An Almost Perfect Thing
can run out the door. I can do anything.
    GREG
    So what did you do?
    CHLOE
    Slammed the door and went back to cooking.
    GREG
    Why?
    CHLOE
    I was making chicken. It was gonna burn.
    MATHEW enters. CHLOE's lines are now to MATHEW.
    MATHEW
    Why were you by the door?
    CHLOE
    I wasn't—
    MATHEW
    I saw you.
    CHLOE
    I needed fresh air.
    MATHEW
    You're lying.
    CHLOE
    I couldn't breathe.
    MATHEW
    You were trying to leave me.
    CHLOE
    Mathew, no—
    MATHEW
    Why were you trying leave me?
    CHLOE
    I wasn't. It was one second. I needed air.
    MATHEW
    What did I do?
    CHLOE
    Don't panic—
    MATHEW
    DON'T TOU
CH ME!
    He gets his gun.
    CHLOE
    Mathew, don't. You don't need to do that.
    GREG
    So why didn't you go?
    MATHEW
    I've done everything for you. Why would you do this to me?
    GREG
    That's what I can't get the readers to understand. Why didn't you run when you had the chance?
    MATHEW
    I'm gonna do it. And it'll be all your fault. My blood and brains all over the wall. Is that what you want? Is that why you were by the door?
    CHLOE's lines are now to GREG.
    CHLOE
    Have you ever been everything to someone? The only reason that they're living?
    GREG
    I don't know. I've never—
    CHLOE
    You'd know. Have you ever felt love?
    MATHEW
    No one will ever love you like I do. You know that, right?
    GREG
    Of course I have.
    CHLOE
    When?
    MATHEW
    Because your mom left you. Your dad gave up on you.
    CHLOE
    You don't have a wife or a girlfriend.
    MATHEW
    You have no one.
    CHLOE
    Nothing. So, when have you felt love? You haven't. That's why you don't get it. That's why you're so jealous.
    GREG
    Is that what you call it? What you had with him? Love?
    CHLOE
    I saved his life. Everyone forgot about him. No one cared. He sat in that house completely alone until me. I took care of him. I gave him something to live for.
    GREG
    That doesn't answer my question. Do you call it love?
    CHLOE
    Of course it's not love. My doctors tell me over and over and over. You people are so stupid.
    CHLOE's lines are now to MATHEW.
    I know you love me. Now put the gun down. You need to breathe, okay?
    MATHEW
    I want to hear it. Tell me.
    CHLOE
    I need you.
    MATHEW
    And?
    CHLOE
    I have nowhere to go.
    MATHEW
    Because everyone forgot about you.
    CHLOE
    Yeah. Everyone forgot about me.
    MATHEW
    Why else?
    CHLOE
    Because I love you.
    MATHEW
    And why do you love me?
    CHLOE
    Because you saved me.
    MATHEW
    And who else loves you?
    CHLOE
    No one. Just you.
    MATHEW
    And who else loves me?
    CHLOE
    No one. Just me.
    MATHEW
    So it's just us. Right?
    CHLOE
    It's just us.
    MATHEW
    If you ever do that again I'll have to make sure we're together forever. Okay? Because I can't lose you. You're my everything.
    CHLOE
    I'm not going anywhere. Breathe. You need to breathe.
    GREG
    Chloe?
    CHLOE's lines are now to GREG.
    CHLOE
    You shouldn't have taken me on that show. You shouldn't push me. I could walk out right now. Nothing's stopping me. You don't want me to do that, do you?
    GREG
    Of course not.
    CHLOE
    Because you need me, right?
    GREG
    Chloe—
    CHLOE
    Say it.
    Beat.
    GREG
    I need you.
    CHLOE
    Say it again.
    GREG
    I need you.
    CHLOE
    And again.
    GREG
    I need you.
    CHLOE
    We're both alone. All we have is each other. When the series is done, you're going to stay with me. Right?
    GREG
    Right.
    Beat.
    CHLOE
    This week tell them how I saved him. How I gave him a reason to keep going and that saved his life. And then… write that I miss him. That I think about him every day.
    GREG
    So that he'll read it.
    CHLOE
    You wanted the truth, didn't you?
    SCENE EIGHT
    Shift. To the audience.
    GREG
    I write it. I know the reaction it will get.
    CHLOE
    People write me letters.
    GREG
    Send them to my office.
    CHLOE
    I sneak them from the mailbox before my dad sees them. They say things like—
    GREG
    (imitating public)
"If she liked it so much—"
    CHLOE
    (imitating public)
"Then she should've stayed."
    GREG
    (imitating public)
"Because obviously she liked it."
    CHLOE
    (imitating

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