Hysteria's Call, Part 3

Okay, the much awaited part 3 of Hysteria's Call.

The grand finale of the entire story will be centred around this instalment thus explaning its lenghty content and elaboration but trust me, it'll leave you thinking for sure as it has left me.

Alright then, with that said, enjoy the narrative and provide me with valuable feedback as you deem fit!


“...The door to the room creaked to life and gave the man a good hard jolt back into reality.

“I was thinking if you’d like some wine to accompany you while you wa...”

Another silence ensured and all was still once again.

A huge clash followed and everything blurred out of focus for quite some time, seemingly.

...

The man regained his composure and looked around. The entire room was in an utter mess and cold wind was blowing in, through a crack made in one of the window panes.

What the hell happened here, the man questioned himself, largely taken aback at his surroundings where plates and cutlery lay all round the place, much less of their former elegance, in tattered pieces while chairs where uplifted and overturned.

So much to the extent that the man was even surprised that the table was still intact. He was even more surprised to find himself down on his knees, apparently in a braced position, ducking and avoiding the entire ruckus.

He had little memory of what happened a few moments back and everything to him materialised itself in a blur.

Someone must have tried to shoot me, or something, he concluded.

Cold wind blew at the man’s back, revealing the broken window pane and this prompted the man to stand up and gain a better understanding of his surroundings. He dusked away the glass chips that gathered both on his suit as well as on his straightened business styled pants. He didn’t pay much attention to his hair, however, though it was wildly displaced at this point of time, as if someone or something had tried to dismember part of his skull.

This was also when he realised that a splitting headache had formulated and was throbbing dully by his temples, in unison to the rhythm of the rain outside, which ensured a steady stream of ice cold air circulating the room.

Damn this headache and the damn rain, where the heck is she, the man furious now, with fists on the chaos ridden mess, amongst the remains of the table.

A gust of wind howled just as if on cue and the man shivered down to his gut, as a fresh new gust of wind froze the air in the room, as if sending out a message to the man.

Evidently, the other people in the restaurant had heard the noises coming from upstairs (the room was on the second level of the restaurant), and not long, footsteps echoed in the hallway and voices of urgency signalled the arrival of the restaurant crew.

The man was one part relieved that help was on the way, but also furious to get some answers out of the employees of the restaurant. However, something made him look down at his shoes for he felt contact.

He gasped at what he saw.

There it was, a steady stream of blood flowing from...

The man’s heart skipped twice over as he traced the origin of that stream of blood.

There at the doorway to the room lay another man, smartly clad in white overalls which waiters in the restaurant usually dawned. The only difference was that his top was dyed a violent blood red which dripped all over his overalls and fresh blood was flowing even as the man looked on.

What the... the man could only mouth those words silently as his eyes made his way to the source of blood and the wound.

It was a gruesome sight.

A metallic object, which the man vaguely made out as a fork, was pierced and speared into the face of the waiter and blood was oozing out from which the fork made contact. The waiter was motionlessly facing upwards save the fact that blood was still flowing steadily.

The man almost belched at what he’s seen but another thought replaced the picture before him and fear began to instil itself in the man’s mind.

Out of a sudden spur of adrenaline, the man lunged himself out of the nearest window and out into the cold rain that raged from above.

That feeling of intensity within him was so extreme that he let out a cry of ecstasy as he flew out of the room and landed on a patch of soft, wet grass, behind the cafe where he dined.

With his suit already wet and his hair obviously nowhere near his standard of perfection, the man deserted his usual thought of tidying up and helped himself up, oblivious to the shouts that crept through the sound of the rain, from the cafe.

Without even looking back, the man gathered himself and ran, as fast as he could, as if something was hot in pursuit right behind him.

The cafe faded from view and the rain intensified to an impossible state, as if attempting to mask the man’s presence from the very thing that hunted him down.

-

“Good lord, Sir! You’re utterly soaked” the man’s chief butler remarked before sending the servants of the man’s residence to fetch towels and whatever they can to make their master warm and out of the rain.

The man arrived at his residence panting deeply and feeling immensely cold, due to the savage rain. Upon reception with his waiters however, he totally disregarded them and stormed all the way to his room, clearly uninterested in the towels, hot chocolate or biscuits being offered to make him feel better after running through the rain.

Bloody servants, he muttered before ascending the incredible flight of stairs that led to the place where he felt safest.

His house was huge and it took him quite awhile before reaching the massive doors that barricaded his comfort zone from the rest of the world and with another great deal of effort the man pushed with what strength he has left and stepped into the room. The door had never been heavier.

