Some time after the whole "slipped on his seat" incident at the cafeteria, River and Juno decided to high tail it out of there and took a look around the asylum. Juno told River it was for "emergencies" or something. River doesn't know exactly what she meant but she thinks it's for when the opportunity to escape arises.
The both of them checked out the library to see if all of the books there were also pink as well. River made a bet that all the books in the library were also pink. The books were not pink, only the tables and chairs were. Which makes a lot of sense because it would take a lot of time for all the books in the library to be covered pink. River had to pay Juno with a snip of her hair. She doesn't know why Juno wanted it though.
They found themselves at the garden found at the front of the asylum. The both of them also expected the flowers to be all pink roses since literally everything (almost) was pink. It wasn't the case. Not everything had to be pink or else Midnight would lose it somewhere deep in River's mind.
The Garden had a statue of the founder-slash-warden of the asylum, Amadeus Pink, in the middle of all the flowers. The statue looks to be made out of bronze and the only color it had was Amadeus' hair, which had pink strands of hair.
"I mean the guy even has a statue of himself in front of the asylum. What else is this guy trying to show off?" said River, looking at the giant, bronze statue that was reflecting sunlight into her eyes.
"At least the statue's not entirely pink." Juno replied.
The giant statue had a plaque on it that read: "The true enemy of man is itself." And of course, the words were pink.
"They do say that this asylum is the world's leading psychiatric facility," Juno said, looking at the bronze statue, trying to cover her eyes because of how reflective it was. "Maybe this place is great or something."
River couldn't help but think of Rose Pink, that kid that gave her a serum that made Midnight temporarily sleep inside her brain. If Rose could actually make something like that, then they could just give a cure that enables River to get rid of Midnight for good.
At the corner of the garden, River saw a group of inmates on pink chairs forming a circle. One of them were talking while everyone else listened. Some with their heads down, some looking directly at the person and nodding their heads.
"That looks like a support group," said Juno. "You ever been to those? All of you in a circle while one talks about whatever the hell is going on with them as the rest listens? It seems kind of boring but they say it helps."
"I really don't like to talk about my feelings," River replied. "Therapists have tried and failed to get rid of this other personality inside my head."
"I'm just curious, does your other personality just randomly….what's the word here….appear? Out of nowhere? At any place and time?"
"Yup. Pretty much."
"How does it feel like, having your brain hijacked like that all of a sudden? Do you know that it's happening or is it just blank like being forced to go inside the trunk of the car while the other one drives it?"
"Okay, you're asking too many questions I don't want to answer right now."
Juno got even more curious about River's condition and how it affected her. She wanted to know how it felt to be someone with another person inside her head. She wanted to know how it felt to struggle. She wanted to hear it all from River herself. Yet it seems like River doesn't want to talk about it. But she can force her to.
"Hey, River. Why don't we try that group therapy thing?" Juno asked.
"You mean that support group?" River asked as well. She didn't seem to want to indulge in the idea of herself talking to strangers about whatever sad stuff they had to say. She'd rather avoid that confrontation.
"Yeah, that support group over there. It looks like they're um….having fun."
"Uhh uhh no way."
"And why not? I mean, I've never tried it before and they say it helps to let out anything that's been squeezing your bottle."
"Squeezing your bottle? What the heck does that mean?"
Juno put her hands to her hips. "I meant that whatever was bottled up inside you that continues to grow…inside you. Do you get what I'm saying?"
"Not in the slightest." River started to turn on the opposite direction, to where they came from, but Juno stopped her.
"Look, let's just try this. What else are we gonna do here? This might help us."
River put her right hand over Juno's shoulder and looked at her like she understood where all of this was coming from. "I've tried therapy before, a lot of times, and I'm still as broken, confused, and depressed as I was before. Therapy does not work, Juno. If it did, I wouldn't be here."
"I get where this is coming from but c'mon River! What do we have to lose?" Juno insisted.
River watched Juno practically beg at her to come join her at the circle of possibly psychotic strangers. She took a deep breath and finally agreed to going with Juno.
"Fine, but don't expect me to say anything to anyone of them."
Juno jumped with glee and grabbed River's hand, carrying her across the garden towards where the support group was at. Good thing the support group was under the shade of the sun, right next to a tree. For a split second, River was reminded of the time her little brother was holding her hand. She tried to shake the memory off.
There they were, both of them sitting and being a part of the support group. River and Juno sat right next to each other. "This is gonna be interesting," Juno whispered at River as they sat down their unusually good-looking white chairs. River tried feeling the chairs to see what they were made of.
