Unwell Season 5/Episode 7 - The Chasm

by Bilal Dardai

Back at the beginning
I’ve always been like this
Sing of joy and sing of grace

Listen to the episode here.

Content Advisories for this episode can be found here.

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TThis episode features: Clarisa Cherie Rios as Lily, Mark Soloff as Silas, Pat King as Chester, Marsha Harman as Dot, Michael Turrentine as Wes, Krista D’Agostino as Hazel, Sebastian Orr as $2Fjds#, Ele Matelan as *232#4jkgd..

Written by Bilal Dardai, sound design by Eli Hamada McIlveen, directed by Jeffrey Nils Gardner, assistant director Lauren Grace Thompson, theme music composed by Stephen Poon, recording engineer Mel Ruder, associate producer Ani Enghdahl, Theme performed by Stephen Poon, Lauren Kelly, Gunnar Jebsen, Travis Elfers, Mel Ruder, and Betsey Palmer, produced by haydée r. souffrant, Unwell lead sound designer Eli Hamada McIlveen, Executive Producers Eleanor Hyde and Jeffrey Nils Gardner, by HartLife NFP.

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A CASSETTE TAPE RECORDING OF

HAZEL’S VOICE.

HAZEL: Audio recording by Hazel Gibbons, head of the

Delphic Order of Mt. Absalom, Ohio. I make this

statement of sound mind and free will, and I

swear upon every sacred principle of the Order

that the words are mine alone. (BEAT) Hello,

Chester. This message is for you and only you.

Please don’t share it with the rest of the Order.

I’ll speak with them separately. (BEAT) I need to

apologize to you, Chester.

THE SOUND OF STEADY, HEAVY RAIN ON

THE ROOF ABOVE THE FENWOOD PORCH.

THE WIND BLOWS THE SWING BACK AND

FORTH. FROM A DISTANCE, HEAVY

BREATHS AND RUNNING FOOTSTEPS IN

GRAVEL AND PUDDLES OF WATER COMING

CLOSER, THEN LEAPING UP THE STEPS

TWO AT A TIME.

HAZEL: Actually, I need to make two apologies.

CHESTER POUNDS FRANTICALLY AT THE

FRONT DOOR.

CHESTER: Hello? Hello! Lily! Dot! Anyone! Hello!

FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE, DOT

SHUFFLES EXCITEDLY TO THE DOOR TO

OPEN IT.

DOT: Tee-hee-hee, I know who that is! (OPENING THE

DOOR WITH A FLOURISH) Welcome home, Lilybelle!

Give your mom a big...Lilybelle? Oh. You’re not.

CHESTER: It’s me, Dot. It’s Chester.

DOT: Chester. Of course you are. But have you seen my

daughter? Lily? She was supposed to come visit

me. Should be here any minute.

A BARELY AUDIBLE PHONE ALARM IS

GOING OFF SOMEWHERE IN THE HOUSE.

CHESTER: Dot, I...I haven’t seen her yet, but...I’m sure

she’s on her way?

DOT: Come on in, come on in. Fuck, Chester, you look

like you just went over the falls in a barrel.

CHESTER: My umbrella broke.

DOT: Which is what you get for buying cheap umbrellas.

I’m sure we can find you another one. Guests keep

leaving them behind and we keep collecting ’em,

you know how it is. Jesus shit, look at that

storm. I hope Lily isn’t lost. Say, you didn’t

happen to bring a casserole with you?

CHESTER: No, I didn’t...Dot, is there anyone else here?

DOT: Slow down, stud. At least buy me dinner first.

CHESTER: What? That’s not what I--!

WES: (APPEARS) Dot! Here you are.

CHESTER: (YELPS) Aah!

DOT: Wes! I was wondering where you went. Is

everything ready for Lily?

WES: Ready?

CHESTER: Because, um, Lily’s coming to visit today?

WES: Oh. All right. Give me a second. (DISAPPEARS)

DOT: Have you met Wes before?

CHESTER: Yes.

DOT: That...whooshing thing of his? He does that

sometimes. It’s very useful.

WES: (APPEARS) Found her.

CHESTER: (YELPS) Aah!

