George
Chair. White. Ceiling. White. Bed. White. People. White. Circle. Adventure. Out there the ceiling is painted. Especially in the morning. And at the beginning of night, right before the people in white give me the black pill. As it goes down my throat I feel the black magic strangling me. My eyes wander to the illuminated circle, imagining a life out there. Then comes the blackout. 
When I rise again, I feel a cold, hard surface beneath me. I always fall. And every single time it reminds me that this whole place is cold. And hard. Every person too. Except Natalie. She’s different because she brings me watercolors. Paint makes me happy. Its like the colors outside the circle. Just as I was thinking about Natalie, the door creaked open.
“Hello George,” Natalie said brightly.
“Hello Natalie,” I nonchalantly responded.
“I wanted to thank you for warning me about not driving home that day, turns out there was a huge storm that came out of nowhere. I never would’ve made it,” she said genuinely.  
I knew that was going happen. I always know when disaster is about to strike. They tell me my brains damaged. Natalie doesn’t believe them. She thinks I’m something else.
“Did you know today was the day I was born Natalie?” I impatiently asked.
“Of course I do George. Happy birthday you goof!” Natalie excitedly remarked.
‘You know you’re supposed to get gifts on the day you’re born.”
She seemed embarrassed as she spoke, “Well I never got to ask you what you wanted, so I didn’t know what to get you.” 
“Hey Natalie, do you wanna know a secret?” I drew my voice into a whisper and said, “All I have ever wanted was to get out of here.”
“Do you wanna know a secret George? I always knew you never belonged in this place,” she said as she smashed the cameras in the room that I didn’t even know existed. The people that held me here had all sorts of crazy tactics to monitor my activity. Really creepy tactics. 
I watched in awe as she went to the corner of the room and picked up the chair. With a violent swing the illuminated circle was shattered. I gasped, “Natalie what did you do?!”
“I’m making your birthday wish come true,” she declared. As if it was the most normal thing in the world.
I stood there for a few minutes, I didn’t have any words to utter. I was in shock.
“Well come on now,” Natalie urged, “get your legs out this window”
I was still wonderstruck. However, I did shove it into the back of my head that the illuminated circle was called a window. After I still couldn’t bring myself to move Natalie started to panic.
“Come on, George! Before they see you!”
They say they’re doctors, but they’re not. They didn’t heal me. They ripped me apart.
I snapped back to reality and raced to the window but looked back one last time. I would be leaving all of this for good. But I wouldn’t miss it. I start climbing and put a foot out the window just as Natalie says, “You sure are something else, George.”
I stare right into her eyes and smile. I was wrong. I was definitely going to miss Natalie. But I needed to see the world beyond my blank, suffocating, enclosed space. The ground was closer than I expected. I lept onto the path of freedom and left the white building behind.  
Natalie’s voice rang in my head ‘Come on, George! Before they see you!’. I knew the people in white would come for me if I waited too long. I took off towards a ball of light above me, my legs moving faster than ever before. Well actually I hadn’t ran at all before. Surprisingly it felt right, and I was good at it.  
After a couple minutes I came across lines of hard grey rock that seemed to disappear in the distance. I thought I put in a good distance between me and the people in white so I stopped running.
Just then I heard a faint rumble come from behind me. Turning around I saw masses of grey cover up the once blue colors above me. The ball of light was gone. The faint rumble began to intensify until a startling boom echoed through the air. I was frightened to the core. I had never heard such gut wrenching sounds before.  But when I saw the bright white light flash above me I put together what was happening. I had seen it many times through the illuminated circle. This was my favorite part. The painted ceiling was going to start dripping. I curiously opened my mouth, the liquid tasted like water. It was like I was in a shower. Starting to enjoy the feel of the leaking ceiling, I spun in circles and jumped in puddles of water. I felt ecstatic, but just as suddenly as the ceiling started dripping, it stopped. I turned and started to walk on the grey path again.
In the distance I saw two white lights coming towards me. Oh no. White was not something to be excited about.  I started running away from the lights. It was inevitable. They were growing closer and closer. As I turned around I had to shield my eyes from the lights which were now only a few feet away. Panic coursed through me. They were coming for me. I couldn’t go back there.  An oddly shaped hunk of metal came into sight. It screeched sharply as it came to a stop right next to me. People stepped out of this hideous shape that was releasing fumes into the air. What an odd sight. They were dressed in such strange clothing.
“Do you need a ride? It’s a long way from here to the town. Where are you heading to?” the man in the yellow knee long coat asked.
“Aliens! You must be aliens!” I blurted out. I was confused by the appearance of these beings.
“Aliens, what a joke. He’s the one in all white in the rain!” the man muttered to the girl. He thought I couldn’t hear him. But I could.
