by Arianna James
Int. Two people…a gas station next to an empty highway. Bright white light falls onto the gravel ground, the broken analog clock next to the cash register flicks to 02:24 am, 8 minutes behind.
KEONE, a young man with dirt covering his shoes, is staring wide-eyed and confused at the long row of bandages and first aid kits on the dusty shelves. He walks with a slight limp, favoring his right side and has crimson caked under his fingernails.
VIVIEN, a young woman, older but not by that much, with spots on her clothes that are slightly blackened and singed, is smirking, as she loped forward easily, coming to lean against the shelf right next to Keone, fingers flicking playfully at a lighter, a small flame crackling to life and dying in turn.
Vivien
Pretty boy, your demons and my demons should play.
Keone
They already have. Don’t tell me you’ve already forgotten Vegas.
Pause.
What are you doing here?
Vivien
Forget Vegas? I couldn’t forget that shit if I tried. Can’t I just check in on you? That’s what friends do, isn’t it?
Keone
Oh, we’re friends now?
Vivien
Don’t be so bitter, of course we are. You know my secrets, and I know yours.
Keone
That sounds like a healthy basis for a relationship.
Vivien
Oooh, it’s a relationship now, is it? Darling, really, you’re too good to me.
Keone
Just– fucking hell. Just cut it out. We’ve been at this over a year, it’s– it’s so–
Vivien
I imagine it’s just as tiring chasing after you as it is running from me. What do you say then, hm, let’s ‘just cut it out.’ Come with me. I’ve got an empty seat in my car and an empty spot on my record that could both do with a little trouble.
Keone
People don’t actually talk like that. What, you thought you’d just, run me down and talk pretty to me?
Vivien
Is it working?
Keone
Pause. Fiddles with a cheap package of bandages.
I– I’m not that easy. This was all for nothing, do you understand? This entire year, tracking me down every time I stop moving like I owe something to you–
Vivien
I’ve always laid my petty flower heart bare, sweetheart. Go ahead, pick my brain apart if you want. I told you, my demons get lonely too. Besides, you do owe me. My silence isn’t easy, and I don’t come cheap, not even for you.
Keone
I don’t know what you think you saw–
Vivien
Oh darling, I’m so sick of these little games of back and forth. You’ve gotten so boring on your little holiday from me. Do you want me to remind you of that night? I can do that. I
n fact, I often recall it like a tasty pipe dream, I could fill you in with all the little details your pretty little brain never caught–
Keone
No, don’t–
Vivien
She reaches out and tips his chin upwards with a single manicured finger; their gazes meet.
Won’t you stop crying for that stupid boy already? He’s just another body buried in a garden now. Your precious little tears won’t make him grow; he’ll never a real boy again.
Keone
I didn’t mean to. I didn’t —
Vivien
Tell yourself what you like. Your knife slipped, your trigger finger twitched, it was one hit too many — it doesn’t matter! It doesn’t matter if you meant to or not, that boy is just a body now, and no one’s looking for him.
Keone
Because of you.
Vivien
Because of us. I lit the match, flicked the lighter, whatever, but you helped me drench that house with gasoline and your pretty, pitiful tears. You asked me to. You made me.
Keone
I didn’t know what I was doing, I was scared, I–
Vivien
She grabs his fingers, the blood under his fingernails.
And this? Did you know what you were doing then?
Keone
You don’t understand, I had to–– I had to––
Vivien
Did you?
Silence. She sucks bloody fingers into her mouth, smirking with all her teeth.
Come on, darling. Come with me.
Our demons are lonely, it’s time for them to play. They’d go so well together.
What do you say?
There’s nothing like a good murder with a little fire, hm?
