Apologies
There won't be a prequel to this play, despite hitting our viewership goal. Learn why
A 2nd person, narrated short 'play'
Characters :
You
The Voice in your head
Your friend
Scene 1
March 21st, 2022
An ordinary school. You are in a classroom. You talk to a friend. You appear distressed.
You : What?
Friend : You heard me.
You : I don’t believe it.
Friend : exhales It’s over for you. She told me that she’s blocked you on all her socials
You : Just because of what I did?
The friend nods. Your eyes widened. You check your phone, to find that it was the truth.
You : Well…what did I expect? I made a mistake, and then I made another mistake whilst trying to fix that mistake. It was a huge mistake. Why did I make that mistake…
You bury your face in your hands. The friend shrugs
Friend : We all make mistakes.
You : Yes but not all of us make mistakes that change your view on life.
Friend : It’s time you got over it. And her.
You : You think I haven’t tried?
The conversation fades away. The hissing sound of sand is heard.
Scene 2
An ordinary HDB block. The calendar on the wall reads 28th June, 2021. We see a slightly shorter version of You. You sit in front of a computer, with earphones plugged in.
You : You sure she’ll be alright with it?
The Voice : Yeah, what’s wrong with copy and pasting?
You : Just seems wrong.
The Voice : It’s fine. It isn’t illegal.
You make a sound
The Voice : Don’t be a coward. Worst that can happen is her giving you looks.
You : I don’t want looks…
The scene fades away. The sand can be heard again, but now it’s louder.
Scene 3
March 21st, 2022
You are on a bus, homeward bound. It is getting dark outside. You text the friend.
You : I think I know what I need to do.
Friend : What’s it?
You : I have to apologise…again.
Friend : Lol [abbr : laugh out loud] why would you want to?
You : To make up for my initial one.
Friend : Ok, apologise then.
You : I have to do it via text, lest I make a fool of myself.
Friend : What are you gonna say?
You : I’ll send you the draft…soon.
Time passes. It is now 9pm. You text your friend again.
You : Okay, here’s the draft.
The draft is a long paragraph. It is of a formal tone, with elaborate diction. The friend reads. After a while, he sends a text.
It is an edited version of your draft.
You : Hmm, it’s a little informal.
Friend : Exactly. Take it less seriously, and she will too.
You : Do you understand the magnitude of my screw-up?
Friend : …
You : I’ll edit yours once more.
You finally finish the second draft, with the Friend’s text as a skeleton.
You : There.
Friend : Not as good as mine, but sure.
You : If by good you mean rubbish.
The Friend did not reply, but was still online, obviously waiting for you to say something.
You click on her chat-box. You copied and pasted the text. You proceed to press ‘enter’. You freeze. You feel some resistance. But from where? From yourself. Your arm is pulling the hand back. If you were to exert more force, your hand would be ripped from your arm.
You, to yourself : What the - . Come on you bastard! You’ve done this before! This isn’t your first time sending a text!
The Voice : Are you sure?
You, stunned : What? Why are you here? You screwed me up once already, leave me alone!
The Voice : Listen! This isn’t a good idea!
You, screaming : I trusted you once! I will no longer!
The Voice : Just this once! Let me…
You : SCREW OFF!
You hit the button forcefully. The punch made a loud noise on the mechanical keyboard. It was as if the computer was clicking its tongue at you. You sit back and breathe heavily. The clock reads 9:46pm.
The hissing sound gets even louder. It is overpowering.
Scene 4
March 22nd, 2022
You are in school again. You were doing your homework in class, when your friend came up to you. He looks disturbed.
You : Morning.
Friend : Hey.
You both sat in silence for a while.
Friend : So uh … has she replied to you?
You : Yeah. But I daren’t view it, lest I ruin my day. Hope it’s not an angry one, though.
Friend : Well, then I have news for you.
You : What’s it?
