Aiden
Characters
Aiden: 16 years old, playful but hurting under the surface. He has a sinister and intense presence which intimidates despite his clear vulnerability. He thinks a lot and feels things powerfully.
Anna: 38 years old, funny and talkative naturally. She is impatient and has a quick temper.
Mike: 37 years old, quiet and sensitive with a dry sense of humour. A family man. He has a silent strength and doesn’t give up.
Set in the round with raised seating that stays dimly lit for the whole play. In the middle of the stage is a table which Anna and Mike are sat at. On the table is one candle lit, a half empty bottle of wine and two wine glasses. The lights are down on that stage apart from the candle. Aiden walks on from behind the audience and stands in the aisle watching them.
Aiden: (All the while looking at Anna and Mike, playing with his lighter) I’ll tell you a secret. You might not want it but I’ll give it to you. I know. I know everything. I hear everything, I am everywhere. Ha creepy or what eh? (laughs)I’m kidding. Joking. Whatever. No one laughs anyway. Laughter is fucking dead these days. Dead and buried. I tried to dig it up the other day. got down on my knees and clawed at the earth with my fingers, dirt and grit all up my nails and dust and sweat in my face. I tunnelled through, hammered at the earth with a hammer, a chizzle, a spade, my fists. It was rock in the end. Hard and cold rock. Or metal, yeah metal. Precious metal? Ha no. No chance. No fucking chance. (slowly) If you got through the metal though? Where would you be then eh? Centre of everything, everyone. Burning at the centre of the earth. Intense eh?
Well here’s the situation, watch it unfold, I dare you. You may be singed in the process (laughs). I did something. Something bad. Yeah I know, shocking as I appear so innocent eh? Well it was something bad. Something destructive. And they (gestures to Anna and Mike) are talking about it, naturally. Talk, scream, shout, or what it has been lately, ‘discuss’. No feelings. Emptiness. Cold. Cold-hearted. Cold-blooded. No passion, no fire.
Pause
I hope you see through my smoke.
Scene at table starts to come to life. Lights slowly up on Anna and Mike. Aiden slowly moves through the audience as the action onstage happens, watching them the whole time, still playing with his lighter.
Anna: So?
Silence
God you’re infuriating
Pause, Mike drinks
Mike: I’m infuriating?
Anna: Yes. God.
Silence. She looks at Mike in expectation. He stares back
Unbelievable.
Mike: What?
Anna: You’re not giving me anything here Mike.
Mike: What do you want me to give?
Anna: Anything
Mike: Anything?
Anna: Anything (pause) God
Silence, both speak at same time:
Anna: Why can’t we...
Mike: I’m thinking....
Pause
Anna: What?
Mike: What?
Anna: What were you thinking?
Mike: I don’t know Anna I’m just...
Anna: Well I’ve been here for half an hour now
Mike: Sorry to keep you from...
Anna: I didn’t mean that, Jesus
Silence
He’ll be back soon that’s all
Mike: I know
Anna: So we need to decide...
Mike: I know
Anna: Be together on this decision. Whatever that decision is. And. What we’re going to do. He needs to know that we’re here but that it’s not ok...
Mike: Anna
Anna: What?
Mike: I think he knows it’s not ok
Anna: Does he though? He doesn’t act like he does.
Mike: Anna please
Silence. Anna looks at Mike. They stare at each other
More wine?
Tension relaxed slightly
Anna: Yeah. Thanks.
He pours her another glass
I’m being unbearable aren’t I?
Mike: Just a little bit
She smiles
Pause
Anna: I’m sorry
Mike: It’s ok
Anna: It’s just such a shock and I’m not...
Mike: I know. I know
Anna: You’re always so calm it gets frustrating
Mike: I don’t want to get...There’s no point...
Anna: I know, I know. It just means I turn into a crazy person. I have to stress on your behalf as well as mine, while you’ll there all composed, sitting opposite the raving loony at the table.
Mike: Wine helps usually
Anna: Wine always helps everything
Mike: So wise
Anna: My motto in life.
Mike: I got the nice stuff in, the stuff you like. Thought you’d need a drink
Anna: That’s nice of you (pause) why were you thinking about wine?
