Tribal Woman
Future insight/Prelude: Tribes woman lives on an island-type country. She wakes up in an area with loads of rocks and short trees/bushes. She feels free. She runs around and doesn’t care about life. Things of the past doesn’t matter. She is happy. There is another person that seems to be following her around, asking her to come to her senses.
Nature seems to change around her. Rocks appear and some disappear. She runs through a far-off bush and is suddenly at the beach, where a single area of land forms a circle in the ocean. A single man is sitting on the beach, next to a fire. She jumps over the thin water column separating to talk to him. The other following person is scared and doesn’t follow.
She asks the man what he’s doing and he explains that he is praying to his gods. When they are happy with a person, they change nature for the good for you, although mostly the people are too scared to ask for any change other than the normal. She notices that he has sixth fingers on each hand. He explains that it is the gift that is granted to a true believer. She thinks that is nonsense and frowns at his belief. After all, nature changed for her too.
She jumps up, throws her arms open and runs across the dunes; changes happening all the way. One entire side becomes a series of natural hot springs. She moves land inwards to form a natural harbour in the beach; with the sea splashing as it hits the newly formed rocks and beaches. The guys is just standing there, open mouthed, shocked and scared. As a last thought, she gets rid of the guys’ sixth fingers.
Backflash: On a beach. To the right there are two short poles with little steps in between that lead up the cliff towards a little restaurant. To the left the beach forms a little inward slope that is surrounded by some high cliffs, but the very furthest end of the beach continues up a steep hill. There is a mother with two little girls who are non-tribal. The tribal woman also appears less tribal than in the beginning of the story. It is evident that there is distress upon the beach. People are running in all directions, trying to get as far away from the beach as possible.
The non-tribal woman and a young man (probably husband) tries to gather up their daughters but the daughters are on different sides of the stairs. The tribal woman yells to them to grab the one and hold onto the pole. She then runs off the find the other girl, who isn’t far, and runs to the other pole where she presses herself against the girl against the pole, ready for what she knows is sure to come. She has experienced it before. The strong sweeping sensation of life itself pushing you up and away from the ground. Clinging for dear life. Hearing and seeing people hitting the cliffs and dieing. The aftermath... She only hopes that the pole is rooted deep enough and is strong enough to hold.
**
Current day: Half non- half tribal woman sits on a round rock, close to a waterfall in an area with freshwater covering a large area in the middle. Surrounding the freshwater is very high cliffs. The cliffs have chafed away inside, probably by freshwater that used to flow there in the past, so that the entire area surrounding the freshwater is overshadowed by rocks. Here and there bits of sunlight reach the shore. Little tribes of people are scattered around the freshwater pool. These tribes consist of 20-100 people each. They live in little houses made against the cliff edge. It is a huge area. The cliff’s side is about 40 m from the pool, and the tribes are easily spaced 3 km apart from one another.
The woman is haunted by memories of the past. A voice talks in her head; a voice she has come to know as a god of all that is bad. It is a shadow, enveloping everything, changing everything. It demands prayers and only spares that which it finds to be pleasing or to its own benefit.
**
A sudden scene fills her head: A large shadow creeps up a steep hill. People are present and running and screaming up the hill, trying to get away. At a certain point on the hill, a little girl is clinging to a tall tree. “Stay away from her!” the woman is yelling at the shadow in her mind. A deep, clearly nonchalant voice answers, “Why would I? It costs so much to leave a single space open...” The woman is pleading, begging, “No! Stay away! Save one! Please!” “No...” the voice answers in a lazy way, “the space has to be replaced by something else...” The woman throws her mental self in the way. In the vision/scene, a red singular column appears around the girl, and reaches up to the sky.
The shadow is angry. It thrashes against the pillar, trying to remove it. The woman cringes in pain but refuses to let go. She has no idea who this girl is, but she refuses to let the shadow god take everything as he always does. Finding other people, she throws herself as protection for them as well. Pillars of red shoot up from the ground just as the shadow reaches them. But she can only do as much. At about three or four people, she starts to feel exhausted. As the shadow creeps further up the hill, surrounding everything, covering everything, sounds of anguish and despair fills her thoughts. The tidal wave of a shadow eventually returns to its original watery resting ground, bringing bodies of the once-living with it. The scene ends as the woman sees and feels the pain of the few people who she has managed to spare.
**
“How dare you fill my mind with visions of the past?!” she yells to no-one in particular. She found that her cheeks are covered in tears. She was sitting close to the waterfall. She belonged to tribe once, who lives near another waterfall on the other side of the freshwater pool. She was shunned from them, forever an outcast to the tribal people of the cliff-area. No-one will have her; no-one seems to want to give her a chance. The other woman... it wasn’t her fault. And if it was, it was unintentional.
She has to move. The tribes take turns coming to the waterfall nearest them, to bathe; to clean. She runs along underneath the cliff, behind the waterfall, and into a hidden place far behind the waterfall. She has made it home. Temporarily, at least, for she refuses to live there, but knows that she has to deal with the visions first. “You must deal with the demons of your past before you will learn to know who you really are” were the words said to her by her old tribal-elder.
