. . . where do you go hole!
shhhh . . .
They’re coming to what’s
. . . shhhhhh . . . you’re
wrong with you did this . . .
okay . . . shhhhhh . . . shhhhhh
aaaawwwwhhhh . . . where
. . . you’re okay . . . shhhhhh
do go hole in a wheres . . .
. . . there we go, there we go,
(Tapering to barely audible)
shhhhh . . . shhhhh . . . that’s
. . . where do go hole in a
good, you’re okay . . . shhhhh . . .
wheres do go hole in a
wheres do go hole in a where
to go hole in a wheres . . .
UPSTAIRS: Erik wheels Momo around like she’s a baby, calming her. Her screams subside. During the following scene, Erik stays with her, maybe massaging/holding her hand . . .
DOWNSTAIRS: Deirdre sits on the couch, takes a glass of water from Aimee. Beat.
DEIRDRE
If I ever get like that . . . when my time comes, I don’t ever want you guys to have to . . .
AIMEE
Mom . . .
I’m sorry.
DEIRDRE
Sorry you’re sick.
Beat.
AIMEE
I’ve got money in a Roth IRA and—in my 401(k) too.
DEIRDRE
(This has been on her mind . . .)
That e-mail about us being electrons wasn’t religious—it was from a science website, I want you to feel a connection to . . . something bigger than you . . .
(Beat)
. . . I drank too much. I should, uh, use the [bathroom] . . .
Deirdre starts up the staircase.
AIMEE
Mom, sorry—it smells really bad in there.
DEIRDRE
(Not looking back, half to herself)
Shoulda got Brigid that candle.
UPSTAIRS: Deirdre passes Erik and Momo on her way to the bathroom.
ERIK
Hey, sorry this was . . . [a total fucking nightmare] . . .
Erik goes to embrace Deirdre.
ERIK
DEIRDRE
I love you.
No, no, no . . . I don’t feel
good. Lemme get her to the
bathroom before we go . . .
c’mon, Mom . . . there you go . . .
Deirdre helps Momo into the bathroom as Aimee ascends the stairs and proceeds to put on her coat.
AIMEE
I’m gonna go for a walk around the block . . .
ERIK
Are you okay? Hey are you—
AIMEE
Yeah, I want some air, Dad.
Erik nods. Aimee ignores him as she puts on her coat.
Erik searches for something to bridge the gap, to stop her from going.
ERIK
I’ve been losing sleep trying to—I was saying to Father Quinn in how . . . / just thinking about losing you guys gets me thinking about . . .
AIMEE
What’re you [saying?] . . .
ERIK
. . . when you were gone, when—
AIMEE
What’re you [saying?] . . .
ERIK
—this fireman was holding a body with your same suit on? . . .
AIMEE
Dad . . .
ERIK
. . . but with a coat of ash melted onto her?, like she got turned into a statue like . . .
AIMEE
Dad . . .
ERIK
. . . there was gray in her eyes and mouth even, like she—
AIMEE
Like she had no face?
Small beat.
ERIK
Huh . . . [my mind must’ve] . . .
Aimee aches for her father and wants to stay, but she needs to take care of herself.
AIMEE
The car company will call when they’re ready, leave your phone by the window so it’ll ring.
Aimee exits.
Erik is alone for a few beats, lost, drunk.
Toilet flush.
He takes out his phone per Aimee’s instructions and places it on the windowsill when—
He notices a shadow move in the alley—what was it?
He gets the LED lantern from the other room and walks back to the window to get a better look, but it’s so dark outside, the glass mostly reflects his image. He stares for a few beats.
DOWNSTAIRS: A few pots and pans hanging on the edge of the drying rack (just visible in the kitchen alley) fall and crash to the floor.
ERIK
(Calling down)
Brigid . . . ?
No answer.
As Erik descends the stairs to investigate . . .
The shadow quietly reemerges in the alley, then disappears into the darkness.
DOWNSTAIRS:
UPSTAIRS:
Erik arrives downstairs, where
Deirdre and Momo exit the
it’s brighter.
bathroom.
