Professionals Don’t Grieve
The scene opens on an empty living room in an upscale apartment. The décor is quaint and there are quite a few furniture pieces decorating the room. Downstage, there is a dark recliner, below it, a pool of blood. On the right side of the stage, an arm sticks out, as if someone is lying dead in the hallway. There is the sound of a door opening and closing.
Seven (offstage): Jeremy, I’m sorry I’m so late. They kept me late at the shelter. The kitchen caught fire and I had to give a statement to the fire department.
SEVEN, a young woman of about 24, walks into the room. She seems to be too impeccably dressed to have been just ‘working at a shelter.’ She places her keys stand next to a picture in a frame. She walks upstage to a light switch and flicks it on. The room is now completely illuminated.
Hey, why were you sitting in the dark?
She begins to remove her coat, her hat, and her heels. She soon notices the pool of blood on the floor. She doesn’t look surprised. She stares at it for a moment, her eyes finally seeing the body, then calmly pulls out a cell-phone and types a few things into it before putting it away.
SEVEN (at the arm, in an exhausted manner): What the hell did you do?
FIVE, age 31, enters, leaning on the door-frame, opposite of Seven. He has a gun out and it’s pointed at her.
Five: I think you know full well what he did. He leaves a witness behind after a job and then has the guts to tell his lover about it? Tsk-tsk. (He smiles and waves the gun at her) Now, I wouldn’t make any sudden movements if I were you. You were longer than I expected so I made myself something to eat.
Seven (dryly): Of course. Kill my lover, eat my food… (She doesn’t seem to react to his words as if he was just a small annoyance)
Five (laughs): Well, killing someone is so tasking... (he walks further into the room and places his cup down, still pointing his gun at Capulet.) Please, sit. We need to chat.
Seven (calmly sitting): Why are you still here? What do you want?
Five: I just want to discuss your future in the Department of Extralegal Activities. It has come to their attention that you wish to… retire …run off to Italy in the hopes of escaping their employment.
Seven (emotionless): Well that seems unlikely now. I don’t like to travel alone.
Five (waving the gun at her): Somehow, I doubt that’s true.
Seven (putting her head in her hands): If you’re going to kill me, Agent…
Five (cuts her off): Five, just call me Five. I don’t want to kill you, my dear girl. You’re still a reliable asset to DOEA. Unlike your dead fiancé, Agent Eleven. (he turns to the direction of the body and chuckles)
Five raises her head from her hands, emotion now showing on her face for the first time.
Seven (with sudden bewildered): …Fiancé?
Five reaches into his pocket and pulls out a ring box and tosses to Seven. She catches it.
Five: It’s a beautiful sort of thing. I don’t really understand why he would spend so much money when he knew that he didn’t have much time though.
Seven opens the box and sees the ring. She gasps.
Seven (staring at the ring): He was… going to propose… and take me away from this god-awful place.
She closes the box and throws it back to Five. Five rolls his eyes.
Seven: Where did he get such a thing? How in the hell did he afford it…?
Five: He was crooked! (pause) He was betraying the DOEA!
Seven (squeezing her eyes shut, trying to mask the tears): You’ve never betrayed them?
Five: Of course not.
Seven (standing): Even if what you were doing seemed wrong?!
Five: We kill people for money; it’s always wrong.
Seven: If you know its wrong, why do it?
Five motions for Seven to sit, refusing to answer. She obliges.
Why are you doing this?
Five: I’m only doing what I’m told.
Seven: Doing what you’re told…
Five: Yes. If your fiancé had done the same, he might still be alive. Sadly, he lacked the intelligence to realize when to listen to orders and when to ignore them. Which is why I was sent here… To beg you not to make the same mistake!
Seven: Mistake?
Five: Yes, it would be a mistake if decided to leave. I mean, I’d hate to think if what I’d have to do to you. It’d be worse than your precious Eleven ever had to face…
Seven (rolling her eyes): So you’re that kind of agent…
Five: What do you mean?
Seven: You like to break a person down first before you kill them. Makes it so they don’t put up a fight while giving yourself a sense of importance.(pauses) You want me to be on your side before you kill me.
Five (laughs): Seven, I meant it when I said I wasn’t going to kill you.
Seven: You don’t ever feel remorse. You don’t feel… (beat) I, myself, prefer the short and quick way. I grieve a little. It’s only natural. I’m not god, I don’t truly have the power to take away life.
Five (mockingly): I suppose that your humanity is what makes you a superb agent, dear Agent Seven. But Seven… where was you’re humanity tonight?
