More Beautiful Than Death - Screenplay

FADE IN:

INT. SCENE 1

Sylvia turns on the gas.

ABBY

You'll work yourself to death, you will.

SYLVIA

If not to death, then what?

ABBY

Think of Freida and Nicholous.

SYLVIA

What else can a mother do?

ABBY

What good will it do?

SYLVIA

As good as it can.

ABBY

But you hate it so.

SYLVIA

And everything else too.

ABBY

Who's to say what life can be?

SYLVIA

All I know.

ABBY

Not at all.

SYLVIA

What else?

ABBY

Your love.

SYLVIA

For who?

ABBY

Your children.

SYLVIA

What else is there to do?

ABBY

They love you, as you do them.

SYLVIA

Why wish for what cannot be?

ABBY

A mother like any other.

SYLVIA

To wish for what can't?

ABBY

Not only what can, but is.

SYLVIA

Then why am I the way I am?

ABBY

Love is enough.

SYLVIA

Enough is not enough.

ABBY

If not for love, then what?

SYLVIA

I wish I knew.

ABBY

That hope of yours might not be all its grown up to be.

SYLVIA

If not for hope, what else can we leave?

ABBY

When you wish, you ask yourself what if.

SYLVIA

Is it so much to ask?

ABBY

To do what you can is all that you can.

SYLVIA

Quitting already?

ABBY

Is it so much to be happy?

SYLVIA

A fool's errand.

ABBY

And what of them?

SYLVIA

I'm doing the best I can.

ABBY

All you want is all you've done.

SYLVIA

Can I do more than I can?

ABBY

Try and find out.

SYLVIA

Only every day.

ABBY

Then try again.

SYLVIA

I tried that already.

ABBY

I can't try for you.

SYLVIA

Fooled me.

ABBY

You can't think like that.

SYLVIA

I think I can think how I damn well please.

ABBY

They will always love you.

SYLVIA

As only children can.

ABBY

As only yours can.

SYLVIA

What if I can't?

ABBY

Look again.

SYLVIA

You cannot lose what is not there.

ABBY

I'm here.

SYLVIA

For who?

ABBY

For you.

SYLVIA

Or them?

ABBY

And you.

SYLVIA

Can't be.

ABBY

Why not?

SYLVIA

Gone away.

ABBY

Right in front of you.

SYLVIA

Not them.

ABBY

Then who?

SYLVIA

Me.

ABBY

Not yet.

SYLVIA

But soon.

ABBY

For a while, hardly.

SYLVIA

Forever still.

ABBY

For a bee, maybe.

SYLVIA

And a woman too.

ABBY

You've been before.

SYLVIA

Not here.

ABBY

What's one to another?

SYLVIA

Different before.

ABBY

I don't see how.

SYLVIA

Without.

ABBY

They're in good hands.

SYLVIA

Not yours.

ABBY

Why not?

SYLVIA

Can't be

ABBY

According to who?

SYLVIA

The law.

ABBY

Let them try.

SYLVIA

Try they will.

ABBY

So they must.

SYLVIA

And not just.

ABBY

I won't stand for it.

SYLVIA

Sit if you like.

ABBY

Like hell I will.

SYLVIA

What else is there to do?

ABBY

With God on my side.

SYLVIA

And them, too.

ABBY

Human decency will do.

SYLVIA

Even less.

ABBY

Well what's a few days without?

SYLVIA

It's not the days I fear most.

ABBY

What then?

SYLVIA

The years.

ABBY

Nonsense.

SYLVIA

More than some.

ABBY

They wouldn't.

SYLVIA

They do.

ABBY

Not to you.

SYLVIA

Why not?

ABBY

You're you.

SYLVIA

I won't go.

ABBY

You have to.

SYLVIA

Words needn't be so cavelier.

ABBY

They'll take them from you.

SYLVIA

From me, or you?

ABBY

I won't do what will do no good.

SYLVIA

You will do as I tell you.

ABBY

And if it does no good?

SYLVIA

Mine to make.

ABBY

Never was.

SYLVIA

Who's then?

ABBY

Everyones.

SYLVIA

Look where that got us.

ABBY

What good can come from a life without?

SYLVIA

The end.

ABBY

Of what?

SYLVIA

Everything.

ABBY

What good is there in this?

SYLVIA

What good is there in agony?

ABBY

More than nothing.

SYLVIA

Don't be so sure.

ABBY

And them?

SYLVIA

Better off happy.

ABBY

Better off orphaned?

SYLVIA

I'd be.

ABBY

A destitute.

SYLVIA

You're good to them.

ABBY

We must be.

SYLVIA

Better than me.

ABBY

You're tired.

SYLVIA

Always.

ABBY

Why don't you go and get some rest?

SYLVIA

And when I wake?

ABBY

We'll start again.

SYLVIA

Again and again and again.

ABBY

What else?

SYLVIA

You want them.

ABBY

Why wish for what cannot be?

SYLVIA

Could be.

ABBY

How?

SYLVIA

If I were to go on as I am.

ABBY

We all have our troubles.

SYLVIA

What for?

ABBY

To live. To love. To be.

SYLVIA

No thanks to you.

ABBY

What can I do?

SYLVIA

You don't think I'm fit for motherhood.

ABBY

I think you could be.

SYLVIA

You think you could be.

ABBY

I don't think there's anything wrong in wanting what's best.

SYLVIA

You don't trust me.

ABBY

You're tired.

SYLVIA

What else?

ABBY

Times are tough.

SYLVIA

Forever and ever.

ABBY

It's not every day you summer in Reno.

SYLVIA

With leaves still yet to bloom.

ABBY

A husband gone and a father too.

SYLVIA

Father's come home.

ABBY

Like yours?

SYLVIA

This is hardly that.

ABBY

What of mothers?

SYLVIA

I loved them all I could.

ABBY

You're hardly ever here.

SYLVIA

Too much to do.

ABBY

No more than them.

SYLVIA

I wish that were true.

ABBY

You're wasting your life away.

SYLVIA

What about you?

ABBY

I do what I can.

SYLVIA

They don't love you.

ABBY

They do what they must.

SYLVIA

They hardly know you.

ABBY

What about you?

SYLVIA

A mother always knows.

ABBY

But do they to you?

SYLVIA

I think you should go.

ABBY

Quitting again?

SYLVIA

You and me both.

ABBY

What of them?

SYLVIA

What's it to you?

ABBY

You'll be gone soon.

SYLVIA

I'm aware.

ABBY

They'll need care.

SYLVIA

A father's sacred duty.

ABBY

Where is he?

SYLVIA

It's never too late to learn.

ABBY

You can't go on without me.

SYLVIA

Watch me.

ABBY

You'll break their hearts.

SYLVIA

My burden to bear.

ABBY

A mother's only.

SYLVIA

Unlike me?

ABBY

So it seems.

SYLVIA

Your own doing.

ABBY

Who am I to stop a thing as decent as love?

SYLVIA

Not that.

ABBY

What then?

SYLVIA

This.

ABBY

The institution?

SYLVIA

The looney bin.

ABBY

Who'd bother with me?

SYLVIA

Somebody, apparently.

ABBY

I'm nobody.

SYLVIA

Then why don't you skip the Holmes and keep that trap door of yours shut?

ABBY

What's said must be said.

SYLVIA

A bitten tongue hardly bleeds.

ABBY

What difference will it make?

SYLVIA

You tell me.

ABBY

No more or less.

SYLVIA

Idle whispers and all that.

ABBY

What good can come of rumors?

SYLVIA

It's not the good that worries me.

ABBY

What is it that you're so afraid of?

SYLVIA

Stolen kisses.

ABBY

From who?

SYLVIA

From you.

ABBY

Hardly.

SYLVIA

Not him.

ABBY

Then who?

SYLVIA

Freida. And Nicholous too.

ABBY

Kidnapped, maybe.

SYLVIA

I wish it was maybe.

ABBY

Or perhaps something else.

SYLVIA

Like what?

ABBY

Getting better.

SYLVIA

This won't do that.

ABBY

Has before.

SYLVIA

How can you be so sure?

ABBY

Call it a mother's intuition.

SYLVIA

If you're wrong?

ABBY

I'm not.

SYLVIA

But if you are?

ABBY

Then we'll do what we must.

SYLVIA

With a scar.

ABBY

Of what sort?

SYLVIA

The lobotomy, maybe.

ABBY

They don't do that here.

SYLVIA

They didn't there either.

ABBY

These are doctors, dear.

SYLVIA

So is Freeman, still.

ABBY

Only in the former colonoes.

SYLVIA

Anywhere that'll have him.

ABBY

We won't have him.

SYLVIA

Neither would they.

ABBY

But we never will.

SYLVIA

I'd be better off.

ABBY

You and me both.

SYLVIA

They never do worry all that much.

ABBY

They never do much of anything at all.

SYLVIA

They'd hardly know the difference.

ABBY

Is that what you want?

SYLVIA

It doesn't seem to much matter what I want.

ABBY

What is that?

SYLVIA

To be happy.

ABBY

Then why not go and get better?

SYLVIA

Because I won't.

ABBY

Only if you don't try.

SYLVIA

What do you think I've been trying my whole life?

ABBY

Why not try again?

SYLVIA

I tried that already.

ABBY

And the kids?

SYLVIA

You'll do what must be done.

ABBY

Not if you won't go.

SYLVIA

You've a terrible tell.

ABBY

They'd hate me.

SYLVIA

They love you.

ABBY

They love you.

SYLVIA

There's always Ted.

ABBY

And his hooker too.

SYLVIA

Aurelia then.

ABBY

Your mother?

SYLVIA

Why not?

ABBY

And end up like you?

Sylvia hesitates.

SYLVIA

What difference does it make?

ABBY

Better a chance.

SYLVIA

How's it go again?

ABBY

What's that?

SYLVIA

The one about the formerly lucid.

ABBY

What else is love?

SYLVIA

What else indeed.

A pause.

ABBY

So you'll go.

SYLVIA

What else is there to do?

ABBY

I've your word?

SYLVIA

Have them all if you like.

ABBY

I don't like leaving you like this.

SYLVIA

How would you rather like to leave?

ABBY

Better.

SYLVIA

Then stay forever and ever.

ABBY

I'll go check on the kids.

SYLVIA

Go home Abby.

ABBY

I just need to

SYLVIA

Go.

INT. SCENE 2

A young man, SASSOON, steps into the room.

SYLVIA

The world wasn't made for me and you.

SASSOON

The world was forged for those who dare not dream.

SYLVIA

How do you put up with it?

Sassoon smiles provocatively.

SASSOON

How do you?

SYLVIA

I'm not the one you dreamed I'd be.

SASSOON

How can you do a thing like this to me?

SYLVIA

My life is not for you to live.

SASSOON

But you, perhaps?

SYLVIA

No one.

SASSOON

Someone.

SYLVIA

Like who?

SASSOON

I can only think of you.

SYLVIA

You don't know me.