“You have the plan... girl. Do the plan... girl.” The voice in her head continuously bothers her.”What string?” she asks, seemingly to the cave wall. “You have it... I gave it to you... girl.” Looking at her hands, she sees nothing. But she feels it. She feels invisible strings that continue on forever. “Get the keys... girl. Get them...” Agreeing in her mind, she knows she has to get the keys.
That night, she ties the string around a rock close to her makeshift home. The invisible string glistens a peachy colour for a few seconds, rendering it visible, before becoming invisible again. Barefoot, as she always is, she starts running through the area, underneath the cliffs that surround the pool, making sure to go around trees so that the string is free. She slows down as she approaches the first tribe – a tribe filled with elderly and very young children. The key is held by a little boy. “Mmm?” the boy stirs as she approaches. The woman instinctively starts humming to a lullaby she heard in her childhood; long since forgotten. The boy blinks his eyes at her for a few moments when she reaches for the key before turning over, content with gaining more sleep before the morning breaks. The string glistens its peachy colour as she strings it through the loop on the key. All tribes’ keys have a loop attached to it. The loop is filled with ornaments and colours that represent who the tribe is; what they do; who they pray to; why they pray; how they live; what their trade is.
The other tribes, about 24 of them, do not wake and has no idea that a shadow of a woman has snuck past. It takes most of the night to get past all of the tribes. When she finally comes back to her home waterfall, dawn has broken. Though the light will only reach their into-the-ground area much later; closer to midday; she can see the sky changing colours. She gathers up the string, forming an end to it with her mind, and ties it around herself. She has planned this. She knows what’s coming.
To the left of the waterfall, she has stared at the cliff for many hours. Stared, studied; she knows each foothold, each step. She has climbed it a few times before, but not very high. She hopes the footholds she hasn’t reached yet will prove strong and hold. She begins her climbing. She will reach the top of the cliff, whether it’s the last thing she ever does. As she climbs, the keys follow the string as they are dragged along. She can hear the clinging. She can hear the people waking up and yelling, grabbing onto their keys. The string is strong, she knows, their pulling and yanking will not pull her from the cliff. “Climb, little one. Climb...”
(the last voice is a sweet, encouraging voice, different from the others)
(different voices are represented by different gods – used as a way to distinguish between the different thoughts she has; but is, in actual fact, just different parts in her mind – insecurities, different ideas which may be bad or good. As she comes to know herself, these “gods” become lesser and lesser until they eventually fade away one by one).
Nature seems to change around her. Rocks appear and some disappear. She runs through a far-off bush and is suddenly at the beach, where a single area of land forms a circle in the ocean. A single man is sitting on the beach, next to a fire. She jumps over the thin water column separating to talk to him. The other following person is scared and doesn’t follow.
She asks the man what he’s doing and he explains that he is praying to his gods. When they are happy with a person, they change nature for the good for you, although mostly the people are too scared to ask for any change other than the normal. She notices that he has sixth fingers on each hand. He explains that it is the gift that is granted to a true believer. She thinks that is nonsense and frowns at his belief. After all, nature changed for her too.
She jumps up, throws her arms open and runs across the dunes; changes happening all the way. One entire side becomes a series of natural hot springs. She moves land inwards to form a natural harbour in the beach; with the sea splashing as it hits the newly formed rocks and beaches. The guys is just standing there, open mouthed, shocked and scared. As a last thought, she gets rid of the guys’ sixth fingers.
Backflash: On a beach. To the right there are two short poles with little steps in between that lead up the cliff towards a little restaurant. To the left the beach forms a little inward slope that is surrounded by some high cliffs, but the very furthest end of the beach continues up a steep hill. There is a mother with two little girls who are non-tribal. The tribal woman also appears less tribal than in the beginning of the story. It is evident that there is distress upon the beach. People are running in all directions, trying to get as far away from the beach as possible.
The non-tribal woman and a young man (probably husband) tries to gather up their daughters but the daughters are on different sides of the stairs. The tribal woman yells to them to grab the one and hold onto the pole. She then runs off the find the other girl, who isn’t far, and runs to the other pole where she presses herself against the girl against the pole, ready for what she knows is sure to come. She has experienced it before. The strong sweeping sensation of life itself pushing you up and away from the ground. Clinging for dear life. Hearing and seeing people hitting the cliffs and dieing. The aftermath... She only hopes that the pole is rooted deep enough and is strong enough to hold.
**
Current day: Half non- half tribal woman sits on a round rock, close to a waterfall in an area with freshwater covering a large area in the middle. Surrounding the freshwater is very high cliffs. The cliffs have chafed away inside, probably by freshwater that used to flow there in the past, so that the entire area surrounding the freshwater is overshadowed by rocks. Here and there bits of sunlight reach the shore. Little tribes of people are scattered around the freshwater pool. These tribes consist of 20-100 people each. They live in little houses made against the cliff edge. It is a huge area. The cliff’s side is about 40 m from the pool, and the tribes are easily spaced 3 km apart from one another.
