The Truth About Emanuel

[first lines]

Emanuel:
My name is Emanuel. I'm 17 years old and I killed my mother. I had her sliced open, like a goat for the slaughter, to get me pulled out. As she bled, the doctor pushed air into my lungs and pressed his hands repeatedly onto my chest, with the same rhythmic, repetitive motion that he used to jerk himself off that very morning. It worked. He came and I came. Back to life.

Emanuel:
The fact that my mother lost her life for this - for me - is probably just a side note. The cost of doing business. But it's me who pays. It's on my tab. And it accumulates interest with every passing year. My point is, there's no place for me. Because I'm not supposed to be here. Maybe if I was some sort of Olympic athlete, or a genius scientist. But I'm not. I'm not any of those things. I'm just a girl. A murderer without a motive. So I serve my time, waiting for my sentence to be up.

Claude:
What's that on your arm?

Emanuel:
My name.

Claude:
Emanuel. Isn't that the boy's spelling?

Emanuel:
They thought I was going to be a boy.

Claude:
[chuckles] But you're not.

Emanuel:
Reality's overrated.

Claude:
So why do you have your name tattooed on your arm?

Emanuel:
Because if I get separate from my bag, I'll still know who I am.

Emanuel:
[suddenly to checkout clerk] Sometimes, when I'm on my own, I imagine myself dying. Life pouring out of me like an open tap. Creates this river of my blood. My question is, have you ever noticed me float by?

Emanuel:
[about his meeting Linda] What was that?

Arthur:
My heart pumping blood to everything else.

Dennis:
The cord was still wrapped around your little neck. The doctor worked on you. And as you took your first breath...

Emanuel:
She took her last.

Linda:
[about Emanuel's mother] You look a lot like her. She's got an air of mystery and intrigue about her. Like someone you've known for many years, but you never really knew them.

Emanuel:
She certainly pulled that off. She left nothing behind. Not a trace.

Linda:
She left *you*. That's a pretty big trace.