It’s quiet and dark but a loud crash breaks the silence. The sound of rattling dishes rhythmically occurs as the silhouette of two men arguing transforms into a clear view of a small old fashioned kitchen. One of the arguing men is young and thin and dressed sharply. The other is middle aged wearing an old newsboy hat to hide his aging hair. The younger man continues to stand firm and tall occasionally flinching as the other angrily clears clean dishes away onto storing shelves.
“Leonard, you are taking your life for granted, you are being so selfish. We’ve worked so hard to make sure you’ve had a life that you could prosper from. How can you throw that all away?” The spite from his words lashed out.
“Father, I am completely grateful for everything you both have done but that isn’t what I want. That’s not the life for me.”
“You’re throwing your life away!”
“I’m not! You don’t understand!” Leonard tried to defend himself.
“How will you make a life for yourself?” his father questioned with worry.
“There are things worth more than money, you should know that more than anyone. But you threw that away to have the same life as everybody else. You threw away adventure. You threw away curiosity and understanding.”
“You are living selfishly.” His father stared at him strongly and walked away.

Leonard stood silently for a second and then swiped his arms angrily across the table knocking down anything that was left sitting. He sighed walking over to a staircase and took a seat annoyed.
“This is outrageous! Me, selfish? I have never asked for anything in my life, just a little bit of freedom.” He thought to himself confused and upset.
Just then there was a knock on the door and Leonard ran up to see who it may be. It was a pretty girl with dark brown curls cascading past the shoulders. She had petite features and wore a white blouse tucked into a formal skirt.
“Lea? Did my father put you up to this again?” Leonard sighed impatiently debating whether or not to close the door on her.
“No. I was just stopping by to drop off a few things.” Lea said stepping inside. She carried a basket with cloth draped over concealing the contents. She took a seat on a small couch and placed the basket on a little coffee table in front of her. She looked up at Leonard patiently.
“Oh Lea, why are you here?”
“Don’t think it’s all for you.” she scoffed. He took a seat next to her.
“I want to run away Lea.” he admitted with a little hope brimming from his voice.
“With me?” she gushed surprised.
“No not with you!” He stood up like that was the grossest thing he’s ever heard of. “I want to run away and see the world. I want to see everything.”
“And leave everyone else behind?”
“Yes. Yes, that’s exactly what I want.”
“But that’s incredibly selfish!” she stated. “To leave your parents like that? That’s unheard of! And your friends too?”
“I can’t live my life based only on those around me, what about me and what I want?”
“That’s selfish.” She spat. She stood up angrily. “Your mother is not coming back.” She pulled an envelope from the basket. “She wrote to tell you that she’s left.”
“What are you talking about? She always comes back from her little trips.” he stuttered.
“You should understand more than anyone else. It clearly runs in the blood. Now tell me how leaving isn’t selfish you fool.” She stomped out of the house and slammed the door behind her as Leonard slumped onto the floor confused and defeated. He opened the envelope and read its contents and crumpled the paper and threw it across the room with one yell as the lights went dark.