Come With Me
ACT 1 SCENE 1
INSIDE A HOSPITAL ROOM, JOHN SITS UPSTAGE MIDDLE WHILE HIS
WIFE CLARA LAYS ON A HOSPITAL BED CENTRE STAGE. THERE IS A HEART MONITOR NEXT
TO THE BED WITH A STEADY BEEPING RTHYMN
A NURSE IS STANDING UPSTAGE LEFT
JOHN It’s
not fair…
CLARA Life
isn’t sweetie
JOHN Well it bloody well should be! I
don’t want to loose you… (stifles a sob)
CLARA Please don’t cry, I can’t bear it. All
the things I wanted to do with you… All that time gone down to stupid chance
JOHN A year… it’s not fair! A year
isn’t nearly enough time for me to spend with you, I love you so much.
CLARA (Starts to breathe raggedly) I don’t
want to die without you!
HEART RATE
STARTS TO QUICKEN
JOHN Oh no don’t die! Please not yet!
Not ever!
CLARA Come with me!
JOHN (Pause) What? I… I can’t…
CLARA Please John come with me! I don’t want
to be alone wherever I go!
JOHN IS LOST
FOR WORDS
CLARA (In tears) Don’t leave me! I love you
and I don’t wanna be without you!
JOHN (mumbles) I’m afraid
CLARA So am I! But I just want to be with
you forever! Don’t you?
JOHN I…
CLARA Come with me! Please!
CLARA STARTS TO GASP FOR BREATH; HER HEARTBEAT QUICKENS
FASTER THEN FLAT LINES. THE NURSE STEPS TO THE BED.
NURSE Time of death, Ten past one pm (PAUSES THEN TURNS TO THE SOBBING
JOHN) I’m sorry… My grandmother died of cancer
ACT 1 SCENE 2
TOM SITS ON A PUB STOOL MIDDLE STAGE LEFT SIPPING HIS PINT
AND READING A NEWSPAPER EVERY SO OFTEN CHECKING HIS WATCH.
JOHN ENTERS STAGE RIGHT AND WALKS OVER TO TOM LOOKING
DISHEVELED. IN THE BACKGROUND “love will tear us apart” (by joy division) IS
PLAYING
JOHN Oh sorry I’m late, I was…umh… I’m
sorry I forgot alright? But at least I’m here.
JOHN SITS ON
AN OPPOSITE STOOL
TOM Not like the last three times
(SMIRKS) but it’s alright, I mean, how long was it since I last saw you?
JOHN Four months.
TOM Since. (IS CUT OFF)
JOHN Yeah…
TOM (PAUSES) You been keeping busy
then?
JOHN Not really…
TOM (SIGHES) Uhh… Pint?
JOHN Yeah sure
TOM STANDS AND WALKS OFF STAGE BRIEFLY WHILE JOHN SITS ON
THE STOOL LOOKING UNCOMFORTABLE. AFTER A MOMENT TOM RETURNS WITH THE PINT
TOM There you go mate, don’t worry,
this one’s on me (PAUSE) so… you ok? You holding up alright?
JOHN You know what? I’m not, this is
the first time I’ve left the house for something other than shopping and work.
(JOHN QUICKLY DRINKS A LARGE PORTION OF HIS PINT)
TOM Ah shit….I’m sorry mate
JOHN What for? It’s not like it’s your
fault is it?
TOM Well… You know, I could have been
more tactful…that’s all I’m sayin..
JOHN Well don’t say! … I’m sorry, I
shouldn’t be snapping at you… How have you been?
TOM Oh you know, work work work. I got
a new Gir (DROPS OFF) nevermind…
JOHN You don’t have to walk on
eggshells… yeah I still hurt… I still hurt a lot but I’m dealing with it (HE
FINISHES HIS PINT)
TOM Well that’s good, I just wanna
make sure your alright mate…
JOHN You know the last thing she said
to me?
TOM What?
JOHN She said “Come with me”…
TOM Well… she was scared, I don’t
blame her.
JOHN Yeah, me neither.
TOM NODS AND
DRINKS, THEN PAUSES
TOM I know that tone… Your not
thinking?
JOHN Tom I would be with her now if I
wasn’t a coward.
