Aurora 2026

Krislyn Moreland

(We can hear Cecily’s frantic cries for help offstage, and two men in white paramedic uniforms befitting the time period run in with a stretcher. Cecily runs in behind them and stays several feet away. They put Mariana on the stretcher and lift it vertically so the audience can see that in producing the fabric for the dress, she has clearly skinned herself in most places aside from her face. Her dress is torn and bloodied. She smiles.) Paramedic 1 (frantically yelling in Mariana’s face) Mademoiselle? Mademoiselle? Can you hear me, Mademoiselle?

Cecily (sobbing, hysterical)

Her name is Mariana! She is my stepdaughter! I don’t know what happened! Please save her! I can’t lose her - she is all I have left!

Paramedic 2 Mariana! Mariana, can you hear me?

Mariana (weakly, with her eyes slightly cracked open) Papa?

Paramedic 2 Mariana! Mariana, tell me what happened. Were you attacked? Mariana, speak to me! Mariana, Mariana, Mariana… (The noise of the scene has faded away. We no longer hear the bustle of a city behind us or Cecile’s cries or the paramedics’ movements. They continue to move but with no sound. The paramedics begin trying to dress some of the wounds with Mariana on the stretcher.) (The voice of Paramedic 2 fades away and is replaced by the voice of an older man from above. Similar to how the narrator spoke from above.)

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