Title: Conversation #10
Author: Peter Wood
Draft date: 13-08-15
Contact: peterwood2@gmail.com
A
Not here.
B
Why?
A
Because I . . . because you . . . because we.
B
No. That’s not why.
A
It is.
B
You’re lying. If not to me, to yourself.
A
I hate you.
B
I know. But more than that. And yes. Here. Always here. This place for that time and the way you smelled and the way I tasted and the way we moved and the way that it all crashed down around us and made us feel alive.
A
Until we died.
B
Well, yes. There’s that.
A
Destruction can only work for so long. Then it’s just destruction and emptiness. A long hollow world where the sky is grey and the sun is grey and the ground is grey and there is only a distant distant sound of blood pumping but even that is dying dying dying. And we are left here. Empty. Hollowed out by each other.
Long pause.
A
How I loved to be hollowed out by you. Emptied. Drained. Your eyes, your need. Leaving me--
B
Gone.
A
Yes.
B
Here?
A
Yes.
Title: Conversation #11
Author: Peter Wood
Draft date: 13-08-15
Contact: peterwood2@gmail.com
C
There’s a spider in my head.
D
That’s what she said.
C
That doesn’t even make the slightest sense. And I’m not joking. You think I’m joking. Not. Joking. Also, not metaphor.
D
Umm, for real? I mean, that’s not really possible right? Didn’t they do a Mythbuster’s about that?
C
I don’t know. It’s not a material spider, that’s the thing. It’s not going to show up on any kind of scan. The Doctors will never find it. But it’s real and there, even if immaterial.
D
Oh. Um, maybe we ought to get you some help?
C
Look, you asked what my secret was and I’m telling you. Now you think I’m crazy and now you’ll go away and that’s fucking why I don’t tell it to people but I thought, I hoped you were different.
D
I . . . hey, don’t . . . please. Stay. Stay. It’s . . . Ok, so you have an immaterial spider in your head. I . . . look, I can’t say I totally believe it’s real right? I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to thinking that maybe you have some kind of weird mental disorder. No, come on. I’m being honest. But that doesn’t mean I think you are crazy or bad or that I don’t want to be here.
Long pause.
D
Ok?
C
Ok.
Pause.
D
Does it talk to you? I mean--
C
No. But sometimes it sings.
Pause.
C
And I think it’s name is something like Evangeline. And I think it’s actually some kind of weird projection from a different dimension and I just hope it doesn’t hurt, being caught in my head and I think I love you.
Title: Conversation #12
Author: Peter Wood
Draft date: 13-08-15
Contact: peterwood2@gmail.com
E
It’s always been about you.
F
I love you.
E
You don’t fucking know me.
F
I love you.
E
What’s my favorite book?
F
I love you.
E
What’s my favorite color?
F
I love you.
E
Do you know how to make me feel safe?
F
I love you.
E
Do you know what makes me afraid?
F
I love you.
E
Have you ever bothered to learn the geography of my childhood? Of why I am sometimes emotionally distant and what you can do to bring me back from that distance? Of how I first fell in love or guilt operates as a factor in my life? Have you ever even asked me why I pull away from you instead of just making me feel guilty about pulling away from you.
F
I love you.
E
You don’t. You don’t even know me.
F
I love you.
Long pause.
F
I love you.
Long pause.
F
I love you.
E
Come here.
They kiss.