@Phil - From Script to Screen: Story Ideas

These are my two most fleshed out ideas for the story. A few other ideas I've had started out okay, but I then find myself struggling to include either the see-saw or the factory into the story without it simply just being there for no reason. I am still frequently writing down ideas and notes in my journal, but this is what I have so far:

Idea 1: 

• 2 children find abandoned park near a derelict mannequin factory, cut off by a small river.
• Not wanting to get wet, the children take apart a rusty, broken see-saw to make a bridge across and make their way to abandoned factory.
• Old fortune teller lives inside, sitting at a table, surrounded by mannequin parts, tells the children they will read their fortunes if they give them an item in return. The children agree, and the old fortune teller uses what appear to be small bones to read their fortunes.
• The first child's fortune has a mixture of good and bad, but they are told everything will work out in the end.
• The second child's fortune is fairly similar but they are told they must change their attitude in order to be successful.
• The first child pays the fortune teller with their pocket money and a bag of sweets, the second refuses to pay as their fortune wasn't very good, they storm out, taking their friend with them.
• As they reach the see-saw, they realise it has disappeared and somehow returned to its place in the park. Not knowing of any other place to cross, they decide to jump in the river and climb up the bank to the park. 
• The first child jumps in and makes their way across and up the bank no problem, but the second is half way there when mannequin hands spring up from the water and begin dragging them down. 
• The first child goes to help their friend, but the mannequin hands push them back, they scramble up the bank and run for help.
• The second child stops fighting, and the water goes still.

Idea 2:

• An old fortune teller is living in an old factory which they have converted to a living space. 
• The factory used to make fortune teller machines, found in arcades. The old fortune teller was once the owner.
• Never having any children of their own, they took apart some of the machines and built them into a living, mechanical girl. 
• The two of them read the fortunes of some of the few clients the fortune teller still has. 
• From one of the windows in the living area, the mechanical fortune teller can see children playing in a park, and frequently asks their creator if they will go with them to play on the see-saw. The old fortune teller repeatedly tells them they are far too old to be playing in parks, and would most likely hurt themselves.
• The old fortune teller uses small machines parts (screws, bolts, cogs) to read her own fortune; the pieces land in the vague shape of a skull. Realising they have little time left, they are worried about leaving the mechanical girl on her own, and after some thought she gets to work, taking apart some of the few remaining machines in the factory.
• The mechanical girl attends to clients, while the old fortune teller works in secret.
• One day, the old fortune teller presents the mechanical girl with a sister, built from the remaining parts (the parts are mixed and of varying condition as all the best parts were used to make the first girl).
• The two girls, though at first unsure of each other, are sent outside to the park, at which the first girl is overjoyed.
• The girls play on the see-saw together as the old fortune teller watches from a seat at the window, they are happy, knowing the girls will have each other once they have gone.