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Shane: The new advisor of the Riverstone Mental Institute. He is 21 and fresh out of college. He wears a zebra patterned shirt and carries around an old wooden guitar.
He is mature and is expecting his new job to be fairly simple.

Cody: A young teenager living at the Institute. He is bipolar, has bloodshot red eyes and a deep hatred for the advisors. This hatred has led to a secret presence to build within him, a presence that will come back to haunt him.

Sari: A 12 year old girl that also lives at the institute. Her parents had mercilessly beaten her before finally dumping her off here at the age of 7. She leaves a cold, heartbreaking effect in her path with the stare of her stone-grey eyes.

The Setting: The Riverstone Mental Institute in Sacramento, California

The Scene: The rising sun shines brightly over the revolving doors of the large building. Shane walks through the door and looks around at the interior office. He takes a left into the door on his immediate left, and sits at the wooden desk.




















Stage Directions:
The curtain rises to reveal SHANE sitting at the desk, tapping a pencil on the edge on the middle of the stage. CODY and SARI enter from stage right, and take a seat in front of SHANE.

SHANE (in a friendly voice)
Hmm? Oh, hello. I didn’t notice you walk in. I’m the new advisor of the Institute. I presume that you two must be Cody and Sari. (CODY and SARI sit silently. CODY stares at his fidgeting hand, while SARI looks at the floor.)

SHANE (still friendly, but with a tone of awkwardness)
Well, my name is Shane. If you need anything, just call me at….

CODY (in a low monotonous voice)
We don’t want you.

SHANE (taken aback)
Excuse me?

CODY (growing angrier with each sentence)
You heard me. We don’t need the likes of you. It’s bad enough that we have to live here but to be watched by you people, night and day, weeks and months, living under constant surveillance! Do you realize what its like? To be constantly watched as if you are a criminal. I can’t stand it! Just seeing you makes me disgusted. I hate this, I hate them, and I hate you!

(CODY throws down the chair and walks off the stage. SHANE looks on in disbelief and despair. At this point, SARI raises her head, and begins to speak.)

SARI (in voice that is almost a whisper)
Sorry… about Cody and all.

SHANE (starting to regain his composure)
It’s…. it’s alright. What’s wrong with him?

SARI (in the same tone of voice)
He’s just having another one of his rages. He’s bipolar, you know.

SHANE
Interesting… I hear he’s also run away many of the other advisors too.




SARI
Yeah, well he’s a tricky one. …. He hasn’t always been like this, you know. When I first met him all those years ago…

It had been a cold autumn evening. I had just walked through the cafeteria door. It was about half an hour before dinner, since I hate the large surge of people that get there. The tables were being put down, making a scratching sound as they did. I walked straight to the counter and got my food, for the lunch ladies are afraid of people like us, at least that’s the impression that we get. Who would blame them? Anyways, as I headed to the table in the corner, I had heard a loud noise coming from the front. At first, I thought “who cares, not my problem”. But as the noises got louder and louder, I finally stood up and left the room. As I walked down the hall, I saw many of the others run past me, with looks of excitement and terror. I asked one of them what it was that they were running from, and they said “the new kid”. I was a little startled, well as startled as I could be. After hearing this, I sped up down the hall and made it to the front door. There were security guards spread out across the floor. Bright crimson liquid had stained the nearby walls and trees.