Song: “Everlasting Arms” by Vampire Weekend from Modern Vampires of the City

The squeaking wheels of a desk chair are hid in the distance, getting steadily closer until it spins into view, a man tied to it and gagged. THE INTERN follows closely after, body rigid with anger

THE INTERN

And now, you are going to listen to every damn word I have to say. And you can just sit there. And listen. For once in your entire blessed life.

THE INTERN grabs the chair and spins the man around, hard. He lets his hostage spin a few rotations before grabbing and stopping the spins. He tests the bonds before continuing.

THE INTERN

The weird thing is part of me still wants to impress you, wants to get your seal of approval. Do your realize how screwed up that is?! After everything you’ve usbhected me to, after everything you’re gleefully taken from me, every idea of mine you’ve dressed up as one of your own without even pretending to give enough of a damn to acknowledge my contribution…after EVERYTHING! I still want to make you proud.

THE INTERN (quietly to himself)

Unbelievable.

THE INTERN

I admired you. I trusted you when you said you’d mentor me, said you’d find a way for me to find a place in this industry. I looked up to you as someone in the business, but also as a guru, as a colleague, and even as friend. And you…you’re just a thug pretending to be high class. You don’t give a damn about nurturing protégés or improving the industry. None of your rhetoric meant a thing to you! It was just nonsense to spout off to keep me on the hook. Well, congratulations! You tricked me into taking that hook so deep I HAVE to do something to even the score.

I can’t just walk away now and detonate my life. I shouldn’t have to! I am not the one lying, cheating, and more just because…because why? Is it that you’d much rather just destroy people like me than shape us? Rather force us out than ever have to face the possibility that you might have to change your approach? Or, god forbid, move on to do something else so there’s room for someone new.

Instead, you cultivated my faith in you, my respect for you, my hope in what you represented. You made me believe in you until…BAM!

THE INTERN slams an open palm against the wall to produce a loud and echo-y statement fo his anger.

THE INTERN

YOU TOOK EVERYTHING! You made it look like my idea was yours. You told everyone I was lazy and underhanded. You convinced my girlfriend I slept with that girl from the airport bar. When you did! Married with four kids, you! You had sex with her. You. You. YOU!

You took apart everything I believe in, everything I value, everything I wanted to achieve. And now? All I have is you. Bound in a chair. Alone. No one around for miles. Not that that matters. With the gag, you won’t be able to make a squeak loud enough for me to hear from here, nevermind raise a ruckus enough to get someone to save you. This is it for you. Just you and me and a year’s worth of growing resentment that I suppressed, convinced you were doing what you needed to be good at this and to make sure I got good at it to.

But that was a fiction, wasn’t it? A lie? Because it was funny? Because you liked hurting me? I don’t know. I don’t care. Or I’m trying not to care. Either wayl

THE INTERN walks to a nearby panel, turning on a spotlight and turning off all the other lights. The bound man is in the center of the spotlight. THE INTERN pulls over a small table and proceeds to lay out a variety of tools, humming to himself.

THE INTERN

The only thing you need to think about now, “Boss,” is how much pain you think you can endure. Because you are in for plenty.

With a low laugh THE INTERN grabs the man and pushes him hard against the wall. Without a word, THE INTERN leaps into the man’s lap with brandishing a small saw. THE INTERN smiles broadly but without mirth as he brings the saw against the man’s face.