Betrayed

by Cielo N.

 

Characters: 

AMALINDA, the Amethyst boulder   

ALL-ABOUT-ME, the vain, selfish parrot

Setting: 

It is a bright, sunny day in Brazil. We are on a jagged cliff made of lava rock. You feel like you can see the whole world. Grass grows in cracks in the rock. There are holes in the lava rock where  parrots have made their nests. All we hear is other parrots’squawking and screeching as they fly in and out. In one hole, there’s a parrot nest that sits on top of a green rock,  an unbroken Amethyst boulder. At this time, pebbles have started to fall.

 

 

Time: 7:00 AM on a sunny day

 

At Rise: 

ALL-ABOUT-ME is asleep on her nest which she has built on top of AMALINDA. She is sitting on her egg in the nest. She is being as careful as she can be.

 

---

 

 

(The earth rumbles and pebbles have started to fall.)

 

AMALINDA

All-about-me, wake up! The earthquake is coming.

 

ALL-ABOUT-ME

I’m so tired. Please stop yelling.

 

AMALINDA

You don’t understand. I’m ready to leave.

 

ALL-ABOUT-ME

Amalinda! (hissing) Can you please stop making a damn racket! I am trying to get my beauty sleep…What do you mean you are ready to leave? You are not going anywhere.

 

AMALINDA

You don’t own me, All-about-me. I have already made my mind up.

 

ALL-ABOUT-ME

I mean we’ve been together forever and you never said anything before. Why did you wait until now?

 

AMALINDA

It’s because we have been with each other forever. The earthquake will happen today…I can already hear the earth moving and pebbles falling.

 

ALL-ABOUT-ME

You are a foolish, foolish little rock. You are going to need me.

 

AMALINDA

Me? Need you? You are so simple-minded. Ha. No, you need me to keep your egg safe. You don’t want me to leave only because you wouldn’t want your nest to roll over and make the egg crack.

 

ALL-ABOUT-ME

(gasps at the idea). Why do you want to leave?

 

AMALINDA

All I have ever wanted was to be free, see the world, and experience new things. Even if it’s good or bad, you’re there and you get to experience it, And I’m a rock stuck around other rocks. I can’t see anything or get to live through anything. I don’t know what you look like. I don’t even know what I look like.

 

ALL-ABOUT-ME

(silent)

 

AMALINDA

I’m angry and disappointed because you should support me on this decision I am making, but no, you make me feel like I am suffocating.

 

ALL-ABOUT-ME

You’re suffocating? You have had an amazing life just by having me by your side. You act like you were always miserable! Squack!

 

AMALINDA

That’s what it feels like, that I have always been miserable. Yes, you have let me experience the world through your eyes, but I want to experience it through mine. I want to see the flowers bloom, the sun rise and then go down.

 

ALL-ABOUT-ME

(silent)

 

AMALINDA

I want to find my mother…You used to tell me my mother was still alive. You would tell me how her purple crystals glistened after she fell off the cliff and broke open during the last earthquake.

 

ALL-ABOUT-ME

This nonsense again? Can’t we ever have a peaceful day? You are giving me a headache.

 

AMANDA

Nonsense? Really?

 

ALL-ABOUT-ME-ABOUT-ME

I only told you to give you hope. Squack.

 

AMALINDA

Why say “just to give me hope”? If you had told me the truth at the time, I could have moved on. But, you seemed so serious when you told me that she was dead, so you must be lying now. I am rolling out of this hole and down the cliff to look for her.

 

ALL-ABOUT-ME

(cooing) I know I was wrong, but I couldn’t stand losing someone else that was and is so important in my life.

 

AMALINDA

You think that’s going to work? No, you are not going to manipulate me into feeling guilty.

 

ALL-ABOUT-ME

You can’t leave now. Squack!

 

AMALINDA

Why not?

 

ALL-ABOUT-ME

My baby.

 

AMALINDA

I am leaving to see my mother and to experience life and see the world.

 

ALL-ABOUT-ME

Selfish! I have done so much for you. Squack!

 

AMALINDA

You have done so much for me. You were so caring at first, but when you started getting older you became foolish and selfish. Now, I don’t even want to be in your presence. You make me feel trapped.

 

ALL-ABOUT-ME

What do you mean I make you feel trapped? You are your own self, you can leave whenever you want…But, I mean, I wouldn’t want you to leave, we’re so close.

 

AMALINDA

This is the first decision that I have made for me… You’ve been by my side, but we’ve been here a long time, stuck with each other.

 

ALL-ABOUT-ME

So are you telling me that you feel stuck?

 

AMALINDA

Since we lost both of our mothers, you are all I’ve had and I love you…

 

ALL-ABOUT-ME

(Interrupts) Don’t even get me started with my mother’s death. It was your mother’s fault that my mother is dead. My mother should not have tried to help her during that earthquake.

 

AMALINDA

What do you mean?

 

ALL-ABOUT-ME

When the last earthquake happened, my mother flew back to help dislodge your mother so that she could “experience life and see the world.” And the rocks crumbled down and killed my mother.

 

AMALINDA

If that’s the truth, why didn’t you tell me sooner.

 

ALL-ABOUT-ME

I didn’t want to change our relationship. Both of us lost mothers that day and it wasn’t your fault. It was your mother’s fault.

 

AMALINDA

That  wasn’t my mother’s doing. It was their friendship that caused their accident…

(The earth rumbles)

 

We have to get out of here.

 

ALL-ABOUT-ME

How do I move my nest?

 

AMALINDA

I can’t help you. Remember, I’m a rock.

 

ALL-ABOUT-ME

Can you at least help me figure this out? Squack.

 

AMALINDA

No, there’s not enough time! I need to get out of here!