over. She silently stares around. 

We see she is surrounded by many cairns, haphazardly dotting the ground for many yards. FRAUKE runs up to SISSI to comfort her, but is quickly silenced by her sister’s look, and realizes where they are as well. They stare around and at each other in silent fright.

Suddenly the crack of twigs underfoot startles the girls. An OLD MAN in a weathered, moss colored hat approaches, cautiously. He sports a long beard.

OLD MAN

“Ye need not be affright, I will not harm ye”

He raises his arms in the sign of peace. However, the girls remain frozen, their eyes dart to the disturbed cairn and back to him. His eyes return the dance. 

OLD MAN

(softly) 

“ah, the ‘membrance. The stones. Ye need not be afeared of them either.”

He moves closer, motions to the disturbed stones, and begins to carefully reassemble the cairn. 

OLD MAN

“Them that are dead shall not harm ye.”

He continues stacking stones. He smiles softly, in an attempt to level with the children, and soothe their fear. 

OLD MAN

“Ye have made trespass upon their cot, tis true, and thus you must afford them some recompense.”

He feigns a serious expression, and glances around at the forest floor for a moment. The girls still stand rigidly in place. 

OLD MAN

“Child, pluck for me the fruit that grows there” 

He gestures to a sprout of long green blades nearby. SISSI begins to move but FRAUKE grabs her hand.

FRAUKE

(whispering) 

“Sissi!”

SISSI locks up. The old man chuckles, and looks to them reassuringly.

OLD MAN

“yer safe, child.”

SISSI looks to her sister and finally steps forward cautiously, and bends down to pick the plant from the ground. With some effort, she pulls up a small onion. 

OLD MAN

“Tis well known that the dead are fond of gifts, and onions be an especially prized delight.”

He motions to the cairn. 

OLD MAN

“Go there, bury the gift at their feet, and wish. If they so deign, the dead may even return the kindness to ye”

He smiles as he says this, as he notices the girls soften with the promise of magic and gifts. SISSI does as he said, and when finished the old man speaks once more. 

OLD MAN

“Ye be forgiven, scurry to yer home.”

The girls turn to leave 

OLD MAN

“But ye must tell no one of this or the magic will be broken.” 

He reminds them, but everyone knows the rules of magic. They run back home as the last bit of daylight fades.

INT. COTTAGE – LATER – NIGHT

The girls settle into bed, MOTHER snuffs all the candles and lanterns, and the house begin to sleep.

LATER a rattle at the window wakes SISSI. She waits to hear it again to begin to be afraid. The rattle returns and she watches as a filthy hand with long bony fingers slips between the shutters.

The hand deposits a ribbon of fabric the color of marigolds, upon the window sill and disappears again into the darkness. SISSI slips out of bed silently. She retrieves the ribbon, smiles, and clutching it tight, returns to bed and goes to sleep.

INT. COTTAGE – 74 YEARS LATER – DAY

The old SISSI opens her eyes. The lavender light of dawn sits softly on the rough wooden floor of the cottage. The room is still. SISSI and FRAUKE are motionless.

SISSI

(softly)

“Frauke?” 

But this time, there is no answer. SISSI lays still there for a while in silence.

EXT. GRAVEYARD IN THE WOODS – LATER – DAY

(A DRONE CHORD PLAYS ON SHRUTI BOX)

SISSI stands, accompanied by a preacher, a digger, and the grave keeper; a young man in a clean moss colored hat. They stand around FRAUKE’s cairn in reverence. We see that there are more cairns now. 

The preacher is speaking but SISSI just stares at the mound of earth. We hear nothing but the drone chord. A shot of a sprout of long green blades nearby closes the scene.

INT. COTTAGE – LATER – DAY

SISSI is seen back home, on her side of the bed with the other side painfully empty. 

MONTAGE – SISSI’s EMPTY DAYS

 

- SISSI sitting at breakfast pouring tea in her cup, she begins to place a second cup, and then returns it to the cabinet. 

- SISSI sitting in a weathered chair outside the cottage, a near identical one sits empty beside her. The air is stark and wind is the only thing heard. 

