literature

Cold Soup - Monologue

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Literature Text

Adam, a badly shaven man in his late thirties, is sat in a grotty street upon a rotting wooden bench, talking to himself. He is very hesitant, shaky, and unsure of both himself and his whereabouts. He is sitting upon the bench with his legs crossed, without any shoes, and with seemingly chewed-through socks, so that his toes are exposed.

Adam:
Super soup? Loop dee loop. Swing, slash, swoop. Fly!
Pterodactyl, dinosaur. Snail shells. Croc galore!

I’m not happy, mummy. I’m not. I’m me. Just me. Really. Me.

‘RHYME’ – R-H-Y-M-E. I like it. It’s a nice word.

Remember you told me how to rhyme once?

“Get your legs in front of you and count upon your toes,
Then sprinkle pepper on your nails and
STICK ‘EM UP YOUR NOSE.”

See? I rhymed.

(shakes violently)

RUN. They’re coming for me. HIDE. But you’ll help me, won’t you, mummy?

Mummy?

Rhyming is good for your vocabulary. It keeps me safe at night, from them. I don’t like t-

(wails and shakes violently once more)

SOUP. SOUP. Warm. I like warm. Nice. Warm.

Loop dee loop. Spinning, flying, attacking. Swinging! Slashing! Fighting back. Swoop. I can swoop, like a pterodactyl. I can fly. I’m ancient, I’m a beast. I’ll survive. Powerful, dinosaur. Snail shells. Protection. Warmth. SOUP. Crocodile. Bite. Nasty. Don’t like crocodiles.

CROC GALORE.

(shakes for a final time)

Mummy?

I made up another rhyme, mummy. Do you want to hear it?

Mummy? I’m crazy, aren’t I, mummy?

Mummy?

I want some soup, mummy. It’s warm. I like warm. I can hide behind warm. I can’t behind croc-

CROC GALORE.

RUN. HIDE.

-no, no. Soup, soup, soup, soup… soup. Breathe in. Out. In. Out. Stay above the water, drink the soup, drink the soup, avoid their eyes. Don’t breathe. They might hear. Hide below the water. Don’t splash. Avoid their eyes. They’ve seen me. Hide. RUN. Can’t.

Mummy? Help me, mummy. They’re coming towards me, mummy.

They’ve got me. Hands, face, smothered. Can’t breathe. Drowning in soup. Must. Get. Out. Can’t. …Avoid their eyes, avoid their eyes…

(sudden twitch)

Avoid their- Mummy?! There you are. Get off me, mummy. Take your hands off me. Leave me. RUN. HIDE. Why are you strangling me? Mummy?

Fly. Fly. I can escape. Fly. Leave.

I’m going, mummy. You’re hurting me. You’re- mummy.

I never wanted this. I never wanted to be here. I never wished for it. It’s your fault. Leave me alone, just… go. You’ve strangled me, mummy. SOUP. You’ve drowned me in comfort. SOUP. I can’t cope with- I can’t- take me home, mummy. I’m cold.

I can’t stay out in the warmth all this time. It’s chilling my wings – I can’t fly any more.

Mummy?

-Oh, mummy. You’ve left me alone already.
This is for `Beccalicious' Monologue competition - the first of the contests for scriptwriting month.

It is hurried, because I really wanted to enter this competition, and wrote it on the night of the deadline, whilst needing sleep. It is also incredibly odd. Hopefully, though, it is indeed still a monologue, and makes a very slight bit of sense.

Best said when read aloud.
© 2008 - 2024 MaskedVengeance
Comments8
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Itti's avatar
Well written and interesting to read. The only thing that struck me as odd was the "37-year-old" in the stage directions. It seems like too much detail, like you're implying he can only be played by someone who's exactly this age or something. I think it would be more normal to say "in his late thirties".