Just Walk

A super obvious metaphor. Sorry about that.

Act 1

Scene 1

LIGHTS UP on an empty stage. A teenage boy in a wheelchair, both legs in casts, rolls on, stage left. He slowly makes his way across to the opposite side. As he does, items are lowered down from the rafters. A jump rope, a skateboard, a soccer ball, etc. He looks at each of them in turn, sighs, and shakes his head.

Once he has reached far stage right, the scene begins to change. It becomes the breezeway at a high school, lockers lined up in the background, the closed door of a classroom. Two other boys, clearly friends of his, walk up to him.

oliver

Hey, guys.

alfie

Hey, Oliver.

william

What's up?

Oliver hesitates.

OLIVER

Oh, uh... nothing, really.

WILLIAM

Something's always up, with everybody.

OLIVER

Well you know, normal stuff. School. Boring. All that s**t.

WILLIAM

Right. Fun.

OLIVER

How about you?

WILLIAM

Same, I guess. I found out yesterday I didn't make the football team, so that kind of sucked.

OLIVER

Right.

WILLIAM

But I mean, whatever.

OLIVER

Yeah.

(beat)

OLIVER

So. How about you, A?

ALFIE

(shrugs)

The usual, I guess. Cross-country practice and stuff.

OLIVER

Right. Yeah. Cool.

ALFIE

Yeah. Hey, I'll race you guys to class.

WILLIAM

Oh yeah, that's real matu- onetwothreeGO!

They both take off running, away from Oliver. He sits there, watching them like this has happened a thousand times before.

OLIVER

(quietly)

Okay. See you guys around.

He waits a moment, then begins to wheel himself in the same direction that his friends went, but he stops when he comes to the edge of the stage. Alfie and William enter again, this time from stage right. They are dressed in PE clothes and William is carrying a basketball.

WILLIAM

Alright, Coach said it's three to a team this time. Oliver and Alfie, you're with me.

ALFIE

Hey, how come you always say my name last?

WILLIAM

'Cause you're a dweeb, that's why.

ALFIE

Shut up.

WILLIAM

I don't have to. I'm the team captain.

ALFIE

Well, after that little remark, maybe I don't want to be on your team.

WILLIAM

(dismissively)

Of course you do.

He turns away from Alfie and towards Oliver. Tosses the basketball, Oliver catches it instinctively.

WILLIAM

Come on, you.

OLIVER

No thanks, guys.

Oliver throws the ball back.

WILLIAM

What do you mean "no thanks"? There is no "no thanks" in sports!

He walks right up to Oliver, drops the basketball onto his lap, and walks around him in a circle.

OLIVER

Look, I just don't want to, okay?

WILLIAM

What's you're proble-

OLIVER

I said no!

He raises the ball over his head and throws it as hard as he can. It lands somewhere offstage. Beat.

OLIVER

Okay, that was kind of exessive. Sorry about that.

ALFIE

Uh, yeah. I mean, um, that's okay.

WILLIAM

Uh-huh. All good.

William and Alfie look at him strangely, William raising his hands in a gesture of surrender, and they shrug at each other. Oliver sighs, puts his head in his hands, as they walk off.

A girl walks on at the same moment, and smiles at Oliver.

girl

Hi.

OLIVER

Oh, hey.

GIRL

Uh, how are you?

OLIVER

(a little too quickly)

Fine.

GIRL

Good. Yeah. So, um, I was wondering if you'd, um, like to go to Winter Formal with me?

OLIVER

Oh. I... I can't.

GIRL

Oh.

OLIVER

I'm sorry.

GIRL

No, that's- that's okay.

Obviously a little crestfallen, the girl keeps walking, past Oliver, until she is out of sight.

A small table with a laptop on it is moved on, to center stage. Olier wheels himself over to it, picks it up, and starts typing.

OLIVER

(sarcastically)

Well, today was fun.

He sighs.

OLIVER

I swear to god, my friends are idiots. I love them, but they're idiots. I mean, I know they don't understand what this is like, but you'd think at least some of it would be obvious. This sucks. Life sucks. But I'm sure you don't care about that. No one does. Have a nice life, my followers.

He unceremoniously taps one last button and, no longer typing, continues to stare at the screen.

A boy and a girl, about Oliver's age, appear in the upstage right and upstage left corners. A dim spotlight focuses on each of them. When one of them speaks, their spotlight grows brighter.

Surferguy07

D****e.

OLIVER

I'm sorry?

SURFERGUY07

I said you're a d****e.

OLIVER

Who asked you?

SURFERGUY07

You did, by bitching about your f*****g little problems.

