[EP16] Days Gone By
They were going to finish it today. They said that three days ago.
Note: For readers new to the Mansion, each of the eight voices you’ll meet in this Session represents an archetypal part of the internal family system (IFS). These characters form a mythic council inside my psyche. Some protect. Some feel. Some process. Some burn it all down and start again. The identities placed after each name offer a label from my own psyche, reflecting their unique energy and role. You don’t need to know IFS to feel it. But if you do? You’ll recognize the exiles, managers, and firefighters by how they speak. And how they show up when the work becomes the whole world.
[Scene opens in the conference room. Trevor is at the whiteboard. Lenny is at the table. They are working.]
[Day one. Casper appears in the doorway.]
Casper (The Casanova): [looking them both over] You look terrible.
Trevor (The Conductor): [not turning from the whiteboard] We’re working.
Casper: I can see that. I’m saying you look terrible while doing it.
Lenny (The Collector): [not looking up] Noted.
Casper: Trevor, when did you last sleep?
Trevor: I slept.
Casper: For how long.
Trevor: A meaningful amount.
Casper: That’s not a number.
Trevor: It’s a range.
[Casper looks at Lenny.]
Lenny: Don’t look at me.
Casper: I’m looking at you.
Lenny: I’m fine.
Casper: You have ink on your face.
Lenny: [touching his face] Where.
Casper: Everywhere.
[Lenny wipes his face with his sleeve. Casper watches for a moment, then leaves.]
[Day two. Dion drifts in. He stops.]
Dion (The Comedian): [looking at the whiteboard, the binders, the files covering the table] What happened in here?
Trevor: Progress.
Dion: You both look like you’ve been stored somewhere.
Lenny: We’re working.
Dion: I can see that. I’m asking if you’re alive.
Trevor: [turning briefly] Dion, was there something you needed?
Dion: I came to see if you wanted something to eat.
Trevor: We ate.
Dion: When?
[Trevor and Lenny look at each other.]
Lenny: Yesterday.
Trevor: [returning to the whiteboard] We’ll eat later.
Dion: It is later.
Trevor: Later than that.
[Dion leaves. He comes back thirty seconds later, sets two bread rolls on the corner of the table, and leaves again without saying anything.]
[Forty minutes pass. Lenny eats one roll without looking at it. Trevor eats the other.]
[Day two, later. Kurt appears in the doorway.]
Kurt (The Curator): [to Trevor] When’s the last time you moved?
Trevor: I’ve been moving. I’ve been at the whiteboard.
Kurt: That’s not moving. That’s standing in one place with a marker.
Trevor: It counts.
Kurt: [to Lenny] You.
Lenny: I’m sitting.
Kurt: For two days.
Lenny: The work requires sitting.
Kurt: The body requires moving.
Lenny: When we’re done.
Kurt: Are you close?
[Trevor and Lenny look at each other.]
Trevor: [carefully] We’re making progress.
Kurt: That’s not what I asked.
[Neither of them answers. Kurt nods once. He leaves. He comes back with two glasses of water, sets them down, and goes without a word.]
[Day three. Artie peeks around the door frame. Just his head.]
Artie (The Creator): [taking in the room, the gray whiteboard, the sprawl of files, & the empty mugs] Are you okay?
Trevor: Yes.
Artie: [to Lenny] Are you okay?
Lenny: Yes.
Artie: [nodding, satisfied] Okay.
[He disappears.]
[Day three, later. Cyril arrives with his tea.]
Cyril (The Concierge): [surveying the room] I’m going to make a suggestion.
Trevor: No.
Cyril: You haven’t heard it.
Trevor: I don’t need to.
Cyril: Trevor…
Trevor: Cyril, I appreciate you. I do. But if you tell me to take a break right now I will lose my mind entirely and that will set us back even further, so the kindest thing you can do is let us finish.
[Cyril looks at Lenny.]
Lenny: What he said.
Cyril: [quietly] You’re not close, are you.
[Silence.]
Trevor: [to the whiteboard] We’re making progress.
Cyril: [nodding slowly] Right.
[He leaves. He comes back once more, sets a fresh pot of tea on the table, and goes without a word.]
[Day three, evening. Trevor’s marker is uncapped. He hasn’t written anything in several minutes. Lenny’s pen rests in his hand. Neither of them is moving.]
[The door opens softly. Nels walks in carrying a lit vanilla candle in a small glass. He sets it on the center of the table. Pulls out a chair. Sits. Opens his water bottle. Says nothing.]
[The smell moves through the room.]
Trevor: [after a long moment] That smells like cookies.
Lenny: Yes.
[A beat.]
Trevor: When did we last eat.
Lenny: The rolls.
Trevor: That was yesterday.
Lenny: Yes.
[Trevor caps his marker. Sets it in the tray.]
Trevor: I think we should stop for tonight.
Lenny: [closing the top file] Agreed.
Trevor: And perhaps tomorrow as well.
Lenny: [after a pause] Agreed.
Trevor: The work will be here.
Lenny: It will.
[They stand. Trevor leaves his binder on the table. Lenny leaves his files. They walk out together without looking back.]
[Nels sits alone. The candle burns. He sips his water. The smallest smile. He doesn’t say anything at all.]
End Session.