A Selection of Monologues and Short Stories

Set in Stone

(A 22 year old woman is sitting at a dressing table, staring in the mirror. She is pretty and getting herself ready for her wedding day, but her mind has wandered.)

When everything is arranged and sorted out, it must mean that that is what is meant to happen. That you are meant to be with this person for the rest of your life. That you will live out your life as expected. That's the whole point of a plan, right? You meet someone, you get married, you get a house, you have children, you work at your job, you grow old, you retire, you die. That's the way it's supposed to go?

I know this. I know that this is what he wants, and what I do want also. I do. Really. 

But I just can't help thinking to myself "what if?" What if there is more to life than following the plan. Following the plan that you know will be easy to do. That you don't have to think much about anything anymore because it's there. In front of you. In the form of a man who loves me and cares about me and wants to marry me. 

But what if? What if he isn't the one? What if he is just someone who I have feelings for and care deeply about, but what if he isn't 'The One'. What if the universe has this whole plan for me that I haven't figured out yet? What if this is just a test to see if I want it badly enough. What if I think I love him, but really, I don't?

(She stands quickly, shaking her head, and turns away from the mirror.)

No. 

No!

This is crazy! All of these events have led to today. Its so spectacular how every decision I have ever made, and he has ever made, and my parents and his parents and their parents... How every decision anyone ever makes, creates a fate that is so unique and special and complicated, yet simple. How everything we do and decide for ourselves, or don't, affects what will happen to us in the future. 

Isn't it fascinatingly beautiful how the universe was created by the small micro chance of those atoms forming. Those reactions occurring, to create that explosion, which led to the creation of this earth. How everything from then on; the dinosaurs, the cavemen, the volcanos, the water, the breaking of tectonic plates - everything - has had to happen for me to be here right now. How is it fair for me to be questioning my love for the man I may marry - WILL marry. 

I am marrying him.

I will marry him.

I have to marry him... It's fate... It's part of the plan...

(She sits on the edge of the bed, her hands folded neatly in her lap.)

Am I really ready to commit? To commit myself to one man? To know that I can't experiment, that I am tied to him. By a ring. A vow. A promise. A legal document. I am tied. My hands are tied.

No!

 (She quickly stands, and begins to pace the room)

Not yet. They aren't yet. I am in control of my future, my fate. I don't have to be tied. I can still live my life. 22 is still awfully young. I have so much of my life to live. Places to see, people to meet, maybe meet 'The One?' Maybe my friends were right... 

But my mother... Oh, she is so looking forward to this. To seeing her little girl walk down the aisle. And my father. He's paid for my gown, and I can't disappoint him by not wearing it...

(She wanders over to the dress hanging up on the back of her door, stroking the white fabric between her fingers.)

I can't. 

I can't.

But...

This is what the universe has planned for me. This is meant to be. I love him, right? 

I love him. 

I love him.

I love him.

This is normal. This is completely normal. I'm supposed to get cold feet. Like I did with the gown. And the venue. And the man...

No! Not the man. I love him. I do. 

I do.

I do.

I do.

My grandmother said to me once when I was in secondary school, drooling over this gorgeous, handsome boy in my geography class. She said to me,

"If you fall in love with their eyes, you'll love them forever, because everything about a person changes and ages, except for their eyes." 

But I don't love his eyes. 

I don't love him. 

I don't love him.

I don't love him.

What am I doing? I can't do this. I can't go through with this. I can't marry someone who isn't the one for me. I cant break his heart a little while later when marriage has made things more complicated. I can spare him that extra pain now by ending this whilst I still can. I can't do this. The gown, the ceremony, the "I do's". I don't love him. Oh, why have I only now realised this?

Why when it's too late...

This is my fate. This is what is supposed to happen. I'm supposed to follow the plan. Just follow the plan...

Everything happens for a reason. 

I can't back out now. I would ashame him, and myself, and my family. I would be an embarrassment. The gossip of everyone. I can't back out. Even if I wanted to. 

Everything is set in stone.

It's too late...