Exits, Pursued by a Bear

CHARACTERS

MARCY WU, the world’s smartest fool

THE CORE, the collection of Amphibia’s greatest minds

ANNE BOONCHUY

 

ACT ONE

A lone table stands in the middle of an empty room. The walls are bare. There is no identifying feature whatsoever. The table itself is cluttered with dice, figures, and various maps. On one side, MARCY WU (MARCY) sitting on a chair, collapsed on the table. On the other side, THE CORE (THE CORE) plays with a die. 

Marcy stirs. Slowly, she rises her head from the table. She looks around her, confused.

THE CORE : Ah. You seem to be awake now, Master Marcy.

MARCY : Andrias? I don’t… did I fall asleep?

THE CORE : ( neutral tone) Indeed. But now that you are back, we can finally play.

MARCY : Oh… were you waiting for me?

THE CORE : But of course. You’ve spoken so highly of this game. It is exciting to finally get to play with you. 

MARCY : No one has ever actively wanted to play with me before.

THE CORE : A real friend should always pay attention to your interests.

( Silence )

THE CORE : But no matter. Let’s play. Here, your character sheet is already made.

MARCY : Oh, thank you, but I’d rather- oh! This is- yes, this is exactly the kind of character I like! This backstory- did we discuss this before? I’ve had this exact character in the back burner for years.

THE CORE : We did. Did you forget? We spent a lot of time preparing for this.

MARCY : Really? ( frowning ) I can’t… remember…

THE CORE : Is it that important? ( handing her a die ) Come on. Let’s play.

MARCY : ( extends her hand to grab the die, but backs out at he last second ) I- I appreciate it a lot, Andrias, but I’m not sure I want to play a rogue after all. 

THE CORE : ( genuinely surprised ) You want to change who you are?

MARCY : It’s just… I don’t know, I want to try out new things, I guess? Who are the other players? I could make a new character based on the current party.

THE CORE : There are no other players.

MARCY : Really? That’s just sad. We should get the newts to play with us!

THE CORE : They’re on duty right now.

MARCY : Ah… I’ll go ask Sasha and Anne then!

THE CORE : You know they’ll refuse. They always have.

MARCY : ( pause ) Maybe it will be different this time. 

Marcy tries to get up, only to realize that her wrists are chained to the table. She tugs on her restraints multiple times, growing increasingly frantic.

THE CORE : Sit down, Master Marcy. Let’s play, just you and me.

MARCY : ( panicked ) What’s going on? Andrias?! Where am I?! This isn’t my room.

THE CORE : Sit down, Master Marcy. Let’s play, just you and us.

MARCY : “Us?” ( pause ) You are not Andrias. ( Epiphany ) You are no one at all. You are like me. You should be dead, like me.

THE CORE : If you remember that much, then you know that there is nothing for you outside of this stage.

MARCY : ( Launches herself at the core, barely stopped by the chains ) Give me back my friends!

THE CORE : I’m not the one who drove them away. You did that well enough on your own.

MARCY : Give me back my body, give me back my life, give me back my death!

THE CORE : ( Deep sigh ) Must you do this every time?

Marcy frantically bite at her own wrist, intending to chew her way out of her binds.

THE CORE : No matter. You’ll get it right eventually. Maybe it will be different next time.

The lights dim as the curtains close.

 

ACT ONE

A lone table stands in the middle of an empty room. The walls are bare. There is no identifying feature whatsoever. The table itself is cluttered with dice, figures, and various maps. On one side, MARCY WU (MARCY) sitting on a chair, collapsed on the table. On the other side, THE CORE (THE CORE) plays with a die. 

Marcy stirs. Slowly, she rises her head from the table. She looks around her, confused.

THE CORE : Ah. I see you are awake now, Master Marcy.

MARCY : I don’t… did I fall asleep?

THE CORE : ( neutral tone) Indeed. But now that you are back, we can finally play.

A figure rises from the audience. ANNE BOONCHUY (ANNE) stands there, unmoving. She does not speak.

MARCY : Play? ( glancing down ) Oh! Creatures and Caverns?

THE CORE : I understand that you are a fan.

MARCY : I am! It’s suuuch a good game, I’ve been trying to get my friends to play for ages. ( pause ) How did you know I liked it?

THE CORE : I know a lot of things about you.

MARCY : I have no idea who you are.

THE CORE : Do I seem so suspicious to you? Master Marcy, you are the Wit. We both know you are too smart to be manipulated, so why would I even try?

ANNE : How long do you intend to keep this charade up?

Both Marcy and the Core startle at her voice. They turn to look at the audience, looking around to locate who spoke. They don’t seem to be able to see Anne.

MARCY : Anne? Anne, is that you?

THE CORE : You are not welcome here. Only actors can play on this stage. Leave.

ANNE : Oh, because you are welcome, you who encroach on other people’s bodies?

MARCY : Anne, what is going on?! ( tugs on her chains ) Anne!

THE CORE : Leave or I will make you.

ANNE : You will not. You can not. You are prisoner to this stage as much as I am a prisoner of the audience.

MARCY : Anne, I’m scared.

THE CORE : What did you come here to do, then? Do you derive pleasure from seeing your friend made to redo her lines over and over?

MARCY : Anne, please.

ANNE : No. I have come to offer you a new stage.

THE CORE : … Elaborate.

MARCY : Anne. Don’t.

ANNE : I hold the three gems in my palms. Their power flow within me. I am closer to a god than you will ever be. Use my body instead, and it’s all yours. Free Marcy, and it’s all yours. 

THE CORE : ( laughing ) You’ve got yourself a deal, little one!

