JONATHAN: Get away from me!

BUFFY: Ok Jonathan, you wanna point that somewhere else?

JONATHAN: Don't you try and stop me!

BUFFY: No, no no stopping. Just here for view. Hey, look, City Hall.

JONATHAN: Go away!

BUFFY: Never gonna happen.

JONATHAN: You think I won't use this?

BUFFY: I don't know Jonathan. I just-

JONATHAN: (Lurches back from her, aims the gun straight at her) Stop doing that!

BUFFY: Doing what?

JONATHAN: Stop saying my name like we're friends! We're not friends! You all think I'm an idiot! A short idiot!

BUFFY: (matter-of-factly) I don't. I don't think about you much at all. Nobody here really does. Bugs you, doesn't it. You have all this pain, and all these feelings and nobody's really paying attention.

JONATHAN: You think I just want attention?

BUFFY: No. I think you're up in the clock tower with a high-powered rifle because you wanna blend in. Believe it or not, Jonathan, I understand about the pain.

JONATHAN: Oh right. Cuz the burden of being beautiful and athletic, that's a crippler.

BUFFY: You know what? I was wrong. You are an idiot. My life happens to, on occasion, suck beyond the telling of it. Sometimes more than I can handle. And it's not just mine. Every single person down there is ignoring your pain because they're too busy with their own.

Jonathan lowers the rifle more. Buffy steps toward the window. She looks down at the Quad below.

BUFFY: The beautiful ones. The popular ones. The guys that pick on you. Everyone.

Jonathan slowly moves up behind her to see what she sees. He steps up right next to her.

BUFFY: If you could hear what they were feeling. The loneliness. The confusion. It looks quiet down there. It's not. It's deafening.

She turns to face him.

BUFFY: You know, I could've taken that by now.

JONATHAN: I know.

BUFFY: (holds her hand out) I'd rather do it this way.

JONATHAN: I just wanted it to stop.

BUFFY: Yeah, well, mass-murder, not really doctor recomended for that type of pain. Besides, prison, you know, it's a lot like high school, only instead of noogies-

JONATHAN: What are you talking about?

BUFFY: Actions having consequences. You know, stuff like that.

JONATHAN: I, I, I wouldn't ever hurt anybody. I came up here to kill myself.

written by: Jane Espenson; . Full transcript at:
http://www.studiesinwords.de/52earshot.html