SASSOON

What of you?

SYLVIA

Enough.

SASSOON

For what?

SYLVIA

To get by.

SASSOON

Is that all life is to you?

SYLVIA

That's all life is at all.

SASSOON

What of me?

SYLVIA

Nothing to me.

SASSOON

There was once a time when I was so much more.

SYLVIA

Hard to forget.

SASSOON

Not too hard it seems.

SYLVIA

Rather different?

SASSOON

I'd say so.

SYLVIA

Wonder why.

SASSOON

Surely you're not still on about that old thing.

SYLVIA

Life has a way of working itself out that way.

SASSOON

Who's to say what life can be?

SYLVIA

You left me.

SASSOON

Can I be to blame for life's apathy?

SYLVIA

Incompetence is the fault of no fate.

SASSOON

Pity, then.

SYLVIA

Why?

SASSOON

I was just a poor soul.

SYLVIA

Was?

SASSOON

A spiteful sort of creature, before.

SYLVIA

A fool is what you are.

SASSOON

But I was wrong.

SYLVIA

You are.

SASSOON

I've come to change my ways.

SYLVIA

We were to be engaged.

SASSOON

Then let us resume our sordid affair.

SYLVIA

You made your choice.

SASSOON

So did you.

SYLVIA

You cannot leave what is not there.

SASSOON

What of your betrothed?

SYLVIA

Screw you.

SASSOON

If you must.

SYLVIA

You go first.

SASSOON

He never was enough.

SYLVIA

More than you'll ever be.

SASSOON

And you too.

SYLVIA

Whats you to me?

SASSOON

Whats you to him?

SYLVIA

I love him.

SASSOON

Funny way of showing it.

SYLVIA

I did all I could.

SASSOON

And the professor too?

SYLVIA

Before my time.

SASSOON

As a wife, or a whore?

SYLVIA

Before we met.

SASSOON

Me? Or Ted?

SYLVIA

Both.

SASSOON

And what became of him?

SYLVIA

I'm not who I was when I was back then.

SASSOON

Karma's a bitch.

SYLVIA

This isn't that.

SASSOON

Married. Kids. What else?

SYLVIA

He made his choice.

SASSOON

So did you.

SYLVIA

I'm not a whore.

SASSOON

But Assia is?

SYLVIA

I'm nothing like her.

SASSOON

Just in every way.

SYLVIA

Except I let him stay.

SASSOON

Away from you?

SYLVIA

With his kids.

SASSOON

What of your friend?

SYLVIA

What friends?

SASSOON

The one you charmed the other day.

SYLVIA

Nothing happened.

SASSOON

To your dismay.

SYLVIA

Just a mistake.

SASSOON

With your foot running up his leg?

SYLVIA

I thought he was Ted.

SASSOON

As did he.

SYLVIA

Coward is all.

SASSOON

You reek of despair.

SYLVIA

I'm not a man.

SASSOON

But you wish you were.

SYLVIA

In some ways, sure.

SASSOON

Just not the ways that count.

SYLVIA

No.

SASSOON

You still want him.

SYLVIA

Why not?

SASSOON

Marriage is a sacred sort of thing, at least, that's what I've heard.

SYLVIA

To the married, sure.

SASSOON

That lust of yours is what I miss most.

SYLVIA

Who's fault is that?

SASSOON

Who am I to blame?

SYLVIA

Who else?

SASSOON

Only who matters.

SYLVIA

A victim is what you oughtta be.

SASSOON

No blood on my sheets.

SYLVIA

That could be arranged.

SASSOON

A looking glass is all I offer.

SYLVIA

What do you see?

SASSOON

A name I dare not speak.

SYLVIA

I may have been who I was back then, but I'm not anymore.

SASSOON

All we are is all we were.

SYLVIA

Better forgotten.

SASSOON

What a villain memory must be.

SYLVIA

Tomorrow is all there is.

SASSOON

An optimist till the end.

SYLVIA

I don't make a habit of fools.

SASSOON

Again and again and again.

SYLVIA

All I can be is all I am.

SASSOON

You choose the life you live.

SYLVIA

What choice is there in this?

SASSOON

To live, to die, that's all there is.

SYLVIA

For me, or you?

SASSOON

For everyone else too.

SYLVIA

Then why don't you do us all a favor and make a decision.

SASSOON

What a glorious thing it is to choose.

SYLVIA

You always did have time for you.

SASSOON

That's all there is in the end.

SYLVIA

Tomorrow I'll be gone.

SASSOON

Then why not live while there's still a chance?

SYLVIA

It's all the same in the end.

SASSOON

Then why resist?

SYLVIA

What else?

SASSOON

Why not live?

SYLVIA

Like you?

SASSOON

What else?

SYLVIA

I'd rather find the end.

SASSOON

To live is to love.

SYLVIA

That's all?

SASSOON

It all comes to the same in the end.

SYLVIA

Love is love is love.

SASSOON

In so many words.

SYLVIA

Have you ever considered electroshock therapy?

SASSOON

Do you forget the mighty pen?

SYLVIA

I'd rather the sword at the moment.

SASSOON

I've got one in my pocket.

SYLVIA

Is it so wrong to be wanted?

Sassoon smiles deviously.

SASSOON

Funny sort of wanting.

SYLVIA

Laugh with me, won't you?

Sassoon pulls out a letter.

SASSOON

With supple lips and heaving breasts I will not soon forget the thought of you and me.

Sylvia snatches at the paper, Sassoon pulls back.

SASSOON

Why live a life of misery?

SYLVIA

Suits me.

SASSOON

There's here, there's now, there's us. That's all there is.

SYLVIA

I didn't notice.

SASSOON

Why not be free?

SYLVIA

Do whatever you please.

SASSOON

So is my destiny.

SYLVIA

Screw everything that breathes.

SASSOON

So is my fortune.

SYLVIA

Just stay the hell away from me.

SASSOON

What love is this which scars the soul?

SYLVIA

What else can true love be?

SASSOON

Then let us be false.

SYLVIA

I don't love you.

SASSOON

Who said anything about love?

SYLVIA

I won't screw you.

SASSOON

I don't see why not.

SYLVIA

I don't want to.

SASSOON

(Shuffling through letters)

Then let this be your remedy.

SYLVIA

With stolen property?

SASSOON

Addressed to me, you see.

SYLVIA

Blind you must be.

SASSOON

It may be worse than I once believed.

SYLVIA

I don't see what you don't see.

SASSOON

That there says Sassoon, you see.

SYLVIA

I see.

SASSOON

Am I not he?

SYLVIA

Who?

SASSOON

Sassoon.

SYLVIA

So I believe.

SASSOON

Then so is me.

SYLVIA

Not at all.

SASSOON

Then who?

SYLVIA

A man you could never be.

SASSOON

A fantasy?

SYLVIA

Not you, clearly.

SASSOON

Maybe you're wrong.

SYLVIA

Evidence is all I need.

SASSOON

If the judge would accept any.

SYLVIA

Long passed verdit.

SASSOON

Something about double jeopardy.

SYLVIA

More of an appeal dismissed.

SASSOON

It's been so long.

SYLVIA

Not long enough.

SASSOON

Is that what you told him?

SYLVIA

Insecurity suits you.

SASSOON

You and me both.

SYLVIA

If that were true I'd lie here with you.

SASSOON

I don't mind a lie.

SYLVIA

Ted made an honest woman out of me.

SASSOON

If not me, then who?

SYLVIA

My own best company.

SASSOON

No one will come for you.

SYLVIA

Much ado about nothing.

SASSOON

Where have I heard that one before?

SYLVIA

A fantasy.

SASSOON

What's so wrong with make believe?

SYLVIA

It can't be true.

SASSOON

It must be.

SYLVIA

How's that?

SASSOON

All we do is true.

SYLVIA

Rather easy for you.

SASSOON

Why else keep on?

SYLVIA

What else?

SASSOON

You don't want to.

SYLVIA

Who does?

SASSOON

Most.

SYLVIA

Like you?

SASSOON

I do.

SYLVIA

What for?

SASSOON

I'm someone too.

SYLVIA

Fooled me.

SASSOON

Looks can be decieving

SYLVIA

Wouldn't know.

SASSOON

Never did.

SYLVIA

What's so wrong with a little doubt?

SASSOON

You don't doubt a thing.

SYLVIA

I doubt that.

SASSOON

Why's that?

SYLVIA

It's not right.

SASSOON

What is?

SYLVIA

Relative and all that.

SASSOON

Your words, not mine.

SYLVIA

Some things just are.

SASSOON

For me, maybe. But what about you?

SYLVIA

I think you should go.

SASSOON

A kiss and I will.

SYLVIA

And Ted?

SASSOON

Assia won't tell.

SYLVIA

That won't work.

SASSOON

Has before.

SYLVIA

Not again.

SASSOON

Only one way to find out for sure.

Sassoon extinguishes his cigarette, steps towards Sylvia.

Sylvia steps back.

SYLVIA

You had your chance.

SASSOON

I guess I must have forgotten.

Sylvia bumps her back against the wall.

Sassoon cradles her cheek, a soft caress.

A stolen kiss.

A crash. Broken glass. Sylvia pushes Sassoon back.

SYLVIA

Get out.

SASSOON

Why?

SYLVIA

I'll scream.

SASSOON

I'd like that.

SYLVIA

I'll bite.

SASSOON

I'd like that too

SYLVIA

I'll go.

SASSOON

I'll follow.

SYLVIA

You can't.

SASSOON

Since when?

SYLVIA

Since the creation of the heavens and the earth.

SASSOON

Surely you don't think all that is true.

SYLVIA

But you do.

SASSOON

Is that a threat?

SYLVIA

What else?

SASSOON

Then go.

SYLVIA

And who will be to blame?

SASSOON

Not I.

SYLVIA

Who else?

SASSOON

The list is long, I assure you.

SYLVIA

And you the first.

SASSOON

Who's you to me?

SYLVIA

Some letters will light the way.

SASSOON

A fire will too.

SYLVIA

Ted saw them.

SASSOON

Hersay.

SYLVIA

And made copies too.

SASSOON

You're bluffing.

SYLVIA

Why else abandon me in my time of need?

Sassoon smirks deftly, defeated, walks back to the table, sits, lights a cigarette.

SASSOON

You always did know how to screw.

SYLVIA

Better me than you.

SASSOON

I'll miss it though. Won't you?

SYLVIA

No.

SASSOON

Little fast on the draw.

SYLVIA

I know what I know.

SASSOON

But not what you don't.

SYLVIA

You don't believe me.

SASSOON

I don't see why I should.

SYLVIA

I do.

SASSOON

The two greatest words in the human language.

Sylvia grabs a knife, holds it to her throat.

SYLVIA

I've a few for you.

SASSOON

I'd like to hear some too.

Sylvia draws blood.

Sassoon sighs, extinguishes his cigarette.

A long pause.

Sassoon exits.

