ACT IV

SCENE 1: 

(ALLESIO catches the next train out of town and begins to head back north.  This train will take him to North Carolina then from there he will get another to New York. He arrives in North Carolina to transfer from one train to the next; there is a two-hour layover so he decided to stop and kill some time in the local pub.)

ALLESIO (He sits down at the bar. The room is not well lit. The people there seem to be minding only their own business. This seems to be a place where the wanderers go to pass the time on their travels. Allesio addresses the man who is seated next to him.) Hello, sir.

STRANGER.  Yep

ALLESIO.  Know where I can find a telephone in this town?

STRANGER.  There’s one of them at the end of the road.

ALLESIO.  Thank you

STRANGER (turning towards Allesio). Hey, how about you buy me a drink?

ALLESIO.  I don’t have any money, (Shrugging his shoulders) I’m sorry.

STRANGER.  C’mon stranger. I’ll tell you your fortune!

ALLESIO.  I’m sure you will (sarcastically) 

STRANGER.  Don’t believe me?  Give me your hand (The man reaches towards him)

ALLESIO.  No thank you I have had enough of this for one week. (He pulls his hand back)

(The stranger pushed forward and grabs ALLESIO’s hand. He peers down at his hand and then into Allesio’s eyes. At the very moment the man looks at Allesio wide eyed and lets go.)

ALLESIO.  What’s the matter with you man!

STRANGER (Rising to his feet). Oh man you are a killer!  A real killer.  This man is a killer there’s two of them! (The man begins to shout in the pub)  There are two of them in there!  There’s two people in this man!  There’s two of them.

(The man continues to shout at ALLESIO and others in the pub. For fear he may be in fact revealed as a murderer he quickly slips out the door. ALLESIO heads outside of the pub for the phone at the end of the road. He sees a familiar looking man down the street in front of him. Before he can recognize the face he feels a sharp jab in his side and a large hand go over his left shoulder.  The jab is that of a gun being thrust into his back and the hand belongs to one of BARACUS’s hoods sent by the boss to retrieve ALLESIO.)

ALLESIO.  What the hell!

HOOD (holding a gun to ALLESIO’S torso).   Close your mouth and walk quietly forward.

ALLESIO.  And if I don’t?  What will you don’t kill me right here in public? 

HOOD:  You just try me!

ALLESIO.  Who are you what do you want?  I don’t have any money I am a traveler!

HOOD:    I know exactly who you are ALLESIO. (The man nudges him harder with the gun.) Now keep moving!

ALLESIO.  How do you know my name?  What is going on? I…

HOOD:  (Interupting).  You didn’t really think you could kill BARACUS and then just walk away did you?  Now you will answer to the boss.

(ALLESIO starts to feel something start to overtake him. He turns around and punches the hood in the nose, breaking it. In a flash he disarms the man and has his gun turned on him.)

VINCENT.  Not so tuff and scary now are you!

ALLESIO.   (Grabbing his mouth and flinging his arms wildly). Who said that?  How can this be?

VINCENT.  Now is not the time, be silent!

ALLESIO.   (Looking crazed as both voices in this conversation come from his mouth). What is happening, have I gone mad?

VINCENT.  Mind your tongue!  Stay quiet and let me control!

ALLESIO.   (Now finally realizing that his dream about the fortune teller may have not been a dream at all).  Get out of me!  You have no right I don’t want you, be gone from me!

VINCENT.  Quiet you… Before I smite you and take your very breath!

HOOD:  (Looking at ALLESIO talking to himself and flailing around like a mad man.) Hey what he hell are you doing boy!  Give me that gun!  Get over here!

VINCENT.  (Pointing the gun at the mans face.) One more word form you and I will end your days here.

(The hood remains silent.) We must go to New Orleans. She is there. We will proceed.

(As soon as VINCENT speaks these words ALLESIO regains control of himself and falls to his knees. He is frightened and confused but feels compelled to press on.  He rises to his feet and returns the firearm to the HOOD. The man looks at him with confusion and slowly reaches out and takes the gun.)

ALLESIO (Placing the gun in the man’s hand.) Take me to your boss and do not a word of what has happened to either of us. 

(The hood nods in agreement, puts his gun away, and the two men board the train headed back to New Orleans)

SCENE 2

(The two men spend the long train ride talking about trivial things almost as two friends would. Before they know it the train arrives back in New Orleans and the men are summoned to get off the train.  They leave the train and step out into the station area.)

