DRAMATIC SCRIPT

Ten-Minute Plays

THE MAN IN THE LIBRARY

A library. SOFIA stands downstage, reading from her journal.

SOFIA

I never knew his name. At times, he was a brother to me - at others, a lover - at others, my only friend. Sometimes he became a god, and our brief exchanges were the solstice around which the moon of my being revolved. God! Why did I not ask his name?

Lights up on center. The MAN is working at his desk. VOYENNE is sorting books between shelves. SOFIA enters and places a stack of books on the desk. The MAN looks up briefly. SOFIA looks at him as he looks away. They continue this, eyes never meeting. SOFIA eventually turns to walk among the books.

SOFIA

Carroll... Dickens... Dostoevsky... Frost... Kafka... Plath... Poe... Vonnegut... Wordsworth...

The MAN embarks from his desk and almost bumps into SOFIA. Their first instance of eye contact is electric. They continue to circle and serpentine closer and closer together. At last, they back into each other and SOFIA trips and falls. She looks to the MAN, wondering if he will try to help her up. He offers a hand but quickly withdraws it. SOFIA stands and notices VOYENNE, who enters. SOFIA retreats between bookshelves, opens her notebook, and begins writing. The MAN starts to write feverishly in his notebook as well.

MAN, writing

Today, I came to life.

SOFIA, writing

I met someone. And he is detached, like me; I can see it in the way his eyes are downcast.

MAN

Her eyes were clear and yet deep as a Caribbean sea. There were sharks swimming in those twin pools, yes, but also stretches of bone-white sand... Suddenly the entire ocean has opened itself to me when before I could only see the shore.

SOFIA

He is... Oh, what would Dickinson say? What would Shakespeare sayeth? Is he a summer’s day? No, he cannot be defined by a season. He is made of too much, too many winters, too many summers all in one.

MAN

I wonder if she saw me the way I saw her.

SOFIA

I reached out my hand. He didn’t take it. The moment our eyes met was lightning - was that in my head? Are these the depraved hallucinations of a madwoman? Could I have made this all up?

MAN

Why didn’t I offer her my hand?

SOFIA

I must speak through other words, for no words I can write or say can illuminate all I think. Kafka’s letters, W. H. Auden and Neruda’s poetry, Petrarch and Shakespeare’s sonnets...

MAN

She had Nietzsche and Tolstoy to return. Those are not beach reads. Perhaps she loves books as much as I do, then. She will return - I can feel it. Or shall I never see the open sea again? Will I live out my life within the bounds of the shore?

SOFIA

It was in my imagination.

MAN

This is stupid.

The MAN crumples the page he has written, and he and SOFYA exit on opposite sides.

Lights change. The MAN reenters with two cups of tea. VOYENNE mills around.

MAN

I’m going to talk to her today. I’ll offer her tea. I must brave the waters. At last - maybe - it is time to leave the shallow end.

As she speaks, SOFIA enters. The MAN spills the tea all over the floor.

SOFIA, to herself

He is staring at me.

MAN, to himself

Now I’ve truly ruined everything. God damn, I can’t do this.

SOFIA

Who was I kidding?

VOYENNE

She’s not the girl you mentioned, is she? Let me tell you - she is a fragile, singular soul. Every day she’s come in here for the past six months. I remember the first time I saw her, huddled in here in the dead of night, all alone... In hysterics when I tried to touch her, but then she quotes Steinbeck. I tried to offer her a home, find her some help... All I could get out of her was her name, and she still won’t even look me in the eye. In all my years of running this library, I’ve never met anyone like that Sofia. Those books! She loves those books! Crazy as hell!

MAN

Aren’t we all crazy as hell? Aren’t we all psychopaths, really?

VOYENNE

I suppose so - but if it’s so normal to be crazy, then aren’t we still all hopelessly ordinary?

VOYENNE exits.

MAN

Sofia.

He begins to write frantically on a small post-it. SOFIA turns and walks towards the desk. She places the book before the MAN, who slips the post-it note inside. Their eyes meet again; their hands brush as she takes the book. SOFIA flinches and moves stage left quickly, looking over her shoulder, and holds up the yellow post-it.

SOFIA

This yellow square, this one word written on it - could it be a mistake?

MAN

I hope she understands the message.

SOFIA

Just one word... and that word is to. T - O. To. The most beautiful word in existence - also the most terrible. To dance, to love, to live, to dream... to escape, to aggrandize, to ignite, but also to kill, to hurt. To die, to sleep, perchance to dream... To be or not to be! This word holds every great story. He has given me everything. He has given me the world.

