Free Sequence by Arun Lakra

now.
    Auditorium
    CYNTHIA
    No. I didn’t cheat. Did
you
? Did you choose me because of my miniskirt?
    THEO
    No. I swear it was a random draw.
    Laboratory
    DR. GUZMAN
    Random dice
brought you here.
    MR. ADAMSON
    God
brought me here!
    Auditorium
    THEO
    Fibonacci
brought you here. To me. So I can help you. Why else are we both here?
    CYNTHIA
    Coincidence?
    Laboratory
    DR. GUZMAN
    Really? He brought you here today to shoot me in cold blood?
    MR. ADAMSON
    To stop you, one way or another. There
was
a reason. For everything. I was at the
right
place at the
right
time.
    Auditorium
    THEO
    Are you sure? Let’s find out. Open the envelope.
    CYNTHIA
    You’re crazy. You have a fifty-fifty chance of killing yourself.
    THEO
    I don’t believe that. Do you?
    Laboratory
    DR. GUZMAN
    Why don’t we ask Him. Did you, God Almighty, send this man here to kill me? Yes or no.
    MR. ADAMSON
    I already know the answer, Dr. Guzman.
    DR. GUZMAN
    Cynthia. My friends call me Cynthia.
    MR. ADAMSON
    That’s… my dog’s name.
    Auditorium
    CYNTHIA
    I don’t give a shit what you believe. Do you really want to put your life in the hands of a coin flip?
    Laboratory
    DR. GUZMAN
    Do it. Flip that bone thing. Heads you shoot me, in the name of God, and spend the rest of your life in a wheelchair praying for a miracle. Tails, you put the gun down and I will change your luck. It can be our little secret.
    Pause.
    Theodore. Theo. One in a billion is nothing if you have luck on your side.
    Auditorium
    THEO
    I am not going to die. Deep down, you know that. Trust the numbers. Trust Fibonacci.
    Laboratory
    DR. GUZMAN
    Trust your instrument. Heads is God. Tails is Science.
    MR. ADAMSON
    Why tails?
    DR. GUZMAN
    Call it a hunch. I feel lucky. Today’s my birthday.
    Auditorium
    CYNTHIA
    I don’t believe in luck.
    THEO
    Prove it.
    THEO drags the ladder in front of CYNTHIA.
    Did you pray for a healthy child?
    CYNTHIA
    Yes.
    THEO
    What if I am the answer to your prayers?
    CYNTHIA pauses, then takes a single step.
    CYNTHIA now stands directly under the ladder. She looks up.
    Auditorium/Laboratory
    MR. ADAMSON
    Forgive me.
    MR. ADAMSON points his gun at DR. GUZMAN.
    THEO
    Open it.
    DR. GUZMAN kneels down.
    DR. GUZMAN
    Maybe the chicken came first.
    CYNTHIA holds the envelope.
    As if she’s going to open it.
    As if she’s going to tear it in two.
    Slowly, simultaneously…
    â€¦DR. GUZMAN brings her hands together and prays.
    â€¦THEO raises his gun to his head.
    â€¦CYNTHIA tears opens the envelope.
    â€¦MR. ADAMSON shakes his bone-dice. He keeps shaking it.
    With his gun against his forehead, THEO stares at CYNTHIA.
    With his gun pointed at DR. GUZMAN, MR. ADAMSON looks down at his Bible.
    MR. ADAMSON is across from THEO.
    DR. GUZMAN is across from CYNTHIA.
    Together, they resemble a double helix of dna.
    The board is a mess of diagrams, numbers, and words, identical to how it appeared in the opening scene.
    Simultaneously…
    â€¦CYNTHIA opens the lab report. She looks at THEO.
    â€¦MR. ADAMSON lets his bone-dice drop. He looks at DR. GUZMAN.
    Darkness.
    A single gunshot creates a Big Bang!
    A sonic boom reverberates through time and space. Sounds and images of cosmic and microscopic events. A mirror unbreaks. Time warps before our eyes.
    Lights up.
    The wall mirror is now unbroken.
    The board and the stage now look exactly the same as they did at the beginning.
    The opening scene is now recreated.
    DR. GUZMAN and THEO enter. THEO carries an unopened umbrella.
    They converge at the whiteboard. It shows a mess of diagrams, numbers, and words.
    DR. GUZMAN turns to face the board. She finds an eraser, wipes the board clean.
    THEO turns to face the audience. With mock trepidation, he pops open the umbrella.
    Playfully, he peers out from under it, looks upward. He closes the umbrella.
    THEO moves to the ladder. He circles it. Mysteriously. Mischievously.
    DR. GUZMAN takes a moment to find a marker. She accidentally