[FX: fluorescent lights buzzing • shopping carts rattling • deli slicer humming • clock ticking • heartbeat • distorted carnival music slowly fading in] [FEMALE 1] [Tone: flat • exhausted] [SX: long sigh • keys jingling] Five fifty-eight… Clock me in. Smile on. Mask fitted. Another day… Let’s pretend. 💥 BEAT DROPS 💥 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ [ROUND ONE] [FEMALE 2] [Tone: vicious • sarcastic • pacing] [SX: slow clap • wicked laugh] Look at you… Queen of “I’m okay,” Oscar-winning smile on minimum wage. Wrapping up cheese while you’re coming apart, duct tape stitched across a fractured heart. “How are you?” “I’m good.” Now that’s comedy. (Teehee) Selling everybody peace while you’re drowning internally. Whole damn store buying every fake grin, meanwhile your heartbeat’s trying to crawl out your skin. (Ha… ha… ha.) [FEMALE 1] [Tone: irritated • controlled] [SX: deep breath • jaw clench] (Ugh) Whatever Keep talking… You recycle the same old tape. Every prediction arrives too late. Yeah, I smile. Yeah, I cope. (do I?) That’s not fake… That’s how I stay afloat. You call it acting. I call it surviving. Somebody’s gotta keep this body driving. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ [FX: cooler door opens • compressor humming • cold wind] [ROUND TWO] [FEMALE 2] [Tone: whispering • predatory] [SX: echoing footsteps] (Hahahaha) Bathroom mirror… Cooler door… Same damn hiding place as before. Go on… Count to ten… Fix your face… Walk back in. Nobody sees the shaking hands. Nobody hears the backup plans. Cry where the cameras can’t record. (Boohoo) Clock back in… Collect your award. (Mock applause.) [FEMALE 1] [Tone: biting • defensive] [SX: cooler door slams] (Exclaim) Yeah… I know the drill. Cold air… Stand still. Wash my face. Reset my smile. Buy myself another little while. Not because I’m fearless… Not because I’m strong… Because my body says, “Not yet… Keep moving along.” ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 💥 BEAT SWITCH 💥 [FX: warped calliope • deli slicer • scanner beeps • crowd murmuring] [ROUND THREE] [FEMALE 2] [Tone: relentless • mocking] [SX: clown horn • chuckles] (Wait) Manager’s talking… Assistant’s staring… Everybody’s busy pretending they’re caring. One loud laugh… There goes your chest. Another stupid joke… No time to rest. You stock the shelves. You stock excuses. Go home… Sleep… (Snore) Repeat the bruises. Wake up tired. Drag your feet. Autopilot… Wash… Repeat. (Laughs.) [FEMALE 1] [Tone: sarcastic • laughing through tears] [SX: half laugh] Congratulations… You noticed I’m tired. Want a medal? Or are you inspired? (Genius!) Yeah, I sleep… Because exhaustion wins. That doesn’t mean The story ends. I still get dressed. Still punch the clock. Still keep walking When my knees want to stop. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ [FX: fluorescent lights flicker • mirror cracks • heartbeat becomes kick drum] [FINAL ROUND] [FEMALE 2] [Tone: yelling • frantic] [SX: distorted scream] YOU’RE RUNNING ON EMPTY! YOU’RE RUNNING ON FUMES! ONE MORE BAD DAY AND YOU’LL SING A DIFFERENT TUNE! (Lalalala) YOU’RE CRACKING! YOU’RE FADING! YOU’RE LOSING YOUR GRIP! (Blah) HOW MUCH LONGER CAN YOU KEEP SELLING THIS?! [FEMALE 1] [Tone: explosive • defiant] [SX: crowd roar • glass shatters] AS LONG AS IT TAKES! (Sigh) I’M TIRED… NOT FINISHED! I’M BENT… NOT BROKEN! YOU KEEP MISTAKING EXHAUSTION FOR DEFEAT! YOU MEMORIZED MY WORST SHIFTS… (Ahhhhh!) I MEMORIZED EVERY MORNING I STILL SHOWED UP! YOU CAN HAUNT THE MIRROR… YOU DON’T GET TO RUN THE WOMAN LOOKING BACK. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ [OUTRO] [FX: automatic doors close • car engine off • house key turning • refrigerator hum • slow heartbeat] [FEMALE 2] [Tone: quiet] … I’ll be waiting. [FEMALE 1] [Tone: exhausted… unwavering] Then keep waiting. I’m still clocking in. (Silence.)