WES: She’s coming down.

LILY: (FROM FAR OFF IN THE HOUSE) Mom?

DOT: Ope, I hear her! Out of the way, Chester, I need

to hug my little girl hello.

LILY: (COMING DOWN THE STAIRS) Mom, I was upstairs.

Sorry I didn’t hear you, I was on the phone with

dad.

DOT: What? You were already...ohhh, very clever,

Lilybelle, sneaking in the back like that. That’s

my girl. Give your mother a hug now. I’m so glad

you’ve finally come to visit.

LILY: Mom...Mom, I’ve been here.

DOT: (UNSURE) You have?

LILY: Yes, Mom. I’ve been here with you for months.

Remember?

DOT: Oh. Oh, that’s right. Yes, that’s right. I knew

that. (DEEP BREATH) When I hurt my leg. (BEAT) Is

everybody else hearing that sound or is it just

my broken brain that’s hearing it?

WES: It’s your alarm, Dot. From your phone.

DOT: Alarm? What the fuck time is it?

LILY: It’s after eight.

DOT: Why’d I want to wake up after eight?

LILY: Eight at night, Mom.

DOT: Why’d I want to wake up after eight at night?

WES: It’s not a wakeup alarm.

LILY: It’s for your meds, Mom.

DOT: Right. My meds. Where...did I put that bottle.

WES: They’re in a case in your room, Dot. Come on,

I’ll show you.

DOT: Thank you, Wes. Sorry about the confusion,

everyone. Some days are better than others. You

understand. No, you don’t understand, why would

you. Ignore me. Lily, I think Chester needs

something.

WES AND DOT HEAD UPSTAIRS.

CHESTER: (QUIETLY) I’m sorry. I didn’t know what to say.

LILY: It’s hard to know.

CHESTER: Is she like that...all the time now?

LILY: Not all the time, but it’s been getting worse

since the storms picked up.

CHESTER: You think Silas is doing this to her?

LILY: No, not like he’s attacking her or anything,

but...it didn’t used to rain like this in Mt.

Absalom. Ever.

CHESTER: I know.

LILY: For Mom that feels unfamiliar, and it’s throwing

her off. She’ll be okay. She’ll take her meds and

get some rest and tomorrow she’ll be better.

You’re soaked, Chester. Do you want a towel?

CHESTER: Yes, please.

LILY: Follow me. You can leave your coat and shoes

there.

THEY WALK THROUGH THE HOUSE TO THE

LINEN CLOSET.

CHESTER: There’s something else, Lily. It’s why I’m here.

I can’t find Hazel. You haven’t seen her, have

you?

LILY: Not me. You’re saying she’s missing?

CHESTER: She’s not missing, she’s...gone. She went to do

something.

LILY: To do what.

CHESTER: I don’t know. Look, I spent the morning in Julian

collecting supplies and talking to Mayor Zimmer

about sending aid if we need it. When I got back

home I found this in an envelope in my mailbox.

LILY: A cassette tape?

CHESTER: Except I don’t have a tape player at home. So I

stopped by Hazel’s house to tell her, look, it’s

me, whatever you have to say to me you should say

to my face instead of using technology from 1975.

LILY: But she wasn’t home.

CHESTER: I went to the August Lodge, but the tape player

we had in the office wasn’t there. I went to

Marisol’s shop but--

LILY: --all of her tape players are scrap and spare

parts--

CHESTER: --right, and then I remembered that Aiden’s old

Buick had a tape deck. I listened to it in the

car and then I told him I needed to borrow the

car and I rushed over here to you.

LILY: You didn’t tell Aiden?

CHESTER: Hazel asked me not to tell the other Delphics.

It’s on the tape...maybe you should just listen,

let’s go out to the car.

LILY: No need. Abbie has a tape player. Wes?

WES: (APPEARS) Hi.

CHESTER: (YELPS) Aah!

LILY: Is Mom...?

WES: She’s fine. She’s reading. She’s a little

embarrassed and doesn’t want to talk about it.

LILY: I need to borrow Abbie’s tape player.

WES: Are they okay with that?

LILY: I’ll ask permission later. This is an emergency.

