[a/n: written in school, in about an hour as a follow-up assignment to the book—but I like it so im posting it. Be happy, I haven't posted anything for ages.]
disclaimer: tale of two cities and its characters etc belong to dickens
Set long after A Tale of Two Cities ends, this is the story of a few characters after things have ended…
Scene I: A dark room, dimly lit by flickering red lights, reminiscent of blood and flames, pain and fear and torment. The tortured, sobbing screams of the damned can be heard in the distance. THERESE DEFARGE sits in a corner in rags, sobbing pitiably.
[Enter LUCIE and CHARLES DARNAY, with SYDNEY CARTON quickly slipping into the shadows unnoticed, but not before casting a love-filled, longing gaze at LUCIE. LUCIE is wearing a long, white dress that almost seems to glow in its purity.]LUCIE: [tentatively] Madame? I had heard you were here… [to DARNAY] Oh, my dearest, I had not imagined it would be so awful! [DARNAY puts his arm around LUCIE's shoulder, sheltering and strengthening her fragile body from the suffering that abounds around them]
DEFARGE: [bitterly, quiet and slow at first but gaining momentum, almost snarling] Awful? You know nothing of awful—you and your husband and your child and that pitiable man who loved you enough to die for you. I have nothing here, no child, no family… isolated. Punished for eternity, unable to see my husband whom I loved, my sister and her husband and her father and brother for whom I died, forced to relive for eternity the anguish of good men whom I killed with these very hands [looks at trembling hands] with yarn and needles as much as knives and pistols. [seems to realize LUCIE and DARNAY are still there] Why are you here? Have you come to pity me? To mock me? I need no pity; return to whence you came. This… [looks around] this is no place for you.
LUCIE: [compassionately] No place for me? Even the Christ himself came to save the sinners… This is my place, Therese, to be with you, to help you understand—
DEFARGE: [almost in desperation] Understand? How can you help me? You, with all your sweetness and light and me in my darkness… We are as far as east and west, night and day, light and shadow, always meeting but never touching. You loved, I hated. And that was the hate that killed me, and I cannot forgive.
CARTON: [steps from the shadows] 'Twas hate that killed me too, madame, and for that same love I died.
DEFARGE: [startled, suddenly in anguish] You! No, no, it cannot be… [Looks at back and forth at CARTON and DARNAY] Why are you both here to torment me? You… [to DARNAY, thoughtfully] You I sent to your death joyfully. Your family killed mine, and so in grief I swore I would avenge their deaths. But then hate took hold of me… That silent vow became my life's work, my obsession—I would have killed you thrice over and more without thinking… [to CARTON] …And you? It was before I received this punishment that I saw you die, and I laughed. Poor, lovesick fool, I thought you knew not the true meaning of life. Yet now I see it was truly I who was ignorant. [flinches and gasps, pain-filled tears rolling unbidden down her cheeks, barely managing to gasp out a few words] Ah! The pain! I beg of you, leave me to my misery!
[LUCIE steps toward DEFARGE, a hand outstretched, but DEFARGE shrinks away and writhes in torment from invisible punishments. LUCIE sadly returns to DARNAY and CARTON.]
LUCIE: [sadly] Madame, you may not have understood in life, but I now pray God have mercy on your soul.
[LUCIE, DARNAY, and CARTON turn to leave; LUCIE turns back a moment before closing the door and they hear DEFARGE]
DEFARGE: My soul? [laughs bitterly] My soul! Punished forever for crimes of love and hate—Ah!
[LUCIE, DARNAY, and CARTON exeunt]
Scene II: LUCIE and CARTON are in a light-filled room; the sounds of playing children can be heard. They are seated on a couch, LUCIE leaning against CARTON for support; CARTON has his arm gently around her
LUCIE: [sadly] How I tried, dear Carton… It broke my heart to see her so! Is it so painful to teach her love again?
CARTON: For one whose love has been so corrupted, it can be.
LUCIE: Can it be so? [we hear young SYDNEY and CHARLES calling in the distance] …My child is calling, I must go. [she stands] Will you not come with me? You know you are always welcome in my family. You have always been there for us, as we shall for you… No? Goodbye then, dear Carton.
[LUCIE leaves, CARTON staring wistfully after her; the lights dim and the children are not quite so audible]
CARTON: My Lucie, there is so much I have never told you… I love you so, my darling, and yet you were so far…. So far… My love, I would give anything for you… Even something so worthless as my own life, and I would give it for you a thousand times over if ever I had the chance. [a tear rolls down his cheek] Oh my love, my dearest, my soul, why must you ever be so far? [he weeps]
[Lights dim, curtain closes]