Erik turns the lantern off,
places it on the counter.
DOWNSTAIRS:
UPSTAIRS:
He begins to pick up the pots
The main upstairs door opens
and pans . . .
revealing Aimee.
She holds the door open,
allowing light to spill into the
upstairs rooms.
AIMEE
Guys, the car’s out front . . .
DEIRDRE
All right, get her coat, will you? . . .
AIMEE
(Calling down)
. . . Dad!
ERIK
(Calling up)
I heard you . . .
Aimee helps Deirdre get Momo into her coat and back into the wheelchair.
DEIRDRE
Where’s Brigid?
AIMEE
With Rich . . .
Deirdre looks to Aimee for more information as Aimee helps Momo into her coat.
AIMEE
. . . she’s embarrassed, she’s . . . [I don’t even wanna get into it.]
(Calling down)
. . . Dad! . . .
ERIK
(Calling up)
Yeah, coming . . .
Aimee wheels Momo out of the apartment, exiting with Momo’s barely discernable mumbling trailing . . .
Deirdre goes to exit, but stops, remembering something.
DEIRDRE
(To Erik, calling down)
Hey, can you grab Mom’s blanket and the pan we brought?
ERIK
Uh-huh.
DOWNSTAIRS:
UPSTAIRS:
Erik searches for the blanket.
Deirdre, alone upstairs.
She takes one last look around,
gets an idea:
she quietly removes the Virgin
Mary statue from her purse and
places it in the windowsill.
She exits.
Erik finds the blanket near the couch.
Puts it on the table. He goes back to picking up the pots and pans that fell.
Having cleaned up the pots and pans, Erik searches for the specific pan they brought; finding it, he exits the kitchen and places the pan on the table by the blanket when—
All of the downstairs lights flicker out.
Complete darkness.
ERIK
Shit.
Erik puts the blanket and pan down; he searches for the lantern on the counter as—
UPSTAIRS:
DOWNSTAIRS:
In complete darkness, the
phone vibrates and lights up
in the upstairs windowsill;
vibrates.
vibrates.
vibrates.
vibrates.
vibrates.
—Erik finally finds the lantern,
vibrates.
turns it on.
vibrates.
The ph
one stops ringing.
ERIK
[Was that the phone?]
The LED lantern in hand, Erik finds his way to the fuse box downstairs, located somewhere on the wall behind the staircase. He flips a switch. The lights remain out when—
UPSTAIRS:
DOWNSTAIRS:
In complete darkness, the
phone vibrates and lights up
in the upstairs windowsill;
vibrates.
vibrates.
—Erik sighs, heads upstairs . . .
vibrates.
vibrates.
vibrates.
vibrates.
vibrates.
. . . and answers the phone.
ERIK
Hello? . . . yeah, yeah, this is . . . yeah, bad connection . . . uh-huh—
In the window, the sudden appearance and disappearance of a woman’s figure—what was it?! The back of an old woman’s head as she appears picking up cigarette butts in the alley? The super’s wife? She appears at the exact moment—
—the rumble of the trash compactor strikes up again outside the basement door. In the darkness, it sounds louder than before, more disturbing. The image/sound jolts Erik; he staggers away from the window . . .
. . . down the stairs . . .
. . . he flips the fuse box switches again to no avail. The rumble continues.
Erik heads down the hallway toward the origin of the noise when—
—a new kind of thud coming from the basement hallway halts his progress—
Erik pushes through his anxiety, opens the basement door; fluorescent light from the hallway spills in—
the rumble of the trash compactor is now even louder but more familiar, more like a loud trash compactor.
The trash compactor completes its cycle.
Silence.
Erik comes back inside but the spring-hinged door doesn’t stay open,
plunging the place into darkness as it closes.
Erik goes to get a chair to prop it open when—
A thud from above the staircase startles him, he drops the lantern . . .
Sounds of Erik’s heavy breathing,
Erik groping for a chair,
Erik dragging it to the main downstairs door . . .
Suddenly fluorescent hallway light spills into the space via the basement door.
Erik is propping it open with a chair. The downstairs is now much brighter.
