"The Slumber Party"
Characters:
SARA: A tall, gangly 6th grade girl with a heightened sense of drama.
ELLA: A shy, soft spoken 6th grade girl, with long red hair. Sara's best friend.
CYNTHIA: Curly brunette 6th grade girl with freckles and an infectious laugh.
KARI: Earnest blonde 6th grader. Cynthia's best friend. She tends to follow the other girls' leads and is somewhat boy crazy.
Setting: Four tween girls are sleeping over at Cynthia's house. The floor is covered with sleeping bags, half empty bags of chips, soda cans, pillows, video-tapes and the occasional hair doo-dad. The girls are sitting on their sleeping bags in a little half-circle, talking animatedly.
.................................................... ........
CYNTHIA: What do you guys want to do now? We have videos, we could do make-overs, or-
KARI: Or?
CYNTHIA: (with dramatic emphasis) Or we could call Tro-yy!
(All the girls collapse into giggles)
ELLA: It's after midnight!
KARI: She's kidding.
CYNTHIA: (giggling) Maybe I am and maybe I'm not.
SARA: I'll do it, give me the phone.
(the girls look at her, apprehensive or excited)
ELLA: What if he star 69's?
SARA: I don't care. I'm sure Cynthia doesn't mind if the cutest guy in our class has her number.
ELLA: (chews on her hair nervously) What would you say?
SARA: (Grinning) I'd say, Oh, Troy? This is Sara, Sara Williams. I just wanted to know, who do you think is the cutest? Me, Ella, Kari or Cynthia? We know none of the other girls in 6th grade are even worth looking at...
KARI: (Howling with laughter) I wish Cathy Luther could hear you say that! She thinks she's soooo hot, ever since she got... (Kari gestures toward her chest expressively. They all laugh.)
ELLA: You're not really going to call him, are you?
CYNTHIA: Oh, look at her face! Ella loves Troy! She'd just die if we told him, wouldn't you Ella?
ELLA: (hides her face)
SARA: (Whacking Cynthia a little too hard with a pillow) Leave her alone, she just doesn't want to get in trouble. I was kidding, Ella. We won't call him. If we call someone it will be a guy that none of us likes.
KARI: How 'bout Ricky Montez? Or Jeremy. He'd love the attention.
SARA: I thought you liked Ricky.
KARI: (reddening) He's just okay. For a friend.
CYNTHIA: (giggling) She likes his tight jeans!
KARI: Shut up!
SARA: Here's what we'll do. Cynthia, go get a candle, and some matches. We're going to have a seance.
ELLA: (Looking terrified) What?
SARA: A seance. Lets summon the dead.
CYNTHIA: Like in the movies?
SARA: Nina tried it, and it works. That's how she found out her dad is in Mexico.
(All the girls go silent for a moment, taking this in.)
ELLA: What do we have to do?
SARA: We need a candle. And something to offer, like a sacrifice.
CYNTHIA: We are not killing Claudine just so you can try one of your goofball ideas.
SARA: Like the spirits would want a balding corgi, anyway! I mean something we really like that a spirit might like, too. Cynthia, do you have some nice perfume?
CYNTHIA: My mom does, but they're asleep.
SARA: Sneak in and get it, can you do that?
CYNTHIA: I don't know...
KARI: Well how about my Blackhills gold pendant, would that work?
SARA: That would be perfect.
CYNTHIA: You don't want to lose that, Kari.
KARI: (giving her a ridiculing look) I can't believe you think a ghost is really going to show up.
CYNTHIA: I'm just saying, maybe offering your gold necklace to whoever wants to take it isn't a good idea.
SARA: It was her idea though, nobody asked her to.
CYNTHIA: What else do we have to do?
SARA: We turn off all the lights, except for one candle. We'll sit in a circle, and hold hands. One of us will call out to the spirits, and then we'll all concentrate.
ELLA: (looking scared) And what if something comes?