INT. SCENE 3

Sylvia comes to, sitting at the table.

Across from her sits her father, OTTO.

OTTO

Daddy's here.

SYLVIA

And gone away.

OTTO

Was I so very awful?

SYLVIA

Only every day.

OTTO

In death, you mean?

SYLVIA

You left me all alone.

OTTO

With your mother, too?

SYLVIA

You didn't have to.

OTTO

To be is not to have.

SYLVIA

That's all it is.

OTTO

I should go.

SYLVIA

Don't.

OTTO

This isn't a game.

SYLVIA

I know.

OTTO

Then why do I feel like I'm losing?

SYLVIA

It used to be just us.

OTTO

In a way.

SYLVIA

I used to be okay.

OTTO

And then?

SYLVIA

I coulda been anything.

OTTO

But you're not.

SYLVIA

You don't like it.

OTTO

What?

SYLVIA

My work.

OTTO

Daddy, you mean? The great Nazi.

SYLVIA

You left me all alone.

OTTO

What good will come of blame?

SYLVIA

If not for you, then who?

OTTO

Do you ever wonder who I am to you?

SYLVIA

You're Daddy.

OTTO

As I am you, you are me.

SYLVIA

We are who we are.

OTTO

Still you paw at your mothers feet.

SYLVIA

What good will come of shame?

OTTO

More than this.

SYLVIA

I can do without.

OTTO

Can they?

SYLVIA

Why not?

OTTO

Then cut her off.

SYLVIA

I'm trying.

OTTO

You're failing.

SYLVIA

I'll write.

OTTO

Like before?

SYLVIA

Practice.

OTTO

A penny's worth.

SYLVIA

Just time.

OTTO

Two kids worth.

SYLVIA

What's it matter?

OTTO

What of them?

SYLVIA

Who?

OTTO

Your kids.

SYLVIA

What of them?

OTTO

Prodigies?

SYLVIA

Could be.

OTTO

Shame.

DSYLVIA

How's that?

OTTO

Look at you.

SYLVIA

Hardly.

OTTO

Shelly was 17.

SYLVIA

Ted's no Byron.

OTTO

Dickens was 25.

SYLVIA

I'm taking my time.

OTTO

Out of time.

SYLVIA

There's always time.

OTTO

Time is a tale told by an idiot.

SYLVIA

My sound and your fury.

OTTO

Give me a reason.

SYLVIA

I didn't think I'd ever see you again.

OTTO

Why would you?

SYLVIA

Too good to me.

OTTO

Or you to me.

SYLVIA

Guess you weren't all you lived up to be.

OTTO

They'll hate you.

SYLVIA

Like they do already?

OTTO

And the more.

SYLVIA

What do you care?

OTTO

Just like you.

SYLVIA

What's so wrong with that?

OTTO

You tell me.

SYLVIA

They're nothing like me.

OTTO

Not yet.

SYLVIA

They never will be.

OTTO

What makes you so sure?

SYLVIA

They have Daddy.

OTTO

Do they?

SYLVIA

He'll be back.

OTTO

What for?

SYLVIA

Father's tend to do that.

OTTO

What of mothers?

SYLVIA

I know what I am.

OTTO

Don't be so sure.

SYLVIA

What should I be?

OTTO

It's not my fault.

SYLVIA

What?

OTTO

This life of yours.

SYLVIA

I was just a kid.

OTTO

But you're not anymore.

SYLVIA

I can't just forget.

OTTO

Why not?

SYLVIA

That's not how it works.

OTTO

21 years worth.

SYLVIA

It's not a question of time.

OTTO

What then?

SYLVIA

Why can't I just be who I am?

OTTO

Hardly a chance.

SYLVIA

When was I ever?

OTTO

Still time.

SYLVIA

Like Assia?

OTTO

Rather end up like her?

SYLVIA

Not much of a choice.

OTTO

What else?

SYLVIA

You don't know what it's like.

OTTO

Just each and every day of my life.

SYLVIA

Not like me.

OTTO

How's that?

SYLVIA

Breathing still.

OTTO

And so was I at your age too.

SYLVIA

A life of luxury.

OTTO

It's not your choice to make.

SYLVIA

All the same in the end.

OTTO

This is all there is.

SYLVIA

That's all I want.

OTTO

To quit?

SYLVIA

Suffocating.

OTTO

Yourself.

SYLVIA

You only see what you want to see.

OTTO

I only see what you let me.

SYLVIA

What's that?

OTTO

Terror.

SYLVIA

I'd rather.

OTTO

What then?

SYLVIA

Nothing.

OTTO

Dissapointing.

SYLVIA

What else?

OTTO

Pity.

SYLVIA

Who?

OTTO

Me.

SYLVIA

Why?

OTTO

You take ignorance for bliss.

SYLVIA

I'll just pretend.

OTTO

To what end?

SYLVIA

Easier that way.

OTTO

Life wasn't meant to be easy.

SYLVIA

I tried.

OTTO

Try again.

SYLVIA

I'm tired.

OTTO

You can't just give in.

SYLVIA

Why not?

OTTO

What will they think?

SYLVIA

I don't care what they think.

OTTO

I do.

SYLVIA

Good for you.

OTTO

And ruin me.

SYLVIA

You did so yourself a long time ago since.

OTTO

There's such a thing as legacy.

SYLVIA

What's in a memory?

OTTO

You and me.

SYLVIA

Not so bad.

OTTO

Not yet.

SYLVIA

But soon?

OTTO

Not too long now.

SYLVIA

Did I ever tell you about the glass?

OTTO

Why would you?

SYLVIA

There's a sort of funny thing about it.

OTTO

What's that?

SYLVIA

You can't see it.

OTTO

What's there to see?

SYLVIA

I used to think nothing.

OTTO

Then come off it.

SYLVIA

Do you recall the age of innocence?

OTTO

19, you mean?

SYLVIA

A virgin suicide.

OTTO

After my time.

SYLVIA

That's when I saw it.

OTTO

What?

SYLVIA

The glass.

OTTO

What of it?

SYLVIA

I learned a thing or two.

OTTO

Like what?

SYLVIA

Fate won't wait for you.

OTTO

What fate is this?

SYLVIA

Have you ever seen a bug in a jar?

OTTO

You're a coward.

SYLVIA

What's so wrong with that?

OTTO

You'll ruin them.

SYLVIA

So did you.

OTTO

I'm not you.

SYLVIA

Rather be?

OTTO

Who'd want to be?

SYLVIA

No one but you.

OTTO

What good would it do?

SYLVIA

You were always so proud of you.

OTTO

But not you?

SYLVIA

Are you?

OTTO

Give me a reason.

SYLVIA

What's it worth?

OTTO

What is worth wanting?

SYLVIA

Nothing.

OTTO

Why?

SYLVIA

It hurts.

OTTO

Birth is pain.

SYLVIA

Death is not.

OTTO

Don't be so sure.

SYLVIA

Is that a threat?

OTTO

It's a fact.

SYLVIA

For a moment, maybe.

OTTO

For all eternity.

SYLVIA

Two in the bush sort of thing.

OTTO

They'll forget.

SYLVIA

As they should.

OTTO

The end of a legacy.

SYLVIA

Rather nothing.

OTTO

There's such a thing as shame.

SYLVIA

I'll turn in my grave.

OTTO

Is that all I'm worth?

SYLVIA

Who's fault is that?

OTTO

Hardly fits the crime.

SYLVIA

Call it leniency.

OTTO

Just my mortality.

SYLVIA

You'll always be daddy.

OTTO

To you, maybe.

SYLVIA

Who else?

OTTO

There's more to life than you.

SYLVIA

Like you?

OTTO

Wasted talent.

SYLVIA

A talent only a father could love.

OTTO

Takes time.

SYLVIA

I'm tired of being tired.

OTTO

Then rest.

SYLVIA

I tried that already.

OTTO

They won't forget.

SYLVIA

You said they would.

OTTO

You, yes.

SYLVIA

Then what?

OTTO

This.

SYLVIA

I'd rather they did.

OTTO

Rather rarely matters.

SYLVIA

Is it so much to be wanted?

OTTO

Be worth wanting.

SYLVIA

My mistake.

OTTO

Live.

SYLVIA

And die just the same?

OTTO

Just not today.

SYLVIA

That's all?

OTTO

What else?

SYLVIA

Guess I'm not so sure.

OTTO

Well I am.

SYLVIA

And?

OTTO

I'll try not to turn in my grave.

SYLVIA

How kind.

OTTO

Rather worse?

SYLVIA

Sometimes.

OTTO

That can be arranged

SYLVIA

Alright then.

OTTO

Just give me the day.

SYLVIA

Why?

OTTO

Pride and all that.

SYLVIA

It's not so easy.

OTTO

Can be.

SYLVIA

Could it?

OTTO

All for a day.

SYLVIA

Just a day?

OTTO

All I need.

SYLVIA

Why?

OTTO

Call it curiosity.

SYLVIA

Just wait and see.

INT. SCENE 4

SYLVIA

What do you want?

Assia smiles bitterly.

ASSIA

What do you care?

SYLVIA

Something about screwing the wrong man.

ASSIA

Yours or mine?

SYLVIA

What's the difference?

ASSIA

Something about great minds.

SYLVIA

You're thinking of the woodchipper too I see.

ASSIA

Is that a threat?

SYLVIA

Rather it be?

ASSIA

Violence begets violence.

SYLVIA

What good it won't do you it might do me.

ASSIA

I'm sure Ted would see to it.

SYLVIA

Not all it turned out to be?

ASSIA

A long forgotten honeymoon.

SYLVIA

Soon to be engaged?

ASSIA

Soon to be divorced.

SYLVIA

You, or me?

ASSIA

Or both, maybe.

SYLVIA

And Satan too.

ASSIA

Is that all I am to you?

SYLVIA

And everyone else too.

ASSIA

We're really not all that different, you know.

SYLVIA

I know.

ASSIA

But I've seen my demons.

SYLVIA

And taken mine too.

ASSIA

Thanks should be in order.

SYLVIA

For me, or you?

ASSIA

How about both?

SYLVIA

All hail Satan.

ASSIA

Why am I to blame for his mistake?

SYLVIA

What else?

ASSIA

If not me, someone else.

SYLVIA

A victim, then?

ASSIA

A lucky break.

SYLVIA

Who's luck?

ASSIA

Yours and mine.

SYLVIA

Good luck, I mean.

ASSIA

As do I.

SYLVIA

Meaning?

ASSIA

The fog, lifted.

SYLVIA

And what is there to see?

ASSIA

All he is.

SYLVIA

Or what you've made him be?

ASSIA

Me, or you?

SYLVIA

Who'd I be to do a thing like that?

ASSIA

Something about a self fulfilling prophecy.

SYLVIA

I gave him all I had and all I could.

ASSIA

Don't forget your jealousy.

SYLVIA

If that's not love, what is?

ASSIA

He'd always do what he did.

SYLVIA

Then why should he be to blame?

