Participants:
| Scene Title | Don't Disappoint Them |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Aaron brings the homeless blonde to a hotel room. He makes another bad decision, surprise surprise. |
| Date | March 28, 2010 |
Hotel Room
Unravel me
a distant cord
on the outside is forgotten
In retrospect, it was a terrible idea.
"I'm evolved," he explains. The girl, Marie — at least that's what her ID said, though he's giving her the benefit of the doubt on that matter — lies on the hotel bed, Aaron seated on the floor next to the bed, head in his hands.
a constant need
To get along
"I take away people's pain and suffering. Except my own." He licks his lips, brushing a hand through his sandy blonde hair, "And I have no choice in the matter, either, since my ability comes with a catch— if I don't use it, I get withdrawal. Like heroin. The doctors think I could die if I stopped using it. Based on how badly I feel after just a couple of days, I'd say they're right." He clenches his fists.
"I don't have much control over my ability, it mostly just happens while I'm singing, and while you're sitting there all relaxed and pain free, I'm sitting here with a little bit of whatever I took from you. But it will all come back to you, eventually. Based on how bad you looked — I can see the pain within a person as a darkness — I don't imagine that will take too long."
Marie slides to the end of the bed and puts a hand on Aaron's shoulder.
and the animal awakens
and all I feel is black and white
He brushes it away. "Oh sure, you love me now. But wait until you're yourself again, then see how much you give a damn." He slinks away from the bed to turn out the light and then lies down on the floor.
The road is long
He stares up at the ceiling for hours, even after Marie has dozed off. The seconds tick away on his watch, the minutes and hours irrelevant. They take so long to pass.
the memory slides
to the whole of my undoing
put it aside
I put away
I push it back to get through each day
Aaron finds himself in the bathroom some hours later, the first flickers of light appearing on the horizon. He stares at himself in the mirror, the reflection foggy in his mind.
and all I feel is black and white
and I'm wound up small and tight
and I don't know who I am
How on earth did he get to be such a monster?
Everybody loves you when you're easy
everybody hates when you're a bore
everyone is waiting for your entrance so
don't disappoint them
He splashes water on his face, as though that might help wash away the emotions roiling beneath the surface.
Unravel me
untie this chord
the very center of our union
is caving in
I can't endure
I am the archive of our failure
He rifles through drawers, cupboards, and finally his things. Shaking hands unzip the little leather pouch that his his grooming kit. He slides the blade out of his safety razor.
And all I feel is black and white
and I'm wound up small and tight
and I don't know who I am
The first notch is cut into his lower arm, just below his elbow. He breathes a sigh of relief as his focus goes to the stinging pain of the small cut.
Everybody loves you when you're easy
everybody hates when you're a bore
everyone is waiting for your entrance so
don't disappoint them
But he doesn't stop with one cut. Or one arm.
Everybody loves you when you're easy so
don't disappoint them
It's all he can do to keep from screaming. But somebody does, after a gentle knock and the creak of a door opening.
Don't disappoint them…