Author: Ania (or Vasquez1987)
Disclaimer: "The Crucible" belongs to Arthur Miller
Special thanks to Mrs. Cad - my beta.
Author's notes: it is a homework: write the missing scene from "The Crucible". Simple as that.
Dedications: To Jack and Anna, as well to Sophie for helping me with writing this scene with the way they act. To Mr. Cad for having an idea of putting on "The Crucible" as a school play and therefore giving me the opportunity of getting ideas.
Feedback would be nice
***
Midnight, a few hours after Elizabeth was taken into jail. PROCTOR sits in the living room on a stool, in front of the fireplace, gazing into it. His eyes are empty and he seems to be miles away. He stands up, takes a log and places it on the fire, then sits down again. Behind him, a few feet away, on the table there's a nearly-empty glass and a half-empty bottle of cider.
MARY WARREN comes in, at a slow pace, hesitant. She approaches the table and picks up the poppet. Eyes downcast, she toys with it and sniffs loudly. That catches Proctor's attention. He turns his head and glares at her, she fidgets under his sight. He goes back to looking into the fire.
Mary Warren: [shyly] Mr Proctor… [he ignores her] I… it is my fault, sir, isn't it? [he snorts loudly] Goody Proctor is a righteous woman. You have all your rights to throw me onto the highroad now.
Proctor: [always with his back facing her, scornfully] Aye.
Mary Warren: Do you think, sir, if I tell the truth in the court, will they believe me?
Proctor: [he turns to her and looks into her eyes] Aren't you always honest, Mary? [she looks away] God damns all liars, Mary. Mary Warren: [with a sudden burst of courage, with irony] And sure, you tell the truth, Mr Proctor? [he stands up ferociously and steps up to her, takes her by the collar and shakes her. She turns her face away from him and whimpers]
Proctor: [he's on the verge of tears] 'Tis not so easy to comprehend! Sometimes it hurts and then, then it's better to stay silent! [With a slight creak the door opens. It remains only slightly ajar and we get an impression that the person behind it doesn't want to interrupt the scene but is too curious to close the door.] Mark it; I know not what the truth may bring! No one knows but lies are always uncovered! Child, if you know something that might help to untangle this knot of pretended witchcraft, for God's sake, and the villagers' too, say it!
Mary Warren: [trembling] I fear for what Abigail may do!
Proctor: She do not have a power to harm you. Let you fear nothing of her. [she sobs quietly] Do you love God, Mary? Do you? [she doesn't answer] Do you go to the Devil for my wife?
Mary Warren: [slightly hysterical] No! I mean no harm to Goody Proctor! I'll go to court! I will confess! I promise! [he lets her go and backs away a little. She realizes that she still has a poppet in her hands. She looks at it then at Proctor and calms down a bit] It were hers. [she lift up her hands in an offering gesture. He takes it and stares at it. Meanwhile MARY WARREN runs out of the room. The door opens a bit more and a figure leans against the doorframe. PROCTOR goes back to his place by the fire, this time the poppet in his hands. He sits down and looks at it, as though he's trying to consider something very important.]
At this point, everything is quiet. Proctor is thinking about the poppet and what it caused. At this point, let us remember that it was supposedly a voodoo doll that Elizabeth made to torment Abigail. He is highly aware if it wasn't for his affair with the meddlesome girl, everything would be in order. His wife and Goody Nurse, as well as many others, wouldn't have been falsely accused and wrongly imprisoned.
[The mysterious guest silently moves inside not bothering to close the door completely, only pushing it lightly. They are wearing a cloak with a hood on but from the body posture we can tell it's a woman. She moves towards PROCTOR on her way taking the glass from the table. Proctor shifts his gaze to the mantelpiece. The woman approaches him and puts the glass to his lips, her other hand securing his head so he can't turn away]
Abigail: [bending down to PROCTOR's ear and whispering] Drink up, John. Relax. [he spurts the cider in the fire and falls off the stool and looks at her. The poppet is discarded next to his hand]
Proctor: [with surprise and anger] What are you doing here?! You have no single right to be here at this time I might add!
Abigail: [slides off her hood] It didn't bother you then, John. Why is it that this time it does?
Proctor: Perhaps because my wife is now lying in a filthy cell, perhaps because you are trying again to… to possess me? [firmly] I will not allow you to have your way with me again Abby! 'Tis a sin…
Abigail: [discards her cloak on the table. She doesn't wear her cap, her hair is falling on her face. As she kneels, she advances towards Proctor, like a wild cat that had finally caught its prey] It do not matter, John. Once a sinner, you turn away from God, with no way of return. You are a lecher, John, and you'll always be.
Proctor: [he moves back but his back meets the wall too fast for his liking] If I'm a lecher, then you are a whore!
Abigail: Do not fear me, for I am the one you desire…
Proctor: [puts his hands on her arms to prevent her from further movement towards him. She's desperate to get past them] Don't you dare provoke me! I might have sinned but I regret it now. Sure there is a promise in my deed but you should have known better -
Abigail: [accusingly] I? This is who you blame now? Did you not smile, did you not look into my eyes with a look that said "do you want to know me better"? Surely you did !
Proctor: Abigail -
Abigail: [angrily] Don't you dare silence me now, John! [he struggles to keep her away] That night, you touched me like no one have had before. 'Twere perfect. Did you not feel it, John? What you have given your wife, it were because of obligation. You brought me a gift of passion!
Proctor: [he fiercely pushes her away and stands up. Aggressively] Don't you say one bad word about my wife!
Abigail: [rising] What it might help you now, when she's imprisoned without a way out?
Proctor: She does have a way out, that I assured her! Marry Warren agreed to confess!
Abigail: [scornfully] And what if she keeps her promises as well as you do, John?
Proctor: I give no promises!
Abigail: [ironically] I am well aware of that.
Proctor: Out of here!
Abigail: [becoming instantly formal] Fine, sir, I'll go. [starting for the door, she rushes past him but stops in the doorway] Maybe we will see each other in someplace sometime or another. I'll let you know, feel free to open up to me then. [ABIGAIL goes out]
Proctor: [shouts after Abigail] There is no other place for you to be but Hell! [Proctor picks up the poppet and throws it into the fire]