MAN

It was stupid.

SOFIA

And with this single word, the man in the library has said more to me than anyone else ever has.

SOFIA exits. Lights change. The MAN writes in his notebook and VOYENNE enters and prepares for a poetry reading. SOFIA reenters with her notebook.

MAN

Every day she comes in... every day she is more beautiful than the last. She reads Fitzgerald, Joyce, Thoreau. I’ve started reading the books she checks out, just to live inside of a part of her, to know a small fraction of her mind. We have never truly spoken, and yet we have used all the words in this library to tell our stories. But today, with my own voice, I’m going to tell her.

He sees SOFIA and quickly moves away. VOYENNE moves over to talk to SOFIA.

VOYENNE

Glad you came to our little poetry reading. There’s a front row seat saved for you.

SOFIA sits. The MAN has stepped up to the block, with his notebook in hand. He is fidgeting, sweating, like a deer in headlights, but he stands his ground.

SOFIA

He’s reading?

VOYENNE

Yes. He’s got a way with words. Could use some technique. Don’t tell him I said that.

There is silence. The MAN stands on the block and reads. He is incredibly nervous, but soon the meaning of his words becomes clear to SOFIA, who watches from the side.

MAN

This is called ‘Forgotten.’ I loved you in deep twining shades of blue / in echoes of smoke and in chambers of towers. For months you crept in the corners of my vision / but once you entered my veins you became my blood. I loved you across the sun and into the stars and in echoes of smoke / and in chambers of towers, and tombs, too. And all the while, you never knew.

SOFIA and the MAN maintain eye contact. SOFIA leans forward unconsciously.

VOYENNE

Now, we’ll hear from Sofia.

SOFIA

Oh, no, I can’t...

VOYENNE

Come on, sweetie. You’re a talented writer. You don’t even have to look up from the page.

SOFIA is too flustered to refuse. She stumbles up to the stand.

SOFIA

This...this is called... Untitled. So. You are here again, you with the / pale face that appears again and again, in and out of my dreams. Too many mornings I awake with the heat of your body imprinting my covers / the smell of your skin on the blankets / a double warmth filling my throat, swelling over until I burn you with the cool of new air / or cut you out of my flesh with steel edges. I feel your hands guiding mine / even as my own fingers carve constellations in the shape of your face on the edges of my own skin / which, if we are being truthful, belongs only and completely to you.

Lights shift, and it becomes clear that time has frozen; the MAN and SOFIA have discovered an alternate universe within their words, and the rest of the world falls away into darkness, leaving only them, elevated on shafts of words both spoken and unspoken.

MAN

These stanzas were once a place where I could escape this world, where new skies bloomed.

SOFIA

But now you are in each sentence, in each arc of a consonant, in each swoon of a vowel.

MAN

Here and now I promise: if you pick up my book one day in some city, somewhere, the dedication will be simply for you, all of this for you.

They walk towards each other, then, suddenly, the real world crashes in; lights flare up; the library comes back to life. SOFIA and the MAN turn and run their separate ways; the MAN back to the desk, where he continues to work, and SOFIA to hide in the stacks. VOYENNE steps forward with her journal.

VOYENNE

The girl reminds me so much of my daughter. It has been six months since Annabel died. Six months. Annabel. My beautiful baby girl. Will writing about you put your ghost to rest? I feel you with me, as real as when you were alive. I can see you, Annabel. You were always so sad. You wrote the blackest poetry, sometimes on your wrists with blades. But you were happy when you died. That’s my saving grace. Out driving with your friends...you made some rebellious, silly friends that used to smoke in your room, and I did nothing to stop them. You were always so sad. But that night you went to a concert. You were riding with your body out the window, they told me, free, free... spreading your wings like a bird. Talking about electricity, about infinity, they said. It was all very beautiful, I imagine. Then, they ran your head straight into a telephone pole. That pretty Sofia girl who read that poem? She was driving. She doesn’t know that you’re my daughter, though. She knows she killed a girl, but she wasn’t a close friend, had never been to my house, doesn’t know my face. I made sure she never found out my identity. Figure she’s been hurt enough. Annabel. I see you in her skin, in her voice, in her every word.

Lights change. VOYENNE sits frozen. SOFIA stands, shrouded in darkness, writing.

