The SUSPENDED ROOM
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CHARACTERS:
1= female persona, 2= male persona
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PART ONE ... The Open Air Between Us 12:13 AM
(SCENE: Two voices; We hear city traffic in the background)
1: You got out.
2: Yes.
1: How did you escape?
2: I went out the window.
1: Clever boy.
2: It took planning... it took a little force. There was a lot of blood.
1: Don't talk about that now. Let's enjoy the night.
2: Yes, I'd like to. I'm not sure if I can. I am a bit preoccupied...
1: Ignore it, this feeling you get. It will go away.
2: I don't think it will; it's too strong in me tonight.
1: It will go away, if you just ignore it. I assure you it will.
We don't have very much time together. Why waste any of it on distraction?
2: Why? You ask why?
1: I ask this: how often do we get to see each other?
2: Not often enough. I want to be completely here for you.
1: You are here! I see you, and I can touch you. Tonight we only have open air between us.
2: It's the open air that's causing this... I haven't felt so... distracted... since the last time I was out in the open...
1: Please, ignore it. Let's just go. There is so little time!
2: Yes, yes. There is something I must do first...
1: Something... mhm. All right. Go do it, if you must.
2: Soft meat.
1: And when you're through, return to me.
2: Yesss...
1: Meet me over by the edge of the water, so we can begin to enjoy this night.
We'll drink, there, if we are thirsty. And if we hunger, we shall eat.
2: Wet meat.
...Red meat...
( FADEOUT to 'Killing Scene')
Fadeout Element: Repetitive Stabbing Device
1: We shall have the best of all things, there, by the waters edge.
1: hurry back...
(FADEOUT to 'Waiting')
Fadeout Element:
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PART TWO ... Divinity, Obscenity, Infinity 1:57 AM
(SCENE: Two voices; We hear water and birds in the background)
1: Ah, you've returned. Do you feel better?
2: Yes, much better. I am surrounded by a nurturing calm. I feel like a child tightly held...
1: I'm so glad... come here. Sit with me. Let me hold you tight. Let me be a mother to you, tonight.
2: You are always there for me, despite the things I do.
1: Your actions do not define you in my eyes. When I look into you, I can see other things.
2: I know not what you speak of, truly... but I am glad you continue to search for whatever it is that keeps you with me.
1: I will never stop searching you.
2: I'm so unworthy of one such as you, I don't deserve your attention.
There are better people waiting out there for you, you know that don't you?
1: Quiet. Hush. Sit still, and listen to the sound of the water.
2: I hear it. Full of movement, it is the mysterious sound of life being lived.
1: The water itself is like a living thing, moving about along the surface of the planet.
2: Yes. It's beautiful and random.
1: Look over there... the roses look so sad tonight.
2: Their time has nearly passed. Summer will be over soon.
1: What do you mean? Summer has just begun.
2: But summer is always too short. Harder seasons are sure to follow...
1: Yes. Fall, and brutal Winter.
2: Poor flowers bloom.
1: ...they blossom...
2: ...they wither and die. All things die. It is that way, even in nature.
---(There is a moment of silence:)
2: ...All things die...
---(There is a moment of silence, and the soft sound of crying:)
1: Little lord, why do you weep? What troubles you?
2: Sometimes I think about horrible things...
1: Yes. We all do. What's on your mind?
2: I was just thinking about some of the places I've been... some of the things I've seen. All the broken things...
1: Don't--
2: ...and about the people who made me what I am.
1: --Don't--
2: ...Divinity, obscenity, infinity... look at all the horrible things I've done in a single lifetime...
1: --Don't do this to yourself. That was a long time ago.
2: That was tonight...
1: Forget about it. Think only of here and now. It's such a nice night...
2: ...yes...
1: It's nice to be alive, on a night like this..
2: ...yess...
1: Do you feel the wind? I do.
2: It touches everything around it so lightly.
It caresses with a gentle persistence that I can barely comprehend...
1: It is rare to experience something so constant, and yet so gentle...
2: I wish I could be like the wind. No boundries...
1: It must be wonderful to be that free.
2: (song-like:) In this autumn breeze, we'll do as we please...
1: Ha-ha!
2: The wind, a symbol of freedom, is also a symbol of power.
What I would give to be just like the wind...
1: Tonight we are that free... we are just like the wind.
2: We are? Are we? Let's not let it go to waste then...
Let's act in the name of that freedom! Come with me, back to the city... with the wind at our backs, pushing us along,
we will be like a force of nature. No one will escape the storms we generate.
1: Uh, wait. That's not a good way of looking at this.
2: We could be free, forceful and free. We will go anywhere we please, do anything...