ALLESIO.  . What now? 

HOOD:   (becoming angry.) I’ll tell you what!  (Grabbing ALLESIO by the shirt color and pulling his pistol out he drags him around the corner.  Once out of view the HOOD smacks ALLESIO with the butt of the pistol knocking him unconscious.)

(The HOOD calls his boss and a crew is sent to pick up the two men from the station to bring them back to the Falcon Estate. The Falcon Estate is the home of the boss, the Reverend ODAMOUS Falcon. Once they arrive, ALLESIO is pulled from the car and drug up to the front steps of the gigantic white southern estate house.  The yard looks like a scene from the civil war days. It’s a gigantic spectacle of southern excess and financial wealth.  Stone and marble line every inch of the grounds and the home.  ALLESIO hits the ground with a thud on the front steps of the home.  There is a small-framed man with white hair and a white beard wearing an all white suit, complete with white shoes and even a white cane and hat sitting on the porch.)

THE MAN IN WHITE   (With a quiet but strong voice addressing the hoods carrying ALLESIO.) Leave him. (Turning his back and walking towards the house)  Get up boy. Come have a brandy with me.

ALLESIO.   (Looks at the man perplexed by his seemingly nice demeanor and rises to his feet.) Who are you?

THE MAN IN WHITE.  I am the lord your god.

ALLESIO.  Than this must be heaven and I certainly must be dead!

THE MAN IN WHITE (with a smile on his face.) You’re just a smart as a thought you would be. I am Odamous Falcon (tipping his hat in a sarcastic manner to ALLESIO)

ALLESIO.  Should that mean something to me?

ODAMOUS (sarcastic again.) Well only that for now you are in the presence of the man who controls the heaven you have apparently died and ended up in.

ALLESIO.  So why am I here?

ODAMOUS. Well you are the David that killed my Goliath. (Sizing up ALLESIO in amazement that a small man such as him could defeat the giant BARACUS.)

ALLESIO.  What do you want from me?

ODAMOUS. Oh no son, what do you want from me?

ALLESIO.  I don’t understand, what do you mean?

ODAMOUS. (Sits back in his chair and pours another glass of brandy. ALLESIO can hear the ice crack as the liquor runs over it into the glass.) Well you have come into my town, killed my best man and all in the pursuit of taking something from me that does not belong to you.  So once again my David, what do you want from me?

ALLESIO.   (with an angry tone.)  What I came to take does not belong to you and therefore does not concern you.

ODAMOUS (with a harsher tone.) I think I will be the judge of who has a claim over my niece, my family!

ALLESIO.   (Shocked.) Your niece?  What are you talking about?

ODAMOUS. Oh you didn’t know did you?  She is my niece, the daughter of my sister. My own blood.

ALLESIO.  This must be a misunderstanding, the girl I came for is… (right at that very moment ODAMOUS snaps his finger and points to a man on the side of the porch. The door opens and another man walks out with HER behind him)

ALLESIO.  (enraged.) What is going on here?

ODAMOUS. Allow me to introduce to you my niece… But you already met haven’t you?  (Now shouting) When you were killing and burning my captain BARACUS!  (He smashes his hand down on the table knocking over his brandy glass, which is now empty)

(SHE begins to cry and looks at ALLESIO with sorrow in her eyes)

     SHE (with tears in her eyes.) I wanted to tell you what was going on but there was never enough time.  I never thought you would do what you did.  I just thought we would run away together to a safe place.  But when you killed BARACUS I knew something was wrong, that it wasn’t you.  I knew that when you spilled his blood no matter how far we ran they would find us.  So I decided to save you, I hid behind the train station that night.  I wrote you that note and left it with the train station attendant.  I watched you board the train and leave. (SHE turns away from him) It was the only way to keep you safe.  I came back here and turned myself in.  I told my uncle that I killed BARACUS but he already knew better. They had their eye on you the second you came into town.  When I told my uncle of this he slapped my face and sent me to the basement of the house for a whole day.  I didn’t care I only feared for you while I sat there in darkness and silence.  I overheard them talking about how they knew your name and they knew where you were going.  Then I saw you getting dragged up here and now here you are.  I am so sorry ALLESIO, I wish we never met, I only hurt the men in my life!  I am terrible and I deserve this but you, you are my angel, my protector…

     ODAMOUS (shouting.)  ENOUGH!  Save your tears and your lullabies for another time.

(The commotion becomes too much for ALLESIO.  He feels himself slipping away and tries to fight it but to no avail.)

