MADNESS...Is This

Within Bethany's Mind

Colors…devoid…and light…you are always awol…

The quietness within observed as Angel stared intently at the ceiling of Nothingness above her.

A new coat of paint would spruce you up…

Her quietness beamed as she tried to crack a sliver of a smile.

But the shade picked would lack color…and color…they don’t allow here…

Her inner voice continued as it became suddenly sad at the depressing thought.

Feeling constrained, Angel ever so slowly maneuvered her head towards the wall.

Boredom…is and forever will be…my best friend…

Her inner self quietly continued as the silent thought was quickly followed by a long drawn out sigh.

How could…that have happened? I didn’t… I…couldn’t have done that or…could I have?…

Her mind softly asked as a tear streamed down one of her pale cheeks, while a second tear remained on standby. Angel’s eyes had become accustomed to the gloomy gray shade of the walls which environed her; so much as a spark of light, she feared, would blind her. Through her gray confinement she saw red in her mind’s eye and she abhorred it, the color red; though, she passionately courted it and lustfully chased it. To her this shade was more than a color. In her world Red has its own being, its own space among the world of her living; Red, had its own personification.

Why only…that color? Why am I here? Oh yeah…that’s right, I remember now…its so fluid and so…bright…RED...

Her mind rambled as she closed her eyes for a moment in hopes Red would leave the creases and folds of her overly complex brain. Yet, upon opening her empty eyes there it was again, Red on her makeshift projection screen--that grey overcast of a wall.

Compassionate to me they all were. Too bad it…ended so soon but released them I did…from their earthly pains…how shiny and pretty it was that day…all of those days…the tip exquisite…the pride of true craftsmanship, the beautifully chiseled edge…Red’s defilement of its notches was so…mesmerizing.

Oh Red, you were so pretty…like the red rubies in the roughness of the earth but…liquid as if…the coveted prize of an alchemist…Oh yes, liquid Red rubies…Divine it would have been to savor you over the chilled rocks in the finest of goblets…

Her quietness rattled on, as Angel managed to provide a cheesing smile of pearly whites.

Yes indeed, my fingers were happy…to touch you and my lips were ecstatic…to have tasted the alchemists’ prize of liquid Red rubies…Red, your sexy hue adorning my dainty fingers and their tips and my long bewitching nails…

Her mind bolstered with such excitement that Angel found the strength to voice a maniacal laugh and a confession,

“I could have…AND I DID…” Angel said aloud followed by creepy cackling.  Her mind at its moment of glee suddenly stopped talking within her and her laughs and cackles ceased, her ears picked up the faint sound of taps followed by voices.

“They are coming now…every day at the same damn time here they come!” She managed to snap aloud in anger as she wrestled with her sense of confinement. She hears the noisy locking mechanism being unlocked, the creaky heavy metal door is now opening and in walks two men.

Their suits were of such a vivid white that Angel screamed in agony upon the site of the men walking towards her, “GET OUT…MY EYES…MY EYES…”. They tried to soothe her with sweet nothings as they were not allowed to coddle her but Angel refused to hear of it, “LEAVE ME ALONE…TAKE YOUR DAMN HANDS OFF ME…GET FUCKING OFF…” she screamed in bloody murder, more out of seething anger rather than fright. But the two men had a job to do and they couldn’t leave without doing it.

Still feeling confined Angel tried to fight but it was of no avail. As one of the men held her down, the other one slightly lifted her jacket to expose the flesh of her side. Angel’s mental anguish now fully festering beyond any voluntary pacification to the point of spitting and trying to bite at the two men, “THE PAIN…YOU BASTARDS…THE PAIN…” she screamed in blood curdling agony. Within seconds, there was unreserved silence.

Placated.

“Roses…I like soft baby blue roses…” Angel calmly said as she turned her head to sweetly gaze upon the two men in her presence, the color of their white suits seeming not so horridly blinding to her anymore.

“Yes, we know Angel…you remind us of it at this exact same time every day” as one of the two men then carefully recovered her exposed side then picked her up to place her back where she was before they entered the room.

“Yes'umm.  So I do…don’t I? And it‘s Rosemary by the way, Mary for short…” she said with a bright smile as she turned her head back towards the ceiling of former Nothingness and began humming.

“Oh yes, that’s right…so it is Mary here with us right now.” one of the two men sweetly said.

Satisfied at her new disposition, the two men left the room taking their belongings with them and being careful to secure the door to her room. As the two men walked back down the hall the younger man said to the older one,

“What’s her deal?”

“Eight, serial. There would have been nine but lucky nine lived to see another day to speak of it” replied the older man.

“Really, a woman? And that’s such a high number for a young woman…“ said the younger man in shock, “But why?” questioned the younger man.

“She has more than one personality and Black Widow Syndrome, though Black Widow Syndrome is not exclusive to a married woman as she was single…apparently she enjoyed stabbing her lovers to death.  There would be a brief whirlwind, roller coaster of a ride courtship filled with exotic romantic trysts. These unlucky men were her prey and she sadistically enjoyed carving them up as they blissfully wound down from...well the night’s festivities, if you know what I mean.  The bloodiness of it...was her favorite part...

Angel, the dominate personality, is the one responsible for the 8 murders and the 1 attempted murder it would seem. The other personalities covered it up out of fear of Angel. Angel is so violent when confronted that we have to keep her in a straight jacket in addition to keeping her medicated, you know. She passed a polygraph test even…we were able to coaxed the personality Rosemary into confessing what Angel had done and lead us to the evidence to prove it which later sealed Bethany‘s fate…the poor girl. If only someone one would have caught this when she was a minor…” The veteran doctor said to his young intern as they continued walking back down the hall of the mental institution.

“Wait…who is Bethany?” the young intern asked in bewilderment, just as he was grasping the fascination of Angel’s story being told to him by his mentor.

“Oh…Bethany is her birth name.” replied the doctor.

“So...is there a Bethany personality?” asked the young intern.

“Well, we still aren't sure. We believe there is and that she's being held hostage within itself. When asked about Bethany, the personality Angel gleefully releases a maniacal cackle and the personality Rosemary bursts into uncontrollable sobs...the other personalities remain eerily stone silent...though...one year before the first murder Bethany attempted suicide...flat-lined several times before a steady pulse was detectable. Her family says her already weird behavior went from mischievous to dangerously malicious, as if there was a different person in their presence.” explained the doctor.

“Intriguing…” said the young intern, now silently pondering if Angel killed Bethany who may have been blocking Angel's full manifestation so that she (Angel) could take over Bethany's shell and control the other personalities for her own demented diabolical amusement.