时间：2026-08-28
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Scene 3
“Who’s Going To Pay Me Back?!”
6 years later
Prison Yard. Upstate, New York. KHAREY WISE, older now, paces in the yard. He is alone. MATTIAS REYES walks past him, then stops, turns around and approaches him.
REYES
You from the City?
KHAREY
Why?
REYES
Got that accent. I’m from the City, too.
KHAREY
I’m Harlem, through and through.
MATTIAS
I know about Harlem
And the other boroughs too.
There ain’t nothin’ about New York
I don’t know.
(MATTIAS looks at KHAREY)
MATTIAS
You don’t remember me, do you?
KHAREY
Should I?
MATTIAS
Years ago.
KHAREY
(remembering)
We had a fight in the yard.
Downstate in Rikers.
MATTIAS
It was my fault.
I was way out of line.
KHAREY
It was a long time ago.
Forget it.
MATTIAS
Mattias Reyes.
KHAREY
Kharey Wise.
MATTIAS
Right, right!
You’re the kid who caught that case.
(KHAREY does not answer)
Did you do it?
KHAREY
I ain’t done that thing.
When I die,
My conscience will be clear.
MATTIAS
Your conscience?
Are you religious?
KHAREY
I believe there is a God,
But God never liked me much.
And I never liked no church.
MATTIAS
I used to not believe in nothing,
But God has found me.
KHAREY
Then, you are a lucky man.
MATTIAS
I’m doing the best I can.
People do what they got to do
To get from here to tomorrow.
KHAREY
I tell myself that everyday.
It’s the only way I’ve survived this place.
MATTIAS
Yeah man.
What if you could be free of all this?
What if you could go home?
KHAREY
This ain’t the place to be asking no questions.
MATTIAS
I’m not trying to start no mess.
KHAREY
This ain’t the place to forget how
To mind your own business.
MATTIAS
I’m not looking for trouble.
KHAREY
Find some other place to walk.
MATTIAS
I know who you are.
You’re Kharey Wise.
KHAREY
You need to back the Hell off of me.
I ain’t telling you again!
MATTIAS
No, wait. Listen.
I need to tell you something.
You got a right to know.
KHAREY
The only right I got
Is to be left the Hell alone.
KHAREY glares at him, then turns and walks off. After a beat MATTIAS walks to another part of the stage where there are two chairs facing each other. MATTIAS sits in one.
THE MASQUE (as The Police Detective) sits in the other.
THE MASQUE
(as the Police Detective)
The Warden said you had something to tell me.
MATTIAS
That dude, Kharey Wise.
THE MASQUE
What about him?
MATTIAS
I feel sorry for him. You should, too.
THE MASQUE
Well, I don’t.
I didn’t drive all the way here
To talk about him.
The world has forgotten him.
And I have too.
Why bring him up to me, now?
MATTIAS
‘Cause he’s doing time
For something he did not do.
THE MASQUE
You know that for a fact?
MATTIAS
Yes.
THE MASQUE
I don’t believe you.
MATTIAS
Kharey Wise and the other boys
Did not hurt that woman
Because I did.
THE MASQUE
You’re lying!
MATTIAS
And I did another woman
In her apartment,
And you busted me for that,
But you never thought to match me up
With that woman in Central Park.
You had me in the same lock-up
With one of them boys.
But you were so sure of yourself,
You never asked me about that woman.
You only asked them.
I couldn’t believe it.
THE MASQUE
You were a punk then, and
You’re a punk, now.
MATTIAS
I can tell you the color of her eyes.
I can tell you how small she was,
And how she smelled.
I can tell you where she was coming from
And where she thought she was going.
My name is Mattias Reyes….
And I was in the park, that night.
I thought you should know.
Kharey Wise has done thirteen years
For nothing.
KHAREY appears. He wears a cheap, ill-fitting suit. A small cloth duffelbag is at his feet. We HEAR the SOUND of prison cell doors.
Silence.
KHAREY is alone.
KHAREY
They stole from me!
All of them!
The police! The DA!
Harlem!!!
Who’s gonna pay me back?
They stole my mind,
My happiness!
All stolen! Taken away!
All gone!
Who’s gonna pay me back?!
Who’s gonna put back
The chunks of me
That were ripped out?
All I ever wanted was for Truth
To come shining through.
I need everyone to know.
But, now that the Truth has come,
Why does it hurt more than the lie
That brought me so low?
END, SCENE TWO.
