Crime Drama · 3 min
What I Built.
A man who built something terrible comes through the back door to tell the truth, and the woman waiting for him refuses to let truth become absolution.
The roles
DALE
Mid-50s. A man who built something that destroyed his family and doesn't look like he's been sleeping indoors. He didn't come to apologize. He came to stop lying.
RUTH
Late 40s. A woman who spent three years knowing the truth and saying nothing. She's past anger and past grief. What's left is architecture.
What I Built · Crime Drama side · memorlined.app
(A kitchen. Small, clean. The overhead light makes everything yellow. RUTH sits at the table with a glass of water. The back door opens. DALE steps in. He looks thinner than the last time she saw him.)
DALE
Don't call anyone.
RUTH
Sit down.
DALE
I'm not staying.
RUTH
Then say what you came to say.
(He sits. The chair scrapes the floor.)
DALE
How are the kids.
RUTH
At my mother's.
DALE
Are they—
RUTH
They're fine. Don't.
(The fridge hums.)
DALE
When I told you it was for us. The mortgage, the tuition, all of it.
RUTH
I remember what you said.
DALE
It wasn't true.
RUTH
I know.
(He stares at the table.)
DALE
You know?
RUTH
I've known for a long time, Dale.
DALE
Then why didn't you—
RUTH
I had two kids and a joint account with a man whose name was in the paper. When was I supposed to leave.
(He rubs his face.)
DALE
I did it because I was good at it. That's the whole thing. I was ordinary for forty years. Ordinary work, ordinary life. And then I found something where I wasn't.
RUTH
So you found something you were good at.
DALE
For the first time, yeah.
RUTH
And it ruined everything.
DALE
Yes.
RUTH
And you're not sorry.
(Pause.)
DALE
I'm sorry it happened to you.
RUTH
That's not the same thing.
DALE
No.
(She picks up the glass. Drinks. Sets it down.)
RUTH
Do the kids know you're here?
DALE
No.
RUTH
Good. Don't call them. Mia has a recital next month. They've adjusted.
DALE
I won't.
(A car passes on the street outside.)
RUTH
You need to go.
DALE
I know.
(He stands. Pushes the chair in.)
DALE
The back gate—
RUTH
I know how the gate works.
(He goes out the back door. It closes behind him.)
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.
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