TOM You’re not a coward mate…and (IS
CUT OFF)
JOHN I fucking am! I don’t want to live
without her but I’m too scared to die!
TOM Mate! What about all the other
things in your life? Your family?
JOHN She mattered more than my family,
I know that sounds harsh but it’s true!
TOM You could meet someone else…
she’d want you to move on.
JOHN You don’t know shit!
TOM Well… I… I cant really say “Go
ahead mate, need a hand offing yourself?” can I?
JOHN I know… I know…
TOM Just… don’t do anything rash ok?
JOHN If rash was what I’m like I would
have done it the day after she…
TOM Well… just don’t mate? And would
you do me a favour?
JOHN What?
TOM See a doctor? I mean a
head-doctor?
JOHN Maybe
TOM Please?
JOHN Listen… I’ve got to go
TOM You only just got here!
JOHN yeah well… I need to get home.
TOM Alright… seeya mate
JOHN LEAVES STAGE RIGHT WITHOUT REPLYING AND TOM PICKS UP
HIS PAPER AND READS AGAIN.
And now the prose format
Come With Me
The Novel
John
was thinking about things. About the past. About the future. Whatever John was
thinking, it was to avoid thinking about the present. The midday sun was
timidly poking through the curtains of the flat. Thin slices of light flittered
about the detritus of the fetid room. The television was stuck on a twenty-four
hour news channel, as it had been the day before and the day before that. Not
that John was paying any attention, just a source of noise to block out the
terrible silence that seemed to fill what was once their home.
John was thinking about two divergent possibilities. The one that had already happened and the one that could have been. Where his and Clara’s paths could have split and they would have never been, they could have never met, never got on, had some falling out and broken up. All of which seemed a much brighter possibility “Such is the benefit of Hindsight” John thought to himself. John’s flat hadn’t been cleaned in months, not properly at least, there was no stink of rotting food or discarded human matter tossed aside carelessly. The problem with the flat was it had become stale, like a mausoleum without the dead. The amber drink in John’s tumbler was tilting as the third drink since he awoke was taking its affect, calling him into the numb sleep. The answering machine light flittered on and off, full of unheard messages that bore no meaning to John any more.
John’s mind swung from the possibilities of an alternate world back into reality, and what was real, what had really happened and how it had shattered his idyllic life.
John was thinking about two divergent possibilities. The one that had already happened and the one that could have been. Where his and Clara’s paths could have split and they would have never been, they could have never met, never got on, had some falling out and broken up. All of which seemed a much brighter possibility “Such is the benefit of Hindsight” John thought to himself. John’s flat hadn’t been cleaned in months, not properly at least, there was no stink of rotting food or discarded human matter tossed aside carelessly. The problem with the flat was it had become stale, like a mausoleum without the dead. The amber drink in John’s tumbler was tilting as the third drink since he awoke was taking its affect, calling him into the numb sleep. The answering machine light flittered on and off, full of unheard messages that bore no meaning to John any more.
John’s mind swung from the possibilities of an alternate world back into reality, and what was real, what had really happened and how it had shattered his idyllic life.
*
John strode across the university campus. The bare trees
were showing the slightest signs of leaves and life, the winter miasma that
spreads over any academic institution was lifting as the days were getting
longer. Students had begun to sporadically populate the lawns and benches that
decorate the campus, although they were still clothed in jumpers and coats, the
dawn of spring instilled the will and the life to end their voluntary
hibernation. It was the final year for John and he was approaching it with a
mix of emotions, the finality to his youth and the encroaching adulthood was
met with a sense of fearful excitement, the same fearful excitement of waiting
for a rollercoaster, the thrills and the scares mixed into a tight ball in the
pit of your stomach.
John had a destination and a purpose. Go to the student
union bar, meet Alexandra (or Alley as she prefer) and drink as many noxious
liquids as their bodies and wallets could handle. Alexandra was John’s best
friend from college and it was a no coincidence that they had attended the same
university, John had chosen to study Law at Manchester and Alexandra had
decided to study Sociology at Manchester Met. While John was leading their
friendship, the shared benefit of this move to the same city granted them the
benefit of having someone to rely on in a strange and large city.
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