He picks up the dropped lantern from the floor, which has remained on,
holds it up toward the direction of the stairs . . .
As Erik approaches the staircase, its serpentine shape throws fantastic shadows on the walls.
Then, from the depths of the basement hallway, a new sound.
. . . click-clack, click-clack, click-clack . . .
Erik backs away from the hallway entrance.
. . . click-clack, click-clack, click-clack . . .
Erik’s breath shortens.
. . . click-clack, click-clack, click-clack . . .
Erik’s heart pounds, he looks toward the door.
. . . click-CLACK, click-CLACK, click-CLACK . . .
In a breath, a nondescript woman passes the basement door on her way down the hall,
wheeling her laundry in a cheap metal cart with a busted wheel.
The sounds slowly disappears as she rolls the cart down the hall.
. . . click-clack, click-clack, click-clack . . .
. . . click-clack, click-clack, click-clack . . .
This perfectly ordinary event leaves Erik feeling overwhelmed; it triggers a few ugly sobs.
Erik’s face is visible via the light of the lantern.
He is quietly terrified, mumbling the Hail Mary.
Is he recovering from a panic attack?
ERIK
[What’s happening to me? . . . What’s wrong with me? This cannot be happening to me . . . oh God, how could I have gotten that worked up?]
DOWNSTAIRS: Erik can’t quite move yet; he clutches a support beam or sits in a chair, taking steady breaths, trying to recover.
Alone, Erik collects himself, still unsure of what just transpired.
He goes into the kitchen and splashes some water on his face.
He can’t quite believe it. He can’t quite grasp it.
Rattled, the event’s released something for him—a strange weight’s been lifted off his chest.
He takes deep breaths, trying to ground himself.
This should all last at least fifteen seconds.
UPSTAIRS: Brigid enters.
BRIGID
(Calling down)
Dad . . . the driver’s gonna have to keep circling the block if you don’t—
ERIK
Yeah, no here I come . . .
UPSTAIRS:
DOWNSTAIRS:
Brigid searches for something
Erik finds the pan.
more to say.
She goes to leave.
She stops in the doorway.
Beat.
He goes to get the blanket . . .
She comes back in again, still
searching for something to say.
BRIGID
(Calling down)
It’s a van for some reason, so . . . I can ride with you guys to Penn Station . . . I’ll get out with Aimee there, take the subway back . . . it’s not far . . .
ERIK
Thanks.
UPSTAIRS: Brigid exits.
DOWNSTAIRS: Erik is still recovering . . .
He picks up Momo’s blanket.
Arms full, he attempts to exit up the narrow spiral staircase when
He realizes he’s left the LED lantern lit on the table.
He puts his belongings down; turns the lantern off, darkening the basement.
This greatly sharpens the shaft of fluorescent hallway light pouring through the propped-open door.
It has a tunnel-like quality.
Erik picks up his belongings again, turns toward the door and notices the shaft of light.
He steps into it.
He considers it for a moment.
He takes a deep breath.
He walks toward the door.
With no remaining natural or electric light,
the apartment’s architecture seems to have vanished . . .
. . . even the indirect moonlight from the upstairs window is gone . . .
. . . the only defined shape comes from the lighted doorway.
Erik exits into the hallway and out of sight.
A very long beat.
The propped-open door begins to slowly close entirely on its own; the weight of the chair can no longer hold it open.
The door clicks shut, rendering the space a deep, true black.
THE END
MARTIN BENTSEN
STEPHEN KARAM is the author of Sons of the Prophet, a finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize and winner of the 2012 Drama Critics Circle, Outer Critics Circle, Lucille Lortel and Hull-Warriner awards for Best Play. Other plays include Speech & Debate, the inaugural production of Roundabout Underground; columbinus (New York Theatre Workshop) and Dark Sisters, an original chamber opera with composer Nico Muhly. He has written the screenplays for film adaptations of Speech & Debate and The Seagull (starring Annette Bening). He is the recipient of the inaugural Sam Norkin Off-Broadway Drama Desk Award. Stephen grew up in Scranton, PA, and is a graduate of Brown University.
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