ASSIA

You get what you expect out of life.

SYLVIA

Careful what you wish for and all that.

ASSIA

Something like that.

SYLVIA

Do you know what I'd wish for?

ASSIA

Something to do with Marie Antoinette.

SYLVIA

Do you hear the people sing?

ASSIA

They hate me, you know.

SYLVIA

The world can be so cruel to those with everything.

ASSIA

I used to be like you.

SYLVIA

As the sun was the moon.

ASSIA

Something worth something.

SYLVIA

An hourly rate, I'm sure.

ASSIA

Now all they see is you.

SYLVIA

What else is there to see?

ASSIA

The thief who robbed the grave.

SYLVIA

Wait for me, won't you?

ASSIA

The one who should have passed away.

The click of the stove. Sylvia turns. Assia grabs her hands.

SYLVIA

I think you should go.

Assia shrugs.

ASSIA

No matter.

SYLVIA

Many more, I assure you.

ASSIA

For me, or you?

SYLVIA

For both.

ASSIA

Why?

SYLVIA

What else?

ASSIA

You don't really believe all that, do you?

SYLVIA

Believe what?

ASSIA

All that about a cure.

SYLVIA

You mean the looney bin?

ASSIA

What else?

SYLVIA

Why not?

ASSIA

Just for the obvious reasons, mostly.

SYLVIA

I'm here, aren't I?

ASSIA

For now.

SYLVIA

And still.

ASSIA

How long?

SYLVIA

Till?

ASSIA

We do it all over again.

SYLVIA

Whenever we must.

ASSIA

According to who?

SYLVIA

Those who should.

ASSIA

Are you sure?

SYLVIA

Who else would want a thing like that?

ASSIA

Is that a threat?

SYLVIA

Motive and the like.

ASSIA

He doesn't know.

SYLVIA

Who?

ASSIA

Ted.

SYLVIA

There's nothing to know.

ASSIA

Except a scar upon your head.

Sylvia paws at her forhead.

SYLVIA

What good would it do?

ASSIA

More now than ever.

SYLVIA

I wish that were true

ASSIA

That brand keep us proper.

Assia pulls back her hair: a matching scar.

Lightning strikes. Thunder roars. Shutters thrown open.

Sylvia stands, closes the shutters.

SYLVIA

We do what we have to.

ASSIA

What does it matter?

SYLVIA

I could be wrong.

ASSIA

All we are.

SYLVIA

Not again.

ASSIA

So is life.

SYLVIA

How can they do what they did to you?

ASSIA

Upon the temple here and here and then

SYLVIA

That's not what I meant.

ASSIA

Just what you said.

SYLVIA

A freudian slip.

ASSIA

In so many words.

SYLVIA

What did you do?

ASSIA

Why do men do any of the things they do?

SYLVIA

With reason, I assure you.

ASSIA

They have their reasons.

SYLVIA

You were lost.

ASSIA

Easier that way.

SYLVIA

What way?

ASSIA

To believe.

SYLVIA

What else?

ASSIA

All else.

SYLVIA

Then why am I stuck here with you?

ASSIA

Safety in numbers sort of thing.

SYLVIA

Better safe than sorry.

ASSIA

What good will it do?

SYLVIA

Ignorance and bliss and all that.

ASSIA

More or less.

SYLVIA

What bliss is this?

ASSIA

More than none.

SYLVIA

How do you know?

A knock at the door. Sylvia jumps.

ASSIA

I hope you don't mind.

SYLVIA

That's all I do.

Assia steps out of the room, a door opens, closes.

ASSIA

Do you have the time?

SYLVIA

Do you?

ASSIA

Now more than ever.

Assia steps back into the room with a box.

Assia sighs, sits, and opens the box.

Assaia withdraws a copy of Falcon Yard from the box.

SYLVIA

Funny.

ASSIA

What's it to you?

SYLVIA

Call it curiosity.

ASSIA

Harrowing to pussy cat's like you.

SYLVIA

Guess it has something to do with the kettle being black.

ASSIA

Did you like it?

SYLVIA

What?

ASSIA

The book.

SYLVIA

What book?

ASSIA

His book.

SYLVIA

It's good.

ASSIA

I wonder why.

SYLVIA

What's to wonder?

ASSIA

Why it's good.

SYLVIA

Because it is.

ASSIA

Like nothing else.

SYLVIA

Call it luck.

ASSIA

I had a different lady in mind.

SYLVIA

Why would I?

ASSIA

Something to do with that thing between his legs.

SYLVIA

His brain?

ASSIA

They call the prick a poet, you know.

SYLVIA

I've heard worse.

ASSIA

And you?

SYLVIA

In time.

ASSIA

Easier that way.

SYLVIA

What way?

ASSIA

Forgotten.

SYLVIA

They'll miss me when I'm gone.

ASSIA

What for?

SYLVIA

Death and taxes and all that.

ASSIA

And if they don't?

SYLVIA

They will.

ASSIA

But if you're wrong?

SYLVIA

I'm not.

ASSIA

Suppose you were?

SYLVIA

What do you care?

ASSIA

My life may just depend upon it.

SYLVIA

Throw a dog a bone, why don't you?

ASSIA

You'll break him, you know.

SYLVIA

Some things are better broken.

Assia withdraws a rope, tightens a noose.

ASSIA

Like me, or you?

Assia stands upon a chair, tosses the rope over scaffolding, and tightens the noose.

Assia puts her head through.

SYLVIA

Don't be a fool.

Assia smiles sadly.

ASSIA

Why not?

Sylvia hesitates.

Assia shakes her head.

Assia's hands are caked in blood.

Assia smiles, steps off the table.

A loud crack. The song Unchained Melody plays.

The crash of waves.

INT. SCENE 5

TED

Now don't start with me now.

SYLVIA

Get out.

TED

To talk like that to your better half.

SYLVIA

Better to have loved and lost and all that.

TED

Nothing lost.

SYLVIA

Something gained.

TED

Assia, perhaps.

SYLVIA

Don't give the cattle a name.

TED

I miss this.

SYLVIA

Thinking?

TED

Now don't be cruel.

SYLVIA

That's just you.

TED

I know it may seem unfair.

SYLVIA

I'm not at all concerned with what it may seem.

TED

What penance must I pay?

SYLVIA

Everything.

TED

You're no fun.

SYLVIA

What is?

TED

More than you think.

SYLVIA

What do you want?

TED

I want for nothing.

SYLVIA

Then go.

TED

Where?

SYLVIA

Anywhere.

TED

Here will do.

SYLVIA

Except here.

TED

It's not just you, you know.

SYLVIA

You made your choice.

TED

Under a spell cruelly cast.

SYLVIA

Easy on the likes of you.

TED

Primal urges and all that.

SYLVIA

Who's to blame?

TED

The world, maybe.

SYLVIA

And the boogeyman too.

TED

You do.

SYLVIA

Is that what you think?

TED

He who casts the first stone and the lot.

SYLVIA

You stepped out on me.

TED

For you couldn't on me.

SYLVIA

A loyal member of the thought police.

TED

Your referral was well compensated, I hope.

SYLVIA

Some call it faith.

TED

You never did trust me all that much.

SYLVIA

What good did it do?

TED

Something about a self-fulfilling prophecy.

SYLVIA

You and your astrology.

TED

For the best, I spose.

SYLVIA

What about you?

TED

I'll make do.

SYLVIA

Not with me.

TED

How kind of you.

SYLVIA

Does she know?

TED

A lot of things.

SYLVIA

That you're broke?

TED

What's money to a poet?

SYLVIA

You'll have to work for a living.

TED

I work.

SYLVIA

Work that pays.

TED

I'll make do.

SYLVIA

Or will she for you?

TED

You did.

SYLVIA

Had to.

TED

What for?

SYLVIA

Something about motherhood.

TED

Remember the first time we met?

SYLVIA

I'd rather forget.

TED

You bit my cheek.

SYLVIA

You didn't stop me.

TED

What happened?

SYLVIA

I grew up.

TED

What for?

SYLVIA

What else?

TED

What good did it do?

SYLVIA

More me than you.

TED

Why must you mock a thing as sacred as destiny?

SYLVIA

Why ever do anything?

TED

All will be as it should be.

SYLVIA

The world just happens for you.

TED

And all with patience still.

SYLVIA

For what?

TED

For life.

SYLVIA

For death.

TED

You must let go of that pride of yours.

SYLVIA

What pride?

TED

To think that death will make any difference.

SYLVIA

For me it just might.

TED

Not much.

SYLVIA

Enough.

TED

When is enough, enough.

SYLVIA

When it all comes to an end.

TED

And if you fail?

SYLVIA

All the same.

TED

I once believed that too.

SYLVIA

Then let me go.

TED

I was never all that good at that, you know.

SYLVIA

Now's your chance.

TED

Rather death?

SYLVIA

Wanna try?

TED

The stars aren't quite so aligned.

SYLVIA

But soon, I assume.

TED

Who's to say what tomorrow will bring?

SYLVIA

Why not today?

TED

That's your problem.

SYLVIA

Trying?

TED

What can't be done.

SYLVIA

To make my own life?

TED

To barter with fate.

SYLVIA

What does fate have in store for me?

TED

A cure.

SYLVIA

A lobotomy?

TED

Don't be a fool.

SYLVIA

What else is there to be?

TED

A question fit for the stars.

SYLVIA

And if that is what they decree?

TED

Then so is our destiny.

SYLVIA

Is that what you want?

TED

What would you rather I do?

SYLVIA

Leave me alone.

TED

Why?

SYLVIA

They'll ruin me.

TED

What good would it do?

SYLVIA

Something about a woman and her place.

TED

Do I see an oscar in your future?

SYLVIA

I believe Freeman is the name.

TED

What can you do?

SYLVIA

Nothing.

TED

Then why bother still?

SYLVIA

Because you can.

TED

You can't live like this.

SYLVIA

I'm well aware.

TED

I just want what's best.

SYLVIA

For who?

TED

For you.

SYLVIA

Or you?

TED

Why not both?

SYLVIA

Five aces and all that.

TED

What's a cheat to a fool like you and me.

SYLVIA

May I show you?

TED

Again and again.

SYLVIA

Why go through all this?

TED

It's what we do.

SYLVIA

Who?

TED

Husbands.

SYLVIA

What does that have to do with you?

TED

More than you yet imagine.

SYLVIA

For now.

TED

Forever maybe too.

SYLVIA

Don't.

TED

I made a mistake.

SYLVIA

Stop.

TED

I love you.

SYLVIA

Funny way of showing it.

TED

With care, and tenderness too.

SYLVIA

If you love me, don't let me go.

TED

I thought it was the other way around.

SYLVIA

Thinking never looked good on hou.

TED

I'll go with you.

SYLVIA

Sort of a fire hose situation.

TED

I mean it.

SYLVIA

What for?

TED

Support.

SYLVIA

Like before?

TED

But more.

SYLVIA

You won't see what I see.

