Late One Night

Late One Night
By John Stuart

Rick looks outside and sees his neighbor Abigail standing in his yard. It’s Late, and he wonders what she is doing. He approaches her.
“Abigail?”
Abigail says nothing. She just continues to stare off into the distance at nothing. Rick takes a few steps closer and repeats himself.
“Abigail, why are you here?”
“Shhh!” is Abigail’s only reply.
Rick is confused, so he is silent for a moment.
“Abigail….”
“Shhh!” Abigail then whispers in a frightened voice “They’ll hear you!”
Rick looks around.
“There no one out here.” he tells her “Why don’t you….”
“Shhh!” she once again says in a hushed timid voice “They’ll get us!”
He looks into her eyes and can see intense fear. She’s staring off into space and standing perfectly still. He senses the panic that resides within her. He lowers his voice, speaking a much gentler tone.
“Who’ll get us?” Rick asks.
For the first time, Abigail turns her head and looks at Rick. The light from the streetlamps dances in her eyes as she responds.
“The Gestapo!” she whispers.
Now he understands. He’s seen this before. Not from her, but from others like her. He gently puts his left arm around her and talks to her in a calm, reassuring voice.
“Abigail” he tells her “You’re not in Germany anymore. You’re not in the concentration camp. You’re in America now. The war is over.”
“No” Abigail looks up at Rick, still scared and unaware of where she is. “They’ll get us.”
Rick faces Abigail. He puts one hand on each of her shoulders and looks at her. “Look at me” he tells her “You’re safe. Nobody’s going to get you now. There are no more Nazis. They’re gone.”
Abigail looks at Rick, unsure if she believes him, and then shakes her head. “No” she whispers “They’ll always be here. They’ll never go away.”
Rick looks deep into her eyes. He knows she’s right. For her, the war will never be over. The Nazis will always live – in her head.
Just then Marlena comes out of the house wearing her robe. Abigail and Marlena have been together for years. She pushes him away and looks at him with disdain before turning to Abigail. “Get away from her” she tells him.
Rick steps back and stares silently at her.
“Abigail” Marlena asks “What are you doing out here?”
Abigail says nothing. She continues to stare off into space.
Although Rick doesn’t like Marlena, he feels the need to explain. “She’s flashing back” he tells her.
Marlena looks at Rick, and then back to Abigail. She speaks to Abigail in a low, comforting voice. “Come on honey” she says as she stares at Rick with contempt “Let’s go back inside.”
Under normal circumstances Rick would watch them walk off and then go back in the house. But tonight, he follows them next door.
Marlena opens the door and instructs Abigail “Go inside sweetie, I’ll be there in a moment”. Abigail goes inside and Marlena closes the door. She turns to Rick. She folds her arms and asks coldly “What do you want?”
Rick stares back at Marlena with just as much steel in his eyes as she has in hers. “Nothing” he tells her “I just wanted to get her home”.
“She’ll be fine” she tells him.
Rick slowly shakes his head. “No, she won’t. She’ll never be fine. They saw to that.”
Marlena stares callously. She knows he’s right. “Well what do you care?” she asks “You’ve never liked our kind.”
“Yeah, well, I guess she’s more than that.”
Marlena responds with contempt “We all are. You would know that, if you bothered to look.”
Rick responds with just as much scorn, and just as much quiet rage “Well maybe I’m not the only one who needs to look deeper.”
Puzzled by this, Marlena continues her interrogation “What do you mean?”
“If your contempt for me wasn’t as intense as mine for you, you might have noticed that I was the one who took care of her tonight.”
“And why did you do that?” she asks.
“Because it needed to be done.”
They stare at each other like two soldiers on opposite sides of the same war. Using words for bullets, they have engaged in battles and skirmishes using their property line as the front line for over a year now. With each one determined to win, neither side takes the time to get to know the other. If they did, they might discover that they have more in common than they know. But perhaps that’s why they don’t. Maybe the thought of being alike scares them too much. But maybe tonight will be different.
“She has me” Marlena tells him “she doesn’t need anyone else.”
“No one person can be everything to someone” he tells her.
“Well even if that’s true” Marlena says “She certainly doesn’t need you.”
Rick slowly nods his head. “Is that the way you want it?” he asks her. “It’s been that way between us for so long. I don’t know about you, but I’m getting tired. This could be a new beginning for us, if you let it.”
“Just like that?”
“Why not?”
“People don’t just change overnight” she tells him.
“No, no they don’t” he says “But they do change. Or, at least, they can.”
“Is that what you want” she asks “to change?”
“Maybe” he says “if you can acknowledge that I’m not the only one that needs changing.”
Marlena says nothing. She stares at him, like before, but not like before. As she begins to understand what he’s saying, her eyes soften a little.
“I admit I haven’t taken the time to get to know you.” he tells her “I’ve judged you on what you are, not who you are. But honestly, haven’t you done the same to me?”
Marlena looks at him. Her voice is softer and gentler than before. “I suppose so” she says.
She looks down at the ground. The night air has made it wet. She looks back up at Rick. “So where do we go from here?” she asks.
Rick thinks for a moment, and then answers “I don’t know” he tells her, slowly shaking his head.
“Well” she says “Maybe we should just take it one day at a time.”
Rick stares off into space, and then slowly nods his head. “Yeah” he says “ok.” He then looks at her. “Well, it’s late. We should probably go in.”
Marlena nods, and Rick leaves. As he does, Marlena gently calls to him.
“Hey Rick.”
Rick stops and turns.
“Thanks for taking care of Abigail.”
Rick nods “Sure.”
“Goodnight.” she says.
“You too.”
Rick turns and walk back to his house, and Marlena opens the door and goes inside. One small step. That’s all that was taken tonight. But maybe that’s all that needed to be taken. With each side willing to lay down arms and call for a cease-fire, maybe peace will finally be possible. After all, all wars have to end sometime.

The End.