Ready to Fly

Instrumental piano music plays as we see a normal neighbourhood. We focus on a large tree, where a young girl, Katie, is playing on the swing underneath. An older woman, her mother, Jane, sits on the swing next to her, the rope tying the swing to the tree boughs wrapped with flower wreaths. A dove perches on a nearby branch.

Jane: Doves are like angels on Earth. They're a promise of what's to come, forms taken by departed souls to serve as guardians for their loved ones left on Earth.

The dove spreads its wings. The sunlight catches the white feathers, and mother and daughter watched as the dove flew into the sky.

Katie: It's so pretty! I wish I could fly just like that!

Jane: (smiles) Maybe someday, you will.

Fades to black.

V.O.: I've always loved high places. It's quiet up there, peaceful enough to think about everything and nothing...

We see the dove again, this time perched on a rooftop. As the shot widens, we see teenage Katie on the roof, standing precariously on the ledge. She's dressed in a white cotton shirt and pants, billowing loosely in the wind as it whipped her hair around. Her eyes are closed; she smiles peacefully.

...But they can't see that...

We dive several storeys down, to where a huge crowd has gathered, all gazing up at the image of the young girl standing on the ledge, hands outstretched like wings. A middle-age man, Adam, is standing with several police detectives. In the background, firefighters were preparing the air bag. A siren wailed, and two paramedics stand ready.

Adam: She's been like this ever since her mother died. Ever since that climbing accident. I should've never let her out of my sight.

...They think I want to kill myself...

Abrupt silence.

The shot opens with Adam conversing with a man in a white doctor's robe outside a room; looking in, they see Katie in bed, bandages around her head, her broken leg in a cast. Sunlight from the window outside shone on her, bathing her in an ethereal glow. She smiled as a dove cooed at her window.

Doctor: She'll never go climbing again with that injury. She's lucky to even be alive. Your wife, on the other hand...I'm afraid we've done all we can for her.

Another image appears. This time, Adam is sitting in his kitchen, a Social Services caretaker sitting opposite him.

Caretaker: Mr. Morris, Katie is suffering from the trauma of her mother's death. This isn't the first time she's got on the roof and jumped off. If she keeps this up, she'll hurt herself.

...And so they decided...

An image of Katie struggling between two doctors flashed across the screen.

...the only way to keep me sane...

She's trapped in a straightjacket, held down by several nurses. The look in her eyes were heartbreaking.

...was to lock me up...

Adam: I never wanted to do this to you.

Katie glares at him, her large eyes silently suffering.

Katie: You of all people should know I'm just as sane as you!

...for good...

An image of Katie staring out from the barred window plays, her mournful eyes watching the birds in the park.

...But I broke out....

A series of images flashes across the screen quickly, one after the other, while music statrted playing, exciting, building up the suspense and mystery with its increasing tempo.

Katie manages to break out of the mental institution.

Adam cries with grief at his wife's grave.

Adam yelling at a young Katie who's standing behind her mother. 'I've always said she was weird!' he screams. Katie bursts into tears. Jane slaps her husband. 'She's your daughter, Adam!'

...People always fear what they do not understand...

Katie standing apart from her peers at school. 'She's psycho,' one girl whispered. 'She should be in a mental hospital.'

...And they did not understand me...

Katie watching from a distance, hidden behind a tree. Her hand holds a flower, while she then places on her mother's headstone, moments after her father leaves. She whispers, 'I'm ready, Mummy.'

A shot of the rooftop, the same one at the beginning of the trailer, where Katie smiles. She lifts her foot, and takes a step forward into the air.

'I'm ready to fly.'

The dove flies into the screen, and a burst of light exploded from the dove, illuminating the whole screen with brightness. When it ended, it showed the landscape of a grassy hill, with a tree in one corner, the same swing Katie played on swinging gently in the breeze. The words Ready to Fly appeared in calligraphy, and the dove landed perching on the top horizontal line of the capital F.

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My very first pseudo-trailer. I know it's probably shabby and not good enough, but I was listening to Amy Pearson's Ready to Fly and I was so inspired by that song I just had to write something about it. My next one will be much better.