Fragments Of His Being

ACT I SCENE I [In a small town, just a few miles off the main city; a group of teenage boys were throwing hoops at the central court — battered and run down. The clay ground corroded, and the paint that set the lines fading off. Despite this there was a smile on everyone's face as they passed a battered basketball around.] KARL: (to QUINN.) what are you looking at? Pay attention. [The boys about laughed as the basketball bounced off QUINN's back. QUINN turned, smiling a little before picking the ball from the ground and tossing it.] QUINN: (To KARL.) Shut up, I was thinking. KARL: (laughs.) sure you were. (looks away, and turns his attention to HOZIER who was now attempting a basket.) QUINN: (smiles before turning back to the gates. He turned away again when he realized the short dark-haired boy was still observing them from behind the gates.) [The boys continue to play, pausing occasionally to chat about their home lives, the people they were dating or school.] Pause. HOZIER: (To everyone.) Do any of you want to go to the pub? I heard there's a band playing there at eight. MOST BOYS: Yes. HOZIER: (Smiles.) Great. KARL: (To HOZIER.) I can't come. I'm heading back home with QUINN. QUINN: Yes, that's true. HOZIER: (Nods, running a hand through his blond hair.) Ah, maybe next time. QUINN: Of course. QUINN and KARL exit the court. QUINN and KARL enter the main street. KARL: (Speaking to QUINN.) what was on your mind? You were absent-minded — in fact, you've been this way for over a month. QUINN: (Smiles a little.) It's nothing really. Why are you have you been looking at me though? KARL: It's hard not to when you keep getting hit by the basketball. BOTH: (laugh as they continue their walk to their house.) [The homes were tightly packed and small. The two boys lived not too far away from each other. They were in the same apartment complex, and just a few doors away.] BOTH: (Enter run-down brick building before climbing up the stairs to the sixth floor.) KARL: See you later. QUINN: (Smiles.) You too. QUINN: (Watches KARL walk away before turning to the door of his household's apartment building.) QUINN: (Sighs as he unlocks the door.) QUINN: (Walks into the small living room before checking the small kitchen to see if his parents were back.) QUINN: They're not back yet. Isn't it seven yet? QUINN: (Decides not to think too much about it before heading for his room.) [The room was small, and the bed touched the two ends. There was barely enough space for any other furniture, but QUINN did manage to fit in a small desk.] QUINN: (lays on his bed as he remembers the dark-haired boy that had been watching them.) QUINN: (Asking no one in particular.) Who is he? (Frowns as he remembers the short lean figure in baggy clothes.) [The dark-haired boy had been watching them for over a month. QUINN noticed that he'd appear at a middle of a game, and stay until it was over. He never walked into the court to ask to join. He just stayed behind the gates observing them.] QUINN: Maybe he's new? [Almost every person in the neighborhood knew each other by name. It was a small place, with just one local school.] QUINN: (Sighs in frustration.) Maybe I should ask around? [QUINN was in his last year in high school, but he hadn't seen the boy around.] QUINN: Maybe he's a junior? Maybe even a sophomore? (He continues to say to himself.) QUINN: (Listens to the wall clock in his room tick as he stared at the posters he'd decorated his room in. He ran his hair through his dark curls — rubbing the area between his brows in an attempt to make the frown that had made an appearance on his face relax.) QUINN: (Turns on his bed before shutting his eyes, and attempting to forget about the boy.) Curtains fall.