The T.V. screen blips and then cuts to black for a split second. This drastic change causes your body to spasm and your mind to draw to immediate attention. Your vision is now consumed with the image of an entire audience of children screaming with excitement. The high-pitch of their fervor is enough to pierce your ears and cause your face to a grimace. Panning into the screen, in an unnaturally close close-up, you see a jubilant face painted like a clown brandishing a large and toothy smile.
“HI KIDDOS!! YOU KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS??”
The children heighten the sharpness of their cheers.
“THAT’S RIGHT … PSYCHO BILLY’S HOUSE OF SLAUGHTER!!!”
As you brace yourself for more audible impact the children’s cheering is nearly unbearable for you.
“WE GOT A HELL OF A SHOW FOR YOU KIDS BECAUSE TODAY WE ARE MEETING THE BLUE PLAYER!!”
The cheering continues its jarring drone and the clown waves the tops of his fingers at you in a coochy-coo manner.
“HI BLUE PLAYER … HEYA … pft they are always a little scared at first like this …”
He rolls his eyes in an exaggerated way.
“CHEER UP!! YOU’RE HERE, ON THE BESTEST GAME-SHOW EVER TO GRACE GOD’S GREEN EARTH. Seriously, we gotta great fucking show for you man, yer gunna love it … WELCOME BLUE PLAYER!!! WELCOME TO MY HOUSE OF SSSLAUGHTER!!!”
There is calliope music that begins to play in a wonky way as its exasperated and muted notes compete with the hellish high-pitched voices of the youthful audience. The camera pans back now and you can see that this clown is certainly middle-aged but has a certain limber quality to his movements. Around him lie large objects of primary colors set onto a white background.
“WE WILL BE BACK KIDDO’S AND WHEN WE RETURN WE WILL FINALLY GET TO SEE THE BLUE PLAYER IN ACTION!!”
He takes a great deep exaggerated breath while he makes time for a dramatic pause. Then rapidly leans back to his uncomfortable close up to mumble:
“just like anyother game show we gotta bunch a rules around here but unlike any other game-show we love cheaters, hah, so listen, or don’t listen, I don’t fucking care, HAH!, now okay you are basically for all-intents-and-purposes my little play thing only I give you an element of free will, OKAY!?!, so you oughta really take a moment and appreciate that …”
“TIMES UP, thank you and I gotta say you may be my slave but I will let you free all you gotta do is gather the items from your scavenger list and I mean just six items can’t be that hard you can easily do that in a lifetime, RIGHT?!?”
“GOOD!! I SURE FUCKING HOPE SO!!! fer yer sssake. I am the one that not only brought you here but essentially created you, I am you’re alpha and I am gunna be your omega so you see you oughta just stick with me and trust me your gunna have a GRAND! OLD! TIME!!”
His face has bursted into an intimidating excitement and he inhales again his mannerisms chalk full of exaggeration.
“So yer gunna be a good contestant and stick to the game and give us a good show right?? Yer gunna play this thing through like a fucking shakesperean comi-tragedy right to the fucking last scene getting them all in stitches, huh?? Yer gunna sing and scream bloody murder all night long??”
It is during this brief pause that you notice the children have stopped their incessant drone but you are not certain for how long it has been dropped.
“GOOD, BLUE PLAYER GOOD FOR YOU!! ALRIGHT, WERE BACK!!”
The children’s chorus of pain begins sounding again assaulting your ears from either side.
“OKAY, WELL WE HAVE GONE OVER ALL THE RULES AND THERE IS ONLY ONE THING TO ASK …”
The children and the clown scream in an ear-drum battering unison
“ARE … YOU ... READY???”
The final word is left with a pause lasting longer than the previous pauses in this conversation. You have a sick feeling in the bottom of your stomach as you feel you are being watched.
The television has grown silent and motionless besides the clown’s subtle sway and blinks. The pneumatic tube hisses and continues to slide in its downward motion. Your pulse throbs from the center of your chest and outward pressing at the very things strapping you in.
What do you do?
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