Harm Reduction Part Thirteen - I Killed My Mother

17-year-old PETE arrives at home obviously disheveled. His mother JULIA meets him at the door.

JULIA:

Are you high?

PETE

Yes

JULIA

You have been missing for four days.

PETE

I know where I was.

JULIA

We are getting sick of this.

PETE

Who exactly is we?

JULIA

Ed and I. And we have to lie to your brothers. I don't get it. You want for nothing. You have a safe and happy home.

PETE

It isn't safe.

JULIA

Well I don't see why you have to skip school and such.

Pete

I said it isn't safe.

(Pause)

You know why I do what I do.

JULIA

I most certainly do not.

PETE

Then why do you take all those pills? For fun?

JULIA

I have issues with my nerves.

PETE

Is that right?

Mother, I get high for the same reason you do.

JULIA

You get high because you are a hedonist.

PETER
You get high because of the big secret hanging over the both of us.

Mother, if I called the police to tell them why I really get high you would lose your house and your children. Know that.

JULIA

You would never.

PETE

I think I'll call them right now.

JULIA begins to shakes and runs for her pills. She goes to the medicine cabinet...

PETE
You'll notice a few are missing.

PETE picks up the phone and starts dialing. His mother desperately tries to pull the receiver out of his hands.

JULIA
Please don't.

PETE:
So you know. You don't want me to call the police for the reason I just said. You would lose everything.

JULIA
Please just don't.

PETE (into the receiver)
Ya, hi, um, ya the police please. Sure I'll hold.

JULIA
I beg of you Peter don't do this,

PETE (to Julia)
So you know what I'm going to tell them. (back into the receiver) Ya, hi, my name is Pete Kopecky and I... (Pete hangs up the phone but Julia thinks he is still connected.)...I would like to report a sexual assault. Ya, 8 a.m.? Sure. 32 Howard St. Thanks.
PETE: Hangs up his fake phone call.

JULIA
Oh Pete, Please. Keep it between Ed and me.

PETE
And who else ma.

JULIA:
Well, and you.

PETE:
Ya, me ma. The victim. You forgot about me.
And no. You harass me about my drugs and I can very easily wreck your little life, I have the power now. The cops are coming at 8 a.m. and I am going to tell them that your husband is a pedafile, and they are going to take your children from you and I will label you complicit and this house will go to me and I will kick you out. So ya I might be high all the time but fuck if I haven't thought this through.

JULIA
You would never.

PETE
The cops are coming at 8 a.m. tomorrow morning and I am telling them everything.
And the funny thing is, mother, is that you don't even know if he has ever stopped molesting me. Well it has stopped mother. It stopped when I got big enough to beat the shit out of him. Remember a few years ago when he showed up pretty messed up. That was the day it ended. That was the day your forgotten son took care of things himself..
And tomorrow morning when I tell the cops it ends for good. For all of us.


JULIA runs from the room.

INT: Pete's bedroom. Next morning.ED comes in and wakes PETE up.

ED

Your mother hes overdosed on her pills and she is dead. The ambulance and the police are on their way.

ED leaves the room.

Pete thought, oh my God, she did that because I threatened to have the police come over. He thought about it a few minutes. He realized he wasn't sad or guilty. After a little while there was a knock at the door. It was the police. There was a knock at his bedroom door, It was ED.

ED

The police are here and they want to speak to you.

PETE put some clothes on and went downstairs. He passed quickly past his mother's room where there were some strange people milling about. He saw only his mother's feet,

OFFICER #1

We understand you placed a call to 911 at 7 p.m. last night. Why was that?

PETE

I thought my mother was in distress.

OFFICER #2

But then you hung up.

PETE

I reconsidered it,

OFFICER #1

Guess you were wrong.

PETE

Guess so.

PETE went upstairs and gathered a few things in a duffel bag, He left and went to a flop house he knew, On that November Thursday he lost his mother, inherited a house and, at the flop house, met Justin Denny, It was the last part that would affect the rest of his life the most.

...to be continued

Harm Reduction Part Twelve - You Killed My Dad

INT day Kopecky kitchen.

ANDY is cooking eggs at the stove and JUSTIN is sitting at the table.

JUSTIN

How are you Andy?

Andy stops.

ANDY

I'm ok Justin. Thank you for asking.

