The
title immediately comes up and shushes all of us, then gets down to business.
Several shots of nighttime in the city (we've not yet established which one)
bring us into a health club. Specifically, the squash court. Inside one of the
glass-walled courts, a young woman (this is Malini, so we'll call her that)
repeatedly pounds a ball against the opposite wall with her racquet. Above her
from the observation area a young man (Sunny!) enthusiastically cheers her
performance, and drops a few flirty comments in to boot. Malini plays along and
flirts back a bit before telling Sunny "you really are the limit!"
She takes one more swing at the ball, and it comes back right at her head.
She barely dodges the clearly CG ball in the nick of time, but it breaks her
concentration and she takes that as her cue to leave. With a mild expletive, she
gathers up her things into her gym bag.
A new male voice comes from off-screen, asking her if she is scared. She
explains to whom she believes is Sunny that she hurt herself in the same manner
the previous day, so she's still a little gun-shy about it happening again. The
voice begins to lecture her about all of the paths that lead to fear, and how
being afraid is a bad thing. After all, if she's going to be afraid of a little
rubber ball, then she'll never hack it outside. Malini tries to lighten the tone
a little and chides "Sunny" by asking what can she be afraid of when he's
around?
The
voice replies, "Death." She tells him not to be ridiculous, but the voice
continues. He says that everyone is afraid of death, as it can come anywhere and
anytime with no warning. Even in this health club. It's dark, and there are only
two of them in the whole place.
Malini is visibly upset now, and she tells "Sunny" that she hates jokes like
this, and she has told him that before. The voice still continues. He says that
if he wanted to come down to the court and kill her right then, who could
possibly come to save her?
Malini takes a harsh tone and says that she's really had enough of this
little discussion and she's very scared. The voice seems satisfied with that,
and tells her to go right ahead and be scared, and she can go right ahead and
die. Malini begins to cry, and tells "Sunny" that this sick little joke of his
has gone way too far, and that she really hates him for doing it. She goes to
the door of the squash court and tries to open it. However, the door has been
locked from the other side.
Malini
pounds on the door and starts yelling for Sunny to come and unlock it. We see
all of this from the point of view of the hallway, looking into the glass with
Malini on the other side. She continues to slap the glass as hard as she can and
shouts for Sunny to let her out. Out of nowhere, the real Sunny's rapidly
bleeding body slams into the glass and startles Malini. His blood-soaked hands
and arms leave grisly trails on the glass as he slowly slides downward, staring
into the court where Malini can only look on in horror.
Sunny continues to the floor, and with his last bit of strength he turns the
latch on the door to let Malini out. Malini lowers herself to Sunny's cooling
body, and weeps for his death. This doesn't last long, as she notices the sound
of footsteps approaching from the hallway. Moving quickly, Malini darts out of
the court and heads for the stairs. She finds herself in a darkened area of the
club at the top of a spiral staircase. She pauses for a moment to catch her
breath (and to her credit, she does this quietly!) before moving around a
corner.
Just
as she does this, a man we've not seen yet comes into frame with a loud hit on
the soundtrack. He looks like a security guard or a cop from the uniform, but
Malini doesn't try to get his attention. She stays quiet and hidden, and the man
walks past her. She then backtracks down the stairs into a rather garishly lit
game room with pool tables and arcade games. The guard walks away, but not
before we can see what looks like a cloaked figure wearing a strange clown mask
standing completely still next to an air hockey table. After the guard has
cleared the room, Malini moves from her hiding place and continues to try to
catch her wind.
Malini starts to cry again, albeit softly, over the loss of her boyfriend. As
she does so, the figure at the air hockey table tilts his head and stares
directly at Malini's back as she quietly sobs.
