4.9 I'm so lost!

It’s 2.30am. Markus - stressed, tired and scruffy - is sitting in the dark in front of his computer screen. Next to him is his printed 20-page essay, and on it, written in red, thick marker, it says: “Shorten!” and “Due: Friday!”.

Markus:       I’m so lost…

A ghostly Graham appears behind him.

Graham:      No, you just took a wrong turn.

Graham’s hand points to books and papers on the desk.

Graham:      You’ve done the reading. You’ve done the thinking. You’ve packed your luggage, as it were.

Kiri waves from the corner of the room. She is holding her bike with one hand, and a map-like paper with the other.

Kiri:             Before you’re ready to travel, you need a map.

The caption of the paper in her hand reads ‘Essay plan’.

Kiri:             The difference is, with writing at uni, you write the map yourself.

Mele is now standing next to Kiri.

Mele:           Then you just fill in the map. You know, with all the stuff you’ve read and thought about and written
                   down.

Next to Mele now stands Hua, playing the violin. She stops and points at Markus with the bow.

Hua:            And stick to the word count!

Markus wakes up - poof! - at his computer, mouth half open, in a ‘grmphwrgh where am I oh no I fell asleep at the keyboard’ kind of way.

Markus:       (switching the laptop back on) Okay, the map… Let’s try this...

Markus begins typing, breaking into a smile.

Markus:       I was wondering how they all fitted in here anyway. With the bike.