Friday 28 April 2017

Personification of THEIR Mental State


Jackpot Spin Wheel

It was a simple game show, and it should have stayed that way had he not showed up and ruined everything.

The host, a tall, pretty blonde, stood at the foot of a Large, garishly lit rotating disk made of glass with different sums of money printed on the circumference, spaced out evenly.

They ranged in amounts from zeroes to tens of thousands of dollars.

She picked a guest from the audience who was asked a number of simple questions, so simple almost everyone answered correctly. Once that stage was crossed, the host asked the guest to stand in front of the disk, then she handed them a switch at the end of a wire, connected to the disk brakes.

She would then spin the disk and ask the guest to press the button on the switch when they felt the moment was right, but before a minute was done, in order to bring it to a standstill.

There was an arrow placed besides the disk and the spot at which it pointed when the disk came to a standstill was on any one of the sums spaced out around the disc's circumference. This amount is what the guest got to walk away with at the end of the show.

If it pointed at $100,000, then the guest went home $100,000 richer. If it pointed at $0, then they went away with nothing.

Simple enough.

She picked the third guest from the audience that evening, a middle aged, smartly dressed gentleman with a very courteous manner about him. She proceeded to ask him a number of simple questions, and he answered correctly to all therefore got to take his chances on the rotating wheel.

He was handed the switch and told to press the button when he felt the moment was right and see if he got to go home richer.

Then, she spun the wheel, and the clock started ticking.

He stood there watching as the wheel spun around and, looking if he could make out the digits on the rotating disk, he realised they were blurred. He could make out the different colour lights on each number and tried to remember which colours belonged by the larger amounts.

Then he realised he could not quite recall those details. But then even if he could see the numbers or recall the colours placed besides the larger amounts, the disk never stopped at once after the switch had been pressed. It only gradually ground to a halt. He remembered this from the many other times he had watched the show.

He wondered whether he could time the point at which the disk stopped if he could remember how long it took for it to come to a standstill, but then even that entailed knowing where the big numbers were.

His mind raced and behind it all he heard the audience urging him on, with the occasional "Now!" shout here and there when somebody thought the moment to press the button had come.

And he heard over the speakers the host reminding him time was running out.

The minute of time that he had to press the button would be finished and the buzzer would sound. It would then be time for someone else to have a go at the wheel.

He was not going to lose, he thought. He was going to hit the jackpot. He strained his eyes and tried to make out the amounts but, the harder he focussed, the more he tried to follow the spinning so he could lock on the numbers, the more he realised it was not going to be possible to discern a single digit.

The disk was spinning too fast for that to be possible.

In that instance, he felt strongly that his very life depended on the outcome of the aftermath of his pressing the button. He just had to do it right otherwise everything else in his life would go awry. He could not afford to lose. There would be no life for him if he failed to win a big amount here tonight.

Then, looking up at the clock, he realized he had but a few seconds of time left. There was nothing left to do but just take his chances and press the button but then, to his dismay, with a realisation he did not have the courage to put it all to chance, he realised he had lost control of his body. He wanted to press the button but his fingers were not responding. He could not control them anymore.

He heard the buzzer and a disappointed chant go up in the audience. The game show host moved towards him and reached for the switch in his hands.

But, instead of inching forwards and handing her the switch, he found himself backing away and snarling at her.

Something within his person told him he had not just lost control of his physical being, but his actions and thoughts as well. Then he felt himself tighten his grip on the switch while telling himself it was not over yet. He could still win even when the rules would be bent, even when the minute of time he was given had elapsed.

The large disk was still spinning and only he had the power in his hands to stop it. And when he stopped it, he thought, the arrow would point at the highest sum and he would go home a happy man indeed.

It was all he had left to do now, to guarantee him a win. Once he had the disk stopped at the appropriate figure, he had all that was needed to go to the producers and argue his case. He would do all it takes to get them to agree and hand him the cash. He would take them to court if need be, to get them to give him the sum the arrow had pointed at.

But first things first: he had to get the disk to stop at the figure that represented the jackpot.

His sight was getting blurred from the water going into his eyes from the profuse sweat now streaming down his face. He felt faint then lowered his gaze because he felt dizzy. As he reached into his pocket for the handkerchief to wipe the sweat off his face, he realised the game show host had taken hold of his fist and was trying to pry the switch from his hands.

He grabbed hold of her arm with his free hand, wrenched her grasp off of his fist then, planting his feet wide so he put his weight into it, he yanked her backwards, sending her sprawling off the stage to his side.

He took out his handkerchief and wiped his face dry then resumed his position and motions in front of the disk.

The producer gave the command to cut the shooting and members of the camera crew and some of the audience rushed onto the stage to see what they could do to help. Soon, there was mayhem on the stage as men fought to take the switch out of the man's hands and the man off the stage.

With men holding him from the back while others handled him from the front, his hand still retaining a vice-like grip on the switch, they tugged on the disk and toppled it on its stand.

There was a halt in activities on the stage as all stopped to watch the large disk fall. The centrepiece of the show went crashing down as it spun, fragmenting into several pieces as it hit the floor. There was now no question as to whether the show would continue that night, for anybody involved.

It was all over.

With nothing left to fight for, the man stopped resisting and was finally, easily restrained. The police were called to take him into their custody.

They arrived at the scene and when told what had happened that night, they did not hesitate to cuff the man but, instead of heading for the police station, they took him strait to a mental asylum.

It was beyond clear that the man belonged in a padded cell.

No comments: