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The Hero of Justice

(Ten-Minute Play)

 CHARACTERS

Manny Guevara- A mercenary that fortunately saw Jack and saved him from the burning town.

Jack- A teenager who got rescued by Manny from the fires, unfortunately he has lost his memories, right now he is living at the Guevara residence, adopted by Manny until his memories return or a relative comes and pick him up.

PLACE

The time is present

PLACE

A town in Manila, Philippines

Scene 1

Night. BURNING TOWN…

JACK

(Panting)

Fire… There’s fire,,, Everywhere. Oh God… I-I got to get… out of here.

(JACK falls down)

JACK

No… I can’t… Not now, shit… My consciousness… it’s… fading….

(MANNY is seen running towards JACK and dragging/carrying him away)

Scene 2

Day. Hospital

(JACK wakes up and looks around the room and sees MANNY)

JACK

Who are you?

MANNY

The guy who rescued you, the names Manny, Manny Guevara, but you can just call me Manny. What about yours kid?

JACK

Jack.

MANNY

Jack? What’s your family name?

JACK

I can’t remember…

MANNY

Oh great, please don’t tell me you got amnesia, can you really not remember anything? Like nothing at all? Not even your parents?

JACK

No… Nothing at all, not even my papa or mama, and I think they… Died… In the fire.

MANNY

You can’t recall anything at all? Not even your relatives?

(JACK shakes his head)

MANNY

(Face palms)

Great, just what I needed. Fine you know what kiddo do you want to come live with me? At least until the memories come back or someone comes to pick you up.

JACK

Okay…

MANNY

Ok then, it’s decided, I’ll go do the boring stuff and fill in some paperwork, meanwhile you can just go ahead and lay down on the bed, to recover your strength.

(MANNY walks out of the scene/stage)

JACK

Scene 3

Night. MANNY’S CAR

(MANNY notices JACK is still awake)

MANNY

Hey kid you should probably sleep, it’s already 10 o’clock in the night already, which in my opinion is already way past your bedtime.

JACK

I… I can’t sleep, whenever I close my eyes I see the charred corpses that I had to step on just to save myself, I hear the screams of the ones trapped under the burning rubbles of the city, shouting at me “Why did you have to be the one to survive”.(MANNY stops the car)

MANNY

Jack… listen to me kiddo, you had to do what you had to do to survi-

JACK

Don’t give me that stupid excuse! I knew I had to do what I did… but it does not make it any easier to bear with the fact that I left them all to die just for me to survive… that I stepped on the charred corpses of someone that I might have known, that I had just covered my ears to the screams of agony of someone that might have been my friend. I just…

(JACK starts to sob)

MANNY

Jack…

(MANNY stops the car and hugs JACK)

MANNY

Listen to me Jack, if I said I can give you an advice for this I would be lying, it’s normal to feel guilt over a situation like that, to feel grief that you are the only one that survived, that the people you have grown to care about is gone and that the days with them that you have come to like will never return again, there are no magical words that can be said to you to make that pain go away, the only thing that you can do is to move forward, and eventually the pain will go away, left with the times that have long passed.

(JACK pushes MANNY away)

JACK

Are you implying that I will just eventually forget those that I have previously loved? That along with the pain they will just disappear from my memories?

MANNY

Well I mean they already disappeared from your memories you know? Amnesia remember?

(JACK punches MANNY)

JACK

Don’t make fun of me!

MANNY

Ok I kinda deserved that

JACK

Kinda! Do you even hear yourself Manny! Or is your ego too big for you to look over and see how insensitive the words you have said are!

MANNY

Ok Jack listen-

JACK

Listen to what huh? What are you gonna say next? That I should have just gone and laid down with the corpses next to the fire?

MANNY

Now you see that joke is tasteless and just not my style

JACK

FUCK YOU MANNY!

MANNY

Ok now that was uncalled for Jack.

JACK

Your joke was uncalled for!

MANNY

Ok, ok calm down Jack I am sorry, it’s just I use jokes to cope with the crap that happens in my life ok? Sorry about that joke Jack. But what I wanted to convey to you is that you should go and move forward, not forget them, but to move forward. Live your life to the fullest, not only for yourself but also for them, to those that you have left behind.

JACK

Easier said than done…

Manny

Heh, tell me about it kid.

Scene 4

Morning. GUEVARA ESTATE

JACK

Good morning Manny.

MANNY

Good morning Jackie boyo.

JACK

What are you doing?

MANNY

Cooking us dinner and OH MY GOD! Jack help!