TED

Hiding something?

SYLVIA

Only everything.

TED

What for?

SYLVIA

Easier that way.

TED

But it works.

SYLVIA

At what cost?

TED

You tell me.

SYLVIA

Too much.

TED

What's a life worth?

SYLVIA

Much less than you may think.

TED

Not yours.

SYLVIA

To who?

TED

To me.

SYLVIA

Then why did you leave?

TED

You don't love me.

SYLVIA

I tried.

TED

But you don't.

SYLVIA

No.

TED

Did you ever?

SYLVIA

Can I stay?

TED

It's already been arranged.

SYLVIA

Then rearrange.

TED

Who would I be to let you stay?

SYLVIA

My love.

TED

I can't love you this way.

SYLVIA

You can't love me any way.

TED

If only that were true.

SYLVIA

Then do.

TED

It's not safe.

SYLVIA

For who?

TED

Freida. And Nicholous.

SYLVIA

I would never.

TED

Not like that.

SYLVIA

How else?

TED

Without love.

SYLVIA

I do.

TED

You don't.

SYLVIA

I tried.

TED

That's not enough.

SYLVIA

I want to.

TED

If you did, you would.

SYLVIA

It's not all that easy, you know.

TED

Is that what she told you?

SYLVIA

Who?

TED

Your mother.

SYLVIA

This isn't that.

TED

Worse.

SYLVIA

I'll get better.

TED

It's not a choice.

SYLVIA

You don't want me to.

TED

Hardly.

SYLVIA

Have your cake and eat it too.

TED

I'm not much for sweets.

SYLVIA

A woman's decadence.

TED

There you go again.

SYLVIA

You made a vow.

TED

So did you.

SYLVIA

She can't have them.

TED

A child needs a mother.

SYLVIA

I have just the one.

TED

Just in your absence.

SYLVIA

Forever then?

TED

Better safe.

SYLVIA

Better dead.

TED

What difference will it make?

SYLVIA

To you? A lot.

TED

Happiness, for once.

SYLVIA

A fraud, exposed.

TED

Like you?

SYLVIA

Is that what you call a ghost?

TED

I can't do this anymore.

SYLVIA

You're a hack.

TED

You and me both.

SYLVIA

Whatever gets you through the day.

TED

You're nothing without me.

SYLVIA

More than with you.

TED

I can tell.

SYLVIA

My knight and shining armor.

TED

It's a cheap sort of thing.

SYLVIA

So many things.

TED

Trading a marriage for a life.

SYLVIA

Rather stop breathing.

TED

By all means.

SYLVIA

You don't mean it.

TED

Try me.

SYLVIA

What do you call a thief without a robbery.

TED

Plenty still.

SYLVIA

Carbon copies.

TED

Pays the bills.

SYLVIA

For now.

TED

Until?

SYLVIA

I'm gone.

TED

Not for long.

SYLVIA

Still a dreamer?

TED

I never did like to dream.

SYLVIA

It shows.

TED

Do you?

SYLVIA

What else?

TED

Of what?

SYLVIA

A world without.

TED

What?

SYLVIA

You.

TED

What else?

SYLVIA

A lot.

TED

Like what.

SYLVIA

You'll see.

TED

Show me.

SYLVIA

I once heard a rumor that patience was a virtue.

TED

To hear without listening.

SYLVIA

There's no time like the present.

TED

You don't really believe all that?

SYLVIA

It's not a choice.

TED

All that is.

SYLVIA

To you, maybe.

TED

What makes me so special?

SYLVIA

That thing between your legs.

TED

Did you ever really believe all that?

SYLVIA

What else?

TED

You're no good.

SYLVIA

To who?

TED

Everyone but you.

SYLVIA

To what end?

TED

The only one.

SYLVIA

Mine, or yours?

TED

Let's start with yours.

SYLVIA

Begins and ends with you.

TED

I thought this was you.

SYLVIA

My end for you.

TED

Different from you?

SYLVIA

And everyone else too.

TED

How so?

SYLVIA

The life of a memory.

TED

Is that all I am to you?

SYLVIA

And me to you.

TED

That's not true.

SYLVIA

That's all that is.

TED

It's just a game to you.

SYLVIA

That's all life is.

TED

There's more to life than this.

SYLVIA

Like what?

TED

You're a masochist.

SYLVIA

If you can't beat em.

TED

Me too?

SYLVIA

You couldn't if you wanted to.

TED

But you do?

SYLVIA

Why not?

TED

Say it.

SYLVIA

Why?

TED

Indulgance of a thoughtless mind.

SYLVIA

Who gave you the right?

TED

No one but you.

SYLVIA

Then good riddance.

TED

Do it anyhow.

SYLVIA

Give me a reason.

TED

How about two?

SYLVIA

One will do.

TED

I'll go.

SYLVIA

Where?

TED

Anywhere.

SYLVIA

For good?

TED

As long as it takes.

SYLVIA

I don't see the point.

TED

None to see.

SYLVIA

You just want me to say it?

TED

That's all there is to it.

SYLVIA

Then you'll go?

TED

As fast as I came.

SYLVIA

Maybe not that fast.

TED

You're stalling.

SYLVIA

What else?

TED

You need me.

SYLVIA

Like a mountaineer needs an avalanche.

TED

Thrilling, though, isn't it?

SYLVIA

Rather dull.

TED

Then say it.

SYLVIA

Actions speak louder than words.

TED

I don't see any.

SYLVIA

I'm tired.

TED

Go to sleep.

SYLVIA

Let me.

TED

The floor is yours.

SYLVIA

I don't want to do this anymore.

TED

Why?

SYLVIA

It hurts.

TED

So is life.

SYLVIA

Not like this.

TED

Like Sisyphus.

SYLVIA

In a way.

TED

But you don't see it.

SYLVIA

Blinded by love.

TED

Or hate?

SYLVIA

Of you?

TED

Of you.

SYLVIA

What else is there to do?

TED

Accept the world for what it is.

SYLVIA

Which is?

TED

To live is to suffer.

SYLVIA

Why bother?

TED

That's the deal.

SYLVIA

With who?

TED

With every breathing moment.

SYLVIA

Well I guess I've changed my mind.

TED

It's not that easy.

SYLVIA

Watch me.

TED

Funny.

SYLVIA

Must have missed it.

TED

Your imagination.

SYLVIA

Got me in stitches.

TED

The myth of man.

SYLVIA

From birth you knew you would be king.

TED

We all have our part to play.

SYLVIA

And so it goes.

TED

You toy with fate.

SYLVIA

Who's to say what fate can be?

TED

Something, surely.

SYLVIA

Why not nothing?

TED

That's not how it goes.

SYLVIA

Goes where?

TED

Somewhere.

SYLVIA

But not nowhere?

TED

Never.

SYLVIA

Coercion, I suppose.

TED

You're impossible.

SYLVIA

So is love.

TED

To you, it seems.

SYLVIA

What good would it do?

TED

More than this.

SYLVIA

I'd rather not pretend.

TED

What's so wrong with a little happiness?

SYLVIA

I wouldn't know.

TED

Wanna try.

SYLVIA

What is this?

TED

What it always was.

SYLVIA

I don't want to be this way anymore.

TED

Then don't.

SYLVIA

I can't.

TED

You won't.

SYLVIA

I would if I could.

TED

But you can.

SYLVIA

Then why am I the way I am?

TED

What else is there for you to be?

SYLVIA

You tell me.

TED

All you are is misery.

SYLVIA

What else is there to be?

TED

For you? Nothing.

SYLVIA

Then so it must be.

TED

What's broken can be fixed.

SYLVIA

What of glass?

TED

Mosaics too.

SYLVIA

You forget one thing.

TED

What's that?

SYLVIA

They are more than just me and you.

TED

Then help me help you.

SYLVIA

Help is here to stay.

TED

In what way?

SYLVIA

Let me be who I am.

TED

And revel in misery?

SYLVIA

Why not?

TED

Life is more than the absence of agony.

SYLVIA

I'd be okay with that too.

TED

Who would you be?

SYLVIA

I'll always be me.

TED

Not without your misery.

SYLVIA

Who else can I be?

TED

Nobody.

SYLVIA

Then so it must be.

TED

You've made a home of misery.

SYLVIA

What else?

TED

Break free.

SYLVIA

To be who?

TED

You're not all you turned out to be.

SYLVIA

But Assia is?

TED

Assia would go.

SYLVIA

Assia's a whore.

TED

A happy whore.

SYLVIA

Is that what you want?

TED

For you to be happy.

SYLVIA

But not to be me?

TED

What's you without your misery?

SYLVIA

I'd rather be me.

TED

Won't be for long.

SYLVIA

Just all eternity.

TED

Of what?

SYLVIA

Anything but this.

TED

A bell jar, perhaps.

SYLVIA

No worse than this.

TED

Won't you break free?

SYLVIA

I am who I am.

TED

That's all I can't bear.

SYLVIA

Then why are you here?

TED

I guess I'm just a dreamer in the end.

SYLVIA

What's hope to you and me?

TED

Perhaps the world was once a place to be.

SYLVIA

For you, maybe.

Ted sighs.

TED

There's no point to this.

SYLVIA

And if there was?

TED

I don't know.

SYLVIA

Nothing but a lost cause.

TED

Not mine.

SYLVIA

Never was.

TED

So I left you all alone.

SYLVIA

To love is not to own.

TED

Would you believe me if I said I know?

SYLVIA

All I did was love you.

TED

Some love.

SYLVIA

Pardon the burden.

TED

I don't believe you know.

SYLVIA

Then why keep on?

TED

It's not a choice.

SYLVIA

It's every choice.

TED

I've never known you to quit.

SYLVIA

You never knew me at all.

TED

You never let me.

SYLVIA

I would if you'd try.

TED

Maybe I didn't try to your liking.

SYLVIA

At all would be something.

TED

Telepathy was never a skill of mine.

SYLVIA

Lovers can.

TED

That glass of yours got me going.

SYLVIA

Easier that way.

TED

I guess I just thought I could break free.

SYLVIA

Could you?

TED

What is love but a fool's errand?

SYLVIA

Lust in all but name.

Ted sighs.

TED

When I go, who will stay?

SYLVIA

What does it matter?

TED

I almost want to believe that's true.

SYLVIA

The truth is funny in that sort of way.

TED

Won't you try?

SYLVIA

Is that enough?

Ted straightens his tie, stands.

TED

What choice do you have?

Ted sighs, shakes his head, steps out the door.

INT. SCENE 6

Sylvia comes to, her mother, AURELIA, pouring a cup of tea.

SYLVIA

Mama?

AURELIA

Darling.

SYLVIA

What do you want?

AURELIA

Just you, my dear.

SYLVIA

Why?

AURELIA

What else could a mother ask for?

SYLVIA

Have you ever heard of a thing called irony?

AURELIA

Is it too much to love?

SYLVIA

It wouldn't be if you did.

AURELIA

And you, me.