SARA: Then we'll talk to it. We'll ask it questions.
CYNTHIA: How do you know so much about this?
SARA: SHhhh. Go get a candle.
(They clear a space on the floor and sit in a circle with the candle flickering in the center. Kari takes off her pendant and lays it beside the candle. They take hands, and automatically close their eyes.)
SARA: Spirits hear us! We call you to our- (Cynthia sneezes. Sara opens her eyes and glares at her. Cynthia giggles nervously: "Sorry.") Spirits! Oh spirits... come and hear our call. We have gathered to ask for your wisdom. Come tell us your secrets!
(The other three girls, even Ella, are shaking with laughter now. Sara is being so dramatic, laying it on thick. She doesn't open her eyes, though the other girls exchange glances.)
SARA: We command you, hear us! Come to our call! Spirits, we conjure you. (her voice rises eerily) Spirits we conjure you! Come to our circle, heed our call!
KARI: Ooooooo.....
SARA: (snaps at her) Silence! This is not a joke. (she drops the other girls' hands, and picks up the candle. Her voice is changed, eerie and harsh. She begins to talk, and slowly rises to her feet to face them.)
SARA: (in changed voice) You children wake me from my darkness to play a child's game? You are ignorant. Foolish. You do not even know what presence you've called here tonight. You come into the spirit world shouting and giving orders. It is I, then, who answer you. The nameless one, the teller of secrets. And you will wake the rest of your mortal lives in an ice sweat from the things I reveal to you now. You! (Sara points a bent finger at Kari) You will look your whole life for love! You will give your world away as you gave this necklace, trustingly, believing those who say they love you, but none of them will. You will die lonely, still waiting for a fairy-tale end to come to you. (Kari stares, wide-eyed, not sure whether to be frightened or offended.) And you! (She points her finger at Ella) You, so timid and afraid, will lead the life of a coward. You will settle early, and never verge beyond the safety of this small town. Eventually, even familiar streets will scare you and your world will collapse down to three rooms that you are too afraid to venture out of. Everyone will talk about you, they will call you crazy. They will be right. (Ella starts to cry.)
CYNTHIA: (Breaks in) Hey! Stop it, Sara, that isn't funny. You need to-
SARA: Silence! Now for you, you ignorant child. Your story is the most common of tragic ends. You will be an everyday failure, who gives in to despair without honestly trying. They will find you hanging from a bridge, your freckles darkened to the purple of your face.
CYNTHIA: (Wild-eyed) Stop it! I'm going to get my mom. We all know you're playing, but you've gone too far.
SARA: There is one more. I will tell her in her heart, before I take leave of you. That is the last secret. The end before your ends. (She cackles in a high pitched tone, and then she stands still and stares out at nothing for a long moment)
ELLA: What's happening?
KARI: She's really hamming it up. I can't believe what she said about me.
SARA: I best not forget my bauble. (she grabs the necklace, and pops it in her mouth, appearing to swallow it, and then suddenly starts to shriek.) No! No, please! Please take it back! No! (she collapses to the floor in a little ball, grabbing her knees and rocking)
ELLA: (worried) Sara?
CYNTHIA: Nice try, Sara. I'm still gonna get my mom.
SARA: (doesn't answer her, just turns her head to rest her cheek on her knee and starts crying)
ELLA: (coming over to her) Was that real, Sara? Did that really happen?
KARI: Don't touch her, Ella. She just swallowed my necklace.
CYNTHIA: I'll never forget what she said about us. Never.
ELLA: (softly) What did she say, Sara? What was your fate? (Sara doesn't answer)
CYNTHIA: Well, I can probably guess. Let's see: You'll die some terrible death, lonely and afraid without a friend in the world because of what you said to them at a slumber party?
KARI: (looking worried) Maybe it was real. Maybe she wasn't acting.
CYNTHIA: (staring at Kari, and seeming angry) I don't care. I don't care what you think. I'm going to get my mom.