"It's a sacred chair," said a woman wearing a white uniform, similar to the staff in the asylum. She could be a psychiatrist here. She had a soothing voice. River guessed she was the mediator-slash-leader of the support group. A soothing voice like that is only good for those who wants to calm down people. River has heard many soothing voices so many times that she doesn't want to hear one ever again.
The woman leaned in closer to River's direction. "We keep the chairs spic and span here. We wanted it to be distinct, different from any other chair." River watched her smile eerily, which she thought was just normal for therapists.
"Do you want to know why?"
River just shrugged. She was already regretting her decision of joining Juno.
The woman looked at everyone else in the circle, still smiling as she does it. "Does anyone want to tell this beautiful woman why we keep the chairs clean?" Nobody wanted to raise their hand except for one person in the circle. River and Juno had seen the guy before.
Juno leaned closer to River and gave her a nudge on her arm. "Hey look Riv," she whispered. "That's the guy I told you about when we first met. The one that killed his own brother."
"Yeah I know. And shut up, you're whispering too loud, everybody can hear you!" River whispered back.
The blonde guy with a cross tattooed on the back of his neck stood up. He looked confident and calm, without any observable expression on his face. "We keep the chairs distinct and different from the others because it reflects who we are as children of God. We are special because of this." He then looked at the woman, bowed down to her, and sat right back in his chair.
"Thank you, Ray. And oh! Where have my manners gone to? My name is Linda, I'm one of the psychiatrists and the mediator between your problems and possible solutions! But please, just call me Linda." She said that so happily that it reminded River of every other therapist that had ever crossed her.
"And can you please introduce yourselves to the group?" Linda gestured for River and Juno to stand up and introduce themselves.
"Well, My name is Juno and this is my first time being in a support group. I hope we can shaaareee…." Juno looked at River as she said that. "…..our problems together!" Juno smiled and sat back in her seat.
"Great! it is nice to see you too Juno. I love your enthusiasm!" Linda said enthusiastically. River took a look around the people in the circle and saw the blank expressions on their faces. "Since you're here now, why don't you tell us all about yourself?"
Juno didn't hesitate to introduce herself to everyone. "My name is Kristen Juno, you can call me Juno. I was sent to this surprisingly comfortable asylum because, like all of you, I am distinct and unique."
River looked at Juno as soon as she heard the word "comfortable" being used to describe the pink asylum. Comfortable wouldn't be the word she would use to describe it. More like "blatantly weird."
Juno continued on her introduction speech. "I was sent here because of a severe addiction to non-prescription drugs! And like most of the people here, my parents decided that I wasn't their child anymore." Her once cheerful tone turned into a slightly sad speech.
Linda held her own hands together and was still smiling, looking at River as if she feels her pain as well. River hated those looks. Mostly because she thinks that nobody could understand what she was going through.
"I want you to know, Juno that we've all been there. All of us are here for you, so don't cry."
"She's not crying."
"And who might you be miss? You're very pretty." River didn't mind the compliment.
"My name is River Midnight."
A few seconds of silence kicked in before Linda started talking again. "Unique name. And what's your story, dear?" She looked at River, who clearly didn't like to answer the question.
"My story is the just the same as everyone else," she replied, breaking eye contact with Linda and looking directly at the ground. It wasn't that she was sad, it was that she had zero interest in telling her story to everyone in the circle. Even Juno.
"I'll pass."
"We can't help you if you don't tell us your story dear."
"I don't need help."
Linda took a deep breath. "Everybody says that dear. All of us act like we don't need help, like the only ones that can help us is ourselves. But that's not true. Humans depend on each other on anything. The only way for you to get help is for you to let more people in your circle."
"Well, maybe I'm not human," River replied. At that point, Juno doesn't even know if she was still River or another personality.
"Uhhh…she actually has multiple….disorders. What? No, I meant multiple personality disorder."
Linda looks at River, her face all surprised. "Really? I bet that must be hard for you, being sent here because of another personality's doing." Linda leaned in closer to River, holding her hand on River's leg. "It's not your fault, it's the other side of you. I know you have a family, your family still loves you."
Juno watched River who was looking down on Linda's arm. It was touching her left leg, it was warm, it felt weird for River. Juno feared the worst. She feared that maybe Midnight will come out and do something she shouldn't do. She noticed that River was already crying. And what painted on her face was anger.
River woke up to see that Juno was lying on the floor. She had a broken nose. Everyone in the circle stood up to look at her, even Linda who told her to calm down and deep breaths while taking care of Juno. River held up her hands and felt wet blood. Juno looked at her but she wasn't mad. Her face showed concern for River.
Overwhelming feelings began to rush down on River. "This keeps happening," she muttered under her breath. "Why am I like this?"
"River, are you—?" Before she could finish, River ran away.