“No, we don’t want to hurt you darlin’, where are you headed? Maybe we can help you get there.” The girl was pretty, and she was wearing a silky emerald green dress. It matched her eyes. She had such a soothing voice, in an instant I remembered that there was somewhere I wanted to go.
“I need you, I need you to take me to the ball of light.” I looked up to point at it in the ceiling but it was still covered with grey.
“Hey, isn’t the ball of light held at the banquet hall?”, the pretty girl spun to look at the yellow coat guy.
“Yeah I think so”, the coat guy said. He didn’t seem to have much of an interest in anything.
“Can you take me? Will you?” I begged eagerly, “I need the ball of light.”
These kind people immediately took me inside their piece of metal.
“Oh! Look at you all soaked up from the rain!”, the pretty girl exclaimed as we jerked forward. “Do you gotta name, darlin’?”
Rain. So thats what it was.
“I like rain,” I plainly stated.
  I’ve never told anyone what my name was besides Natalie. I didn’t know if  I could trust these strange new people, so I just didn’t talk about it.
“Did you know today’s the day I was born?” I asked hoping to ignore the question.
“Well, happy birthday darlin, but what’s your name? You do have a name, right?” she pressed.
“You know you’re supposed to give me a present today, right? Do you have a present for me?” I challenged.
She laughed and shook her head, “Sorry, sweetie.”
“So, are you takin’ a date to this ball?”, the yellow raincoat man asked.
“Date?”
“Yeah you know, someone special you like”
A silhouette rushed into my head. “Well...there is one girl, her name’s Nata--” I stopped mid-sentence. An image popped into my head. A creature from the forest. More than one. All dead.
I knew I had to do something.
“STOP, STOP THIS ROARING METAL!”, I shouted frantically.
The yellow raincoat man stopped the moving metal just as ten creatures emerged from the forest.
“Where on Earth did all those deer come from? Dang, I almost hit em”
The pretty girl gulped for air. She turned to me and questioned, “How, how..how did you know?”.
I shrugged. The girl and the man shared a look.
We continued along the grey rock with the yellow lines for a little while in silence. We came across a huge building, decorated with sparkling lights and open welcoming doors.
“This is it. The ball of light is right inside those doors,” the man said while he stepped out and opened my door for me.
I slowly got out of the metal, dazzled by the beauty of the building.
“Have a nice time, buddy,” the man said with a grin as he was about to make the metal move again.
“Wait! Wait! Wait!”, I wailed as I chased after the metal. The metal screeched.
“What is it?” the man exasperatedly asked.
“Help red riding hood,” I said as I caught my breath.
“All right honey. Anything for you. You go have fun now” the pretty girl spoke, turning around and dismissing my message. “Oh wait a second” she called out once again, “I never did catch your name.”
“George. It’s George.”
“Pleasure to meet you George, I’m Sarah,” the pretty girl introduced herself. “And this is David,” she pointed to the man in the yellow raincoat.
With a wave they were gone.
I headed up the steps to the clear doors of the building. There were little parts of the forest around me. Trees here and there arranged in rows. Incoherent.  Like they were forced into a place they didn’t belong in. I grabbed the door. I had never gotten to open a door before. The white door was always locked.
“Hi there. Welcome to the ball of light. My names Sarah, do you have your invitation with you?” she was wearing a light pink floor long dress. She was very pale, much like a ghost. I also realized I was underdressed, all I was wearing was a rugged pair of white pants and white shirt. The woman didn’t seem too bright either, though. The woman obviously didn’t know the rules of the world. She was saying absurd things!
“No, you can’t tell me your name yet! We just met. You have trust me first. You can’t trust me already! You have to get to know me. I could be a murderer! How can your name be Sarah, the pretty girl’s name is Sarah. You can’t have her name. Its not fair!”
The woman seemed offended. I hoped I hadn’t said anything that was too awful. I needed to see the ball of light up close.
“I’m sorry. Forget everything I just said. Just take me to see the ball of light,” I apologized.
“Well do you have  your invitation on you? I can’t let you in without it,” she annoyingly questioned.
This was pointless. This woman was just wasting my time. Maybe I should use my new skill. I started sprinting through the narrow spaces of tile into a room with velvet carpet. She could never catch me. I hid behind a curtain for a few minutes. The coast was clear.
I stepped out in search of the ball of light. It was nowhere to be found. You would think a thing of such massive size would be easily spotted.
The room was filled with people in elegant dresses and fancy suits. There was a woman in a draped scarlet gown with black lips dancing with a man in a white suit with a tie matching her dress. Another lady in a royal purple poofy dress was dancing with a guy in a gray suit with white lines crossing on it. It was a breathtaking sight.
