Personal Projects

Scriptwriting

The Act of Murder: A Double-Edged Sword
by Lydia Kezia

Characters:

1. Julliane – A cold-blooded, remorseless killer, the head of a mafia organization. She knows her advisor is a double agent working for the government, but says nothing.

2. Anthony – Julliane’s right hand man, her advisor, a double agent loyal to the British government. His goal is to eliminate Julliane. He has never taken a life.

ACT I

Scene 1

A DIMLY LIT OFFICE – Late afternoon

A large oak desk dominates the room. Papers and a bottle of wine are scattered across its surface. JULLIANE sits in the chair, pale and exhausted, a cigarette in one hand. Behind her, ANTHONY stands, his hand trembling slightly as he points a gun at the JULLIANE’s head.

JULLIANE

(In a tired but calm voice)

Killing me won't change anything Anthony.

(When ANTHONY hears JULLIANE’s words he froze. Silence. ANTHONY doesn't say anything, his gun still aimed at her.)

JULLIANE

(In a quiet voice)

If you kill me... you'll die too Anthony.

(JULLIANE plays the cigarette in her hand and slowly close her eyes. She smiles a little, but it is one of regret.)

JULLIANE

You'd only kill us both. Your soul...

(Silence. ANTHONY shifts his weight.)

JULLIANE

(In a deeper and shaky voice. Breathing a cigarette.)

It's not because I don't want to die, Anthony. Not because I don't want to get shot. I just... I-I just... You have no idea what you'll become Anthony. A monster.

(JULLIANE leaned her head back against the chair. Her voice shaking even more)

JULLIANE

But not the monster others fear, no…

(Pause. JULLIANE scans the audience. There is fear in her eyes. JULLIANE takes a shaky breath.)

JULLIANE

The monster that you fear-the one that eats and kills you from the inside...

(JULLIANE pulls her legs up onto the chair. ANTHONY says nothing.)

JULLIANE

The one that makes you forget about life and only want... death.

(Shoulders tensed and began to tremble. Eyes begin to become glassy. JULLIANE holds her voice steady, her eyes looking straight at the audience (as if looking out her office window watching the birds fly around freely)).

JULLIANE

(In a voice deep with regret)

I want to die Anthony... But I don't want to split my soul even more... I won't... I won't kill myself.

(ANTHONY's hand falters, he trembles a little but still did not move or say a word.)

(JULLIANE looks up at the ceiling, single tear slid down her cheek. She runs a hand down her face to hide her emerging sobs.)

JULLIANE

(Half-sobbing)

And I don't want you to live your life having to die every single day... because of me, Anthony.

(JULLIANE sobbing quietly, looks at the audience then up again at the ceiling. ANTHONY is silent)

JULLIANE

I know I can't stop you, but I just don't want you to…

(Silence. Pause. JULLIANE sighs and lets out a shaky breath, a sob coming. She bows her head, one hand on her head.)

JULLIANE

(In a cracked and shaky voice)

Oh God...

(JULLIANE sobs. She reaches for her wine glass with a trembling hand and takes a small sip. JULLIANE cries softly.)

JULLIANE

(In a quiet voice)

Please Anthony... don't kill yourself-don't die.

(ANTHONY lets out a silent breath. His grip on the gun falters and he lowers his arm. JULLIANE calmed, her sobs easing. She puts her wine and cigarette down. Then she puts her legs back down. JULLIANE lets out a soft sigh and gave a faint smile. JULLIANE raises her head again and looks towards the audience (outside the window at the birds)). Then she looks at a photograph on the side of her desk.)

*the audience cannot see the picture, but it is a picture of Julliane and Anthony together on the streets of Paris.

JULLIANE

(With a calm and soft voice)

Thank you, Anthony…

ANTHONY

(In a soft voice)

For what?

JULLIANE

(Smiles and speaks in a quiet voice)

For listening.

