Stage Directions: Room is black, lights slowly begin to fade on, but stay dim. There is a grandfather clock stage right, ticking loudly. The ticks are not evenly paced, the time is seeming to get slower and slower. There is a book shelf stage left with a picture of a woman sitting high on the shelf. There is a window far stage right, to the side of the clock. It’s storming outside. You can just barely hear the pouring rain. A spotlight shines on a man sitting in a chair. I’d like to have music softly playing throughout the whole piece that matches the mood of each moment. The man is telling his story to the audience.
MAN (spoken dramatically, uneasily, acts as if he is in pain): Hour by hour. Minute by minute. Second by second. Tick, tiick, tiiick. The droning of the clock never ceases. Each second seems to modify in length, growing idler each instant; the shifting countdown of my sanity.
The man stands, spins slowly about the room. He walks toward the bookshelf, fixates on the picture. He looks down, sad, and then turns from it walking stage right and upstage angrily.
MAN (spoken in dream-like tone but with angered emotion): Weary of the unrelenting life surrounding me, I create an empty vortex of artificial existence. (While covering his ears and frustrated) Tick, tiick, tiiick. I must stay far away from this place, this deed, this crime. No one can accept the monstrous mask I so gallantly wear tonight. Other humans by nature are judgmentally sanctified and blessedly errant. (Walks stage left, and then paces back and forth until stage directions call to stop) By all that commands me, let it be. I accept the mendacity in the hearts of those I used to recognize to be all knowing and righteous. I allow myself to be a part of this whole, but my recent tribulation hath left me alone with shadows of demonic tones. One must find the balance between forgiven evil and the devil possessing the soul. Lightning swirls and dances outside my window in the gray, celestial sky. My eyes glow with every thunderous illumination.
There is a pause as the MAN walks back over to the picture frame. He strokes the edges, looking nostalgic. He goes and sits back down in the chair. Stage left, further left than the book shelf, there are shadows visible but nothing more. The light is shone upon this scene and upon the man in the chair and the clock. Only those three spotlights. The figures are just silhouettes of a man and woman. First appearing in a romantic embrace.
MAN: Before was different. Before, there was an unfaltering ray of everlasting light. (couple pulls away but keeps their hands laced together) The divine, honest light. There was a soul. (Blackness except for the clock, in normal time)
MAN: Tick, tick, tick. I am reminded of the grand clock in the corner of the room. Its paint is chipping away along with each movement of the secondhand. Time has resumed at a steady pace. I am losing faith that I could revert back to my stable mind. Tick, tick. (Light shines back on the man and couple, who are still hands en-laced and staring at one another)
MAN: Before, I was lively, I was open, I was free. Before was everything.
(The man in the couple pulls out a box and gets down on his knee, flips the cover open. The woman lightly jumps and then the two embrace. Then the room gets lighter, the whole space, no more spotlights are used)
The room becomes a faint blue.
The MAN stands and steps closer to the couple, staring at their love. Then the man in the couple pulls away from the embrace and pulls out a dagger. He begins stabbing the woman, slicing her torso and finally her throat. The room gets dark again except for the light on the clock and the MAN and the faint light coming from the window.. The MAN makes a gasp of pain and falls to the ground, then stares above himself. Light shadows appear above him, but there are only from the tree outside the window. He thinks these shadows are coming from somewhere else. He speaks of his circumstance, his breathing is sharp, it’s obvious he is being tormented.
MAN: Power surges through my body, and every nerve-ending wakes, generating a current pulsing through me like flames in my veins. My heart beat flutters and falters as I look up at the shadows. (In fear) They are here, above me. I look at the abysmal figures taunting me. (A loud ringing disturbing noise plays) Their sadistic language rings in my ears! (Unsteadily gets up from ground) I must hide.
The man trips a lot while walking the short distance to the table and ducks underneath it, getting close to the floor and covering his eyes. You can still hear the ringing noise.
MAN: (Grunting)I cower beneath my table and sink into the depths of the tile floor, shielding my eyes from the blinding darkness.
(Words “monster” “murder” and “remember Lenore” whisper repeatedly after about ten seconds man speaks again)
I feel the shadows whisper at the nape of my neck. They keep me sad, they keep me cursed. (Sad and dramatic) They keep me. (Voices stop, man uncovers his eyes and holds head up) Then silence.
MAN: Silence…(climbing out from under the table) growing louder, mocking me! (Standing now) The solitude is treacherous enough, but silence!
