Archive of Our Own

The sun is barely beginning to rise with winter birds quietly CHIRPING. Snow gently falls onto the ground. A banner hangs across the pillars of the front of the university; big, bright letters spell out "HAPPY HOLIDAYS [UNIVERSITY NAME]".

From the frosty windowsill, the SOUNDS OF BIRDS echo slightly but are muffled by the walls. Focus slowly switches from the window to the falling snow and trees, frozen over by ice and caking in thick layers of snow.

WE slowly approach the door to HERO's room. The walls are sickly plain and pale. The weathered metal door, room number slightly askew, almost looming over us.

WE now see the room, looking down from the corner. Sunlight barely peeks through the shut blinds. The room is cramped and has a single bed, drawer and desk, all plain and well-worn. The walls are bright white and sterile, but look blue and cold with the dim sunlight. Notebooks, papers, pencils, pens and various other school items are scattered across the table, chaotically organized. A small tower of clothes pile against the side of the desk. Wrinkled covers and blankets lay atop HERO, slowly BREATHING.

WE then see the bed, looking straight down from the ceiling. A clock faintly TICKS. HERO curls in the fetal position. We faintly see his body rising and falling with his breathing.

And from the edge of the bed, WE see his face. His eyes are wide open with big dark spots underneath. The TICKING of the clock intensifies slowly. The sound of TINNITUS slowly increases in loudness. The vignette fades away when the silence, TICKING and TINNITUS are broken by a loud ALARM CLOCK. HERO lies in bed for a moment, before turning over to slap the alarm clock quiet. He stays motionless for another moment before getting out of bed.

WE see a frosty window with snow caking the bottom of it. Snow continues to fall outside of the window, coating the trees. The winter sun fills the kitchen with a warm, calming glow, and colours brighter than his dorm. We see a pot of coffee on the boil from the side.

WE now look down at the stove top from the range, seeing breakfast sizzle in the pan. We slowly tilt down to see HERO's face looking slightly down while he cooks. A small smile appears on his face, before he looks up at us.

WE see the energy draining from HERO's eyes on his stone face as he listens on to the droning professor. The lecturer's voice starts muffled but slowly bleeds into an echoing clarity. HERO looks down to his notebooks and scribbles on, trying to catch up with the professor as they continue with the lecture, while we circle around him with a quiet, slow, out-of-tune and slightly eerie tune in the background.

WE stop behind his shoulder. The professor continues, but the words are progressively muffled. We slowly look over his shoulder to see a textbook open, flipped to a page about the cervical spine. EAR RINGING gradually bleeds while we hear HERO's HEART POUNDING against his ribs, growing quicker and quicker with each passing second. We sweep over his shoulder, swinging around to see his face, trickling with sweat and paranoia. The THUMPING of his heart and the ringing rise to a crescendo before a male, UNNAMED FRIEND shakes him out of his panic attack.

WE watch HERO slowly get up from his seat, turning to scratch his head and shoot an awkward smile at his UNNAMED FRIEND, which we can see over the friend's shoulder.

HERO takes a brief moment to think.

WE stay put and watch as HERO and his UNNAMED FRIEND walk out of the classroom, being the last ones out. The door shuts behind them.

WE see cars speeding by us from the curb. The town is not bustling enough to drown out the sounds of SNOW BIRDS SINGING THEIR SONGS. Snow continues to gently fall and add on to thick layers of snow on the sidewalk.

WE see HERO's reflection in the front passenger window. HERO has his chin resting on a hand as he watches the cars drive by. His breath fogs up a small circle of moisture on the window. CONVERSATION between his two male friends occurs around him, which he occasionally jumps into; he's still relatively absent-minded. We watch him reply to bits and pieces of the conversation, still over his shoulder, focusing on his reflection.

The three in the car, including HERO, laugh at the remark, though HERO doesn't laugh as much as the other two.

HERO winces slightly hearing the word 'girlfriend'.

The two UNNAMED FRIENDS laugh again for a while. HERO stays a little quiet, but stone-faces through.

WE see the three of them sitting at a table by the window. Cars slowly drive by the window. The snow begins to fall harder. They are engaging in some small talk as we get closer to the table.

HERO is silent.

WE turn around with HERO to see a FEMALE STUDENT with a striking resemblance to someone he once knew. She is Asian and has long, straight, mid back-length, black hair. She wears an brownish beige, oversized wool coat. She takes a seat next to him. We slowly pan off of his shoulder and onto hers. Everyone's voice starts becoming lightly muffled, with HERO's voice echoing clearly inside of him.

HERO is blushing.

HERO idly listens on to the conversation between him, the FEMALE STUDENT and his two UNNAMED FRIENDS. He automatically replies to questions and adds in on to the conversation when relevant. The noises and talking around him get even more muffled. HERO's voice echoes louder inside of him.

