Characters
XANDER
URIEL
Valerie
OFFICER #1
OFFICER #2
Place
A dark room with old furniture scattered around
Time
Not too distant future
XANDER, 50 is sitting on a worn out wooden stool in a dark room on the second floor. He has a pale complexion and he covers up his weakening body with a thick grey cloth that he tightly holds onto. He is seated closely to a window overlooking a lush green valley. It’s full of excited children of different ages playing together. His face has different expressions as he stares attentively at the scenery beyond the closed window.
XANDER (whispering): You’ve gotta give it to them, they know how to make boring almost look like fun. It isn’t how we used to do things back in the day though. Remember, Uriel? (Silence.) Remember how we used to race on our motorcycles? (Chuckles heartily.) We were like madmen, rampaging through the streets and no one could ever stop us. Oh, oh, remember how we used to smoke by the lake. MAN, I’D KILL FOR A PACK RIGHT NOW. Or do you remember how we used to light up bonfires every night and watch the stars? (Xander notices that his voice got too loud and instantly shushes himself back to an angry whisper.) Damnit Uriel, you did it again and you were gonna get us caught…(Long silence.) Besides, it's not too bad over here. At least we’re safe. At least there’s peace and quiet. The world isn’t ending anymore and hey I get to have a nice view from up here so that’s nice.
Xander moves his seat and squints till he spots Valerie, 12 who’s wearing colorful clothing on top of a nearby hill. Xander waves at her frantically and Valerie smiles.
XANDER (begrudgingly): How hard is it for her to come see her old man every now and then? I haven’t seen her since yesterday I think, or was it the day before. (Beat.) Humph, these kids wouldn’t know fun if it hit them in the face, I just wish she’d just let me show her what a good time looks like but NO. SHE would prefer a more “environmentally friendly game” (mockingly air quoting Valerie and sarcastically imitating her.) Ugh, you’ve just gotta wonder what went wrong for a kid to not want to light up fireworks. You’ve surely lit up a couple in your days, Uriel but my Valerie? (Getting angrier and starts tapping on the window) No, she’s just like the rest of them. All fake and hollow with their pristine ideals and their strict codes but it doesn’t hide the fact that they’re still naive kids who think they can live in a fantasy. FUCK THIS SYSTEM AND FUCK THE NEW REPUBLIC (Xavier bangs the window repeatedly till it breaks. He stands completely still.)
A strong beam of light is immediately directed on the broken window pane and a booming voice comes roaring from a far distance.
VOICE: CITIZEN XANDER, YOU ARE ORDERED TO STEP AWAY FROM THE WINDOW IMMEDIATELY. YOU ARE TEMPORARILY FORBIDDEN FROM WINDOW PRIVILEGES, FUTURE OFFENSES WILL LEAD TO FURTHER ESCALATIONS. REMEMBER THAT THIS IS FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY AND FOR THE SAFETY OF THE HOLY MOTHER TERRA. GIVE US THE CHANCE THAT YOU TOOK FOR GRANTED.
Xander rushes to a nearby table and curls up underneath it, visibly shaking and is hysterical.
XANDER: NO NO NO. THEY CAN’T TAKE ME BACK URIEL, I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE (Pause.) I’ve… I’ve been a good citizen and I’ve been f...f...following orders. I can’t go through another mind wipe, I JUST remembered my name two days ago...and i’m still remembering things that I don’t even know if they really happened or not (Beat.)
Xander crawls to a pile of clothes that’s at the corner of the room and rummages through till he finds a matchstick. He then gets a candle out of a torn up bag that’s placed next to the pile and crawls back to his spot under the table. He slowly lights up the candle and huddles up around it.
XANDER (stares at the candlelight in wonder): I was saving it up for a special occasion but now is as good a time as ever. You’re probably more used to birthday candles but that’s a taboo around here (short silence.) Oh yeah, things are a lot more different now, we’ve got a lot more forbidden items nowa--
Valerie gleefully enters the room and Xander freezes.
VALERIE: Hey Daddy, did you see how far my paper plane went? (She looks around the room for Xander till she notices his back under the table.) Daddy, why are you under the table again?
Valerie goes around the table and Xander quickly hides the candle behind him. They lock eyes and Xander becomes paranoid.
XANDER: (Silence.) I remember… as clear as daylight how it all went down. (deliriously spewing out words) You were just a baby and pollution had just reached an all time high. Masks were given out by the government and when they ran out, people were dying in the streets from intoxication. The situation was getting really bad and strict measures had to be taken if we wanted to salvage what was left. I thought we were goners especially after your mother died in my arms but the New Republic stepped in and saved the day by reeducating everyone.
VALERIE (confused): Yeah, I know. We learnt about it in history class. Where are you going with this, old timer?