1: No, no. We can't. We won't. We will remain calm. Let me touch your temples...
2: Touch me.. your pale skin is so blue and cold, it feels wonderful against me.
1: Relax... enjoy my touch. Let the pleasure overcome you. Forget about the wind... I shouldn't have mentioned it.
2: You're skin is like watered milk. It makes me weak... I have longed to conquer one so pale, in hidden shadows by the waterside...
I have thought of all the colours I could bring out of such white flesh... the ripe pinks, the swollen blues, the tortured blacks,
the deep, flowing reds...
1: Love... if you want me, you can have me. There is no need for force here.
2: I... I... I wouldn't force you to do anything. I was just thinking out loud.
1: You shouldn't think about such things.
2: I've had a lot of free time these last few years. My mind strains to keep me occupied.
1: A dangerous past-time, living out imaginary lives.
2: What else is there to do in a box?
1: Your description was so vivid...
2: That was nothing more than a scenerio, a nocturnal fantasy. One of many...
1: I am startled by your lack of direction, this night. You are like an insect caught in a storm. You are being thrown this way and that. You can't stay calm. I have never seen you quite like this.
2: It is this constant, forboding feeling of time slipping away... I know this can't last.
1: It will be over soon, yes, and you're wasting the moment. You are going to end up with nothing.
2: You're right... I can't let that happen. I promise you, I'll stay here with you, if you'll just hold me.
The shock of contact will keep me here, grounded, as I should be.
All I really want is to experience solace in the feel of your flesh... warm, supple, protected...
1: ...You would have me gently?
2: No other way. And only if you truly want me...
1: I do. I still do...
2: Then let's not waste a second more. Our desires will define us.
1: Our desires will define us.
---(FADEOUT to 'Outside')
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PART THREE ... Come A Colder Season 3:01 AM
(SCENE: Two voices; We hear water and birds in the background)
1: Beautiful heart, you made me so happy just then.
2: I'm glad we had this chance to be together. I would have missed it,
had you not properly focused my vision.
1: We are so alike, you and I.
2: We must be alike, or you would have abandoned me long ago.
...I think we are connected by a secret desire.
1: What desire do you speak of? I know not...
2: We share a secret desire to drown things, don't we?
1: ...that could be true, deep down.
2: You admit that I speak the truth?
1: It matters not. I never act on my desires, unless it is my desire to be with you. I have control over things like that.
2: ...Control over things like that.
1: Yes. I have defined my path, and I do not let myself stray.
2: I have trouble with straight lines.
1: Yes, I've noticed.
2: So where do we go from here? I wonder what lies around the corner for us...
1: We are lost, you and I.
2: We must be lost. How else could we have ended up here? By a riverside, waiting.
1: ...All we can do is wait. In the meantime, is there anything you want to know?
2: Anything? Can you answer this? I have always wondered:
...where does a good man store all his secrets? I used to bury mine in the earth. I used to put all my secrets to bed with a shovel.
At one point, I had so many secrets underneath me, my yard looked like a wartime mine field... eventually, people started digging.
1: What kind of question is that? I'll answer what part of it I can, though I'm sure it won't please you to know the truth here.
A good man tries to avoid secrets, for he knows what harm a secret can cause. And when a secret comes forcefully upon him,
he hides it within himself. These secrets all go inside, not into the ground. He takes on their weight. They burden him with guilt,
and he keeps them in shame.
...Is that what you were doing?
Before you were caught, did you ever feel shame?
2: No, I never did. Should I have?
1: I won't tell you that. I can't tell you what you should feel. I am no expert in human emotions... I don't think I feel what I should
properly feel when I'm around you, knowing the things that you've done... I shouldn't feel so close to you... I should fear you...
2: Am I a monster? Is that what I am? Yesss... I am, aren't I? People have a reason to fear me... for I have committed grave acts...
I have seen things not meant for these eyes...
...and I have destroyed things, I have lived as a hungry animal would live...
1: Everyone destroys. Not everyone regrets. Some do. Things go missing.
Life continues on despite any and all disappearances...
2: "Some day soon, a year in the sand will have passed...
What was here before will no longer be visible, all but entirely erased by the constant breath of time. And yet, on that telling day,
nothing will have been noticeably lost to anyone who cares to make the time to look; nothing will have changed, except for
the most abstract, the most intimate of details. To the distanced eye, the changes of the completed year will go by entirely unnoticed.
The replacement of intimacy will have little effect on the nature of things to come; nature reflects change, a constant rise and fall,
and endless levelling that brings with it an endless renewal.
A lesson to the living, nature teaches that new patterns must always rise out of the dust of the past."