They’ll understand. Would you mind please getting

it for me?

WES: Happy to help, Lily. (DISAPPEARS)

LILY: Are you going to scream again when he comes back?

CHESTER: I’m sorry, I’m not used to that. You’re telling

me it doesn’t unsettle you even a little?

LILY: There’s plenty of other shit I’m trying not to

freak out about. Wes popping up here and there

doesn’t make the list.

CHESTER: Can he, you know, teleport other stuff with him

or...?

WES: (FROM UPSTAIRS) Found it! Be right there. (RUSHES

BACK DOWNSTAIRS)

LILY: Nobody’s an expert on this. I don’t even think

Wes knows everything about himself.

WES: (ARRIVING) One tape player. If Abbie asks, you

took it.

CHESTER: Thanks, Wes. Hold on, I need to...

HE POPS THE TAPE IN AND REWINDS IT,

THEN PRESSES PLAY.

HAZEL: (ON TAPE) ...I make this statement of sound mind

and free will, and...

BRIEF FAST-FORWARD.

CHESTER: She does this little disclaimer, it’s...not...

HAZEL: (ON TAPE) ...and he hated me, Chester. Hated

that I got...

STOP AND BRIEF REWIND.

CHESTER: Too far...forgot how long you need to press it...

WES: What are we listening to?

LILY: Hazel’s missing. But she left some kind of

recorded note for Chester.

HAZEL: (ON TAPE) ...I’ll speak with them separately.

(BEAT) I need to apologize to you, Chester.

Actually, I need to make two apologies.

HAZEL’S SPEECH GRADUALLY CHANGES FROM

THE FIDELITY OF THE CASSETTE TAPE TO

THE SOUND IN HER OFFICE AS SHE RECORDED

IT.

HAZEL: (A SLIGHT CHUCKLE) Did you ever hear about...did

I ever tell you? The sixth-grade end-of-year

field trip to Cincinnati. You remember, don’t

you, from when your class got to go? A full day

away from Mt. Absalom, you’d go to see the Music

Hall, the art museum, the conservatory...the zoo.

You probably looked forward to the zoo, didn’t

you. There was that one time I baby-sat you and

you told me everything you knew about polar

bears. (BEAT) I didn’t want to go with the rest

of my class. Not to the zoo. Because I looked up

a travel guide before the trip, and what I found

out about the zoo was that one of the habitats

was Gibbon Island. And I knew, immediately, what

was going to happen to me. James Middlecamp was

going to happen to me. James Middlecamp, he was a

boy in my class and he hated me, Chester. Hated

that I got better grades than him, hated that our

family had such deep roots in the town...any time

I glanced his way he’d look back with those

icy blue eyes of his like he wanted me to drop

dead. And we were going to go to the Cincinnati

Zoo together, and the second he noticed there was

a Gibbon Island he would never let me hear the

end of it. (BEAT) We went to the zoo first. No,

that’s not true, we saw Fountain Square first,

then we went to the zoo. We went inside the

gates, and right there was a banner, this

bigger-than-life photo of this silly-looking

monkey right above the words “Gibbon Island.”

I saw his face light up, and he turned to me, and

right before he opened his mouth, Alice Slade

points at the banner and says “That looks like

James!” The whole class bursts out laughing. Then

Daniel...Daniel, I’ve...huh, I’ve forgotten his

last name. Daniel says “yeah, that’s James all

right!” The whole class is howling. Ms. Travers

reads us the riot act. Makes Alice and Daniel

say sorry to James in front of all of us, tells

us that anything like that happens again she will

march us all back to the bus and end the trip

entirely. Nothing else happens. Some whispers and

giggling when we went through the habitat. But

nobody, not even James Middlecamp, ever says a

word about my last name. Not then, not ever. All

that for five dollars each to Alice and Daniel.

Well. Two five-dollar bills, and Jennifer Doherty

stopped talking to me that summer. When she found

out what I’d done she said I’d been too mean and

she didn’t want anything else to do with me.

