War Time

By Noah Johnson

2014 High School Contest Winner in Prose

 

War is an evil thing. Sometimes what it does to a person can’t be reversed. In this original piece,

a soldier confronts his personal evils.

 

( sitting in the middle of the stage. Looking down, rubbing hands.) You think I’m psycho,

don’t you? You may be right. I wasn’t always this way, psycho that is. If I had to guess when it

started to be this way, I would say it was when I was in the war. Let’s go back to the first day of

battle, that I was in, over there.

 

(Move over get on knees hold a gun. Occasionally, act like shooting.) Take cover! They’ll

be the end of us. Sir, what are we going to do? (looks around) Sir, where are you?! (Spots him,

runs over to him. Picks him up) We got a man down over here! Come on live, come on!

(Goes back to the middle of stage.) That day we lost many. I was lucky, so they say. I met

a man by the name of John. We were close. He had given me a nickname. What was it? Oh, it

was Frankernstein. I forgot why he had given me that nickname. We were great together, that

was until that one day. We were going through the woods, with others, until we fell under attack.

Stand your ground men! Come on Johnny! (steps forward, grabs him on the shoulder.)

 

Come on men, we can take them. (Chuckles, shoots for a little bit. A few moments pass by.

Drops to the ground. Holds John, starts to cry.) Don’t you die on me. Come on John, you’re

stronger than this. No not you man.

 

(goes back to middle of stage) Some said I was the one that shot him. Did I shoot him? (

all of a sudden throw chair) I did kill him, I shot him. I remember now why I got the nickname

Frankenstein. During the war, I became a monster. I killed many people that had no part of the

war. Women, children, I see their faces now, the look of terror in their faces. They begged for

mercy, they had a life. One night, I started to see a face. A while later I started to see a man –

more of a demon than a man. He said to me, you’re mine now. I’ve been watching you, boy. The

next day I went into a small village.

 

(pounding on a door) Wakey wakey, time to die. Come on, are you scared of little ole me. I

just wanna play a game with you. It’s called, Frankenstein and the Village people. ( knock door

down, look of greed in the eyes) Your pretty, too bad you’re going to die. That doesn’t mean I

can’t have fun with you first. We can have a ton of fun. The wife doesn’t need to know about this

little thing.

 

I never got caught for it. I did more than just that, much worse things than that. That’s not

even the worst of it. I had wished my wife was dead. Then one day, out of the blue, my wife was

killed. It was the day that the monster inside me left.

 

(use chair as a stand) My wife was the kind of person that found the good in everyone,

even someone like me. I know, I wasn’t always there, or understanding. I never understood the

concept of love, until I met her. She may have been a lot of things to a lot of people. There’s one

thing she’ll only be to me – The love of my life. The pain of loosing her will haunt me until the end.

There’s never a good time for someone to loose someone you care for. As I said, I was fighting in

the war when I lost her, but I am also fighting a war on the inside too. There’s nothing more to

have been here for and to be able to say that she is the first person that I was close to die. I told

you about John already. I served with him in the war, and I watched him die. The pain of

watching him die, changed me. However, I wasn’t there to see my wife die, and I am glad.

I still feel it. The anger, the lonliness, most of all the pain. What do you think, doc? Am I

insane? Is there any hope for me? Tell me doc. TELL ME!!!