SYLVIA

What did I ever do to you?

AURELIA

Nothing.

SYLVIA

Then why do you hate me?

AURELIA

I don't.

SYLVIA

You don't love me.

AURELIA

It must count for something for trying.

SYLVIA

All the worse.

AURELIA

They think me savage.

SYLVIA

As they should.

AURELIA

Because of you.

SYLVIA

What else can I do?

AURELIA

Only what you've done.

SYLVIA

Se la vie.

AURELIA

It matters a great deal to me.

SYLVIA

And me too.

AURELIA

Then why do you treat me the way you do?

SYLVIA

The student and the master and all that.

AURELIA

I'm nothing but good to you.

SYLVIA

Funny way of showing it.

AURELIA

I've always supported you.

SYLVIA

Money makes the world go round.

AURELIA

What else?

SYLVIA

What good would it do you?

AURELIA

More than you.

SYLVIA

If that's the way you'd rather it be.

AURELIA

Why bother with threats as hollow as burroughs?

SYLVIA

I don't need you.

AURELIA

Like a fish needs water.

SYLVIA

We'd get by.

AURELIA

On what?

SYLVIA

My work.

AURELIA

Work is that which pays.

SYLVIA

No thanks to you.

AURELIA

A little tough love never hurt anybody.

SYLVIA

That's all it does.

AURELIA

Then why love at all?

SYLVIA

What else?

AURELIA

Live.

SYLVIA

To what end?

AURELIA

Freida and Nicholous.

SYLVIA

Better this way.

AURELIA

Orphaned?

SYLVIA

May I be your precedent?

AURELIA

What love is this?

SYLVIA

To want what's best?

AURELIA

For them, or you?

SYLVIA

Why not both too?

AURELIA

You're confused.

SYLVIA

Should I be?

AURELIA

How do you know?

SYLVIA

I know what I feel.

AURELIA

What's that?

SYLVIA

Nothing.

AURELIA

Have you tried?

SYLVIA

What do you care?

AURELIA

Only as I should.

SYLVIA

You didn't much before.

AURELIA

I'm sorry I failed to grieve to your exact specifications.

SYLVIA

You didn't grieve at all.

AURELIA

I thought you were dead.

SYLVIA

I tried.

AURELIA

And failed, thank god.

SYLVIA

Satan thanks you for your pennance.

AURELIA

I'm not amused.

SYLVIA

Am I?

AURELIA

Seems to me.

Sylvia shrugs.

SYLVIA

Maybe.

AURELIA

Institutions are built for moments such as these.

SYLVIA

How would you know?

AURELIA

Because you're here.

SYLVIA

Fooled me.

AURELIA

A miracle.

SYLVIA

A curse.

AURELIA

You begged for death and were given life.

SYLVIA

I guess so.

AURELIA

Go pack your bags

SYLVIA

I can't.

AURELIA

You won't.

SYLVIA

Same difference.

AURELIA

Let's not waste what little time we have.

SYLVIA

Where'd it go?

AURELIA

You would know.

SYLVIA

Why's that?

AURELIA

Your abandonment.

SYLVIA

That long ago?

AURELIA

Not much more to go.

SYLVIA

I gave up a long time ago.

AURELIA

I don't much care for this.

SYLVIA

You stopped caring a long time ago.

AURELIA

That's all I ever did.

SYLVIA

And a crummy job at that.

AURELIA

It's not easy, you know, caring for someone like you.

SYLVIA

You've made that rather clear.

AURELIA

I did all I could.

SYLVIA

Too bad all you could wasn't all that much.

AURELIA

More than you.

SYLVIA

I love my kids.

AURELIA

The work of a servant.

SYLVIA

I love them like you never did me.

AURELIA

It shows.

SYLVIA

Like you would know.

AURELIA

Where are they?

SYLVIA

Asleep.

AURELIA

Still?

SYLVIA

So?

AURELIA

The sun also rises.

SYLVIA

They're tired.

AURELIA

Sylvia...

SYLVIA

It's true.

AURELIA

This isn't for them.

SYLVIA

Then who?

AURELIA

For you.

Sylvia scoffs.

AURELIA

You can't bear the thought of what you will do.

Sylvia shifts in her chair uncomfortably.

SYLVIA

It's not your choice to make.

AURELIA

Who said it was?

SYLVIA

You won't change a thing.

AURELIA

Who said I would?

SYLVIA

Then what?

AURELIA

Too late.

SYLVIA

I won't go.

AURELIA

Don't.

SYLVIA

I won't.

AURELIA

Okay.

A long pause.

SYLVIA

Do you know what they do?

AURELIA

Who?

SYLVIA

Those men.

AURELIA

What men?

SYLVIA

I'll give you a hint. It starts with MD.

AURELIA

Whatever they have to.

SYLVIA

We're just guinea pigs to them.

AURELIA

All we are to all that were.

SYLVIA

The work of mad men.

AURELIA

All for the cause.

SYLVIA

What cause?

AURELIA

Your life.

SYLVIA

Swindled, then.

AURELIA

A bargain at that.

SYLVIA

I don't see how.

AURELIA

And if you did?

SYLVIA

I might be convinced.

AURELIA

No logic or reason could stop you from this.

SYLVIA

What then?

AURELIA

Nothing.

SYLVIA

Then grab a rock and find a hill.

AURELIA

It hurts all the more.

SYLVIA

Well you won't have to worry any more.

AURELIA

It'll ruin you.

SYLVIA

That's the idea.

AURELIA

Not who you are.

SYLVIA

What else?

AURELIA

What they think of you.

SYLVIA

The dead don't often take to rumors.

AURELIA

The living do.

SYLVIA

Keep on keeping on.

AURELIA

What kind of a mother are you?

SYLVIA

One that loves with all she can.

AURELIA

They'll hate you for it.

SYLVIA

And if I don't, too.

AURELIA

How could they?

SYLVIA

I'll end up like you.

AURELIA

Something to do with a fish and the water.

SYLVIA

Rather out of water.

AURELIA

When you drained the bathtub.

SYLVIA

Out with the baby too.

AURELIA

Which one?

SYLVIA

Don't be morbid.

AURELIA

Is it so much to suggest a mother needs her child?

SYLVIA

I don't need anything.

AURELIA

Except this.

SYLVIA

For me, not them.

AURELIA

Why not?

SYLVIA

It's not my choice to make.

AURELIA

But this is?

SYLVIA

More than that.

AURELIA

Not enough.

SYLVIA

Do you think me mad?

AURELIA

What else?

SYLVIA

When the world's gone mad, what else can you be?

AURELIA

What you were always meant to be.

SYLVIA

Living lives of quiet desperation.

AURELIA

Just sick is all.

SYLVIA

Sick of you.

AURELIA

Leave, why don't you?

SYLVIA

Why don't you?

AURELIA

A mother's sacred duty.

SYLVIA

What is a mother without her daughter?

AURELIA

A daughter without her mother.

SYLVIA

Not all too much, considering.

AURELIA

Better off, maybe?

SYLVIA

Only in every way.

AURELIA

You're just like me.

SYLVIA

What else can I be?

AURELIA

It gets better.

SYLVIA

How can it?

AURELIA

It just does.

SYLVIA

Maybe not this time.

AURELIA

Only one way to find out for sure.

SYLVIA

I'd rather take my chances.

AURELIA

For who's benefit?

SYLVIA

The only one that matters.

AURELIA

You don't believe that.

SYLVIA

Why not?

AURELIA

You're better than this.

SYLVIA

No one is.

AURELIA

The world isn't all that.

SYLVIA

All there is is all we are.

AURELIA

All the more reason.

SYLVIA

Who knows me better?

AURELIA

Many more.

SYLVIA

Everything is not what it seems.

AURELIA

That's all life is.

SYLVIA

Does that make Ted the villain, or me?

AURELIA

Why did he leave?

SYLVIA

What does it matter?

AURELIA

We can not change what we do not know.

SYLVIA

Too little too late.

AURELIA

It's never too late for love.

SYLVIA

For you, maybe.

AURELIA

You always did what you wanted.

SYLVIA

What else is there to do?

AURELIA

It's wrong.

SYLVIA

Then it wouldn't be so easy.

AURELIA

That's the key to your misery.

SYLVIA

My happiness?

AURELIA

Your easiness.

SYLVIA

What's the difference?

AURELIA

The world isn't just some big joke, you know.

SYLVIA

Then why am I laughing?

AURELIA

You hardly ever.

SYLVIA

Me, or you?

AURELIA

I don't find your commitment quite so touching.

SYLVIA

What then?

AURELIA

Get better.

SYLVIA

Always better.

AURELIA

What's wrong with that?

SYLVIA

Only impossible.

AURELIA

What's wrong with trying?

SYLVIA

Rather death.

AURELIA

Fate is that which can not be escaped.

SYLVIA

Then why try in the first place?

AURELIA

Hell awaits.

SYLVIA

Here already.

AURELIA

Not like this.

SYLVIA

What do you know?

AURELIA

Only this.

SYLVIA

It shows.

AURELIA

Hardly damnation.

SYLVIA

For you, maybe.

AURELIA

What about this life is so very awful?

SYLVIA

Just every breathing moment.

AURELIA

Then don't breathe.

SYLVIA

I'm trying.

AURELIA

You've tried a lot of things darling.

SYLVIA

And?

AURELIA

You never were one for follow through.

SYLVIA

Like what?

AURELIA

Like Ted.

SYLVIA

Like Assia?

AURELIA

Proof of your betrayal.

SYLVIA

My betrayal?

AURELIA

Husbands hardly go hunting for harlets.

SYLVIA

That's just what they do.

AURELIA

You'd blame ghandi if you could.

SYLVIA

I think you will do.

AURELIA

What about you?

SYLVIA

What good would it do?

AURELIA

A whole lot by the looks of it.

SYLVIA

How I must disappoint.

AURELIA

Not at all.

SYLVIA

I never would've guessed.

AURELIA

I just wish you would let go, is all.

SYLVIA

Of what?

AURELIA

This incessant need to please.

SYLVIA

Anyone but you.

AURELIA

Anyone but you.

SYLVIA

I'm trying, aren't I?

AURELIA

Not enough.

SYLVIA

Pardon me for dreaming.

AURELIA

Thwarted by fantasy.

SYLVIA

Here's to the dreamers.

AURELIA

You just have to try.

SYLVIA

I did that already.

AURELIA

You don't believe me.

SYLVIA

Can you believe what cannot be?

AURELIA

Have you tried trying?

SYLVIA

What do you think?

AURELIA

Do you know why he left?

SYLVIA

I've a vague notion.

AURELIA

You're wrong.

SYLVIA

But not you?

AURELIA

You're miserable.

SYLVIA

What gave it away?

AURELIA

I didn't always think that way.

SYLVIA

Or did you not want to?

AURELIA

A dream, maybe.

SYLVIA

Yours, or mine?

AURELIA

It must be yours.

