The Pedestrian

I sat back in my seat and just watched out the window. I stared as we passed by every tomblike house. Thinking about each lifeless body sitting in front of that soul-sucking colorful box, and they thought I was crazy. All of a sudden the pitter patter of rain fell on top of the metal robot. So now I sit here, in my tiny antiseptic- washed cell, listening to the hummer of my jail and the soft thud of the rain. Five minutes into my ride I noticed that we were leaving the graveyard, only to be surrounded my dark barren land.
As we rounded a corner I noticed it immediately, the “Psychiatric Center for Research on Regressive Tendencies.” It looked like a rusted- old jail house, with a sign above and a door that looked like it was going to rust of its hinges. The sign above read “Psy hiatric C nter fo resre ch on Re ressive Tenden ies” because some of the letters were peeled away and the rest were cracked. Obviously this place was rarely used. Great, I thought, I should be a fun surprise.
The car stopped and I got out. As I walked up to the door, I looked around. I liked this place, it was just like home, everything was half dead. I turned the handle of the door, rust particles coming off in my hand, and the door opened with a screech. Inside it was completely different. It smelled just like the cop car, very very clean. The walls and the ceiling were bright white with florescent lights shining above. A nurse that looked more man then woman came up to me. “Hello Mr. Mead,” the she said, “let me show you to your room.” We walked down a long hall way and turned right. To doors down we stopped at room number two. The nurse took a ring of keys from her coat pocket and picked the one that said two on it. She then put the key inside the lock and turned it. The door opened with a click and the nurse motioned for me to go in. So, I did and the door shut a little harder then necessary behind me.
The room was small, dark, and very dirty. It had a twin sized bed with a stained mattress and a sheet for a blanket. There was a tiny barred window on the back wall, a clock on the wall, and a huge new T.V. in the corner, that was already on. I took my jacket off and put it on the end of the bed. I walked up to the T.V. and pressed the power button. Nothing happened, I pressed it again. This time all it did was change the channel. I pressed and pressed that button but the T.V. just grew louder. Finally I quit and went and just sat on my bed. I was beginning to not like this place. So, I needed a plan, I was going to break out. It was already late and the evening shows were about to come on. So, everyone should be in their rooms soon, and then I will break out.
I let three hours tick by, before even trying to breakout. I got up, got my jacket and began my breakout. Really, my plan was just to walk out the front doors. As I turned the corner to the last hallway, I ran straight in to a guard. But he wasn’t there with out his T.V. The guard looked up from his show and stared me down. He was a very big man, in fake quite scary. So, I just stood there. “Sit he said,” patting the floor next to him.
“No that’s ok, I should really get back to me room,” I said trying to get out of this situation.
“No, Sit.”
“Ok,” so I walked over and sat by him. He was watching some type of game show. There were two men on the stage. One was behind a counter the other with a microphone. In front of the man behind the counter there were girls with cases that had numbers on them. On the T.V. screen there was also a list of numbers the last on read $1,000,000. The man behind the counter chose a case and the lady with the number opened it. The whined at the $100,000 faded. Something else happened; the guy with the microphone was speaking now. Then the camera went up to a window were a guy inside was working, but you couldn’t see his face. The camera left and went back down to the other two guys. The phone rang and the bald guy with the microphone answered. He talked on the phone for a little bit then hung up. He said that the banker offer is $347,000, Deal or No Deal. This show was getting exciting, just then they guy with the microphone called a break and something else popped up on the screen. A commercial, nooo, I need to see what they guy behind the counter said. T.V. is great