Jared didn't like the circus. It's not because he found clowns to be scary, or because he hated them altogether, it was because he found them to be so boring. Jared believed the mentality of "Seen one, seen them all". It wasn't a good mentality to have but he kept it all the same. He was just doing this for his girlfriend. Jared's girlfriend, Tayla, loved the circus. She loved most adventurous and fun activities, it was so exhilarating for her, so when she heard that the circus was in town, she had to go and drag Jared there with her. While they liked different things, they still loved each other quite a lot and would gladly do anything for one another. He tried to hide his yawns away from Tayla, he at least wanted to show her that he cared enough about her to look excited to be here. The whole tent was whispering with excitement, they couldn't wait to see the show, but Jared was tired of waiting, he wanted the show to be over sooner than later. Finally, for Jared, the show started.
The entrance was covered in smoke from the smoke machines. Everyone was in awe, Jared couldn't care less about how "exciting" they made the entrance. From the smoke, several clowns on unicycles rode out, riding around the inside edges of the circus tent, entertaining the young children out in front. Other clowns were flipping around from the smoke, people on horses were riding them around and making them jump over fences while a marching band plays the most joyful of band music. Jared rolled his eyes at the performance, waiting for them to say what they will be performing so he had something to look forward to finishing. After a bunch of performances for the opener, a ringleader walked out into the entrance, with a bright spotlight focused on him. While he was coming out, Jared held Tayla's hand and gave her a smile, enough to hide what he felt about the show.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to tonight's performance!" The ringleader boomed. All the audience applauded. Jared did too, though it was a weak clap. "We have a wonderful show for you all tonight! We have a bunch of performances from our wonderful clown crew back there and we can't wait to show you" The ringleader boasted. Jared just waited for the ringleader to say what performances they had so he could wait for the last one to be finished. "But first...!"
"Bugger" Jared thought.
"...we would like two members from our audience to come to the front of the stage for a surprise performance! So can we get the spotlights to pick from the audience, please?" The ringleader asks the stage crew. The lights swayed about in some frantic dance around the crowds to find someone. "Oh god" Jared whispered to himself "This is always embarrassing". Tayla noticed that Jared didn't really like where this was going, she decides to comfort him. "Don't worry about it" Tayla calmly said "I mean, it will be unlikely that we'll be chosen". A bright light shone upon both Jared and Tayla, and simultaneously, they knew what that meant. Jared groaned at the idea of going in front of the stage and embarrassing himself, where as Tayla was so, so excited to be down there to experience what performance they will be doing up front.
"Come down here, you two! Audience, applaud our new volunteers!" The ringmaster booms, gesturing to Jared and Tayla. Tayla grabbed Jared's hand and forced him out of his seat. "I'm just doing this for you, remember that!" Jared shouted, but Tayla couldn't hear because of the deafening applauding from the crowd surrounding them. Jared and Tayla walked down from their seats down to where a small gate was and they were let in to the centre of the circus. Jared didn't like doing this, so much so that he stopped showing that smile for Tayla.
The ringleader pointed them to either side of himself telling them to please stand here. "Alright, here are our lovely volunteers, ladies and gentlemen" The ringleader explained to the audience, which in response, the audience applauded. "Okay, hello there, what's your name?" The ringleader asks to the girl on his right. "Tayla!" she excitingly booms. The ringleader laughs at the excitement that Tayla has. "You've got a lot of energy, haha. And, sir, what is your name?" he asks to the person on his left. Jared mentally sighs as he says his name to this eerie ringleader. The ringleader turns to the audience and booms "Tayla and Jared, everybody!". The audience applauds.
"Alright, here is what you guys are going to do..." The ringleader explains to Jared and Tayla "All you have to do is stare into this ball here". One of the strongmen from the entrance came out, holding a small silver ball the size of a soccer ball that was attached to a stick. He placed it down in front of both Tayla and Jared, much to the enjoyment of the ringleader. Jared was skeptical and confused. "Is that it?" he asked. "That's it, that's all you have to do" The ringleader replies "Okay, so you know what you guys have to do?". "Yep!" said Tayla. "Yes" slurred Jared in annoyance. "Alright. All you have to do is stare at the ball..." The ringleader said.
Jared didn't want to disappoint Tayla, so he began to stare at the ball. "Just look at the ball... concentrate on the ball..." The ringleader's words started to echo into his mind, as well as Tayla's. He continues to stare, the background around him seems to blur and fade away from his vision, like it was only him, Tayla and the ball. The more he stared at it, the more things he noticed about the ball. Small coloured lights seemed to appear on the ball, fading in and out. The more he saw, the more he was focused on the ball. The ringleader's words seemed to echo into his head, making him focus more on the ball. The coloured lights came back and they started to slowly swirl around and around. The lights continued to swirl getting faster and faster, almost creating a spiral. It kept going faster and faster, around and around, faster and faster, around and around... faster and faster... around and around... faster and faster... focus on the ball... concentrate on the ball... your eyes are feeling heavy... you are getting tired... you are getting sleepy...
"Ladies and gentlemen, our volunteers have now been hypnotised!" The ringleader boomed. The audience roared with applause and laughter. "Now, if you please, I want some audience participation, what shall we make our wonderful volunteers do?"