Kaji: The New Den
FADE IN
Act 1
INT. HOME - DAY
Cluttered but cosy. Curled on a new sofa is KAJI.
KAJI (V.O): This sofa is new.
Recalling.
KAJI (V.O) (Cont'd): For the old one, I left many marks on it.
Her eyes fix on PETER, who sits at an upright piano and begins to play
KAJI (V.O) (Cont'd): The music from the big black box...
Pausing.
KAJI (V.O) (Cont'd): It makes pictures in my head. Pictures of before-now.
Pausing.
KAJI (V.O) (Cont'd): It makes me remember the new den.
Act 2
FLASHBACK
INT. THE NEW DEN - NIGHT (DAYS AGO)
Modern and uncluttered. A large bed dominates a room. The PACK LEADER is sleeping. Kaji is lying alert at the foot of the bed, her body rigid.
KAJI (V.O): The Pack Leader set me down on this spot.
Kaji twitches her nose.
KAJI (V.O) (Cont'd): The smells here are unfamiliar and threatening.
Kaji glances at the airconditioner.
KAJI (V.O) (Cont'd): The sounds here are wrong too.
Kaji glances at the closed door.
KAJI (V.O) (Cont'd): And I'm guarding just the Pack Leader in this wrong space.
Pausing.
KAJI (V.O) (Cont'd): The greatest loneliness is guarding my person in a place where the rest of my heart is missing.
Pausing.
KAJI (V.O) (Cont'd): The new den divides the pack.
Pausing.
KAJI (V.O) (Cont'd): Beware the silence of a new den. It's in the quiet that I heard the loudest echo of what has been left behind.
Later, Kaji looks restless.
KAJI (V.O) (Cont'd): I sense it's breakfast time, but I can't wake up Peter in the old home - it's my unshakable routine.
Suddenly, the door opens. Peter steps in, smiling.
KAJI (V.O) (Cont'd): He's signaling for me to embrace him so we can leave this place.
Kaji dashes to Peter, her whole body wiggling with joy.
PETER: Good girl!
Peter laughs, scoops Kaji up in into his arms, and carries her like a baby.
INT - HOME - DAY - LATER
Kaji and Peter sit at the dining table.
PETER: Couldn't start the day without my favourite breakfast companion.
KAJI (V.O): I share the sentiment.
INT. THE NEW DEN - THE FOLLOWING NIGHT
Kaji guards the sleeping Pack Leader in bed. She lets out a quiet, miserable sign.
KAJI (V.O): Peter took me back home, but the Pack Leader brought me here again. The confusion is a stone in my stomach.
Kaji gets out of bed, paces a little, and then stops in a room corner.
KAJI (V.O) (Cont'd): The stone has to go. The wrong-place deserves the mark of my displeasure.
Kaji relieves herself on the clean floor.
KAJI (V.O) (Cont'd): I'm confident the Pack Leader will pick up on my signal and won't return me here.
Pausing.
KAJI (V.O) (Cont'd): I've made the wrong-place smell worse.
RETURN TO PRESENT
Act 3
INT. HOME - CONTINUOUS
Kaji enjoys the sounds of music.
KAJI (V.O): The music from the old home painted the pictures of the new den. And in the silence of the new den, I dreamed only of the music.
Thinking.
KAJI (V.O) (Cont'd): The new den was a beautiful cage of silence. It had no black-box echoes, no worn paths, no scent of the gang. It was a space, not a place. And a space can't be a home.
Reflecting.
KAJI (V.O) (Cont'd): Home isn't merely a renovation project. It's a tapestry woven from rituals. The new den may have fresh paint, but it lacks history.
FADE OUT
THE END
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