SOFIA

Every day, he sends me a different note. “To” was just the beginning. He sends me letters and quotes, and every word is beautiful. Every day when I come in to check out books, he looks at me, and I feel the all the stories and characters we both know smiling out of his eyes. But I know that I can never love him. Voyenne. Oh God. She doesn’t know that I was the one at the wheel of the car. I was in high school, and I killed... I took her daughter’s thoughts, ended her story, stopped her heart from beating. We can believe in infinity all we want, but when a life ends we come face to face with the void beyond space and time. Now I live in that space of nothing. That night marked the end of my life. She didn’t hit the tree all that hard, but they couldn’t save her. I always see her face. Even before, I didn’t like to talk to people. I always thought words should be treated like jewels, like poison. But now, I wish my voicebox would dissolve. I wish it had been me. I was young, but that’s no excuse for how fast I was driving. Oh, I felt so endless. You should have seen us that night. But the man knows nothing of this. We do not speak and therefore he does not know that I cannot let myself be close to anyone. We do not speak, and therefore we conserve a crystal of possibility, a fragment of light in this dark and bottomless place. But in his face, like in all faces, I still see her. I still see her. The library is the only one I can walk to, and I figure that seeing that woman’s face every day is the beginning of punishment. Here, only here, with the flesh and blood of my sins incarnate before me, maybe I can begin to atone.

Lights change. The MAN appears at the desk, holding SOFIA’s letters. VOYENNE listens.

MAN

Like a work of art, we communicate in this silent language that is both foreign and intrinsic to humanity. They should put us in the Metropolitan, in the MOMA, they should write us into an opera, a symphony. And every day, I fall more in love.

SOFIA walks out from behind the bookshelf, looks at the MAN, bows her head, and shies away. As she walks back to the bookshelf, a piece of paper slips from her fingers and lands on the floor. The MAN wanders over to it and picks it up.

MAN:

Should I read it? It can’t hurt if I just read it. Your daughter left her hands in the creek / the woods smell like her / the wind has her father’s eyes / and their bodies imprint themselves in your skin / they will follow you from home / to alleyways and smokestack peaks / and oceans roaring with promise / and for every cape town you try to drown in / she will always have been there before.

VOYENNE’s eyes fill with tears, and she exits. Lights descend, in the same way as before. The MAN and SOFIA step forward and walk close to each other.

MAN

Do you write in your journal a lot?

SOFIA

Yes. You too?

MAN

Yes. Can I hear something you’ve written?

SOFIA

I don’t know...

MAN

Just pretend I’m not here. Pretend I’m one of these books, just another story.

SOFIA

Oh... okay. January 21st. So often I find myself unable to speak. The words catch in my throat and I cannot find a way to break through the memorized motions that resign me to this dream state.

MAN

January 22nd. There is so much rain behind your eyes. I want to wash it away and present you with sun showers and marigolds. Forget winter. Take me up and kiss the acid out of my bloodstream. I want to devour the fruit pluming from your form.

SOFIA

January 23rd. Press me out of this long sleep.

MAN

Today. You are real -

SOFIA

Today. You are real -

The MAN walks towards SOFIA. They are very close. Static attraction pulses.

SOFIA

Tell me your story.

MAN

January 12th. Memories. Words are damaging. I used to live in a world of light, of electricity. Of music, beats, energy. I was in college. I got wrapped up in a world of parties, sweaty rooms, pairs of identical lips passing numbly over mine - this became my life. I was drinking every night, soon every day. Whiskey, vodka, cognac, it didn’t matter as long as I didn’t have to feel anything. I almost died one night from drinking too much. I saw angels, a whole battalion of them, coming down for me. But now I go to AA every week. That’s why I’m working at the library. That’s why I withdrew from school - from the whole world. That’s why I vowed to be silent. Until you. I love you, Sofia. I love you like Kafka loved his Milena, like Sartre loved Simone, like Plath loved Hughes.

SOFIA

I can’t do this. This isn’t a love story. We’re not writers. I’m not who you think I am.

MAN

Why couldn’t we be, though? Tell me your story. I will always want to listen.

SOFIA

I killed Voyenne’s daughter in a car accident. You understand - you see why I’d rather not speak. Why I couldn’t let this go any further. Why this is not beautiful or romantic or tragic - it just is, and it just hurts like hell. We never should have said a word to each other. Our silence was sacred. There’s so much blood on the ground now.

MAN

You don’t have to say a thing to me. Sofia, you owe the world your voice. You yourself, and what we have here - every moment is another sentence, every day another page. Every single person in this universe is their own story.

SOFIA

I can’t let myself speak out. I can never allow myself to connect to anyone. Can’t you understand that? The only thing I can really trust is endless oblivion - the fact that we will all die - the fact that nothing matters - that all our stories will turn to dust.

