The Room

They told me I was to spend a night in the Room. My grovelling did little to convince them otherwise. A solution the colour of acid was injected into my bloodstream, and my world blurred, darkened, and, finally, receded.

As my consciousness trickled in, I became aware of my prostrated and shivering self. Feeling disorientated, I stood groggily to observe my unknown surroundings, choking back a gasp as I discover I am not alone. The Room is austere and forbidding with its doorless walls of sterile white, and standing by one stark wall is a figure - a figure with my clothes, my hair, my face. My knees buckle and I crumple to the floor, scrambling to put distance between myself and the monstrosity before me. Without hesitation, my doppelgänger mimics my actions precisely. Swallowing my panic, I still my movements, opting to remain motionless in my squatted position. The figure follows suit and ceases its squirming motions immediately. I breathe a sigh of relief, comforted by the fact that it at least appears to be harmless. Deciding that I am not in immediate danger, I pick myself up from the ground and experimentally raises a hand towards my doppelgänger. Predictably, it reciprocates the gesture - however, in reverse: I raised my right and it raised its left. I reach for my doppelgänger’s hand, it doing likewise, but my fingertips met a cold, smooth surface instead . It appears as if a clear glass wall separated us, and I realize the Room is half the size I thought it was. 

“Can you hear me?” I whisper. My doppelgänger mouths my question with me, but did not offer a reply of its own. 

I give up my attempts at communication with my doppelgänger. It, like me, appears to be confined to the Room. I close my eyes and tried to will time to hurry. Time always passes more slowly in the Room. 

Delusional Rebirth

Pray then hope, free for now.

The end.

His life flashed before his eyes.

Delusion

Three, two, one. Just kidding--darkness.

Alternate

It was what he had wanted.

A Chance Perhaps?

It was only a hopeful dream.

Eternal

But your dreams can never die.

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. 

The Flu

The Flu

Max Fine

When the doctor asked me how I was feeling, I let out a sigh. I knew it was time, but I kept my worries to myself. I answered in a mostly truthful fashion, knowing; dreading, what was about to happen. The doctor reached into a side cabinate, partly hidden by the examination bench, and, as he opened the door, I caught my first glimpse of it. It was a long ethereal tube, filled with a liquid so blue, that it transended the boundries between the whole, fufilling blue of the sky, and the deep, dark, boundless blue of the deepest oceans. Upon further inspection, the ethereal flask and the sky-ocean blue created a mysterious glamor that could inspire awe or terrior depending on the eye of the beholder. Finally, perching on the flask was one long silver spire. This was the crown, perched atop the king of concoctions, symbolizing my demise. As the doctor brought it closer, I knew. I knew that pain was next. The doctor discarded the empty flask, a husk of its former glory, waiting for its next victim.

A World Unknown

“Its mountains and valleys expose a new world,” they said with wide eyes. “It allows you to see into someone’s soul. Whether it is the positive things that give them joy or the bad things that hang off of them, dragging them down like bricks with every step. You have the ability to file through someone’s life, analyzing every aspect of it. It opens up a world unknown with its unique golden figure.” They handed it to me, glinting while reflecting the light from the window. I squinted my eyes avoiding the sharp light. “In the palm of your hand you hold so much power,” they warned, “there is no telling where you are headed. You may see good, bad or nothing at all. But be careful with this power, what is inside will surprise you.” I closed my hand as I tried to picture this world they were speaking of. Focusing on my breathing, I turned away anxious to find out what I would discover