JACK

What! What is it! Holy crap it’s burning! How the heck did you screw up this badly!

(JACK takes the fire extinguisher and extinguishes the fire)

MANNY

(panting)

Hahaha, Nice job boyo!

JACK

Don’t nice job me Manny! What the heck were you cooking!

MANNY

Erm umm, I was boiling some water for noodles.

JACK

Excuse me? Boiling water?

MANNY

Yes…

JACK

Is this one of your jokes again?

MANNY

Nope.

JACK

I have multiple questions that I am afraid to seek the answer to. Just for heaven’s sake just let me cook from now on so we don’t have another town burned to the ground.

MANNY

Sure thing boyo, also check out the pamphlets on the table, those are the list of schools in this town.

JACK

Sure. Also... Does it really feel that good?

MANNY

Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! kiddo, you are way too young to be asking that question!

JACK

THAT’S NOT WHAT I MEANT!

MANNY

Heh, priceless, then what are you trying to ask kiddo?

JACK

Saving someone…

MANNY

Hm? What do you mean?

JACK

Saving someone does it really feel that good?

MANNY

And why exactly are you asking that question? You want to be a hero or something?

JACK

When you were rescuing me… I regained consciousness for a few seconds and I saw your face, you were crying but also smiling at the same time, an expression of pure bliss, as if your purpose in life has been fulfilled. I... Want to feel it too.

MANNY

So you saw huh? Well yeah it does feel good, ever since I was a child I wanted to be a Hero of Justice, someone that can save the people he cares about and more, I said that every single conversation that I had with my dad.

JACK

Only your dad?

MANNY

Yeah, my mother, she died a long time ago, all I can remember is that I said I love you to her, and then before I knew it dad just hugged me while teardrops fell from his eyes...

JACK

I’m sorry for your loss

MANNY

Thanks kiddo, anyways what happened next was that my dad became crazy, you see he was a scientist that studied the human body… crazy bastard thought he could bring back mom through science like Dr. Frankenstein did to his monster so he started experimenting with the body of my childhood friend, all I knew was that she disappeared, never to be seen again, and when I saw her… she was a monster, a literal monster, flayed skin, exposed muscle, missing one eye, and other gruesome shit, I… I had to shoot her with the gun we kept at our house, and the most fucked up thing was… she said “I love you” she said I love you to me… That moment should have been the happiest moment in my life, the love of my life saying I love you to yours truly. But the only thing that I felt was regret… regret and sadness that we couldn’t have been together, And then my dad called, he told me to go to the warehouse in the abandoned part of town, and when I got there he said that he was near a breakthrough, that he can bring back mom if he could experiment with a few more bodies, and all I needed to do was to plant this bomb at the town square, the most populated part of town all so he could get a body to experiment on… but I couldn’t do it, I couldn’t let him screw over anymore lives, so I shot him too, I had become a hero Jack, I had saved thousands of people from a monster that I had once called father.

JACK

Holy crap…

MANNY

Holy crap indeed, heh. After that I became a mercenary, an occupation that allowed me to save people by being in the heart of wars, where a lot of people suffer every day, for years I roamed the globe going from war to war, saving all the people that I could.

JACK

Well that’s good isn’t it?

MANNY

Good? I had to kill people Jack I killed one to save ten, killed ten to save a hundred, and killed hundreds just to save a thousand people from their demise. And not only that I had to kill the woman who I considered as a mother figure.

JACK

What the hell?

MANNY

Yeah, she hijacked a plane full of criminals, I got ordered to shoot it down with a shoulder launched surface to air missile that was provided along with the boat I was standing on, if I don’t shoot it down the criminals would wreak havoc on the city the plane is meant to land on killing thousands.

JACK

Holy crap, not again.

MANNY

Not again indeed. I pulled the trigger to save the thousands that were on the city, I killed hundreds of criminals, and the only one I considered family to save thousands. And what’s ironic in that situation is that it happened in Mother’s Day. Look mom fireworks indeed huh?

JACK

I don’t know what I should be more surprised on, the fact that your life is so eventful, or the fact that you can joke about such horrible things in your life.

MANNY

Well I guess that’s just how I cope with all the bad shit that has happened in my life

JACK

Um Manny by the way who is the woman on that picture over there?

MANNY

Oh? That’s my wife

JACK

Wow she is beautiful

MANNY

Indeed she is.

JACK

So where is she? And don’t you have a daughter? I mean you look pretty old.

