IRL

MISSY

We need to talk.

(Silence.)

I called Ralph.

GUY

You called Ralph? To invite him and his wife over for dinner or something? That’s a bit OOC. You don’t even like him. He’s my friend.

MISSY

Let me put this another way. I called Dr. Donaldson.

GUY

That’s a bit formal for a good friend.

MISSY

He made room to see you on Monday.

GUY

Like, professionally?

MISSY

Yes.

GUY

You called my best friend. Who I play games with. And fish with. Relax with. And you told him I need psychiatric help? What the hell is wrong with you?

MISSY

You don’t fish.

GUY

We did. Once. That’s what guy friends do. Or golf. I don’t know, that’s beside the point. You crossed a line.

MISSY

The way you’ve been acting, lines are gone.

GUY

Those lines don’t go. They’re stationary. It’s my magic circle.

MISSY

Magic circle? Like for Wicca?

GUY

Forbidden spot. Different rules. NOT the normal world. Like in games. Ralph’s normal world is psychiatry. Our magic circle didn’t allow that in. You broke it.

MISSY

You need help, I wasn’t trying to break anything, I just….

GUY

(Moment of realization.)

It’s broken.

MISSY

I said I’m sorry.

GUY

No, not the lines, forget the lines. The Magic Circle. It’s broken.

(You can hear the capitals.)

MISSY

How can I forget the lines if the lines are the magic circle and that’s what’s broken?

GUY

A different magic circle. The Magic Circle. That’s why I keep dying.

MISSY

Please Guy, I can’t take much more of your morbid fantasies.

(GUY crosses to their room and starts looking for a book, tossing aside clothes, crawling under the bed, etc.)

MISSY

Maybe Ralph can see you earlier. This is out of control.

(GUY finds the book.)

GUY

Ha! Huizinga! Homo Ludens!

MISSY

What language are you speaking? If this is some sort of voodoo, Wiccan thing, I don’t want any part of it.

GUY

(Reading.)

“All play moves and has its being within a play-ground marked off beforehand either materially or ideally, deliberately or as a matter of course.” Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Deliberately.

(GUY turns and looks at MISSY darkly. GUY advances on MISSY and begins to grapple with her. This struggle can be quite intense; perhaps MISSY has been trained in self-defense. After a long, loud struggle, GUY has MISSY pushed down across the bed. He straddles her, places his hands around her throat and squeezes the life out of her.)

(Long silence.)

(Her body is still there. GUY stands up on the bed.)

GUY

Oh shit. Shit. Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit.

(He looks around trying to figure something out. He shakes her body a bit. Nothing. He pushes it out of sight, off the bed, behind the pile of clothes.)

What am I gonna do? I’ll call Ralph. No. He thinks I’m crazy now. I guess I am crazy now. Oh shit. She’s dead. I killed my wife. I killed my wife. I killed…..

(MISSY comes in through the front door, stalks back to the bedroom and slaps GUY across the face…hard.)

GUY

…my wife.

MISSY

You just killed me.

GUY

I thought it would…..you would…..you did……

(MISSY grabs GUY and kisses him passionately, then steps back.)

MISSY

You just killed me.

(MISSY tackles GUY on to the bed, beginning to rip his clothes off.)

(Lights down.)