The audience shouted, yelled and screamed their suggestions, the ringleader laughing at their perfect suggestions, this was going to be brilliant for him and brilliant for the audience. All sorts of animals were called out, some as harmless as a kitten and some as dangerous as a sabre-toothed tiger. All of them were interesting but none of them caught the ringleader's attention. Some didn't interest him at all, they were too dangerous to handle or not entertaining enough. The ringleader was going to decide on his own, until someone yelled at the top of their lungs.
"MONKEY!!!"
The ringleader smiled at the person who suggested it. The audience started chanting for monkey to be chosen, building up in volume as the ringleader took his time to decide. The ringleader just looked at the audience with a smile. He turned to the audience, leaving them in suspense, and shouted his answer. "MONKEY!!!"
The audience applauded louder than they have before, they knew that this was going to be fantastic! The ringleader was just loving the crowd's response "Yes, perfect, a monkey! Jared does look like he needs to monkey around!". The ringleader turned towards Jared, a smile raising on his face, and spoke in a soft tone of voice "Jared, do you know an animal that eats fruit?". The ringleader knew that what he said was vague, so he might have to specify which fruit.
"Yes..." Jared said in the same glazed way as Tayla.
Putting a finger on his chin, the ringleader responded "Jared, what was the animal that you first thought of?".
"A monkey..."
The ringleader smiled. Maybe he didn't need to be specific. The audience roared with applause, they were even happy when the name of the animal was said by the volunteer. The ringleader loved the sound of a happy audience, the sound of hands clapping together made him smile as he eyed the glazed Jared.
"I want you to think about what a monkey would think about, Jared. What it likes, what it hates, what it does during the day and the night, what a regular circus monkey would do"
Jared nodded as the thoughts entered his mind. He now knew what monkeys acted like, thought about, yet it wasn't enough for the ringleader. The audience, however, loved every minute of this. They knew that Jared wasn't enjoying himself as much as Tayla, always putting on a face for her when she looked at him, but when he watched the circus, he removed his facade. The audience wanted him to act like a monkey, it seemed fitting for him to monkey around. The ringleader smiled "Now Jared, I want you to think about what a monkey's instincts are, what their fur feels like, what their tail feels like, all of those feelings, Jared, I want you to concentrate on them".
Jared nodded, the thoughts start to enter his mind, all the instincts, feelings, emotions, desires of a monkey Jared felt and thought about. He now knew every thought that a monkey would know.
"Now, Jared, I want you to picture what you would think about if you were a happy monkey. Concentrate on those thoughts, Jared, what would you look like? What would you act like? What would you do instinctively as a very happy monkey?"
The audience starts to chuckle at Jared, picturing those thoughts. Jared felt the thoughts entering his mind. Since his recent understanding of all the monkeys knew and thought about, Jared didn't find it difficult to picture himself as a happy monkey. The audience were almost cheering him on as he continued to picture what being a monkey was like. The ringleader didn't even need to look at the audience at approval, he got it instantly by the chants of the audience wanting Jared to act like a happy monkey.
"Are you picturing what you would think about if you were a happy monkey, Jared?"
Jared nodded again "I...picturing..."
"Now, what would it feel like, Jared? What would your instincts tell you do if you were a monkey? Concentrate on those thoughts, Jared, concentrate".
The thoughts started to flood Jared's mind with his new monkey instincts. He struggled to try and fight them, he tried but he couldn't, he had to concentrate on them... instincts... monkey...
"Yes, keep concentrating on those thoughts, concentrate on those feelings, know what it means to be a monkey..." The ringleader whispered to the hypnotised Jared, grinning deviously as the audience continues to chant for his new monkey mind. "Keep concentrating, think of what your fur would feel like, where your tail would be moving, perhaps to get a fresh banana, concentrate, Jared, concentrate..."
"I... concentrate..."
"Remember all the thoughts of a happy monkey. Let them enter your mind, Jared..."
Everything, even the tiniest little nugget of information, entered Jared's brain. All the information flooded him with the knowledge of a mon- Wait, he wa- i- is a monkey, isn't he? N- n- Yes, always a happy monkey that Jared, wasn't he? The voice of Jared's mind was screaming in anger, trying his best to remember everything that was human, but it was too difficult to remember any human as more and more information of how his happy monkey mind worked started to overflow whatever rational thought he had. "Thoughts... happy... monkey..."
"Yes, that's right, Jared, you are a happy monkey, aren't you!"
As soon as the ringleader said the species' name, the thoughts overpowered any sense of his humanity, leaving nothing but his name.
"Yes... Jared... happy... monkey..." he said, even with a slight smile on his face, like he was proud to be one.
"That's right, and if you are a monkey, does that mean you are like me?"
Jared tried to shout out something that his human mind wanted him to say, but the thoughts of his new monkey persona seemed to dominate what he wanted to say.
"No... you... human... Jared... happy monkey..."
The audience stood up and cheered as Jared believed that he was a happy circus monkey. The ringleader finally changed both his volunteers to believe that they were simple animals. He turned to the audience with the brightest smile on his face. "Now, should we let these animals roam around the circus for you all?"