Characters
-Brandi
-The Mirror
-Darren
Brandi: (to herself) Look at me! I'm a wreck! There's just too much, and I can't take it... I can't... (she sniffles) I can't believe it, it must look like I'm talking to myself. Oh great...
(A voice interrupts- the voice of the mirror)
The mirror: I'm listening, Brandi. I always listen, Brandi.
Brandi: (gasps, leaning closer to the mirror) What?
(Close up on the image in the mirror, looking back at Brandi. She is speaking)
The Mirror: We're always worrying, Brandi. Worrying about school, worrying that someone doesn't like us, worrying about how we could've possibly gotten our parents upset again.
Brandi: Yes, I... I mean, who are you?
The Mirror: You. We're very distressed, Brandi.
Brandi: (nods in agreement) Yes, we are.
The Mirror: But I think we could do something about that, Brandi. We could make all the pain and confusion go away, Brandi.
Brandi: (interested, she steps closer with wide eyes on her image) Really? How?
The Mirror: Everyone says we shouldn't take the easy way out of anything, but the easy way would solve everything, Brandi. It would solve all our problems, Brandi. No more problems.
(The Mirror image's eyes have glimpsed an object on the end of a tall high boy dresser. Obviously, this has been there awhile, since when Brandi looks at it, she does not look shocked that it is there. She, in fact, has been contemplating this decision for weeks after her own PERFECT parents split up. They wouldn't listen to her. They wouldn't listen to a minor, unimportant sixteen year old)
Brandi: (tilts her head, looking at the object) Yes, I... I've wanted to do this.
The Mirror: We can. We can do this and be free of all of this, Brandi.
Brandi: (more determined) Yes.
(Brandi walks over to the highboy desser and grabs the object, that we finally notice is a long, sharp knife. She walks back over to the mirror and holds the knife in front of it, almost triumpahantly. She is hiding her fear.) Brandi: (to The Mirror) And there's nothing...
(Brandi notices that the image has vanished. She lifts the knife and brings it to her wrist, when a hand comes down on her shoulder. We see in the mirror that Darren, her brother has entered behind her.)
Darren: (suspicious) Brandi, what are you doing?
(Brandi turns to face him and he steps back with a look of shock on his face at the sight of the knife she carries)
Brandi: I've made up my mind, Darren. I'm going to take the easy way out.
Darren: (with strength, he grabs her and pulls the knife from her hand) Oh no you aren't!
Brandi: (Distraught) DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND? There's nothing here for me!
Darren: (puts the knife behind his back and approaches Brandi with firm eyes) Yes there is. You've got me, and you've got mom and dad, and you've got your friends. You should never try and take the easy way out.
Brandi: She was right. Everyone does say that.
Darren: Because it's true. Think about it, like this. You give up on mom and dad because you're mad at them, you give up on me because you think I can't help you, you give up on life because you can't control it. But, Brandi, you don't deserve to give up on yourself.
Brandi: (wipes at her tears) But I'm the biggest disappointment of all. Why not give up on myself?
Darren: Because you can never come back from that, and you are worth more then one lousy decision.
Brandi: (stares at Darren, then at the knife) I think I've made my decision. (she nods, and puts an arm around Darren's shoulders, sniffling back tears)
Darren: Uh... Brandi, whose the 'she' you talked about before?
Brandi: (glances back at the mirror) Oh... just my bad decision.
(Close up on the mirror. It is empty now.)
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