THE PLAY

The play was to begin.

[15:15] The Man: He steps forward, looking out among the crowd as he exclaims in a booming voice "This court is now in session.The charges: Corruption of self. Division of will. Betrayal of unity. " With a few slow steps back he looked to the three women to his right, his emotions hidden behind that mask. "You three have done enough damage on your own. Now we stand here with all you’ve done. This smoldering pile of ash."

His gaze fell on the unmasked woman, furthest on the left to the crowd. The Beast. " Let’s begin with you. What have you done?"

[15:20] THE BEAST squirmed and thrashed against the rope, a soft laugh echoing out; their voice splits with a grin, “You loved me once,” a breathy sigh, “When fists spoke louder than reason. When lust dragged you into beds you’d never remember. When hunger didn’t mean survival. When all it meant was food.” A dreamy sigh, wistful, “Don’t you remember the Disco?”

[15:24] The Man: He turned about to look down ways to the scantily clad woman, The Beast. The compatriot to his vices. "You chased every urge like a dog, and you dragged me along!"

 His teeth were bared, causing his tone to sound stiff as he glared through his sightless mask towards her. "Every morning with a pounding headache, or a new itch. "

[15:30] THE BEAST laughs, head thrown around, searching with wild eyes, “But didn’t it feel /alive/?” The binds stay taut, even as the Beast writhes, “When the fire burned in your gut, didn’t it feel like the world would never end?” The smile is still wide, sweetened with teeth.

[15:35] The Judge snapped her head up in the noose as though awakening from a slumber and cut coldly, " He should feel guilt. He must feel guilt. It is paramount in his rehabilitation." 

Biting and hissed, her voice chilled like the first flakes of an avalanche, "The only other path is death. The only other path is martyrdom."

[15:39] The Man: " You." He turned to the middle woman, the woman in gold finery. The one who dictated the law, who forced gravity into her hand. "You’re even worse than she is. At least she’s fun. But you- You just perpetuate what I already know. Ringing in my ears like a church bell! Do you ever get tired of your own voice?!"

He exclaimed those words with a desperate, anxious tone. The man was at his wits end, and yet she still pressed. She still haunted him, long past protective and spiraling into judgment.

[15:45] The Judge turned her head to im exasperated hy his rage as though his flame of rage could halt the chill of her voice, " I am your North Star. Your law. Without me, you are filth."

A hand is lifted to point an accusing finger at him, " The moment you discovered this ideology, you cloistered away from me. Avoiding my words- And worse yet, you enjoyed yourself. There is no shame in sin. Nothing can wash your hands of what you’ve done"

Bitterly she scoffed, "Disco destroyed us."

[15:50] THE BEAST coils up their lip, spitting to the gallows’ floor, “Is a hand a hand? Or is it just the fingers?” A snap of her head toward him, questions slung; tongue clicking against teeth, “Or the prints themselves? You guide hands like swords.” Behind her back, the clicking of metal decorated fingers tapping against themselves. Another tut, sighing, “Why guide what could be left to roam? Why yoke the beast? For profit. It’s all for /profit/.”

[15:56] The Judge snapped her head back at THE BEAST,  " I gave him order. Without me, he would be - you -"

The cold chill of her voice becomes a raging blizzard as she strains against the noose, indignant and insufferable, "Without me, he would be a drooling beast lumbering the streets, or dead in a ditch. But that does not matter now, does it? We always find ourselves in ditches, no matter what I do."

[16:00] The Man: With a low breath he swings out his arm into the air, palm open. A call of ceasefire. "Enough." He looked to the Beast, then the Judge- Deliberating on their words and the bickering before his gaze falls upon the final.

 The veiled woman, the funeral garbed soul. The one closest to him, yet just as far apart. "And what of you? The balancing act. The ultimate fool. The one who watches it all fall apart?" He asks with an incredulous tone.

