A selkie is a legendary creature – like a fairy or a mermaid. I wrote this short screenplay when I lived in LA. You need to play the following music as you read it. It goes along with the story. I hope you like it. I’m writing EACH of you an episode too. I warn you, its the longest post I’ve sent to date – 5 pages long on paper. Read it when you have a good 10 minutes of uninterrupted time.
Montage: Ocean waves, gulls calling, seals swimming in open water. A human female swimming in the sea surfaces from the water and turns toward the camera. She opens her eyes. She has the eyes of a seal. In her eyes, she is remembering a battle in heaven in which she fought. She was on the losing side. She was cast out. The gulls flying above her remind her that the battle is long since past. She sees their wings – and remembers hers. How her wings fluttered aimlessly in the wind, but would not raise her heavenward. She fell into the sea. The wings were torn from her body upon impact and replaced with a sleek seal’s body.
Selkie (Voice Over/ V.O.)
Many years ago, there was a war in heaven.
After the war, the angels who fought against God were cast from heaven and they fell to the earth.
Legends say that the angels that fell to the land became known as the fairies.
Short montage of fairie people: their characteristics, abilities, legends about them etc. . . .
Selkie (V.O.)
While those of us who fell to the sea – well, we became the selkies.
Montage: A child’s book of Celtic legends opens to a page about mermaids and selkies. Humans cannot lie to selkies, if you look in their eyes, you must tell the truth. Selkies can take away physical and emotional suffering with a touch of their hand. Male and female selkies are very seductive. As a seal, she sees the tides change. The seal swims onto the rocks. She sheds her skin at the 7th stream; a time of high tides twice a year. She walks upon a sandy beach. The selkie steals a dress, shoes, stockings and a bucket from a nearby beach house. The owner sees her take the clothes but is so enchanted by her, he just watches her leave his beach front property. Once the clothes are on, she fills the bucket with seawater. She sees a boy being arrested by some police officers and decides that he’s her next “random act of kindness.” She hides her skin, submerged in the bucket of seawater, in a beach locker.
Selkie (V.O.)
Now you might think that because I was cast from heaven’s grace, that I consider myself unredeemable.
But, I don’t see myself that way. In fact, I think that most people are redeemable.
In my time here on Earth, I’ve come to see that humans, particularly the young people, are very confused about how to live their lives on this planet.
Scene fade in with a young man who has been taken into custody by the police and is the process of being interrogated. He has just been through a round of questioning. He is fuming, but holding himself. The police detective asks him a final question, and the boy bursts up from his chair. He head butts the closest guard and throws his chair at the guard by the door before he is subdued. He is handcuffed to the table and forced to his knees. The Selkie, now in the role of a social worker, watches with a few other police types. One of the officers brings her a bowl of soup that has just been heated in a nearby microwave. She takes it from him and silently walks into the room with the angry youth. She motions for the guards to exit the room. Despite their protests, she waves them out. She walks up to the boy, his head hung low.
Selkie
I brought you something.
Man
I don’t want nothing from nobody!
Selkie
It’s just like Mom makes.
He looks up and sees the hot bowl of soup waiting for him.
Man
What’s in it?
Selkie
Chicken and Noodles. Some people think it cures everything.
Man
It can’t cure what I got, man.
Selkie
But, you will feel better and that’s what matters right now.
Man
Why do you care? Who are you anyway?
Selkie
Well, I guess you could say I’m a messenger. A wayward messenger of sorts.
Man
And you got a message for me, huh?
Selkie
No, for you I have a question.
Man
I aint answerin questions for nobody!
Selkie
You don’t need to answer this question, not outside of your heart anyway.
She reaches out to his chest and lays her hand gently upon it.
Man
You ain’t afraid of me?
Selkie
You are not a bad person. You are just lost, like many others. What if I told you that this world that you live in isn’t everything that there is? What if this was only 1% of the world that really exists? And, what if you could shift into the other world? What if you could feel its warmth and light?
Man
That’s four questions.
Selkie
Yes, it is! You are paying attention.
Man
I don’t miss much!
Selkie
That remains to be seen, doesn’t it? So answer the questions; you don’t have to tell me your answers.
Man
What do I do about their questions?
Selkie
Answer these questions for yourself first. Then answer theirs.
Man
But they’re gonna . . .
Selkie
Just worry about what YOU DO.
Man
But –
Selkie
I dare you. Search your heart. I dare you to tell yourself the truth. Then, tell it to these people. They really do want to help you. Trust that you are in an arena where love will catch you as you are falling. This place was created to allow you to love and be loved. Trust in that. I beg you to trust that.
She looks down and a tear starts to fall. He sees the tear and wipes it away. Then he takes her chin by the hand to lift her face. She opens her eyes and he sees the Selkie’s seal eyes. In them, he sees how she fell from heaven. He becomes afraid of what he is seeing and tries to pull away.
Selkie (gripping his arm with her long black nails)
No, watch it all!
He watches how she fought against God. How she didn’t believe or trust in his love. She is judged and found guilty of disloyalty. A beautiful male angel casts her from heaven and she falls in utter terror toward the earth. Her wings, now black, are torn from her naked body as it enters the cold salty water. The blood from the open wounds on her back start to swirl with the ocean water and her selkie body forms as she begins to swim. The boy looks up into the camera. He now believes he is sitting with a creature from heaven. He says nothing more, nor does she. She lets go her grip on his arm. She stands up and smiles. She turns. Her eyes are back to normal as she walks out of the interrogation room.
Montage of more selkie images as the voice over below is read: She walks among the humans and continues to help them with her messages of hope. She sees the tides change. Then she retrieves her skin in the beach locker and by moonlight she wrestles back into it. She slips back into the sea. She swims in the cool water, resurfacing to lie on a rock with another seal. They cuddle together, warmed by the sun and – each other’s company.
Selkie (V.O.)
God cast me here, a creature torn between two worlds, to teach me to be better.
Living among you, I have come to understand many things about humankind. You have been given gifts that other creatures created by God do not have. Where I come from, there is no sadness or loss. But, there is no joy or happiness either.
The earth is an arena in which we are to learn to love and be loved. Question is – are you brave enough to take it?
I dare you.
Love