Natalie taught me how to dance one day. We didn’t have much time but she said I was a natural. We spent the hour she had with me moving to the tunes of her voice singing wonderful melodies. Natalie was so graceful.   
But all of a sudden images began to flood my brain. Images of strangers standing in this very room. Attached to those pictures were ones of tragedies. Black mist fogged up some of the vivid visuals. An image of the woman with the black lips clinging to one of a poisoned strawberry came into focus. I had to warn these people. They or someone they might know was in grave danger.
“Beware of the vampire!” I said to the man with extra skin. 
“Don’t sing in the shower!”, I clamored to the woman with boy hair.
“The mirror, don’t go near the mirror!”, I screamed to the girl with a jewel on her nose. 
“You! Stay away from fire!”, I hollered to the man with gold teeth.
“Don’t eat the strawberry!”, I exclaimed to the black lipstick lady. I was desperately pursuing people to warn them of their fate.  It felt like I’d be there for hours.
I felt a tap on my shoulder. Turning around I faced a tall man with no hair, face twisted in a scowl. I’ve never seen a man without hair. 
“Sorry to ruin your fun boy, but we’ve been getting complaints that eres’ a nutjob runnin’ amuck in ere’ harassing people,” The tall man glowered in my face, the scowl never leaving his face.
“Who mister”? I enquired the man with the gold star on his blue suit that was just a little different than the others.  
“I have reason to believe its you boy,” he said as he pushed his finger into my chest.
“What are you talking about mister?” I pried.
All of a sudden I felt a strong force crash into me, slamming my body against a wall. Someone’s arm pressed my face against the wall and wringed my hands behind my back.
The man with no hair had me in fix.
“Don’t you get smart with me son,” the man said in a low voice. “You know what happens to wacky dinks like you who mess with me?”
I shook my head furiously. “Please mister, I just want to see the ball of light!”
People were starting to gather around the area looking at me with their wonderfully colorful eyes. I didn't like the way all the people stared. Like I didn’t belong.
“Psycho,” the tall man muttered underneath his breath, thinking I couldn't hear him.
I’d heard that word many times before. He grabbed me by the back collar of my shirt and swiftly headed towards the doors I came in through, dragging me behind. Once we reached the doors, the tall, mean man gave a ruthless shove making me tumble down the hard, wet stairs.  I looked up and met his cold eyes.
For a while I roamed the yellow lined rock, and then I noticed that the ball of light had reappeared in the ceiling. This time, it was in the complete opposite direction of the sparkling building. Could it have been moved? I decided to follow the glow anyways, the warmth of the rays settling calmly on my skin.
I came across an area of many buildings with several people strolling around. I got many stares from the colorful eyes. Everybody cleared the way as I walked. They were repelled by me.  It was quite saddening. Through the corner of my eyes I saw a glass and behind it were rows of screens with moving visuals. The screen was captivating. And mesmerizing.And then I saw it. The bright yellow raincoat.
It read : BREAKING NEWS
BROTHER AND SISTER SAVE TEENAGE GIRL IN RED HOODIE ON A MOTORCYCLE WHO HAD CRASHED INTO A TREE.
The woman on the left side of the screen was doing something between sobbing and speaking, “If she was brought in even a few minutes later I could have lost her. I don’t know how these kind people knew to save her. I’m forever thankful to them.”
I knew they were good people.
Feeling content, I continued to chase the ball of light, but it began to descend. After only a couple of minutes the ceiling started glowing with such glorious colors. But darkness will approach. Like it always did after the pill. I reminded myself that I wasn’t trapped anymore and the darkness wouldn't come.
Feeling exasperated, I looked for a resting place. I saw a alluring field beyond the grey rock. I gravitated towards the luscious green land. Letting myself give in to the beautiful place around me, I fell back into the soft grass. Closing my eyes I took a deep breath, inhaling the cool, fresh air. Wind blew through the forest as if creating a song just for me. Tree. Green. Flower. Red. Bird. Yellow. Ceiling. Blue. I could lie here for eternity.
Opening my eyes at last, the sight before me made me gasp. The ball of light had transformed. It was no longer blinding. It had a certain subtlety to it, a certain delicacy; a fragile beauty. A full circle; shining. It had grey smudges, and one of them resembled a face. There was pure darkness everywhere around. It was daunting at first, darkness meant evil. But then it hit me. The black was in fact deep blue. The dark ceiling above me was freckled with pinpricks of light. I could count them for them the rest of my life. I took in the serenity of this enchanting place. My enchanting place. The shining circle  reminded me of the window back in my room. Except now I wasn't trapped behind it. I was free.