(BEAT) When the Revelator entered the town,

Chester. When the wolves came, when everything

else turned upside-down...I put all of my focus

on what I could do about it. It’s what I always

do. You know that. But I stopped looking at...I

stopped seeing everyone I was trying to save. I

stopped seeing you, Chester, and after Rudy

was...after Rudy died, it didn’t even occur to me

to ask how it had affected you. I didn’t

recognize your grief until you threatened to

leave the Order. For you to even imagine that.

I’m sorry I didn’t notice it before. Truly I am.

THE SOUND OF HAZEL RECORDING IN THE

OFFICE HAS GRADUALLY RETURNED TO THE

FIDELITY OF THE AUDIO CASSETTE. AS IT

PLAYS, HAZEL’S VOICE IS HEARD UNDER THE

SOUND OF THE RAIN OUTSIDE HITTING THE

SIDEWALKS AND STREETS AROUND TOWN HALL.

HAZEL SHIVERS UNDER AN UMBRELLA AS SLOW

FOOTSTEPS APPROACH HER: AN OLD MAN AND

TWO DOGS.

HAZEL: (ON TAPE) It made me realize that I’d waited too

long. Planned too much. The Revelator is breaking

us, Chester. I won’t let that happen.

THE FOOTSTEPS HALT.

HAZEL: (ON TAPE) And that’s the second thing I need to

apologize for. Not telling you what I’m doing

next. But you’d want to come with me, the same

way you went with Rudy. If this goes the way I

hope it will, then I’ll tell you everything when

I come back. (BEAT) If this doesn’t work

then you’ll have to be the one to hold the Order

together.

SILAS: Hazel Gibbons.

HAZEL: (ON TAPE) The frost is here. We must save as much

of the garden as we can.

THE TAPE STOPS. THE RAIN CONTINUES.

MOLOCH AND ABADDON PANT.

SILAS: I found your message, Miss Gibbons. “Meet me at

the western well.” No request, no courtesy.

HAZEL: You came anyhow.

SILAS: “The western well.” You might have simply called

it the Town Hall.

HAZEL: It isn’t Town Hall to you, is it, Reverend Lodge?

SILAS: No. Nor are we at the well right now. Until we

are, I hesitate to say we are met.

HAZEL: I understand. Please follow me. (BEAT) Will your

dogs...?

SILAS: Do they discomfort you?

HAZEL: If you want to bring them, I can be--

SILAS: --no need. Moloch, Abaddon. Stay.

THE DOGS WHINE BRIEFLY, BUT OBEY. HAZEL

AND SILAS HEAD TO A SIDE DOOR OF THE

BUILDING. SHE UNLOCKS IT, AND LEADS

THEM DOWN A SET OF STAIRS. THE RAIN

MUFFLES AND BECOMES MUTED AS THEY

DESCEND, BUT THE SOUND OF RUSHING WATER

CAN BE HEARD GROWING CLOSER.

SILAS: Where did you find the book?

HAZEL: The book?

SILAS: This one. The one in which I found your message.

HAZEL: That’s definitely yours, then? Your original book

of sermons? Not just some copy that someone

put your name in for fun.

SILAS: One of them. There were many others. To have only

one book is to exhaust one’s supply of stories,

and a reverend with no stories left to tell

eventually loses the attention of his flock.

(FLIPS THROUGH THE PAGES) You expected I’d be

drawn to this.

HAZEL: Which you were.

SILAS: I’m not a man to be baited, Miss Gibbons. One of

your Order has done so before and I did not

appreciate it in the slightest.

HAZEL: No offense was intended, Reverend Lodge.

SILAS: Intended or not, it was felt. But no matter; this

much may be forgiven. I do thank you for writing

your invitation upon the bookmark instead of upon

the pages.

HAZEL: I’m a librarian. I would never.

SILAS: As I asked before. Where did you find it?

HAZEL: We’ve always had it. It’s been in my private

collection. Sealed in an acid-free archival box

and kept in a cool, dry closet next to my office.

SILAS: Seems a good deal of trouble for such a small

thing.

HAZEL: We considered it a cursed artifact.

SILAS: I should be insulted, Miss Gibbons. I choose not

to be. Might I keep it?

HAZEL: Would you leave Mt. Absalom with it?

SILAS: (SCOFFS) As an exchange? Is that honestly what

you imply, that one could so cheaply purchase my

banishment anew?

