The Drop of Void is an original surreal short screenplay taking place in Iran. It has not been turned into a movie yet, but you can read it entirely on Sinarium.

 

INT. A SMALL APARTMENT – DAY

The door of the apartment opens, and a man and woman carrying two suitcases come inside. As soon as the man closes the door behind, he drops his suitcase and hugs the woman. He kisses and touches her. The woman enjoys it. The man continues. But the woman pushes him aside.

 

Woman

Stop. I’m sweaty. I want to take a shower first.

 

Man

No. You’re fine.

 

The woman walks to the center of the room and puts her suitcase down. She sits down to open her bag. But she cannot open the lock.

 

Woman

Did you change the combination?

 

Man

What? No.

 

The man joins her. He plays with the lock. But he cannot open it either.

 

Man

I don’t know. Do you need it now?

 

Woman

My shampoo and towel are in there.

 

Man

OK. Let me open it with a pen. We will find the combination later.

 

He takes a pen out of his pocket and pushes it inside the zipper and opens the suitcase.

 

Woman

Good trick!

 

The woman looks through the suitcase. Suddenly she becomes confused.

 

Woman

This is not my suitcase! Look!

 

Man

What do you mean? That looks like yours.

 

Woman

Oh no. I think we’ve picked the wrong one. It must be that man’s.

 

Man

What man?

 

Woman

That weird looking bearded old man with thick glasses. The one who sat in our compartment all the way.

 

Man

Look if you see a name or number or something.

 

The woman starts searching the suitcase. There are just clothes, but beneath them, she finds a package wrapped in a black plastic bag. She holds it up for the man to see.

 

Woman

What’s this?

 

Man

Let me see.

 

Woman

Be careful.

 

Man (Sarcastic)

Are you worried it might be a bomb?!

 

The man opens the wrapping and pulls out an ancient looking roughly made crystal cylinder.

 

Man

I’ll be damned! What in the world is this?!

 

Woman

That looks like an antique handicraft. Do you think that man is a smuggler?

 

Man

I have no fucking idea.

 

He turns the cylinder in his hand; some kind of colorless liquid moves inside it.

 

Woman

Let me take a picture. We can google it.

 

The woman pulls out her phone and takes a picture. She then goes to a desktop computer near the wall and connects the phone to it. The man sits on a chair in front of the monitor and starts working. The woman takes the cylinder from him and starts examining it.

 

Woman

Look at this liquid inside it!

 

A list of pictures appears on the monitor screen. The man clicks on one of them which looks very similar to the object they found. A lengthy article comes up. The man starts reading it out loud.

 

Man

“Testa Vitae (or Life Capsule) a cylinder-shaped capsule made of glass containing a small amount of liquid which is named The Drop of Void. It was discovered in the ruins of the ancient Burnt City in the south-east of Iran, in 1909. It is currently displayed in the Royal Museum of London. Dr. Lynch, an Iranologist from the State University of California at Northridge, who has done extensive research on Testa Vitae claims this object is made by pre-Aryan settlements in Iran and there must be more of this object made by them. He further claims that according to ancient engravings found in the ruins of the old city of Kerman, in central Iran, there is a reference to glass objects containing some water which is believed to have magical powers that can give eternal life to whoever drinks it; hence the name Life Capsule. Although archeologists previously agreed that this object was carved approximately 3500 years ago, how people from 35 centuries ago had the technology to build such an object is an unanswered question for them. But the most curious mystery of all is that scanners could not estimate the age of the liquid inside the capsule. That is why it has been given the name ‘The Drop of Void.’”

 

The man stops reading, turns and looks at the woman.

 

Woman

If this is indeed a Testa Vitae, we should give it to the government.

 

Man

What would be there for us?

 

Woman

What do you mean? Do you want to sell it?! That’s not merchandise, that’s an object of world heritage. It should be in a museum.

 

Man

They already have one in a museum. Just imagine if what they say is true. Imagine if it does have some supernatural power.

 

Woman

Have you lost your mind?! This is just an ancient superstition _Something like a talisman. Do you think if such a thing were real we wouldn’t have known it in the 21st century?

 

Man

But who’s gonna tell you and me if they find something like that! They’re not gonna sell “eternity pills” in drugstores.

 

Woman

So What? Are you gonna drink what’s inside?! What do they call it? _The Drop of Void. That might even be poisonous.

 

Man

Are you gonna hand it to some fuckers who will fill their pockets by selling it or by exhibiting it? You’re gonna grow old and always wonder if it really worked. Won’t you regret it?

 

Woman

Won’t you regret it when that man finds us and puts a gun on our head asking “where’s my capsule”?!

 

Man

Who? That old fart?! Come on, it either works or not. If it does we will go somewhere nobody can find us; if it didn’t, we’ll put it back in the bag and say we knew nothing about it. It is worth the risk. I’m gonna get a hammer.

 

Woman

Wait! I’m not letting you. You’re mad!

 

The man goes into the kitchen. While we hear him searching through the shelves, the woman takes his place on the chair and scrolls down the screen. She skims through the text. We read the screen as she reads.

“Dr. Lynch, who has personally examined Testa Vitae and has visited Iran a few times to examine the ancient ruins that he believed might have references to or copies of Testa Vitae, has reported that what is inside the capsule might have some hallucinating effects such as of LSD or near death experience. He adds, it might have been used in religious practices, or be an item of worship. He further reports that holding the glass with bare hands just for minutes gave him a feeling of lightheadedness. He insists there is some material in this object that is still unknown to the humans.”

The woman stops reading. She stares at a reflection of something in the middle of the screen _a refection like that of a piece of glass. She then looks at the bottom corner of the screen where there is a small picture of an old bearded man with thick glasses, bearing this caption: “Dr. David Lynch.” She looks back at the reflection. She changes the focus of her look (We do as she does so). We vaguely see the reflection of a bearded face wearing glasses.

We pull back and see the profile face of a bearded old man wearing thick glasses sitting in the chair, looking extremely panicked. He slowly turns his head down to look at his hands. We follow his look; we see a hammer in his right hand, and his left hand soaking in blood.

 

Cut!

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