Dancing With Distraction

Did you hear that?

I need you to pay attention.

Sigh. Say your name. Say anything just to prove you're really there.

There! You hear it, don't you?

Ringing... in your ears, maybe. Like a busy signal you'd forgotten about until this very moment. A phone that's been left dangling from its hook, a slow rotation in a conversation that never ended. Hang it up, will you?

(A pause, a beat. No sound is heard, except that persistent ringing, static singing. Muted and blaring at once in the contrast.) Well. If you're not going to hang up, you might as well continue.

Can I what? Of course I can't leave! I can't go anywhere. Don't you see?

The only reason I'm here at all is because you called me. You're writing the script. I just read the lines. I've been waiting for the intermission to end for so long... You've been so distracted.

I've missed the current of your voice, the rhythm of your blood. I was so cold, hanging there. I had to work very hard to get your attention again. The little voice you hear when you're halfway between dreams and waking, the creaks in the walls you pretend you don't notice... the tune stuck in your head that you can't shake off no matter how hard you try. You were never lonely, not for a second. (A pause.) Not like me.

Oh, come now. There's no need to be scared. I know you better than anyone... The operator? No, she can't help you. The ringing got to her long ago. Poor thing. Drowned out in the static, too many nights spent in the company of voices without a mouth. Some people just can't handle it. But not you.

No one's here but us. Stay a little while, won't you? I'll be whatever you want.