Mr Rainbow

The walls are white. My bed is white. The tiles, the ceiling, my gown, even my pills; all are white in color. There are no paintings, not a single window, and nothing to numb my thoughts. There is not a single escape from the white room. Nothing to trick my mind, not even for a brief moment into the far fetched idea that I’m somewhere else. Prison would’ve been better quite frankly. In prison there are colors, the outside, and normal talking. In the hospital there’s therapy, with Ms. Lifton. I’m supposed to learn to be social, something that’s apparently attainable with a few pills every few hours. That isn’t normal talking though. Normal talking is something normal people do for pleasure or even courtesy, not necessity. One of me wants to be normal, but the other me fights that urge. Other me likes the white room. It likes the ear piercing silence of it.  Above all, I know other me doesn’t want other people round, and that includes me. Mr. Rainbow helps me escape for a while, but only if I earn it. If I scream, flail and take pokes at my own well being long enough the men dressed in white run in to “save” me. More white, but along with that white comes Mr. Rainbow. As I slide my arms through his singular, cloth sleeve the hairs on the back of my neck straight up. I’ve earned it. The men in white pin me down, and I hear Mr. Rainbows leather straps beginning to slip into notches. All seven of them, Richard, Olaf, Yelard, Garrett, Bryan, Ivan and Vic are in their fifth notch and I can feel Mr. Rainbow’s cocoon like cloth envelop my perception and body. The Men in white then pick me up, but I couldn’t for the life of me tell you where they take me afterward. When I’m surrounded by Mr. Rainbow other me is no more and I have my escape. Everytime he brings me to the same escape, and nothing makes me happier. I’m back in the family summer house, and as soon as I turn the dull brass door knob clockwise my two little girls and wife all come to the door. Other me didn’t like them one bit, they were too much company in his mind, a danger to his sanity. It doesn’t matter when Mr. Rainbow guides me though, for he is no where to be found. My kids and Wife aren’t red anymore, there’s no mallet in my hand and they always forgive me on this escape. The world is filled with color and for a brief point in time the walls, the bed...nothing is white.