Fragments Of His Being

ACT I - SCENE I

ACT I

SCENE I

[In a small town, just a few miles off the main city; a group of teenage boys were throwing hoops at the central court — battered and run down. The clay ground corroded, and the paint that set the lines fading off. Despite this there was a smile on everyone's face as they passed a battered basketball around.]

KARL: (to QUINN.) what are you looking at? Pay attention. [The boys about laughed as the basketball bounced off QUINN's back. QUINN turned, smiling a little before picking the ball from the ground and tossing it.]

QUINN: (To KARL.) Shut up, I was thinking.

KARL: (laughs.) sure you were. (looks away, and turns his attention to HOZIER who was now attempting a basket.)

QUINN: (smiles before turning back to the gates. He turned away again when he realized the short dark-haired boy was still observing them from behind the gates.)

[The boys continue to play, pausing occasionally to chat about their home lives, the people they were dating or school.]

Pause.

HOZIER: (To everyone.) Do any of you want to go to the pub? I heard there's a band playing there at eight.

MOST BOYS: Yes.

HOZIER: (Smiles.) Great.

KARL: (To HOZIER.) I can't come. I'm heading back home with QUINN.

QUINN: Yes, that's true.

HOZIER: (Nods, running a hand through his blond hair.) Ah, maybe next time.

QUINN: Of course.

QUINN and KARL exit the court.

QUINN and KARL enter the main street.

KARL: (Speaking to QUINN.) what was on your mind? You were absent-minded — in fact, you've been this way for over a month.

QUINN: (Smiles a little.) It's nothing really. Why are you have you been looking at me though?

KARL: It's hard not to when you keep getting hit by the basketball.

BOTH: (laugh as they continue their walk to their house.)

[The homes were tightly packed and small. The two boys lived not too far away from each other. They were in the same apartment complex, and just a few doors away.]

BOTH: (Enter run-down brick building before climbing up the stairs to the sixth floor.)

KARL: See you later.

QUINN: (Smiles.) You too.

QUINN: (Watches KARL walk away before turning to the door of his household's apartment building.)

QUINN: (Sighs as he unlocks the door.)

QUINN: (Walks into the small living room before checking the small kitchen to see if his parents were back.)

QUINN: They're not back yet. Isn't it seven yet?

QUINN: (Decides not to think too much about it before heading for his room.)

[The room was small, and the bed touched the two ends. There was barely enough space for any other furniture, but QUINN did manage to fit in a small desk.]

QUINN: (lays on his bed as he remembers the dark-haired boy that had been watching them.)

QUINN: (Asking no one in particular.) Who is he? (Frowns as he remembers the short lean figure in baggy clothes.)

[The dark-haired boy had been watching them for over a month. QUINN noticed that he'd appear at a middle of a game, and stay until it was over. He never walked into the court to ask to join. He just stayed behind the gates observing them.]

QUINN: Maybe he's new?

[Almost every person in the neighborhood knew each other by name. It was a small place, with just one local school.]

QUINN: (Sighs in frustration.) Maybe I should ask around?

[QUINN was in his last year in high school, but he hadn't seen the boy around.]

QUINN: Maybe he's a junior? Maybe even a sophomore? (He continues to say to himself.)

QUINN: (Listens to the wall clock in his room tick as he stared at the posters he'd decorated his room in. He ran his hair through his dark curls — rubbing the area between his brows in an attempt to make the frown that had made an appearance on his face relax.)

QUINN: (Turns on his bed before shutting his eyes, and attempting to forget about the boy.)

Curtains fall.