An Uncomfortable Silence
a play in one act
[ Setting: Evening. Two persons, BlackKnight (BK) and Psycho Roommate (PR), sit comfortably in the livingroom of the apartment they share. The third roommate, PR’s fiancé, is at work. The sun is slowly setting through the window as they talk. ]
PR: I can’t believe I’m all graduated now, and that I’ll be getting married in less than a month!
BK, jokingly: Yeah, I bet you can’t wait for the sex, huh?
PR, laughing: Well, we’ve done all sorts of fooling around already. [blushes slightly] Gosh, you’ve probably heard us … either heard us doing that or heard us fighting.
BK: Nah, not really. You guys are generally pretty quiet. Have you guys actually fought much?
PR: A little bit, not like it used to be. We used to have some huge fights. Now it’s just little fights caused by pre-wedding stress.
BK: Well, I do remember hearing a fight or two, but it didn’t sound that bad …
PR: Oh, I mean before you moved in. We had some huge fights. Like … well, like the Mac and Cheese incident.
BK, chuckling a little: That sounds … interesting. What happened?
PR: Yeah. I don’t even remember what we were arguing about, but I threw an entire pot of Mac and Cheese at him. Completely covered his face and the front of his shirt with noodles. You should have seen it.
BK: Wow, that is interesting. [short pause] FormerRoommate told me about one time … *
PR: Oh, that was nothing. The worst was the knife thing.
BK: … when you ch - er, what?
PR: [giggling nervously, as if wondering if she should really say this] Well … I don’t even remember what the argument was about. I just know we were arguing so I took a knife, locked myself in the bathroom, and kept yelling out to him that I was going to kill myself.
BK: I … see …
PR: Yeah, that’s why he later learned how to pick the locks in this place. I wouldn’t come out, so eventually he went to bed and when he did I quietly left the bathroom, slipped into his bedroom, held the knife over him, and woke him up. He totally freaked. I told him I was going to kill him and then myself and I put the knife to my wrist like I was really going to do it but I really wasn’t, not really. I kept this up for, like, fifteen minutes I think.
BK: [smiles politely and nods, resisting the urge to flee through the window]
[ Silence. The sun finishes setting. The room slowly fades to black. The End. ]
[sub]* This is in reference to an incident where PR chased her fiancé down the hallway, jumped on his back, and began hitting him as hard as she could. She did this all while yelling “I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you!” The cause of that argument is unknown.[/sub]