Mike: I honestly don’t know
Both laugh at the absurdity of the situation, then quickly stop. Pause. Mike looks at Anna while she drinks
Mike: You look tired
Anna: So do you. I haven’t slept. Couldn’t sleep. Obviously
Mike: Yeah
Anna: Are you saying I look shit?
Mike: No
Anna: Well I do
Mike: No you don’t
Anna: I do
Mike: Alright then
Anna: So do you
Mike: Okay
Pause
Anna: So what did the police say exactly then?
Mike: I told you everything
Anna: Well I was kind of in shock Mike so if you could please be so kind as to inform me again
Pause
Sorry
Mike: They said it was up to the school if they wanted to...
Anna: Surely all the parents will know?
Mike: No it hasn’t been made public what happened. They made out it was an accident apparently, for now.
Anna: But they’ll find out eventually, god we’re in trouble
Mike: No one was hurt
Anna: Thank god. That’s not the point is it?
Mike: Well maybe but it is up to the school for now
Anna: Did they arrest him? Like handcuffs?
Mike: Well I don’t know. I wouldn’t have thought so. They said he was very calm.
Pause
Anna: He takes after you then
Mike: What?
Anna: Calm. He stays calm. (pause) That’s why I don’t understand. He’s usually such a thinker. Always deep in thought. But never acts on anything. He’s too clever for this Mike, why didn’t he think about this? We should have listened to that teacher of his, should have kept him in therapy for longer...
Mike: (quietly) Maybe it all boiled up. Exploded. Inside him. He’s always had a fire in him
Anna: Yes. But I didn’t know it was dangerous
Pause. Both drink
And last night?
Mike: What?
Anna: Last night, what did he say, or you say?
Mike: Nothing much really
Anna: Nothing much really?
Mike: I was kind of stuck for words Anna
Anna: Well that’s a surprise
Mike: What?
Pause
He said. He said he wished it had worked
Anna: He said what?
Mike: He said he wished it had worked
Anna: Oh my god
Mike: Although in the heat of the moment. I mean. You know. He was obviously being defensive...
Anna: He was obviously being defensive? What does that even mean? He was being fucking defensive? Fucking hell. If he can’t even act sorry then how are we going to sort this?
Mike: Well I’m sure he’s had time to think by now
Anna: God what was he thinking?
Mike: Anna I don’t know, but it’s done and we have to deal with it now
Anna: But why?
Mike: ‘Why’?
Anna: I mean why did he do it?
Pause
Surely that’s what we should be looking at here
Mike: I know
Lights up on Aiden in the aisle. The action onstage continues. They sit in silence drinking.
Aiden: Remember when you used to think your parents could do anything? Could save the world. They were so clever and big and old and knew the answer to every stupid question you asked. Idols. Heroes. Big huge towers of greatness just waiting to tumble down and crush you. You can run and not be crushed if you see it coming, if you realise gradually, grow up, get a job, a house, your own kid. Whatever. Then they can fall without crushing you. You can pick up the pieces and build them up into something smaller, less impressive, but something you can still lean on if you need to. But if you don’t get that chance to grow. If they leave before...Tumble before you get any warning. Then you’re screwed. Crushed and unable to breathe or build them up again. Or yourself. The pain of a thousand bricks. They’re not fucking metaphorical bricks either. They hurt. They really hurt.
Again he moves slowly through the audience watching the action.
Mike: He hasn’t been...the same...since, you know
Anna: Yeah, well that’s understandable
Mike: He’s been, well...
Anna: Well what?
Mike: You know when your mum died?
Pause
Anna: Yeah
Mike: He’s been like he was after that
Anna: Has he been violent?
Mike: Not violent as such. Just aggressive. Almost internally though. He doesn’t express it. Doesn’t speak to me really. At all.
Anna: Why didn’t you tell me?
Mike: I didn’t want to worry you
Anna: You didn’t want to worry me? Don’t be so fucking pathetic Mike
Mike: You would have thought, I know you would have been, taken it the wrong way
Anna: What? In what way would I have taken it the wrong way?
Mike: You’d have thought I was just saying it...
Anna: No I wouldn’t.
Mike: You’d have thought I was just saying it so you’d come back
Silence
Anna: You should have still told me
Pause
I was there last time. I would have been here again. If I’d have known I’d have been here more...I’d have been there for him.
