Short Scene

This was written as an assignment for a writing class. It's supposed to be part of a larger piece; I envision it as somewhere near the end of the first act.

The formating is going to be awful, just as a warning.

Scene: Open stage, with the base of the gibbet visible, extending upwards to the rafters. A single narrow open staircase winds its way around the scaffolding.

JON STOCKTON stands at the base of an elaborate gallows, in full uniform.

A GUARD enters SL, leading MALCOLM ST. JAMES by a leash and metal collar.

GUARD
Watch ‘im, ‘e bites.

MALCOLM
You liked it though, just a little bit. I could see it in your eyes sweetie.

GUARD
(pause)
So, ye gonna take ‘im?

JON
What’s the exchange protocol?

GUARD
Uh right. I hereby transfers this prisoner to yer hands, duly convicted by Our Republic of crimes against her Citizens.

JON
I accept the transfer Citizen. I will hold this man’s soul until it is consigned to hell. You are dismissed.

GUARD exits SL

MALCOLM
Listen to the roar of my people, clamouring to see me.

JON
Be quiet Convict 24604.

MALCOLM
You almost make me want to break into song... are you to be my Javert? Will you pursue me wherever I go?

JON
You’re going nowhere but up the gallows, then a quick trip down Convict.

MALCOLM
All for stealing a loaf of bread.

JON
Be quiet Convict.

MALCOLM
Or maybe it’s the bakery I burned down. And the thirty people in it.

JON
Citizens.

MALCOLM
Sorry, citizens. If I’d killed 30 People I’d be congratulated. Actually, I’d likely be you. How many have you killed Citizen Politic?

JON
(ashamed)
I am not Citizen Politic.

MALCOLM
Delightful! You do their dirty work, and they won’t admit you to the body.

JON
I will be. At least I’m not a murderer and agent of chaos.

MALCOLM
Ah, Javert, but you are. You are a killer for the state. A murderer of freedom and free thought. Why do you do these things? What do you hope to gain Javert?

JON
Why do you call me that. What does that name mean? Where did you learn it?

MALCOLM
Inquisitive for a Citizen. I call you that because you are my jailer; that is what it means. I learned it from a book.

JON
Liar. Books are forbidden, they were all destroyed.

MALCOLM
Ah yes… the Republic is afraid of knowledge. Do you suppose that’s why I’m being hung? To kill the knowledge in my head?

JON
The Republic does what is right for us.

MALCOLM
By putting to death a murderer?

JON
Yes

MALCOLM
And doesn’t that make the Republic a murderer? And shouldn’t she be put to death?

JON
Be quiet Convict.

MALCOLM
Ah yes. The agent of chaos must be quiet. Can’t have someone questioning our Lady Republic. Can’t question how amongst all this enforced order, someone who kills for sport can exist.

JON
You killed thirty Citizens and destroyed Republic property. You deserve death. You can’t question.

MALCOLM
I killed three hundred and fifty People before I killed those thirty Citizens. No one cared about that.

JON
Three hundred fifty? Exactly?

MALCOLM
Yes Javert. Exactly.

JON
You were like me?

MALCOLM
Yes Javert. Exactly. By the end I had a taste for it. And I bet you will too.

JON
Not possible.

MALCOLM
Completely possible. And then I found books; I found books and learned that it wasn’t always this way. Our Lady Republic and her Patrician Priests and Magistrate Ministers, her God-loving Governors and Inquisitors are not the way it has to be.

JON
But Chaos…

MALCOLM
Chaos is another word for Freedom. Freedom to think, to dream, to live. I found freedom, the freedom to kill whomever I wanted, until what I wanted to kill was Citizens. And when that happened, regardless of how many I’d killed before, only then was I stopped. Only in a world as terrible as this, in a society so corrupt, could someone like me exist, and not make people want to burn it all down.

ANNOUNCER (OS)
Now, Convict 24604, to be hanged by the neck until he is dead.

The CROWD cheers.

MALCOLM
See how excited they are? See what appeal death holds? Hear how hungry they are for Chaos?

JON
You must repent.

MALCOLM
(moves towards the steps of the gallows)
Would it matter? Is the problem me?

JON
You must repent!

MALCOLM
(moves up steps)
Our Lady Republic should join me in repentance.

JON
Your soul is in peril! Beg forgiveness in her eyes. You must repent!

MALCOLM
My people await. Be yourself, Javert. There’s no shame in bucking the status quo.

JON
She will grant forgiveness! She can save your soul.

MALCOLM
But who can save hers? Who would want to? (exits up the steps)