MANNY

Wow talk about rude, I’m 34 for your information,

JACK

Thirty four, Forty four same thing, but you still have not answered my question, what happened to your wife and daughter?

MANNY

...

JACK

Jesus don’t tell me you killed them too.

MANNY

I… I had to, the crazy bastard was gonna launch a nuke or else, he would have destroyed the world if I didn’t do that.

(JACK hugs MANNY)

JACK

Manny… you have led a tragic life.

MANNY

You don’t say…

JACK

Manny…

MANNY

(crying)

I… I had become a Hero of Justice, I had saved billions, so why do I feel so unfulfilled, why do I feel so empty. Can I… can I really be called a Hero of Justice? When I couldn’t even save myself? Sure I may have saved billions but at what cost? I had lost everything, in this stupid pursuit of an ideal that was destined to fail, there was no way to be a Hero of Justice… saving someone generally means not saving someone else, and that someone else can be someone that you love… That’s why kid, promise me, when you are given a choice to save, allow yourself to be selfish and save the one that you care about.

JACK

Yeah…

[johndarryl-blog]

The man and the little girl

As I walked along the barren road, I thought of the memories that have long gone by, the love of a family long gone, the caring friendship that had perished, the embrace of a love that had long since vanished, thousands of memories and emotions passed by me as I traveled this empty road, along the way I see remnants of destroyed cities and kingdoms whose name I cant even remember, a lone red ball stays in front of a broken house, dirtied by the passing of time, I made no remarks as I passed it, and after a few meters I felt a cool breeze pass beside me, and I saw the dirty ball roll by and stop in front of me, a pair of tiny hands picked it up, I followed the ball’s short ascent and saw two blue eyes, sheepishly looking at me “Mister do you wanna play?” I had all the time in the world, so I thought why not? and nodded.

And so we walked to a nearby park, its trees like the others all dried up and shriveled, but the playground was in a workable condition, so we played for hours in silence, until my curious thoughts finally got the better of me “Little child aren’t you scared of me?” “No mister... You’re death right?” “Yes that I am... So child why aren’t you afraid of me?” “Mister it’s inevitable that you will one day visit me, I just didn’t know when you were gonna come... And it’s useless to fear the inevitable right? So I just lived life the way I wanted.” “ I see, you are one of the peculiar ones, those who accept me... But to see it in a child as young as you.” “I.. in my life I had cancer and I, unfortunately lost the battle.” She was becoming more transparent... “Very well child, let us play, I shall entertain you until our time is up.”

And so we played until the red sun casted a darker bloodier shadow on the park, she had partly disappeared, one of her arms was gone and she is slowly leaving this limbo, “ it seems it’s time for us to part ways” I said as I stood up and turned around going to the exit, but before i could go through I heard her voice call out to me “Mister thanks for playing with me! This was the best day of my life! Or is it death?” I chuckled and replied “It’s the least I could do for one who perished far too early” She gave me one final smile before finally disappearing into flickers of golden light, I turned around and went into the barren road, continuing my eternal journey to the end of the world.

[johndarryl-blog]

Innocence

I used to think that flowers eternally bloom

But now I see that someday it will wither and set like the moon

I always thought that I would forever see that pure lilac

But I never thought it would get taken from me

I once thought that flowers bloom forever

But now I see that someday it will wither

If I could go back in time and see it again

I would look at it until our time passes

I never found lilacs to be that important

But I might have finally opened my eyes

I can’t bring back the past

But I can engrave it in my heart

I won’t regret my past decisions

But I might learn from my past actions

I used to think that flowers eternally bloom

But now I see that someday it will wither and set like the moon

[johndarryl-blog]

Just why

I don’t understand

Why people can be so bitter

Why people can’t just accept life for what it is

Why they always lie when it just brings pain

But most of all

Why doe we always end up hurting others

Why we end up fighting again and again

Why we always deny the truth

What I understand most is

Why stars litter the sky

Why the moon shines so bright

Why the tears fall from the sky

[johndarryl-blog]

Nothing but a dolt

I wish I could lie

Like how fox news could

And I dream of people all getting along

I am awoken by a cold sharp bang

I used to see the good of humanity

But now it’s nothing but a blur that is untypical

I seem to be slowly getting cynical

But I’m really just an idiot

[johndarryl-blog]

Unlimited Essay Works

I am a writer

I value the thoughts in my head

I write all the emotions in my heart

I trust the hand that moves my pen

I honor those who can weave worlds through their writing

I give voice to the pain

I give voice to the kindness

I am a writer

I make stories about sadness and stories about happiness

I hold the pen that saves, and the pen that hurts

I am a writer

I make my thoughts bleed into reality

[johndarryl-blog]

