The Darkroom
(Inspired by Daniel Orozco’s “Orientation)
Welcome to the darkroom. Please refrain from introducing yourself, names are not allowed because everyone here identifies with despair; there is no need for individuality. We have an unknown number of rooms, this is because people constantly arrive and build their own out of the shambles of their previous lives and furnish them out of their regrets and shame. You will understand once you are shown to your room.
There are multitudes of rooms to choose from, and you may pick any poison you wish. Please keep in mind that the monthly ice collection for the air conditioning takes place the 13th of every month. What’s that? That’s a good question. Every month, all the tenants of the Darkroom chip some of the ice off of their hearts to keep the air conditioning machine running. We don’t allow heat.
The Cafeteria is devoid of chefs, this is because the rooms come stocked with any drug you require, which quells the need for an appetite, and therefore quells the need for a chef. The hospital is devoid of nurses, this is because all the pain in this building is self-inflicted, self-nurtured, and emotional. The cure for your pain will not be found here. The bar is devoid of tenders; this is because no one here serves you poison, you administer it to yourself of your own volition because you are too weak to battle against your inhibitions. The office is devoid of clerks; this is because before you came here your occupation was an excuse and a distraction from your pain, but here you will learn that your pain is you, becomes you, and that you do not exist OUTSIDE of your pain you exist WITHIN your pain and that will never change and that is also why you are here in the Darkroom. The entire building is devoid of hope as it is of heat. Therefore, if there is something you require, rest assured that we do not have it. However, you may substitute any drug or emotional suppressant of your choice for aforementioned requirement.
Lost lovers and scorned lovers tend to stick together on the upper floors, however they rarely communicate. Their tears and hate tend to bind them together, but they maintain their difference in title by the masks they wear, which are physical manifestations of the facades and lies they tell themselves to mask their pain. But if you are not a lost or scorned lover, do not come to this room.
Those lost in regret and self-doubt are difficult to come across in this building, but you may rest assured that they do reside here. You will most likely find them in their rooms, looking at old photographs and trying to determine what their lives may have been like if they had done things differently. They should have, could have, or would have. Getting a straight answer out of these tenants is difficult in the best of times; however, there are no questions you should be asking them anyway, on account that communication with other tenants is strictly forbidden.
This room belongs to the Landlord. You will never see the landlord, you will never hear the landlord, and you will never pay the landlord. Here in the Darkroom, you may leave whenever you please, but the front and back doors are locked from the outside, the fire escape is imaginary, and the basement has its own generator. You may stay as long as you please.
Once a week, you are allowed in to the projection room where our custom built projectors will display the memories that haunt you, the words you never said, the indiscretions you committed against your situation. This is to constantly refresh the hopelessness in the building. We do also display failed dreams, in an attempt to break the routine every now and then. This serves to help remind the tenants of the potential they failed to harness, which in turn helps to remind them of the many demons they have created and fed and nurtured with their excuses and lies.
Sickness is completely imaginary, but if for any reason your mind is too weak to generate any self-esteem, take a healthy dose of marijuana. Remember, there are no nurses. If the memories become too much to deal with, use about a milligram of heroin and insert the tip of the syringe into your vein. Ecstasy can help with incessant sadness, but suicidal tendencies require a mixture of drugs to suppress. Feel free to experiment.
There are others to see to, so you are being left here, on direct orders from the Landlord, to construct your own room. There are no building specifications, so long as the room serves as an indispensable cell for your mind. Here at the Darkroom, we take pride in being the Darkest place on earth. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to let them linger in your mind and drive you insane.

Jorge Meneses 8/12/2011