Here’s a Box
By Michelle Lane
JEN sits in her room. It’s
extremely cluttered and messy: basically there’s a lot of crap.
A STRAGE MAN enters the room.
MAN
This is Jen. She’s…
JEN
Who the fuck are you!
MAN
We’ll discuss that in a minute.
Jen is about to…
JEN
Why in the hell are you in here?
MAN
I’m about to go over that.
Jen is about to participate in an experiment
JEN
Like hell I am. MOM!
MAN
Your mom isn’t here right now Jen.
JEN
Of course she is, she’s down stairs. MOM! Why is there a man
in my room!
JEN continues to cry out for her
mom, her dad, her brother Henry, anyone, while the MAN speaks.
MAN
Your mother isn’t…forget it.
Jen is going to participate in an experiment. Everything she
knows and owns is in this space. She has a few moments to put her “life” into
this box.
The
MAN produces a box. JEN stops screaming.
We’re going to give her roughly 3 minutes to complete this
task. If she cannot complete the task,
Two security guard-looking men
walk out and grab JEN—she screams again. The put a dog collar around her neck.
She will die.
This collar here will send out enough volts to stun Jen,
then will shock again finally stopping her heart. It will be fast and painless,
no need to worry about Jen, we hope she can figure it out.
Her time starts now.
The men leave, Jen begins to pack
everything around her into the box. It clearly doesn’t all fit.
Why do this you may ask? Well the question should be, could
you fit your life, everything you need to survive, purely survive into a box?
JEN
This is a trick. A sick, disgusting trick.
MAN
No, this is no trick. This is a battle of the mind over
material. Do you need everything in your life? What is necessity, what is not.
What do you feel helps you and what hurts you?
JEN
I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know I don’t know I
DON’T KNOW.
The
MAN begins to leave.
Where are you going!
MAN
93 seconds…
MAN
exits.
JEN begins to frantically pack
more things into the box.
JEN’s time runs out, she is
shocked once by the collar.
Her mother’s voice is heard
offstage.
MOTHER
JEN ARE YOU ALMOST DONE?
JEN
gets up off the floor, collar gone.
MAN
re-enters, JEN doesn’t see him.
MAN
What would you bring?
THE
END
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