LUCY WALKS INTO THE BATHROOM. She fills a glass with water from the sink and returns to the bedroom where Carrie is near the desk, playing with the Swiss Army knife.

“Why did you say it? You haven’t before,” Carrie perseverates with no inflection in her voice.

Lucy clears her throat and averts her eyes. “Don’t make this harder than it already is.”

“You’re being petulant.” Carrie watches her with reptilian steadiness.

“I’m not.” Lucy clears her throat again as she drinks water.

“Of course this is you acting out,” Carrie is saying. “Because you couldn’t possibly leave me. You can’t really act on your threat and never have been able to. Just look at you. You’re about to cry. You’re about to completely disintegrate at the mere thought of not being with me. You love me more than you’ve ever loved anyone in your life. You loved me first. I’m your first love. And you know how that works? Actually you don’t. You’re a child compared to me. But file this away.” Carrie’s index finger tap-tap-taps her temple.

“You never forget your first,” she says slowly and with emphasis. “You never get over it because it will always be the most intense thing you ever felt, your most unbearable desire and lust. The crush. The blushing. The thumping in the chest. The rushing and roaring of blood up your neck to your brain that lifts the top of your skull. You can’t think. You can’t talk. All you want to do is touch. You want to touch the person so badly you would kill to do it. Is there anything better than lust?”

“You’re fucking around with the beauty queen. So I guess you should know all about lust.

“We’re done.”

“You sure?” Carrie stares at the bulky red Swiss Army knife in the palm of her hand. “Because you’d better mean it. Words can change everything. Be careful what you mean or don’t.”

“I should have known from the first time we met.” Lucy paces faster, gesturing furiously. “When they escorted me into the ERF and turned me over to you, my supervisor, my mentor, my personal plague.”

“That wasn’t the first time I met you, Lucy. It was just the first time you met me.” Carrie rubs the knife with her thumb, testing its sharpness. “Come here. You need to take it easy.”

“You’re a cheat and a fake, a fraud, an intellectual thief, and that’s the worst kind because you’re stealing someone’s soul. I created CAIN and that’s what you can’t stand. All along you’ve taken the credit for what I in fact did. You trick people out of whatever it is you decide you want.”

“Oh my God we’re back to that.” Carrie laughs.