Stories & Perspectives / University of Evansville

FUNCTIONING WITHOUT THE BULBS

Layla Leigh YoungApril 2, 20226 minute read

The city is bright. No surface lacks a bulb and no area lacks a glow. It has always been that way and as far as anyone is concerned it will always be that way. Life is good here; the lights are a constant joy that make each day and night a little bit brighter (literally).

Scene 1

(Lights come on to reveal one character: a high school boy of basic build.)

Boy:

(talking to the audience) We don’t have a sun here, those set each night. I’ve read about them in books, you see, so I know all about them. Each morning the sun rises and people are joyful for the warmth it brings. Upon its rise they wake to complete everyday activities and tasks. But each night the sun sets and the world goes quiet. I have read that the nighttime is cold and dark and miserable. Thankfully, our world has no sun and our light never goes away

Scene 2, Monday

(The boy is asleep in his bedroom: a glowing bed, floor, desk, chair, fan... the list goes on. Despite every inch of the room being filled with bulbs, light continues to seep in from the windows.)

Boy:

(wakes up, stretching; a big smile upon his face) (to himself) What a good day to be alive!

(The boy prepares himself for the day and makes his way downstairs, to be greeted by his family and breakfast.)

Mom:

(her hair is dyed a bright shade of white, and her attire is glowing head to toe) Good morning, sweetheart!

Boy:

Good morning, mom! (as he sits down to the table) Good morning, dad! How are you this morning, lil bro?

(Little Brother and Dad both greet him and the family continues on with their daily breakfast ritual. Eventually, they finish and head their separate ways for work and school. As the Boy walks toward the bus stop he is greeted by his friends, and moments later the bus arrives perfectly on schedule.)

Boy:

(as they climb up the stairs of the bus) I have a huge presentation in Anatomy at the end of this week that I am pretty worried about.

Friend:

What is it over?

Boy:

I have to locate and name every bone in the lower body. Off of memory I can’t do it so well, but when I have the skeleton in front of me I have been doing okay.

Friend:

Well at least you have four more days to prepare.

Boy:

Yeah, I should do fine on it since it’s just identification. The only thing stressing me out is how much of our grade it is worth. For some reason she is making the demonstration fifty percent of our quarter grade! And my grade is sitting on a sixty-nine, so if I don’t do well on it I won’t have the GPA to get into the school I want to attend!

Friend:

I can help you study sometime this week if you want. I have practice Tuesday but totally could help you Wednesday!

Boy:

Sweet! I’ll take you up on that.

(The bus pulls into the parking lot, followed by the dozens of other buses that the school has. Once the bus stops, the boys get off and make their way to class and the rest of the day goes on just as lovely as it normally does.)

Scene 3, Tuesday

Boy:

(wakes up, yawning; a confused look grows upon his face) What the — (His eyes dart to the chair beneath his desk and alarm grows from the ends of his eyebrows to the stretch of his pupils.)

(His chair stands out obnoxiously as the only thing in the room that isn’t lit up.)

Boy:

(to himself) Am I dreaming?

(He proceeds to get ready and proceeds downstairs.)

Mom:

(with the same joyful face as yesterday) Good morning, Sweetheart!

Boy:

Good morning! (not wanting to worry her, as she seems normal, he continues with the same customs as a usual morning) Dad how are you?

Dad:

Mornin’, son.

(The rest of the day goes by just as it normally would, everything is lit up and everyone is happy. The boy almost forgets what happened that morning until he returns home.)

Boy:

(under his breath, as he enters the door) Oh gosh. (as he walks up the stairs his murmurs continue) Please be on.

(He then turns the corner into his room and prepares for the worst and it’s -- on?)

Boy:

(with a sigh of relief) Oh thank goodness! (now to the audience) Maybe I was dreaming this morning. Can you imagine a world where everything wasn’t lit up? Me neither. Scary nightmare I had, huh?

Scene 4, Wednesday

(When the boy wakes up today, the first thing on his mind is the chair. Yesterday had scared him so much, and he prayed over and over in his head that he would not wake to the darkened chair again.)

Boy:

(murmuring in his head, eyes are closed)

Please be lit, please be lit, please be lit…

(Surely enough, when he opens his eyes the chair is as bright as ever.)

Boy:

(to himself)

Okay, maybe today will be just fine.

(The boy prepares himself for the day and eats breakfast with his family with just enough time to make the bus. As he walks out to the bus stop he meets up with his friend.)

Friend:

Are we still studying tonight? You can come over to my place if you want.

Boy:

Sounds good to me!

(The day goes on normally, and at the conclusion of the day the friends meet up at the bus stop to go home.)

Friend:

We can go to my house if you want.

Boy:

(hopping on the bus)

Sounds good to me.

(When the boys arrive home, they are greeted by the friend’s home being in complete darkness.)

Boy:

Oh my gosh do you see th– (noticing that the friend wasn’t acting any different)

Friend:

Alright let’s head in and get started!

(With complete confusion, the boy followed his friend inside. The rest of the house was lit up. This all felt like it was in his head. Studying went well, and leaving the friend’s house, the boy felt confident in Friday’s test. Coming outside though, the exterior of his friend’s house was still dark.)

Boy:

(under his breath)

So, so weird.

