CASSANDRA: Scene Three Continued
Here’s another installment of Bryce Duzan’s CASSANDRA play, which we’re serializing this year to help build your appetite for the festival in November. Enjoy!
CASSANDRA by Bryce Duzan
CASSANDRA
And I’m alone again. No…Paris is nearby. My brother…how tortured does he feel? Afraid? Where is he, I wonder? Why is he not with the others? (Pause.) I hear something. Who is there?
(ACHILLES enters. Like the others, he is a spirit.)
ACHILLES
I see. You help the others…but not me. Is it because they are your family, and I am not? Or is it because I am your enemy, even in death?
CASSANDRA
You are not my enemy, Achilles. You never were.
ACHILLES
Ha. Even though I killed your brother? Killed your people? Don’t lie to me.
CASSANDRA
Greece never was my enemy. Troy was theirs. (ACHILLES scoffs.) I mean what I say. Why do you linger here, surrounded by your enemies?
ACHILLES
I…am full of anger. My rage continues to burn.
CASSANDRA
Why?
ACHILLES
You think the atrocities committed here happened only to your own people? What about mine? I lost friends too…and more.
CASSANDRA
More?
ACHILLES
Yes. A…good friend. Almost a brother. His name was Patroclus.
CASSANDRA
I have heard of him. He led your Myrmidons against my people in your stead. And…
ACHILLES
And he was killed. By your brother.
CASSANDRA
I’m…sorry. But we were at war.
ACHILLES
I did not even see him die. I had to hear about it afterward. I did not even know. I could only imagine how he suffered…
CASSANDRA
What did you expect to happen, Achilles? That he and his small cadre of men would take Troy themselves?
ACHILLES
He wasn’t supposed to go! I forbade it! But…he did. He left…against my wishes…I should have known…should have gone after him…
CASSANDRA
We all wish we could change the past, Achilles. Trust me, I know. But-
ACHILLES
You don’t understand! He wasn’t supposed to die! He…was…
CASSANDRA
He was what? Immortal? What made him so important that he could outlive death itself?
ACHILLES
I…loved him.
(CASSANDRA is taken aback.)
CASSANDRA
Oh. I…I see. I’m sorry, Achilles. I…didn’t know.
ACHILLES
He wanted to prove something. Prove that he was as strong a warrior as I. That he was capable. That he was…worth my time.
CASSANDRA
Are those his words…or yours?
ACHILLES
What? His. I would never say something like that to him. I respected him! For his strength…and his tenderness. But he never believed that he was good enough for me. It was childish. I treated him like an equal!
CASSANDRA
And yet he left. Perhaps he didn’t feel like you treated him as you say?
ACHILLES
…perhaps not. There’s so many things I wish I could have done differently…treated him better. Supported him more. Followed him when he left that day.
CASSANDRA
I know, Achilles. But…that was his destiny.
ACHILLES
What?
CASSANDRA
To die. His death spurred you on to fight against Troy. Then your destiny was to die as well. Both of your futures changed when you came here.
ACHILLES
How do you know this?
CASSANDRA
Because we all have our futures set out. Troy’s fate was to burn…and so it did. I saw that future and I was unable to stop it. I wish I could have…I wish I could have saved you as well, Achilles.
ACHILLES
…thank you, Cassandra.
CASSANDRA
I’m sorry.
ACHILLES
Don’t be. I am not angry at you. And I am not angry at your brother. No…I see now that I am only angry at myself. A foolish, stupid anger at not being able to see the future.
CASSANDRA
Even if you could see the future, Achilles, I believe you would find it quite difficult to understand it.
(ACHILLES looks hard at CASSANDRA for a moment. Then, he cracks a smile.)
ACHILLES
I believe you are quite right.
CASSANDRA
Is Patroclus here as well?
ACHILLES
No. He has departed already.
CASSANDRA
Then you should go as well. I am sure he is waiting for you.
ACHILLLES
Do you believe so?
CASSANDRA
I do.
ACHILLES
…thank you, Cassandra. And…I am sorry. For your brother.
CASSANDRA
I forgive you, Achilles, if you forgive him. And me.
(ACHILLES smiles again. This time, it is warm.)
ACHILLLES
I do.
(ACHILLES fades away. CASSANDRA breathes a sigh of relief.)
CASSANDRA
Rest in peace, hero of the Greeks.
(PARIS enters slowly, looking around. He too is a ghost.)
PARIS
Is he gone?
CASSANDRA
Paris? Oh, brother, it is you! Who is gone?
PARIS
Achilles.
CASSANDRA
Yes, he has just departed. Why?
PARIS
Because…I was the one who killed him. I did not wish to confront him if he bore a grudge.
CASSANDRA
He seemed to not even care about his own death. He was only concerned with the death of his…love.
PARIS
I see…
(There is a pause.)
PARIS
I am sure you are wondering why I am still here.
CASSANDRA
I think I have an idea…it’s Helen, isn’t it?
PARIS
Yes. Have you seen her? Recently, I mean.
CASSANDRA
Indeed I have, Paris.
PARIS
And? Did she…say anything? About me?
CASSANDRA
She did.
(PARIS immediately lightens. He seems relieved.)
PARIS
She did? I’m…so glad.
CASSANDRA
She misses you. Terribly. She still mourns you, in fact.
PARIS
I miss her as well. Terribly. Does her husband…treat her well?
CASSANDRA
He was planning to kill her. He decided against it. He treats her as you’d expect.
PARIS
Gods…! That’s terrible! I…can’t believe such a thing.
CASSANDRA
I imagined you wanted the truth, Paris. Would you have preferred a lie?
PARIS
No. (A long pause.) I’m…sorry.
CASSANDRA
For what?
PARIS
For everything. This is all my fault.
CASSANDRA
Paris, it’s not-
PARIS
Everything. Is my. Fault. This whole…gods-damned thing. My city…my people…gone. Because of me. Every day I look back into the past. Every day I count the things-the hundred of things-that I have done wrong. If I only had the sense to never listen to the gods…the sense not to take a married woman from her crazed husband. If I had just stopped and thought about what I was doing…I would realize how insane it all was!
CASSANDRA
It was not your fault, Paris.
PARIS
How can you say that?
CASSANDRA
The gods tricked you! Aphrodite tricked you! Tricked Helen too! She hypnotized the poor woman! Made her leave her husband!
PARIS
Well she didn’t make me do anything. I went of my own free will. I just wanted someone to love. Is that so wrong?
CASSANDRA
Of course not, brother. How could you know such a terrible thing would happen?
PARIS
I should have expected consequences of some kind! But I was in love. Stupid, blind, and in love.
CASSANDRA
And nobody can fault you for that. You heard the others. Father, brother, nobody cursed your name. Not even the one you slew! Helen doesn’t hate you. She misses you. Deeply. You two were in love. Nobody can hate a man who loves with all his heart as you did.
PARIS
You…you mean that?
CASSANDRA
Of course, Paris.
PARIS
And…you don’t hate me?
CASSANDRA
No. I love you. As I always shall.
(PARIS weeps.)
PARIS
Thank you, sister. Thank you for bringing peace to this foolish soul.
(PARIS slowly begins to fade.)
CASSANDRA
Farewell, brother. Tell the others that I love you all and I will never forget you.
PARIS
I shall, sister. We will always watch over you.
(PARIS disappears. For a moment, there is silence.)
CASSANDRA
And so I’m alone again. But I feel…happy. Fulfilled. I have done something right…strange. I don’t feel alone. Hello? Is there somebody there?
A VOICE
Cassandra…
CASSANDRA
N…no. No, stay away!
(CASSANDRA flees.)
(BLACKOUT)