OLIVER

You don't have to listen if you don't want to. No one's forcing you.

SURFERGUY07

Whatever, man. But you're an idiot.

OLIVER

I know, alright? Now go away.

He presses a key, the spotlight on SURFERGUY07 fades as QT849's spotlight brightens.

QT849

They're right, you know.

OLIVER

Who?

QT849

You know. Them. That guy. Everyone else who messages you.

OLIVER

I know, I know already! Have I not made that clear enough to you? I get it! You're all right! I understand!

QT849

Because this is all just really f*****g idiotic.

OLIVER

Were you listening to me?

QT849

You don't have anybody to blame for any of this s**t.

OLIVER

I know.

QT849

It's your fault! You did this!

OLIVER

I get it.

QT849

You did this. You're just weak, and a crybaby. Stop making excuses and take care of your own f*****g problems.

OLIVER

Will you go away?

QT849

You can't make me. C**t.

OLIVER

Okay, get out now.

QT849

And besi-

Oliver presses a button again, the spotlight on her fades.

He closes the laptop, sets it down, and heads upstage. The table is moved off.

Another two boys come onstage. One moves directly in front of Oliver, blocking his way, the other is a little bit behind the two of them, so that Oliver doesn't see him just yet.

OLIVER

(quietly)

Oh, god.

He tries to turn around, but the second boy is immediately behind him now, so that Oliver is unable to move anywhere. The first boy grabs the back of Oliver's wheelchair, spins it partially back towards him, and takes a step so that they are facing each other again.

BOY 1

Where do you think you're going?

OLIVER

Away.

BOY 1

No s**t.

OLIVER

Somewhere else. Somewhere not here.

boy 2

Aw, is the little cripple boy mad at us?

OLIVER

Leave me alone.

BOY 1

(laughihg)

Yeah, that's not happening.

OLIVER

What's your problem?

BOY 1

What's my problem? What's your problem?

OLIVER

Nothing.

BOY 2

Untrue.

OLIVER

No problem. I have no problem.

BOY 1

Liar.

BOY 2

You are a liar.

BOY 1

That was a lie.

OLIVER

Seriously, why don't you just shut up and go away?

BOY 1

Why don't you just shut up about your non-problem?

OLIVER

Not this again.

BOY 2

No, I'm curious too. Why the hell is this such a big deal for you?

A beat. Oliver stares at them blankly.

OLIVER

I don't know if you think you're funny or if you're just really that stupid.'

BOY 2

We're not the stupid ones, idiot.

OLIVER

Great comeback.

BOY 1

Do you honestly think everyone cares about what you have to say?

OLIVER

Never said I did.

BOY 1

So why are you so desperate for attention?

OLIVER

If I was desperate for attention, why would I try not to talk about it?

They ignore this.

BOY 2

You're not the only one, you know.

OLIVER

Never said I was.

BOY 2

You're not special. Everyone deals with s**t. This being such a big thing is on you. Just get up and walk already! It's not that hard! You're overexaggerating it.

OLIVER

I'm really not.

BOY 1

Yeah, you really are.

OLIVER

How would you know?

The scene freezes, William walks on from the oposite side of the stage. He looks at them and seems to realize what is going on.

Oliver and Boys 1 and 2 unfreeze, but do not speak or continue any real action. Boy 1 and Boy 2 exit in opposite directions, Oliver silently moves center stage again.

WILLIAM

Hey.

Oliver looks up and sees him, nods. William walks over to him.

WILLIAM

Everything okay?

OLIVER

Yeah. Sure.

WILLIAM

Come on, man. Really. Is everything okay?

OLIVER

(shrugs)

Not really.

WILLIAM

You want to talk about it?

OLIVER

Not really.

A beat.

OLIVER

Okay, yeah.

WILLIAM

Good. What's wrong?

OLIVER

It's just... no one gets it. This is hard.

WILLIAM

I know. I'm sorry.

OLIVER

It's alright, I mean it's probably better that way. Look what happens when they do.

WILLIAM

Yeah, I guess. Not everyone's like that, though.

OLIVER

Most.

WILLIAM

I'm not.

OLIVER

Yeah. Yeah, that's true, I guess.

WILLIAM

And you know I'm here if you need me, right?

OLIVER

Yeah.

WILLIAM

Okay. So, we're good?

OLIVER

Yeah. We're good.

William nods, takes the handles of Oliver's wheelchair, pushes him offstage. LIGHTS DOWN

Author's Note

I know it's super obvious, kind of cheesy, and it doesn't make a lot of sense. But please leave reviews anyway :P
Also, sorry about the formatting. I did this on Celtx and have no idea how to format things any other way.