An Almost Perfect Thing, Page 9
Nicole Moeller
I want you to marry me.
CHLOE
Please?
GREG
I can't—
MATHEW
I want us to be normal.
CHLOE
Like boyfriend and girlfriend.
MATHEW
Man and wife.
CHLOE
We'll run away. Be free. You don't have anyone else. I'll take care of you.
MATHEW
For the rest of my life.
CHLOE
Hold me. Please—
MATHEW
—let me have you.
CHLOE
Please.
MATHEW
I've waited so long. I need to touch you. I need to feel—
CHLOE
What will it take? Details, right? The worst punishment I got was when he'd stop talking to me. I'd rather be beat up, tied up, swore at, spit at, forced to wash his feet than ignored.
MATHEW
I'd see you reading or dancing around the kitchen and I wanted so badly to feel you. To kiss you. But I didn't. I'd go in my room and bang my head on the wall until I beat the thoughts out of me. Or I'd go to the street and pick up some woman and pretend she was you.
CHLOE
I'd lay awake sometimes, wishing I was asleep while he touched himself in my room. He'd bump into me so he could grab me or touch me without feeling guilty. And, after a while, I wanted him to touch me. So that I could be touched by someone. How sick is that, hey, Greg? I'll give you those details. I'll make them up if I have to. I need—
MATHEW
—you to touch me.
CHLOE
—kiss me.
MATHEW
Be with me.
CHLOE
Stay with me.
MATHEW
Please.
CHLOE
I don't have anyone else.
MATHEW
I can't wait anymore. I need you.
CHLOE
Please, please, please…
MATHEW
Please…
CHLOE
Please, please…
Beat. Beat.
GREG
Give me his name.
Beat.
CHLOE
No.
SCENE TEN
Shift. GREG and CHLOE address the audience. MATHEW is in his house. MATHEW's scene is the same as from the beginning of the play.
GREG
Miracle Girl Lies. Question Mark.
I apologize. To you. My readers. When I began this, I had her and your best interests in mind. However—
CHLOE
I can no longer say without a doubt what the truth is.
GREG
Was Chloe Evans locked up? Did she suffer unimaginable physical and sexual abuse at the hands of a monster?
CHLOE
My story…
GREG
Or did she live upstairs willingly? Cook his meals, sleep in his bed, go on day trips, vacations even? Is she in on it? Does she still talk to him? Did she just want her fifteen minutes of fame?
CHLOE
You took my story…
GREG
Or… was she even there at all?
CHLOE
You undid everything.
GREG
Is any of it true? You deserve the truth and I'm no longer sure that I'm giving it to you. And for that, I'm deeply sorry. Like you, I wanted to believe her. I gave her the benefit of the doubt. I let my compassion cloud my judgment. To the Miracle Girl…
CHLOE
I survived.
GREG
Telling the truth requires bravery. When you're ready to be brave—
CHLOE
I saved myself.
GREG
—you know where to find me.
MATHEW
Chloe?
GREG
If she thinks they don't believe her she'll have to prove it.
MATHEW
My head is… groggy… Fell asleep… I fell asleep…
GREG
My plan works. But not how I think.
CHLOE
Two days later—
GREG
I get to work and find a package sitting on my desk.
CHLOE
There's a letter in my mailbox.
GREG/CHLOE
It's from him.
GREG
On the top, a handwritten note:
MATHEW
Chloe?
GREG
"You say you don't know what the truth is, Mr. Kalowitz. Well, here's the truth. My truth."
MATHEW
Chloe!
GREG
Pages and pages of writing.
CHLOE
One scrap of paper.
GREG
Read the first page.
MATHEW
Chloe!
CHLOE
My love.
GREG
"Once upon a time there was a girl. She falls from the sky it seems. Out of nowhere, really."
MATHEW
Breathe… five… four…
CHLOE
I waited for you.
MATHEW
Three… two…
CHLOE
Praying you'd come back.
MATHEW
One…
GREG
"She appears like an angel."
CHLOE
I read about you in the paper. My girl on the front page.
MATHEW
Turn on the light…
CHLOE
I wrote our story. My story. The truth.
MATHEW
Downstairs…
CHLOE
They'll believe us now, Chloe. They won't say such bad things about you. And it'll be me who's on the front page.
MATHEW
The door is… open.
CHLOE
But that means I have to go now. My mum was right. You can't make someone love you.
