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The
Core to Life
A Play by Matthew S.
Performance:
May 18, 2001
Thornton High School, Daly City
Time:Time
is running out. Hot time. That’s the only time
they know. Heat. From when the heat comes on and when
the heat dies off.
Place: The core, in a circle on a flat cool
surface in the center of the earth. Around the flat
surface, it’s like layers of red, bright red,
and orange, like the sun.
At Rise: 30 the Fire and Fuel the Gas
with a Mind are arguing because they have to escape
or they’re gonna die, and they both know it.
Death is closing in. The WaterFall (guarding the exit
hole, the hole to life) is closing in on them. It’s
coming closer and closer.
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30:
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We got to
go right now. Open up and let me inside before it’s
too late. This is what we've been waitin’ for.
Now’s our time to do what we've always talked about.
The WaterFall will kill me. You know that. Do you understand?
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Fuel:
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I
can’t let you. If you jump inside of me, you will
kill me. I won’t be Fuel anymore. I will be burnt
charcoal. Your Fire scares me; I've always Feared Fire.
I feel like I’m your friend and your prey ever since
I've been down here. I've felt empty like I was nothing
but the Fuel I am. But when you came along, it all changed.
I felt like I was more than just Fuel. But at the same
time, I was afraid of you, afraid of your deadly flames,
and I don’t think I can help you without dying. And
I think if you jump inside of me, I will burn to death.
You understand? |
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30:
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Man,
I can’t afford to take any chances right now, you
can. This is life or death for me. You just have a fear
you need to overcome. Now let me inside, now. Before it’s
too late. |
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Fuel:
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No I can’t.
I'm scared. I'm real sorry. You have always been my
best friend, and I won’t forget. All my times with
you were real, and you made me feel real, like I was
human. We have been down here for a long time with nothing
to do but find out about each other. And during this
time, I've found out that you are a real friend. But
please don’t hold me back to where I want to go.
I've decided
to go on my journey in the world. I want to see all
the places you so deeply explained to me. I've never
been where you've been. When you tell me about the world
I have yet to see, I get excited and feel alive like
I need to be a part of it. I've waited for this day,
just as long as you.
I wish I
could help you like you helped me, telling me I was
more than just gasoline. Now I feel like I’m ready
to go and travel the world. You made me feel different
like I was special, like I could do anything I wanted.
So now I’m ready, and I won’t forget. I've
watched and learned from you. You've told me to let
no one stop me from what I want to do. I feel it in
me that I’m ready to go out on my own.
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30:
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Are you
leaving me down here? Is that what you’re sayin’?
That you don’t need me anymore, that we’re
not friends? If so, I might as well jump in the WaterFall
and kill myself and hope I see my parents in the Afterlife.
After all this time we've been friends and I've told
you everything I know -even my dream to find my parents,
and don’t you remember when you said you would
help me find them and we would stick together until
we got of here? That we would always be friends? Do
you remember that?!
You said
you're ready to be on your own. Well,I've been on my
own forever, and it’s time I be with someone. Someone
I love. And I want to find my parents to bring back
the Love. I've showed you Love by explaining to you
that there’s more out there than in here and don’t
be scared, the survival of life in the world. So now
that you’re ready, I'm ready. And I need you right
now. I need your Love. Do you have it?!
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Fuel:
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Yes I have
Love for you, but I think we’re talking about a
different kind of Love. My Love for you was to be friends.
I was desperate for someone to talk to and you came,
but my Fear from you is greater than our Love. I remember
when I said I will help you find your parents, but I
think that’s something you have to do on your own.
(The
WaterFall is closing in on them. 3 minutes away until
the WaterFall reaches their platform.)
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30:
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My Love
for you is to help you. I've always told you that I
don’t want to die down here. You are the only one
that can help me now. Don’t leave me in the same
position my parents did.
They left
me and never came back; every day I think about why
they left me. And I want answers. And you’re not
helping me like I helped you. I feel mad like fighting
you, like putting all my anger from my parents onto
you because I feel the same way right now like I felt
when I was 3, when I was dropped off down here by my
parents. I feel like something is missing from my life.
I feel mad at my parents but at the same time, I feel
forgiving because I feel incomplete in my heart. If
my parents was with me, I would feel complete and satisfied.
I want the Love they Gave me before they abandoned me.
I've
been down here with you for 14 years. You the only one
in my corner. Don’t cross me. Here come the WaterFall.
What are you going to do?
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Fuel:
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It’s
been a long time, and I've been down here with you for
too long. That’s why I must go. Now is my only
chance to see life. That’s my greatest dream. The
WaterFall is down; this is the perfect time. I can’t
stay here any longer. I must go now.
(Fuel
gets up and gets ready to leave through the hole to
life.)
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30:
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No! |
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(30 jumps
on top of Fuel. They both go plunging into the WaterFall.)
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30:
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(fading
away) Nooooo……. |
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Fuel:
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Wait!
It can’t be like this! It’s not supposed to
end like this!
(30 falls
into the air and into the WaterFall and his flames turn
into smoke as it rises above the water and evaporates
into the air. That’s the end of 30. Fuel’s
gasoline spills all in the water. The water forms back
into the WaterFall and guards the hole to life. Now
Fuel is the face of the WaterFall, guarding the exit
hole, the hole to life for the next beings to come down
here in the middle of the earth.)
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The
End. |
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