The Stars are Dead

||Two girls sit on a bench(Center Stage), gazing at the stars in the sky.||

//Lilith is seventeen; dark hair, a neutral-bored look on her face. She wears black sweatpants and a hoodie. She is a senior. She is very sarcastic and depressing. She has her father, his wife, and their son. She does not like her family and spends all her time with Mary and at school. She loves astrology and geology.

Mary is seventeen; light hair, a buoyant look on her face. She has brightly colored pajamas—a matching set, if you will. She is also a senior. She is eccentric and loves romance. She has her mother and stepfather, who she loves dearly. She plays softball and volleyball at school.

Vittorio is eighteen; light hair, a wise look on his face. Nicely dressed, hair slicked back. He is a senior. He’s smart and funny. He’s a history fanatic.

Marc is seventeen; dark hair, a smirk on his face. Basketball shorts and backwards baseball cap type of guy. He is a senior. He’s mischievous and playful. He always has a smirk on his face. He’s not very good with classes, other than his extracurriculars.//

Mary: Why is it that whenever we plan a star-gazing night, there are few stars to gaze at?

Lilith: Probably because they know we are not supposed to be out so late.

Mary: Ha ha. So funny, Lilith.

Lilith: Well, what do you want me to say? ‘Because the stars have given up hope on humanity’?

Mary: That’s even worse!

Lilith: The stars are dead, Mary! 190,972 stars die per minute.

Mary: Yes, but that must mean 190,972 stars are born per minute! There is always a happier side to things, Lil.

Lilith: Don’t be so optimistic. It makes me want to puke.

Mary: Wow. Harsh.

Woman (offstage): Mary! It’s time to come back in! You’re thirty minutes late!

Mary: Well. I’ll see you tomorrow?

Lilith: Maybe. You never know.

||Both girls exit, one left stage, the other right stage. Lights are dimmed as the bench is taken off, replaced by a beanbag and a book. Mary walks in, her expression sorrowful.||

Mary: Why must Lilith be so depressing? Sometimes I feel she does not actually want to be my friend. Maybe Mother is right. Maybe I should find new friends. There is always room for change.

||Mary looks as if she is contemplating it, shakes her head, then picks up the book and begins to read. Lights dim out. When the lights come back up, there is only the bench.||

Man’s voice (from backstage): Lilith! You get back here and apologize to your brother right now!

||As this is said, Lilith stomps onstage via the side she left.||

Lilith: Can’t do that, Dad! I don’t feel like missing the bus again because that insufferable thing you call your son likes to go through things that clearly do not belong to him!

||Lilith huffs and sits on the bench, clearly angered.||

Woman’s voice from backstage: You have a good day, Mary. Don’t forget we are picking you up to go shopping after school.

||Mary walks onstage from the opposite side as Lilith.||

Mary: Okay, Mom! Love you!

Woman: I love you, too, dear!

||Mary sits on the bench, smiling at Lilith.||

Mary: How was the rest of your night, Lily?

Lilith: Stupendous..

Mary: Oh, don’t be like that. I’m sure it wasn’t that bad. I got you something!

||Mary digs through her bookbag and pulls out a small cloth bag.||

Mary: We were at this nice little shop the other night and I instantly thought of you when I saw it!

||Lilith opens the small bag and pulls out a sliver of a geode.||

Mary: Do you like it? It’s a-

Lilith: Geode. I know. You act like I haven’t been obsessed with these things since second grade when we found one in the dirt during recess.

Mary: Oh yeah! I forgot about that! Now that I think about it, this one kind of resembles that one we found back then.

Lilith: Might be a piece of the same geode.Who knows?

Mary: Shouldn’t the bus be here by now?

Lilith: Maybe school was cancelled?

Mary: Don’t we wish!

||The girls laugh.||

||A boy walks up to the bench from offstage, but goes unnoticed by the girls.||

Mary: So, Lily? How’s the whole boyfriend thing going? Has a boy noticed you yet?

