breakinglight11 | 31 Plays in 31 Days: #30

This weirdest, most avant-garde of the pieces I've done for the 31 Days challenge. Just one more to go after this!

Day #30 - "Beloved Monster"

(THE MAID sits alone. THE BEAST approaches silently behind her.)

MAID: Don’t bother hanging back. I know you’re there.

BEAST: I’m always here. Sometimes nearer, sometimes farther off, but I’m always here.

MAID: In so many ways I’ve come to depend on that.

BEAST: But in other ways you resent me for it.

MAID: I’m sorry for that. You never did anything to deserve that. You carried me.

BEAST: Still. I make for a weight for you to carry too.

MAID: All you ever did was… be perfect.

BEAST: Perfection is the ultimate burden.

MAID: And you’re perfect in every way.

BEAST: Of course it wasn’t hard. That was just how you saw me.

MAID: It’s a hard act to follow.

BEAST: I take it they’re not following well?

MAID: Oh, how could they? It’s not a fair competition. They can’t be perfect like you.

BEAST: They can only be what they are. Something I’ve never been bound to.

MAID: I know that in my head. But in my heart… it’s hard to remember.

BEAST: They love you, though. They really, truly love you.

MAID: They do. And they love me of their own free will. Not… because I want them to. You don’t know what a difference that makes. It’s… it’s the only way they could ever break through the wall you built around me. Nothing else could beat you.

BEAST: I understand. Do you love them?

MAID: I do. I never thought I could. They earned that.

BEAST: They must be special.

MAID: They are!

BEAST: So what’s the trouble?

MAID: They're not you. Nobody could ever be you.

BEAST: Of course.

MAID: For so long, you were my everything. I still can’t imagine anyone better than you. And as much as I love them… nothing in the world ever made me feel the way you did. Not even they did.

BEAST: I know.

MAID: I can feel that diminishing the joy they give me. That as good as they are, as much as they do to make me happy…

BEAST: …They’ll never come close to what I meant to you.

MAID: And so I worry… what will I do… if I can never love anything the way I’ve loved you?

(Pause.)

MAID: I love you, you monster. God damn you.