Mike: How was I to know this was going to happen?
Anna: Well if there were clues...
Mike: There weren’t exactly clues Anna, I’m still as shocked as you, I’m not his accomplice
Anna: It must have taken some planning. God. He’s sick Mike, really sick.
Mike: Well you’re right
Anna: What?
Mike: We should, I guess, focus on why (looks up at her) then we can figure out how to fix this and get our son back
Aiden: Why, why, why. Why did you do that Aiden? Like they’re asking a 3 year old why he took a shit on the living room carpet. So disappointed. So shocked. Well even I don’t know why I did it so good luck to them. I Just repeat ‘I don’t know’ to Mr Collins, to the police, to him. Well I have some whys too....Why did you break up? Why did it all go wrong? Surely that’s the more interesting story. That’s what I want to know, because I was never told that answer. They both don’t know, that’s the truth. (shouting at the stage, suddenly furious) Because it’s wrong and shouldn’t be happening! (more playful and light-hearted)I know the story of how they met. They were sitting together on a train. Long journey. He was reading The Guardian, she was reading some girly magazine. He turned to her and asked ‘so how is the situation with Kerry Katona’s new diet?’ to which she got flustered and spilt her drink all down him, and then proceeded to get angry at him for bathing in her expensive Costa coffee. That’s his version anyway. He said he fell for her wild eyes and flushed cheeks.
Pause
Anna: I know what you’re thinking
Mike: What?
Anna: Just say it Mike, come out with it, stop being so...silent. Like a statue. Say what you want to say, what you feel
Mike: Anna you’re being...
Anna: Well I know what you’re thinking so you don’t even need to say it
Mike: You don’t know what I’m thinking
Anna: I know what you’re thinking
Mike: Fine. You know what I’m thinking
Anna: Well I do
Mike: Yeah
Pause
Anna: You think it’s my fault.
Mike: no
Anna: You think if we hadn’t, if I hadn’t...left. then he wouldn’t be.... And maybe you’re right. But surely, I mean people do this all the time.
Mike: Not us
Pause
Anna: What?
Mike: I didn’t think we would. That it would happen to us. I mean god Anna it was us, you know. We said we’ve never. (pause) that’s all.
Anna: Me neither
Mike: Then why did you...
Anna: Mike this isn’t really appropriate. We need to talk about... He’ll be home soon
Mike: Right
Anna: What?
Mike: Nothing. It’s nothing. I’ll say nothing. You talk. Talk about things that aren’t real. Talk about how bad our son is, but don’t talk about why. Talk about how we shouldn’t talk about things. How we shouldn’t sleep in the same bed. How we shouldn’t tell the neighbours. How we shouldn’t tell our son. Not yet. Of course not yet. Why do we even bother opening our mouths? Why are we even facing each other? Looking at each other? What’s the point Anna? What the hell is the point?
Anna: Don’t do this. (gets up from table. Starts putting on coat)
Aiden: (interjecting. Shouting from the aisles) I feel burning hot and freezing cold. Every time they shout. It burns and chills through the walls. Illness? No not me. I don’t get ill. Never. Invincible (laughs). But I get hot and cold. Shivers and flushes. Every time.
Mike: So you’re going to leave now are you? Walk away. Great yeah. That will help. Why can’t you be here? You said we had to sit and sort this
Anna: I’m here. I’m trying. I’m trying to talk. I’m trying to sort this. I can still be here when it comes to our son. But I can’t when you do this (goes to leave)
Mike: (gets up to stop her) No you can’t...you’re never fully here Anna. You haven’t really been here for so long. You won’t let yourself. You’re always outside of us. Why can’t you just forget yourself for one minute and be here with me? Be us. So we can sort this out. That’s why I can’t talk to you Anna. Because I’m not talking to you at all, I’m talking to someone I don’t know anymore. It’s unnerving. God, it’s hurtful. It’s not true or fair Anna, can’t you see this?
Aiden: (again interjecting, more frantic now, moving through the audience) well now everyone else can feel the heat, I made them feel it, feel it burning through the walls, through the ceiling to the next floor. Heat rises. Smoke suffocating, they won’t breathe, crushed by heat!
