The Ask and the Answer

Viola–

{VIOLA}

Viola, I hear, as if from the bottom of a canyon. My head is aching and bleeding from the Mayor’s blow and my face is in the dust and my eyes are half-open but they aren’t seeing anything–

Viola, I hear again.

I open my eyes wide.

Todd’s scooting back into the rocks, his hands over his ears, eyes squeezed shut–

And the Mayor is standing over him and I can hear the same shouting as before, the same kind of clanging, laser-bright Noise firing right at him and–

Viola, I hear in amongst all the clatter–

And I open my mouth–

And I shout–

[TODD]

“TODD!” I hear screamed from somewhere out there–

And it’s her–

It’s her–

It’s her–

And she’s alive–

And her voice is coming for me–

Viola–

Viola–

VIOLA–

I hear a grunt and the Noise in my head stops again and I open my eyes and the Mayor is staggering back, one hand up to his ear, the same reflex that everyone does–

That everyone does when they hear an attack of Noise.

VIOLA, I think again, right at him, but he ducks his head and raises the rifle at me. I think it again–

VIOLA

And again–

VIOLA

And he steps back and stumbles over Davy’s body, falling backwards along it and down into the rubble–

I push myself up–

And I run to her–

{VIOLA}

He runs to me, his hands open and reaching for me, taking my shoulders and rolling me up to a sitting position and saying, “Are you hurt, are you hurt, are you hurt–”

And I’m saying, “He’s still got the gun–”

And Todd turns–

[TODD]

And I turn and the Mayor’s getting to his feet and he’s looking at me and here comes his Noise again and I roll outta the way and I hear it following me as I scramble over rocks, scramble back to where I dropped my rifle and–

And there’s a gunshot–

And dust flies up in the air in front of my hands–

Hands that were reaching for the rifle–

And I stop–

And I look up–

And he’s staring right back at me–

And I hear her call my name again–

And I know she’s understanding–

Understanding that I need to hear her say my name–

And that way I can use hers as a weapon–

“Don’t try it, Todd,” the Mayor says, looking down the barrel at me–

And I hear his voice in my head–

Not an attack–

The slinky, snaky, twisty verzhun of his voice–

The one that’s him taking hold of my choices–

The one that’s him turning them into his–

“You won’t fight any more,” he says–

He takes a step closer–

“You won’t fight any more and that’ll be the end of it–”

I turn away from him–

But I have to turn back–

Have to look into his eyes–

“Listen to me, Todd–”

And his voice is hissing twixt my ears–

And it would be so easy just to–

Just to–

Just to fall back–

Fall back and do what he says–

“No!” I shout–

But my teeth are locked together–

And he’s still in there–

Still trying to get me to–

And I will–

I will–

YER NOTHING–

I’m nothing–

“That’s right, Todd,” the Mayor says, stepping forward, rifle bearing down on me. “You are nothing.”

I’m nothing–

“But,” he says–

And his voice is a whisper scratching across the deepest part of me–

“But,” he says–

“I will make you something.”

And I look right up into his eyes–

Eyes that are an abyss I feel myself falling into–

Up and into the blackness–

And outta the corner of my eye–

{VIOLA}

I throw the stone as hard as I can, praying as it leaves my hand that my aim’s as good as Lee said–

Praying, Please, God–

If you’re there–

Please–

And wham!

It hits the Mayor right in the temple–

[TODD]

There’s a terrible ripping feeling, like a strip is being torn right outta my Noise–

And the abyss is gone–

It’s turned away–

And the Mayor lurches to the side, holding his temple, blood already dripping from it–

“TODD!” Viola shouts–

And I look at her–

Look at her arm outstretched where she threw the rock–

And I see her–

My Viola.

And I get to my feet.

{VIOLA}

He gets to his feet.

He stands up tall–

And I shout his name again–

“TODD!”

Because it does something–

It does something to him–

It does something for him–

The Mayor’s wrong–

He’s wrong for ever and ever–

It’s not that you should never love something so much it can control you.

It’s that you need to love something that much so you can never be controlled.

It’s not a weakness–

It’s your best strength–

“TODD!” I shout again–

And he looks at me–

And I hear my name in his Noise–

And I know it–

I know it in my heart–

Right now–

Todd Hewitt–

There’s nothing we can’t do together–

And we’re gonna win–

[TODD]

The Mayor is looking up now, half crouched, blood seeping from twixt his fingers held against the side of his head–

He turns to look at me, a scowl on his face–

And here comes his Noise–

And–

VIOLA

I beat it back–

He flinches away–

But he tries again–

VIOLA

“You can’t beat us,” I say–

“I can,” he says, clenching his teeth. “I will.”

VIOLA

He flinches again–

He tries to raise the rifle–

I hit him extra hard–

VIOLA

He drops the rifle and staggers back–

I can hear his Noise buzzing at me, trying to twist its way in–

But his head is hurting–

From my own attacks–