Lilith: I don’t know. Maybe I’m just not likeable.

Mary: I don’t think so. I mean, that boy on the bus seems to like looking at you. What’s his name? Viktor?

Lilith: I think you mean Vittorio. And I think he’s been staring at you. Not me.

Vittorio: It is Vittorio, and I haven’t been staring at either of you. I like to watch the sky from the windows around the bus.

||The girls quickly turn to Vittorio, who glares at them.||

Mary: Oh! Hello! Apologies.

Lilith and Vittorio continue to stare at each other, but it is no longer a glare. Mary looks between them, a smirk on her face. Lilith huffs and turns to Mary.

Lilith: Why is it that you must put me into distress?

Mary: What do you mean?

Lilith: I mean, you clearly don’t want me near you anymore, yet you still act as if we are best friends.

Mary: What are you talking about, Lilith? Of course I want you near me! You’re my best friend!

||Lilith stands up, anger clear on her face. Vittorio backs up, his face neutral.||

Lilith: Then why do you want me to get a boyfriend so bad!

Mary: Because I want you to be happy! /whisper-talking/ You are always so upset. You don’t seem happy when you’re with me, so I thought you would be happy if you had someone you enjoyed spending time with.

Lilith: I am happy. I just have a weird way of showing it, Mary. I’m sorry I made you feel that way.

||Vittorio coughs. Both girls look at him expectantly.||

Lilith: Do you need something?

Vittorio: Oh, no. Nothing at all, Lilith. You guys go ahead and have your little heart-to-heart. I’ll tell the bus driver to ignore you guys when she gets here.

Mary: What is your problem?

Vittorio: Nothing, Mary. Maybe just the fact that I came here to ask something and have been ignored? Heaven forbid I want to ask Lilith something.

Lilith: Instead of sassing us, you could have asked me!

Vittorio: /shouting/ Okay! Want to go to formal?

||Lilith and Vittorio stare at each other in surprise. Mary smirks.||

Mary: I knew it! You have been staring at her! Admit it, and I will permit you to go with her!

||Lilith turns to Mary.||

Lilith: Mary! You can’t just offer me up for answers! I’m not a prostitute!

Mary: Oh, shush, Lily. Like you don’t want to go to formal with him anyways.

||Lilith again huffs and pulls out her phone. Mary giggles and looks at Vittorio expectantly.||

Vittorio: What? I do not stare at her! I actually like looking out the windows at the sky!

Mary: Do you like star-gazing?

||Lilith glares at Mary.||

Vittorio: Yes.. Why?

Mary: We stargaze every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Vittorio: Why not on the weekend?

Lilith: I work both Saturday and Sunday, and Tuesday and Thursday.

Mary: You should join us tomorrow.

Vittorio: It depends.

Mary: On what?

Vittorio: If Lilith will go to formal with me.

||Mary and Vittorio turn to Lilith expectantly.||

Lilith: I mean, it’s next weekend and I don’t have a dress-

Mary: Yes, actually, you do.

Lilith: What?

||Lilith turns to Mary, who stays quiet a few moments.||

Mary: I may have gotten you a dress in case you changed your mind about going.

Lilith: You know I didn’t want to third-wheel you and Marc.

Mary: But now you don’t have to! You’ve got your own date!

Lilith: Fine. I’ll go. That dress better not be bright and colorful.

Vittorio: Well, there’s the bus.

||Stage goes dark. There is muttering, then shouting.||

Lilith: You have got to joking, Mary. I can not wear this to the dance! My rep will be ruined!

Mary: What rep?

||Lilith is heard groaning.||

Lilith: I am not wearing this.

||Lights come up to Lilith and Mary standing in a bedroom. The bed and frame of the mirror are pink. Lilith stands in front of the mirror in a green gown. Mary sits on the bed in her school clothes.||

Mary: You look amazing! Why don't you like it?

