Dreen. Woman. 18 years old.
Singh. Man. 18 years old.

(Inside a University classroom. Chairs and tables for students. The teacher's table is upstage centre. The door, wide open, is downstage-left, and has an official notice taped to it. Singh enters, unsteadily. He is in shock, gasping for air. He has a satchel which he clumsily tosses onto a table. He eventually sits on a chair at a table for students, after having clumsily positioning the chair and its table. A few seconds pass. He calms down. Dreen enters, hastily. She is surprised to see Singh. She hastily shifts a chair, and sits on it, facing him. )

Dreen: There is no class today, Singh.

Singh: (Weakly.) I know. I just came to study. You, too?

Dreen: No. Did Seridha come here?

Singh: Seridha, in our class?

Dreen: Yes.

Singh: No. Why would she? No class today. You reminded Professor Sneddon to put up that note on the door. Remember? I was there.

Dreen: I remember. How long have you been here?

Singh: A while. I haven’t been keeping time. You know me; no watch.

Dreen: Singh, something bad has happened to Seridha.

Singh: (He stares wide-eyed at her.) Where? When?

Dreen: In this building, on the ground floor, a little while ago. She’s been taken to hospital. She was unconscious.

Singh: (Weakly. Softly.) Seridha, in our class. What happened?

Dreen: Nobody knows. People in offices heard noises of violence. When they came out, they saw Seridha’s unconscious body on the floor in a corridor. There was nobody else around.

Singh: Did she trip?
Dreen: Possibly. When we know which hospital, I will go to her.

Singh: Me, too.

Dreen: (Softly.) That’s not a good idea, Singh. (He looks at her in surprise.) Singh, I am Seridha’s best friend. She told me what you said to her. She regretted telling her boyfriend, Rex Chetty, before she told me.

Singh: You are fearing Rex will think I had something to do with Seridha’s accident today?

Dreen: Singh, you are in the building; a few doors away from where it happened; probably within minutes of it happening. I suggest that for the rest of this day you and I be seen together in other University buildings. Let’s start at the library.

Singh: Thank you, Dreen. I agree.

Dreen: Good. Now, before we go out there together, have you seen Seridha today; even caught a glimpse of her from a distance?

Singh: No. I did not know she was in the building.

Dreen: Good. Remember that Rex is our worst worry. He is a criminal. He will suspect you had a hand in Seridha’s accident. So, use me as much as you wish as your alibi. Rex knows Seridha and I are best of friends. If he asks me, I will tell him I was with you all day today.

Singh: Thank you, Dreen. (He reaches out a hand to her. She takes his hand, briefly.)

Dreen: You are most welcome. (They remain silent, looking at each for a few seconds.)

Singh: (Softly, hesitantly.) Aren’t you and Seridha in a class taught by Professor Peter Raymond?

Dreen: Yes. I think the both of us are failing that class. We are thinking of dropping out; we have a few more days before the no-penalty drop-out deadline.

Singh: Will this accident make that drop-out a certainty?

Dreen: I think so.

Singh: For Seridha, definitely. Not necessarily for you, Dreen.

Dreen: Yes, definitely necessarily for me, too. Seridha is my best friend. We are enrolled in the same program; taking the same courses.

Singh: You are a good friend, Dreen. However, do keep an open mind. Seridha is in hospital. She might have to postpone her education. If she has to, you can continue, at least in Professor Raymond’s course this semester.

Dreen: I doubt it. Both of us working together are having a rough time understanding the material in that course. By myself, it will be utterly hopeless.

Singh: Dreen, I took Raymond’s course two semesters ago. I have all my class assignments. I passed the course “with honors.” (They look steadily at each other, silently, for a few seconds. She speaks softly and slowly.)

Dreen: Singh, are you offering what I think you’re offering?

Singh: Yes, Dreen, in the same vein as your offer to protect me against criminal wild-card Rex Chetty, by saying you were with me all day today. (They look steadily at each other, silently, for a few seconds. She speaks softly and slowly.)

Dreen: May I accept your offer only if my best friend, Seridha, does not come out of hospital before the drop-out deadline?

Singh: Of course. Yes.

Dreen: In that case, I accept your offer.

Singh: Good. (They shake hands.) Care to hear an option?

Dreen: Sure.

Singh: Because of the presence of criminal wild-card Rex Chetty, I observe that it never be necessary for you to let Seridha know of my offer to you, especially if you have to not accept it. (Dreen takes a few seconds of tense silence before she softly replies.)

Dreen: I agree.

Singh: Thank you. Are you ready to start being seen together out there?

Dreen: Yes. But after I share a troubling idea with you that has occurred to me in the last few minutes.

Singh: Dreen, please, can it wait? I am a bit overloaded in worries right now.

Dreen: Singh, you are part of the troubling idea. And you are the only one who can help me cope.

Singh: (Softly. Weakly. Worriedly.) Okay.

Dreen: Seridha is very religious. Her whole family believes in God. Sometimes I think her friendship for me stems from her need to convert me. I’m not an atheist; but there never has been any religious beliefs in my family. Singh, this sounds crazy, but I think she has accepted Rex Chetty into her life mainly for the same reason; and especially since his family’s religion is her family’s, too. Converting me is her free choice; keeping Rex from straying, is her obligatory duty.

Singh: How does all this concern me, Dreen? I am already seriously confused about Seridha in my life.

Dreen: Singh, the University provides students with services in all religions. You attended services different from the one Seridha attended and to which she dragged me. (She stares at him, meaningfully. He gets her silent meaning.)

Singh: (Softly and slowly.) Different Gods? (She nods, slightly.) I should have suffered in silence, and never told Seridha I was in love with her. (Dreen nods, slightly. They are silent a few seconds.)

Dreen: As painful as that is, Singh, Seridha is in for worse pain when she regains consciousness. When we realized we were not succeeding in Professor Raymond’s course, it was Seridha’s plan that we flirt with him. (Singh is taken aback, and shows it. Dreen shrugs.) Hey, my Godless morality saw nothing improper in discreet flirting. And so, willingly and gladly, I went along with the plan. Of course, alongside Seridha’s perfect beauty, I amounted to negligible little. Within days, if not hours, she had the Professor eating out of her hands.

Singh: Dreen, please. I don’t want to hear anymore. (As Dreen speaks, the stage lights start dimming.)

Dreen: I don’t have anymore to tell because Seridha took to seeing Raymond on her own, without letting me know. And I know that she is going to regard her catastrophe as punishment from her God. (They stare at each other, she in grim concern; he in wide-eyed consternation. (Blackout.) 

                                                                                                                                               ~The End~