MATHEW
Chloe…
CHLOE
But in the end—
GREG
It's signed—
CHLOE
You'll always be my everything.
GREG
Mathew Quinn. Name. Address.
MATHEW
Where is she?
GREG
I have to see him.
CHLOE
He has to still be there.
MATHEW
She… must… be…
GREG
Get in my car.
CHLOE
Run.
GREG
Drive.
MATHEW
Search. Outside. Inside. Under the bed.
CHLOE
Legs burning—
GREG
Sweat dripping. I have to see the house.
MATHEW
Chloe…
GREG
Go to the door.
MATHEW
She said she'd never…
GREG
Be the first to describe—
CHLOE
His eyes, his smile—
GREG
The way he speaks, holds his arms, everything.
MATHEW
Grab my gun.
CHLOE
I feel—
GREG
I'm on fire.
MATHEW
Chloe!
CHLOE
The thought—
GREG
Of me c
atching him—
MATHEW
Gun to my temple.
GREG
Our faces side by side—
MATHEW
Metal against skin. Chloe—
CHLOE
Mathew—
GREG
On the front page.
CHLOE
Three.
GREG
Two.
MATHEW
One.
ALL
I see it.
CHLOE
Like a piece of heaven—
MATHEW
—and hell—
GREG
—all mixed in one.
MATHEW
A note.
GREG
The house.
CHLOE
Home.
GREG
Walk to the door.
CHLOE
Run inside.
MATHEW
Finger off the trigger.
GREG
It's partially open.
CHLOE
Mathew?
GREG
Hello?
MATHEW
Lower my gun.
CHLOE
He's not here.
MATHEW
Pick up the note.
CHLOE
It's too late.
GREG
Have to go in.
CHLOE
Have to get out.
GREG
See that face. Look in those eyes. Know that I caught him.
GREG/CHLOE
Save myself.
GREG
Hello?
MATHEW
It's from Chloe.
GREG
A piece of paper on the table beside the door. It says my name.
MATHEW
"Dearest MATHEW—"
GREG
"Dear GREG—"
MATHEW and GREG both reading notes from CHLOE.
MATHEW
"I know you're holding the gun."
GREG
"I knew you'd come here."
MATHEW
"Put it down. Please."
GREG
"I had to go."
MATHEW
"You know that."
GREG
"I want to. It's my choice."
MATHEW
"I had to give myself a chance. At something else. It doesn't mean I don't love you."
GREG
"Tell my dad I'm sorry."
MATHEW
"Someday, years from now, when everyone has forgotten, maybe we can see each other. Drink black tea and play checkers. Like we always do."
GREG
"I left my writing. Now you have my story. And you have his. All you need is yours."
MATHEW
"I'll never give them your name. Cross my heart and hope to die. But if something happens, and they start to come after you, I want you to run. Go up to our bridge. Where you feel calm. Way up high. I want you stand on the ledge—"
GREG
"Good luck with your writing, Greg. I hope they love you as much as I did."
CHLOE
—look down on the beauty below, throw your arms up, and just let go. Free for the first time in your whole life. Finally free.
SCENE ELEVEN
Shift. Bar. To the audience.
GREG
So, I'm at this party. Opening of a new martini bar called Heaven. And it is. Music pounding. Drinks flowing. Everyone in the devil's version of their Sunday best.
He waves to someone.
People are angry. They say I pushed her away. I did it. I made her run.
But still… They buy the book. They make sure it's a bestseller. His story, hers, mine. All interwoven. I travel the world promoting it. Talking about the experience. And now… bigger city. Better job. My colleagues look at me differently, which is, you know… nice.
Beat.
They found his body two days later. I figured they would. But as for Chloe Evans, Miracle Girl… she has disappeared. Some people say they've seen her. But no one has concrete evidence. Most people assume she… you know… but so far, nothing. So hopefully… she's free.
Beat.
Free. Like me.
Beat.
I search the bar.
Beat.
For someone…
Beat.
Anyone…
The end.
Acknowledgements
Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Alberta Playwrights' Network, Michael Clark, Conni Massing, WWT Playwrights Unit, and Elyne Quan.
Nicole Moeller is an Edmonton-based playwright and a graduate of Grant MacEwan University's Journalism and Theatre Arts programs. She has received various awards for her work. Other plays include Without You, My Gay Husband. What an Asshole, and an adaptation of Sartre's Erostratus. Her short story "The Girl in the Snowshoes" is published in the anthology 40 Below.