WE slowly zoom in on HERO's face.

WE see HERO in another lecture hall, barely paying attention to to the lecture as he zones out. Something is clawing at his mind. Something that makes him hate himself when he thinks about it. His head hangs. The professor's voice is distant and muffled as they drone on about the areas of the brain.

The BELL rings. HERO packs up his belongings immediately in a seemingly robotic way. Once done, he lifts his head up just enough to see where he is walking and leaves the classroom. He pushes his way past students in the halls, oblivious to any CONVERSATION around him; they are all distant and muffled. He reaches the front doors and bodies past them, stumbling a little bit on the way out.

HERO continues trudging through the crowds of people outside on campus. He can barely overhear other students having CONVERSATIONS about their plans for the winter break, their voices growing ever so more distant. Nothing can stop the EAR RINGING as he bumps into other students carelessly. He barges his way through the front doors of his dorms.

The colours around HERO are mushy, blurring and tinted with red. He continues wordlessly through the mostly empty halls of the dorms. He swings a right and up a flight of stairs to his floor. WE follow him as he paces down the end of the hall. We pan away from his as HERO flings the door to his room open and slams it shut behind him.

WE see the back of HERO's head and shoulders, looking down from the ceiling. He stands still, but twitches ever so slightly. The only noise that could be heard is his breathing. We now slowly tilt down, keeping focus on him. We pan around his body slowly; he grits his hands into tighter and tighter fists, grinding his nails into his palms. We finally come to a stop in front of his head; his head his hung.

WE can see HERO twitch here and there as he takes shaky breaths; tears are starting to drip down off of his face. He stands there, quietly sobbing. All we can hear is his BREATHING, WEEPING and the sounds of tears DRIPPING against the floor and forming a small puddle. We watch him stand and sob for a few minutes without pause. He then slowly brings his hands up to wipe his face.

HERO places his hands back to his sides. He is twitching and shuttering more as WE slowly pan off to the side. He is grinding his nails deeper and deeper into his palms and his knuckles turn white from how hard he is clenching his fists. He grits his teeth, breathing out a deep, angry, shaky sigh.

HERO stays standing there for a minute.

HERO then suddenly kicks his desk chair into the wall. He is writhing with anger. He slams his fists down against the wall. His eyes are bloodshot and wide with rage and despair.

He hits the wall again, hard, with the sound reverberating through the room.

His fists stick to the wall as if he is about to pound against the wall again. Before he can, he is interrupted by a roommate knocking on his room door.

HERO pauses. He stands there quietly, trying to recompose himself. He takes a deep, shaky breath in and does his best to sound normal.

WE can hear the ROOMMATE'S FOOTSTEPS as they walk away from the door. HERO is left standing in front of his wall, hands still clenching in fists, but less tightly, planted against his wall. He takes a moment to stew in his thoughts before he sighs deeply with his eyes closed and pushes off the wall. He trudges over to drag the chair back, sets the chair right and leaves his bedroom, shutting the door quietly on his way out.

WE see the same frosty window again with more snow built up against it on the ledge. It is bleak and dark outside. The kitchen's bright, white light reflects off the window, showing a reflection of everything in the kitchen, including HERO at the stove, slowly cooking dinner.

WE now look down at the stove top from the range, seeing dinner cooking on the stove. We slowly tilt down to see HERO's face looking slightly down while he cooks. A small, pained smile growing across his face while he continues cooking, as if he is remembering something bittersweet.

WE watch HERO, from the edge of the bed, finally returning to his room after a long day. He trudges over to his bed and collapses onto it, on his side. He sinks in as he breathes out a heavy sigh. Little bits of moonlight slip through the cracks in his blinds, barely illuminating him and his room. EAR RINGING starts setting in as he lies there. We get closer and closer to his sleepless eyes that refuse to close. The RINGING grows louder and louder the closer we get before it all cuts to black.

The sun is barely beginning to rise with winter birds quietly CHIRPING. Loose snow on the ground blows around in the chilly, winter breeze. The same banner reading "HAPPY HOLIDAYS [UNIVERSITY NAME]" hangs across the pillars of the front of the university, quietly swaying in the wind.

From the frosty windowsill, the SOUNDS OF BIRDS echo slightly but are muffled by the walls. Focus slowly switches from the window to the falling snow and trees, frozen over by ice and caking in thick layers of snow.

In HERO'S ROOM, WE see his bed, looking straight down from the ceiling. A clock faintly TICKS. HERO curls in the fetal position. We faintly see his body rising and falling with his BREATHING.

And from the edge of the bed, WE see his face. His eyes are wide open with big dark spots underneath. The TICKING of the clock intensifies slowly. The sound of TINNITUS slowly increases to and irritating loudness before it all cuts to black.