WRITTEN
BY
Roger Newcomb
STARRING
(in order of appearance)
Ryan Chandler as Elijah Phillips
Stephen Seidel as Dante Ramos
Delaina
Dixon as Dr. Angela Givens
Kelly Christopher as Karen Grissom
Jeffrey Richardson as Dr. Brian Morgan
Steve Anderson as the Narrator
ELIJAH has
just answered a knock on the front door and finds DANTE on his doorstep.
ELIJAH
Dante.
What are you doing here? How did
you find me?
DANTE
Your mother
told me where you lived. We need to
talk.
ELIJAH
You came all
the way over here to talk to me? I’ve been in and out of your house your
entire life and you’ve barely even bothered speaking.
DANTE
Why did you
stop by the guest house to see
ELIJAH
Oh, you heard
about that. I was just being
friendly. She seems like a sweet girl.
DANTE
Yes, she
is. A very sweet girl.
ELIJAH
Then I’m sure
you didn’t mind me showing her a little
DANTE
What are you
up to, Elijah?
ELIJAH
Now why on
earth would you think I’m up to something, Dante?
DANTE
Because it’s
become apparent to me lately what a chip on your shoulder you have about
me. And I get the feeling you didn’t
stop by the guest house out of the goodness of your heart.
ELIJAH
Well, you’re
wrong. And it sounds like you’re a bit
jealous as well. Worried about a little
competition?
DANTE
(laughs)
Competition?
From you?
You have to be kidding.
ELIJAH
You
sound very sure of yourself. I guess
that means you have nothing to worry about.
Right?
ANGELA is
talking with BRIAN and KAREN.
ANGELA
Hold it,
Karen. You’re not going anywhere.
KAREN
Angela, I
can’t believe you. It was one thing for
you to have doubts about what happened between Brian and me. But for you to think that it was me that
wrote you those anonymous letters, now that really hurts
ANGELA
Do you think
I want to be standing here accusing you of something like that? But you could not look me in the eye and deny
it. You kept looking away, just like you
always do when you’re lying. God, Karen,
why on earth would you do that?
BRIAN
I’d love to
hear the answer to that myself. Especially since she tried to accuse me.
KAREN
Oh shut up,
Brian.
ANGELA
Brian, could you leave us alone for a few minutes. Karen and I need to continue this talk one on
one.
BRIAN
Angela, I
want to hear this. She tried to slander
me.
ANGELA
Please. Just give us a little time. Okay?
BRIAN
Alright.
I have to get back to the city soon.
But I’ll be outside waiting.
ANGELA
Thanks.
Brian walks
out and closes the door.
ANGELA
He’s gone
now. It’s just you and me, Karen. I want you to tell me the truth.
KAREN
Brian has
completely brainwashed you, Angela, and turned you against me.
ANGELA
Just save it,
Karen. Tell me what in God’s name was
going on in your mind to write me those letters. You know how much it creeped
me out.
KAREN
He’s
convinced you that I’m some monster. I’m
not, Angela, you know that.
ANGELA
Karen, I
don’t think you realize how serious this is.
You have lied to me for months.
You allowed me to think I had a potential stalker out there. You even made me doubt the best man I’ve ever
met. You have a lot of explaining to do.
KAREN
It was Brian,
Angela. He wrote you those letters, not
me.
ANGELA
Dammit, Karen. Our friendship is over if you don’t come
clean with me right now! Tell me what
you did. Tell me!
KAREN
Fine, it was
me, are you happy now? I’m an awful
person, and now you hate me. Does that
make you feel better?
ANGELA
Wow. Hearing you say it out loud makes it really
hit home. Why, Karen? Why would you do this? You tried to break up my relationship with
Brian before you even met the guy.
KAREN
I wasn’t
trying to break up you and Brian, Angela.
It wasn’t about that. At least not at first.
ANGELA
Then what the
hell was it about, Karen?
KAREN
Manny.
ANGELA
Manny?
What are you talking about?
KAREN
I wrote that
first letter to you right after Manny came back to
ANGELA
Why would you
do that?
KAREN
He’d hurt you
enough, Angela. I didn’t want him to get
that chance again.
ANGELA
Did you think
I was just going to fall back into his arms?
How in the world did you think to write anonymous letters in the first
place?
KAREN
It was
easy. Because I had the same things
happen to me.
ANGELA
What do you
mean?
KAREN
Angela, when
I was living in
ANGELA
How could you
be receiving letters without me knowing about it? We talked practically every day.
KAREN
I had a
feeling I knew who my letters were from and I didn’t want to tell you about it.
ANGELA
Why not?
KAREN
Because I was
confused, okay?
ANGELA
Too confused
to confide in your best friend?
KAREN
Yes. They were from a woman named Rose. She had a crush on me from the first day I
worked at the hospital in
ANGELA
A
woman?
KAREN
She finally
revealed herself to me, and I told her I wasn’t interested, but over time
things changed.
ANGELA
In
what way?
KAREN
We became
closer and eventually we started a relationship.
ANGELA
What?!! You were in a lesbian relationship? I can’t believe I’m hearing this. But what does all this have to do with…. Oh
no, no please don’t tell me what I think you’re about to tell me.
KAREN
You wanted to
truth, Angela. Rose and I dated for a
few months and there were parts of that relationship that I loved, but
something was missing. It took me a
while to figure it out but I finally did.
It wasn’t Rose that was the problem.
She was fine. But she wasn’t
you. I realized then and there that the
feelings she stirred up in me had been there all along, but I never realized
it.
ANGELA
I don’t think
I can listen to anymore.
KAREN
I love you,
Angela. That’s the reason I came back to
ANGELA
(interrupting)
I’m not gay,
Karen. And neither were you five minutes
ago. You’re telling me for the past
year, you’ve been trying to get closer to me so the two of us could start some
kind of sexual relationship?
KAREN
It’s not just
about sex, Angela. It’s about two people
who belong together sharing their lives.
I know if we had enough time together, that things would work out. I didn’t realize I had these feelings until
Rose. I can help you come to terms with
your feelings now.
ANGELA
I don’t have
those kinds of feelings, Karen. I love
Brian. You know that. Are you completely delusional?
KAREN
I’m not
delusional. I’m in love with my best
friend. Is that such a horrible crime?
ANGELA
By
itself? Maybe not. But you have lied and manipulated me for
months and months, and that is horrible.
And it’s something I can’t forgive.
KAREN
What are you
saying, Angela?
ANGELA
Karen, isn’t
it obvious? You and I can no longer be
friends. I don’t think we can even work
together anymore. I just need to get
away from you right now. I don’t even
know who you are.
Angela starts
to walk out of the office.
KAREN
Angela,
wait. We can work this out, I know we
can.
ANGELA
But I don’t
want to, Karen. I wish we’d never even
met.
KAREN
(starting to cry)
Angela, I
love you. More than Brian ever could.
ANGELA
If this is
what you call love, I want no part of it.
Goodbye, Karen.
Karen cries
as Angela leaves.