SYLVIA

Why's that?

AURELIA

What mother would wish this upon their child.

SYLVIA

I wonder that too.

AURELIA

I guess it's just easier this way.

SYLVIA

Fooled me.

AURELIA

Who's to blame but misery?

SYLVIA

A scape goat then.

AURELIA

We all have our troubles.

SYLVIA

But mine must be just make believe.

AURELIA

Why else resist?

SYLVIA

I'd rather avoid the misery of agony.

AURELIA

Because it works?

SYLVIA

Because it never has.

AURELIA

But it did.

SYLVIA

Then why do I feel the way I do?

AURELIA

You stopped trying.

SYLVIA

I tried that already.

AURELIA

To live is not to suffer.

SYLVIA

What of Buddah?

AURELIA

Life is good when you let it be.

SYLVIA

As simple as all that?

AURELIA

The gordian knot.

SYLVIA

Then cut the rope.

AURELIA

I can't do it for you.

SYLVIA

Well neither can I.

AURELIA

The world can't wait for you on bended knees.

SYLVIA

It did for you.

AURELIA

I worked for what I had.

SYLVIA

What did I do?

AURELIA

You sucked me dry.

SYLVIA

I'm sorry I wanted more out of life.

AURELIA

This life of yours was never meant for you.

SYLVIA

That's rather clear.

AURELIA

Selfish in all but name.

SYLVIA

What else is there to be?

AURELIA

To put us through all this.

SYLVIA

By us you mean you?

AURELIA

And them too.

SYLVIA

So it's not my life but it is my fault?

AURELIA

So is our currency.

SYLVIA

I didn't ask for this.

AURELIA

Just everyday.

SYLVIA

Then maybe it's time to try something new.

AURELIA

You tried that already.

SYLVIA

All the same.

AURELIA

For you, maybe.

SYLVIA

If I could be happy, I would.

AURELIA

I don't believe you.

SYLVIA

You don't have to.

AURELIA

You're all I have.

SYLVIA

Who's fault is that?

AURELIA

You were something else, you know that?

SYLVIA

That's the problem.

AURELIA

With your little books, and poems too. I just couldn't believe it could be true.

SYLVIA

But now?

AURELIA

Like nothing else.

SYLVIA

I'd give anything to be happy.

AURELIA

It's not what you give, it's what you won't.

SYLVIA

What's that?

AURELIA

Your live.

SYLVIA

Like you?

AURELIA

I did all I could.

SYLVIA

Look where that got us.

AURELIA

You wouldn't let me.

SYLVIA

How about now?

AURELIA

You hate me.

SYLVIA

I wish I could.

AURELIA

That's what you said.

SYLVIA

Misconstrued.

AURELIA

Not with you.

SYLVIA

Why not?

AURELIA

Because I know you.

SYLVIA

Couldn't tell.

AURELIA

How can I?

SYLVIA

How should I know?

AURELIA

I don't think you know how to love.

SYLVIA

What's the condition?

AURELIA

Your love.

SYLVIA

Worth less than nothing.

AURELIA

Don't be so sure.

SYLVIA

I've made it this far already.

AURELIA

Not all too far, considering.

SYLVIA

What's that?

AURELIA

What could have been.

SYLVIA

Things that are past, it is needless to blame.

AURELIA

If not for the past, where would we be?

SYLVIA

Better off, probably.

AURELIA

All we are is all we were.

SYLVIA

Then who was I?

AURELIA

Someone, I'm sure.

SYLVIA

But not anymore?

AURELIA

If it were up to you.

SYLVIA

I think it just might be.

AURELIA

You don't know what you do.

SYLVIA

But you do?

AURELIA

A mother always knows.

SYLVIA

Go on then.

AURELIA

Get better.

SYLVIA

And if I don't?

AURELIA

You'll never know if you don't try.

SYLVIA

You don't get it.

AURELIA

You won't let me.

SYLVIA

It's not as if I want to be this way.

AURELIA

Funny way of showing it.

SYLVIA

I just am the way I am because I am.

AURELIA

That Ted of yours is getting in your head.

SYLVIA

You said to love.

AURELIA

Then why did he leave?

SYLVIA

Because he couldn't stay.

AURELIA

Because you found what you couldn't give away.

SYLVIA

Love, myabe?

AURELIA

What else?

SYLVIA

Not enough.

AURELIA

What good did it do you?

SYLVIA

As much as mine did you.

AURELIA

I wouldn't know.

SYLVIA

I would?

AURELIA

You're lucky that way.

SYLVIA

Poor you.

AURELIA

No ones ever loved me the way they love you.

SYLVIA

All for what?

AURELIA

A waste, I'm sure.

SYLVIA

Then let us rid ourselves of this refuse.

AURELIA

And leave it all for naught?

SYLVIA

Something about shrodenger and his cat.

AURELIA

I'd rather take my chances.

SYLVIA

Then why don't you go in my stead?

AURELIA

What choice do I have, with my daughter dead?

SYLVIA

Pity.

AURELIA

If not for them, then me.

SYLVIA

A life for a life.

AURELIA

Only yours to give.

SYLVIA

But yours to take.

AURELIA

Rather I did?

SYLVIA

A long time ago since.

AURELIA

Life is never easy.

SYLVIA

Not for me.

AURELIA

But for me, maybe?

SYLVIA

Se la vie.

AURELIA

Life with you is never easy.

SYLVIA

Until today.

AURELIA

It's me you should blame.

SYLVIA

If you insist.

AURELIA

I'm the one who made you this way.

SYLVIA

I can't help but agree.

AURELIA

You want for nothing.

SYLVIA

Just happiness.

AURELIA

That's me, darling.

SYLVIA

I'd hardly consider this that.

AURELIA

Reconsider.

SYLVIA

What else?

AURELIA

All you've always wanted.

SYLVIA

What's that?

AURELIA

I'll leave.

SYLVIA

You never were all that good at that.

AURELIA

What mother is?

SYLVIA

I am.

AURELIA

You're not a mother, darling.

SYLVIA

I think my kids will see to it.

AURELIA

A mother would never do what you do.

SYLVIA

You didn't, and made me.

AURELIA

Rather nothing?

SYLVIA

If that's how it must be.

AURELIA

But it mustn't.

SYLVIA

I am who I am because you are who you are, and they will be me as I am you. What mother wants that?

AURELIA

None, I assure you.

SYLVIA

Then so it is settled.

AURELIA

Go on then.

SYLVIA

Pardon?

AURELIA

If this is how it must be, then so it must be.

SYLVIA

Agreed.

AURELIA

So do it.

SYLVIA

Do what?

AURELIA

Cut your throat.

Aurelia hands Sylvia a knife.

SYLVIA

I will.

Sylvia begins to shake.

AURELIA

Go on.

Sylvia trembles, screams, tosses the knife across the room.

AURELIA

I'll go pack your bags.

Aurelia kisses Sylvia on the cheek and steps out of the room

INT. SCENE 7

Sylvia gasps, clutches her throat, sighs with relief.

Sylvia looks in a mirror, fixes her hair, another lurks behind her.

Sylvia jumps, turns.

OTHER, a younger Sylvia, stands before her.

OTHER

You're afraid.

SYLVIA

Should I be?

OTHER

You tell me.

SYLVIA

I can't help but think I should be.

OTHER

I think therefore I am. Isn't that how it goes?

SYLVIA

Something like that.

OTHER

Help is on the way.

SYLVIA

Gone already.

OTHER

Here and now before you.

SYLVIA

Like before?

OTHER

But better.

SYLVIA

Grow wings and lay an egg.

OTHER

Two's enough for me.

SYLVIA

Too many, maybe.

OTHER

That's a cheap sort of thing.

SYLVIA

Rather poor.

OTHER

To blame this on them.

SYLVIA

And everyone else too.

OTHER

No matter now.

SYLVIA

Now and forever still.

OTHER

Forever and ever passed away already.

SYLVIA

What about the one who sings?

OTHER

May Hermes lend you his lyre.

SYLVIA

It wasn't he who stole my cattle.

OTHER

Forgiveness may be your remedy.

SYLVIA

That's how they do it.

OTHER

Who?

SYLVIA

The drunks.

OTHER

Forgiveness?

SYLVIA

Sobreity.

OTHER

More to do with abstinance.

SYLVIA

Shall I abstain?

OTHER

When tomorrow comes.

SYLVIA

It never will.

OTHER

But this one always will.

SYLVIA

Just not today.

OTHER

A mind changed?

SYLVIA

Not quite made up just yet.

OTHER

Worked before.

SYLVIA

A long time ago since.

OTHER

A shame.

SYLVIA

What's that?

OTHER

Too late.

SYLVIA

Not yet.

OTHER

You didn't draw a match.

SYLVIA

There's still time.

OTHER

You're a coward.

SYLVIA

Hardly noticed.

OTHER

Afraid to live.

SYLVIA

More to die.

OTHER

Too little too late

SYLVIA

Let me be of some remedy.

Sylvia approaches the stove, grabs the knob.

The knob melts in her hand.

OTHER

Why don't you stop me?

SYLVIA

I'm trying.

OTHER

What's worth a try?

SYLVIA

Call it human nature.

OTHER

To die, maybe.

SYLVIA

To wonder what if.

OTHER

Curiosity didn't kill the cat.

SYLVIA

What then?

OTHER

Ignorance.

SYLVIA

Of what?

OTHER

You're cowardice.

SYLVIA

A good thing to have at a time like this.

OTHER

Rather I was?

SYLVIA

Wouldn't hurt.

OTHER

Look how that turned out.

SYLVIA

It all worked out in the end.

OTHER

A husband gone, and orphans too.

SYLVIA

Better broken than lost.

OTHER

Were you?

SYLVIA

Better than none.

OTHER

What else is love?

SYLVIA

I gave them all I had to give.

OTHER

Pathetic sort of give.

SYLVIA

They know I love them.

OTHER

Then why leave them?

SYLVIA

Better now than forever still.

OTHER

All the worse.

SYLVIA

I don't see how.

OTHER

Now your burden is theirs to bear.

SYLVIA

I'm tired.

OTHER

You're always tired.

SYLVIA

So I'll sleep.

OTHER

Eternity may do you some good.

SYLVIA

It will only hurt all the more.

OTHER

What pain is there in death?

SYLVIA

What comes before.

OTHER

What for?

SYLVIA

Happiness and the like.

OTHER

You don't know how to be happy.

SYLVIA

Would I be if I did?

OTHER

You want to be like them.

SYLVIA

Who doesn't?

OTHER

But you can't.

SYLVIA

Not yet.

OTHER

You won't feel a thing.

SYLVIA

Rather I did.

OTHER

May I be of some remedy?

SYLVIA

For a moment, only.

OTHER

Better than never.

SYLVIA

For once I'll be like everyone else.

OTHER

What for?

SYLVIA

It might be nice.

OTHER

What toll do the dimwitted pay the nice?

SYLVIA

No one need know but me.