[16:05] Her: was tired, her voice speaks out in a firm tone " I can work miracles. I just lay hands on a person, and they… you know, if they had cancer, or a tumor, or something in the blood… I'm not very good with terms. But God loves me…However, touch is transformative. You can only change someone through touch. They'll undergo a metamorphosis, and not even notice."

[16:09] The Man: He stared her way for a long, silent moment. Neither of them had expression, they were stripped away by those masks and veils. But even still his voice bled through with a pained nostalgia. "Your hands are made for killing, not miracles. I remember what gentle hands are, free of sin and sawdust. I remember as a child, everything felt so perfect." 

He folded his arms as he looked down- Cage not permitting his head to fully stare to the floor. "Now even my eyes seem to go. I see triple, and they all stare back with that same awful look. That mocking look." He raises his gaze to the three again, shifting slowly along the trio of the condemned.

[16:15] Her: says " Perhaps. But you walked through the world, didn't you? Everyone has hands. Everyone has a purpose. They just need to find it; and I found it. Do not blame me because you were still aimless even after that. Even after I managed to reason with the judge, and yoke the beast."

[16:19] The Man: " And now here you stand. With no more excuses left to give, or lies to weave. With every word your tongues grow longer, and soon you’ll be hanging from them." He stepped back towards the side of the gallows, his gaze leveled on the levers beside each of the women and the ropes that bind them. 

"I know what I am. I am the beast I worship, just as much as I am the judge. I’ve been dancing- Dancing. No matter how much they say that I am a great favorite, I have danced myself right into a corner that I see only one path out of. And it involves selling each and every one of you out."

[16:25] THE BEAST gasps, shaking their head fervently, rising up to tiptoes with an outcry, “Let me live, kill the others!” Their voice is loud, bouncing off stone around them to rise above them all. The pleading tone of desperation, manic frailty; a once-love standing on the edge of a rooftop, “Let’s run wild on this city. Let’s burn it down and guzzle tequila on the ashes, baby!” A crack of laughter and heavy breath to heave breasts as they squirm on their toes.

[16:31] The Judge heard the hated words of THE BEAST, back straightening, chin lifting. The blizzard of her breath was stern and chipped with ice,  Spare me, even spare the other. But kill that beast. We both know if left to its own devices, we will all pay the price. And worst of all, we will lose all respect in the process."

[16:36] Her: Yells in anger and frustration " Kill me. Get it over with- I won’t bargain like the others. I know what we did. I know what you and I have become. And worst of all, I know what she did to us. We haven’t had a heart in years. We were planning on drinking ourselves to death anyways, until the judge had a more elegant solution."

She struggles against the noose to no avail " This was never a trial. Stop acting like you don’t belong up here too. Do it." She said with disdain and anger in her voice.

[16:40] The Man: He stepped around, standing in front of Her as he sneered behind his mask. "You don’t get to dictate anything anymore." There was a step back, as he surveyed all three of them. "None of you do, in fact. And neither do I. You’re right, this was never a trial, its an execution."

He walked around then to stand beside Her, and grasped her lever- Holding it firm with white knuckled grasp.

[16:45] THE BEAST ’s smile has faded, eyes piercing across the gallows and through the mask he hides within. Through gritted teeth it hisses, “Then pull the lever, /Disco boy/.” They writhe and squirm, as if trying to lunge at him, “Kick the chair out from under us, let’s dance one more time.”

[16:50] The Judge dropped her hands to her side. She, having gone from chilled wind, to avalanche, to raging blizzard became passive and bored, "We didn’t make the knot right, we’ll surely die strangled. Seconds will turn to an eternity. "

[16:55] Her: has given up, and says with a resigned tone " I think he knows. This is all for her."

[16:57] The Man: There was a pregnant pause that filled the room, before he gave a firm nod. "For her." One by one he began to walk down the line, quickly yanking the lever of each. With a sudden drop each woman fell, the ropes each letting out a sickening SNAP as they tighten suddenly, and each hangs motionless, dangling there as he stares down at his handiwork.

He stepped around then, looking out to the crowd- Before he bowed. The death of everything the backdrop to his finale.