Lilith: It's just not my style.

Mary: Good. That's what I was hoping you were all fussed about.

Lilith: Well, what am I supposed to do now? I'm not wearing this, and Vittorio bought the tickets during free period, so I have to go.

Mary: Lily. You should know by now that sewing is one of my deepest pleasures. I'm happy to fix it for you.

Lilith: Okay. I’ve got to get ready for work. See you when I see you.

Mary: Oh...Bye…

||Lilith walks offstage, leaving Mary in her room. Mary stares at the dress, then looks up with a smirk on her face.||

||Lights Blackout as Mary stands up.||

||Laughter is heard while the lights are still off.||

Mary: Glad you could join us, Vittorio!

Vittorio: Yeah, yeah.. Just call me Vito.

Lilith: Shush. The stars are better when it is silent.

Mary: /whisper-talking/ Sorry. She’s a bit of a sourpuss today.

Vittorio: /whisper-talking/ Why so?

Mary: /whisper-talking/ She didn't like the dress I got her. I told her I'm going to fix it, but she doesn't think I’ll have it done in time.

Vittorio: /whisper-talking/ If you want, my mom stays at home all day and is an amazing sewist. I think she would love to fix it for you.

Mary: That would be great—

Lilith: Sshhhhh. I'm thinking.

Mary: About what?

Lilith: Existence.

Vittorio: Ah, yes. I love a good existential crisis. Mind if I join?

Lilith: You're alright. That's fine.

||There is silence for a few moments.||

Mary: Well, I better go. I don't want to be late for dinner again.

Lilith: Okay. Bye, Mary.

Mary: Bye, Lily. Bye, Vito.

Vittorio: Goodbye, Mary. Let me know about the thing we discussed.

Mary: Okay.

||The light tapping of feet is heard as Mary exits. Lights slowly fade on. Lilith and Vittorio sit on a bench Center Stage.||

Vittorio: So…Where do you work?

Lilith: Sshhhh.

Vittorio: Really?

Lilith: Yes.

Vittorio: Fine.

|| It is quiet a moment, then Vittorio is heard groaning||

Lilith: Oh, do shut up.

Vittorio: But, my heart. It is slowly breaking.

Lilith: You can not be serious! Are you going to act like this the rest of the night?

||Vittorio laughs||

Vittorio: Maybe I will.

||Lilith groans||

Vittorio: Come on, Lilith. I just want to know where you work.

Lilith: Why? So you can stalk me?

Vittorio: No. I just want to know.

Lilith: Mama Maria's Coffee Shop.

Vittorio: Really? That's my grandmother's shop!

Lilith: Huh. Who would've thought?

Vittorio: Do you know what time it is?

Lilith: Around 9:30.

Vittorio: Wait. You didn't even look at your phone. How do you know?

Lilith: The stars.

Vittorio: Huh. Who would've thought?

||It is quiet a few moments. The lights turn on to Vittorio sitting on the bench. Mary walks on, a box in her hand||

Mary: Here we are. Hurry and put this in your bag. She gets here at twenty till.

||Right as Vittorio zips his bag shut, Lilith walks onstage||

Man offstage: Lilith! You better get back here right now!

Lilith: Oh, do piss off, Michael!

||Man stomps onstage and grabs Lilith by the hair||

Michael: Don't you ever talk like that to me. You have no rights. You will do as I say. Got it?

Lilith: Yes.

Michael: Yes, what?

Lilith: Yes, sir.

||Vittorio gets out of his seat and heads toward Michael and Lilith||

Michael: Good. Now, go back into the house and fix up breakfast for my mother—

Vittorio: What the hell are you doing to her! Get off of her!

Michael: What are you going to do about it?

|| Vittorio does not say anything, but he does roll up his sleeves.||

Michael: What? You gonna slap me or somethin'?

||Vittorio throws his arm back and punches Michael in the face. Michael falls to the ground, his hand no longer gripping Lilith's hair. Vittorio turns to Lilith, who still looks afraid.||

Vittorio: Hey. Are you okay?

||Lilith shakes her head, then walks to Mary to wait for the bus.||

Vittorio: Lil?

