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[[This is a scene I had to write for my Theater Appreciation last semester. Normally writing scripts aren't my thing but I was fairly happy with the way this turned out. Let me know how you like it. :3]]
(The sun is shining brightly, washing over all of the tables and chairs of the courtyard so they gleamed with a warm glow. Most of the chairs were vacant except for a few occupied by the students studying in the nice weather. In the distance ominous storm clouds loomed, threatening to swallow the day’s promise of sunshine. The campus of the college was quiet and peaceful, not a usual occurrence for this busy university, and it beckoned to all to come, sit, relax and forget any worries of the day. Up stage right there is a student sleeping on a bench, back to the audience. From behind the bench, two girls enter, staring at the sleeping student for a bit but do not stop their conversation, but what they are talking about is not known to the audience for the actors are pantomiming a conversation. The girls did not stop walking either until they reach a table up center stage and take a seat.)
(On the left is Vanessa, a girl who looks more cute than attractive. Her hair is a mousey brown with jaunty neat curls that stop about mid back. Her eyes are large and round and dark and peered at the world from behind her thick rimmed glasses. Vanessa is a bit of an insecure girl and dresses more for comfort than fashion and whilst her clothes are not ugly, it is clear she does not stop and take the time to plan out the cutest outfit. All in all, Vanessa is fairly intelligent girl who is nice but sometimes just doesn’t know when to say ‘no’. She normally is very serene and does not like to be center of attention. Vanessa used to be painfully shy but thanks to Tracy, she has learned to be more outgoing and tries to go out and have fun more often.)
(On the right is Tracy, Vanessa’s best friend. Tracy is a very pretty girl with a short, trendy hair cut and is bleached blonde. Her eyes are brown as well and they brim with energy. Unlike Vanessa, Tracy is very confident in herself and just loves to have fun. Tracy loves to be center of attention and is always looking for something fun to do. She is always pulling Vanessa along with her, something that has helped her come out of her shell, and now the two have a lot of fun together. Whilst Vanessa is diligent in her studies, Tracy is not, but is generally smart enough to make good grades in her classes anyway.)
Tracy: So, long story-short, I have to go see my History professor again.
Vanessa: Again? Isn’t this the third time?
Tracy: Fourth, actually.
Vanessa: Why so many? I thought you had an A in the class.
Tracy: I do. Apparently, he doesn’t like how I sleep through everything.
(The scene darkens so the entire stage cannot be scene except for one light focused on Vanessa. Everything else in the scene freezes except Vanessa and she turns towards the audience to give her aside)
Vanessa: My best friend, Tracy. A smart girl, but she didn’t like to pay attention in class. So she often had to have meetings with her professors for sleeping during lectures. This wasn’t the first time I had heard this from her, but she failed to see the reason why people didn’t like it.
(The lights return to normal and the freeze is broken.)
Vanessa: Well I can’t blame him then. It’s rude.
Tracy: Oh who cares if I stay awake or not? As long as I make the grade. I’m providing his pay check anyway. Or at least part of it. He should be grateful. No one likes him anyway.
Vanessa: Ugh. (Frustrated) Forget it. I’m not having this argument again
with you. Anyway, do you still plan to come to the bar with me tonight?
Tracy: Oh hell yeah. I might be late though. That meeting and all.
Vanessa: How long does it normally take?
Tracy: Last time took over an hour.
Vanessa: (sputters in shock) What the hell did he have to talk about for that long? Scolding you for sleeping in class should not take more than twenty minutes. What was he talking about that whole time?
Tracy: Nonsense mostly. Honestly he was being so overly dramatic about it. He needs to lay off the Viagra.
(The two girls laugh together)
Tracy: But in all honesty he’s starting to give me the creeps. I’m wondering if I should even go tonight.
Vanessa: Oh come on. Tracy you remember all the times you got those bad feelings and they were all false alarms. Do I really need to bring up your boyfriend? You got the “bad vibes” when he was going to ask you out.
Tracy: I know but this is different. Something doesn’t feel right. You didn’t hear the way he was talking. He was going on about how girls like me didn’t even care about the educational system and how we shouldn’t even be allowed into school in the first place.
Vanessa: Well can you blame him for being angry? This is about the fourth time you’ve slept through his class. Look, the school wouldn’t hire someone who was dangerous. You’re thinking too much into it.
(Aside)
Vanessa: I wish I could take those words back. How different would things have been if I told her to not go? I can’t help but wonder now that if those storm clouds looming on the horizon had been an omen, a warning of what was to come. A warning both of us failed to heed.
(End aside)
Tracy: Whatever, I’ll go but I’m not going to like it. I’ll call you when I’m on the way to the bar, I gotta go to my next class. See you later, Ness.
Vanessa: Ok, bye. See you at the bar.
(The girls both rise from their chairs wave and Tracy exits stage left and Vanessa turns back to the audience for another aside.)
Vanessa: And that was it. That was the last time I ever saw my best friend. I never got to the bar though. Something happened in that courtyard after Tracy left.
(End aside)
(Vanessa begins to gather up her things and heads back up stage right and stops by the bench with the sleeping student. Vanessa bends over and shakes her)
Vanessa: Hey, it’s gonna rain soon.
(The female student doesn’t move)
Vanessa: (shakes harder) Hey, come on, wake up.
(With one final shake the student rolls off of the bench and falls to the floor, crumpled and lifeless. Then Vanessa realizes that the girl is dead and leaps backward, holding her hand to her chest as if she had been burned. There are no visible wounds on the body but the girl is clearly dead, her lips tinged blue.)
Vanessa: (lowly) Dear god….
(Begin aside)
Vanessa: I never made it to the bar that night. Finding a dead body the police tend to want to ask you a lot of questions. By the time the ambulance arrived on scene to make sure the girl was dead and the police finished questioning me, it was very late. I never got a call from Tracy either. I assumed she was mad at me, showing up at the bar to discover that I was not there. I tried calling her but I got no answer. It wasn’t uncommon for her to ignore my phone calls if we were angry with each other. They found her the next morning, in the school dumpster on the east side. Why did I dismiss her? I should have told her not to go! I sent my own best friend to her death! She would still be here if it weren’t for me. If it weren’t for HIM. They arrested him that very same day but they couldn’t hold him. All of the evidence they had was circumstantial. He even had an alibi for some of the murders. There was nothing that the police could do. I didn’t understand it was so obvious that he was guilty, how could he have even one alibi let alone several. But the sheriff told me all it would take was to change the temperature of the body to throw off the time of death. The temperature in the liver would be changed. So he was released to go terrorize our school. The only good thing of this story was that he was fired from the school. But I don’t see that as a happy ending. Now he was free to continue his work in another educational system in another state. And Tracy was still dead. All of those girls were still dead. Two kinds of storms struck our school back then. The killing spree and the tropical storm that had finally formed and blew in. But I have a name for both of them. It was the month of September when Tropical Storm Clark, ravaged our university.
(The lights fall just as a loud crack of thunder echoes throughout the stage.)
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