The last Red Envelope (Script)

POTP Prompt competition: Let me care for you, mother. http://www.poems-and-quotes.com/discussion/topic.html?topic_id=145416

Author's note: This story is based on true recent events:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/taiwan-earthquake-woman-alive-1.3438102

Chinese New Year - The last Red Envelope... (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_envelope

-----------------------------------------------

The last Red Envelope

A loud roar
vibrated through
the air...
Poor Yuan screamed & pushed down hard
with her heels on the polished floor,
propelling her body back, away from the awful sight
there on the 'Yin Ping...' (Television screen)
:
Yuan had been watching
A cartoon about Nian:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4WYqzmP03U
:
Her dad, Qiang calls out
from the kitchen:
'You, okay Yuan?'
'I'm scared' she cries...
:
Qiang was preparing a Chinese New Year eve feast:
'Ten perfections' (Ten everyday foods stir-fried together)
In a flash, he'd wiped his hands & was with Yuan;
She raised her arms -
Well, his heart could do none other than obliged.
He kissed the fear that spilt over
cherubic cheeks...
:
'Daddy, who is Nian?'
She sniffed...
:
'Nian, is a just an
Old, old, monster story
made up, saved up
To scare people'
he soothed...
:
Qiang gazed for a moment
out of the 17 floor 'gongyulou' (apartment)
:
The views over Tainan were breath-taking:
http://wikitravel.org/en/Tainan
:
Windows scattered like sequins
on a skin of pak choi;
each one a diverse pixel,
shimmering its essence within
an energy charged city scape...
:
He shook the wonderment away
& continued...
:
'He's a monster named, 'Year';
each New Year he'd strike fear into people...
Until an old man, long ago discovered
the monster's weakness:
:
Yuan listened intently,
her large dark eyes.
Glistening, like
midnight pools.
She nodded as if to say, continue...
:
Qiang smiled & said,
'the colour red & loud, loud sounds...
Since that day, anyone who receives a Red Envelope,
will be 'kangtai' (protected) from his wicked claws.'
Qiang clawed the air theatrically & bared his teeth.
:
Yuan squealed...
:
The front door opened & in walked Wei-Ling.
:
Yuan became a slippery string of noodles & wriggled out of her father's arms;
She cried out, 'mama...
Where have you been?
Will you protect me?
:
Wei-ling looked over at paused 'duan pian' (video image)
There was an image of Nian;
a ferocious single horned lion,
frozen in mid terrifying roar.
:
'Shhh, my baby, don't worry about him,
I have something just for you'
Yuan's mommy cooed.
She tapped her handbag
& said with a wink,
'I bought you the very last envelope...'
:
Yuan's faced beamed with relief,
but then a shadow crossed it...
'What about you mommy,
Who will save you..?'
:
'Daddy will save me -
If not, you will, won't you my angel?'
Wei-Ling teased, causing them all to laugh...
*A sunbeam illuminated the family 'huamian' (tableau)*
:
Later that night...
:
Bang, Bang, pop,
BANG!!!
Yuan awoke with a start & screamed out...
She was frightened & hugged
her pillow tightly to her chest;
:
& there it was...
:
A 'lishi' (Red Envelope)
on her bed sheet,
she picked it up;
it was small, shiny
& it glowed like fire,
flashing the reflected fireworks
from outside...
:
Her father's words
echoed in her head:
'Anyone who receives a Red Envelope,
will be protected from his wicked claws.'
:
Wei-Ling entered, wearing Qiang's
dressing gown, she pulled a tissue from its pocket,
wiped Yuan's eyes & gathered her up...
:
Yuan snuggled into the gown's soft, warm aroma...
A family fragrance she loved:
It was at this time that Yuan released her grip on
the Red Envelope...
:
Wei-Ling pointed at their bright Xing (Star) in the sky;
Without a cue, they sang their song:
:
'Whenever lights grow dark,
Remember I'm not far;
my echo's in your heart,
I'm yours...
that shining star'
:
a short while afterwards...
:
The Tsao family are:
safe and sound.
:
A few beats of a moth's wing later...
:
A guttural rumble begins;
the 'renjian', (Earth)
the 'mantian...' (Sky)
Tainan City shakes furiously;
:
Concrete flats sway like a Jenga tower;
Its core stability ruptured,