A Childish Dream

I am afraid of being forgotten

I am afraid of dying

I am afraid that someday everything will end

I am afraid that I won’t be able to finish my assignment

I am even afraid that I won’t be able to pass it on time

I am afraid of spiders

I am afraid of the dark

I am afraid that there’s a ghost in the corner

I am afraid that someday we’ll be that ghost in the corner

I am even afraid that we will become a wisp of a past forgotten

I want to be happy

I want to be honest

I want to let go of my fears

I want to be able to accept the dark

I even want to make someone else happy

I want to save

I want to give

I want to follow this foolish ideal

I want to reach this impossible dream

And I want to be a hero

Most of all

[johndarryl-blog]

Yet where is she?

She is a star in the sky

She is an apple in the eve of May

She is the moon lighting the night

She is the flower that blooms in July

She is an evening walk in the park

She is the house that keeps me safe

She is the mall that gives everything it has

She is a framed painting of the vast sky

She is a midnight dream

She is my best friend

[johndarryl-blog]

It never returned

Disappear

A lonely figure

Fated to be forgotten

And so into the night he had gone

Never to be held once more

Please come back my dear

Eraser

[johndarryl-blog]

Forgotten and Broken

What’s in this dusty forgotten drawer in the shed?

White photo album that shows the past

A broken figurine lonely and forgotten

Shards of a once great mirror now in pieces

Remnants of a lonely umbrella left in the rain

Sweet candies turned sour by time

Drained batteries that will never work again

Knife split in half and covered in rust

Dusty book now faded and torn

[johndarryl-blog]

Keep holding on

Hold on

Hold on to loneliness

Even if it’s a little bit dark

Hold on to the past

Even if it’s a little bit sad

Hold on to the future

Even if it’s a little bit scary

Hold on to the present

Even if it’s not what you wanted

Hold on to your dreams

Even if you know you won’t reach it

[johndarryl-blog]

The eyes of a cynic

Gray

A gun ready to shoot

The cold edge of a sword

A computer connecting the world

The clink of a falling fork

The clanging of clashing swords

The ticking of a lonely monochrome

Metallic blood

Tasteless dragon fruits

Cold water fresh from the stream

Silver stopwatch emblazoned by steel

Lonely cane forgotten in the shed

Crying umbrella left in the rain

Gray can me you see the truth of life

[johndarryl-blog]

To be happy

I’m learning to be a kind person

And I’m learning to be someone strong

And I’m learning to be happy

Not sad, when I see life’s cruelty

And I’m learning not to be too nervous on stage

And I’m learning not to accidentally press a when I encodea

And I’m learning (though it sometimes really hurts me)

Not to be a pessimist

And I’m learning to smile

When I face tribulations

And I’m learning that it’s much

Much easier to be cynical

[johndarryl-blog]

Solitary Hide and Seek Envy

Solitary I stay alone in my life

Hide and stay in the shadows of others

And fill this heart of glass with loneliness

Seek to be loved, yet wanting to stay alone

Envy is the only thing that fills this empty broken heart

[johndarryl-blog]

Legacy

Death is inevitable

Time is unstoppable

In its wake, great kingdoms fall

In its wake, we forget the people that stood tall

Yet even though we know all will be forgotten

We stand up tall and unshaken

Fighting on until the end

We shout and rend

Through the challenges of life

Through thick and thin, through wars and strife

No matter what other people say

No matter what pulls us down to keep us at bay

Fall as we may

We stand up and fight through another day

Standing our ground fighting reality

And engraving our names into the annals of history

[johndarryl-blog]

An Innocent Dream

I want to touch it

I want to touch it please

These fluffy clouds that fly up so high

I wonder how they would feel

Would they feel soft like cotton candy?

Or perhaps it would feel wet and soggy?

Like wet cottons left in the rain, I’ll never know

After all, they fly up so high like so, 

Unreachable to me no matter how hard I reach

[johndarryl-blog]

The Pretender

I am alone yet strong

I wonder how others do it

I see all of them laughing

I want to join

I am alone yet strong

I pretend to be strong

I feel alone

I touch my heart made out of glass

I worry for the unclear future

I cry and scream yet no one saw, no one heard

I am alone yet strong

I understand that I have to stop pretending

I say “why can’t I take off this mask?”

I dream of the void that has become my heart

I try to find a purpose wandering alone

I hope someone will someday break through

I am alone and also afraid