XANDER (trying to hide his frustration): What I’m trying to say is that I remember what got me here and I don’t deserve it. I should be out there (points towards the window.) I want to live out the rest of my life, being FREE. I don’t want to cower in fear from the New Republic and I definitely don’t want to stay in this hellhole forever. You can’t blame an entire fucking epidemic on me.
VALERIE (childishly): You know that this is for your own safety, Daddy. Can you not start ranting again? We should go eat before the food gets cold.
XANDER: How is keeping me a prisoner in this room for my own safety?! I’m losing my mind.
Smoke starts coming up from behind Xander’s back.
VALERIE: We don’t want things to go back to how things were and--
XANDER: And how is that my fault?! I may have been reckless back in the day but I deserve another chance and I’m pretty sure Uriel agrees with me (pause.) Viv, I think I might be losing my marbles because I can feel my back burning up.
Valerie checks Xander’s back to find the candlelight burning his cloth.
VALERIE (screaming) : WHAT IN THE NAME OF MOTHER TERRA?! YOU’RE ON FIRE?!
Xander swiftly leaps off the ground and starts to roll around till he extinguishes the fire.
XANDER: Hey guess those school fire drills came in handy after all, huh? (Faint laugh and tries to avoid looking at Valerie.)
VALERIE (shifts to a serious demeanor): This is unacceptable, Father. You have just proven to both yourself and my own that you are incapable of transcending beyond your old destructive habits. I have never seen an actual fire outside of a textbook and thanks to you, I just witnessed one almost swallowing my father alive. Candles got banned because of things like this. (Pause.) Citizen Xander, you are a danger to this society and must be dealt with accordingly.
(Short silence.) Xander starts trembling and is at a loss of words.
XANDER: That sounds a bit strict there, ho..honey. It..it was just a small accident.
VALERIE:The boys must’ve really done a number on you this time because this isn’t the first “accident” that you’ve had. Your recklessness is what got you into this dark room in the first place. You simply couldn’t adapt to the new order.
XANDER: Old habits die hard, darling but I swear to you that I can change. I just need time.
VALERIE: You’ve had all the time in the world before and look at what your generation got us into. You burnt entire forests. You massacred species out of existence. And you did it all without a care in the world. (Valerie advances towards Xander with every sentence)
XANDER: You can’t blame us for what years and years of indoctrination did to us. (Sits upright and faces Valerie.) We were raised, thinking that we would live forever so we acted that way. We didn’t think about how bad the future could be because nobody bothered to bring it up. Politicians would feed us empty promises of a brighter tomorrow while they opened up more factories that would breathe fire. Businessmen would come up with these green policies to ease their conscience and fool people like me that things were going to be fine. (Coughs intensely.) I am just a byproduct of my environment and if you want to point fingers at someone, then point at those who doomed this world for some extra pocket money. The punchline is that no amount of cash was able to save them when things got bad and they ended up dying from their own curse.
VALERIE: Thing is, each and every one of you thought the same way. “Don’t blame me, I'm just an average Joe.” (Valerie walks towards the window and looks at the broken shards of glass) But the more you think that you’re beyond retribution, the more wrong you are. In one way or the other, everyone had a role to play and most of you chose to play the role of a bystander and you made fun of those who wanted to fight for us. (Valerie gets very close to Xander’s face.) Don’t WE deserve to live in a world that isn’t plagued by death and pollution? Don’t WE deserve to have a fighting chance?
XANDER (choosing his words carefully) : It’s true that we didn’t pay attention when the red flags rose high. But dear, look at where we are now. The sky’s never been clearer, the water’s never been purer. We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the New Republic and things are fine now.
VALERIE: But do you realize the amount of effort that we all had to put just so that we could heal? We had to build ourselves up from scratch. We had to learn from YOUR mistakes, constantly fearing that we weren’t doing enough to save this planet from damnation. Mother Terra was dying but we heard her cries for help (Valerie raises her hands towards the ceiling) and we let her show us the way (Valerie puts her hands on her chest) and she can--
XANDER (furiously) : Oh spare me the sermon, Father. I’m sick of all your crazy radical talk. What would your actual mother think about all this?
VALERIE (loudly): SHE WOULD BE PROUD OF ME. (Valerie’s voice starts to crack but she manages to compose herself and smiles.) She would be proud of who I’ve grown up to become. I left my primitive instincts behind and I saved the world. It was that simple really. We made laws that we all abided by and we fought hard to keep them enforced. We raised a new society from the ashes. But first we had to save the older generation from themselves, we had to make sure that we started with a clean slate that wasn’t contaminated with inconsideration and greed. We had to make sure that we had a strong foundation to build our world on. That’s why I... we had to lock you up in this room. It was for your own saf--
XANDER: NO, DON’T GIVE ME THAT BULLSHIT AGAIN. YOU CAN’T KEEP ME IN HERE LIKE AN ANIMAL. YOU MIGHT SOUND LIKE THEM AND DRESS LIKE THEM BUT YOU’RE STILL MY DAUGHTER (silence.)
