Sergio De La Pava - Personae

Understand, I don’t mean to dissuade. I welcome it now.

Squeeze your hand, please.

What would you be robbing me of? Primarily you would be robbing me of anticipatory dread. Isn’t this the prize the dead lord over us? That they no longer wonder where or when or even why?

Please, squeeze.

( Now it’s Clarissa who drops into a sitting position. She tosses the gun a few feet from her and Nestor immediately picks it up. She puts her face in her hands .)

Clarissa has this room shrunk?

( it has )

CLARISSA: Maybe we’re growing larger.

( they aren’t )

NESTOR: Hear that? ( the Drums have resumed )

This isn’t over, stand so we can at least have the dignity that comes with a defiant end.

( Clarissa and Nestor stand together as the noise of the Drums achieve crescendo until Adam walks in, blood covering his chest and the point of his spear, and the Drums cease. )

CLARISSA: Holy…

NESTOR: Hell.

CLARISSA: ( noticing the blood and moving toward Adam )

You’re injured!

NESTOR: Stop! That’s not his blood!

CLARISSA: What?

NESTOR: Not his blood. Yet!

ADAM: He’s right.

( Nestor raises the gun at Adam. )

CLARISSA: Who’s then?

ADAM: Linda. It’s Linda’s blood.

( Nestor cocks the gun. )

NESTOR: Now let’s see what a mixture of yours and hers looks like.

ADAM: Wait. It was you two who unfeelingly sent her out there to her death. You think I wanted this?

NESTOR: Yes.

ADAM: It’s her blood but I didn’t spill it. I almost died trying to protect her.

NESTOR: You look quite lively.

ADAM: I can explain.

NESTOR: Please, explain. But first I’m going to kill you just in case.

CLARISSA: Let him explain Nestor, we need to know what happened!

NESTOR: Fine, he puts down the spear and we can discuss it.

ADAM: When I put down this spear it’s going to be into your heaving chest for what you did to Linda.

NESTOR: Or we can ( he shoots Adam in the chest ) proceed differently.

CLARISSA: What did you do? What if he was telling the truth?

NESTOR: He wasn’t, don’t go near him.

( Clarissa runs over to Adam, drops to her knees, and begins to attend to him. )

CLARISSA: He’s still alive.

NESTOR: Don’t grant him last words.

CLARISSA: Why not? That’s his right.

ADAM: ( struggling ) Because he doesn’t want me to pronounce what he did.

CLARISSA: Which is what? What did he do?

( Adam’s fighting but can’t form the words. Nestor walks over to them. )

NESTOR: Stand clear, I need to finish this.

CLARISSA: No chance.

( She stands to turn Nestor and his gun away from Adam. )

NESTOR: I believe it’s pronounced… gui—

CLARISSA: What?

( Nestor turns to reveal that Adam’s spear is sticking out of his back. He drops to his knees. He turns and raises his hand to shoot Adam but when he squeezes his hand he discovers it is empty as Clarissa has taken the gun from him. )

NESTOR: You too Clarissa?

CLARISSA: Me too what Nestor? I don’t know what to think anymore. What are we up to by now, the old quadruple cross?

( Drums )

NESTOR: What more do you need? He killed Linda.

ADAM: Not true.

CLARISSA: Then who did?

ADAM: He did.

CLARISSA: He was here with me. Who literally killed her?

ADAM: You don’t understand.

CLARISSA: Make me understand! In the plainest language possible explain how Linda came to her end and why I should disbelieve the mountain of circumstantial evidence against you.

ADAM: It’s a long story. In the beginning…

CLARISSA: No!

NESTOR: See? Only the guilty disseminate. The truth is pithy and direct.

( Linda enters haltingly, covered in blood. )

LINDA: What would you know of truth?

( Drums )

CLARISSA: Linda!

ADAM: No! I watched her die! Address her ghost at your peril.

( Clarissa approaches with cautious awe. )

CLARISSA: But what could be more consoling than a ghost? Proof, as it is, of human transcendence and meaning.

ADAM: Credit not its words though, as death terminates all responsibility to the living and their notion of truth.

LINDA: I know nothing of the dead as you know nothing of that plaything but if you wish to join them you’ll continue disparaging my veracity.

NESTOR: If you still breathe then breathe to us what happened out there.

LINDA: You would have me deliver such a coveted gift without proper recompense?

CLARISSA: Linda what on earth are you talking about? What happened?

( Linda collapses. Clarissa moves toward her but Linda raises her hand to stop her. )

LINDA: No! Don’t deprive me of this. What remaining strength I have will be used in reaching my beloved.

( She crawls to the area where Adam and Nestor are lying. )

And only his ears will hear the solution to this puzzle, that mystery and mystique shall continue to permeate this place, though he will of course be free to disclose it freely.

( She continues crawling to a point between them but is slowing greatly. )

CLARISSA: You won’t make it, let me help you.

( Drums )

LINDA: No. Must…

CLARISSA: Tell me then. Tell me what to do if left alone.

LINDA: I have no idea but if a rope comes down…

CLARISSA: What? If a rope comes down what?

ADAM: It’s a rescue line, climb up it to safety.

NESTOR: No! It’s a noose, don’t touch it!

CLARISSA: Which Linda, which is it?

LINDA: Maybe use it to bind me to my love.

( She appears to reach out to Nestor only to, at the last second, change direction and place her hand on Adam’s chest warmly. After resting her hand there a moment she suddenly presses down harshly on the gunshot wound. Adam exerts a final convulsion and dies. )

CLARISSA: No!

( Feverishly pointing the gun at Linda )

Get away from him!

LINDA: Shoot and quick! If I repent before the shot rings out I may receive credit for it. Mitigation that will unleaven my sin when what I want is to leave at my basest moment. Shoot!

( Clarissa doesn’t, Linda dies. )

CLARISSA: No!

( She falls to her knees in grief. )

Is there no way to stem this? Is this a breathing organ that sacrifices its component parts the way a boy discards last year’s toys? Or is it his reckless overuse that pits us against each other until only vestigial rust remains?

Adam. Linda. Empty bodies that recriminate against Nature’s negligent incompetence like abandoned storefronts. Come Nestor, let’s bury our dead and remove this blight that there might be a possibility of renewal.

NESTOR: No. The dead will keep. Reload your gun then come remove this spear, that I may re-plant it in whatever walks through that door.

CLARISSA: No Nestor. The medically proper move is to keep it in. If I pull it out the wound will gasp to suck death in quicker.

NESTOR: Don’t pull it out then. Push it all the way through and out the other end. I want to witness my body expel it anyway.

CLARISSA: Keep it in baby, I’ll get help.

NESTOR: We both know there is none, only more strife. I need a weapon to face it.

CLARISSA: Here then, take the gun. But the spear? You have to stay speared baby, I’m sorry.

NESTOR: Listen Clarissa.

CLARISSA: Yes?

NESTOR: We’ve had our disagreements.

CLARISSA: Uh-huh?

NESTOR: That’s it, just we’ve had our disagreements.

( they chuckle )

CLARISSA: Okay.

NESTOR: You’re not going to believe this but it’s surprisingly hard to breathe with a spear in your back.