Hysteria's Revisit

Alright valued readers, as promised here's a little revisit on Hysteria's Call.

Again, I'm really really grateful for the comments and feedback received for the narrative so thank you (I'm really grateful thus explaining the repetitive thank yous)

For this post however, I'll be talk about the various themes and aspects in which I considered to be included in Hysteria's Call. I admit that given a little bit more time (as well as resources for that matter) I would have been able to further refine the narrative both in terms of story content as well as theme specification.

If you're feeling a little lost ("What the hell is Hysteria's Call anyway?") be sure to revisit the links on the navigation bar to your right for all installments of Hysteria's Call, 1 to 3.

And with that, lets get things started.

General Commentary

With Hysteria's Call, I thought it would be really interesting to incorporate a mixture of the elements such as nature (represented as the torrential rain) as well as industry and society (the setting of the office building, the man having a high business position etc).

That obviously created a stark contrast for the story plot's development as well as room for the development of certain themes which I'll touch on later on.

I also thought that it would be a good idea to point out the vulnerabilities of even the highest of figures in society (ie. the man) that even they, being human beings, have their breaking point as well as their weaknesses as well. Certainly, no one in the world is absolutely perfect.

The reason why I chose to segment the entire narrative into 3 parts is simply indicating a transition between different settings and scenes. Part 1 sees the man's journey to the cafe, part 2 sees the events unfolding in the cafe itself while part 3 climaxes and concludes the story.

Throughout these 3 parts, we are also able to see and foretell the man's slow degeneration in terms of his mental health, the process of how from having absolute power to even losing control of himself.

Indeed, the irony is evident; a man of great status and power, with control over others, not even able to control himself in the end.

Theme of Hysterics, lack of Self Restrain

Certainly the theme of self restrain, or the lost of self restrain, more rather, is the main underlying aspect of Hysteria's Call. It is the basis of the plot's development as well the main gist of the entire concept, thus giving meaning to the title in itself.

The lack of restrain and mental disorientation causes the man dear as the plot reveals bit by bit, the process of mental corrosion that ultimately leads to his demise.

Here, we are also able to observe the adverse but powerful effects of the human mind. So destructive that it can destroy everything with just a tinge of doubt or uneasiness. This theme clearly portrays what will happen when one loses control and grip over his mind.

And when it is unable to take it all, it self destructs.

We see a transformation. As mention, the man degenerates himself from one of power to a being of lesser status and all that solely with the effect of his mind.

Paranoia is the first tinge the man gets (as seen in part 1) and it eventually evolves into something greater when a heighten sense of stress is achieved (as seen in part 2) where it led to excessive behavior as well as actions (of which he'll soon regret). This evolves into something even greater (as seen in part 3) and as if backfiring, the entire effect falls on the reckoning of the man, of which he deals with harshly.

This is also another fine theme of what power can do to a human being. The excess of power, more rather, draws to the man and makes him vulnerable to a huge blow for he was always obtaining everything that he demanded, worked for or wanted at any all.

And when he doesn't get the due results, a chain reaction starts that leads to the development of the story's plot.

Theme of Love

Love is an energy that exists in no fixed orientation but is evident in all things living, especially in that of human beings.

Though the theme of love in Hysteria's Call is not as obvious as other narratives, there is still a slight interpretation for the simple fact that this energy exists throughout the process of life itself; certainly no exception here.

I've tried to visualize love of the most common and simplest (yet troubling in a sense, as some would comply) form; of that towards the relationship type of love. And thus, I've decided that a simple date between this high and mighty executive and his girlfriend (supposedly) would articulate the point substantially.

With this theme, the power of love is expressed in its own unique fashion especially since it sources from the hard and cold mind of the man. It also shows that he has a softer side and that he is just human.

It is also this power of love that serves as a catalyst for the man's insanity, thus substantiating the grip and attachment within the man himself. It can be considered as the tipping force that pivots the man's mental state of health, from being sane to the opposite.

It was also his addiction and obsession to love that contributed to his ultimate downfall in the end.

Theme of Signs

The existence and presence of signs are largely ignored in our modern society mainly because many people not only do not believe in them. Most regard them as skeptical religious material but with Hysteria's Call, I thought it would have been really good to bring out this aspect and to create awareness.

Signs are tell tale signals, which usually presents itself in the form of events. With Hysteria's Call, I thought it would be a really good idea to start off with a very subtle sign, namely the rain, and slowly progress to the encounter with the taxi driver.

The man's recollection of his day (while he was in the room of the cafe, seemingly waiting for his date), tells readers of the man's entire day's events, of which seem to be trying to tell him something.

Again, I've tried to be as subtle as I can to simulate conditions in reality; signs are often concealed amongst daily events and happenings that we take a natural or "coincidence".

I did that through the rain to not only create an atmosphere for the plot of the story but also to visualize a barrier in the said circumstances, a barrier preventing the man from meeting the fate that unfolded in the story.

The epitome of this theme comes through the encounter between the cab driver and the man, where, by some strange twist of fate, the cab gets stuck and is unable to bring the man to the cafe.

A major hint is dropped in that encounter, where the cabby tries to shout and warn the man but trails off (as seen in part 1). But the mention of signs is also seen in part 2 though sparsely which the man in the story treated with "a pinch of salt".

Conclusion and Parting Commentary

Overall, I'm personally satisfied with the development of Hysteria's Call, and I really hoped that you guys enjoyed it as much as I did. Sure there are alot of other themes to explore in this short narrative alone but due to length constrains, I guess this is enough food for thought for the time being.