VOYENNE enters.

VOYENNE

Sofia. My dear Sofia...I overheard the end of your conversation. I have always forgiven you. I knew - but I didn’t know that you knew of me, since we had never met before. But you saw her in her last moments, and they told me - that she was happy.

SOFIA

It was the most beautiful night of our lives. It was poetry.

VOYENNE

Come here. Let me hold you. I have forgiven you. Please. Sofia. Let’s erase this past year.

SOFIA

I can’t.

VOYENNE

Please. Sofia, come here. I know you love my son.

SOFIA

Your son?

SOFIA looks from the MAN to VOYENNE, making the connection, and runs to the opposite side of the stage.

MAN

I lost my sister that night, but I believe her spirit has settled in you.

SOFIA

Oh, my God.

VOYENNE

Please listen to what I will say, then, if you will not accept my forgiveness. You have both withdrawn from the world, and yet...you have found each other. Despite the barriers that both of you have set between yourselves and humanity, you have still found each other, though you know almost nothing of each other’s lives - instead you know far more than most others ever will of another. You know each others’ souls, though perhaps not each others’ shells. Sofia, your soul is pure, and I love you as my daughter. Raise your voice.

SOFIA

I could be sick. What matters aside from the stars? Why does any of this matter? I owe the universe nothing; I matter so little to it. But I cannot forgive or move on. I cannot replace a body that has been taken - a story that I ended.

MAN

If you stop telling your story, you’ve ended two.

SOFIA

I can’t. I can’t just forget, and I can’t just turn this thing into a story or a poem. I have given too much away. I can’t face either of you again. We are swallowed, ultimately, by the stars.

SOFIA exits. VOYENNE and the MAN embrace desolately.

VOYENNE

First love is always painful, but this...

MAN

I’ll never see her again.

VOYENNE

Never regret. Just write about it.

Lights change. We are back at the first scene, with the stage bathed in darkness.

SOFIA

I never knew his name. At times, he was a brother to me; at others, a lover, at others, my only friend. Sometimes he became a god, and our brief exchanges were the solstice around which the moon of my being revolved. God! Why did I not ask his name? The train leaves in a half hour for California, where I will begin anew, away from this smoky city, away from the traffic and ticking clocks of today, to a place where I may find quiet. And yet...why did I not ask his name? We are all mad, every one of us. We are all scarred. We must find those who love our demons. The train leaves in twenty-five minutes. I still have time. What is your name? What is your name? Name yourself and be remembered, forever, eternal as the stars above, inside the mind of another! For long after our flesh disintegrates, our names - our stories - remain. I must write hers. I must write ours. To - to run, to bleed, to love, to write, to live. Tell me, tell me - what is your name?

She runs off.

Curtain

LIQUID GOLD

(AT RISE we see VIOLET and DAN climbing out of bed, awakening from a long night as the lights come up.)

VOICE

Sunrise.

VIOLET

Where are my sunglasses?

DAN

I don’t know.

VIOLET

I can’t go out without them. Have you seen the sun?

DAN

Yeah I see it. What about it?

VIOLET

It’s so bright.

DAN

It’s the sun.

(Both dress. VIOLET discovers a pair of sunglasses and puts them on.)

DAN

Those are my glasses.

VIOLET

No, they’re mine.

DAN

The left lens is cracked. They’re mine.

VIOLET

Sorry.

DAN

Is there any water left?

VIOLET

No. I must have drank it all last night.

DAN

This place is pretty nice.

VIOLET

It’s a shit motel.

DAN

The palm trees outside the window look like a poster I had on my wall as a kid.

VIOLET

I used to have posters of guys that looked better then you ever will.

DAN

(swallowing his anger)

I used to stare at that poster, playing rock and roll on my radio, just listening and imagining the feeling of sand on my back.

VIOLET

Bet your life didn’t turn out like that, did it? No, you’re just a useless, worthless, jobless piece of shit.

DAN

Jesus, It’s this, day after day. I’m so tired of your bullshit!

(DAN hits VIOLET.)

Don’t lie to me, okay? Especially not about sunglasses.

VIOLET

I never lied to you since or before then, I swear.

DAN

Except for the time you fucked that guy after the barbecue last summer?

VIOLET

God, that was last summer. There’s a whole autumn, winter and spring between then and now, and I haven’t strayed since, I promise. I don’t say a thing about the sluts you bring here. And you’ll keep bringing them, too. Look, I gotta get out of here. Where are my sunglasses?