     VINCENT. Allow me to speak to her.

     ODAMOUS (confused and annoyed.)  Are you talking to me boy?

     VINCENT.  No I am talking to ALLESIO.

(The atmosphere on the porch turns to confusion.)

     ODAMOUS. Boy, that bump on the head must be worse than it looks!  (The men laugh)

     ALLESIO.   (taking a deep breath.) Say your peace you may speak. 

(Again all look on him with confusion)

     VINCENT (addressing her.)  Ever since I was a child I loved you, I knew it the first time I saw you in church.

     SHE (concerned.) ALLESIO what are you talking about? We did not meet until we were 17. I don’t understand.

     VINCENT.  I am not ALLESIO. Listen to me and you will see.

     SHE (pleading.)  What are you talking about please don’t act crazy…

     VINCENT (calming and sincere.) Silent my love, just hear me out. I have loved you always.  The day that I knew it most is the day I kissed you by the creek.  I felt your soft lips against mine and for that moment I crossed the path from being a boy to being a man.  I saw my entire life before my eyes and I knew you were my one great love, my only love.  Then I saw you watching the other boys jump in the water and swim.  I felt guilty that I could not swim.  I heard the others calling me names and saying that I was no good because I could not swim.  So I looked into your eyes and so you would not think less of me, I jumped in.  I knew what I was doing. I did it freely, of my own will.  When I ht the water, I felt the cold rush of the creek on my face, and I saw you.  As the water began to fill my lungs and my stomach I saw your face turn from happy, to scared, to sad.  As I felt myself slip away I heard you call my name and tell me not to go, and when I awoke I was still here, except not the way I had been before.  I have been given a blessing and a curse.  I have been cursed to walk this earth tormented and tortured until I can find you and release you from your guilt.  I have also been blessed to see you one last time before I go to the ever after.

     SHE (with anger and tears in her eyes.)  Why are you talking crazy ALLESIO? Why are you talking about VINCENT and things that don’t concern you! Why! Tell me you fool, Why!

     VINCENT. It is me. VINCENT. I know of things only we can know.  ALLESIO Is as I once was. He is in love with you and I work through him.  I know things only we can know together.

     SHE (grabbing ALLESIO by the shoulders and peering into his eyes.) What do you know?  Tell me ALLESIO what madness is this!

     VINCENT.  In the box you buried next to me you put three items and wrote seven words. You are the only person who ever saw what was in that box and the only one who can know its secrets. 

     SHE (Falling to her knees and crying.) What do you know of that box, how do you know?

     VINCENT.  In that box was the blue ribbon you wore in your hair the day I kissed you. Also, there was the stone I gave you for your birthday and the flowers I picked you from the churchyard.  On a small piece of paper you wrote the words ‘til death do us part, I do’.

     SHE (with amazement and passion.)  VINCENT?  Is this real?  Oh my god how can this be?  (SHE looks into his eyes and she sees him inside ALLESIO and she knows it to be true.)

     VINCENT. It is not your fault I went to my grave.  I did what I wanted to do for you and for love and I am happy I did.  I release you from your guilt.  You may love again…

     ODAMOUS (sarcastically interrupting, while clapping his hands.) Bravo! Bravo!  What a show! (In a serious tone.) Enough of this horse shit.  You two have a choice to make and I have had enough of this.  (He turns to ALLESIO who now seems himself)         

     ALLESIO.  What should I do with you?

     ALLESIO.  How can you hold your own niece hostage?  What type of evil man are you?

     ODAMOUS.  She came here of her own will. I don’t hold her hostage, she holds herself hostage.  Just like her mother she will be a whore.

    ALLESIO.  (lunges forward to try and strike ODAMOUS.  One of the hoods smacks him in the face with the butt of his rifle and breaks his face open. He begins bleeding all over.)  How dare you, you bastard!

     ODAMOUS  (with a cunning grin.)  Ah yes, a man in love is a man insane. (he boasts) Well since you are willing to bleed for her, what else might you do for her? You killed for her. You lied for her. Now you bleed for her.  What else will you do my David?

     ALLESIO.  Whatever I must!

