“MEAL FOR ONE”
By
Emma Burn
FADE IN:
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SCENE 1: OUTSIDE THE BACK OF THE HOUSE – EVENING
An establishing shot at the back of the house, which is made from sandstone and is dimly lit by the evening sun. The light in the room at the middle of the house flickers on, it has a blue tint to it, and it shines out into the evening. It stays on for a few seconds, before turning off, leaving everything in darkness. The room to the right lights up a few seconds after this, where we can see a shadow figure taking off a jacket, before that light also turns off.
We then move closer to the bottom right window, which is currently covered by the white, roller blind so we cannot see in. Upon reaching the window, the blind slowly rises, revealing the kitchen inside, which is dimly lit as the night grows closer. The dark hues of the kitchen shadow the interior of the room, until the warm light flickers on.
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SCENE 2: KITCHEN – EVENING
We see an ordinary kitchen, black and white tiles and a patterned tablecloth laid upon the circular, wooden table, surrounded by two wooden chairs to match. The golden knob of the white door at the back of the room begins to turn and a woman enters. This is YOUNG WOMAN. She wears little makeup, with only her red lipstick standing out, making her lips the main focal point of the face. Her outfit is sophisticated, consisting of a black roll neck jumper, checkered skirt and black tights to accompany this. She has blonde, straight hair, which hangs just above her shoulders. She begins to rub her eyes, as she is tired from her long day. She stretches, before walking to the window and rolling down the blinds to mask the evening light. The young woman then reaches for her phone, which is laid upon the kitchen table, and begins to shuffle her music playlist. It begins to play ‘Bring Me Sunshine’ by Morecambe and Wise, and she moves her hips as she vibes to the song.
She reaches into one of the white cupboards at her eye level, pulling out a blue, flowered apron, which she fans out, before putting it around herself, still dancing as she does this. We see her hands covered in many silver rings as she ties the bow around her waist. We follow her hands up towards her hair, where she begins tying her golden locks into a small bun at the middle of her head. She makes her way to the oven, opening it up to collect the oven tray, before closing it again and turning the dials to the desired temperature for it to warm up. She turns to wash her hands, removing all her jewellery before doing so, placing them on the windowsill in front of her. She dries her hands off on the tea towel to the left-hand side of her on the countertop, whipping it back and forth whilst bopping to the music. She chucks the tea towel back down, where a wrapped-up piece of meat, as well as a mixture of herbs, lay just beside. The meat is predominantly red and is protected by a layer of cling film tied up at the bottom. The herbs are all in their original bottles, all grouped together and sorted by colour. The woman reaches for the white chopping board leaning against the black and white tiles to the side of the oven. She places it down on the black countertop, before turning to walk towards the fridge. She pulls out some carrots and green beans from the bottom draw of the shelf and slams the fridge door shut with her elbow. The woman washes the array of veg, dries them off and places them down on the chopping board before reaching into the large drawer under the oven and collecting a silver pan from within, placing it on back hob. She hovers her hand above the wooden knife holder for a while, carefully deciding which to choose, before extracting the large knife from the middle which she uses to chop up the veg. She finishes cutting, rakes the veg together and pours them into the pan, before filling it up with water, placing it back on the hob and turning it on.
The young woman then reaches for the meat on the counter beside her and begins unwrapping it. She slaps it down onto the board and then reaches for the herbs to begin seasoning it, shaking the bottles to the rhythm of the music. She rubs the herbs into the meat, letting it marinate the new flavours, before placing it into the oven tray. The young woman then dowses her hands in washing-up liquid and begins thoroughly scrubbing at them, making sure no residue can be left on herself. The intense wash should seem a routine thing for the woman, almost as if she does this same thing every night. She once again dries her hands off with the same tea towel and throws it back onto the countertop. The slides the oven tray onto the top shelf of the oven and turns round to start washing everything up, whilst moving her hips to the song once again. We see a close-up of the oven clock displaying 17:00.