Five looks at him quizzically.
Five: You stumble upon the dead body of your lover and what do you do? Sob and cry? No, no, no, you dealt with the problem like a professional. You didn’t even call the police in some irrational state. Instead, you texted someone. The cleaners, I suppose. You don’t seem like the type who keeps dead bodies in her apartment.
Seven: Yeah, they tend not to make great dinner conversation.
Five: Of course, because of your humanity, you did make one mistake.
Seven: And what’s that?
Five: You fell in love. (pauses as he moves over to the picture frame. He picks it up and studies it) With another agent no less. Two agents, lovers? When I was first told, I didn’t believe it! I’ve worked with the Office for over ten years and I’ve never heard such a scandal. There isn’t a rule forbidding it, but it also seems so obvious that it doesn’t need telling. Our identities are commodities. We must guard them. And that is one of the rules… and rules, now, they’re important, dear Seven.
Seven (stands with anger): You and your damn rules! They aren’t important as you give them credit for.
Five: Sit. (pauses and laughs)
Seven sits down again and buries her heads in her hands. Five still studies the photograph.
Five: How long did you think you could go on like this, Seven? A year? Maybe two? I think secretly in your heart you knew it wouldn't last...
Seven: No. No, no, no.
Five (continuing): That's why you were so quick to get down to business when you found his corpse. (pause) Your lover's corpse. Because you're a professional. Just like me. (He places the picture back on its stand but puts it down so the picture faces the table. He moves to the recliner and sits, making sure no blood gets on his shoes.)
Seven stands as if to go to the picture.
Seven: You don’t understand… That’s why I needed him! (she walks over to the picture, but doesn’t set it upright) I don’t want to be “the professional” and I certainly don’t want to be like you.
Five: I doubt you have a choice in the matter. (pauses) Which brings me to the real reason that I’m here. I have a file for you. (he exits for a moment and returns with a briefcase. He opens it and takes out a manila folder.)
Seven (doesn’t look at it): Get that out of here. I won’t do it anymore.
(beat, Five stares at her in disbelief)
Five: That’s not how it works, Capulet. You can’t just refuse a job.
Seven: I know what’s in those files. They want me to kill innocent people. A young girl for Christ’s sake! (beat) I saw her today.
Five: Who?
Seven: The girl Jeremy didn’t kill. She works at a night-club. She waits tables. She’s small, probably only 20. Has the most beautiful brown curls piled up on the top of her head. He was right not to get rid of her. She doesn’t even know what she saw and now you want her dead!
Five: And the DOEA wants you to do it, Capulet! The girl was dating a drug dealer, how saintly could she be? (pushes the folder towards her)
Seven: No. I won’t.
Five: This is your duty, Seven.
Seven: Stop calling me that! My name isn’t Seven. My name is –
Five (as if reciting from a text book): Sienna Myers. I know. I’ve read your file. Stapled right next to Jeremy “Eleven” Stein. Yours was quite heart-warming now that I think of it. A girl born to a strict Catholic family runs away and ends up on the streets.
Seven: You read my file…
Five: Fiercely loyal to her little street friends, she figures out how to start a shelter. Her philanthropy brings her into the spotlight and she begins to date rich and wealthy men, most of whom end up dead months later. Curiously enough, dearest little Sienna is never a suspect…
Seven: Wow, what a bunch of bull shit. (pauses) I didn’t want to do this. I was content living from shelter to shelter, but an agent approached me with an offer. They were going to fund my shelter… and not just minimal funding. They were going to give me 100,000 dollars. To start a homeless shelter. How could I pass that up?
Five: It’s always something, Seven.
Seven: Call me Sienna, I’m done with the number bullshit. Done with it.
Five perches himself on the edge of a couch.
Five: How’d they get you to kill?
Seven: They told me I was going to help ‘save the world.’ Save the world for Christ’s sake. I was going to get rid of the bad people of the world. When they said that I would have to kill people, it was only going to be the worst of the worst! Killing one to save the masses. And I let myself believe that load of crap! They put a gun in front of me at the age of eighteen and I took it. For years I didn’t put it down. Like it was becoming another part of me.
Five: We’re killers, Sienna. We are trained to do just that and follow the rules of the game. It’s who we are.
Seven: No! It’s not! When I met Jeremy... Eleven, something happened. I wanted to be better, for him. He wasn’t as far gone as I was. He’d only worked with the office for a year. He hadn’t even killed anyone yet. I guess that’s why they paired us up. They didn’t expect for us to fall for each other.