-She is back in bed at nightfall. 

-This repeats for several days and nights. 

On the last day, she watches a group of children run by, and head towards the woods.

INT. COTTAGE – LATER – DAY

SISSI lays in bed. She opens her nightstand drawer, and produces a small wooden box. She runs her fingers over the box for some time, sitting on her bed, before finally she opens it. 

SISSI clutches the ribbon of marigold colored fabric inside. She presses it to her lips, and stares at the empty side of the bed, and then looks to the window with determination.

ACT TWO

EXT. FIELD – MOMENTS LATER – NIGHT

SISSI walks with her cane through the brambles and dead grass, making straight for the burial site, within the woods. The wind beats upon her fragile frame. 

EXT. GRAVEYARD IN THE WOODS – LATER - NIGHT

SERIES OF SHOTS – SISSI PERFORMS THE ONION GIFT RITUAL

-SISSI’s hand grasps the blades and pulls up an onion.

-She digs a hole in the black dirt before FRAUKE’s cairn with her bare hands, her nails scrape the earth away, her boney hands contort and struggle against the soil.

-She places the onion and the ribbon within the hole, fervently wishing and praying. 

-She covers them with soil.

EXT. COTTAGE – LATER - NIGHT

SISSI sits in the chair outside again, in the dark, covered in dirt. The wind howls.

INT. COTTAGE – LATER – DAY

We see dirty footprints lead to the bed where we find a filthy SISSI, passed out from exhaustion. She wakes with a start. She then notices the footprints on the other side of the bed. They lead to the window.

She opens the window, which looks towards the woods. We see someone far off, a nude figure just within the edge of the woods staring back, just barely visible. SISSI smiles, grabs her cane to walk out, but the figure is gone when she walks outside. 

EXT. FIELD – MOMENTS LATER – DAY

SISSI heads to the woods in her nightgown, boots and cane.

EXT. WOODS – LATER – DAY

In the woods, she searches, the woods have never looked so maze like. They pass by increasingly frantically as she searches, till finally we see a long bony hand curl around the tree trunk.

It happens steadily, not fast, nor slow, but without our control. The vision will be viewed no matter what we do.

Over the shoulder of FRAUKE’s corpse as it peers out behind the tree, we only see SISSI’s reaction in clear focus. A transference of surprise to abject horror and disgust. She drops her cane, and flees. The sun begins to set.

EXT. FIELD – MOMENTS LATER – DAY

In the middle of the wide field, SISSI is half running, half crawling through the tall grass and brambles. In the distance the naked corpse makes slow but steady progress towards her.

SISSI gets caught on some brambles, they tear her nightgown and draw blood in places. The sun continues to set, and every second the corpse gets nearer.

INT. COTTAGE – MOMENTS LATER – NIGHT

SISSI busts through the door, which slams into the table, which shatters the tea cups on the floor.

Through labored breathing, SISSI limps to bed over the broken china. She throws herself upon it, tears already flooding her cheeks. She sobs audibly as she settles into bed in her familiar position, facing the door. She waits for the inevitable arrival of FRAUKE.

ACT THREE

INT. COTTAGE – MOMENTS LATER – NIGHT

The window behind her makes a rattling sound, slowly creaks open. Moments later, the bed springs groan as another body enters.

There is silence, SISSI lays motionless. We hear rattling breath. 

SISSI

(voice breaking)

“…Frauke?”

The bed groans again. A long, boney hand grasps her shoulder.

SISSI pats FRAUKE’s hand, trembling. SISSI closes her eyes.

INT. COTTAGE – LATER – DAY

(“THE ONION GIFT” by Jason Scalfano is played on cello) 

Morning light has filled the cottage. The bed is empty and filthy. 

SERIES OF SHOTS – RETURN TO ROOTS

-the pantry onions

-the broken tea cups

-the empty box

Intercut INT./EXT. COTTAGE - DAY

We see the two chairs outside. We PULL OUT and in the distance we see two figures: one in a nightgown, one nude. They walk into the woods hand in hand. 

BLACK SCREEN

THE END


#summerween