Starring:
Mo McKynzie as Marisol Montgomery
Chinna Palmer as The Stranger
Nick Fiorelli as First Responder
Nathan Gabriel as First Responder #2
Akanimo Effang as The Host
Director & Sound Designer: Nathan Gabriel
Writer, Creator, & Producer: Jade Madison Scott
Supervising Producer: Virginia Wilson
Producer: Will Stokes
Beyond Underscore & Dialogue Editor: Michael Ronstadt
Theme Composer: Sterlyn Termine
Show Art: Julia Patrick
INT. BEYOND
(The birds are chirping as they typically do.)
MARISOL
Where are you? Are you there? Are you listening? Fight me! You coward! Fight me!!
( A short horn announces The Stranger appearance.)
STRANGER
Marisol.
MARISOL
There you are, you son of a bitch. Come here-
(Marisol runs forward but the Stranger disappears.)
MARISOL (CONT'D)
What? Where’d you go? Where-
STRANGER
(behind her)
I think it’s time we had a serious conversation.
MARISOL
I’ve got you this time-
(The Stranger disappears.)
MARISOL
Stop doing that!
STRANGER
(everywhere all at once)
I can do this forever, but you can’t.
MARISOL
Watch me.
STRANGER
I will not repeat myself always.
MARISOL
Good. You’ve got an annoying voice.
STRANGER
I'm not joking.
MARISOL
You can’t make me go home. You can’t make me! You can’t!
(The Stranger appears.)
STRANGER
Marisol-
MARISOL
There you are.
(Marisol leaps forward and tackles the Stranger. Marisol strangles them and they struggle to speak.)
STRANGER
Please-
MARISOL
You should have killed me when you got the chance.
STRANGER
I don’t want to hurt you.
MARISOL
Tough shit.
STRANGER
Is this what you want?
MARISOL
It’s what I’m doing.
STRANGER
But is this who you want to be?
MARISOL
That’s not, shut up-
STRANGER
Would my death make you happy?
MARISOL
Shut up!
STRANGER
What makes you happy? Please-
MARISOL
This, it’s, you, fuck! Get away from me.
(Marisol scrambles away.)
MARISOL
Get away.
STRANGER
Marisol-
MARISOL
Stay away. I could’ve….I wanted to kill you. I was going to, oh my God.
STRANGER
You could not have really hurt me. See, I’m fine. You did not hurt me.
MARISOL
I’m sorry.
STRANGER
I forgive you.
(Pause)
STRANGER
What’s happening with you, Marisol?
MARISOL
I….the kid. Jack?
STRANGER
That is not his real name. He is named Calvin Mitchell.
MARISOL
Oh. How is he?
STRANGER
He is currently studying for an upcoming geometry test, but he can not focus as he is trying to determine the best way to invite Mackenzie Strauss to their homecoming dance.
MARISOL
Is he gonna be okay?
STRANGER
Yes.
(Beat.)
STRANGER
He thinks of you sometimes.
MARISOL
He does?
STRANGER
Yes.
MARISOL
If I sold him the coke would he have been okay?
STRANGER
Do you really want to know?
MARISOL
No.
(Pause)
MARISOL
I did a good thing.
STRANGER
Did you?
MARISOL
I did and it ruined my life.
STRANGER
How so?
MARISOL
Because now I know I can. That I could've always….or I couldn’t've always…well, which is it?
STRANGER
You mean, could you always have done, by your definition, good things, or is this a recent development?
MARISOL
Yeah.
STRANGER
Why does that matter?
MARISOL
You ask a lot of questions.
STRANGER
It is good to ask good questions.
MARISOL
Do you think I could have seen it coming with Sam? Were there signs? Could I have done something?
STRANGER
That is not a good question.
MARISOL
Please.
STRANGER
Marisol, no answer to that question would be helpful to you.
MARISOL
Tell me.
STRANGER
I will not.
MARISOL
It’s yes, right? I could have and I didn’t. It’s my fault, right?
STRANGER
That’s not-
MARISOL
Oh, God, I knew it. I knew it. I knew it.
STRANGER
Marisol-
MARISOL
It should have been me. I was always the bad one. It should have been me. It should have-
STRANGER
Be quiet.
(The entire soundscape, including Marisol, goes quiet.)
STRANGER (CONT'D)
The endless self-flagellation will not do. Speak.
(The soundscape returns. Pause.)
MARISOL
I'm evil.
STRANGER
Are you?
MARISOL
I have to be.