Mary: Lily. I thought he was going to therapy—

Vittorio: Lil? Who is that?

Lilith: He tricked the therapist into thinking he was alright, Mare. Vito. That's my stepbrother.

Vittorio: Why was he acting like that?

Lilith: Because that's how his father used to treat his mother before he disappeared. He grew up thinking it was alright to attack women. 'Course, my father treats his mother like a queen, but Michael doesn't pay attention to anyone but me. When we were three, he tricked me into crawling into a dog crate. He locked me in and held me in there for eight days. My dad never noticed—

Vittorio: Why haven't you told anyone this? You could be put somewhere where you'll be treated better. No one should have to go through that.

Lilith: The cage isn't even the worst of it—

Vittorio: No. I'm not allowing this.

||Vittorio pulls out his phone.||

Lilith: No! Don't do it!

Vittorio: If I don't, you'll have to keep living through this.

Lilith: If you do, you will never see me again.

Vittorio: Why not?

Lilith: Because Michael will either send me to the hospital or will kill me. He might even lock me up again.

Vittorio: Lil. I won't let that happen—

Lilith: Please, Vittorio. Don't do this.

||Vittorio sighs.||

Vittorio: Okay. I won't. Next time, I will. No matter what you say. Alright?

||Lilith nods.||

Mary: There's the bus.

||Lights turn off to Lilith and Vittorio smiling sadly at each other.||

||Lights turn on to Mary's bedroom. Mary is sitting on her bed, hair ready.||

Mary: Come on! It can't look that bad!

||Lilith walks onstage in a green gown and her hair done.||

Lilith: It isn't bad. I just feel a little naked in it.

Mary: Nonsense! You look amazing! Now, go grab those heels out of my closet and I'll go put my dress on.

||Mary walks off the way Lilith came as Lilith goes offstage the opposite way and comes back with a pair of black heels. Mary comes onstage a few moments later with a silver dress on.||

Lilith: You look amazing!

Mary: So do you. Put those heels on and we can meet up with Vito and Marc for pictures!

||Lights turn off. A few moments pass. Lights turn on to a group of teens dancing around. Mary, Marc, Lilith, and Vittorio are front and center of the group||

Mary: This is great! I've never seen you so happy, Lily!

||Lilith laughs||

Lilith: Oh, shush.

||A phone rings. All four look at their's to find that Lilith's is ringing.||

Marc: Who is it?

Lilith: My step mom. Hello?—No. What are you talking about? I'm at the school dance. I haven't seen him since Thursday morning. That—no—I promise. I don't know. I can't come. Okay. I'll be there as soon as I can—Yes. I love you, too.

||Lilith hangs up and shoves the phone in her purse.||

Lilith: I have to go.

Mary: What? What happened?

Lilith: My father. He's disappeared. Thought he had fallen asleep at the bar again, but Michael hasn't been home, either. Chelsea is freaking out, seeing as this happened with her boyfriend a year after her first husband died.

Vittorio: Come on. I'll take you home. Bye, Mary. Bye, Marc.

Marc & Mary: Bye.

||Vittorio and Lilith clatter off the stage as the lights fade out. Right before it goes dark, Marc and Mary look at each other worriedly.||

|| Lights turn on to Vittorio and Lilith running to a couch, which holds a woman.||

Lilith: Chelsea? I'm here. Have you heard anything? Gotten a hold of either of them?

Chelsea: No. Michael won't answer. John won't answer. I called the police station, but they haven't called with any news.