The woman is haunted by memories of the past. A voice talks in her head; a voice she has come to know as a god of all that is bad. It is a shadow, enveloping everything, changing everything. It demands prayers and only spares that which it finds to be pleasing or to its own benefit.
**
A sudden scene fills her head: A large shadow creeps up a steep hill. People are present and running and screaming up the hill, trying to get away. At a certain point on the hill, a little girl is clinging to a tall tree. “Stay away from her!” the woman is yelling at the shadow in her mind. A deep, clearly nonchalant voice answers, “Why would I? It costs so much to leave a single space open...” The woman is pleading, begging, “No! Stay away! Save one! Please!” “No...” the voice answers in a lazy way, “the space has to be replaced by something else...” The woman throws her mental self in the way. In the vision/scene, a red singular column appears around the girl, and reaches up to the sky.
The shadow is angry. It thrashes against the pillar, trying to remove it. The woman cringes in pain but refuses to let go. She has no idea who this girl is, but she refuses to let the shadow god take everything as he always does. Finding other people, she throws herself as protection for them as well. Pillars of red shoot up from the ground just as the shadow reaches them. But she can only do as much. At about three or four people, she starts to feel exhausted. As the shadow creeps further up the hill, surrounding everything, covering everything, sounds of anguish and despair fills her thoughts. The tidal wave of a shadow eventually returns to its original watery resting ground, bringing bodies of the once-living with it. The scene ends as the woman sees and feels the pain of the few people who she has managed to spare.
**
“How dare you fill my mind with visions of the past?!” she yells to no-one in particular. She found that her cheeks are covered in tears. She was sitting close to the waterfall. She belonged to tribe once, who lives near another waterfall on the other side of the freshwater pool. She was shunned from them, forever an outcast to the tribal people of the cliff-area. No-one will have her; no-one seems to want to give her a chance. The other woman... it wasn’t her fault. And if it was, it was unintentional.
She has to move. The tribes take turns coming to the waterfall nearest them, to bathe; to clean. She runs along underneath the cliff, behind the waterfall, and into a hidden place far behind the waterfall. She has made it home. Temporarily, at least, for she refuses to live there, but knows that she has to deal with the visions first. “You must deal with the demons of your past before you will learn to know who you really are” were the words said to her by her old tribal-elder.
“You have the plan... girl. Do the plan... girl.” The voice in her head continuously bothers her.”What string?” she asks, seemingly to the cave wall. “You have it... I gave it to you... girl.” Looking at her hands, she sees nothing. But she feels it. She feels invisible strings that continue on forever. “Get the keys... girl. Get them...” Agreeing in her mind, she knows she has to get the keys.
That night, she ties the string around a rock close to her makeshift home. The invisible string glistens a peachy colour for a few seconds, rendering it visible, before becoming invisible again. Barefoot, as she always is, she starts running through the area, underneath the cliffs that surround the pool, making sure to go around trees so that the string is free. She slows down as she approaches the first tribe – a tribe filled with elderly and very young children. The key is held by a little boy. “Mmm?” the boy stirs as she approaches. The woman instinctively starts humming to a lullaby she heard in her childhood; long since forgotten. The boy blinks his eyes at her for a few moments when she reaches for the key before turning over, content with gaining more sleep before the morning breaks. The string glistens its peachy colour as she strings it through the loop on the key. All tribes’ keys have a loop attached to it. The loop is filled with ornaments and colours that represent who the tribe is; what they do; who they pray to; why they pray; how they live; what their trade is.
The other tribes, about 24 of them, do not wake and has no idea that a shadow of a woman has snuck past. It takes most of the night to get past all of the tribes. When she finally comes back to her home waterfall, dawn has broken. Though the light will only reach their into-the-ground area much later; closer to midday; she can see the sky changing colours. She gathers up the string, forming an end to it with her mind, and ties it around herself. She has planned this. She knows what’s coming.
To the left of the waterfall, she has stared at the cliff for many hours. Stared, studied; she knows each foothold, each step. She has climbed it a few times before, but not very high. She hopes the footholds she hasn’t reached yet will prove strong and hold. She begins her climbing. She will reach the top of the cliff, whether it’s the last thing she ever does. As she climbs, the keys follow the string as they are dragged along. She can hear the clinging. She can hear the people waking up and yelling, grabbing onto their keys. The string is strong, she knows, their pulling and yanking will not pull her from the cliff. “Climb, little one. Climb...”
(the last voice is a sweet, encouraging voice, different from the others)
(different voices are represented by different gods – used as a way to distinguish between the different thoughts she has; but is, in actual fact, just different parts in her mind – insecurities, different ideas which may be bad or good. As she comes to know herself, these “gods” become lesser and lesser until they eventually fade away one by one).
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