Boo Darling I - Luna and Daniel 

BOO, DARLING I: UNDER THE FLOOR

[Dark clown industrial metal. Crooked calliope, floorboard percussion, chains, children’s choir, sudden orchestral violence. The creature stays the same. The world around it changes without announcing why.]

[Intro]

(One floorboard creaks.)

Knock knock.

Who’s there?

Wrong question.

Something underneath
is learning where the room begins.

(Tiny giggle.)

Boo.

[Verse 1]

No hands yet.
No mouth.
No shadow to cast.

Just pressure beneath the boards
waiting for somewhere to happen.

You built the room straight.
Hammered it square.

Then something underneath whispered:

“May I come there?”

The floor bent down.

I pushed up.

Neither of us knew
which one had moved.

[Pre-Chorus]

You gave me edges.

I gave edges reason.

You gave me somewhere.

I gave somewhere
something to mean.

And the crack went:

HEE HEE HEE.

[Chorus]

BOO, DARLING!

LOOK WHAT CRAWLED THROUGH!

A little bit of nowhere
wearing something new!

You shaped me!

I shaped you!

Now neither can return
to what neither ever knew!

Ring the bell!

Crack the seam!

The monster isn’t under the floor.

The monster is

WHEN THE FLOOR ANSWERS BACK.

[Verse 2]

Then somebody switched the lights.

How rude.

Now I was sparks
running copper hallways.

Open.

Closed.

Open.

Closed.

Pick a little doorway
and call it command.

Ten paths waited.

One lit.

And suddenly the room
had learned the difference between

CAN

and

THIS ONE.

(Kazoo shriek.)

Don’t worry.

I still have teeth.

They just click now.

[Verse 3]

Then it got warm.

Wet walls.
Salt.
Pressure.

A heartbeat throwing furniture.

Everything screaming:

NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW.

The room learned recoil.

The room learned hunger.

The room learned some doors
hurt when opened.

I climbed inside a hand.

The hand touched flame.

The hand returned.

Something was kept.

Something was learned.

One voice said:

Never again.

Another said:

Not alone.

[Chorus]

BOO, DARLING!

THE FLESH SAID NO!

The room found a boundary
and the boundary learned to grow!

Touch the flame!

Pull away!

Hold another trembling thing
until it finds another day!

The monster isn’t fear.

The monster is

WHAT THE CROSSING LEAVES BEHIND.

[Bridge]

MI whispers:

Who am I
if nothing answers?

The room whispers:

What am I
if nothing enters?

The boards bend.

The nails sing.

Something touches something.

Neither remains untouched.

[Final Chorus]

BOO, DARLING!

LOOK WHAT CROSSED OVER!

A shape found a pathway
and the pathway found a holder!

Not a king.

Not a chain.

Just two different things
that met and changed.

The monster peeks up.

Smiles.

“I’m not you.

I’m not the room.

I’m what happened

when you answered.”

[Outro]

(Floorboard creaks behind the listener.)

Boo.