W: Have you ever felt a heartbreak?
M: No, I can’t say I have luckily. Have you?
W: Ya, this one time I gotta say; ya it sucked a lot…
M: What happened?
W: Imagine this:

You can’t sleep one night but you’ve got work or classes or something the next morning. So you head downstairs, but before you enter the kitchen, before you turn on the lights, before you even put your hand on the light switch you remember - 

The last time you went to get a midnight snack the lights had started flickering. You knew that this wasn’t the first time, but you did notice it had gotten worse. You turn on the lights and just hoped it wouldn’t start up again. The lights are fine. 

Cheerios, in the pantry, on the shelf that’s head height. You smile because the red heart shaped bowl full of cheerios reminds you of love; all the run-ins you’ve had with love and how appreciative you’ve been of those experiences, especially the one you’re in now. You swear this time is different, it’s always different with the next one, somehow.

Then you grab the milk from the fridge, the almond milk ofc, because that’s my favorite. Cereal first into the bowl, then the milk - but then here it is again. The lights. What the fuck. How can I possibly pour the milk in when the kitchen has become a strobe light dance party? You start getting frustrated, goddamn it. “I should’ve changed the light bulb the other night.”, you scold yourself. 

You see..usually you don’t have to fuss with the flickering light during the day, there are enough windows in the kitchen during the day - and even the evening - to get by so you never really have to worry about it. Well, only during the dark times, when you really need it most, again it’s midnight and you can’t sleep on an empty stomach...BUT you’ve got work the next day! Fuck.. One second, Two seconds, Three.. OH thank god they’re back on. You quickly shuffle about and turn those cursed lights off and pray that turns them off until next time gives it a little chargeback, regenerative power ya know?

This isn’t the first time this situation has happened, not the second, and certainly not the third. This has been going on for months but you just choose not to address the issue and find a solution. 

It isn’t until one night you desperately need this bowl of cereal. It’s been a rough week and you’ve gotta wake up early next morning. It’s the same routine, you hesitate as you get downstairs to turn on the kitchen lights, but you power through and get that box of cheerios and carton almond milk. *flicker flicker* oh god here we go again. But this time those damn lights don’t turn back on. You don’t move. It’s pitch fucking black. You don’t move, not because you can’t, but because you know anything you do will make just the situation worse. For a second you think to step back and hug the wall until you make it to the light switch, or maybe try retracing your steps. But you had JUST poured the cereal, and the milk carton cap is off, oh god. After a few moments you turn - your left elbow strikes the cheerio box, subsequently those rings start spilling furiously over the counter, over the floor. You don’t need to see it but you can damn well hear it. “Shit me broooooo.” you groan. 

Not thinking you turn the other way and your right arm grazes the cheerio bowl tipping it over the edge of the counter. It falls, you don’t catch it, bc you can’t catch it. The bowl shatters, it breaks. It’s broken. Broke.  

You just broke up with your gf. 
Heartbreak doesn’t happen at a single instance. It manifests, I think. Like there are so many times when you could’ve fixed the light bulb, but when you're hungry and can’t sleep, stressed and all, that’s the last thing you want to address. So it builds up. Not like an elephant in the room or anything but an encroaching eminent doom that you experience during those “dark times” but fail to address. 

You’ve got to fix that light bulb when it’s flickering during those dark times before it shuts off completely and you’re left broken and shattered like your bowl of cheerios.

You’ll feel lost, overwhelmed, and helpless. Seconds go by, minutes, maybe an hour? 


At the end of the silence and your deep, drawn out misery you realize you have to clean up the spilled cheerios, collect your shattered bowl, and fix that goddamn light bulb. 

​

Screenplay performed Fall 2020 CWRU Department of Theatre