     ODAMOUS. Ok then. Since I am a fair man, and I am that, I have a simple choice for you to make.  I will allow you to choose your fate.  You have taken the life of my top earning man. You have done this in such a way that you cause me humiliation and financial loss.  For that you can only offer me two things. You can increase what I have lost plus my interest… but you don’t have any money.  I could send you to work for me. After all a man who can kill BARACUS may be valuable (contemplating while rubbing his chin.)  But, that my friend seems to have been a fluke.  You don’t look like a killer.  If BARACUS were here in your position most of us would be dead by now. So you are as weak as you look after all. (convincing himself).  You can offer your life that I may take it to repair my reputation to those who know of your disrespect.  Seemingly, you killed BARACUS for the cause of my niece. But you have not received her now have you?

     ALLESIO.  No I have not.

     ODAMOUS. To make it fair then I offer you this. Your life… for hers.

     ALLESIO.  (his eyes widen.)  I don’t understand?  You would kill your own niece?

     ODAMOUS. I hadn’t thought of it actually.  But I will set her free. Turn her loose from this life.  No more will she work in my house of burlesque, or be called my property.  She will be free to go as she pleases.  But the price for that is your life.  Or since you mentioned it… (gleaming with enjoyment) You may keep your life and pledge it to me. I will train you for my trade and teach you to work for me.  You will spend your whole life as my personal assassin and my enforcer.  You will be able to live, but the price for that is her life.

     ALLESIO.   (shaking and frightened.)  What do you mean her life?  As in you would kill her? 

     ODAMOUS. No, no, I wouldn’t kill her… that guy over there will.  (He sarcastically points to the hood at the end of the porch)

     ALLESIO.   Why. Why kill her? We could both work for you.

     ODAMOUS. Ha ,Ha you think I am a fool? Sure I let her live and before I know it you have a knife in my throat while I sleep! As long as she is alive you will, as any man in love scheme a way to get her away from me. And when all your schemes fail you will turn on me and try to kill me.  Only a truly broken man with nothing to lose can serve a lifetime with no remorse.  If you are to live and be of any value she must be dead!  And if she is to live you must die to pay your debt to BARACUS and me.

     SHE (screaming.) No! ALLESIO, don’t leave me! Don’t kill me! 

     ALLESIO.   …And if I choose to die? 

     ODAMOUS. I will release her before your body is stiff.

     ALLESIO.  And how can I trust you? How do I know you will keep your end?

     ODAMOUS. You don’t. But see you’ll be dead so you wont really care will you now?  You will have to take my word on it.  If you choose to die like a fool, then I will let her go.

     ALLESIO.  (Gazes into her eyes for a moment and sees she is his one true love just as Vincent did when he jumped into the creek and just as Vincent before him he decides to leap to his death as well.)

     ALLESIO/VINCENT (they address her together as they are now of one mind and one emotion.) Do you love me?

     SHE:  Yes of course I do. More than I love myself.  That is why they must kill me not you. Live ALLESIO! (tears roll down her face) Don’t leave here. (now begging) Let them take me!

     ALLESIO/VINCENT.  I love you. You are my true fire. You are the saddest song I have ever heard. You are my heart.  I Love you and I will not allow you to rot here.  You are free from us both, go and live your life.  Look for me in the eyes of strangers, seek me in the wind, Ill be there.

     SHE:  NO! ALLESIO don’t do this… NO!

     ALLESIO..:  ODAMOUS, I choose her.

     ODAMOUS. Choose her to die?

     ALLESIO.  (he stands firm.)  I choose her to live. Take my life as your price for her freedom.  I will not fight you, nor will I ever work for you.  She is mine and always be and that you cannot touch.

     ODAMOUS. So be it then. (ODAMOUS motions to the hood next to ALLESIO. In one quick thoughtless motion the hood raises his pistol towards ALLESIO’s face and fires. BANG! The gun fires and fragments of blood and bullet casings sting the faces of those close to ALLESIO. The bullet pierces his skull and a red mist surrounds his head like a fog of blood.  His eyes roll back in his head and in less than a second he is face down on the porch motionless and bleeding out.)

SCENE 3

 

     SHE. (screaming.) NO! ALLESIO No!  You monster!  Damn you!  (She sobs and wails wildly)

     ODAMOUS. Put another bullet in this kid make sure he’s dead. (Bending down over ALLESIO’s lifeless body) Never mind, why waste the bullet on this kid. Just get him off my porch. Dump him by the creek and let the birds do the rest… and clean this mess up.

     HOOD. And what about her? (pointing to HER)

     ODAMOUS. As we discussed, I want her cleaned up and back in the Parlay by tonight.  We have lost enough money this week already.

