A simple tale told a thousand different ways

Sad endings xeroxed tears quietude alone internal crying solace peace eternity never

Never any happy endings never true bliss

“It’s not like the movies, they fed us on little white lies.”

Instead: sadness replaces happiness, tears replace smiles,

Emptiness replaces completion.

“When I hate it, I know I can feel. But when you love, you know it’s not real.”

“Shoot myself to love you, if I loved myself I’d be shooting you.”

In a dream:

I am floating above the earth looking down at the fertile ground

I have no more fears, nothing more to worry about

I have nothing to fear in the clouds

I hear the birds flying with me

I hear their song

I feel a part of everything, for once

I close my eyes to the earth and let the wind swirl around me

I am still alive

Blackness

The clouds dim

A scream, a sound, the birds begin falling to the earth

I am falling, falling, falling, falling

Everything dying around me, everything collapsing in on itself

Sensory overload, I can’t breathe, I can’t see, I can’t hear, I am shut off from myself, silence, deafening, nothing.

I float on my way to the bottom

I hit the ground without making a sound

No one notices at all

Something beautiful dies all of the time

And we don’t notice anymore

I woke up in darkness.

“Now I found you, it’s almost too late

And this earth seems obliviating

We are trembling in our crutches

High and dead our skin is glass

I’m so empty here without you

I crack and split my Xerox hands

And I know it’s the last day on earth

We’ll be together while the planet dies

I know it’s the last day on earth

We’ll never say goodbye…”

“Because it’s a great big white world

And we are drained of our colors

We used to love ourselves, we used to love one another

Now, all my stitches itch

My prescription’s low

I wish you were queen just for today

In a world that’s so white, what else could I say?”

everything became quiet in the room

we spoke not in words

I caught your glance from across the room

A world flashed before my eyes

I saw the future in front of me

“you were from a perfect world, a world that threw me away today”

there’s a spot, only a few blocks from where I live

where you can see everything

where, if you look close enough, you can see the stars falling to earth

no one believes me yet and I won’t take them to see it

they can discover it for themselves

but I can see the stars

sometimes I wonder if I listen hard enough if I can hear them screaming

probably not, though

they approach the earth at blinding speeds

I can’t believe that no one else has seen this miracle yet

they'll discover for themselves one day, I imagine

my little place, where I see the stars hit the earth

some day I may gather enough courage to reach out for one as it falls down

maybe I will catch it

maybe I will have a star of my own

doesn’t that sound so lovely?

maybe one day

until then, I’m perfectly content to sit in my little spot, just a little ways from here

and watch the stars fall to earth

He opened his eyes to the bright light and looked across the beautiful ballroom, pausing on each expression, each face, in the nameless crowd.

Without any sense of trepidation, he stepped forward into the gathering.

In just an instant, he saw her.

Their eyes locked immediately.

Time slowed in the room for a moment as they moved towards each other.

Their eyes never faltered for an instant.

They were each drowning in empty seas of color.

Closer.

The grand ballroom, once decorated with splashes of gold and silver, seemed barren as the two approached each other.

Closer.

The room was empty.

Everything was colorless and cold next to the power of their beauty.

Closer.

A Touch, an Embrace.

The two are lifted off of the ground.

They float in midair.

Nothing can touch them.

Their eyes remain locked.

Time stops.

The room disappears and they are alone in empty space, held together by Love's embrace.

They kiss.

And everything fades to black...

He does not even need to open his eyes to know what has happened.

Everything: a mere dream of perfection.

He opens his eyes to the darkness around him.

Utterly alone.

A warm tear rolls down his cheek.

A nightmare: of what has come and gone.

He rolls over and buries his face in the pillow and cries...

The door stands in front of him once again.

He reaches into his pocket and finds the key.

A tremble in his step: he is scared.

The door remains closed.

Maybe this time will be the last time.

Has he cried enough tears?

Has he felt enough pain?

He wants to turn around and never look back, but he knows that he never can.

Another horrible glimpse of perfection that is destined to be torn away from him?

How could he possibly know?

What if this time he never awakens?

He takes the key out of his pocket and opens the door.

He brushes away a tear from his cheek.

He closes his eyes and steps inside the doorway.

He opened his eyes to the bright light and looked across the beautiful ballroom, his eyes pausing on each expression, each face, in the nameless crowd....

“You’d never die just for me.

She says, ‘I’m not in love, but I’m gonna fuck you ‘til somebody better comes along.’”

“For a brief time I was here. And for a brief time, I mattered.”

Something lost in the translation…

Technical glitches…repairs are forthcoming…

Apologies are made.

There is nothing here anyway.

You may go back if you like, but probably not as far as you would like.

Maybe there’s something better waiting for you.

This isn’t it yet.

Just pretend this is empty space: that’s much easier.

I looked up at the sky at the sun today and smiled.

Lovely. Beautiful. Everything.

You may leave now.

3.

See Credits Page for References