The Day I Stopped Believing in Fairytales: A therapist helps a twelve-year-old see magic in new light.
FADE IN:
EXT. BOISE RIVER, IDAHO. DAY
(1)
Set in Idaho, USA. The camera zooms down the Boise river to a typical American style house.
MUSIC CUE: River Flows In You by ‘Yiruma’ is being played quietly.
INT. DESTINY STARTRIGHT’S BEDROOM. DAY.
(2)
The camera then zooms through the window, where 12 year old Destiny is sitting on her bed taking posters off the wall of the fairytales she used to love so much, in particular, posters of Cinderella.
DESTINY (V.O.)
I had always loved the story of Cinderella for as long as I could remember.
INTERCUT: DESTINY IMAGINES HERSELF WHEN SHE WAS YOUNG. There is a clip of Destiny when she was young, dressed up as Cinderella and posing for the camera in the same bedroom.
DESTINY (V.O.)
Even when I was young I used to dress up as her, imagine that I had two horrible step sisters and that one day some handsome Prince would come to take me away. That was me all over, your typical naïve ‘Disnerd…’
INTERCUT BACK TO THE PRESENT DAY
Destiny then goes to the window with a balloon saying 12.
DESTINY (V.O.)
But even as I got older and all my friends grew out of them, I somehow grew closer to them…
Destiny then lets the balloon go and watches it out the window.
EXT. SKY – DAY. (3)
CUT TO:
Destiny watches the balloon as it soars into the sky, knowing it will never come back.
DESTINY (V.O)
But I never dreamt though that one day I would actually lose my mother in reality and lose my love of Cinderella in the same way.
INT. DAY. HALLWAY.(4)
HARRISON (DESTINY’S FATHER)
Time for school Destiny!
INT. DAY. DESTINY’S BEDROOM.
Back in her room, Destiny looks at her timetable on the wall and sighs as she realises she has to go to school. She puts on her back-pack and leaves her room.
INT. DAY. SPIRAL STAIRCASE TO HALLWAY.
DESTINY (V.O.)
This is me and this is my life aged 12, outwardly it looks like any other normal 12 year old’s life. And it was until…
INT. DAY. HALLWAY.
Step mother lavishly creeps out from behind Destiny’s Father with her hand on her hip and kisses the Father with some romantic type music playing in the background. Destiny is midway down the stairs. The step Mother clicks her fingers as though indicating Destiny should be getting ready, and looks her up and down in a condescending manner.
DESTINY(V.O)
That’s Jenga. She’s my Dad’s fiancée. Somehow I can never bring myself to use the word ‘Step Mom’ or anything close to the word Mom, because I hate the idea that somehow she would even be remotely associated with aMother, even if she were close to that…If my Mother were on one spectrum of person, Jenga would be on another planet of person altogether…Anyway let me take you back to how it all started…