War Drama · 4 min
Lights Out.
In the dark after lights out, one recruit tries to help another hold himself together inside a system that punishes weakness.
The roles
JESSE TRAN
Nineteen. The platoon's quiet competent one. Assigned as peer mentor to the struggling recruit. Patient, steady, genuinely trying. Sees something he can't name and doesn't have the tools to fix.
COLE PERRY
Nineteen. The recruit everybody writes off. Slow to start but improving — his rifle assembly times are getting good. Too good, maybe. Flat affect. Over-apologizes. Something behind his eyes the training hasn't reached.
Lights Out · War Drama side · memorlined.app
(A barracks. Night. Two rows of bunks, most dark. JESSE TRAN sits on the floor next to COLE PERRY's bunk. A disassembled rifle lies between them on a towel. A flashlight props against a boot, pointed at the parts.)
JESSE TRAN
Okay. Bolt carrier group. Go.
(COLE picks up the piece. Slides it in. It clicks.)
JESSE TRAN
Good. Charging handle.
(COLE does it. Faster.)
JESSE TRAN
Forward assist.
(COLE hesitates.)
JESSE TRAN
The little button. Right side.
COLE PERRY
I know where it is.
(He taps it. The bolt seats.)
JESSE TRAN
There you go. Time?
(He checks his watch by flashlight.)
JESSE TRAN
Forty-two seconds. Six seconds better than yesterday.
COLE PERRY
Still slow.
JESSE TRAN
Romero does it in thirty-eight and he's been doing it since he was twelve. You'll get there.
COLE PERRY
Okay.
JESSE TRAN
Again?
COLE PERRY
Okay.
(JESSE strips the rifle. Lays the parts on the towel.)
JESSE TRAN
Go.
(COLE reassembles. He doesn't hesitate on the forward assist this time.)
JESSE TRAN
Thirty-nine. See?
COLE PERRY
Three seconds.
JESSE TRAN
Three seconds is the difference between Sergeant Hayes giving you a nod and Hayes giving you an extra mile.
COLE PERRY
Yeah.
(JESSE sets the parts on the towel. COLE starts to strip it himself without being told.)
JESSE TRAN
Look at you. Self-motivated.
COLE PERRY
Just want to get it down.
JESSE TRAN
You will. You're getting better at everything. Range scores are up—
COLE PERRY
The run's still bad.
JESSE TRAN
It's better. Last week you were dying at the two-mile mark. Today you finished.
COLE PERRY
I finished last.
JESSE TRAN
You finished.
(Down the row, someone coughs. Turns over.)
(quieter)
JESSE TRAN
Hey. You talk to your folks this week?
COLE PERRY
My mom called.
JESSE TRAN
How's she doing?
COLE PERRY
She's fine. She asked if I'm eating enough.
JESSE TRAN
Are you?
COLE PERRY
I'm eating.
JESSE TRAN
That's not what I—
COLE PERRY
I eat three times a day. It's not great but I eat it.
JESSE TRAN
Okay.
(COLE finishes stripping the rifle. Lays the parts in order on the towel.)
COLE PERRY
Do you think about quitting?
JESSE TRAN
Sometimes.
COLE PERRY
Really?
JESSE TRAN
Not seriously. But when Hayes is in my face at five in the morning, yeah. My brain goes "you could just walk out."
COLE PERRY
What stops you?
JESSE TRAN
I don't know. Momentum. And my dad would...
(He trails off.)
JESSE TRAN
Anyway. No. I'm not quitting. Neither are you.
COLE PERRY
I didn't say I was.
JESSE TRAN
I know. I was just—
COLE PERRY
I wasn't asking because I want to quit.
JESSE TRAN
Okay.
(Beat.)
COLE PERRY
You're good at this, you know. The teaching thing.
JESSE TRAN
I'm just showing you what someone showed me.
COLE PERRY
No, you're good at it. You should do something with it. After.
JESSE TRAN
After what?
COLE PERRY
After all this.
JESSE TRAN
Let's get through all this first.
COLE PERRY
Yeah.
(COLE starts reassembling again. His hands move faster now. Automatic.)
JESSE TRAN
That's good. Don't rush it. Smooth is fast.
(COLE finishes. Sets the rifle down.)
COLE PERRY
Thirty-six.
JESSE TRAN
You just beat Romero.
COLE PERRY
On a bunk at midnight. Doesn't count.
JESSE TRAN
Counts to me.
(Pause. COLE stares at the rifle on the towel.)
JESSE TRAN
What?
COLE PERRY
Nothing.
JESSE TRAN
You're looking at it funny.
COLE PERRY
I'm not looking at it funny. I'm looking at it.
JESSE TRAN
Okay.
COLE PERRY
It's just a thing. Right? It's parts.
JESSE TRAN
Yeah. It's a tool.
COLE PERRY
Yeah. A tool.
(A door opens at the far end of the barracks. Fluorescent light spills in.)
COLE PERRY
VOICE (from the door)
COLE PERRY
Lights out means lights out. Who's got a flashlight going?
(JESSE clicks the flashlight off. They sit in the dark.)
(whisper)
JESSE TRAN
We'll run it again tomorrow.
COLE PERRY
Okay.
Print it for class, or open it in the app: every role in this side is playable, and the other side of the scene gets a reader. Cast a voice against your part in the Audition Room, then run it until the lines are yours.
Take the Stage