Four Characters

prompt: four people are in a room with a fireplace and flickering flames - a grandmother, a six-year-old girl, a nurse, and a murderer hiding from the cops.

Grandmother

            I keep telling Johanna that she should save up her money and get a better house than this dump. She and that husband of hers moved in here right after their wedding, when they barely had any money. Little Olivia is almost seven years old now and should have a yard she can sit and sun in. The poor girl is pale as anything. She’s sitting in the corner now, by the fireplace. The child isn’t properly socialized, either. I’m sitting here drinking my tea, and she hasn’t even come over to greet me. If her mother was around more she would be better taught.

 

Johanna

I swear to God if my mother doesn’t leave soon I’m going to pull my hair out. I came home from work and there she was, sitting on my couch and drinking tea from my chipped china. The first thing she said to me? I need to buy a real house. Apparently it’s not enough that I’m barely scraping together enough money for the rent of this hellhole, now I need to do this and that and I didn’t raise my daughter the right way. I get enough complaints at work from my patients; I don’t want to come home to this. I don’t think Olivia heard her talking- she’s playing with something by the fireplace.

 

Tim

            Jo’s mother is here. I know the woman hasn’t said a nice thing to her daughter in seven years so I tried to get her to leave before Jo got home but the woman is more stubborn than Olivia. Who, actually, still won’t talk to me. I accidentally ran over a squirrel last week when I was driving her to school, and she’s convinced I should be arrested and sent to jail. A police car drove by the house last night and she thought they were looking for me. She even tried to call 911. She’s playing with something near the fireplace now and I hope it’s not something dangerous. Jo hasn’t even changed out of her scrubs yet and she’s walking around like Olivia’s going to have to call the cops again for a real reason.

 

Olivia

            Daddy is a bad man. He ran over the poor little squirrel last week and he wasn’t even sorry about it. Mommy’s mad that Grandmother is here and she hasn’t even come over and said hi to me. She’s always mad when she comes home but she always plays with me before I go to bed. Grandmother is talking into her cup but I can hear everything she’s saying and none if it is very nice. Mommy told me I should always talk nice about people because it will hurt someone’s feelings if I talk bad. She told me not to play with matches too, but I’m cold and no one will help me with the matches and the fireplace so I’m trying to do it all by myself but I’m not very good. It took me three matches until I got one lit and it scares me so bad I drop it on the carpet. It makes a fire though- I watch it flicker and smoke until Grandmother screams.