OTHER

A lobotomy may be of some remedy.

SYLVIA

Better delusional than dead.

OTHER

Might as well be the shire.

SYLVIA

What's wrong with a dream?

OTHER

You don't wake up.

SYLVIA

Why bother?

OTHER

It's not for you I bother.

SYLVIA

Then who?

OTHER

All of them.

SYLVIA

Grateful, I'm sure.

OTHER

More than you think.

SYLVIA

What of poetry?

OTHER

Like crime.

SYLVIA

How so?

OTHER

Doesn't pay.

SYLVIA

Us, maybe.

OTHER

Who else?

SYLVIA

Those who prey.

OTHER

To who?

SYLVIA

On us.

OTHER

Glory be the king.

SYLVIA

As the meek shall inherit the earth.

OTHER

What's to change?

SYLVIA

A remarkable thing.

OTHER

Hope is just misery forgotten.

SYLVIA

Then let us forget.

OTHER

What do you get out of all this?

SYLVIA

I go on living.

OTHER

In misery.

SYLVIA

Death has no solace.

OTHER

But asylum will?

SYLVIA

As much as anything else.

OTHER

Or worse.

SYLVIA

Then flee.

OTHER

And the kids?

SYLVIA

Better than this.

OTHER

For who?

SYLVIA

For them, and us too.

OTHER

We'd know.

SYLVIA

But in death?

OTHER

Who would?

SYLVIA

They will.

OTHER

To want what is needed is to persist in a fool's paradise.

SYLVIA

What do they need?

OTHER

A life without you and me.

SYLVIA

Love and loss and all that.

OTHER

Something like that.

SYLVIA

I can't help but disagree.

OTHER

If not now, then when?

SYLVIA

Later.

OTHER

When they're older. When they'll remember.

SYLVIA

Who can forget a thing like this?

OTHER

You can not forget what you do not remember.

SYLVIA

One day, they'll know.

OTHER

So they must.

SYLVIA

By who's hand?

OTHER

Whoever must.

SYLVIA

Rather cruel.

OTHER

There are things worse than death.

SYLVIA

Like what?

OTHER

Life, for one.

SYLVIA

I'm not so sure they'll see it that way.

OTHER

What they see is of no concern to me.

SYLVIA

Just rather selfish, don't you think?

OTHER

I've lived my life for them.

SYLVIA

And death for you.

OTHER

They won't miss me when I'm gone.

SYLVIA

Why not?

OTHER

They'd have to start.

SYLVIA

Who can miss what they have?

OTHER

Only what could have been.

SYLVIA

What could have been?

OTHER

To them, anything.

SYLVIA

To us?

OTHER

Nothing.

SYLVIA

Se la vie.

OTHER

They made their bed.

SYLVIA

Then let us lie with them.

OTHER

A lie is all they have to give.

SYLVIA

They don't know what they do.

OTHER

Or maybe they do.

SYLVIA

They just want to help.

OTHER

Themselves, maybe.

SYLVIA

What are we to them?

OTHER

A silver screen.

SYLVIA

No one's as cruel as all that.

OTHER

Think again.

SYLVIA

They love me.

OTHER

Assia too?

SYLVIA

She played her part.

OTHER

What part?

SYLVIA

The fool.

OTHER

I believe that's you.

SYLVIA

For now, maybe.

OTHER

And a rich one at that.

SYLVIA

Not yet.

OTHER

But soon.

SYLVIA

Not like this.

OTHER

Suicide will do.

SYLVIA

Not worth a dime.

OTHER

To you, maybe.

SYLVIA

Then who?

OTHER

Anyone who can milk a cow.

SYLVIA

You can only live once.

OTHER

So?

SYLVIA

You can try, and try again.

OTHER

All to no avail.

Another click of the stove.

SYLVIA

You have to make it stop.

OTHER

What can I do?

SYLVIA

Why else persist?

OTHER

You're afraid.

SYLVIA

I think I've made that rather clear.

OTHER

Why?

SYLVIA

Everyone is.

OTHER

But why are you?

SYLVIA

Why aren't you?

OTHER

What good will it do?

SYLVIA

It'll hurt.

OTHER

Not anymore.

SYLVIA

What of regret?

OTHER

How?

SYLVIA

I won't see them again.

OTHER

In life, maybe.

SYLVIA

What else?

OTHER

Better this way.

SYLVIA

I don't see how.

OTHER

What's done is done.

SYLVIA

What can we do?

OTHER

Nothing.

SYLVIA

But quit.

OTHER

Accept.

SYLVIA

What for?

OTHER

Did you ever wonder why you're all alone?

SYLVIA

They don't know.

OTHER

Of course they do.

SYLVIA

How could they?

OTHER

Why else send you away?

SYLVIA

How can they be to blame?

OTHER

What else?

SYLVIA

I made my choice.

OTHER

They made it for you.

SYLVIA

When?

OTHER

When they gave you away.

SYLVIA

A good deed yet punished.

OTHER

Their privilage is your demise.

SYLVIA

Worked before.

OTHER

I can tell.

SYLVIA

We have to try.

OTHER

So we can do it all over again?

SYLVIA

So is the price of life.

OTHER

For you, maybe.

SYLVIA

All that I deserve.

OTHER

Who's to say?

SYLVIA

No one but me.

OTHER

It's a lot easier that way.

SYLVIA

Clairvoyant I suppose.

OTHER

You give what you get out of life.

SYLVIA

What do I give?

OTHER

Nothing.

SYLVIA

Absence and all that.

OTHER

You don't love them.

SYLVIA

Of course I do.

OTHER

You wish you could.

SYLVIA

Who doesn't?

OTHER

You try, of course. That's true.

SYLVIA

As much as any ever could.

OTHER

But you don't.

SYLVIA

Who's to say what love can be?

OTHER

Something, surely.

SYLVIA

Nothing can be something.

OTHER

All the worse.

SYLVIA

It's not a choice.

OTHER

Do you know what its like to live without love?

SYLVIA

Only every day.

OTHER

Look how that turned out.

SYLVIA

Maybe I'll change.

OTHER

Like mother? Or father?

SYLVIA

What act of mercy is this?

OTHER

A martyr, I suppose.

SYLVIA

Nothing at all.

OTHER

But isn't nothing something?

SYLVIA

I thought I had more time.

OTHER

Every day is a gift.

SYLVIA

Funny sort of gift it must be.

OTHER

Laugh, won't you?

SYLVIA

Better to feel wanted.

OTHER

Who does that for you?

SYLVIA

I know what I am.

OTHER

Then why pretend?

SYLVIA

Easier that way.

OTHER

Not for them.

SYLVIA

How do you know?

OTHER

Because you're all alone.

SYLVIA

They did all they could.

OTHER

Did they?

SYLVIA

They just don't understand.

OTHER

They don't want to.

SYLVIA

Of course they do.

OTHER

This is tiresome.

SYLVIA

I apologize for my continual existence.

OTHER

Come off it.

SYLVIA

Off what?

OTHER

This incessant need to be.

SYLVIA

I'm only human, after all.

OTHER

Isn't that great?

SYLVIA

What?

OTHER

That thing you do.

SYLVIA

What thing?

OTHER

That thing that makes it all feel so real.

SYLVIA

It is.

OTHER

They don't love you.

SYLVIA

What then?

OTHER

Pity, mostly.

SYLVIA

Then why go on with it?

OTHER

You don't want to live.

SYLVIA

I'm scared.

OTHER

That it will end, or that it won't?

SYLVIA

Both.

OTHER

Do you believe in God?

SYLVIA

I hope not.

OTHER

Nothing to lose.

SYLVIA

I don't want to be forgiven.

OTHER

For all eternity?

SYLVIA

If I'm wrong, I'd rather be punished.

OTHER

Only if?

SYLVIA

What do you know?

OTHER

Why I am God. Vishnu. Allah. Yahweh.

SYLVIA

Then you wouldn't let it end this way.

OTHER

Maybe I just don't like you.

SYLVIA

The truth exposed

OTHER

Just get on with it, won't you?

SYLVIA

Charming.

OTHER

Should I be?

SYLVIA

Something about common courtesy.

OTHER

I just don't see what all the trouble is about.

SYLVIA

Not a whole lot of backing out.

OTHER

For some, maybe.

SYLVIA

Has it ever occurred to you that I might not want to?

OTHER

Why?

SYLVIA

Maybe it's a sign.

OTHER

So there is a God?

SYLVIA

Your words, not mine.

OTHER

Better to hedge your bets.

SYLVIA

Why bother?

OTHER

It might be of some comfort.

SYLVIA

Since when did you care for my peace of mind?

OTHER

I'm here, aren't I?

SYLVIA

A whole lot of good that's done me.

OTHER

Don't you see what you're doing?

SYLVIA

I didn't choose to be this way.

OTHER

Who would?

SYLVIA

When the world's gone mad, what else can you be?

OTHER

When has the world been anything else?

SYLVIA

Before.

OTHER

What?

SYLVIA

All this.

OTHER

You're a coward.

SYLVIA

I've lived this long already.

OTHER

And oh so brave you were.

SYLVIA

It's not easy.

OTHER

It's not supposed to be.

SYLVIA

So I should just give up then?

OTHER

Give in.

SYLVIA

All the same.

OTHER

To give up is to quit. To give in is to know.

SYLVIA

Know what?

OTHER

That all is as it should be.

SYLVIA

Suicide?

OTHER

So it is.

SYLVIA

Just a wonderful life.

OTHER

That bell won't grow these wings.

SYLVIA

Horns I could believe.

OTHER

If thats what you need.

Sylvia grabs a knife.

The other lays her palms supine upon the table.

Sylvia cuts the others hand. Sylvia screams, drops the knife.

Her hand bleeds.

OTHER

Rather try again?

SYLVIA

Why go through all this?

OTHER

The question is not why, but why not?

SYLVIA

I guess it's a whole lot easier that way.

OTHER

When has life ever been easy?

SYLVIA

What if this is all there is?

OTHER

Is that worse than this?

SYLVIA

Let me think.

OTHER

It's for the best.

SYLVIA

I know.

OTHER

They'll be okay.

SYLVIA

I know.

OTHER

You have to.

SYLVIA

I know.

A long pause

SYLVIA

Funny.

OTHER

What's that?

SYLVIA

The thing about death.

OTHER

Got me in stitches.

SYLVIA

It's always been there, you know.

OTHER

Where else?

SYLVIA

I see him all the time.

OTHER

So is life.

SYLVIA

I never really was all that scared, not really.

OTHER

Why not?

SYLVIA

It's all just rather dull.

OTHER

I don't see how.

SYLVIA

When you see Him every day, He can't help but be ratehr ordinary.

OTHER

Then this should come as no surprise.

SYLVIA

Not as I thought it would.

OTHER

So is life.

SYLVIA

Should I be scared?

OTHER

Why?

The song Hallujah plays as Sylvia succombs to carbon monoxide.

**FADE OUT**