(Suddenly there were people and shouts. People had broken into JULLIANE’S office. There was a yell. ANTHONY froze, his eyes darting to the source of the commotions. JULLIANE did not move, still looking ahead. There is a sound of gun trigger being pulled by one of the intruders. JULLIANE’s body jolted and she fell forwards on her desk.)

*JULLIANE is dead.

ACT I

Scene 2

ANTHONY stands frozen for a while after JULLIANE was shot. His face tight with surprise and shock.

LIGHT DIMS AND TURNS OFF

LIGHT TURNS BACK ON

ANTHONY stands alone on stage, in front of JULLIANE’s desk. JULLIANE is not there anymore.

ANTHONY

(With a serious face and wistful tone)

I, Anthony, could've died that day – could’ve lost myself to the despair she knew would befall me. I could have become the hero – a great hero. But I didn't. because in the beast I saw... was a human who still cared. She made me hesitate only to get shot by another "of her victim"... but she saved me. And even if I will never understand her... even if I will never get the chance to ever ask her all the questions I had... I will always remember... that every life (slight pause) is meaningful.

LIGHT DIMS AND TURNS OFF

THE END

“Anyone tormented by the guilt of murder will seek refuge in the grave;

let no one hold them back.” Proverbs 28:17

TITLE: To Be Made Whole Again
CURRENT CHAPTERS: 5
BY: Lydia Kezia

FIRST PARAGRAPH OF EACH CHAPTER:

Chapter 1

“The Rain has Fallen”

Once upon a time, on a small cliff overlooking the mighty northern sea, stood a little cottage with walls of Cornish granite and brick red chimney which pointed up at the sun. Its front facing the peaceful east where the sun emits its wonderful first shine. Its rather rough walls were quite nearly over run by the spiky rose bush growing under one of the cottage's windows, adding colour to the otherwise plain granite. It was spring time, and so here and there red roses decorated the house. There were lavenders too, and petunias, and hibiscus, all growing wonderfully around the little cottage, their leaves and petals dancing along with the gentle breeze which carried their sweet heavenly scent everywhere within a mile away. 

Chapter 2

“The R in Rain is Rueful”

         R, what does it stand for? Rueful, rabid, real, radical, rain, receive, or reconcile? No one really knows what goes on in a person’s head when the word “R” is mentioned, but one thing’s for sure. Whatever it may be… it exists.

Chapter 3

“Like a Hot-Iron Scar… Like Newton’s Cradle”

       In the vastness of the suffocating existence Jean now lived in, her admittance of her past actions towards a stranger had given her a temporary sense of calm. There was something about sharing her concealed self to someone she was so sure she would never encounter again. However, for a brilliant mind like Jean, she had yet again miscalculated. Clif wasn’t a come-once-and-never-again, he stayed, much to her dismay.

Chapter 4

“A Full-English, Chinese, or Curry?”

         “Fix my eyes on you… I learned the lines and talked the talk, but the road less traveled is hard to walk… It takes a soldier who knows his order… to walk the walk I’m supposed to walk.” The tune from for KING & COUNTRY played on Jean’s laptop on the dinner table as she moved around the kitchen. It was only four-thirty in the morning. At three, Jean had awoken to a pulsing head and had gone down for a cup of hot tea, but was unable to fall back to sleep. She then remembered all the papers she had to correct before the end of the holidays, and so she had busied herself with that instead, the pain in her head keeping her awake.

Chapter 5

“The Book that Condemns!”

There is one that condemns,

The world and its transgressions,

But there solace exists,

One that frees us from oppression.

         Pages after pages of a book was torn and thrown all over the desk. The day was growing hotter and hotter, the heat seeping fast into the cottage, and it was making Jean restless. A whole week has passed since Clif made his appearance at her front door. They have not yet met again, as Jean never bothered going out to the village, living on what she still has in her refrigerator and the things her garden gave her. It was a good thing that the milk man came every few days.