Splintered, compromised
to the point of collapse...
:
A thousand screams fuse with
deafening tonnes of destruction,
Cascading down in plumes
of choking, throat filling dust...
:
Bodies weightlessly tumble
through the air, until...
SMASH!!!
Bones crack & shatter like glass...
:
THUD. THUD. THUD - it's raining blood sacks;
life colliding with:
walls, concrete, ceilings, floors;
bodies being squashed like bugs beneath boots.
Life colliding with life, creating: Brutal death...
:
Lights flicker & spark;
Cords whip around like headless serpents.
:
The titanic wall of sound & images take an age to fade;
receding like a tide of tar,
out
of this
new
found
Hell...
:
:
A slow, strained blink,
:
blink...
:
*Wei-Ling tries to fight the sleep, the awful nightmare in her foggy mind*
:
She open her eyes,
No light...
Nothing, only
Darkness everywhere...
:
Where am I?
What has happened?
She tries to think,
:
then...
:
A cold realisation,
That was no nightmare,
This is real!!!
:
Her fear hammers within...
:
She cannot move,
her head is wedged,
Crooked to one side...
:
Her arms have no feeling;
her legs & chest are
stuck,
being
crushed;
she is
Trapped!
She panics...
She is,
Trapped,
She tries to scream:
her throat paralyses:
Silence...
She is,
Trapped, Surrounded, Confined, ENTOMBED!!!
A cold electrical fear shoots through her,
releasing an almighty,
primeval,
'CANJIAO' (Scream)
:
Her head becomes dizzy,
half a breath,
she coughs,
She splutters,
She wretches,
Convulses;
her eyes are streaming,
she begins to wail
then releases a high pitched cry
like an injured animal;
scared and alone.
:
Time passes...
:
Wei-Ling cries over and over until nothing is left.
She listens...
not a sound;
It's too dark.
She is stuck,
&
helpless...
:
There is a something though, a smell..?
A familiar musky smell:
I know that scent,
It is so close...
Yes, Yes, it's, Qiang, my husband.
A flash of comfort
she calls to him...
Qiang!
No response, again...
QIANG!!
Half sobbing, half screaming, she tries once more...
Q..I..A...N....G!!!
Nothing, only more silence, merged, smudged with his...
scent.
:
Qiang is lying face down, his head by her neck, she can feel his beard, his warmth, but...
he's not breathing,
Is he?
She listens, her neurons crackling with hypersensitivity...
:
No breaths, but there is life, she senses it...
:
*A 'zhizhu' (spider) leg tentatively rests upon her sallow face, then sensing life, skittishly turns & runs through her hair & away*
:
She melts beneath her cold sweat;
white panic lacerates & releases an,
unearthly cry of terror...
:
Wei-Ling's breathing becomes erratic,
the more she struggles,
the more she panics,
the less she moves,
the less she can...
:
The effort is too much, the air is too thin;
her lungs struggle, struggle, stru...
:
:
Consciousness creeps back...
carrying an image of a face on a rippled pond; it is the face of:
Yuan!
:
Like a million shards of glass spearing her heart she shudders, realising...
Where's my daughter - my God, where is she?
She cries...
:
She takes a few shallow breaths;
more than she can spare,
She screams repeatedly:
'YUAN, YUAN, YUAN...'
:
Until she has no more,
her voice is going nowhere;
muffled in this makeshift tomb;
Worthless words inside a coffin.
:
She is buried alive;
alone with her darkest fears;
only able to speak to the Dead...
:
Wei-Ling coughs,
Wretches...
Salty tears trail into
an arid mouth.
:
Exhausted;
too tired to swallow; to do anything,
anymore...
She has lost her Husband, fears her daughter too;
Now, Wei-Ling again releases her tenuous grip on,
consciousness & with it hope...
:
A comatose night of unspeakable frights passes...
:
Knock,
Knocking,
Tap
Tapping,
Faint, distant noises...
:
Wei-Ling is lured back into reality.
A reflex movement is abruptly halted;
Like a vice, she realises,
No, remembers that she is imprisoned
in a web of woven chains:
Trapped!!!
Panicking once more,
She screams,
She cries out...
:
Qiang is with her,
though now he is cold:
Dead cold...
:
She cries out again,
& again
& again, in hopeless desperation...
:
Amidst anxiety she sees something,
Star-light?
A dull light, yes...
Voices too, getting louder
Wei-Ling's pulse increases,
She cries out,
'Help'