 
They state at each other.
ANDY appears to tear up.

JUSTIN
You're not ok are you

ANDY
Justin my father was just murdered. And you're the first person who has asked me if I'm  ok.

JUSTIN
So are you?

ANDY
People comforted Robbie.  People comforted Sam. People even went up to Pete and they think he had something to do with this.

JUSTIN
Andy you are so put together and healthy looking and you give off this air of self confidence to the point that I think people assume you're fine.

ANDY
Would it kill some one to ask?

JUSTIN
And by the way Pete had nothing to do with this

ANDY.
Did you kill my dad?

JUSTIN

No I didn't

ANDY.
Do you know who did?

JUSTIN
Ya, I do

ANDY.
Why would someone do this?

JUSTIN
Because I asked him to.

ANDY (sobbing)
But Justin, he was my dad.

JUSTIN
I'm sorry Andy but to me he was the monster who ruined the life of the man I love. I can't see past that.
Pete let him  live here to raise you boys. Pete said he would get rid of him as soon as you boys were grown. That happened and Ed was still here. 
What do I do about that?

ANDY

It's so fucking tragic. 
I know what my dad did to him but did it really have to go like this?

JUSTIN
Ya  Andy it did. And I am fully aware you don't get that and right now Pete doesn't get it either

ANDY
Couldn't you have just left it alone?

JUSTIN
Not anymore. No fucking way.
(ANDY is crying).
Andy this was inevitable

ANDY.
The answer is I'm broken

JUSTIN.

What?

ANDY
You asked how am I?

JUSTIN
I did

ANDY.
And to think you made this happen and a tiny part of me thinks you might have been justified is a little hard to wrap my mind around.

JUSTIN
Look at me Andy.
This was not only justified, for your brother it was long overdue

ANDY.
What you are saying to me is so fucked up and still I'm giddy over the thought that you are taking the time to explain it all to me

JUSTIN.
I get it.

ANDY
How screwed up is it that the only person who has offered me any kind of comfort since my dad was killed is the guy who set it up.
Nothing around here is normal.
Do you want an egg?

JUSTIN
Ya, I'd love one.

In the next scene Andy and Justin sit at the kitchen table eating

JUSTIN.
I feel bad that my actions have traumatized you.

ANDY
Justin I have been generally traumatized for years

JUSTIN.
Really?

ANDY
Well, let's think about it. I live in a house owned by my drug addicted brother who; by the way, was sent to jail for convincing my mother to kill herself. Oh, and my brother's drug addicted boyfriend (he points at Justin) you, appears to be a permanent resident of my home  And finally, my youngest brother, as sweet and innocent ass a new-born kitten, has gone one step further and is dating a drug dealer.
So, ya, I'm a little traumatized.
Oh, and I almost forgot, that drug addicted boyfriend of my brother appears to have convinced someone, I don't even know who, to kill my dad.
Yup, that's what's up with me.

JUSTIN
I do see how that might be the case.

 Silence

.
ANDY
(Andy sighs) Fuck me.
I have lived my whole life on the straight and narrow. Kind, polite, all around nice guy. I eat well. I work out. Get good grades. All of it. The supposed foundations of a happy good life. Ok
That is not what is happening.
And no offense but all you guys despite your bad behaviour and criminal activity seem to all be just la-di-fucking-da. You in particular don’t seem to have a job or a home and yet with a wave of your hand every homo in this city cowers and waits for your instructions. How is that, Justin? Are you God? Are you the devil?

JUSTIN

Awesome.

ANDY

What the fuck  is so awesome exactly?

JUSTIN

You. Angry. I knew it was in there somewhere. I’m fascinated.

Pause.

ANDY is teary. He serves JUSTIN an egg. He puts one on a plate for himself and sits at the table. JUSTIN is staring at him with a wry smile on his face.

ANDY

…and stop staring at me.

JUSTIN

You are a very complex young man.

ANDY

(annoyed) Really Justin?  Ya, that’s it. Complex  So complex and good looking that I intimidate people. So much so that I don’t have any friends.

JUSTIN

I’ll be your friend.

ANDY

I don’t think that’ll work out considering right now I want to punch you in the face.

JUSTIN:

That would be hot.

ANDY:

You are fucking crazy.

JUSTIN:

…And to answer your questions. I am certainly not God. The devil? I just might be him.