TIGER BITE

A Blue Moon’s Fog Script By Mai Art by Tou Vue Page 1 1/ Splash Page— Thunder stands before the forest and confronts the fog. He is holding his qeej in his right hand. The fog envelops him. 1 Dialogue KONG… 2 Dialogue KONG… IS IT YOU? 3 Narration The world we live in is filled with thousands upon thousands of myriad interpersonal relationships. Page 2 1/ Thunder is knocked off his feet and is flung in midair Something is strangling his throat and cutting of his circulation. He is feeling for his pocket knife. 1 Dialogue AARRRRRGGGHHHHHH!!!!! 2/ He struggles to cut of the dark rope that is strangling around his neck. 2 Narration Sssszzzzzhhhhhhhh 3/ He manages to cut of the rope. 4/ He takes a big gulp of air as he catches his breath. 3 Narration uha uha uha 5/ He escapes the stronghold of falls facedown onto the ground. 4 Narration PLOP!!!! Page 3 1/ Landscape of the mountainous terrains of Laos. 1 Narration It’s often said that people who depart without a proper farewell… are doomed to wander aimlessly within this world, lost without their soul, and is always trying to relive their memories in search for the final closure. Page 4 The sun rests high in the horizon. When Thunder arrived at the foothill of the mountain waiting to travel onto the next mountain, he was astonished at the mass of farmers travelling back home when the farm day was not yet over. He stopped an elderly lady who seemed very eager to return home. 1 Thunder The sun is still sit high above the clouds. Aunt, where are you going in such a rush? 2 Aunt My son, every village within a 100 miles radius of this mountain knows that in every blue moon, a thick layer fog dominates the pathway that bridges this mountain to the next. 3 Thunder I see… Well, I just need to get pass this mountain to get to my destination. 4 Narration Nightfall is coming, darkness is looming. The yearning hunger of the lost souls is rising. Page 5 1 Narration Beyond the shadows of the mountains, deep within the foliage of the forest, and resting at the foothill of the valley, something lurks among the spirits of the jungle. 2 Aunt Stay the night at my home and wait till morning before you travel. Every blue moon, this fog will transcend and consume anybody that crosses its path. Nobody has been found or saved. 3 Narration The world is filled with life unknown to mankind that even the native eye cannot simply detect. Page 6 1 Thunder A Blue Moon’s Fog, you say? 2 Aunt Once in a blue moon, right at the drop of the sun, a thick mystic fog will overtake the entrance of the mountain. It is said any young man that walks through the forest on a blue moon’s fog will be submerged and vanished without a trace. I strongly advise you to not go…please, my son, wait till sunrise. 3 Aunt It started on the eve of a blue moon when the piercing cries of a lover’s lament began. Nobody really knows where or how it came about. But around this time, a strange tale began to circulate. Page 7 1 Thunder What is of this strange tale? 2 Aunt Well, nobody really knows if this tales contains any falsification or truth. 3 Thunder Still, there must be a connection between this tale and a Blue Moon’s fog that perished young men. 4 Aunt The tale speaks of a young lady from a village not too far from here. Her name was Sheng—a rather pleasant and likable girl. Story has it that, her lover jilted her. 5 Aunt When news reached her of his marriage to another girl in his village, she realized how foolish she had been to believe that he would return on the night of a blue moon. That night, she disappeared into the forest—only to be found 3 days later, hanging from the tallest branch of a tree. Page 8 1 Thunder Aunt, I have a favor to ask of you. 2 Aunt If it’s something I can do, I am more than willing to assist you. Page 9 Thunder stands at the entranceway of the forest. He paused and smells the air. He walks forward and grasps the thick fog. There was definitely an eerily smell of rotting odor of a decaying body that is immersed within the fog. This was no ordinary fog but the strong presence a poj ntxoog. He walks into the fog. Instantly, the fog is full of life and consumes him—pulling him into the fog. Thunder walks into the fog and adjusts his peripheral eye vision against the pitch darkness. The silhouette of a young girl weeping emerges within the cloudy fog. Her white hair is the fog (her and the fog are one entity). At the moment, when the hluas nraug sees her, it pained her and she relives the heartbreak again and again. 