DAMNING MYSELF TO NOWHERE LAND
The play begins with two teenagers in white straight jackets and white pants. One is an eighteen year old boy. He has short blond hair, and blue eyes. The other is a girl of sixteen years with white blond medium length hair, and color changing eyes. Her eyes change from green, to gold, to violet, to black. Her hair is everywhere.
They are both blackened with grime and dirt. They look as if they had been crawling through a mud pit.
The boy begins to get up. He falls from his first attempt. He tries again, collapses again. His third try and stands up victorious.
XANTHOS
They never believed me. They never will. What they see is a crazy boy who speaks without thinking.
XANTHOS looks up while rasing his hands.
Yet, I’m not crazy! I am totally sane!
He looks to the audience. Points to them.
Sup, the name’s Xanthos. With an X. Do you think I’m crazy? Come on tell me what you think about me! I said tell me! You don’t want to talk huh... I guess I have to tell you why I’m here first. Then if you understand, you will tell me who the real crazy one in this building is. Is it me, my new found best friend, or the ones who put us in this hell hole?!
XANTHOS exits leaving the girl alone.
The girl begins to try and get up but fails. She gives up after her first try and decides to prop herself up against a wall.
JESSAMINE
Her head loops from side to side when she speaks.
Hi, I’m Jessamine, but my friends call me Jess. You’re probably wondering why I’m here too. Well... they think that I’m crazy too. They think I’m crazy because I can see things and people others can’t. I have the gift. I bet they put me in here not just because they think I’m crazy but because they are also jealous. Jealous that they don’t have my gift!
(Repeats jealous over and over as it gets louder and louder)
Jealous... JEALOUs... JEALOUS!!!!!!
JESSAMINE falls over on her side in fetal position. After a few more seconds she attempts to get back up and does so. She stares intently at the audience and storms off crying.
XANTHOS re-enters without his straight jacket. He still has the same dirty white pants one but in a new shirt which is also white. He is holding a teddy bear and a light blue blanket.
XANTHOS
Ha... It started when I was only five years old. When I started getting the signs. The signs that I was special and living with a wonderful and cursed gift. I started seeing things that weren’t there. Like ghosts, dead people, and sometimes I would witness scenes of things that used to be. I could actually know what they were thinking and say things to them too. The only thing is that they can’t talk back to me though they hear what I am saying, well at least I hope they listen to what I am saying. I was scared at first.. You know because I was only a little kid, and I didn’t understand it at the time. But time passed by and I got used to it more and more.
He laughs to himself for a while.
I remember when I told my parents about this, they would always look at me and give me this dumb-founded stare. Knowing myself, I would always take it as a joke while they thought it was serious. Then one day... Then one day...... You know my parents never understood me. They thought I was a lunatic right from the beginning. Telling me that I can’t talk to ghosts when they clearly saw that I could. My mother told me everyday that she should put me in the mental hospital that she worked at. I don’t know why. She was the crazy one. She was the one that got my dad killed, the one who was addicted to drugs she gave to her own patients. I know it. That she never loved me. That she had me just to have me.
