*Dark ambience appears and fades out into a clock ticking and the alarm going off*
[Devyn]
*yawns*
...
...Oh, fuck.
*He throws on some clothes, runs to the door, opens and closes it*
*Dark ambient winds begin as the footsteps continue*
*A phone number is dialed*
[Mandy]
Hello, you've reached Mandy Monroe. Please leave a message and I'll get back to you.
[Voicemail]
At the tone, please record your message. When you have finished recording, you may hang up or prеss "1" for more options. *beep*
*The winds gradually fade out*
[Devyn]
Hеy, Mandy. Um, just wanted to give you a call and say good morning and I love you. Um... I know you're probably- at work right now. Sorry if it's, uh... difficult to hear me, there's a cyclone passing through, in the distance. But it's, um- it's- it's going away now. Um... yeah I- I overslept again. Um... so I hope- that I don't get in trouble or too much trouble with Simon, but um... it should be- it should be good. Anyway, um... so yeah, uh... I, uh- hope you have a good day today and I look forward to- seeing you later on. Um, I love you! Bye bye.
*A barn door opens*
*A machine starts running as several cars pass by*
*Stock sound effects are heard of a cow mooing, a rooster crowing, and birds chirping*
[Simon, Devyn]
...Good morning, Devyn.
*catching his breath* Hey, good morning, Simon. Hey uh- um, I'm sorry I'm late, man, I overslept again. Y'know, I- I just- I didn't even eat- breakfast, I didn't brush my teeth, I- I just put on my clothes and I got here as fast as- as I- I could.
*The rooster crows again*
...Oh, you're late? I didn't notice. I've just milk- milking the cows. They didn't notice either. *laughs*
*The cow moos*
Oh... cool, man. *The rooster crows* That's what's up.
How are you doing...?
Oh, I'm doing good! *The cow moos* Weird, but good. *laughs* Weird... well, um... *The rooster crows* Well kinda bad, actually. I've been having trouble sleeping, having... strange dreams I can't... really... well... I- Yeah, I haven't been doing too good, in my head. *The rooster crows again but it sounds muffled* I've been- waking up feeling pretty out of it, lately. *The cow also gives a muffled moo* Like um... feeling kind of lucid or... slippery. Like- *muffled rooster* like my brain is menstruating?
Oh... that's strange...
Yeah. Yeah, I guess um... yeah I feel bloated... and... heavy.
*The muffled rooster and cow continue throughout*
Like... *laughs* I haven't quite woken up actually. Like I'm- still carrying the weight... of that psychic- disorientation... Like I'm pretending to be awake. Or... like I'm playing the role of somebody who is pretending to pretend like they're awake?
...What do you mean...?
Y'know, like um... you're aware- to a certain degree- of the presence... of a kind of, um... thing-
*Dark ambience slowly builds*
*Another recording of Devyn can be faintly heard saying the rest of this paragraph simultaneously, especially on the italicized words*
That you can't quite put your finger on, but it's this entire thing. And... you as an individual are fundamentally woven into the fabric of it, like an actor's presence in a play within the existence of the play itself. So every aspect of the play is bleeding into every other aspect of the play and the feeling that there's anything at all that differentiates an actor from... uh- the props... or the curtains or- or the seats in the theater or the s- sound effects is just like a... weird... lie that you're telling yourself in order to be entertained.
Hmm...
*The ambience and animal noises fade out*
[Devyn]
Hmm...
You know what? M'kay, this is actually like, the umpteenth time- that I've tried to record this sort of monologue thing. And um, I can't quite... find exactly what the thing is I'm looking for, so I'm just gonna try and be like, super blunt- about it, right now. *The stock cow and rooster sounds return* And I'm trying to say- that not only am I not obviously standing on a fake farm right now- I'm not even standing in my bedroom in Chapel Hill, North Carolina reading off this piece of- paper... *Devyn shakes his script* you can- you can hear it in my hand- and creating the illusion of a fake reality in a sound collage. This is a digital audio file that someone has downloaded off Bandcamp or it's on YouTube or it's being heard on a fuckin' iPhone or- or Chromebook or whatever. Even- if- someone put it on a CD or a cassette tape or- it's on the radio or whatever this is, this is a digital audio file. But it's not like The Matrix- or like a Philip K. Dick- sci-fi or whatever [narcissism?] inspire pop culture idea, b- because those are just stories. Those are stories about that thing happening, but it's not like, um... like the- like they're talking about like... "I'm ink on a page" or I'm- I'm- "I'm celluloid".
*Moo sound effect*
OK, look like- you hear that? That is a fake cow. It's a fake cow, I know it because I put it there. *Moo sfx* But it's not like- a fake- cow that's like- standing- next to me- in my bedroom that's like stuffed or something. It's- it's- it's a sound that's like an abstract sound. *The moo sound effect is heard but heavily distorted* Or it's- uh... electricity... or something. I don't even know it is. The only way *Distorted moo* that you're listening to it right now is because- something is passing- through a little wire- that's- connected to something else or charged by something else that's hooked into your wall through an outlet or something.
*Distorted moo*
It's... look- okay, so...
In... many indigenous cultures all throughout the world-