     SHE.  ODAMOUS, you promised my freedom!  You SNAKE!  I will not work for you, no more!

     ODAMOUS. (squeezing her face with his hand and speaking in disgust.) You will work or you will hurt in ways you never imagined.  Just like your mother you are nothing but filth.  Just like she stole my legacy, my right, I will take yours.  If you deny me I will kill your mother and your father.  You will go and you will dance and please me, this is your only worth!  Now get out of my sight.  (Shoving her to the ground on her hands she lands in ALLESIO’s blood, which has pooled on the porch)

(The two hoods grab ALLESIO and drag him to a pickup near by. They toss him in the back and drive about a mile down to the creek at the edge of Falcon Estate. They drag his body passed a cornfield littered with black birds signing songs of murder, to the edge of a small embankment that leads to the creeks edge.  The two men hoist ALLESIO up and push him forward. The body tumbles down the hill and stops at the bottom.  As soon as it lands, the black birds circling above immediately begin to land around him.  The men start their truck and drive away as if they had merely taken out the trash.

(The human skull is an amazing thing.  It is able to withstand all manner of abuse and somehow snap back.  Sometimes a small bump on the head can be fatal, other times a bullet at close range can pierce the skull and be defected away from the brain by a small plate of bone. At just the right type of angle, a man may be lucky enough to survive a head shot and live to tell of it.  Today ALLESIO has such luck.)

(He can hear the water rushing over his left ear and can feel birds landing on him and pecking around.  He can feel that he is breathing and can hear the sounds of the wilderness.  He also hears a loud ringing in his ears and a burning feeling on his face.  Although he has witnessed every event that has happened since he was shot he has not been able to move or speak.)

     VINCENT.  Get up ALLESIO!

     ALLESIO.    Your still here?  Then I guess I am not dead.

     VINCENT. You must rise ALLESIO! It is not your time.

     ALLESIO.   I can’t move or even speak, what am I to do but die?

     VINCENT. I was born of the earth, and to it I have returned. From evil I was reborn in you and to the grace of God I return again.  As I depart from you I leave you with your guardian angel.  Follow him. Goodbye ALLESIO.

     ALLESIO.  (feels the tension leave his body and just like that VINCENT is gone. With his senses returning, he hears someone approaching. With every bit of strength in his body he lifts his head from the water to try and see. His eyes are filled with blood. He finally begins to focus and spots a man approaching. He quickly lays his head back down for fear it is another hood back to finish the job.)

(The man leans over ALLESIO and pulls him away from the water.) 

     ROM. ALLESIO, give me your hand.

(ALLESIO attempts to speak, but only coughs up more of his blood)

     ROM.  Don’t speak.  Just give me your hand.

(ALLESIO gives him his hand and is pulled to his feet. He regains his balance and surveys the landscape.  He begins to rehash what has happened to him in the last few hours.  As he remembers being shot he also remembers the words of ODAMOUS as they drug HER back to the Parlay.  A cold feeling comes over his whole body and his demeanor changes to that of a stone in the creek.  ALLESIO turns to ROM.

     ALLESIO.  How did you know to find me here, how could you know?

     ROM.  After all that you have seen you still don’t know the way of things?

     ALLESIO.  I was shot, I thought I was dead.

     ROM.  But you’re not. And now you know what you must do.  I can’t go where you are going. I can’t help you where you are headed. But you know what you are doing now.  Take care my friend. We’ll see you again.

     ALLESIO.  Where are you going?  (Before he can finish his sentence, ROM is gone into the fading sunlight as darkness begins to engulf the wooded area where he stands)

(ALLESIO walks to the top of the hill. With each step agony runs through his broken bones as the blood still runs down his face.  His hair is matted in red and his body is bruised to the color of dark blue.  When he reaches the top of the hill he can see the light from the city.  As he stands poised overlooking the lights that had done him so much wrong his eyes well with tears.  He thinks of her and his mind goes blank and his eyes black.  He begins to mumble words heard a hundred times before.  They are words from his days in church. A scripture verse. One of power. “Vengeance is mine thus sayeth the Lord.” ALLESIO says these words to himself over and over while peering through bloody eyes over the town.  He feels as if he has been crucified and resurrected.  Coldness overtakes him and blood now runs down his arms and over his tightly clenched fists. Hatred is in his heart and vengeance in his eyes. He begins to walk toward the fading light of the town.  ALLESIO the boy is now ALLESIO the man, New Orleans will never be the same…

            -Il Fini