The Offer

The hospital is silent. Lights begin to flicker. In the emergency hallway, a 13 year old boy sat with his eyes locked on the room where all the doctors are trying to save his mother‘s life.

Family has been walking in and out all day long, but the boy stayed put on the seat, trying to see even a glance of her through the window. He wasn‘t crying, his grief was transmitted through silence and intense thoughts.

When the doctors opened the door for him, he rushed inside to hold her mother‘s hand.

“Mom, don‘t leave me, please. I love you“ 

The boy shed some tears while the Doctor asked some nurses to pull him away. He screamed, as the weakened hand of the mother is fading away slowly.

A memory starts to kick in, a sunny afternoon in the park, his mother smiling

“Be proud of who you are“ 

It was the first time he‘d felt something like that. Kind of like a first birth.

An internal voice in the head of the boy is saying that he needs to save his mom. The boy is praying with such intensity. Full of pasion and love. 

“Please, God, save my mom“ as the boy speaking softly. 

The clock stops. Everything is frozen. Then, he turns around to notice some black boots, a long coat and there it was an old man, around his 70s, white beard and a very calm voice.

“Hello“, the old man said.

“Who are you?“, the boy asked.

The Old Man: “Sit with me and I‘ll tell you a secret“

“My mom says that I don‘t suppose to talk to strangers“

The Old Man: “Your mom is wise. Please, come.“

The boy sits next to the old man, as the boy asks again: “What‘s your name?“

The Old man: “I am the one who has the authority between heaven and earth. It's incredible, that every time I come here, there's something new. But, today... I saw you. Crying. Is that your mom?“

The boy breath caught in his throat.

“I am Death and I saw you crying in the hallway. Today i have a long list from this hospital. It was a car accident? Right?“

He nods.

Death: “I’ve seen your future. Your dreams. You want to be a great film director, don’t you?“

The boy nods.

Death: “This offer requires something if you accept it, i need to wipe out your entire memory and you will not remember this conversation with me. I will take your mom and you will be the greatest film director ever. Not even Kubrick could top you. But... if you refuse, the rules are very clear and says that I need to keep your memory as what it is right now, or i can shake it a little.“

The Boy is crying, he is not ready to let his mom go. He is weeping.

Death: “I need your dreams. The thing that motivates you everytime you wake up in the morning, the reason of moving forward and not backwards. I need that happiness. See, I'm not saying that you will not be happy. I mean that you're dream will not come true, ever. I need that energy. That's the price to pay for…. For a life.“

The Boy looks at Death with a glance of hope.

Death: “That's the price for the life of your mom. I need something to bring to my boss, if isn't your mom, I'll need to bring your dreams. When your time to die comes, whatever the answer is, in the last flash of your life, I will make you remember everything.“

The boy stands up from that little bench. And The Old man as well and he takes him to  another hallway of the hospital, seeing all the people stood up, frozen.

The Boy stops walking.

“Maybe, I need to think.“

Death: “Fine. You have 3 hours to think about it. Think wisely, and one last thing, don't mention to anyone that we have this conversation.“

The Boy sees through the mirror as The Old Man dissapears into the thin air, he feels a sense of relief and everyone around him, starts to move again, like everything went back to normal.

As time passes by, the boy is still standing outside of the mom‘s operation room and he has some flashbacks about when his mom took him to see Godzilla in the theater. Another memory of them is when his dad passed away and his mom was holding his picture frame while she was looking into the stars outside in the balcony and the boy joined her to make some company. And then, a big trailer with a white light is crossing the street, and then a splash makes an impact to their car and the mom is bleeding trying to get out of the car.

The Boy wakes up and sees the time in the clock in front of him. He breathes so deep, and a voice in his head says:

The Old Man: “Are you ready?“

The boy opens his eyes and The Old Man is sitting next to him, and the rest of the people are frozen again. The boy only nods his head and The Old man touch the boy‘s shoulder.

The next thing, a beating machine, something to keep him alive. The Boy now is a Old Man, beside his bed are his younger nephews, his sons and her wife. He looks around and for a glance of hope, he sees her mom waving at him in her hospital attire.

The Boy holds his wife's hand. He cries and another hand is holding him and it‘s her mom. He notices that he doesn't have the power enough to breath by himself. He also starts to see even more black than before. He is leaving. Then, a hand touches his head and he closes his eyes.

He opens his eyes again and he is not longer an old man. But as he starts to notice everything, the boy is holding the hand of the Old Man. He is looking down at his mom's graveyard. All the people around doesn‘t seem to notice them. The Old Man gives him a signal that it‘s time to leave, but the boy doesn‘t want to go. The Old Man touches his head again, and the boy closes his eyes.

He's an older man again. But The Old Man shows him what happened after his death. The Boy sees the time goes by inside his house, while Him is standing in the corner. The sons are following his dad's steps in becoming filmmakers. The wife, still missing him and collecting the older photo album from the shelf. The boy moves around and now the sons are waving goodbye to the mom because they are going to college, but she's now with another man. They hug and embrace each other. The boy crosses to other room, and as he opens the door and look at his son talking about his movie and the screen goes to credits and the last line is “In memory of my father”. Even though, he can't see him. He smiles and claps, like everyone else in the room.

As he turns around, he is again in the hospital in that empty hallway. No more people are there. The Boy starts to walk to the end of the hallway, as he perceives a voice coming from behind.

Woman: “You left a legacy, you achieve your dreams.“

The mom is standing next to The Boy. She is dressed in a white shirt, not the hospital attire. They are walking to the end of the hallway. A flashes of photos are embracing the both of them as they are outside the windows. 

Boy: “I made a lot of movies“

They are walking towards the hallway surrounded by a white light at the end. The mom is smiling as his son looks at her. And we see them embracing into it.