The man stripped off his soaked clothes as soon as the massive doors closed upon him, and prepared himself for a hot, long shower in the bathroom.

He glanced into the mirror that framed the bathroom and thought to himself about what had just happened.

Something’s not right, the man concluded.

He soon pulled himself away from the mirror and proceeded to start the shower.

There was a rap on the door to his room as soon as he turned the tap on.

There it goes again. The man turned the tap back off and fumbled for some clothes, with a slight tint of fear and a strange rush of excitement at the same time; no one has ever knocked on his doors nor intruded his room, not even his servants, they would usually call him on the intercom.

Its here to kill me, the man’s eyes wide and his thoughts running wild in his mind. He then ran over to his bedside drawer where he kept a revolver, which was always loaded. The man believed that it “never hurts to be safe than sorry” and he thanked himself for that given the current situation.

The knocking continued and with each rap of the door, the man’s heartbeat grew increasingly faster.

Step by step, he crept up to the door, literally on tiptoes as the knocking grew louder and more desperate sounding.

Let just get this over and done with, the man now sweating with trembling hands over the revolver, ready to pull the trigger anytime.

The knocking stopped and again, the rain seemingly stopped for the second time tonight and all was a still picture.

The door swung open and gunshots echoed the huge residential area where the man resided.

-

The revolver fell to the ground with a dull thud.

The man himself slumped in a corner on the ground, a rare sight for a man of his character, personality and position in life.

He sat beside a pool of blood though it wasn’t his and stared down at what he’s done.

There on the stone hard marble encrusted floor lay the chief butler face down in his own pool of blood motionless. A tray of cookies lay beside him, sprawled out as well as a mug of hot chocolate, in pieces all over the place with drips of chocolate lining the floor along with a red liquid that oozed from his body.

What... have I done, the man buried his hands into his wet hair and tugged at it, enhancing the pain from the headache as well as the pain of ripping out his own hair.

“So it was me, myself, all along.”

The hair, the cafe, the waiter and now the chief butler, it all fell into place one by one like a jigsaw puzzle. There was no assassin, there was no attacker, there was nobody wanting to kill the man, but everything sprouted from within him.

“WHERE IS SHE?” with rage in his voice as well as insanity, the man screamed his lungs out.

She has been the cause of the man’s rise to insanity, she has been the source of it all, she has been the one who caused all this, she... the man, unable to control himself released a torrent of rage and pumped his fist on the floor.

Indeed, the man was driven to insanity and everything he had would be drawn to naught. In the morning, the media would have already gotten news of the killing at the cafe which would point to the man, which will in turn, spawn further controversy. The chambermaid would also discover the lifeless corpse of the chief butler when she does her routine in the morning, thus concluding the murderer.

The man’s life was over and even as he stood on the ledge to his balcony, he thought of the cause of it all, the women that he was supposed to meet earlier on, the one that stood him up and most importantly, the only one he truly loved...

The man’s cell phone buzzed from within his wet pair of pants which he stripped off earlier on. The ringing soon stopped but a text message was received.

“Sorry Richard, I can’t make it tonight for the dinner due to the heavy rain and it was because of that, I couldn’t get to you all night. Sorry! I’ll give you a call when I’m safely home, don’t worry about me, I’m fine. I miss you, love!”

Of course dear Richard wasn’t there to read the message. In fact, he wasn’t anywhere at all. She never got to hear from him ever again, and he was never to be seen ever again.

But scribbled right on his bed was a note which read, “I won’t wait for you anymore” in a red ink, possibly blood.

The man never lived nor died."

-END-

With that, this narrative comes to a close and as I've mentioned, I'm open to feedback and comments to this series.

I will also be doing a followup post on the various themes I considered for this narrative as well as some references and influences I've drawn for this narrative.

Till then, keep a look out for metallic-stains and check back soon for updates.

Cya'll later.

The Human Behaviour (III); The Influence of Fear

As this series draws to a close, I’ve covered the various causes of Human Behavioural changes and observations to the complexity about this complex mechanism that is within all of us.

Being a conclusive instalment, I’ve decided to tackle an issue on human behaviour that has been brought up in my previous instalments, namely influencing and the element of fear in one’s mindset and how it affects the human behaviour.

Mentioned in the 1st instalment (refer to article, “The Human Behaviour (I); The Social Setting”), fear is an attribute, more rather, that alters the human behaviour in ways often unnoticed from an onlooker’s perspective.