1 Sheng Kong… Is that you? Have you finally come? Page 10 Scene cuts back to the opening scene. Thunder is on all fours panting and gasping for air. 1 Thunder I am not the one you are seeking for. 2 Sheng Then, who? Who are you? Who are you to pierce my heart with such false hope? 3 Thunder I am just a bystander who simply wishes to cross this path and travel to the next mountain without causing any harm. 4 Sheng You must be seeking your own death then. Page 11 A fight between Thunder and Sheng ensues. Thunder dodges her hair. 5 Sheng Men like you don’t deserve happy endings. Page 12 Sheng Page 13 Sheng I must been destined to live a life of sorrows and hardships. I was orphan being raised by my abusive, opium-addict aunt and uncle. Though my living condition was no better than a pig’s playpen, I remained optimistic. Thunder How did you come about to roam the mortal realm aimlessly? Sheng It happened shortly after I had turned 15, when I met a young man from an affluent family of a village many miles away. Page 14 Sheng He was charming and I thought he sincerely loved me. Only then did I realize I was only decorating my own dreams. Sheng After many moons of courtship, he had promised to return in 3 days during blue moon and bring me home as his bride. So I waited. Sheng But the moons turned into many months, and he was nowhere in sight. Page 15 Narration There is a particular kind of suffering to be experienced when you love something greater than yourself. Page 16 Narration Truth is… you’ll never really know if they will ever love you in return. Instead, you decorate your dreams with false hope and artificial illusions of a happily ever after. Page 17 Page 18-19 SPLASH PAGE 2 Narration There is an inevitable bitterness in farewells. 4 Kong In 3 days, when the blue moon glistens high in the night sky, I’ll bring you home as my wife. 5 Narration A tender sacrifice… A subtle misery… Almost a wasted effort. 6 Narration It’s almost like committing suicide. Page 20 The girl starts weeping. Thunder notices that she is dressed in funerary clothing but she is barefoot and carrying her shoes. Her neck is strained with marked tension. Sheng He told me that he’ll come back to ask my hand in marriage in three days on a night of a blue moon. 3 days turned into months and I’ve lived through countless blue moons when I finally hear that he wasn’t coming back as he was already married to another woman. Still, I faithfully waited every blue moon on this path hoping that he’ll remember our promise and bid me a proper farewell. Thunder Cease the tears, my lady. Do not torment yourself in matters that you have no control over. He is already married with children now. Do not live in the sorrow of your memories and do not haunt the reality of the situation with delusions. Don’t anchor yourself in the manifestation of hatred, set sail to the fleeing past and march forward to grasp true happiness. Sheng I’ve waited for so long. I loved him with all my heart and soul. Thunder Don’t dwell your pains upon delusional dreams. Do not let your desires of a happily ever after manifest your bitterness. Let it go and strive for harmony within the soul. You should not inflict pain to others. Thunder Though, the hardest farewells are the ones never given, rest assure. For every inch of sadness, a foot of happiness lies ahead. Instead of dwelling on the pain of separation, we must exert happiness at the pleasure of the time spent in creating memories that makes saying good-bye so hard. The heart spends so much time manifesting the wrong things that it forgets to do the right thing. Put on your shoes and I’ll send you off with a song of farewell from my qeej. Thunder begins to play his qeej with the girl walking alongside him. Finally the fog slowly dispersed. Page 21 Thunder walks out of the fog just as the morning sun peaks through the horizon. He walks along the pathway piping the musical notes of the qeej. Thunder And after the blue moon dispersed and the bride left, the haunting slowly went away. Thunder But even now, the people of the surrounding villages say that they can still hear a woman’s voice calling out somewhere in the distance. Thunder A strange, hoarse yet familiar voice echoing through the mountains searching for her promised love. Thunder But that’s all just a legend now. Page 22 Narration The strange tale that circulated about a faithful maiden, who lived among a blue moon’s fog haunting the nearby villages finally left after a proper farewell. Her unrequited love had vanished into thin air and transformed into a mystic fog that appears in hopes of seeing her lover’s face again. Once in a blue moon, it’s within these boundaries of untold stories that haunt the undying heart from loving again. The End.