Mind out of Matter

I want to put up something of substance, so here's the one-act play (if you can call it that at five pages) I wrote for Creative Writing.

Characters
David—a man placed in an insane asylum against his will
Vincent—the occupant of the cell next to David’s (in reality, a figment of David’s imagination)
Johnson—a guard
Patterson—a guard

Note: It is not noted in the lines, but Vincent and Johnson always speak from offstage.

Scene I

Lights up on David, a middle-aged man in a straitjacket, pacing in a padded cell. There is no clock or window, so time is impossible to determine. The door to the cell is on the wall SL. A vent is located on the rear wall SR, just above head level. It is large enough to crawl into if uncovered. In mid-pace David hears footsteps, stops, and rushes to the door.
David: Hey! Hey! [Slams door] You’ve got to listen to me!
Johnson: (Johnson speaks slowly, as if to a child) Calm down, David. I’m afraid we can’t let you leave yet. Maybe someday, but not today. Now if you sit down, Patterson will bring in your soup.
David: Don’t talk to me that way! I’m not stupid! I’m not—
Johnson: We can’t give you your soup if you keep acting up.
[David opens his mouth, then sighs shakily and sits in the center of the room. Patterson enters the cell with a fairly large bowl of soup.]
Patterson: (in the same tone as Johnson) That’s better. [Sets down soup] Have a nice day, David, and remember: Johnson and I are here to help you.
David: (struggling to stay calm) I don’t need any help. Why don’t you understand there is nothing wrong with me?
Patterson: The doctors said you would say that. [Exits]
Johnson: We’ll see you in three hours.
David: “The doctors said you would say that.” [David pauses, then stands and crosses to the door angrily] Oh, that’s an awfully convenient response, isn’t it? Now you can lock me up no matter what I say! Do you have a reason to do this to me? Or did the doctors say it was a secret? [Pause] Huh?!
[No response. David falls to a kneeling position and beats his head against the floor.]

[Blackout]

Scene II

[Lights up on David in his cell. The soup has been removed. David is sitting against the wall SL, DS of the door.]
David: (tired) Are you there? [No response] I’m sure it’s been three hours. You can’t keep me waiting forever.
Johnson: Technically we can, but we won’t.
David: [leaps to his feet] Ha! I knew it! How long have you been there?
Johnson: Only long enough to hear your last utterance. We’re just here to check up on you.
Patterson: Is everything all right?
David: (indignant) No, of course everything is not all right! You have locked me up in this padded institute without cause, without even a fabrication of a cause, and you’re driving me mad from isolation!
Johnson: We are not driving you mad, David, and we have not, as you say, “locked you up” without cause. You are here for the same reason that anybody else would be here.
David: (strained) Please…just listen to me. I am not crazy. I am even arguing for my own sanity. Doesn’t that alone prove my point?
Patterson: …We’ll see you in three hours.
David: You have no proof! You took me out of my home without warning! All I have is your word that somebody else confirmed me to be mentally ill! That someone is a liar!
Johnson: I doubt that very much. Goodbye, David.
David: You can’t do this to me! You have no right to—[breaks down] you have no right to do any of this! I don’t deserve this. I don’t. Why won’t you just listen?
[No response.]

[Blackout]

Scene III

[Lights up on David in his cell. David is leaning against the wall US just below the vent.]
Johnson: I understand that you may be angry, David, but if you won’t let us in we can’t help you. We’ll be back in three hours with your meal.
David: [Pause] Back in three hours. Always back in three hours. Three hours and three hours and then three more hours. At least I have a clock of sorts. [pause] Unless they’re not telling the truth. Now I see it. Yes, that’s very good, Johnson. You’re not coming back in three hours at all. You’re coming back in three and a half hours, and then four, and then five, and then in an hour and a half just to throw me off. Eventually, I’ll think I’m cracking up, which is just what you want. [Pause] But if I confront you, all you have to do is claim the doctor diagnosed me as paranoid and I dig myself in deeper. At this rate it won’t be long before you really do force me to crack, Johnson. Oh, I have to get out of here!
Vincent: Hello? Is anyone there?
David: [starts] Who? [pauses, then lowers voice] Who is that?
Vincent: Who are you?
David: [locates the voice; it is coming from the wall SR] A friend, I hope. But who are you?
Vincent: …A friend.
David: [growls] This isn’t getting us anywhere. When did they lock you up?
Vincent: Only a minute ago. My name’s Vincent. I swear to you, I did nothing wrong. I’ve never been in trouble like this before.
David: Wrong? This is an asylum. You’ve been tossed into that cell because you’re crazy, or at least that’s what Johnson probably told you. [pause] Say, how can we hear each other? These walls are soundproofed.
Vincent: …Some padding is missing from this wall. A defect.
David: Really? [pause] I don’t know who you are, but you sound completely sane to me. Do you have any clue as to why you’ve been locked up?
Vincent: Not the faintest. All I know is that a vehicle pulled up in front of my house the other day and Johnson and Patterson asked me to come with them.
David: Your house? Where do you live?
[No response]
Vincent, are you still there? Vincent!
[Patterson enters]
Patterson: Who are you talking to?
David: (uncomfortable) Nobody.
Patterson: [looks at David meaningfully] That’s what I thought. [exits]
David: Stupid! [Turns into wall SR, begins banging his head against it] Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid David! Why couldn’t you have told Patterson you were talking to yourself? Now they’ll never let you out. [Pause] You have to get yourself out.
Vincent: I can help you, David, if you’ll let me. [His tone has become much more assertive]

[Blackout]