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The time on the oven has gone by thirty minutes, the kitchen is all cleaned up, the meat is still in the oven and the veg is still on the hob. We can hear these simmering, no other sound can be heard. The woman returns to the kitchen, without the apron on and her hair is down now. She grabs a brown plate from one of the white cupboards next to the stove and places it down on the counter in front of her. She turns off the hob and removes the veg pan from the stove, before using a white strainer to separate the carrots and beans from the hot water. She plates the veg and reaches for the pink oven gloves, which are draped across the back of one of the wooden chairs and goes to turn off the oven. She pulls down the oven door, reaches for the meat tray and takes one long inhale through her nose. She smiles to herself as she is engulfed by the steam from the tray. She places the tray down in the centre of the stove, then re-drapes the oven gloves over the chair, as she doesn’t need them anymore. We get to see the succulent and tender meat, covered in the herbs from before, and crackling, as it oozes mouth-watering juices from its browned skin. The young woman removes the meat from the oven tray and places it onto the dish along with the veg.
The woman opens the smaller, white drawer under the oven and takes out a silver knife and fork, before grabbing the plate from the countertop and taking it to the circular table to start eating. The knife slices through the meat easily, making the cut delicately fall off from the rest. She uses the knife to guide the cut off slice onto the fork, whilst also collecting a small mixture of veg along with it, before bringing the fork up to her mouth, parting her red lips, encapsulating the mouthful and gliding the food off the fork. We get to hear the intense chews, and they become the overarching sound whilst she is eating. As she swallows, ‘Bring Me Sunshine’ by Morecambe and Wise suddenly begins to play again, this time from the chorus, drowning out the chewing sound from before. A smirk from the young woman is shown, showing her happiness and delight from the meal she is eating. Another forkful is collected and eaten by the young woman, but as the fork returns to the plate in slow motion, there is only one bite left of the meat. The last bite is used to mop up the rest of the juice and is eaten by the woman.
The woman stands up, collecting the plate and cutlery, which she places on the side of the sink to wash up later. She brings her index finger up to her mouth, using it to extract some food from her molars, before swiveling her tongue around her mouth to remove any other bits of food from her teeth. She turns to leave the room, switching the kitchen light off as she goes.
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SCENE 3: STAIRS – EVENING
She makes her way out of the kitchen, across the hallway and towards the stairs, as she does this, the song playing begins to distort and echo. Every step of the stairs creates more distortion in the song, before it finally fades out as she approaches the top of the stairs. A menacing and foreboding song begins, mainly made up of long and drawn-out piano notes, which become the overarching sound as she finally reaches the landing. All the white doors to the rooms are shut and are all dimly lit by the natural evening light.
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SCENE 4: BATHROOM – EVENING
We see the young woman as she reaches for the bathroom light, which is hung to the top left as you walk in. Her hand clasps around the handle as she yanks it down to turn on the light. The bulb in the bathroom is much bluer than the kitchen, making it less homely and it feels much colder than it did before. The bathroom is very basic, cream walls and white interior. The cream shower curtain is drawn around the bathtub, but the shower isn’t running. We see the woman from a high angle as she makes her way to the sink, where her toothbrush and toothpaste is sat on the side in a see-through cup. The woman reaches for them both, squeezing the paste onto the brush and rinsing it with the tap water. The woman brings the brush up to her mouth, giving her teeth a quick clean, before bending down to rinse her mouth out. She tilts her head back to gargle the water, then spits out, but as she looks back up into the mirror in front of her, she notices a severed arm hanging out from underneath the shower curtain. The limb is almost white and dried blood has collected around the jagged cut as if the arm had been hacked off quite inconsiderately. The young woman reaches for some yellow rubber gloves, which are hung on the rungs above the bathtub, slides them on her hands and places the severed arm back underneath the shower curtain. Fresher blood oozes out from the limb, rich and dark red in colour, onto the woman’s rubber glove as she removes her hand from under the curtain. The woman takes one look at the blood on her middle finger, lifts her hand up to her mouth, and sucks it clean off. A look of delight washes across her face. A smear of blood is left on the corner of her mouth. She straightens up, still looking down at the covered bathtub with a slight smile. We track the young woman’s middle finger as she lifts it up to her face, using it to guide the smear of blood into her mouth.
YOUNG WOMAN
‘I should’ve eaten you raw instead.’
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SCENE 5: OUTSIDE THE BACK OF THE HOUSE – EVENING
We return to the outside, where we see the bathroom light shut off and everything is left in darkness.
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FADE OUT:
THE END