1: What is that? What are you quoting?
2: Just something... just something...
1: Did you write that?
2: Yes... I've been writing whenever I can. It soothes my soul Inside, I feel so misunderstood.
1: What is it like where you are?
2: It's very plain, no colours anywhere. A lot of grey, a lot of brick, metal bars and dim lights.
1: It sounds terrible. How do you cope?
2: You learn to differentiate between inside and outside quite quickly.
You accept the fact that there is no more outside in your life.
And inside, you try to forget the shape of the trees, or the feel of the breeze, come a colder season...
1: That's so sad. Poor man.
2: Don't pity me. I am not meant to be outside. I don't belong in the wild.
...I was very close to taking you earlier this evening. I almost lost myself. I don't belong out here.
1: ...I know you were. I could sense your hunger.
2: Why didn't you run from me?
1: Where would I go? Running would have meant abandoning you, and that's not something I am able to do.
There is nowhere I could go to escape the memory of you. I would sooner die for you than run from you.
2: I don't know what to say to that. I don't want you to die for me.
1: Then don't ever think about killing me.
2: No. I never will again. I won't ever let myself.
1: Then I have nothing to fear.
2: Did you feel that?
1: What? Oh, wait... yes.
2: Yesss... there it is again...
1: It's beginning to rain.
2: We better take shelter, the wind is picking up...
1: Something is coming. I think it's a storm.
---(FADEOUT to 'Windstorm')
Fadeout Element: Origin Of Storms
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PART FOUR ... Call of the City 5:23 AM
(SCENE: Two voices; We hear the sound of sirens far off in the distance, which slowly get closer)
1: It's passed. The sky looks calm again.
2: Kiss me goodbye. I must go back. I don't belong on the outside.
1: No. Don't leave yet. Stay.
2: I can't stay forever. They'll be looking for me. This is a temporary, fleeting thing...
1: Then let's make the most of it. Don't leave until the last possible moment.
Maybe the storm will have washed away all the traces of you. Maybe they won't be able to find you ever again.
2: I don't think so. Don't you here them? Listen...
1: They're coming?
2: They're here, they're here.
1: They're here. No.
2: They're still a little ways off. They musn't see you. You've got to hide yourself.
1: I know how to hide, when hiding is the thing to do.
2: Good girl. Go do that. I'll lead them away from you. Go.
1: Wait.
2: What is it?
1: It was nice to spend this time with you, on the outside.
2: For a few hours, there were no bars. There was fresh air to breathe, and an open sky above my head...
...there were really no bars.
1: No bars... but there was still a cage, wasn't there?
2: Still a cage. Yes, I'm afraid there was. I could never escape the cage that I'm locked in...
1: They'll shut you away for good now, won't they?
2: Probably. If they find the dead girl from earlier tonight, I'm sure to be punished most severely.
I can only hope she remains hidden. I hid her well.
1: I told you not to let yourself stray from the path that leads to this river... remember, I told you so.
2: I felt the call of the city. You know I can't resist the night life...
1: It's the reason we're apart.
2: Ah well. I've always been a city boy. I have no regrets.
(SOUND:--We hear dogs.)
2: You must go. Now. They're nearly here. I don't want you involved in all this.
1: I'll leave in just a minute. I promise.
2: Okay. But why do you delay? You could be caught...
1: How can you ask why?
2: I'm only concerned for your safety.
1: Don't worry about me. I can take care of myself.
2: I know you can. That's what I like about you.
1: I want to savor this final moment with you. This was a wonderful night. If only there were more opportunities like this one.
2: Kiss me.
1: Yes...
2: Kissss me...
1: (whispers:) If only there were more opportunities like... this... one.
2: (whispers back:) In another life, perhaps.
1: I'm going now.
2: I think you should. Go in that direction, and I'll go in this one. I'll leave a trail for them, so they'll come to me.
They'll never know you were here.
1: Goodbye, clever boy.
2: Goodbye.
---(FADEOUT to 'Opposite Directions')
END.
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FADEOUTS :
PART ONE breakoff 1... KILLING SCENE.
Soundscape:
(The sound of wings tearing through the sky, screaming.)
M: ...meat.
PART ONE breakoff 2... WAITING.
Soundscape:
(The sounds of a river, calm.)
(The female voice persists, humming softly.)
PART TWO: OUTSIDE...
Soundscape: No voices.
(The sounds of pleasure, the sounds of bodies.)
PART THREE: WINDSTORM...
Soundscape: No voices.
(The sound of wind.)
PART FOUR: OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS...
Soundscape: No voices.
(The sound of bodies trailing off, running.)