Friend : Don’t cry about it alright? But she said that she wants nothing to do with you. She said that just because you sent her that, doesn’t mean ya’ll can be friends. So she asked me how to reply to you…
You weren't listening anymore. The warm morning abruptly turned into a blizzard found only in movies. The wind howls and snarls, and penetrates you. Your frozen heart has been grounded into some form of grey paste. Your emotions go haywire. The sound of the ceiling fan whining as it spins amplifies six-fold. You have been buried in sand.
You : I…
You shakily pull out your phone. You click on her chat-box, now indicated with a green bubble. You weren’t prepared for the bombardment you were to face. You see a long paragraph. The words face you like soldiers in a firing squad. When you read them carefully, they finally fired. Bullets whiz past you. None of them hit. Only one did. Only one penetrated you -“nothing to do with you ”. The one bullet shattered your already shattered heart. A thousand shards became a million. A red desert can be found in your chest.
You run out of the classroom, tears at the brim of shedding.
The time is 9:46 am
Scene 5
The moon is high in the sky. You sit in front of the computer, but you don’t turn it on. You bring your knees up to your face. You look defeated. You write in your journal.
You : When your heart breaks you realise all you did was for nought. You start to realise how futile it all was. It’s akin to losing a limb. You can’t sow it back and expect it to work like before. To think I lost a limb just because of a button press. The more I do the more footprints I leave behind. Oh, what I’d do to clean up those prints…
You bury your head deeper into your knees. For the first time you find yourself crying for her.
You, softly : I will get over this. I will forget. I always do. I always do…
The Voice : I told you.
You, now whispering : Go away.
The Voice : Look what you did. You went to fix a leaking pipe and now the room is flooding.
You, with a raising voice : Shut up. Shut up!
The Voice, mockingly : You thought you were smart? Now you’re trapped in the cage you built.
You feel something snap inside you. Perhaps it was the presence of The Voice, or maybe it was the lack of your own. Both of your voices start to rise into a shout.
You : Be quiet! Leave me alone!
The Voice : Alone? You will be alone for the rest of your life. You’ve always loved her, but you didn’t do anything. Now look how that turned out.
You : How could I have known! I thought being ignored was the worst that could happen, so I was prepared for it…. Well, I’m certainly not ignored now!
The Voice : Stop lying to me, I’m in your head, you half-wit. You're lying to yourself. You and I knew that it wasn’t a good idea. Yet you went ahead and sent it. You just wanted attention! Now that you get it you’re sat here crying!
You, standing : This isn’t the attention I want!
If it wasn’t the crying, then it was the shouting. 13 thick metal bars shot up from the ground and encompassed you. Shocked, you recoil. The clock read 9:46pm.
The Voice : Regardless you’re not leaving this cell. You’re not going to make any more mistakes.
You : Let me out!
You grip the metal bars as hard as you could, and shake them as hard as you could. But they wouldn’t move. They did not even shake.
You, now hysterical : LET ME GO!
The Voice doesn’t respond.
You : HEY! Let me out! I’m not going to do it anymore!
The Voice : It’s for your own good. And happiness.
You : I am happy! I will be happy! I won’t care about her anymore, just let me go! Release me!
You start to break down
You : Let me go…please. {Pause}. I will be happy…I will forget…Let me go…Let me go…
Tears stream down your face like an avalanche. You curl up into a ball. If you can’t protect yourself, maybe the ball will.
More sand piles up on top.
Scene 6
March 23rd, 2022
6:13 am. You wake up. The bars are gone. The Voice is gone. But the words stay. You stand up, and wipe the dry tears off your face. You are at a loss.
You : What can I do…what will I do…
The answer clicks. You rise. You walk, slowly, towards the table that your computer resides. You pick up your phone. You go to her chat-box. The firing squad greets you, surprised that you returned. You ignore them. You look delete the chat. It’s the only way to block out The Voice. If only it were that easy to delete your past.
End
Printed copies are available on demand
All rights reserved
Full sequel coming soon