Aftermath: Apocalypse
By the Morbid Original
Actor – teenage girl dressed in a tattered black cloak ; seemingly in a trance
One girl is destined to destroy the world. This is what happens next.
Actor kneels center-stage, staring straight ahead, eyes wide; the stage is bathed in red light, as if on fire
From a ring of light, I am destroyed. A portal, if you will, I had become, and the fiend emerged in a great fire. Lights fade to white and blue I hear the voices die away, and I know I am gone. To preserve their lives, I left with them a part of myself, may they survive the eruption of evil from my core. Red lights come up for a beat, then back to blue; actor stands and faces upstage A mere pawn I was in His plan, and yet I gave in, even knowing the chaos it would bring. His will was fulfilled nevertheless.
Walks counter-clockwise around the stage, facing audience I can hardly picture Earth without its life, turned back into the flaming, imploded wasteland it was before man. Only, then it was still innocent. With the coming of the Terrible One, only evil can exist. Earth will not be the first of my homes He has destroyed. And there was no way I could stop it. Lightening strikes in the background I fear the same fate of Earth.
Lights climax in white I am surprised by a sudden light and feeling in a new body. Stands center-stage I rise to find that I am not dead. But the city is. Lights fade to black; heart beats
The city is still. The pulsing rhythm of its heart – its life – slow and stop. The fire of the sky burns deep into the ruins. Spotlight comes up on actor Only I remain, the catalyst of this destruction. Colored lights flood the stage, moving clockwise A flood of life erupts from somewhere amidst the skeleton of the city. They're alive. They made it. It is not over.
A teenage boy enters from black, upstage right; walks toward actor But… who is this? I see someone following me; a familiar face, yet I cannot recall seeing him before. He approaches me, calling me by my name I can hardly remember, and I am frightened. Boy reaches toward her; actor backs away; crosses stage I evade his outstretched arms and run, to where I don't know. I can no longer recognize this Earth.
I made one wrong turn as he follows, calling after me. Sinks down in corner, downstage right Cornered by walls of rock, I crouch in the corner, unknown tears streaming down my face. Then he speaks. He says that hope remains, and in that, he reminds me of… It's him, come to save me; to save the earth. He believes we have a chance, and I believe him. The end of the Earth may not be the end of the world. Boy reaches toward her; she takes his hand and stands; they stand facing each other center-stage; lights go red, then black