SO LONG, I KNOW BY JEFFREY LO (DOWNLOAD PDF HERE)
JAY and MELISSA.
Somewhere.
Somewhere not real, probably.
JAY: Hey.
MELISSA: Hi.
JAY: Remember me?
MELISSA: Kind of, yeah.
JAY: Same. Kind of.
MELISSA: How did you find me.
JAY: Don’t know. I’m not sure I actually found you, to be honest.
MELISSA: Me either.
JAY: Right.
MELISSA looks away and starts scratching her wrist.
MELISSA: So why’d you find me. Or. Try. To find me.
JAY: Oh.
MELISSA: Not that there’s a problem it’s just been… I don’t know. So long.
JAY: I know.
MELISSA: Like, I don’t know, 6th grade?
JAY: Something like that. 7th maybe?
MELISSA: Who knows at this point?
JAY: Right.
Silence.
MELISSA: So?
JAY: Um. Sorry.
MELISSA: Why?
JAY: I don’t know. Um.
MELISSA: Um?
JAY looks a little stressed.
MELISSA: Hey.
JAY: Huh?
MELISSA: I’m just bustin’ your balls. Chill out.
JAY: Right.
Pause.
MELISSA: How old are you now?
JAY: 29. You?
MELISSA: I was the same age as you so –
JAY: 29.
MELISSA: Maybe.
JAY: Maybe?
MELISSA: I don’t know.
JAY: How do you not –
MELISSA: I don’t know cause you don’t know cause –
JAY: Right.
Pause.
MELISSA: So have you thought a bit more about why you’re looking for me?
JAY: I mean – I do know. I do know why.
MELISSA: Well?
JAY: I just… I don’t know the right words.
MELISSA: The right words aren’t really important.
JAY: Right.
Beat.
JAY: Well. Um. The other day I was, um, going through some old stuff.
MELISSA: Old stuff?
JAY: Old documents. Files. On the computer.
MELISSA: Ok.
JAY: Pictures and stuff.
MELISSA: Yeah?
JAY: And I actually found a file with some old, um, instant messenger chats. You know, AOL instant –
MELISSA: I remember.
JAY: Right. You remember we used to chat on that a lot, right?
MELISSA: Yeah. I remember. I was new at school.
JAY: Yeah.
MELISSA: And we got to chatting.
JAY: I don’t even actually remember how we got to chatting. Do you?
MELISSA: No. I don’t… Cause –
JAY: Right. Well. Anyway. Not super important. What’s important is we got to chatting here and there. We became friends, right?
Pause.
JAY: Melissa?
MELISSA: What?
JAY: We became friends, right?
MELISSA: You tell me.
JAY: I think we became friends.
MELISSA: Then I think so too.
Pause.
JAY: Ok.
MELISSA: What are you getting at?
JAY: It’s just… Reading those chats. Between the two of us. In the 6th grade.
MELISSA: Maybe 7th.
JAY: Reading those chats… and, um, seeing those pictures you would send me.
MELISSA: … Yeah.
Pause.
JAY: Looking at those as an adult… I don’t think you were ok.
MELISSA: I don’t think I was either.
JAY: Like… you would send me photos of you hurting yourself.
MELISSA: I know.
JAY: You weren’t doing well.
MELISSA: I wasn’t.
JAY: And you shared those things with me.
MELISSA: I did.
Pause.
MELISSA: Jay. What are you getting at?
JAY: I don’t think I helped you.
MELISSA: You talked to me.
JAY: But I don’t think I helped you.
MELISSA: You were my friend when I needed a friend.
JAY: But I don’t think I helped you in the way I was supposed to have helped you.
MELISSA: And what way is that?
Pause.
JAY: I don’t know.
MELISSA: You were in 6th grade.
JAY: Maybe 7th.
MELISSA: You were my friend.
JAY: And what are friends supposed to do when their friend is hurting?
MELISSA: What is a 6thgrader supposed to do?
JAY: I don’t know.
Pause.
MELISSA: What are you getting at, Jay?
JAY: I want to know if you are ok.
MELISSA: Jay?
JAY: Are you ok?
MELISSA: I don’t know.
JAY: I don’t know either... Shit.
Silence.
JAY: I saw those chats and in some ways it made me think fondly of that time in my life. Then I got to reading more and more and I remembered more clearly. And I know that at some point there, my life went one way and yours went another and I just want to know… I just hope… I just pray to God that you are ok. And I haven’t thought about you in ages. Over a decade you’ve probably been out of my mind and I’m sorry about that. I don’t even think your name is Melissa. But Melissa… I just want to know…. I just want you to know… that I hope you are doing ok. That whatever was happening back then. When you opened up to me. That whatever was happening back then is not happening now. And whatever was in your mind and whatever made you hurt yourself… I hope you’ve overcome it. And I know this won’t help at all but… There it is. I’m sorry it’s been so long.
MELISSA: I know.
JAY: I don’t know why we –
MELISSA has disappeared.
JAY is alone.
And this place is now painfully real.
END OF PLAY.