Acrimony Page #3

---

And, I mean,

she's a motherf***er.

Call it women's intuition.

I don't know. Call it whatever.

All I know is that something

made me drive over there.

Not only did I drive over there, but

the same thing that made me drive

told me to park across the

street and not get too close.

After sitting there for almost

an hour, I felt kind of stupid.

I was trying to talk myself

out of the voice

that was deep inside myself.

That was myself.

I started thinking,

"How dumb is this?

"Oh, God.

This looks desperate."

There I was, sitting outside

of a man's house...

Well, RV,

trying to see

if he's lying to me.

I already knew he was lying!

It was in my damn gut!

And here I am trying to confirm

what I already knew.

I'm not doing this.

(STARTS ENGINE)

(WOMAN MOANING)

MELINDA:
There is something

about my crazy.

It's blind.

It's not rational.

It rages. It doesn't stop.

It doesn't subside.

It doesn't quit.

It's immediate.

- (TIRES SCREECHING)

- (MELINDA YELLING)

(WOMAN SCREAMING)

WOMAN:
Robert, what was that?

ROBERT:
What the hell?

I don't know. Are you okay?

(GRUNTS)

(WOMAN AND ROBERT SCREAMING)

This what you do to me?

- (WOMAN YELPS)

- Give me your hand.

Is this what you do?

Is this what you do to me?

- Melinda! Melinda!

- This is what you do to me?

And then you lying

with this b*tch!

Melinda!

Yeah!

What you looking

at, b*tch?

You didn't tell me you were

in a relationship, Robert!

- Go!

- What you looking at? Yeah!

- Stop, stop! Please!

- Don't touch me!

- Please, what? Please, what?

- Come on, please!

- Please!

- Please, what?

Stop it. Stop it!

- Let go of me!

- Stop!

You're bleeding. We gotta

stop the bleeding.

Christ. Melinda.

Melinda! Melinda!

F***!

MELINDA:
I had so much

adrenalin that I didn't know

I slammed my body against

the steering wheel so hard.

Internal bleeding.

And worse, ruptured ovaries.

A full hysterectomy,

and I wasn't even 21 years old.

Children, never.

BRENDA:
No. No, no.

So you cheat on her,

you take her money,

she buys you a car,

and you do that?

You do that?

She better be all right.

That's all I know,

you know?

- Hey, hey...

- Just get out!

Get out of here!

- Get out of here!

- Maybe it's best you leave.

You're not

welcome here!

- Get out!

- Go.

I'll call you.

I'll call you.

How could he do

this to her?

How could he do

that to her?

MELINDA:
I was laid up

for three weeks.

I was in so much pain.

Melinda, you've been

doing this

- since you were a little girl.

- Yes.

You get mad

and nothing matters.

You have to stop

doing that.

I know.

MELINDA:

I did know that.

For some reason,

I couldn't control it,

any more than I could control

how I was feeling about him.

I soon realized that most of my

pain wasn't physical. It was...

ROBERT:
Melinda!

MELINDA:

No, no, no. Look,

you have to let him

talk to me.

Please? I just want

to know why.

Baby, sometimes

men don't have a why.

No. They just got

a bunch of lies.

June, can you go get him for me?

Please?

He ain't coming in here

to do nothing but lie to you.

He probably just broke and hungry

and needs some more money.

Why don't you just

let him get it from the whore

you just caught him with, huh?

(ROBERT SIGHS)

Can we have a moment, please?

Please?

We will be right on the

other side of this door.

Okay. All right.

Come on.

ROBERT:

I'm so sorry, baby.

I don't even know

why I was with her.

She didn't mean

nothing to me.

Nothing.

It was just sex.

MELINDA:

And here we go.

How many times has a woman

heard this bullshit?

And I felt so bad because

you been there for me.

I love you. Just you.

I'm sick without you.

I need you.

MELINDA AND ROBERT:

I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.

I promise I won't do it again.

MELINDA:
And somehow,

that sh*t always worked.

Until it didn't.

After all, he had me

by a four-letter word.

Love.

And I did love him.

And that part, I couldn't help,

no matter what he did.

Love is a b*tch when she's

chained to a tormentor.

And when that tormentor is a

con man, well, what do you do?

Just wait for the next con.

What?

What is it?

I lost

my scholarship.

And I don't have

a way of paying for it.

I can't get

a student loan.

It's too late, so...

How much are your

last two semesters?

MELINDA:
Yep... (SIGHS)

You heard me.

- My dumb ass paid for his two final semesters of school.

- (CRYING)

I was still with my man, holding him down.

You know. (CHUCKLES)

My lying, cheating

son of a b*tch of a man.

- There I was.

- You sure?

I couldn't even

believe I said it.

You don't have to judge me,

I'm my own jury. Okay?

And I had already convicted

and sentenced myself.

I was guilty of stupidity.

So guess what he did when I

wrote that check? (SCOFFS)

You guessed it.

The bastard

didn't even have a ring.

This is temporary.

One day, I'm going to replace

it with three diamonds.

One big one in

the center for our love,

and a yellow one

on this side

to remind us to always

look towards the sun.

And chocolate one on this

side that reminds us

that there may be

dark times ahead.

MELINDA:
And then

I heard myself say...

Yes!

Yes! Yes!

(BOTH LAUGHING)

- (DOOR CLOSES)

- That man cheated on you and you almost died.

What happens when he does

something to you the next time?

There won't be...

No, don't say there

won't be a next time.

That man is throwing out

all kinds of red flags,

and now, you wanna

just go and marry him?

I can't and I will not

stand for this!

If you go, and you go and

do that, I won't be there!

I won't.

June.

- This is a mistake.

- Mmm-hmm.

MELINDA:
And yet,

there I was,

walking down the aisle

with more questions in my head

than petals in my bouquet.

I couldn't help but look over

at the empty seats

where my sisters should have

been sitting.

I couldn't believe

they didn't come.

But I should have understood,

seeing as how I wasn't

even sure why I was there.

There was Sarah at the altar,

my maid of honor,

cheering us on.

She loved the thought of us.

I guess I did, too.

But the thought of us was

better than the reality of us.

And there was Robert,

standing at the altar, smiling

as I walked, moth to a flame.

PRIEST:
I now pronounce you

husband and wife.

You may kiss the bride.

(GUESTS APPLAUDING)

MELINDA:
Burned.

Years ticked by like seconds on that

big clock in my mother's hallway.

And with every tick,

there was a subtraction sign

from the account for something.

Something he needed,

supplies for his battery,

books for research, metals,

plastics. Always something.

And as the money got low,

so did his affection for me,

his tolerance of me,

his patience.

Damn.

Did I just say

I was being tolerated?

- (SOUL MUSIC PLAYING)

- (MELINDA SIGHS)

I need you

to see this.

I mean, I'm worried.

Is this right?

Yeah.

Damn!

I'll get a job, bae.

I'll try to help out.

MELINDA:
"Try"?

I couldn't believe

that bastard just said "try."

But you know it's gonna be

Rate this script:3.2 / 46 votes