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DaniBones — Library Ghost
Published: 2010-11-04 06:04:53 +0000 UTC; Views: 168; Favourites: 0; Downloads: 1
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Description
"Library Ghost"By Jen Brent
(Lights up. A small niche of floor and wall, adjacent to an old, stone, spiral staircase, center stage. We see the steps leading upward stage-right, and the steps leading downward, stage-left. At the center of the wall above the niche is a stained glass window. MIRA, a mousey girl with thick glasses, a book under her arm, and a sweater sits below the window. She begins reading.)
MIRA: (Sighs contentedly) This is much better than the reading rooms… it isn't as crowded… It's a place where you can really be alone.
(A shadow passes behind the stained glass window. MIRA does not notice.)
MIRA: (Turns a page) Not to mention it really sets the mood for Poe…. (She reads aloud,) "Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore—"
(There is a miserable groaning heard. MIRA looks about, shaken.)
MIRA: … "'Tis the wind and…nothing more." (Returns to reading silently)
(The groaning gets louder. MIRA buries her face in her book, blocking out the offending sound. The lights dim. When they come back up, a girl is standing next to MIRA, with her arms crossed. It is LUCY, looking very agitated. She is a luminescent white from head to toe, and wears glasses similar to MIRA's.)
LUCY: I said. OooOOoooOOOOOOOHHHHHH!!!
(MIRA starts and looks up at LUCY)
MIRA: Who are you?! When did you get here??
LUCY: That isn't important. What is important is: OooOOoooOOHHHH!
MIRA: Stop that!
LUCY: Why aren't you scared??
MIRA: Because "OooOOooHHh" isn't scary, it's just ANNOYING!
LUCY: You wouldn't know "scary" if it came and bit you on the backside!
MIRA: Don't know scary?! (Holds up book of Poe) THIS. Is scary. Death and messengers from the afterlife are scary. A girl who fell in some flour and groans is NOT scary.
LUCY: (Aghast) Fell…in…FLOUR!? Do you know what I am?!
MIRA: I just said what you are!
LUCY: Lookie here you! I am one of those "messengers from the afterlife"!
MIRA: You?? You're hardly a "stately raven of the saintly days of yore"!
LUCY: I'll have you know that I am the resident library ghost.
MIRA: …The what?
LUCY: (Pushes up her glasses and turns up her nose) You heard me! The resident library ghost!
MIRA: Oh? Well, you know what? I've never even seen you around until now! I think I'm the real library ghost! And you're an IMPOSTER!
LUCY: What?!
MIRA: You heard me! I'm here all the time. You might say this is my "usual haunt"! Yet I've never seen you!
LUCY: That's because I'm…elusive!
MIRA: It's because you're a faker! You've abandoned your post!
LUCY: I have not!
MIRA: Then where have you been, Miss Alleged-Library-Ghost!
LUCY: I've been busy! Doing…ghostly things! You wouldn't understand. (After a pause, she tries to return to her original scare tactics) OOoooOoohHH! Ghostly thiiiiinnngs!
MIRA: Whatever you say, imposter! (Goes back to reading her book)
(LUCY, annoyed at being ignored, snatches MIRA's book and throws it down the stage-left stairs. MIRA is shocked. She runs after it, exiting stage-left.)
LUCY: Hmph. Good riddance! (She sits and lounges where MIRA was sitting)
(MIRA reenters, panting and clinging her book protectively.)
LUCY: What, back so soon?
MIRA: (Points accusingly) YOU are no library ghost! A TRUE library ghost wouldn't THROW BOOKS!
LUCY: What makes YOU an authority on library ghosts?!
MIRA: Because I am this library's REAL ghost. Not some selfish little poltergeist!
LUCY: You aren't DEAD!
MIRA: Whoever said a library ghost had to be dead?
(LUCY opens her mouth but cannot think of a rebuttal. She resembles a perplexed fish.)
MIRA: (Opens the Poe book and reads) "Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore"…!
LUCY: What in the world are you…?!
MIRA: (Continues to read) "Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken"!
LUCY: (Snatches the book and reads) "Leave my loneliness unbroken! –Quit the bust above my door"!
(MIRA tries to grab the book at but LUCY holds it out of her reach. MIRA takes a deep breath and closes her eyes, trying to recall something.)
MIRA: "Take thy beak from out my heart—"
LUCY: (Cutting her off) "—and take thy form from off my door— "!!!
(Upon saying "DOOR", MIRA lunges and snatches the book away from LUCY. LUCY looks panicked, and does not know how to continue the poem.)
MIRA: (Grins victoriously) "Quoth the raven, 'Nevermore'"!
LUCY: And…and the… raven… who...um…the raven….
MIRA: So. Who here is the real library ghost?
LUCY: I…why…you little...I ought to…! …OOoooOOoHHhh!!
(LUCY waves her hands, trying to be threatening. Lights fade out. When they return, LUCY is gone and MIRA stands alone and triumphant. She smiles and sits once more.)
MIRA: "And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting"…(Looks up with a victorious grin) Still is sitting.
(Fade out.)
End