Scene 5, Thursday

(Nearly every day this week, the boy has woken up with a fear of what would be dark and what would be light. This day is no different.)

Boy:

(praying again about the chair)

Please be on, please be on, please be on …

(His eyes open and a loud gasp escapes from his mouth. The chair is not lit. In fact, nothing in his room is. The darkness makes him shiver and the room feels cold. This time he doesn’t even bother getting ready, but rather darts for the door immediately. As soon as he reaches the passageway to the stairs, though, he notices that the rest of the house is lit up perfectly fine.)

Boy:

What the — (He turns around, double checking himself. Surely enough his room is in complete darkness, while the rest of the room is lit up just fine.)

(As he continues on through his day, the boy cannot focus on anything he is doing. The darkness of his room is one he has never seen before. He did not even know that darkness of that extreme even existed. Arriving home that night, the brightness of his home from the street brings him ease. So far, every evening his room had been lit upon his return.)

Boy:

(walking in the door)

I’m home!

Mom & Dad:

(in unison, from across the house)

Hey!

Dad:

(shouting)

How was your day?

Boy:

(shouting back)

Good! I’m gonna go put my stuff up then I’ll be down for dinner!

(The boy, truly just desperate to know the state of his room, scurries upstairs.)

Boy:

(rounding the corner)

C’mon, c’mon, c’mon…

(A sharp scream from the boy’s room has the parents sprinting to his side.)

Mom:

Honey, what’s wrong? (checking his face for injury)

Dad:

Are you hurt? Can you breathe?

Boy:

No, no. I’m fine. I’m not hurt. Can you not see what is wrong here? (now pointing to the room)

(With puzzled expressions, the parents shake their heads no.)

Mom:

What are you pointing at?

(To the boy it was obvious: the lights are gone! No inch of his room is lacking darkness. This is a never heard of occurrence! Lights are everything in this city.)

Boy:

The lights are gone!

(The mom and dad erupt in laughter.)

Dad:

Good one, kiddo.

Mom:

You really had me worried for a second. (turns to the dad) No lights… we raised a jokester!

(The boy felt empty. Could they really see the lights in his room? Why couldn’t he see them? Going to bed that night, the boy felt at a loss. Why was this happening?)

Scene 6, Friday

(The boy woke up this morning with a fear of opening his eyes. What if the lights still weren’t on? What would he do? Not wanting to think about it any longer, he opened his eyes. Surely enough, every light was gone. He couldn’t see anything. It was almost as if his eyes were still closed. Getting ready took about ten times longer, as he had to locate all of his items through touch. Feeling around, he made his way down the stairs.)

Mom:

(from the other room)

Honey is that you? You’re a bit late, you might have to walk to school if you missed the bus.

Boy:

Hey mom! (The last thing he wanted was her asking him a bunch of questions) Yeah, I’ll go ahead and leave without breakfast so I can get to school on time.

Mom:

Okay, sweetie! I love you!

Boy:

Love you, too, mom!

(Scurrying out the door, the boy stumbled with a lack of vision. There were absolutely no lights outside or on any surface. The boy luckily knew his way around his yard, but when he reached the street he tripped over the curb, landing on his face. He quickly got up and continued walking to school, touching mailbox-to-mailbox finding his way to the school. As he closed in on the school grounds he heard his friend holler at him.)

Friend:

Hey why did you miss the bus this morning?

Boy:

(trying not to worry him)

Sorry, my mom made me stay home to eat a long breakfast with her. (trying to think of a way to get to class with help) Wanna walk with me to first period for my anatomy class?

Friend:

Sure! You look funny, are you okay?

Boy:

(not wanting to draw any attention to what was happening) Oh yeah! Prolly just nerves for my presentation of the skeleton.

(Somehow, against all odds, the boy makes it up to his classroom at the same time as the bell rings.)

Teacher:

Phew, I thought you weren’t gonna make it. You know how important this presentation is for your grade!

Boy:

Yes of course! (The boy realizes that there is no way he can identify the parts his teacher points at, since all the lights are off for him.) I actually wanted to ask you if I could take this another da–

Teacher:

(cutting him off)

Alright, let’s begin. What is this?

(There is a moment of silence. The boy has no clue which bone she is pointing at.)

Boy:

Uhm, I’m not sure.

Teacher:

Okay, how about this one here?

Boy:

(he can feel his face grow red)

I’m not sure.

(This pattern continued on for the remainder of the exam.)

Teacher:

(pulling him to the side) You understand that your lack of knowledge will result in a zero, right?

Boy:

Yes, ma’am.

(As the boy stumbles out of the classroom, he remembers the stakes of this presentation. With the failing grade, he will not be admitted into his dream university. As the thoughts of his failing future swirl in his mind, he becomes so overwhelmed that he falls to the floor.)

L I G H T S O U T

Author’s Note:

This story is written to shed light (no pun intended) on the feelings those facing internal crises obtain. When someone is struggling with their mental health, the people around them cannot see how much they are battling. In this story, as the lights go away for the boy, he falls more and more apart. No one realizes his pain though, as their lights are still on.

It is important to remember that while someone may look like they have it all put together, they could be falling apart inside. Treat each person as though their bulbs are fading, and share your light with those around you.

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