River was looking at it and couldn't believe what she was seeing. It was very odd to see something that was that pink. She was looking at it through a very small and narrow window from the police van that she was in. "I am not going in there." She muttered to herself. "This has got to be too pink for my own good. Even a child wouldn't like a facility with this much pink." River took one more look at it and thought that the building looked absolutely ridiculous and childish. As if they're going to some sort of daycare. The pink was a little bit too much, River thought.
"I don't know about that. It looks pretty good to me." River turns around to find a girl sitting next to her. "I mean, the coloring isn't that bad. The different shades of pink complement each other. I would know because I get so into colors when I get high." The girl said.
"What?"
"Oh, I see. You were talking to yourself. Is that why you're being sent here?" the girl asked. "Cuz I wouldn't mind if you talk to yourself. It's almost the only normal thing I get to see. See that guy?" the girl points towards a blonde guy who sat opposite them. He was looking down, closing his eyes, as if praying. "He killed his younger brother. Caught him smoking weed and then strangled him because he was a, and I quote, 'sinner'."
"How do you know this?"
"Only because he won't shut up about it. Even thinks that it was the right thing to do as one of the warriors of God or some stupid stuff like that. Also, he has a tattoo of a cross behind his neck. If that doesn't scream 'Crazy Christian' to you, I don't know what does." She didn't even try to lower her voice as she said that. Yet the guy didn't seem to mind and continued on praying, or at least he looked like he was praying.
"That's just the tip of the iceberg here. You don't know what crazy stuff these people did," the girl said. "Oh sorry, where are my manners? The name's Kristen Juno. Just call me Juno, I hate the name Kristen." She extended her handcuffed arms as if to shake hands. River didn't extend hers.
"River," she replied.
"So, girl named after a body of water, what happened to you to get sent into the pink asylum?" asked Juno. River didn't reply, she looked down, ignoring the question. "Not a talker huh? I get it. Long story, isn't it?" No response from River.
River didn't notice that the van had already stopped and had reached its destination. The rest of the people inside the van with River and Juno was already looking around the narrow windows, trying to get a glimpse of this ultra-pink psychiatric facility that they might call home from now on. As each of the inmates went out of the van, they were greeted with a guy wearing a white guard uniform saying, "Welcome to the Amadeus Pink Psychiatric Facility for the Criminally Insane."
They were at the gate, which was a few yards away from the actual building. Grasses and a garden occupied the space between the actual building and gate. River supposed that it was to make the place seem more comfortable for the inmates. Thinking about calling herself an inmate in this acid trip of an asylum gives a slight shudder to her spine. Her gut was telling her that there's something wrong about this place. That, or it was her warning her.
"This place doesn't look bad. Weird, but not that bad." Juno stood next to River, who was also admiring the surroundings. "They don't call this one of the greatest asylums on earth for nothing."
"I don't think they really say that about this place," River replied. If it was really like that, she thought, then at least she would've heard about it on the news or something.
"Oh look, she finally talks," Juno said as she nudges River's elbow with hers. "I'll save you the chatter and just go and tell my terrible backstory." Juno looked like she was actually happy being in the situation that she is in right now, going inside an asylum that looks like a 9-year-old's giant toy. "I smoked a lot of weed, got into other types of drugs, parents hated me, but I think they already hated me long before, said they now disowned me, sent me to this girly asylum."
"That's it?" asked River. These times, smoking weed or doing any kind of drug is like the new normal for tweens like them. If this asylum was one of the best in the world or so she says it was, then surely, she was here for an even bigger reason.
"Uhuhh," Juno replied. "I'm just as normal as you." She lets out a giant smile that weirded River out.
"I can promise you, I am beyond normal."
"Then tell me," Juno insisted. "What's your sad origin story?"
River didn't to be mean to Juno but she thought she was getting a little bit annoying. Maybe she's high right now. Maybe it's the drugs talking, boosting her up on everything.
"I did some stuff, parents hate me, got handcuffed, put into a van, and now I'm in a giant pink nuthouse," River replied.
"See? You're pretty normal to me." Juno wasn't wrong.
"Why don't we check out our new house, I heard the drugs in here are so good. The prescription drugs, that is."
The inmates proceeded to go inside the asylum guided by guards that surprisingly didn't wear pink. The guards were actually wearing a rather pleasant looking white uniform. Oh yep, River thought, this place actually is a nuthouse.
They were able to make it inside the asylum. The inside was almost as pink as the outside. At least the interior decorations had some style to it. The walls were painted with different shades of pink, a picture frame of a man was hung on their right with the words 'AMADEUS PINK' plastered bellow it. Oh I get where the pink aesthetic is all coming from now, River thought.
Juno raised both of her handcuffed arms and yelled, "Welcome to the Pink Asylum, River. Where it's as mono-colored on the inside as it is outsi—"
Before Juno could even get the chance to finish her sentence, River jumped towards one of the guards, tackling him into the ground. Juno noticed that River's handcuffs were on the ground right beside Juno. For some reason, she was able to free herself from her handcuffs. The guard was overwhelmed with punches left and right. Two other guards went to try and restrain her but she was also able to subdue both of them.
"WHY IS IT PINK DAMN IT!" she yelled over and over again. Landing a punch to the guard's face with every word spoken. Pretty soon, five guards went in and was finally able to restrain the angry woman.
"You still look pretty normal to me River," Juno said as the guards were able to put River down on the ground. River looked up to Juno, trying hard to say something despite the fact that five guards were on top of her.
"Who are you?"
"Huh?"
"River? Damn her. What the hell did she put me into now?"
Juno was confused at what was happening. She couldn't understand a single thing that was spewing out of her newfound friend's mouth. "Hey, tell River that she owes me an explanation! Tell her that it's from Midnight!"
"Who?"
"Tell her that it's from me!" River was having trouble saying that sentence considering that five guards were trying to restrain her by holding every single limb that she could flail around. With one last effort, River, or at least Juno thought it was River, let out one last sentence.
"Tell her it's from Midnight!"