DAN

I told you, I don’t know where your damn sunglasses are.

VIOLET

I need them.

DAN

So your eyes get sunburned. Too bad. Let’s go.

VIOLET

That’s not what I meant. I can’t look into the sun or I’ll burn my eyes.

DAN

Who gave you that idea?

VIOLET

My mother once told me about how the sun loved my grandmother so much it wanted to be close to her more than anything. Each day it would shine its rays on her brighter than on anyone else but that wasn’t enough; it had to have her completely. And one day the sun moved so close that her skin caught on fire and she burned to the ground. My mother warned me that the sun loved me too because I had my grandma’s eyes and I had to keep it away otherwise I’d get burned to death too.

DAN

Well, I’ll buy you a new pair on the pier, then.

VIOLET

Dan, what did you do with my old glasses?

DAN

I didn’t do anything with them.

VIOLET

I can tell when you’re lying. I’ve lived with you for years now, though you might not remember, you were drunk half the fucking time.

DAN

Now I remember. I might have seen a girl wearing them, come to think of it...

VIOLET

I knew it. I knew it. One of your whores stole what was mine.

DAN

Fine. I gave them to this older fox with - with big black hair and legs built for riding lions in the jungle and tits so wide you wouldn’t believe. She and I - we, oh yeah - we did it in this same hotel last night, while you were in the shower.

VIOLET

Fuck you.

DAN

We did it right here -

VIOLET

I’ll kill you!

(VIOLET lunges towards DAN and begins to attempt to attack him. DAN pulls VIOLET to him and kisses her.)

VIOLET

Get your hands away from me; I can taste the other woman lingering on you. They’ve tapped into your veins now. I can smell them.

(Pause. VIOLET walks forward.)

Someday I’m going to move to Washington or Canada, way up north, and I’m going to live in a place where the sun can’t burn me anymore.

DAN

But you love the sun, don’t you? You love how it burns you. You love how much it hurts.

VIOLET

I’ll live in a place full of rain and shadow, in a cabin all to myself. And the running water and the creeks will help clean my wounds. The shadows will heal my skin. And the sun will rise and set.

DAN

The sun rises everywhere.

VIOLET

It’s hot in here. ... Why did we even come to this place?

DAN

Because you love the sun.

VIOLET

I could just leave.

DAN

Where would you go?

VIOLET

Somewhere. Maybe the beach.

DAN

I’d come along.

VIOLET

I meant I could leave you. I bet I could find a better man.

DAN

You don’t want a better man. You’re in love with me and you know it. You’re like a dog chasing after a bone. You’re completely insatiable, rabid with love. You’ll never give me up.

VIOLET

You can come with me to the beach. I want to drown myself in the ocean.

DAN

You know if you drowned I’d drown myself right after you in a second.

VIOLET

We’re fucked up, you know.

DAN

Perfectly made for each other.

VIOLET

Why won’t I ever leave you, Dan?

DAN

The same reason I can’t leave you. Everything I’ve ever done, you’ve been there - right with me all along.

VIOLET

My life is tied to yours now. I know that I should go, but...we’re connected, forever.

(making a decision)

Oh, Dan... why do we fight the way we do?

DAN

Because it’s what we do, it’s who we are. And I’m... I’ll fight the rest of my life for you, if that’s what it takes.

VIOLET

You’ll have to fight your way through fire and flame.

DAN

You think if I was afraid of fire, I’d still be here?

VIOLET

In the middle of this desert there are moments of rain.

(DAN kisses VIOLET on the forehead.)

DAN

Violet, will you marry me?

VIOLET

Okay.

DAN

Really?

VIOLET

Say it for real, now, get down on your knee and everything.

DAN

Violet Verbena Reynolds. Will you say yes? Will you marry me?

VIOLET

Yes. Okay. I will. I’ll marry you. Dear fiancé?

DAN

Yes?

VIOLET

Could you go down to the pier and buy me some sunglasses? I need protection from the light.

DAN

Of course. I’ll go down to the pier and buy you some sunglasses and maybe something else - something that shines.

VIOLET

Thank you.

(DAN exits.)

VIOLET

The sun pressed close to the moon, and when the moon bled, she bled liquid gold.

(She feels her bruises and wounds.)

