For this one, you must convince a ruler to give you back your freedom.
STORIES (any gender, late teens through late forties)
Yes, I wish to live. And if I am to live... then I wish to LEAVE.
You think me ungrateful? I challenge YOU with such accusation. I am giving you the chance to be a kind ruler. To be a wise ruler. To be the kind of ruler that wins at the end of my stories.
Surely you know the nature of such a ruler. I've told so many stories. By my count, I've been telling you stories for one thousand nights before tonight. Each night, you let me live another day to tell another story. You found them entertaining, did you not? But surely you've begun to hear the lesson of each tale, have you not? Lessons of patience, of humility, of care for others.
You say I've earned my right to live. I say you've earned your chance to feel worthy. To BE worthy as a human being.
To let me live without the condition that I marry you.
Without the condition that I stay in your palace.
Without the condition that I stay in your company so you can see yourself as good in MY eyes.
Set me free of conditions and you set yourself free of doubt. If my request seems ungrateful, then you may take my life tonight. This the final story.
It's your turn to end it.
Copyright 2016 by Matt Haynes. If you would like to use this piece, please credit: "Courtesy of Matt Haynes and The Pulp Stage"