The Girl Beneath The Bone

THE CAGE (THE WORLD SEE ONLY THE BONE) (A dimly lit stage. At the center stands a giant skeleton frame. The GIRL sits beneath it, her head bowed.... Soft music plays in the background.) NARRATOR: They called her bones. Not because she was empty, but because no one cared to look beneath. They measured her by what they could count, named her by how they could see, and buried her beneath a cage of assumptions. (The GIRL slowly raises her head.) GIRL: Do you know what it feels like? To stand in a room full of eyes and remain unseen? To scream through silence, and still be called quiet? They say I am fragile. They say I am broken. But they never asked who placed these bones around me. (A SHADOW enters.) SHADOW: You wear them well. GIRL: I never chose them. SHADOW: Yet you hide behind them. GIRL: No. I survived beneath them. (A brief silence.) SHADOW: And if they were taken away? GIRL: …and they will finally meet me. (The light dims except for a single spotlight on the GIRL.) NARRATOR: For every "bone" has a story. And beneath every story, a girl waiting to be known. BLACKOUT.::: SCENE TWO (THE FIRST BONES.) (The stage is brighter than before. The skeleton frame is gone. We are in the past. A younger ADUNNI sits at a table writing in a notebook. She is excited.) ADUNNI: Mama! Mama! Look! (ADUNNI'S mother enters carrying laundry.) MOTHER: What is it now? ADUNNI: I wrote a poem. MOTHER: A poem? ADUNNI: Yes. (Nods.) MOTHER: Will the poem feed you? (ADUNNI lowers her notebook.) MOTHER: You spent too much time dreaming. Your mates are doing useful things. ADUNNI: I just wanted you to read it. MOTHER: Later. (MOTHER exits.) (ADUNNI remains frozen.) NARRATOR: The first bone was not cruelty. It was dismissal. The quiet kind. The voice that teaches that voice can wait. (The lights dim.) ( A school classroom.) TEACHER: Who wrote this essay? ADUNNI: I did, sir. TEACHER: You? ADUNNI: Yes, sir. TEACHER: Impossible. You are too quiet to write something this good. (he class laughs.) CLASSMATE 1: Maybe she copied it. CLASSMATE 2: She definitely copied it. (Adunni says nothing.) NARRATOR: The second one was doubt. Not her doubt. Theirs. But eventually she carried it anyway. (The stage shifts.) (A young group of friends stands together. ADUNNI approach.) ADUNNI: Hi (Friends suddenly stopped talking.) KEMI: We were just leaving. ADUNNI: Oh. MUREWA: We'll call you later. (They leave.) ADUNNI: Okay. (She watches them disappear.) NARRATOR: The third bone was loneliness. The feeling of standing among people and still being left out.