It burned her. But she loved the beautiful sunrise... Until one day the sun came too close, and she turned to ash in the grasp of its heat. And the sun mourned her, and it lifted her up and held her close and even in death she could not escape him. He was all around her, pressing into her, even in the night. Oh God, what am I doing? I should be happy, I should be glad. The unborn child inside of me is glad; the unborn children, dead before they were alive, are silent. But should I cry for the child I carry now or the children who were spared the bitter fire that burns this place? Oh God, what am I doing, what have I done? How does this child live within me here, flesh and blood, cool water flowing through his veins, as my skin blisters under the weight of this terrible, terrible sun?

(Pause.)

I could kill myself, hanging myself from the roof. Underground, cool and quiet, at least I’d be away from the light.

DAN

Wife, I’m home!

VIOLET

(falsely)

Hello, Dan, hello, there.

DAN

If I weren’t so high, I’d kiss you.

VIOLET

Dan, did you smoke while you were out there?

DAN

Did I.

VIOLET

Shit. It was just a joint, wasn’t it?

DAN

A joint full of paradise. Look at your eyes.

VIOLET

What about my eyes?

DAN

They’re glowing. Oh my God. They’re burning. Your eyes are on fire. Somebody get water! Fire!

VIOLET

My eyes aren’t burning, Dan... What the hell did you smoke?

DAN

I’ve got it in my veins. The sweetest poison known to man. Brighter than moonshine... Did you know that the sun’s bigger than all the planets in the solar system combined?

VIOLET

You didn’t... Was it heroin?

DAN

Stabbed it into myself like this, and a whole lot of it too. And I feel fabulous, really fabulous. Really, really great. I’m so warm. It’s like I’m sinking into oblivion. I can see your face everywhere. And you’re gonna be my wife, Vi. You and I are going to have such a great life together. We’re gonna have three kids... and a house... and a golden retriever. And you’ll never have to go out into the sun, if you want. We can go walking in the moonlight every night.

VIOLET

I can’t believe you.

DAN

Just sit and relax. Watch the palm trees sway. There’s going to be a beautiful sunset. Can you hear that Spanish guitar?

VIOLET

Throw up. Drink something. Hurry, please!

DAN

Can you hear those chords?

(DAN hums and pantomimes the guitar.)

VIOLET

I thought you were done with this!

DAN

I was never done with it. A lady in gold called me home in the end.

VIOLET

But rehab...

DAN

You really think those programs work? You have to want to change.

VIOLET

And you never wanted to change. You never wanted anything except that first high.

DAN

We’re still getting married, right?

VIOLET

I can’t believe you did this. I can’t believe you’d have the nerve to do this, after everything.

DAN

It’s a beautiful world, Vi. Close your eyes and you can see all the colors that ever filled the sky, and all the words just spill out of your mouth. And we can be in love forever.

VIOLET

Forever.

DAN

Because when it’s you, and me -

VIOLET

We can make it.

DAN

They all said I couldn’t make it. When I was a kid they told me I had so much promise, and that I was just throwing it all away. But they didn’t know about how the liquor closet used to sing to me every night.

(DAN hums again.)

VIOLET

I should have known.

DAN

Can you hold me?

VIOLET

Alright. I’ve just got to call the hospital. Just hold on, for a minute, please.

DAN

I couldn’t help it. I took so much, Vi. And it felt so good. I knew it would feel so good.

VIOLET

They’re on their way, okay. Okay?

DAN

How could you ever think I didn’t love you? You’re my sun. Without you, the world would be so cold.

VIOLET

I’m your sun.

DAN

Of course... You alright, sunshine?

VIOLET

Of course I’m not. You didn’t get me my sunglasses, either.

DAN

(incoherently)

You never gave me back mine. And anyway, you never needed them. All that light - all that fire - it came from inside you, inside that burning core. I was just a lunar eclipse.

VIOLET

Fuck you.

DAN

Fuck you.

VIOLET

Dan. ...Dan? Are you asleep? The ambulance is here. Get up; we’ve got to go now. Dan, look at me. You’re alright. You’re just in a deep sleep. They’ll just cart you off to the hospital and everything will be fine. Where’s that old fire that burned so damn bright? Oh God, where’s your pulse? ... But we still have the nighttime; we still can get married and have three kids and we can play rock and roll and sit outside and watch the sunrise before we go to work. Come on, Dan, and I was going to tell you about the baby today. And I was never going to leave you even though I should’ve because you’re the love of my life and some things like that can’t change and even when you hit me I loved you, and I love you and I need you to wake up. You’re my cosmos. Get up - get up - wake up - talk to me - open your eyes. You’re my entire universe. Open your eyes.

VOICE

Sunset.

(Lights dim.)