Fear is a scary (no pun intended) attribute that crafts a person’s mindset, which is ultimately, interrelated to his or her behavioural habits.

With reference to the previous instalment, fear causes changes personality-wise and also behavioural wise, for example, in tough and awkward social settings as mentioned.

It is thus no doubt that fear is a powerful tool used by people of power or authority in our modern society to, somehow or rather, “shape” and “control” the minds of its citizens; of which I’ll elaborate more later on.

The second factor in ultimate human behavioural alteration is the aspect of influence.

Mentioned in the 2nd instalment (refer to article, “The Human Behaviour (II); The Change”), the somewhat controversial issue of influence plays a part in human behavioural changes and structures.

Strong influences in the society, culture or even race can ultimately affect human behaviour whether adversely or otherwise. However, influences or rather the act of influencing, is a powerful tool along with persuasion as it is able to shape changes in the human behaviour.

Won’t this be a little scary if its used to “programme” the masses? To have your perceptions controlled through persuasion and influences?

Evidently, I’ve decided to do a final wrap-up on these two simple (but complicated in its own way) aspects as derived from my previous instalments mainly because I’m particularly affected and drawn to the fact that human behaviour can be controlled, shaped, fabricated and even manipulated to such an extent that it changes their entire perception and mindset, which forms a chain effect that in turn, affects the human behaviour.

Sounds like an awful lot doesn’t it?

Sadly in our society nowadays, the image of fear is often anchored to the technique of influence as these two aspects and attributes match side by side, like how a puzzle fits perfectly together.

What this means is that this method, as I would like to call it, is an effective catalyst, a potent mix, to control and shape, as mentioned.

Firstly, let us break down it, word for word.

The term influence is defined as “the action or process of producing effects on the actions, behaviour, opinions, etc of others” (as cited from dictionary.com).

What this means, in laymen terms, is that influence is basically a stage by stage process which coincides with the technique of persuasion as persuasion influences people to believe or even do a particular task or matter.

The term fear is defined as “an emotional response to threats and dangers” (as cited from Wikipedia.com).

Note the word emotional, used in its definition. Fear is often associated with emotions and emotions automatically constitutes into the mind which links to the behaviour.

This is a complex chain but logical in a sense as our behaviour is very much based on our emotions and perceptions. After all, behaviour is what gives humans their character and their unique facade due to the diversity of each and every single human mind.

Putting the two attributes together is interesting and powerful then. Think of the technique of influence as a gun and fear as its bullets; its the same relationship.
Without the gun, the bullets would be useless (unless loaded into another gun) and vice versa, which can be said in a more metaphorical sense in this case of influences and fear.

By inculcating the influence of fear in one’s mind, their actions or behaviour in this case, will be motored on by their “emotional response” which in this case, is fear, and results in certain changes in the human behaviour.
Influencing fear into people thus, is like a “loaded gun” and that means it is deadly and effective at the same time.

Though it may seem common, the influence of fear in our daily lives is so subtle that in many cases, we subconsciously accept these incoming fears and believe them, in doing so succumbing to the influence of fear, which may or may not contain truth, depending on the situation.

Over the pass few days, I’ve tried to observe such examples of the “subtle details” which indirectly, uses fear to influence. I had to find a source and had to observe people’s reaction after exposure to the source and how their behaviour would change in contrast.

And for that, I turned to the mass medium of the 21 century: the television.
The media is actually a powerful influence in people’s mind. From the high intellects, to the less fortunate, these people turn to the most common medium to gain information, exposure and also unknowingly, influence.

It helps conceptualise the fact that most people actually put their utmost trust in the media and the information it delivers.

Thus, as if on express, different influences get brought across very quickly in our modern society and that’s why human behaviour and perceptions can be so easily dictated via the media and its various mediums.

Though my observations in the outside world were in vain, I turned to school and finally found my due observation.

“Bowling for Columbine”, “An Inconvenient Truth” and “Fahrenheit 9/11”. Three
controversial films in their own rights, were shown to the classes, mainly due to educational purposes and also, to stimulate the students’ thinking in such controversies.

These films were very powerful in a sense that sensitive issues were tackled headfirst and information about various conspiracies were uncovered. Persuasion and influences were used deeply in these films too, particularly the influence of fear.
Though it may not seem as an accurate sample size, I did a rough observation on the behaviour of my fellow class and course mates who viewed the film and there was an astonishing difference before and after the film, behavioural wise.

Most of them reacted strongly as compared to their usual nature before watching such films as they were purely convinced. There were a handful though, that were sceptical about the things mentioned and were by far, unconvinced.