Five: You were trained killers, for god’s sake!
Seven: But… he was so sweet. H gave me my humanity back... I reopened my shelter. I began to go into work less. I took less and less of those stupid manila folders with those files inside. I was becoming human again. And I loved him for that. All the while, he was turning into what I had been. But unlike me, he could see what he was turning into. We were going to go Italy. Get married. He was going to take one more job. One last job to pay for the plane tickets. Except… His humanity came back too soon. He couldn’t bring himself to kill that damned girl… (beat) And that is what the DOEA really does to a person.
Five holds out the folder. Seven looks at it with disgust.
Seven: You didn’t look at this, did you?
Five (Shaking his head): Of course not. It’s not my place to.
Slowly, she takes the folder from his hand. She moves to a couch and sits down on it. She tries to hide her soft sobs. Five readjusts himself so that he is near the exit. He finally puts the pistol away.
Five: Well, are you going to read it?
Capulet: ... Yes.
Five turns away and smiles to himself as if he’s won the game.
Seven breaks the seal on the folders and opens it. She takes her time reading it.
Seven (as she reads): I killed someone today. His name was Gary or Jim or George. Something pretentious like that. He supposedly had backed some sort of attack on a public library. A god-damned library. Like literature was the culprit for our human mistakes.
Five: Ah, they’ve made a young philosopher out of you now, have they?
Seven (turning away from him): No. Just a killer.
When she’s finished, she closes it and places it down.
Five: Well, are you going to deal with it like a professional?
Seven: I’m not sure. It depends. (she wipes her face. He moves closer to her.) What do you have against humanity?
Five: Nothing anymore.
Seven: Then how do stand killing all these people?
Five: I don’t know. I’m a professional. I just do.
Seven: You don’t feel anymore, do you?
Five: No. But it’s better that way.
He moves over to the other side of the room, grabbing a sheet that was covering the couch and drapes it over “Elevens” body. Seven walks up behind him and places a hand on his shoulder. His face turns into one of disgust.
Five: You shouldn’t have fallen in love, you stupid little girl. And you should’ve killed the girl when you had the chance.
He tears away from her touch and walks away, rushes for the exit. A smile is on his face. His gaze lingers on the file.
Capulet looks at him, angrily.
Seven: You want to look at it, don’t you?
Five: I…
Seven: Open it.
Five: It’s against the rules to look at another agent’s mission.
Seven: Break a rule. Just this once. Please. It might be enlightening.
Five picks up the file and begins to read it. Seven moves to the recliner and pulls something from between the couch cushions.
Five: What is this?
Capulet laughs
Five: This says James “Five” Riley…
Seven: Yes, it does.
Five looks up from the file to see Seven holding a pistol, aimed in his direction.
Seven: “James ‘Five’ Riley, 31. DOEA Agent, 13 years.” It didn’t say anything about your past though. Probably some kind of rule abiding citizen… but how you got this will always be a mystery to me. But I suppose it doesn’t matter anyway. It says that you were once a good agent… but now you just try to find ways to torture people.
Five: Why would they-
Seven: You of all people should know that agents don’t last forever. Our lives change and we can’t possibly be the same forever, the way the DOEA needs us! Dear James, we are both proof of that.
Five: I’ve never done anything to put the DOEA in Jeopardy.
Seven: Are you dense? You’ve become like a common killer. A sociopath. You’ve gone soft and reckless.
Five: Put the gun down, Sienna…
Seven: Do you have an idea how much DNA you’ve left here and haven’t even bothered to clean up your mess. The DOEA is afraid you’re going to get caught… And they can’t have that.
Five: You don’t want to kill me, Sienna!
Seven: I wish that was true…
Five: No! You have morals!
Seven: And you don’t.
Five: Please…
Seven: Funny thing is… I was going to let you go. I thought they couldn’t be right. A man can’t be void of all humanity, right?! I gave you so many hints…. So many clues and all you had to do was show one bit of remorse and you would’ve walked out of here alive and I would have gone to Italy without any more blood on my hands!
Five (with fear): They set me up… you set me up!
Seven: Of course I did. I’m a professional.
Five: All this time, you were talking about quitting… about love… you were lying? And what about your lover, was he a lie too?
Seven: Oh no, you truly did kill my lover. Which is why I’m going to enjoy this more than I really should. (Seven stands and steps closer to Five, her pistol right on his temple.)
Five: You’re going to regret this!
Seven (laughs weakly): I know.
(Blackout)
End Scene
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