I would (as expressed earlier) have wished for more time to develop the ending as well as certain segments of the story but the themes came out ideally in my view.

The reason why I chose not to disclose the man's identity (ie. his name) till the very end was down to a couple of reasons. One being that I wanted to keep the formality and i didn't really see the need to disclose his actual name and the other reason was that I valued the suspense till the end.

Feel free to share your comments about Hysteria's Call as well as its various themes via comments (located just right below this post, click on the (number) comments link).

I appreciate feedback from my readers so don't be shy!

Till then, remember to check back for updates and articles. Cause here at metallic-stains, we deliver (ripoff much?).

Cya'll later.

Hysteria's Call, Part 2

Alrighty, second instalment of "Hysteria's Call". Certainly full of underlying meanings and what not.

I'll run through the list of themes which I considered for this narrative once I'm done with the entire narrative.

This instalment starts off where the previous instalment left us. For those of you who are slightly lost "in the rain", be sure to clarify and check back to the previous part of the narrative.

In the meantime, here goes...


"

Moist carpets and frayed curtains fringed the interior of the small cafe which the man arranged for the meeting and if not for the torrential storm that was raging wildly, this cafe would be a place where people usually “watch the world go by”.

Even the waiters and cafe staff seem affected by the continuous outburst of the storm as they scurried around quickly, darting from table to table, serving the seemingly large number of customers, some of whom had no choice but to seek refuge in this “fancy establishment”.

The man didn’t seem to care about his surroundings nor the increasingly heavy downpour that was happening outside, even though he was drenched up to his kneels and his hair slightly displaced.

He was ushered by his regular waiter to his usual seat, into the room that was usually reserved for high profiled guests and diners; they had it well prepared. And as soon as the man sat down, no more than 3 waiters gilded into the room and awaited his barking orders.

Of course, he was a regular at this fancy cafe, but being the high profiled personnel he is in society and some say even in the world, he would expect no less than the treatment he was getting.

“...and our chef’s special for today is the...”

God damn it, where the hell is she, he glanced nervously at the door, as if expecting someone to suddenly open and join him in the midst of his wait.

“...would you like to have some caviar to accompany you wait you wait, sir?”

With a simple gesture and a flick of the wrist, everyone left the room, except of course, the man. That was all he had to do for some quiet time alone and some even say that he can make high ranking directors crawl on all fours with a snap of the fingers; rumours which are of course, largely denied by the man himself.

Certainly, this was not ordinary appointment as the man pushed back his cuffs to reveal an exquisite time piece, which ranged in the hundred thousand region of value, neatly rested upon his right wrist.

However, no time piece no matter how exquisite would make its owner happy so as long as it showed the actual time and served its function; people tend to be deceptive and selective of their perceptions.

And certainly, the man is of no exception and he hated the fact that she was already running late.

Yes, the man has heard of the presence and has come to the knowledge of the signs, but as with the majority of the masses, tend to classify the matter as “superstition” and more often, blather-talk.

But what he doesn’t know that these so called, signs, exist in many forms and are very much part of reality, just unnoticed.

And since he had some spare time while waiting at hand, he decided to review his day’s activities; a common practice for him personally since he was young which developed into a habit over time.

The day started out ordinary, to the man at least:

The usual signing of papers, both for approval and decline regarding various multimillion dollar investments and the company’s strategic business movements. A particularly interesting piece of legal document about a inter-company dispute (this is something common in companies of the scale) as well as the authorization of certain funding aspects were all on the day’s “signing” agenda.

That usually took up the morning but today, not more than 3 hours elapsed and he was done with everything he had on his agenda for signings. Taking a walk in the morning might not seem to be an ideal thing to do, especially if you’re still at work, but that was exactly what he did.

Not a stone’s throw away was the state park and that was where he spent the rest of the morning, strolling down the pebbled pavements by the magnificently built lake which glittered in the morning sunlight, like pearls floating on its surface; it was a perfect morning.

Phone calls were common for the man, 24/7 but this morning saw an all time record high; from his doctor calling up for a check up he’d missed the other day to his caretaker back home calling to report that there was something urgent to attend to at home and that he required to be home immediately.

The cell phone served as a source of words for this little book called the organizer as schedule after schedule was noted down. But the man was especially cautious today and cancelled all other appointments, including a meeting with his main financial supporters (something anyone should NEVER do) just to make way for the appointment he had now.

Someone up there must be really emotional today, he thought to himself as he sat in the fancy cafe, recollecting his thoughts for the past couple of hours of the day.

Shortly after lunch that day, looming grim clouds gathered and collided in a massive display of lightning as well as an audio burst of thunder. Rain soon followed as nature demonstrated its powers, the same rain that was still relentlessly beating at the cafe’s windows as the man came back once more.

But at this point of time, the man started to feel touchy and as the rhythmic patter of raindrops collided against the glass panes, so did his mind as it started racing wildly.

He could feel the back of his neck starting to sweat and his fingertips drain of blood.

This isn’t right, he conformed in his mind as questions started to race through what was once the cold and aloof stronghold of the man.

She should have been here by now; what if she stood me up; where in the world is she; how is she getting here in the first place; is she driving here; what if she was stranded in the flood down south; why isn’t she here; what if...

A dead silence engulfed the atmosphere for a moment and even the rain seem to stop.

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

"

Hope you guys dug the first instalment as well as part 2. The final instalment will be coming up shortly so stay tuned (or check back, whichever) for various updates and articles soon to be posted.

Your valued feedback and comments about the various themes included in the story as well as the plot development is largely encouraged. Just drop me a comment as you see the need to.

Till then.