They voiced their opinions out after the films as we held a little discussion for each film screened and some of them underwent a distinctive change in behaviour.
Perhaps their believe was shaken or that they were deeply influenced by the speech. But I chose to think otherwise.

“Fear is what feeds the mind of horrors that can otherwise be devised” A quote that I came up (with a little influence from the film, Fahrenheit 9/11) that I feel, captures the essence of the “fear factor” in this case.

The aspect and issue of fear was what my observational subjects were probably exposed to, whether to a large or small extent, which influenced and persuaded them of their thoughts and mindset, thus resulting in the change of behaviour.

Many of the films mentioned have the fear of uncertainly hidden amongst the elaborated words that were flourished in the content which were subconsciously absorbed by viewers. This was probably because most of the films dealt their respective controversies with a certain degree of doubt.

Humans are not comfortable when they’re dealing with things that they are unsure of due to their nature and thus, an apt aspect of fear used.
However, the behaviour tabulated is subjective to individuals as some perceive it differently.

For some, their behaviour “shrinks” which will then result in them retreating and contemplating about what was shown to them. For others though, their behaviour strengthens and they gain a certain boost and motivation to make a change and difference and to evict the horror that they were presented with.

And this brings me to my next objective of pointing out the different benefits of fear.

Yes, fear will often reap negative effects for some, but like the mentioned above, certain individuals see fear as a source of motivation (refer to article, “Screaming Fans; The Motivational Force and Ambition”), which is largely ideal.

The motivation for improvement is fluid as for some, it is hard to find but for others, it comes naturally. By being able to turn negative aspects like fear, into positive aspects like motivation, I find that particularly enriching.

This will also mean a change in behaviour; a change for a better one. Which is largely due to the cultivation of motivation as motivation breeds positive behaviour; a vital aspect for improvement.

But this motivation for change is subjective, depending on the context as not all motivation for changes are positive and good natured. This is also where values and morals come into play as people are tested to tell what’s right to wrong, what’s good to bad.

People thus capitalises on this detail and uses fear as an influence; to gain motivation for change.

I’d like to think of the human behaviour as a litre of water, in a metaphoric sense.
It can take almost any form, as it is easily influenced to changes and it can take any shape, as it is unique to each individual.

Many people don’t pay attention to the delicate details of that “litre of water” and when it changes its form or shape but I find it particularly interesting to chapter its changes and find out about the causes and effects of it all.

Our mind and our behaviour is a very versatile aspect of our “internal motherboard”. Foreign influences (such as fear) can alter its balance and its function.

I hope that we’ll all be able to take full control of our minds and thus, free ourselves from the various external aspects that our mind is faced with which affects behaviour.

“Life is full of daily complexities and mysteries...” (taken from “The Human Behaviour (I); The Social Setting”) and the human mind and behaviour is one such example.

I hope that this series has indeed gained a better insight into such “complexities and mysteries” of life and enrich one’s perception from a personal viewpoint.

A Vision of Truth? I Don't Know.

First off, I have to say that Friday Night Starbucks are really really awesome, period. Especially if its a special occasion.

I know this is coming in abit late (considering the fact that its Sunday now), but yea, the cake, the coffee, the pasta, the ghostly stories/game discussion and not the mention, the photo taking session at the end of it all, which I'll update when I get them, were all awesome moments that I'll truly remember.

On a front, we're helping Starbucks regain their market share (which they're losing due competition) but on another, Friday nights are just a time set aside for social gatherings as such. Till the day when we don't have to leave at 11pm due to curfews, Friday nights are totally awesome and we'll make the time count.

Now that that's done, time for a little update.

Ever had one of those weird dreams which you remember for the entire day? Well I have.

This dream came to me last night (or morning, I can't really tell). Its contents are unfortunately, not at liberty to be expressed (as it is highly personal, NOT in an explicit way).

Even up to now (its 5:14 in the afternoon), I remember the dream clearly. Some people believe that if you remember your dream, it'll never come true.

BS or logic?

Honestly, I don't know. But what I know is that dreams DO come true, if you work towards them (both in a metaphorical and literal fashion).

I hope the dream I had, does come true. And I'll work towards it. Its not often that a pristine dream as such comes along and I take that as a sign, a sign to work towards it.

So for those of you out there who's given up on a dream, don't. For hope exists in even the weakest and worse situation, something which I'll always remember.

Be sure to check back for updates and articles, including the final installment of "The Human Behaviour" series. Till then stay sharp and don't give up.

Cya'll later.