Anna: (close to tears) At least I talk Mike. This is the most I’ve heard from you for months. I didn’t ask for this. It’s not my fault
Mike: Yes I know. You didn’t ask for this relationship. You didn’t ask for Aiden. You didn’t want any of it, I know Anna. You wanted a career. To make something of yourself, whatever that even means. But it’s happened Anna. We fell in love. Madly in love. We had a son. We had a beautiful life. And just because you ‘didn’t ask for it’ doesn’t mean you had to leave it. You don’t have to leave
Anna: Well why didn’t you try and stop me?
Mike: What? How can you say that?
Mike stands staring motionless at Anna who turns her back on him and starts rummaging in her bag for her car keys and then starts putting on her scarf ready to leave, she is shaking....
Aiden: Sat in my room smoking. I let you leave. Watched you through my window. You were wearing your red coat. I wanted to hit you, but then I wanted to hit him more. You didn’t say goodbye. Well now you can take some notice. The boy who tried to burn down the school....’I blame the parents’ (laughs). Not something you can brush under the carpet. I don’t even know if I’m lying anymore when I say I wanted it to work. Maybe I wanted everyone to burn to the ground. Everyone’s parents to burn. Maybe I was born this way. Too much anger. It’s not normal. Learning disabilities, mentally unstable, disturbed. I’ve heard it all before. Something must be wrong. An ‘overreaction’. It’s not normal to burn inside and out. Burn all the time.
Anna: (ready to leave) You let me walk out. You just stood there. like a statue
Mike: You were leaving me Anna. Leaving me. That was the worst feeling in the world. I could hardly breathe let alone speak or move. What was I meant to do? You left. I stayed. You know I wouldn’t have left. I promise I would never walk out on us. On Aiden. I let you. But I won’t let you again. You’re not leaving. Not now, you have to stay, for Aiden. He’ll be back soon.
Smoke starts pouring through the edges of the audience from all sides, making its way to the centre.
Anna: I had no choice Mike! We were fighting all the time. We had nothing left. We didn’t have laughter anymore, we didn’t have sex anymore, we didn’t have love anymore. I don’t know why but we didn’t.
Mike: We could have tried. We can still try. Please. Hold my hand, we can still try can’t we? (goes to take her hand, she lets him)
Aiden: Tumbling and burning. Tumbling and burning. (Aiden slowly walking down the stairs of the aisle towards the stage. repeats this line quietly in a deranged manner)
Anna: I can’t
Mike: (angry) You can
Anna: I can’t
Mike: (shouting) We can, you’re not trying
Anna: I’m sick of trying. Let go of my hand, you’re hurting. He’ll be back...
Mike lets go of her hand, storms across the room and violently kicks a chair over
Mike: You mean the world to me Anna
Anna: Aiden. God, Aiden. All he heard was us arguing. No wonder he wanted to destroy something....
Mike: This isn’t about Aiden. You mean the world to me
Anna: I’m surprised he didn’t try and burn down this house. (angry) I want to burn it down. And it is. It is about him Mike. That’s why we’re here. Look what we’ve done to him. He tried to burn his school down! That isn’t something that comes out of the blue. He tried to burn his school down three months after I left.
Mike: That doesn’t mean, it’s more than that...
Anna: On fucking parents evening! Which neither of us could spare the time to go to, ‘we’ll go to the next one Aiden’. That’s not a coincidence Mike... Why didn’t we speak to him?
Mike: I couldn’t speak to him, I...it’s not our fault
Anna: Why didn’t we try and help him? Talk to him about what was happening...
Mike: I didn’t know what was happening, I had hope, I didn’t...this family is the most important thing to me, I didn’t want to say...
Anna: Why didn’t we speak to each other? I hate this. I hate you. I hate what we’ve become. I did this and you let me do this. You let me walk away. I’m sorry. I couldn’t do it (collapses to the floor sobbing)
Mike: (Goes to her and holds her, defeated) Well he didn’t need to burn this place down. Did he? Didn’t need to burn us down. It’s already burnt to the ground, he knows that. Empty, black and crumbling. No fucking hope.
As this line ends Aiden stops talking and reaches the stage. Smoke is pouring into the stage, engulfing the characters, they don’t notice. Aiden steps onstage and Mike and Anna turn to look at him. This is the final image as the lights slowly fade down to black out.
The End