Lilith: Okay. It's going to be alright.

||Lilith holds Chelsea close as she sobs. Vittorio stands awkwardly at the arm of the couch.||

||Lilith's phone rings. She pulls it out of her purse and answers.||

Lilith: Hello?—Dad?—Where are you? Where's Michael? You don't know? How long has he been gone, Dad?—Okay.—Yes. Chelsea and I are alright.—Yes.—Vittorio.—Vittorio. He was my date to the formal.—Sorry. I didn't think you would care about my life.—Wait. You said you're where?—Oh god. He's been gone long enough to be here.—I have to go. I'll call back.

||Lilith ends the call and stands up. She looks to Vittorio, then to Chelsea.||

Lilith: Chelsea?

Chelsea: Hm?

Lilith: What made you call the police?

Chelsea: I feared for your father's safety.

Lilith: No. Something else happened. What happened?

Vittorio: Lil?—

Lilith: Shush. I'm trying to think. You said the police haven't called back?

Chelsea: Yes. I called them to ask if they could search for your father and Michael, then come here if they do.

Lilith: Did you try Michael more than once?

Chelsea: Yes. Why are you asking me all of this?

Lilith: Chelsea. Call Michael. Now.

Chelsea: If he didn't answer then, why is he going to answer now?

Lilith: There it is.

Vittorio: There what is?

Lilith: You never called the police, and you certainly never called my father. This is a game you made up with Michael, isn't it? You never loved my father. You just brainwashed him into believing you had something beautiful. You brainwashed us both. I've been tortured everyday of my life by your son, but never told my father because he was so in love and happy. He hadn't been like that since my mother. You did this so your son wouldn't hurt you. I'll bet he's somewhere in this house right now, isn't he?

Chelsea: What? Why would I—

Michael: Wow. Never knew you had the smarts to figure that out, Little Lily.

Chelsea: Michael! Where have you been? Where is John?

Michael: Oh God. You've been taking your prescriptions, haven't you, Mother? I thought we were going to stop taking those.

Chelsea: Michael! Please stop. John and I love each other. We're getting married!

Michael: No. I won't allow it.

Chelsea: It's too late. I've said yes! I'm tired of being so lonely and unloved. Clearly, he and Lilith love me, so why wouldn't I want them in my life?

Michael: No! He's trying to take you away from me, Mother! Why can't you see that I'm all you'll ever need? No one else will love you! Not like I do!

||There is a knock on the door.||

Officer 1: Ma'am? We need to speak to you. Open the door.

||Michael grabs Lilith and holds a knife to her throat.||

Michael: If anyone answers, I will slit her throat.

Lilith: You really think I care about dying anymore, Michael? HELP! HE'S TRYING TO KILL US!

||The door is kicked down and police storm in just as Lilith falls to the floor.||

||Lights begin to fade as the police handcuff Michael and Vittorio runs to Lilith.||

||Just as the light turns off, Vittorio kisses Liliths forehead and sobs.||

||It is deadly silent. No movements heard. Lights turn on to an empty park bench.||

Woman (offstage): Goodbye, Mary! Don't forget about your doctor appointment this afternoon!

||Mary walks onstage, no pep in her step. She sits on the bench and pulls a bag similar to the one earlier out of her book bag. She sets the bag on the bench, sits a moment, gets up, and walks to the other wing.||

||A few moments pass, then Vittorio walks on the way Mary left. He sees the baggy and runs to grab it. He opens it and pulls out a necklace. A smile is on his face as he keeps walking, holding the necklace tightly in his hand||

||Quite a few moments pass. Lilith slowly walks to the bench and stands behind it, feeling the wood. She smiles and stays.||

||Mary and Vittorio walk on again and sit down on the bench. Lilith goes unnoticed. They begin to chat aimlessly, then change the topic to the necklace.||

Vittorio: So, this was Lilith's?

Mary: Yeah. She left that for me, along with a lot of other stuff, but I felt you should have it.

Vittorio: She did love the stars.

Mary: Now she is one.

Vittorio: So, I guess she was right.

Mary: Yeah. The stars are dead.