MARCY : Anne! No! Anne! Anne! ( the lights dim as the curtain close ) ANNE! ANNE!

 

ACT TWO

A lone table stands in the middle of an empty room. The walls are bare. There is no identifying feature whatsoever. The table itself is cluttered with dice, figures, and various maps. On one side, ANNE BOONCHUY (ANNE) sitting on a chair, her feet on the table. On the other side, THE CORE (THE CORE) plays with a die. 

ANNE : Your suck at decorating.

THE CORE : And your manners are horrendous, so we suppose we are even.

A figure rises from the audience. MARCY WU (MARCY) stands up. Her mouth moves, but no sound comes out. She cannot be heard.

ANNE : So what now? Do we just glare at one another for all of eternity?

THE CORE : We could make a pastime out of seeing you slowly going insane from sensory deprivation.

ANNE : And I could make a pastime out of eating you alive so I suggest you start thinking of something.

THE CORE : ( pause ) We’ve got a die.

ANNE : … Well. I’ve always been meaning to check out Creatures and Caverns.

THE CORE : Considering we’ve played it more with Wit than you ever had, we find that hard to believe.

ANNE : ( swiping to grab the die off the Core’s hands ) Just give me this thing already.

THE CORE : You will also need a character sheet-

Anne tosses the die on the table. The first time it hits the wooden surface, the entire thing fizzles out, as if glitching. The second time, the die goes all the way through. It rolls on the floor and disappears off-stage.

ANNE : … Well I guess we could just do regular roleplaying, then.

THE CORE : What was that?!

ANNE : Oh, it’s commonly known as “a throw.” It’s when you grab something and then let it fall with force. It’s a human thing, I’m sure you understand.

The table fizzles out again. One of the maps fall through onto the floor. Some of the figurines vanish. They do not reappear.

THE CORE : Do not play dumb on me, Heart. ( Gets up their chair to grab Anne by the collar. ) What. Did. You. Do.

ANNE : Nothing much, really. ( The Core’s chair suddenly breaks, falling onto the floor. ) I’m simply dying.

THE CORE : ( flabbergasted ) Dying?

ANNE : Dying. Sometimes, things are born. They live. And then they stop.

THE CORE : Dying! ( drops Anne. ) You can’t be dying. You were as healthy as they come. You did not have a single injury. You can’t be dying!

The table suddenly breaks. The maps, figures and dice spill all over the stage.

ANNE : You saw what one gem did to my body. You knew it exhausted me after every fight. What did you think would happen if I used all three?

THE CORE : We didn’t- but you knew. You KNEW. ( the lights flicker ) You knew and you still did it. You killed yourself, and for what? A chance to take us with you?! You are insane!

One of the floorboards falls. The other start to crack. Anne and the Core both jump all over the stage, dodging the holes as they form.

ANNE : I would have done much worse to save the worlds I love.

THE CORE : A world you will never get to see again!

ANNE : I won’t see it either if I let you destroy it, so damned for damned might as well keep the casualities to just me, don’t you agree?

The Core runs towards the edge of the stage. They frantically look through the audience.

THE CORE : Marcy! You can see us, can’t you? Marcy! You won’t let your friend die, will you? Save her! Save her and save us! You can’t let us die, not here, not like this!

Marcy ignores the Core. She runs towards the edge of the stage, on the side where Anne is standing. Anne does not notice her.

ANNE : Give it up. She is part of the audience. Safe from the narrative, but powerless to change it. She cannot save you, and she cannot save me. ( Looking at the audience ) I’m sorry I did that to you. That is all I could think of to save you. I know you hate being overprotected, but since it’s the last time I’ll be able to do so, I hope you’ll forgive this last selfishness of mine.

THE CORE : You are insane. You are insane. You are sick and deranged to the bone.

The Core’s body shivers, shimmers; then it splits. Each of Amphibia’s greatest minds scatter, intending to save their own skin.

The floorboard crackles and shatters. Anne jumps on one of their newts to launch herself up, grabbing the stage lights. The Core tries to follow- but each of its member gets into the other’s way. When the stage finally collapses, not a single one makes it out.

Anne stands alone, hanging onto the stage lights.

ANNE : ( cheerful ) Wow! What an adventure, am I right? Ah, Marcy, my dude, you need to tell them how heroic I was! Tell them about how I outsmarted even Amphibia’s greatest minds. Tell them about how brave I was, and strong I was, and how witty my one-liners were! Give them something great to remember, some story to pass down to their kids and-

The light flickers. One of the cables holding the stage lights snap, making the whole ensemble suddenly go down. Anne yelps as she’s brought closer to the hole that used to be the stage.

ANNE : ( wistful ) Ah… I am out of time.

Marcy reaches out over the stage. She screams something that cannot be heard. Anne cannot see her. She stares at the audience.

ANNE : You’re here, aren’t you? You who listened when I asked the gems for power.

Something moves in the audience. It is not shaped like a human, and does not speak like one either.

ANNE : You’re cruel, you know? You could have made it a magic word, or some trigger to pull, or some other easy button to push. But no. You had to make me ask for it. It would kill me, and I had to ask for it. It’s killing me, and it’s at my request. I had to ask for this. I had to think about what it means to die, and all the things I will miss afterwards, and what I’m inflicting to my parents and my friends and Marcy, Marcy, she’s here, did you think of that? She’s watching me ramble pathetically on this stage and I wish I could give her some cool last words to think back on, but-

Another cable gives out. The lights flicker as they fall further. Anne is now halfway through the hole. She’s crying.

ANNE : (quietly) I wish I could live.

The stage lights fall fully through the stage, bringing Anne down with them, and the curtains fall.

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