3All right, here's a play – the first I've ever written – produced by the great and powerful A! –grin- I hope you enjoy it, please review. Rated PG-13 for language, violence, and psychotic themes.
-A
A Conflict of Personality
ACT I, SCENE 1
(A spotlight illuminates a single point on the stage. Out of the dark, a young man steps forward, dressed fully in white.)
Aubrey: (quietly, addressing the audience) Pain is a funny thing. It's a strong and powerful force that most people never realize. People don't like feeling pain, they push it aside in their minds, making like it doesn't exist anymore. And then it's gone, right? I think not. Pain doesn't just disappear; trust me, I'd know. I've shouldered more than my fair share of it for years, just so someone else could be happy. It's not fair. I never get to hear about the good times, I never get to see the smiles or hear the laughing. All I ever get is the lonely and desperate angst tossed aside; the emotions that no one ever wants to acknowledge. Pain doesn't go away when you don't think about it, it accumulates.
(Blackout. A bed is brought on stage, two people sleep in it. Aubrey is illuminated by the spotlight again, this time dressed in all black. He stands beside the bed, ignoring a person standing far outside the spotlight; contemplating as he watches a sleeping couple.)
Aubrey: (unconcerned, not entirely present in the moment as he speaks) I'm so tired of this.. Maybe I could do it now. It'd be so easy, everyone's asleep.
(Ayden appears, dressed in light colors as he steps into the spotlight next to Aubrey.)
Ayden: It's not something to joke about. Besides, you won't do it. (he sounds confident, calm)
Aubrey: (mildly frustrated by Ayden's presence) I should do it.
Ayden: (sighs, patronizing: he's heard this all before) Think of the consequences.
Aubrey: (shrugs) I honestly don't care anymore. (he doesn't)
Ayden: (growling annoyed) You should.
Aubrey: (nonchalant) I don't. (beat) I could do it to you too.
Ayden: (surprised despite himself) You wouldn't.
Aubrey: (getting an idea, starting to smile) Oh, but I could.
Ayden: (warning) Aubrey, you can't survive without me. Be serious.. I know it's a stretch, but try to be rational.
Aubrey: That's your job. (suddenly despairing, mood swing; faces Ayden) I don't want to survive anymore, nothing ever seems to help. Nothing changes. It just hurts more and more.. I can feel it right now, all of it settles in my chest. It's so heavy, Ayden, it'll kill me slowly. Smother me. (slowly turns, facing the bed again)
Ayden: (sympathetic, trying to rationalize) You can't just make something stop, Aubrey. It won't end. They'll just put you in a home with barred windows and heavy medication. (patronizing again, resting his hand on Aubrey's shoulder)
Aubrey: (beat, another mood swing as he gets an idea. A cruel grin appears) Not if I blame it on… you.
Ayden: (jerks his hand away, growing distressed) You CAN'T blame it on me, it'll only make things worse. You can't do this! (trying to get through to Aubrey)
Aubrey: (turns sharply, shoving Ayden's shoulder. His emotions have snapped, mood swing complete) SHUT UP! Stop telling me what I can and can't do! I don't have to listen to you trying to rationalize how I feel. I hate you! I CAN do this, do you hear me? Are you getting this?! It HURTS! You can't even being to understand the things I see everyday, everything that I have to deal with all by myself because YOU don't want to hear it! If I don't make it stop right now then it'll just get worse and worse until I can't take it anymore and explode-!
Ayden: (cutting Aubrey off, frightened and almost hysterical) Like you're doing right now? Aubrey, please, you can't do this!
Aubrey: That's it! You're dead! (launches himself at Ayden, knocking them both out of the spotlight. Ayden screams. The figure out of the spotlight flinches and grabs his head. Black out.)
SCENE 2
(Lights rise, dim. Police lights flash on the wall as a detective and an officer stand in the bedroom. Two bloody bodies, wrapped in sheets, are being prepared and carried out by corners. An investigation crew collects evidence.)
Officer: (shocked, disgusted) I can't believe this.
Detective: Gruesome. Any reports from the neighbors?
Officer: (shuffling through some papers on a clipboard) Nothing really. Mrs. Donnel next door said that she heard something while she was walking her dog, but she couldn't identify what it was.
Detective: (nods, staring at the bed thoughtfully as the sheets are collected) Probably screaming at himself…
Officer: What?
Detective: (snaps out of his daze, explains) When the first crew got here, the kid was sitting in the middle of the room, muttering to himself about how 'Ayden was right' and trying to get the blood off his hands with a sheet.
Officer: (confused) Who's Ayden? (glancing at the clipboard again, trying to reason) Isn't his name Josh? Was there someone else?
Detective: (shrugs, sinking into thought again) No idea who it is. The two bodies were the kid's parents; interviews with friends and family are showing this kid Ayden doesn't even exist. The psychiatrist that's examining him made a preliminary report an hour ago, thinks the kid's been hearing voices. Sad, really, driven to this by your imagination.
(The officer looks stunned. Blackout.)
SCENE 3
(Spotlight on Aubrey, sitting with his back against a wall; dressed in grey.)
Aubrey: (as if trying to break the silence) So..
(Another spotlight appears to illuminate Ayden, who is sitting despondently across from Aubrey, against the opposite wall; dressed in grey.)
Ayden: (quietly) Don't talk to me. I can't believe you did that - I hate you.
Aubrey: (shrugs, seeming unconcerned) It would have happened sooner or later.
Ayden: (snaps his head up, glaring at Aubrey) You made him kill them! (Angrily) And you killed me, you psychotic bastard!
Aubrey: (grins, appearing amused, as if a weight has been lifted) Sorry. I guess I got a little carried away. You can't hate me forever.
Ayden: (scowls and looks away again, annoyed by Aubrey's light spirits) Watch me.
(Stage lights rise, revealing a padded cell. A teenage boy, Josh, sits against the third wall, opposite of Aubrey and Ayden. He clutches his head, looking wildly from one to the other.)
Josh: (screaming) Shut up! Both of you just SHUT UP!
(Lights fade. Curtain close. End)