HAZEL: It was a question.

SILAS: It was a request. And far too close to a demand.

HAZEL: An opening bid, Reverend Lodge. I didn’t expect

you to agree to it. We’re here.

SHE UNLOCKS A DOOR. THE SOUND OF THE

RUSHING WATER IS VERY CLOSE AS THEY

STEP THROUGH IT.

SILAS: (A DEEP, RELAXING BREATH) He’s close.

HAZEL: Who is?

SILAS: The One Who Blooms.

HAZEL: Right now?

SILAS: Always. But one feels his splendor more keenly

within the vicinity of the wells. Did you not

know this? No, I suppose you wouldn’t have.

HAZEL: I’ve known...someone was here. I’ve always felt

that. Since I was a child, I’ve known.

SILAS: Known, but never understood.

HAZEL: Never quite.

SILAS: This well was dry, not so long ago. Were you

aware of that?

HAZEL: We were. It came as a surprise to learn it

had...resurrected.

SILAS: Rudolphus Peltham was much more than surprised

when he saw it. He felt despair, utter betrayal,

a fury that I could feel from miles away. He

tried to attack the well, did you know that? It

led to the destruction of your precious celery

bottling factory.

HAZEL: Is that why you killed him?

SILAS: I did not kill Dr. Peltham.

HAZEL: You didn’t?

SILAS: He did. The One Who Blooms. To protect me.

HAZEL: ...what?

SILAS: Another surprise, then. How long has your Order

believed the One Who Blooms belongs to you?

HAZEL: We never said...

SILAS: That he was your plaything?

HAZEL: That’s not how we thought of it! Of him! Nowhere

in our text do we--

SILAS: --and how often have text and thought misaligned?

(BEAT) Do you understand why I tell you this,

Miss Gibbons? I tell you this so that you might

yourself avoid the fate of Dr. Peltham. He sought

to murder me, within the aura of the northern

well. He learned too late of his folly.

HAZEL: I didn’t ask you here to kill you, Reverend. I do

know that Rudy acted rashly. That he acted in

error.

SILAS: We’re here to talk, only?

HAZEL: Yes.

SILAS: To negotiate.

HAZEL: Hopefully.

SILAS: (AFTER A MOMENT) I’m listening.

THE SOUND OF THE RUSHING WATER

TRANSITIONS BACK TO THE SOUND OF

THE RAIN ON THE ROOF AT FENWOOD.

THE TAPE REWINDS AGAIN, AND

REPLAYS.

HAZEL: (ON TAPE) ...The Revelator is breaking

us, Chester. I won’t let that happen.

BRIEF FAST FORWARD.

HAZEL: (ON TAPE) The frost is here. We must save as much

of the garden as we can.

TAPE PLAYER STOPS.

LILY: What does that mean?

CHESTER: It’s from the sacred texts of the Order.

LILY: So it’s not code for anything.

CHESTER: Code for what?

LILY: I don’t know. Code for where she went. Like she’s

at some important hardware store.

CHESTER: Important hardware store.

LILY: Or florist shop. Gardening. I don’t know.

CHESTER: If she wanted me to know where she went after

going so far out of her way not to tell me, she

wouldn’t hide it in--

WES: Stop. Something’s different.

LILY: What?

WES: Don’t you feel it?

CHESTER: Feel what?

WES: The house.

CHESTER: I don’t feel anything.

WES: The house. The walls. The water.

LILY: The water...

THE RADIATOR AND PIPES BEGIN TO CLANG,

GENTLY. STEAM BEGINS HISSING ELSEWHERE

IN THE HOUSE.

WES: The water is being disturbed.

CHESTER: What does that mean? Does that mean something?

LILY: Wes, what’s disturbing the water?

WES: Not here. Elsewhere.

LILY: But what is it?

WES: Silas. Silas stands at the edge of the water.

LILY: What’s he doing?

WES: His voice is a stone, and that stone skims across

the surface of the water and the ripples travel

outwards.

CHESTER: I don’t understand what--

LILY: --let him speak.

THE HISSING AND CLANGING GROWS IN

VOLUME.