'Help'

Help me please...'
:
'Here I am'
:
Dimness becomes a bright orb,
an all-consuming, sharp intensity...
She winces & shuts out the pain.
Fresh air wafts slowly around her face like a cooling spring.
She breathes it in, bit by tiny bit...
:
Fresh tears flow,
She continues crying out,
(Weakly)
'Here I am'
She hears voices...
:
Men working frantically, moving chunks of
Concrete, plaster, furniture, wood
&
lifeless bodies.
:
After an eternity,
Qiang, her protective shield is eased, lifted off her;
Instantly, Wei-Ling greedily gulps in replenishing breaths
Only to expel them with:
Unrelenting grief.
:
:
:
Like a hazy dream:
She remembered voices, being manhandled onto a stretcher, then over a war zone & into the lifesaving ambulance...
Driven at speed;
Sirens blared as the tyres spun through tight congested streets
Body jolting left then right;
more bruises (who cares)
Lights,
Voices...
:
She drifts in and out
of a smog like state.
:
Some days later on an intensive care bed
Wei-ling wakes. Her first words:
:
'Where's my daughter,
Where's my Yuan?'
She pleads with the nurse next to her bed,
to the doctor reading her charts,
to anyone, anyone...
They all turned & shook their heads.
:
The next day...
:
The local Fire Chief called by.
His brown eyes said it all...
:
Like a bombshell within:
her agony ricochet cruelly;
She vomited, rejecting the facts,
not wanting it to be true...
That her family were,
Dead...
:
Wei-Ling wailed uncontrollably,
her grief soaked into the very fabric of the hospital...
:
She could not comprehend why her life has been spared.
Why her husband & daughter had been taken away, leaving her
alone.
Why not me,
Why
WHY???
:
:
A month on...
:
Wei-Ling is released onto
a rehabilitation wing.
:
Sitting in an armchair,
holding a cup of cold herbal tea she looks out onto a:
Tranquil, thought provoking garden,
though now it's dark & she feels absolutely -
nothing...
:
A nurse enters & waits patiently by her side.
Wei-Ling looks up...
The kindly nurse passes her a brown paper parcel.
:
Wei-Ling's mind is filled with static...
Unable to comprehend a reason;
Why, why, why..?
:
Absentmindedly she unties the bag and pulls out,
a dressing gown...
:
Qiang's dressing gown. She pulls it close
Inhaling his familiar scent, her eyes swim with tidal tears,
returning the pain,
again...
:
Wait...
another smell;
familiar too...
Yuan?
Was it Yuan?
Yes, the unmistakable, fragrance of...
her daughter.
:
Tears rolled
silently,
:
d
o
w
n
:
Wei-Ling was wearing this the last time she cuddled her.
She remembered her weight in her arms, how scared Yuan was with the firecrackers & thoughts of...
Nian!
:
More tears; bitter ones...
Why did Yung die,
Why am I still here -
Why?
:
Her eyes and nose streamed;
she needed a tissue;
felt in the gown pocket...
:
What was that inside?
Tissues yes, but something else;
Something she had forgotten...
:
Wei-Ling pulled it free & revealed a...
Red envelope!
She was puzzled, thinking, this was Yuan's envelope,
meant for her,
meant to keep her safe,
meant for Yuan, NOT FOR ME!!!!!
Wei-Ling wailed for her loss & for the injustice of it all...
:
The room had grown dark as the vivid night sky.
Stars twinkled on a backdrop of black baize...
:
A star caught her eye & triggered a sweet memory:
:
Wei-Ling pointed at their bright Xing (Star) in the sky;
Without a cue, she sang their song, this time with a broken heart & voice:
:
'Whenever lights grow dark,
Remember I'm not far;
my echo's in your heart,
I'm yours...
that shining star'
:
In the darkness Wei-Ling's face reflected the sheen of pain that she would wear for the rest of her life.
It made agonising sense, sweet Yuan had given up her Red Envelope for her...
A display of unconditional love, the way only a child can, an ultimate sacrifice:
Placing her mother's life above her own...

michael
2016