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The Hiker's Confession
A man enters the stage. His arm is in a sling, but he is otherwise smartly dressed. He addresses the audience.
They said I was lucky, they said I was brave. What do they know? When they rescued me I was unconscious. When I woke up in the hospital I couldn't move my arm. I didn't know what had happened......I didn't want to. I was lucky, that was what they said. After all he didn't make it back. They couldn't even find him. They kept asking me what happened, where he was. I didn't answer.
Michael sits down.
How could I answer? The truth is, I don't want to believe it. What
happened, it saved my life. I can’t tell them what happened, but I
can tell you, after all, you’re not going to tell anyone are you?
We were climbing liberty ridge. Do you know it? No? Well why would
you? It was just a perfect day for a climb. The actual climb was
quite boring, it was when we stopped on a ridge….the weather turned.
One minute there was not a cloud, the next it was raining sheets. We
set up a shelter to wait it out. It was too small for both of us,
and he was saying we should climb back down once the storm passed.
He’d eaten more of the food than me. Then he moved slightly closer
to the edge. He’d been greedy, and he was being a coward. He was
looking away from me, and he wasn’t on the rope….so I pushed him.
He was too fat to be climbing, he’d eaten too much of our food. He
took up too much room in the shelter. He wanted to climb back down.
The answer was obvious. Push him, and I’d be okay.
I watched him slip and I watched his arms flailing. It was funny.
Michael flails his arms about mimicking what his buddy did, whilst
laughing and grinning.
He seemed to pause and hover for a moment, so I pushed him again…well I had to make sure I did it right. He never screamed or shouted he just, fell. It was a relief, but more than that it was fun.
Michael stands up.
Do you know what the most amusing thing is? They’ll never know. They’ll just think it was an accident….if they ever find him!
Michael walks off, smiling and laughing.
Written by: Martin Nelson
Note from the Author
Stage Directions are marked with italics. Please bear in mind
that this is not formatted as a normal script would be but I have
presented it like this for easier reading.
The audio file attached is a recording of the first performance of
this and has been slightly adapted when performed.
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