[i]SANDRA and JOCELYN are sat against a wall, in an alley outside a theatre at night. They are laughing breathlessly, and covered in blood.[/i] SANDRA: Do… d’you remember his little speech about integrity? JOCELYN: “There is nothing so important, so vital, so sacred, as an artist’s integrity.” SANDRA: Yes! Yes yes yes! That’s exactly right! JOCELYN: “As director, my vision is my integrity—” SANDRA: Ohmygod. JOCELYN: “—and so we must get each scene exactly right! So: BOTH: “From ‘On the twenty-third of that December’!” [i]They collapse once more into laughter.[/i] JOCELYN: God, how did we keep fucking that scene up? SANDRA: We? You guys kept fucking up before you even got to my entrance! Hey, Lyn? JOCELYN: Yeah? SANDRA: What happens now? ‘Cos I keep thinking I’ve put it all out of my mind, that I’m can finally choose to move on, that it’s [i]over[/i], but… [i]SANDRA lifts her hand up so that it is at eye level. She is visibly shaking. JOCELYN takes SANDRA’s hand in their own.[/i] JOCELYN: Now we tidy up. We tidy up and we clean ourselves up. And then we’re gonna show up to rehearsal tomorrow and we’ll be just as surprised as everyone else when it’s cancelled. SANDRA: The play! God, what about the play? The others? JOCELYN: There’ll be other plays. SANDRA: Kenny said he always wanted to play Alfieri— JOCELYN: He’ll land the role again. SANDRA: —and he was so damn good and— JOCELYN: He’ll land the role again. C’mon, Sandy, it’s not the end of the world. It’s a play. The world’ll always have plays. You don’t regret it, do you? SANDRA: No. Not even for them. I’d do it again in a heartbeat. You? JOCELYN: I regret that I had to. I don’t regret that I did. SANDRA: Yeah. That’s good. JOCELYN: You really think so? [i]SANDRA hums in assent. They sit together in comfortable silence for a while.[/i] SANDRA: This is nice. JOCELYN: This? SANDRA: Yeah, this. Us. I like being next to you, Lyn. In this city, wherever you are feels like home. I think you might be the best choice I’ve ever made. What are we, Lyn? JOCELYN: Murderesses? SANDRA: Lyn! That’s not… you know… I didn’t… Fucking hell, Lyn, you have the weirdest sense of humor. JOCELYN: You love it really. SANDRA: That’s not the point. You know what I meant. Do you regret us? JOCELYN: No! God, Sandy, not even for one minute. SANDRA: Neither do I. Hell, I think us… this… [i]you[/i] might be the only reason I can’t bring myself to regret moving here. Everything else… I mean, it’s been great, of course it's been great, but… [i]JOCELYN frowns, but waits patiently. SANDRA takes a few, drawn-out breaths.[/i] SANDRA: Sometimes… sometimes I feel like I’ve condensed a whole lifetime down into this last month, y’know? Like, so much has happened since I moved here, and it’s all happening so quickly. You know how they always have to cut bits out from a book when they make it into a movie, or a play? It feels like that, only so much has been cut out that I can’t really make sense of it. I’m like… a leaf in a hurricane, Lyn. Just a fucking leaf, blustering about and—and I don’t even know if I’m making my own choices any more. I just wanna get out of here, Lyn. I just wanna get out. Can we do that? [i]JOCELYN leans their head on SANDRA’s shoulder. After a brief moment of calm, sirens can be heard outside the alley. JOCELYN begins to tremble; SANDRA kisses their forehead.[/i]