Arabella is a troubled former writer working a dead-end job as a motel maid. She has struggled with survivor’s guilt since narrowly escaping a house fire that killed her beloved fiancé a few years prior. Arabella confesses her complex feelings to Emerson, a compassionate but enigmatic woman she meets while working. Emerson seems uncannily familiar, even possessing an identical scar to one Arabella got while escaping the fire. Their conversation inspires Arabella to confront her demons, and she expresses her feelings in a posthumous love letter to her fiancé. She also finds the courage to leave her abusive partner. As she drives away to freedom, it is revealed that Emerson is a manifestation of Arabella's subconscious – a projection of her future self. Arabella realizes that she has come to her own rescue.

Narrative Short | 13:25

Director: Lucia Ledesma

Lucia’s passion for screenwriting and directing has led her to work on a full-length feature film and several short films. She has won the Montclair Film Festival four times (Emerging Filmmakers competition), and had a film selected for the Queen’s World Film Festival. She made a documentary about the off-grid community in Slab City that went viral on YouTube, and her documentary about the SDSU Aztec logo, “Not Our Culture,” won the emerging filmmakers’ competition at the SDSU film festival. Lucia has had three of her screenplays made into shorts at SDSU and is especially excited about the next one. Writing is her greatest passion, but she is thrilled to be directing her passion project.