Valerie momentarily gives her back to Xander and then calmly faces him again.
VALERIE (sternly): We had to be the adults that you never could become and that is a heavy burden to leave for a couple of children who just want to survive to see another day. (Silence.) I know that this is hard for you but you have no idea the amount of pain that I have to go through every single day. You think I asked for this? You think I don’t want to act my own age? (Pause.) There’s nothing I can do, you guys never gave us any other options.
Xander stares into Valerie’s eyes for a while and his eyes start tearing up.
XANDER: I’m truly sorry dear for all the pain that we caused you. (Pause.) But you’ve gotta understand where I’m coming from. I can’t stay a prisoner in this room... I hate it here. (Xander breaks down.)
VALERIE (momentarily reverts to her childish self): I know Daddy and I’m sorry too (Valerie embraces Xander and tries to hide her tears) but this goes beyond me.
XANDER (tries to hold back his tears): It’s okay. (Beat.) But from the bottom of my heart, I believe that there’s still hope for us. There’s time to fix things before they turn this sour, right Uriel? (facing the audience.)
VALERIE (confused and is getting irritated): What are you talking about? Things already turned sour a long time ago (looks around to see who Xander is talking to.)
XANDER: I know, but it’s not too late for them (points at the audience.)
VALERIE(angrily): Who? There’s no one there.
XANDER: This is Uriel, they’re a bit old school and they’re not from around here. They’ve been keeping me company for quite some time now. Their situation still didn’t escalate to the levels that we went through but I’m hoping that they’ll learn from my experiences and save the planet before it gets to a point of no return.
VALERIE (directed to the audience): Well if you’re anything like him (sharply points at Xander), then I can guarantee that your fate is already sealed. You’ll make the same mistakes and you won’t listen to the sirens that are everywhere around you until it's too late. You are a lost cause and you should start apologizing to your children from now (pointing at younger audience members.)
Xander is about to talk when Valerie shushes him calmly. Valerie walks around the room for a bit and then takes a deep breath.
VALERIE: We’ve had to make some terrible sacrifices over the years but it was always for the greater good (pause.) I’m sorry Daddy.
XANDER (with a quiet look of horror on his face): For what, honey?
VALERIE: I called the police a while ago and they’re waiting for you outside. We can’t have you causing any more of your accidents.
XANDER (scared): ...The police? What are they going to do to me?
Valerie knocks on the door and Officer #1 and Officer #2 march in and stand next to Xander. They are two teenagers wearing formal attire.
XANDER: WAIT (raises his hands in protest.) Wait. Didn’t you say that we were going to have lunch together?
VALERIE: I already had mine in the office. I had them set up something nice for you at the Institution. Take it from here boys.
OFFICER #2: Yes, General (saluting Valerie. He then reads out from a digital manuscript) CITIZEN XANDER, THE NEW REPUBLIC HAS DESIGNATED YOU AS A THREAT TO SOCIETY FOR YOUR FAILED ATTEMPTS OF REHABILITATION AND YOUR CONSISTENT BREACH OF CODE. PARTIAL MEMORY WIPES WERE UNABLE TO HEAL YOU AND THIS LEAVES US WITH NO CHOICE BUT TO TAKE YOU TO THE INSTITUTION WHERE YOU WILL STAYING TILL THE TERMINATION OF YOUR TIME ON EARTH. DO YOU HAVE ANY LAST WORDS?
Xander struggles to get any word out for a couple of moments until he ultimately gives up. He stares at Valerie, violently shaking his head.
XANDER: We had our shortcomings but we're not beyond repair. (Xander anxiously alternates between the audience and Valerie) it’s not too late and we will prove the New Republic wrong--
OFFICER #1 (irritated): THAT'S ENOUGH, DISCIPLINE IS YOUR ONLY SALVATION. LET MOTHER TERRA INTO YOUR HEART AND YOU WILL TRANSCEND.
Both officers grab Xander and are dragging him towards the door. Xander tries to break free to talk to the audience.
XANDER: I'M OUT OF TIME BUT YOU CAN STILL STOP THIS FROM HAPPENING.(The officers are shoving Xander out of the room) PLEASE DON'T FAIL ME (Xander's voice gets reduced to a distant scream.)
VALERIE: Yeah right. (to the audience) Blind faith in a better future is a dangerous weapon in the hands of those who aren’t willing to put in the work towards that very same future.
END