WES: Anticipation and fear. A curiosity. They stand at

the edge of the water together.

CHESTER: They? Someone’s with Silas?

LILY: Hazel?

CHESTER: She wouldn’t try to...not after what happened

to Rudy, she’d--

LILY: --you seriously don’t think she’d try it? You

don’t think that Hazel would tell herself that

Rudy had the right idea but wasn’t as up for the

task as she is?

CHESTER: Oh, Hazel. Oh no no no no no. (DIALS HIS PHONE)

Pick up, Hazel. Pick up.

THE HISSING AND CLANGING GROWS FURTHER

IN VOLUME.

WES: He prepares.

LILY: Prepares for what?

WES: To act again. If he must.

CHESTER: (AS HAZEL’S VOICEMAIL FINISHES) Hazel! Don’t do

this! What are you thinking? I’m at Fenwood now,

you call me ba...you COME HERE right now and talk

to me about whatever it is you are planning.

Just...don’t do this! ARGH! (HANGS UP) She’s not

answering. I don’t know where she is.

WES: They’re at the well.

LILY: The observatory? But that collapsed. Nobody can

get down there.

WES: Not the observatory. Not the northern well.

CHESTER: But then that leaves here, and...Town Hall. But I

was just there. When I first came back from

Julian. I went into Mayor Lopez’s office to get

his signature stamp and then I went home to...but

I...I didn’t go downstairs. She must have been

downstairs. She hid from me. Right under

my...Lily. We gotta go now. Right now. (RUSHES TO

FRONT DOOR TO PUT SHOES ON)

WES: How can I help? Do you want me to go there?

LILY: Please don’t. I need you here. Look after Mom.

WES: Hurry, Lily. I feel like something terrible is

about to happen.

CHESTER: (RUSHING OUT THE DOOR) Come on, Lily!

LILY FOLLOWS OUT THE DOOR. THE

HISSING AND CLANGING BLENDS INTO

THE SOUND OF THE RAIN AND

TRANSITIONS BACK TO THE RUSHING

WATER OF THE WELL. HAZEL TURNS ON

A TAPE RECORDER, WHICH BEGINS

RECORDING ON AUDIO CASSETTE.

SILAS: What’s that for, then?

HAZEL: This is a tape recorder. It captures sound on--

SILAS: --I am aware of what it is. I asked you what it

was for.

HAZEL: I want our conversation to be something others

can hear later.

SILAS: You don’t trust me. You believe I’ll give you my

word and then withdraw it.

HAZEL: I believe that nobody will believe we had this

conversation unless I have it on tape.

SILAS: Not even your Delphic Order?

HAZEL: No.

SILAS: I see. No trust even within your sworn circle.

HAZEL: Reverend Lodge, the first thing I want to say is

that I’ve had a lot of time to consider you.

SILAS: To consider me what, exactly?

HAZEL: Nothing. Just to consider you. Who you were. What

you became. What it means to have you here.

SILAS: I should be flattered, Miss Gibbons. I choose

not to be.

HAZEL: You want what I want for Mt. Absalom. I see that

now. You want a sense of order. An end to

uncertainty and conflicting ideals. You want

one story to be told.

SILAS: That much is true.

HAZEL: It’s all we Delphics want as well. But there are

limits to our mortal understanding. Limits that

you have demonstrated you do not suffer from. I’m

done trying to fight you, Reverend Lodge. We

should not be enemies when we could be

collaborators.

SILAS: Collaborators. How so.

HAZEL: I’ve worked very hard to organize the Delphic

Order, to unite them in one purpose and one

belief. But there’s only so much I can do with

that many people, each of them with their own

ideas, their own wills. But then I see you.

Holding that book in your hands. Your book. And I

believe that if you tell us the story. The one

story. The true story. I believe that the Delphic

Order can be the instrument of your will. Yours,

and the One Who Blooms.

SILAS: (AFTER A MOMENT) You are a peculiar creature,

Miss Gibbons. Your words speak contrition while

your eyes show attack.

HAZEL: No...I told you, I’m not trying to--

SILAS: --every conversation of your life but a moment

for defeat or for victory. Whether you discuss

terms with a vengeful phantom or manipulate a

moment of embarrassment at the gates of a zoo.

