One- Act Play

Shekaena Angela G. Andaya

2BSEd- English
“Illusions of Reality”

Chinee Reyes, a psychiatrist at a prestigious mental institution in Laguna. A lot of her

co-workers were amazed by her because of her dedication to her work. Her passion is to
help those people revive themselves so they can return to their families. Dra. Reyes wanted
to cure her patients and help them in their fast recovery because she knew how painful it is
to see your loved ones just staring at the wall, unable to communicate with them properly,
the yell of their pleas that wanted to escape from the dark cage of their past. She knew
everything because she had lived it and saw it to her mother every time she came to her
room.

Every time she saw her mother crying, her heart broke into pieces. But she couldn't
do anything but give her mother the proper medication. Schizophrenia, that’s the illness of
her mother. Every moment that she would see her mother, she wanted to cry because she’s
her reason why she pursued psychiatry, to help her mother redeem herself. However, as
days went by, her mother's condition became worse, but she is still hoping that she will
come back to her.

One day, while conducting her rounds for the patients, suddenly, the alarm rang that
indicates there’s someone who’s in critical condition. She was alarmed when the nurses
went to her and told her about her mother. Chinee immediately ran to her mother's room and
witnessed her mother fleeing to the nurses' grasp. Dra. Reyes closed her eyes because she
was having a hard time looking at her mother. She sighed and went near to her mother.
Chinee prepared the vial and syringe to calm her mother. When she was about to plunge the
needle into the arm of her mother, she stopped and stared at her mother. Chinee got
confused because the face of her mother was screaming in sadness, longing, and pleading.
Because of that, she unconsciously releases the syringe and her body becomes paralyzed,
just like a person who wants to take a rest because of tiredness. Chinee covered her ears
because she continuously heard whispers begging her to come back because she was
waiting for her. Chinee collapsed, and everything went black.

When Dra. Reyes noticed that her daughter had regained consciousness, she
immediately stood up and approached her daughter's bed. Dra. Anita Reyes was so happy
to see her daughter calm down, because for the past few years, she had been miserable
because of her illness, schizophrenia. She missed her daughter so much; the way she
smiles, the way she giggles whenever she bothers her, everything about her. Dra. Anita
blamed herself for the misery of her own daughter. Her daughter was raped when she was
15 years old. Dra. Anita wiped her tears. If this had not happened to her, she knew that her
daughter would be a successful psychiatrist like her. Dra. Reyes kissed the forehead of her
daughter, Chinee, and whispered that she was always waiting for her and how much she
loved her.