(Light flashes on couple scene again with the man standing over the dead woman’s corpse. The MAN falls to his knees and stares at the scene before him) Chiming in with an electroweak force, killing the energy within me. (Begins to fall forward but clock interrupts him, when the clock ticks the scene with the woman and man is black again. Light is shone on the clock, and thunder booms. The MAN is struck with fear and jumps to his feet at the sound of the first tick but is not in a full upright position)
MAN (Shouting wildly): Tick! Tick! Tick! A sudden roar escapes from time. (Walks upstage) Before, there was no fear. Now, I fear myself. (We see the faint shadow figures again, but they aren’t actually attacking him) One shadow caresses my cheek, gliding its form slow enough to send (trembles) stabbing shivers down my spine.
(Starts leaning backwards) The other shadow is clawing at my stomach, and I feel my skin shredding as it digs deeper. (Man tries to claw away shadows, tries to escape them. Walks to the other side of the stage. Starts to appear mad and insane to the audience)
MAN (filled with remorse and worry in his voice. Desperate to get the audience on his side): Before, I loved. I loved with such a passion, purity, and…(say this word carefully) precision. (This shows how he is turning from his side that loved to his side that murdered. He realizes this but tries to get the audience to not see that) That was and always will be, before.
(Stares back at the clock with the first tick) Tick! Tick! Almost nothing left. (Looks above him at the shadows) I deserve these shadows, (Looks around himself at the darkness) I deserve the darkness. (Puts hands and head, has panic attack) I can no longer breathe, can’t think… I am going to complete this trial. Admitting my sickness would keep me here. (Sounds nauseous) But I cannot. I do not dare to the speak words validating my malice. (Falls to the ground with the first tick) Tick! Tick! (Groans) Before, I confessed my sins. Before, I refrained from darkness. (Starts seizing on the floor with the first tick, shouting his words) Tick! Tick! Before, I could not inflict pain on anyone, especially her…
(Sound of woman screaming after the word “her”, then clock, the man tries to block out the sound and he begins screaming his words) Tick! Tick! Now I hear my scream! No, that cannot be. That is not me, that is... The victim! (Slightly quieter and stopping seizing) Tick! Tick! After, I felt ashamed. The shadows are forcing me to remember my offense… and the guilt consumes me, attacks. (Slightly louder and standing up) Tick! Tick! Tick! After, I felt enraged. I felt strong, (backs off his anger) I felt frail.
(Rubs torso when he talks about it, there is blood on his hands (the MAN thinks there is blood and that’s why we see it. In perfect reality, it doesn’t exist)) One shadow moves away from my freshly slashed torso to my eyes. (Repeats in a singsong but sad tone.) My eyes. (Stares at audience, saying these lines as eerily as possible) I read the shadow’s thoughts; it’s bewilderment at the transparent splendor. Moments of hurried bliss pause the clock. (Look at clock when saying the word clock, and then quickly back to the audience. This whole part should be calm and collected but scary and schizophrenic) But sooner or later, time must continue.
(Tilts head at audience. There is a dramatic pause. And then the clock begins and the man thrashes with the first tick) Tick! Tick! The burning! (Man is in searing pain, moving about stage ducking and covering his eyes, fighting off the imagined shadows) My eyes catch flame staring into the perpetual oblivion of the shadow. (Throws head backwards and yells with the first tick) Tick! Tick! After, my soul left me. (Disgust and contempt) I am a shell of a human that once was. (Grabs at chest, pops twice almost like from a dance, begins next line while doing this) A piercing jolt rages through my heart as another shadow returns to me and shrieks an ephemeral, frantic howl. (Howl noise heard. Man covers ears and tilts torso deep to one side staring head forward at the audience and says the next line softly) Hopelessness… My consciousness is fleeting. (LOUDEST yet at the sound of the first tick man is in complete anguish and you can tell by his physical gestures and facial expression, quickly and regrettably reveals his truth) Tick! Tick! TICK! After, I felt I died along with my Lenore!
Thunder booms from out the window and the clock is still ticking as the scene goes black after the man confesses the murder of his wife. Then steadily the clock slows down. A single spotlight comes back on the MAN sitting on the chair.
MAN (Numb and dry, eerily, hunched over chair with elbow on table): Tick, tiick, tiiick. Second by second. Minute by minute. Hour by hour. I freeze while needles attack me with numbness. The shadows. They wrap themselves around me, constricting me of life, of thought, of sorrow, of faith. (Slowly turns head to the front, blood is dripping from his throat (remember this doesn’t actually exist)) My throat is slit, and the blood keeps trickling. I try to cling to my life but the shadows make me see I have no reason. I must forget that horrific, unspeakable second, and the beauty that once lived prior to this night. (The man slowly but steadily stands) But before, I wasn’t a murderer. The shadows overwhelm, all goes blank. The world is hushed except for the tick, tiick, tiiick. (Falls to knees on third tick, says the last line very quietly and with no emotion) The droning of the clock never ceases. (Falls completely, he dies. Clock keeps ticking after scene goes black, time going on in a monotonous tone, slowly but never stopping until house lights come on.)
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