HAZEL: How...how would you know about that?

SILAS: I was told. When I am told a story, I listen. Of

your day at the zoo. Of the ritual you perform

when you lock your doors. The secret you would

never dare speak aloud to your sister Ginger.

HAZEL: Stop that. You don’t know me. You can’t.

SILAS: You offered me an arrangement because you believe

I want something. Because you believe that I want

at all. Very well, then. Shall we set conditions

of a tithe?

HAZEL: A tithe?

SILAS: One of the oldest traditions of the conquered.

What shall I ask you for? Once a year, you

deliver to me a third of the town’s meat.

HAZEL: But you’re...you wouldn’t need it.

SILAS: That’s not why one sets a tithe, Miss Gibbons.

And my dogs deserve better than to forage for

every scrap or morsel. But perhaps you’re

correct. Maybe a more permanent sacrifice. You

give over to my dominion a southern quadrant

of the town. You erect new churches in the

locations of my choosing.

HAZEL: Would that satisfy you?

SILAS: And a child.

HAZEL: What?

SILAS: A newborn. The first of every five years,

delivered to the Witch’s Altar on the night of

the new moon, to raise as my own loyal acolyte.

Unless it displeases me and must be slaughtered.

A VERY LONG PAUSE. HAZEL CHOKES ON WHAT

TO SAY NEXT.

SILAS: But no. Calm yourself, Miss Gibbons. I will not

ask that of you.

HAZEL: Th...thank you.

SILAS: Although you would have agreed to such cruelty,

in the end. Were I to pursue it. (BEAT) No,

instead I need from you only this. An apology.

HAZEL: An apology?

SILAS: Yes.

HAZEL: For what?

SILAS: Knowing what you apologize for is an aspect of

the apology.

HAZEL: I’m...sorry that I worked so long to maintain

your banishment.

SILAS: No.

HAZEL: No?

SILAS: That is not the matter at hand.

HAZEL: I’m sorry for...the generations of the Delphic

Order that kept you away?

SILAS: No.

THE SOUND OF THE RUSHING WATER BEGINS

TO RISE.

HAZEL: I apologize for the town’s ancestors who killed

you. I apologize for their having buried your

church, and hiding your books, and for telling

their descendants that you were a man of evil.

SILAS: NO.

HAZEL: (DESPERATELY) I don’t know what you need!

THE RUSH OF THE WATER CONTINUES RISING

WITH THE TONE OF SILAS’S ANGER.

SILAS: There will be no peace for Mt. Absalom without

forgiveness, and there will be no forgiveness for

Mt. Absalom when it does not understand the

transgression. You, Miss Gibbons, who has relied

so much on her collection of books that she

failed to acknowledge the story that went

unwritten. The history at which I stand in the

center. We are nothing alike. The chasm between

us is wide enough to hold oceans. You are a

people who leashed the beasts, who hunted the

birds, who thought to cage nature itself and bind

the very soul of The One Who Blooms.

ABOVE THEM, TOWN HALL BEGINS TO PULL

APART, BRICK BY BRICK. THE SOUNDS OF

THE RAIN OUTSIDE, SWIRLING AND

POUNDING, BEGIN TO BLEND WITH THE RUSH

OF WATER.

SILAS: Even this town hall is but more of the same.

Fools piling brick and mortar onto open wounds

and declaring it civilization.

HAZEL: Oh no. No, stop, what are you doing?

SILAS: You who would tell yourselves fictions of your

own cleverness to mask the truth of your

savagery. I will show you who you are, Hazel

Gibbons. Look into the well.

HAZEL: Please, please stop--

SILAS: --LOOK INTO THE WELL.

THE BUILDING CONTINUES TO FLY

APART INTO THE MAELSTROM. MOLOCH

AND ABADDON CAN BE HEARD HOWLING

ON THE WIND. THE WATER IS A DULL

ROAR. HAZEL TAKES A SHORT, DEEP

BREATH AND LOOKS INTO THE WELL.

