Context: The following script was created for Dramatic Writing class with Mrs. Shiver. The assignment asked students to write a scene involving a flashback, set in a noir, mystery, or comedy genre. 

MADMAN: Schizophrenic, not well-off man who has recently been convicted for the murder of four children

DETECTIVE: A typical police detective, short temper

ACT I

Scene 1

DETECTIVE and MADMAN sit in a cold, sterile interrogation room. MADMAN has hair covering his eyes.

DETECTIVE: (slams table) ENOUGH GAMES! You killed four CHILDREN. Did you ever think of their families, the lives they could have lived? NO, you didn’t. You are heartless.

A smile crosses MADMAN’s face and he giggles eerily.

MADMAN: Heartless…

MADMAN removes the hair from over his reddened, tear-stained eyes.

MADMAN: I saved those children.

DETECTIVE: How on Earth did you save them?

MADMAN: They were hellseekers DETECTIVE: hell… seekers?

MADMAN: (chuckles) I see things no one else can see. I saw the hellseekers, and so I removed them from this world.

DETECTIVE: (trying to play along) and how did you know they were hellseekers?

FLASHBACK TO TWO MONTHS BEFORE:

MADMAN sits on a park bench, he is wearing a polo and slacks that are dirtied, his eyes remain red and tear stained. An older sister enters from stage left carrying a two-year-old, she laughs and smiles at her younger sister. They cross behind MADMAN and emerge from the other side. They are both staring at him with eerie smiles on their faces. MADMAN follows them offstage, and we hear a scream.

BACK TO PRESENT:

DETECTIVE: (taken aback by the story) Two children smiling at you is no reason to kill.

MADMAN: (suddenly angry) OF COURSE IT IS! (pulls at chains) THAT SMILE IS DANGER!

FLASHBACK TO TWENTY YEARS AGO:

A YOUNG MADMAN and his mother sit at a table, the door rings. When he opens it, he sees a pizza delivery man who crosses behind young madman and emerges with the same eerie smile. In a fit, young Madman attacks the pizza delivery man. Madman’s mother tries to intervene and is thrown back into a wall where she falls to the floor, dead. Young madman looks at the delivery man in despair, believing it is him who killed his mother. Young madman runs out of the house, never to return.

BACK TO PRESENT:

MADMAN: I kill those hellseekers so that no one else will be hurt.

DETECTIVE: (noticing the signs of mental illness) And how often do you see these… people?

MADMAN does not respond, staring into space, shaken by the memory of the story he just told.

DETECTIVE: We are going to get you medicine and help, but I cannot guarantee that you will avoid death row. You have ended the lives of four children. That is unforgivable, do you understand that?

MADMAN does not respond. He continues to stare at the wall. DETECTIVE leaves with a face of disgust and concern.

MADMAN is left alone in the room, he continues to chuckle more and more aggressively until it sounds like a sob, then his face falls expressionless as he stares at the wall. Blackout.

END SCENE