Short Film Ideas: 3

Time travel is something which, while it interests me, is something that also annoys me. The concept itself is fantastic, but it's peoples' generic ideas around it that I find tedious. The usual ideas around it are going back in time to win the lottery, preventing or changing a major disaster or going back to embarrassing moments in your life and changing them. These ideas may seem practical when applying them to the real world, so long as you don't create some kind of paradox and stop yourself from being born, but they are still boring. We've seen them 100s of times.

My idea comes in as something less mainstream. The basis of the story is that somebody has the ability to time travel, there's no science behind it, they just do. This is person A. Person A has a group of friends, among these people are best friends, close friends and people they know but are more of an acquaintance than a friend. One of these acquaintances is person B.
Person A travels back to when person B was a child, at the point in their life where they are a toddler and probably can't read. Unseen, person A picks up their favorite toy and writes a completely random word on it... Like "cabbage". Person B probably won't think too hard about why there's this random word written on their toy at this point in their life, but maybe they'll question it later.
Again person A travels back to another point in person B's life. This time B is a bit older, say starting school. Naturally, B's parents have bought them new school supplies, including a nice pencil case. Person A, again unnoticed, grabs the pencil case and writes the word "cabbage" on it. B will probably dismiss this as one of their school friends doing this and probably won't connect it to their childhood toy. To them, it's just somebody messing around.
B is a teenager now. Lots has changed since they were little and they've started dating. They've been on a date with the person of their dreams and have been given a love letter upon ending the date. B is overjoyed. Perhaps they skip home and are filled with excitement to get home and open this card. They get home. The  anticipation is killing them. They open the card. "Cabbage". A's clearly behind this, not that B knows. B is confused and maybe a bit upset. The next day they see the person that gave them the card. "You know that card you gave me? D-did you just... Did you just write 'cabbage' in it? Nothing else?" Clearly an embarrassing moment in their life. The person they went out with laughs at them. Maybe the other kids laugh at them, maybe they nickname B "cabbage". This is certainly memorable for person B. At this point they begin making links wit this key word cabbage, but can't really piece anything together.
Years pass, Person B has gone to university and has student accommodation or is possibly renting a flat. They're happy and feel like this is the start of new and exciting. Upon entering their room, they notice something scratched into the wall or a bedpost, not very big, but notable at least. Again "cabbage" . Suspicious, but there's still not enough pieces for B to put anything together.

B has been at Uni for quite a long time, they've made friends and are going out for a drink with them. At this gathering, the friends of B invite some of their old friends. This is it, this is the moment in B's life where they finally meet person A, not that they know. At this chronological point in time A and B are sitting at a table full of people. They're opposite each other. A pulls out a fancy Moleskin notepad and scrawls something down on it. They pass it to B. B ponders at it and then looks up at A. "Cabbage?".

-BW