STRANGER
Do you?
MARISOL
If I'm not, why do people keep leaving? Why do I hurt them?
STRANGER
Do you think anyone can be totally evil or good? Does all evil disappear when one helps another? Does all good disappear when one hurts another? Does not evil even have its place? These false binaries, do they comfort you?
MARISOL
No. Not really.
STRANGER
Then why do you feed them?
MARISOL
Self-destruction is easy.
STRANGER
Does it make you happy?
MARISOL
Of course not.
STRANGER
Then why do it?
MARISOL
That’s not a good question.
STRANGER
On the contrary. I think it’s imperative.
MARISOL
I'm a bad person.
STRANGER
Marisol you are a person who, like every other person, is capable of both the unspeakably heinous and the indescribably wonderful.
MARISOL
Wonderful? Wonderful? What have I ever done that was so wonderful?
STRANGER
You want me to tear you down. I will not. You are capable of wonderful things, Marisol Montgomery, and you are going to have to learn to live with that.
MARISOL
If I’m so wonderful then why am I like this?
STRANGER
Do you want to suffer?
MARISOL
God, no. I’m not a psycho.
STRANGER
If you don’t want to suffer yet you still developed these behaviors then perhaps, these behaviors stopped your suffering?
MARISOL
You mean, like, “coping mechanisms” and all that? But if that’s true and they used to help then why do they hurt now?
STRANGER
Are you the same?
MARISOL
I don’t know. That’s what I’ve been asking for the, like, the last seven months and every time I think I finally have an answer something else happens and….I don’t know. Am I?
STRANGER
Is the blossom different than the seed?
(Pause)
STRANGER
Why don’t you want to go home, Marisol?
MARISOL
I don’t have another heartbreak left in me.
STRANGER
What if it’s better than you think?
MARISOL
That’d be worse.
STRANGER
It scares you?
MARISOL
Yeah. Yeah, I’m scared.
STRANGER
Being scared is nothing to be ashamed of.
MARISOL
Maybe. Hey, you couldn’t just snap your fingers and fix me, could you?
STRANGER
Of course not. There’s nothing wrong with you.
MARISOL
You do lie.
STRANGER
Marisol, you have caused real legitimate damage to others and atonement will be had, but that is not all of what you are. There is nothing inherently incorrect or incomplete or degenerative or broken about you. You were wonderfully made.
MARISOL
Oh.
(Beat.)
MARISOL (CONT'D)
Say I do go home. Then what? I argue with him. We fight. I leave. I come back. I love. I lose. I get a job. I get fired. I wake up. I go to sleep. I get sober. I relapse. I live. I die. I live. I die. I live. I, I’m just supposed to do that forever?
STRANGER
That is a good question.
(Pause.)
STRANGER (CONT'D)
Though you are not obligated to complete the work, you are not free to abandon it.
MARISOL
That’s your answer?
STRANGER
That’s my answer.
MARISOL
Okay, yeah, no. What the hell does that mean?
STRANGER
You’re a smart woman, Marisol. You’ll figure-
INT. MOTEL BEDROOM
Marisol jerks awake, gasping. She is disoriented. The noise is garbled, overstimulating, and distant.
FIRST RESPONDER #1
Ma'am? Ma'am, can you look at me? Can you hear me?
MARISOL
Huh?
FIRST RESPONDER #2
You’ve had an overdose. Do you know where you are?
MARISOL
I’m at…what happened?
FIRST RESPONDER #1
You’ve overdosed on oxycodone. Do you consent to receive further treatment at the hospital?
MARISOL
I’m alive? I'm alive.
(The First Responders laugh)
FIRST RESPONDER #1
You are.
FIRST RESPONDER #2
You are. Pretty close call too. Ma'am, do you want further help?
MARISOL
Yeah. Yeah, I need help.
Closing
HOST
You have just listened to Small Victories. Starring Mo Mckynzie as Marisol.
MO
I wake up. I go to sleep. I relapse. I'm sober. I'm just supposed to do that forever.
HOST
Chinna Palmer as the Stranger
CHINNA
I think it's time we had a serious conversation.
HOST
Nick Fiorelli as First Responder
NICK
You are.
HOST
And Akanimo Effang as the Host. Theme Composer, Sterlyn Termine. Original Cello Music Composed by Assistant Sound Designer Micahel Rondstadt. Script Supervisor, Virginia Wilson. Director and Sound Designer, Nathan Gabriel. Created and Written by Jade Madison Scott.