My Nightmare: Defeated by Love

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MY NIGHTMARE: DEFEATED BY LOVE - Cartoon illustration of Dianne, a dramatic teenage girl in pajamas, smiling confidently as a startled slime-covered nightmare monster backs away inside a spooky gothic mansion illuminated by eerie blue light.
Dianne discovers that the best way to defeat her recurring nightmare isn’t by running away—it’s by facing fear with unexpected love and humor in My Nightmare: Defeated by Love.

My Nightmare: Defeated by Love is a witty, fast-paced comedy that turns a classic horror trope entirely on its head. The story follows Dianne, a dramatic teenager trapped in a recurring nightmare where she is relentlessly pursued by a terrifying monster. Exhausted and terrified, she seeks comfort from her equally exhausted mother, only to realize that the key to conquering her fears lies entirely within her own mind. When she drifts back to sleep, Dianne decides to change the rules of the game. Instead of running, she uses the most unexpected weapon in the universe: affection. This clever short play uses sharp humor and relatable family dynamics to show that the things that scare us often lose their power the moment we stop running from them. 

CHARACTERS:

  • MOTHER
  • DIANNE
  • VOICE OF MONSTER .

SCRIPT:

ACT I

(The stage is dark except for a harsh, eerie blue spotlight on DIANNE’s bed. Dianne is tossing and turning violently, thrashing against her blankets.)

DIANNE: (Mumbling, terrified) No… not the corridors. The walls are sweating. Please, no!

VOICE OF MONSTER: (A booming, echoing, spine-chilling hiss) There is no escape, Dianne! Your running shoes cannot save you now!

DIANNE: Why are you always chasing me?! I have low cardio endurance!

VOICE OF MONSTER: Because it is in the script of your subconscious! Prepare to doom!

DIANNE: (Screaming) Stop it, please! Don’t get near me!

(The bedroom light snaps on. The blue light vanishes. MOTHER enters, wearing a bathrobe and looking profoundly exhausted. She sits on the edge of the bed and shakes Dianne’s shoulder.)

MOTHER: Dianne! Dianne! Wake up! You’re waking up the neighbors, and the neighbors don’t even have nightmares!

(Dianne bolts upright, gasping for air. She immediately flings her arms around her mother, gripping her tightly.)

DIANNE: Oh, Mother! It was terrible! It was a 4K, high-definition catastrophe!

MOTHER: (Patting her back half-heartedly) Calm down, breathe.

DIANNE: Why do I keep having the same dream every single night? Why am I haunted? Am I cursed?

MOTHER: Do you want to talk about it? Or do you just want to scream into your pillow so I can go back to sleep?

DIANNE: There’s a terrible, slimy monster chasing me through a gothic mansion. Then he corners me, and he grabs me, and… oh, no, I can’t… the psychological trauma is too fresh! I don’t want to remember!

MOTHER: (Standing up) Right. I’ll bring you some chamomile tea. It will calm your overactive imagination.

DIANNE: (Clutching her mother’s sleeve) No! Don’t leave me! The darkness is waiting!

MOTHER: (Gently but firmly detaching Dianne’s hands) Sweetheart, you’re sixteen. The only thing waiting for you is first-period algebra tomorrow morning. Close your eyes. Try to sleep.

DIANNE: Stay here. Please? Just until the monsters realize you’re the boss of this house?

MOTHER: (Sighs, sitting in a chair beside the bed) Fine. I’ll stay for five minutes. But if I fall asleep here, you’re waking me up for work. Close your eyes.

(Dianne closes her eyes. A beat of silence. The stage lights dim back to a spooky blue. Mother quietly slips out of the room on tiptoe. Immediately, Dianne begins to thrash again.)

DIANNE: No! You’ve got to be kidding me! You again?! Get away from me!

VOICE OF MONSTER: (Booming, but sounding a bit tired) I cannot go away, Dianne! I am bound to this realm by your deepest anxieties! I am alive because of you!

DIANNE: Why are you doing this? What do you actually want from me?! What is your end game?!

VOICE OF MONSTER: (Suddenly dropping the scary voice, sounding genuinely confused and annoyed) How should I know? It’s your dream, Dianne! I’m just working with the material I’m given here!

DIANNE: (Stops thrashing, blinks her eyes shut, confused) What?

VOICE OF MONSTER: Yeah! You think I want to chase you through a damp, drafty mansion every night? My knees are killing me. Just tell me what’s next on the agenda. What else am I supposed to do to scare you?

DIANNE: What’s next? You want to know what’s next?

VOICE OF MONSTER: Yeah. Throw me a bone here. Give me some direction.

DIANNE: (Takes a deep breath, deadpan) I love you.

(A record-scratch sound effect plays in the distance. Total silence.)

VOICE OF MONSTER: …Excuse me? Do you think I’m a fool? Is this a trap?

DIANNE: Honestly… I love you. I love your slime. I love your terrifying, booming voice. I want us to spend eternity together in this damp mansion.

VOICE OF MONSTER: (Sounding incredibly uncomfortable and panicked) Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on. You love me? You really love me?

DIANNE: Yes. Let’s hold hands and talk about our feelings.

VOICE OF MONSTER: (Voice cracking with awkwardness) Wow. Okay. I feel… incredibly strange. This is wildly unprofessional. I am not supposed to be dealing with attachment issues. I have to go. This is completely breaking character!

DIANNE: Are you leaving me, then? Just when we were bonding?

VOICE OF MONSTER: Yes! I’m out. I am clearly in the wrong place. This wasn’t in the job description.

DIANNE: You mean… you’re in the wrong dream, right?

VOICE OF MONSTER: (Fading away, sounding panicked) Right! Totally! Good-bye, Dianne! Go see a therapist!

DIANNE: I’ll miss you! Call me!

(The stage lights snap back to normal. Dianne opens her eyes, perfectly calm. She sits up, stretches, and smirks at the audience.)

DIANNE: Oh my. I thought he would never leave. Psychological warfare… works every time.

(Dianne flips her blanket off, gets out of bed, and walks off stage confidently.)

THE END

AUTHOR:  K I D S I N C O

Moral of the Story: Face your fears by changing your perspective. When you stop running from the things that scare you, you strip them of their power over you.The story teaches us that we often give our anxieties and fears their power by fleeing from them. When Dianne stops running and instead faces the monster with an unexpected attitude, the terrifying threat instantly shrinks into something harmless and awkward. We cannot always control what scares us, but we can completely control how we respond to it.

Moral Values:

  • Courage and Mental Resilience: Dianne demonstrates that true bravery isn’t about never being afraid; it’s about standing your ground and finding a strategic way to face your problems.
  • Creativity and Problem-Solving: Instead of using violence or force to fight the monster, Dianne uses her wit, humor, and an unconventional strategy to solve a recurring problem.
  • Self-Control and Emotional Autonomy: The story reminds us that we are the masters of our own minds. Dianne realizes that because the nightmare is hers, she has the ultimate authority to dictate how it ends.
  • The Power of Positive Energy: Even when used as a clever tactic, responding to hostility or terror with “love” completely neutralizes the negativity. It shows that kindness, lightheartedness, and positivity can disarm even the scariest situations.

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