Synopsis

The Recrudesce

Inspiration: Predestination (movie)
Myth: Scientific myth of the chicken and egg, which comes first
Concept: Time travel, self-discovery and healing, Sacrifice.

Storyline.

Janice was born a righteous woman. Truthful and pure. She believes that one’s purpose in life is to do good for the people. Have courage and be kind. The only child of a war hero and a nurse, this family-instilled form of righteousness had been the core value of her life. Be it a stranger who was being bullied, or an old man crossing a particularly busy road, she has never hesitated to help.

One’s purpose in life is to do good for the people. Have courage and be kind.

However, even the most righteous person on earth are not immune from hustle and bustle of a busy working life. Worn out by the weary days of work, Janice slowly sink into a form of depression which she did not know about. Undeterred, she continued to press on.

However, something is bothering her. A nation-wide alarm has been sounded by a terrorist nicknamed the “fizzle bomber”. His campaign of terror has claimed many lives and is still at large. Authorities are baffled by his meticulous planning and strategies which he used to execute his act and his subsequent escape. 3 bombings later, they were nowhere close to solving the case. Clearly he had been planning for years. How did he get the equipments and resources to do it alone?

Janice, as with her usual self, felt her natural instinct tugging at her to help. Oddly, she seemed able to see some familiarity in the way the bombings were carried out, and the strategies as well. She would have done the exact same things if she were to carry out an act of terrorism, but how did she know? Was it possible that she and bomber are related? Or perhaps she was simply destined to be the one to catch the bomber and bring justice to this world? Janice convinced herself that it was the latter. All these while, her condition was getting worse.

That was when she met him.

Janice was drinking alone in a bar after work, when he approached quietly and slid onto a chair next to her. He struck up a casual conversation with her. It was so easy. He understands her predicament perfectly. Janice had never before in her life know of someone who knew her so well. In her drunken state, she began unravelling; she pour her heart out to the stranger whom she had just met for 2 hours, about her unspoken fears for the “fizzle bomber”, the troubles she had with her work life and finally, her family. Ever since the appearance of the “fizzle bomber”, her parents were shrouded in fear, as if something had reached out from the abyss and was threatening to drag them into its void.

The stranger calmly acknowledged all these, but surprised Janice by showing empathy for the bombers’ actions.

The bomber’s means justifies his ends, the stranger explained, you sacrifice a few to save many more. Janice’s heart leapt at this sentence. She had debated with herself over this for many years now, and had struggled to maintain her integrity, because there was truth in this.

How can a single human make the world a better place? You can. By rooting out the evil doers and punish them instead. This will save the majority.

Janice shook her head wildly at this thought, dismissing it as alcohol influence. There is no way she will let these dark thoughts grow on her. She felt tipsy, and sick. All she wanted to do was to go home and find safe haven in her own tiny rented apartment.

The next day, the media exploded with a flurry of activity; a video file was discovered at yet another bomb site. Death tolls continued to climb, calling for a national crisis. When the video was put on national broadcast, a masked figure appeared and addressed the nation in parables:

Oh be weary, sinners!
For when the night hits four,
Judgement awaits in the brightest places,
Across the nation you will seek,
But even with courage and kindness you will find defeat.

Somewhere deep in Janice’s mind, she knew that the bomber was calling out to her. Have courage, be kind. These values have guided her all her life. How could someone else outside her family know this? Beside her, even her parents were shocked by what they have just heard. A look of realisation had downed on their faces. But how Is this possible?

In slurred speech, his father spoke of a time when Janice’s mother was kidnapped by a stranger who wore the exact same mask as the one in the video. An uncanny coincidence, maybe. But the parable he had used was exactly the same one as the one he had told Janice’s father when he was looking for her mother. It was how they met and came to fall in love with each other.

Driven by more than just a desire to stop the “fizzle bomber” now, Janice had a real reason to unmask the unknown stranger. Too many mysteries was raised and he held the key to them all.

Putting her instincts to work, she quickly realised that the riddle was really straight forward. “Brightest place” simply indicate the time that the next attack is going to happen. “Across the nation” simply meant that it was take place at the exact centre of the country, based on geographical grids. This puts the attack at precisely 12 noon in a busy town area. “When the night hits four” meant that the attack with commence in a fortnight. Janice is ready for him.

She managed to locate him just as he was about to arm the bomb. With a shacking hand, she held up her weapon. It felt like a ton.

The stranger sensed her presence and stood up to meet her.

It was the same man whom she had met in the bar. Janice swallowed her shock and edged firmly closer to the man. She demanded to know the purpose for all his actions, and how could he have possibly made contacts with her parents, bring them to harm, forty years ago?

The man stood there and laughed.

“Because, dear Janice,” he smirked, “You are my beginning, and I am your end. You and I… are the same person”

The story flash forward to the future, where Janice had created James, the stranger, as an artificial intelligence which she meant to send back to the past to ensure her parent’s survival as she had made several enemies who wants her dead for her actions. As her depression grows ever stronger, she begin to think that is it hopeless to try and save the people. There were too many of them. She decided to punish those who brought disasters upon those who are helpless. She called her actions noble, but many condemned her for being immoral. How could she be the dictator of who lives and who dies? So created an AI to help her carry out her tasks.

The scene flashes back to the present, the stranger still staring fiercely at Janice.

“shoot me, and you will never be born.” He jeered.

Janice was truly lost now. Her months of pent up frustration stretched to a breaking point. She wanted it all to end so badly. But what about her? Was her existence all for nothing if she pulled the trigger?

The scene zooms out. A deafening sound of a gun shot was heard.

3 act structure

1) Hero living a normal life, questioning her moral values and meaning of her life. Janice was struggling with her own sense of righteousness and will to help other people.

2) Hero’s call for adventure. Janice encountered the fizzle bomber, who threatened to destroy everything she stood for.

3) Hero’s greatest challenge. Janice faced an unknown stranger who knows everything about her and understands her pains. He turns out to be the fizzle bomber. But soon he reveals that he is her future, and that she created him to ensure that she will be created as well.

Link to myth: Janice created her worst fears, but at the same time, the fears she had created also made sure that she was being created. There is no end to this story and everything happens as a direct consequence of another.