Petrified
Daniel Brothers
2/5/2021
Petrified
Characters: Lance, someone who made a mistake
A calming voice, a voice that is calming
Setting: A strange cave where the stalactites and stalagmites are all at angles and fractal outward in a way reminiscent of a strange stony ivy.
[At rise, the space is lit as if only by bioluminescent creatures, like worms or fungus. Lance steps out into the space. It should be unclear or unexpected just how they enter the space. He takes a moment to move around the space slowly taking in the scenery, fascinated by each branch and each stone. The texture! When suddenly you hear a large resonate tock, the lights flick as if a switch was turned. They stand bathed in an all encompassing light, removing almost all shadows from the stage. ]
Voice: You are back.
Lance: I am.
Voice: Why?
Lance: Oh. I just wanted to remember was all.
Voice: That is good, because that is all that is left here.
[Lance touches the cold stone]
Lance: Memories?
Voice: Not even that technically. Only stone.
Lance: I know.
[A pause as Lance stares at the branch he is holding onto]
Voice: It will not move for you if you stare at it again. This tree is dead.
Lance: The roots are dead.
Voice: There are only roots.
Lance: But there might be more!
Voice: Lance, do not try this again.
Lance: There could be more!
[Lance goes to climb one of the larger stone columns]
Voice: You will only hurt yourself.
[the pillar crumbles as Lance falls among the rocks of his mistakes]
Voice: As well as the memory of your love.
Lance: Well what fucking good is it if it lies here buried! What good is it to have this room full of rocks and rubble and shit? What is the point of remembering this dead thing?
Voice: You can't know, you just do.
Lance: What?
Voice: You just remember.
Lance: Yeah well I wish I didn't
Voice: Do you?
[He chucks a rock, another column crumbles]
Voice: Please don't
Lance: Why not? They are my broken roots, they are my rocks, why can't I destroy them?
Voice: Because they will not go away.
[ He breaks another]
Voice: They will only form a crumbled pile of rock and dust, taking up the same place here, showing you nothing new, giving you nothing more.
Lance: I don't want anything new!
[he takes a rock and goes to throw it, but instead hits it into his other hands. Squeezing it tightly and failing to make it crumble he lets it tumble to the ground along with himself]
Lance: I just want this to go away.
Voice: It is ok to mourn what did not grow.
Lance: But it could have! It could still.
Voice: It could not.
Lance: Can't I fix it?
Voice: No, you can not. look at it. see it crumbled. Even before then, you could not. This thing is not alive, it is not what it was. It grew but then it died. You hold it petrified, for a mind can not forget.
Lance: Why do you care? Why won't you let me make my own choices.
Voice: (sigh) You care. You regret letting this growth stop, you regret watching it turn to stone with time.
Lance: But you. [pause] I swear. [pause]
Voice: You can not rebuttal, because you know I am right.
Lance: I know you are right! But that doesn't make it easier.
[He stands and begins to put the pieces of what was left back at the base of the towers they broke from. Organizing]
Voice: I did not say that it did
Lance: No you didn't.
[he continues to work as his fumes wear off]
Voice: You could plant a new seed.
Lance: I know I could, but how could it ever get to be so. Impressive.
Voice: I don't know
Lance: I know you don't
[He finishes and stands looking at his work, these silent moments of work can take time]
Voice: You won't know until you try.
Lance: I know.
Voice: You don't have to leave this behind though.
Lance: Don't I?
Voice: It would be disingenuous to try
Lance: You're saying I can't
Voice: I know you can't
Lance: [smiling] Fuck you.
Voice; you know I am//
Lance: Yes I know you are right. Right.
Voice: A lot can be learned from a fossil.
Lance: I'm ready to stop learning then
Voice: I don't believe you.
[Lance shakes a finger and then shakes his head, goes to leave]
Voice: Thanks for checking in. It's been a while.
Lance: [nods] You'll see me again.
Voice: I know.
Lance: I know.
[Lance smiles, laughs, and exits, the lights fade slowly]
End