Wyrd Woman is an audio drama from Broads and Books Productions. The show is written, performed and produced by Amy Lee Lillard.
Music comes from the Ghosts albums by Nine Inch Nails, courtesy of a Creative Commons license.
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Episode Transcript: Night 6
Intro voiceover:
Wyrd Woman is intended for an adult audience, and discusses mental health, history, and other tough topics. Take care when listening.
Music*:
01 Ghosts I, Nine Inch Nails
Sound:
Record button on Voice Notes
Wind outside the windows; wind chimes
Woman:
She must be waking now. And remembering she dreamed. Remembering the woman she dreamed of.
Me.
I feel for her. She’s probably confused, and freaked out. She’s doing the things I did – thinking, and remembering, and analyzing. She’s wondering if she’s crazy, if she’s making it up, if she’s…
All the things I thought and felt.
I’m also… is jealous the right word?
I was starting to feel like I was the apex or something. The final link in this long chain. Everything and everyone were coming to me, and I was…
I’m not a chosen one. I’m not the last in the line. Or the first.
I’m not magic. Or if I am, I’m not the only one.
And that’s ok. Maybe this Future One is the end of the line. Or maybe we’re both just parts of this.
Seeing her was a reality check. Reminding me not to get inflated or full of myself or something.
And yeah, I feel a little sad about that? Jealous? I was starting to feel special.
It doesn’t matter. None of that matters.
None of it –
Oh. She’s here. I see her. The … tech on her face and arms.
I see you. You’re here.
Music: Future One theme (33 Ghosts IV, Nine Inch Nails)
I don’t know if you can see me, or hear me. But you’re not crazy. You’re not – this is happening. This happened to me.
Ok?
And you can talk to me. You can --
Future One:
Don’t want this. Don’t want this new connection is. I put that all aside. I –
Woman:
Hello?
Oh no, don’t…
Dammit.
I’m just keeping this recording going. I think she’ll be back. I don’t want to have to fumble…
And at this point, everything is, everything is worth recording.
I may not be the final person or whatever, but I can make a record, and others can’t.
She felt… full. That tech must be integrated into her body, her nervous system, because it felt like – her skin couldn’t contain all the info, the knowledge, the capability. Her head pounded. Her heart raced. There was a clean, fiery smell.
She didn’t want to talk. To me? To anyone?
I was—
Future One:
Disconnect. Leave me be.
Woman: Hello? I…I’m not…
Future One:
What is this? What is this?
Woman:
Hi – can you hear me?
Look, I know this is strange. You’re not dreaming, and you’re not losing it, and I’m not trying to sell you something…
Future One:
Why are you bare? Who are you?
Wait. I … know. You’re in America. You’re in another time. How do I know this?
What do you want?
Woman:
I can’t explain everything. Just that – this is real. I see others farther in the past. I talk to them. We’re all connected. It’s something – beyond understanding maybe. The others have theories. I just –
Future One:
I’ve seen them.
I thought they were – some sort of new forced connection. Fed through my tech.
Or the plants. Looking for targets.
I –
Woman:
She’s gone again.
I know who she is. Just like I knew with the others. She’s in 2133. In Paraguay. She migrated there with … so many others. As the waters rose on the coasts.
She’s hiding from something. She’s afraid.
Just like all of us.
That tech, it connects her with everyone and everything, and she doesn’t want that, because –
Future One:
I want to disconnect. I want to be alone. No one is alone anymore.
But no one tells the truth either.
And people are watching. They’re reporting us. The disabled women are taken to camps, run by Americans. They never come back.
Woman:
Oh god…
Future One:
I don’t want to disappear. But I can’t connect either.
Woman:
We’re all the fucking same. All through time. We’ve been disappeared, we’re being disappeared… we are disappeared.
Future One:
We can’t change that.
Woman:
No. We can’t. Because time just repeats and repeats. Circles in on itself.
And it’s not linear either. The others, in the past. It’s all happening now. We’re all happening at once.
Future One:
We have not learned from you. Our time ignores all your mistakes and pain.
Woman:
And our time ignored all the lessons of the past.
Future One:
I’m afraid for my life, as every woman like me has been for centuries…
Woman:
I’m sorry. I know fear. Of the unknown, and the future, and knowing that --
Future One:
This has happened before. This will happen again.
Woman:
Yes.
The others, they talked to me about fate, and sight.
And knowing – ultimately – that we exist. We’ve always existed.
That we are a tribe, of weirdoes and witches and warriors.
I’ve found comfort in that.
I’m afraid, but I’m not alone.
Neither are you.
Hello?
She’s gone again. But that felt good, it felt --
Ah.
The air feels different. I didn’t notice how it felt before, but now it feels sterile. Empty.
Like she is really gone.
Like –
Oh.
Oh no.
Are you there?
Sisters, are you there?
I don’t know your actual names, I can’t call out to you…except to say mad One and Broken One and Unnatural One and Old One and Ugly One…are you there?
Come to me? Don’t be gone.
Don’t leave me.
Sisters…
Please?
Sound: Record off.
Music: Outro theme (12 Ghosts II, Nine Inch Nails)
Voiceover:
Wyrd Woman is an audio drama from Broads and Books Productions.
The show is written, performed and produced by Amy Lee Lillard.
Music comes from the Ghosts albums by Nine Inch Nails, courtesy of a Creative Commons license.
Find full episode notes, transcripts, and show details at wyrdwomanpodcast.com.
If you like what you hear, tell a weird friend.
Thanks for listening.
* All music comes from the Ghosts albums by Nine Inch Nails, courtesy of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike license.
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