SHE GASPS IN AWE. A SINGLE NOTE

SOUNDS FROM DEEP WITHIN, AND FROM

THAT NOTE, HAZEL BEGINS TO SOB,

AND THEN TO SING QUIETLY TO

HERSELF.

HAZEL: Sing of joy...and sing of grace...welcome to our

warm embrace...

SILAS: (PATIENTLY) Look you upon the surface of the

waters.

HAZEL: We name you now...our kith and kin...

SILAS: Look past the surface to the depths below.

HAZEL: Invite you to our...fires within...

SILAS: Can you perceive the divine light that emanates?

HAZEL: Should you ever tire of labor...

SILAS: Or do you see only the stark, empty loneliness in

your own soul reflecting back at you?

HAZEL: Should your hope be at its end...

ALL SOUND STOPS, BRIEFLY. AN EMPTY

VOID.

SILAS: There is nothing in your heart of any worth to

The One Who Blooms. I believe you have always

known that.

A SHORT CRY OF ANGUISH AS HAZEL’S

SPIRIT BREAKS IN HALF. THE

REMAINDER OF THE BUILDING TEARS

AWAY, LEAVING ONLY THE SOUNDS OF

WATER RUSHING BENEATH THE EARTH

AND FALLING FROM THE SKY.

AFTER A MOMENT, THE RAIN ALONE IS

HEARD, POURING BUCKETS AT A TIME.

AN OLD BUICK PULLS UP ON THE

STREET AND STOPS. TWO DOORS OPEN.

CHESTER AND LILY RAISE THEIR

VOICES TO BE HEARD.

LILY: Chester, where are we?

CHESTER: I don’t understand! We’re right here!

LILY: What are you talking about?

CHESTER: This is where Town Hall is!

LILY: I can’t see it!

CHESTER: But it’s here!

LILY: Get back in the car, Chester!

THE DOORS CLOSE. CHESTER AND LILY

INSIDE THE CABIN, THE RAIN

BATTERING THE VEHICLE.

LILY: You got lost. It’s understandable. Can barely see

ten feet in front of us.

CHESTER: I didn’t get lost! You don’t think I know where

Town Hall is?

LILY: Just look back where we last turned and--

A KNOCK AT THE PASSENGER WINDOW.

LILY: Shit!

SILAS: (FROM OUTSIDE THE CAR) Hello? Hello in there.

Lily?

LILY ROLLS DOWN HER WINDOW.

SILAS: Ah yes. I thought it was you.

CHESTER: You!

SILAS: Easy, young man, easy. You’re looking for your

Town Hall, I take it?

CHESTER: Where is it?

SILAS: It’s no longer here.

CHESTER: What do you mean, it’s no longer here?

SILAS: We no longer felt it proper to obscure the

western well. Although if these rains continue as

such, this may be Lake Absalom soon enough. And

we may all be better for it. (BEAT) I found

someone. She needs care.

HAZEL: (SHIVERING, SINGING QUIETLY TO HERSELF) Feel no

sorrow. Feel no fear.

CHESTER: Hazel?! Oh my god! Hazel!

SILAS: Here. Let me help you inside.

SILAS OPENS THE PASSENGER DOOR AND

GUIDES HER INTO THE BACK SEAT.

HAZEL: Let our hearts. Show true goodwill.

LILY: What’s wrong with her? Hazel?

CHESTER: What did you do to her?

SILAS: Miss Gibbons asked to have a conversation.

HAZEL: Let our light. Shine brighter still.

CHESTER: If you harmed her...

SILAS: I offered her perspective. It may have felt to

her like harm. (TAPS A CASSETTE TAPE AGAINST THE

WINDOW AND HANDS IT THROUGH) If you wish to hear

it yourself, she kept a record. Perhaps it will

enlighten you in ways it could not do for her.

HAZEL: When you might. Feel cold and lost.

SILAS: Good evening to the both of you. Get home safely.

Moloch, Abaddon, come.

SILAS AND THE DOGS TROMP AWAY.

LILY ROLLS UP THE WINDOW AND THEY

SIT SILENTLY IN THE CAR AS THE

RAIN POUNDS UPON IT. HAZEL SINGS,

QUIETLY.

HAZEL: We’ll protect you from the frost.

END