Scene IV

[Lights up on David and Patterson in the cell. David sits on the floor slightly right of CS. Patterson places a bowl of applesauce on the floor CS. He takes a spoonful of applesauce and moves as if to feed it to David, but David’s glare discourages him. Patterson shrugs, sets down the spoon, and exits.]
Johnson: We’ll see you—
David: (snappishly) You’ll see me in three hours, I know. Just go.
Johnson: Please don’t use that tone of voice. [pause] We’ll see you in three hours.
David: [turns to wall SR] They’re gone now, Vincent.
Vincent: I know. Now we have three hours to escape. Is there anything of use in your cell?
David: …Applesauce.
Vincent: (impatient) There’s a vent, isn’t there?
David: Oh! Yes. [pause; David looks at vent, thinking] You want us to crawl out through the vents? I can’t reach that high with my arms tied, and there’s a grate over it anyway.
Vincent: …Run up the wall and stamp it out. Then run up again to reach the vent.
David: (incredulously) You’re crazy! Do I sound like a ninja? Do you really think I can do that?
Vincent: Do you want to get out of here or not?
[David shoots the wall a dirty look, then walks DS, turns, and runs up the wall beneath the grate. He barely gets a foot onto the vent before crashing onto his back.]
David: (in pain) Ah! [He lies supine for a moment then struggles to his feet.] I can’t do this; it’s too much. Vincent, you’ll have to think of something else. [pause] Vincent?
Vincent: I’m trying to knock out my own grate. [pause] Not that time.
David: (skeptically)…You’re being awfully quiet about it.
Vincent: …I’ve taken martial arts classes. I can land softly. [pause] Nope. Try again.
David: So did I, but I can’t fall time after time without the slightest crash! [pause] So what am I to do now?
Vincent: Get your straitjacket off, of course.
David: (frustrated) And how do you propose I do that? I’m no contortionist.
[No response. David leans against the wall US and slides down. His gaze wanders for a moment, and then locks on to the spoon Patterson left behind. David smiles]
David: That could work. [David crawls to the spoon, picks it up in his mouth, and begins attacking one of the buckles on the straitjacket.]

[Blackout]

Scene V

[Lights up on David standing in his cell near the door. He still holds the spoon in this mouth and, having undone two of the buckles on the straitjacket, is trying furiously to undo the last. The applesauce had been knocked over and stains David’s clothing in places. He kicks the bowl into a corner.]
David: (speaking while holding the spoon in his teeth) Come on! Come—on! [He topples over and continues his struggle on the floor] Rrrrgh!
Vincent: How are you doing in there?
David: (annoyed) How does it sound like I’m doing? I’ve almost got it, but this last buckle is killing me! I can’t get the leverage I need from this angle without breaking my incisors.
Vincent: Keep at it.
David: Easy enough for you to say! [The spoon slips from between his teeth]
[Patterson enters. David quickly rolls over prone, facing SR. He lies on top of the spoon.]
Patterson: David, are you all right?
David: (quickly) Yeah, yeah. I just…tripped over my bowl.
[Patterson swivels his head toward the bowl lying several feet away. He is clearly unconvinced.]
Patterson: Are you sure?
David: Yes! I mean, yes. [David works his way to a kneeling position, still facing away from Patterson. He babbles over his shoulder.] I’m okay, really. I mean, of course I’m not okay, not in the fullest sense of the word; that’s why I’m here, right? But I’m fine. I’m—I’m not hurt or anything. So, if you could just—
Vincent: I did it! I’m in the vent!
[David freezes. His eyes slowly turn back to the cell wall SR. Patterson looks oddly at David, then at the wall, then at David again. David’s breathing shifts toward hyperventilation. There is a long pause.]
Patterson: David, I really don’t think—
David: (hysterically) Just go!
Patterson: (suspiciously) We’ll see you, David. Probably in less than three hours. [exits]
David: (in a much higher voice than usual) Vincent…could you please keep it DOWN? Johnson and Patterson will probably be back in minutes, and I still have a buckle fastened! [remembers the spoon] Wah! [He grabs the spoon in his mouth and goes to works, but he shaking so much that his efforts are useless.] Nooo! Hurry! [David lets the spoon fall from his mouth and tries to use the slack he already has to muscle the last buckle loose. After a few seconds the fabric tears. David heaves and it rips off. David’s arms are free.] I’ve got it! [He runs to the grate and pulls it away, exposing the vent] If you’re there, Vincent, make room, because I’m coming up. [He grabs the lip of the vent and readies to hoist himself up, but stops] Wait. Vincent, there’s something you need to explain. [begins to pace] You said, “I can help you, David, if you’ll let me.” [pause] If you had just been put into the cell, you couldn’t have heard anyone identify me by name. How did you know it was David? [No response] Huh? [No response. David begins shouting] I know you can hear me, Vincent! Have you been spying on me? [No response. David returns to the vent] Did you put me in here!? Are you just some trick Johnson thought up to torture me!? [lights begin to dim; no response from Vincent. David becomes more deranged with every word.] Who are you!? What do you want with me!? I know you’re in there, and I’m not coming out until you answer me! [pause] SHOW YOURSELF! [by now only a trace of light remains]
[No response. David begins to shake violently.]

[Blackout]

Scene VI

[After a moment of silence, voices are heard in the darkness]
Johnson: Patterson.
Patterson: Yes, Johnson?
Johnson. A new patient just arrived. Where do you think we should put him?
Patterson: How about that empty cell next to David? I heard the poor fellow shrieking his head off, and I think he could use some company.
CURTAIN