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The Stockholm Syndrome (as published in Z-composition)
The Stockholm Syndrome
Once upon a time a Heart committed a grave crime. Heart didn’t follow the diet rules and suffered from a stroke endangering the life of other members of family, the Body. Somehow the danger was averted; Heart pumped though scantily. Brain explained the scenario to Heart; Heart didn’t listen. So, Brain had to arrest Heart. “Love of eating can’t be a crime,” Heart yelled. “It’s not about eating; it’s about eating right,” Brain answered in anger. But Heart insisted for freedom cream-pie. Every vessel in Heart was narrow. Heart suffocated. This problem can only be treated by cream-pie, Heart was sure. Brain was well aware of Heart’s self-hurting behavior. Instead of being angry at Heart, Brain knew future of family lies in welfare of Heart; Brain took great care of Heart.
Brain fed Heart very well. For breakfast, Brain fed him Stockholm bagels and Syndrome marmalade jelly. Heart’s lunch consisted of empowerment green salad with an uplifting rice-pudding as a desert. During the snack time, Heart was given a make-sense organic tea and a big sympathy cookie with smiley chocolate chunks. The dinner menu included +1 spiced exotic dish and happiness fat-free ice cream. Such was the effect of this genial reaction that Heart almost forgot about the freedom cream-pie. In addition to good care, Brain told Heart many stories from salt-less mythology where hero who doesn’t eat salt saves the population from addiction of Salt demon, Mocha monster, Cheese cruel etc. Other members of family (Others) suspected some kind of moral in these stories. How could Others be so impressionable and stupid? These are just absurd stories to put kids to sleep. Heart thought and laughed. Heart didn’t want to be influenced with anything Brain said because Brain had arrested Heart. Brain was happy that at least these stories made Heart laugh. Brain still kept on feeding Heart with such stories. Also Brain was sure that stories will work with proper diet and proper environment. Brain instructed Others to make Heart cheerful. Heart’s condition constantly improved. One day, Heart couldn’t see deteriorating condition of family members and pumped good amount of blood to others. Brain knew the stories did their subconscious magic. With time Heart’s condition improved but Heart was still far from complete recovery. Brain started engaging Heart with ‘hello-how-are-you’ type conversations.
On one odd day, Heart dreamed. The imprisoned Heart saw another Heart outside and was instantly hypnotized. In the other Heart, the imprisoned Heart saw all those flavors found at yoghurt shops: the vanilla affection, cookie care, tart knowledge, and strawberry concern. The other Heart who sat on the driving seat of a truck filled with the freedom cream-pies waved at imprisoned Heart. The imprisoned Heart wanted to go out and say to the other Heart, “You pulsate beautifully.” The imprisoned Heart looked for Brain; Brain was busy decoding some unconscious messages from dreams. No one else was there to hold the imprisoned Heart back. Still imprisoned Heart couldn’t get out. After waiting for long time in expectation, the other Heart drove away. Suddenly Heart woke up, feeling alone in whole world. Heart yelled and sobbed. When Others asked, Heart said nothing.
Brain knew the reason of Heart’s sadness-Heart’s feeling for another Heart. For a moment, Brain thought of letting Heart go and follow the other Heart carrying the freedom cream-pies. But Brain knew that in the absence of Heart, family won’t be alive anymore. Also, Heart can’t handle a single bite of cream pie. Heart was still recovering from atherosclerosis, the worst disease to affect a Heart and the disease could spread to whole family. The name of disease brought memories of Heart’s turbulent past.
In the past, Heart devoured a lot of young cheeseburgers, relished pulpy ice-creams and enjoyed heavy corn diet. Heart smoked mentholated cigarettes with supermodels. Also, Heart enjoyed the company of ex.- the love-liquor. Heart drank so much that Liver, Heart’s friend, who previously had metabolized all the liquor and excess of fat, died from emotionless cirrhosis as a result of Heart’s irresponsibility. Sad and weary Heart lay down on a couch for a month. Heart grew fat. Though the life of family was saved by liver transplantation but Heart was imprisoned for not following the diet rules and putting the entire family at risk. The fat, angry and diseased Heart could only pump scantily leading to further deterioration of family’s health. Brain who supervised the imprisoned Heart started a different therapy the basis of Brain’s reading of The Stockholm syndrome. Brain took good care of Heart and fed him well.
As Brain reminisced about the past, Brain realized that freedom cream-pie will not bring freedom to Heart but instead demise to whole family. Thus Brain directed all of his attention to sad Heart. Sad Heart throbbed with a complex feeling of isolation, fear, loneliness and lack of freedom. Confused with dream, Heart asked to Brain, “Why I couldn’t get out?” It was Heart’s misfortune that this question turned out to be a multiple choice type. As per Brain, Heart’s choices were:
1. Heart wasn’t young anymore.
2. Heart was a responsible member of family.
3. Heart was suffering from atherosclerosis.
4. None of the above.
Anand Prakash is a Graduate student at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. His fiction has appeared or forthcoming in Tiny Happy Journal, Perceptions Reflected Quarterly, and Crack the Spine. His writings can be found at http://gradstudentwriter.blogspot.com/
http://zombiepoetry.com/flash-fiction.html
The Stockholm Syndrome (as published in Z-composition)
The Stockholm Syndrome
Once upon a time a Heart committed a grave crime. Heart didn’t follow the diet rules and suffered from a stroke endangering the life of other members of family, the Body. Somehow the danger was averted; Heart pumped though scantily. Brain explained the scenario to Heart; Heart didn’t listen. So, Brain had to arrest Heart. “Love of eating can’t be a crime,” Heart yelled. “It’s not about eating; it’s about eating right,” Brain answered in anger. But Heart insisted for freedom cream-pie. Every vessel in Heart was narrow. Heart suffocated. This problem can only be treated by cream-pie, Heart was sure. Brain was well aware of Heart’s self-hurting behavior. Instead of being angry at Heart, Brain knew future of family lies in welfare of Heart; Brain took great care of Heart.
Brain fed Heart very well. For breakfast, Brain fed him Stockholm bagels and Syndrome marmalade jelly. Heart’s lunch consisted of empowerment green salad with an uplifting rice-pudding as a desert. During the snack time, Heart was given a make-sense organic tea and a big sympathy cookie with smiley chocolate chunks. The dinner menu included +1 spiced exotic dish and happiness fat-free ice cream. Such was the effect of this genial reaction that Heart almost forgot about the freedom cream-pie. In addition to good care, Brain told Heart many stories from salt-less mythology where hero who doesn’t eat salt saves the population from addiction of Salt demon, Mocha monster, Cheese cruel etc. Other members of family (Others) suspected some kind of moral in these stories. How could Others be so impressionable and stupid? These are just absurd stories to put kids to sleep. Heart thought and laughed. Heart didn’t want to be influenced with anything Brain said because Brain had arrested Heart. Brain was happy that at least these stories made Heart laugh. Brain still kept on feeding Heart with such stories. Also Brain was sure that stories will work with proper diet and proper environment. Brain instructed Others to make Heart cheerful. Heart’s condition constantly improved. One day, Heart couldn’t see deteriorating condition of family members and pumped good amount of blood to others. Brain knew the stories did their subconscious magic. With time Heart’s condition improved but Heart was still far from complete recovery. Brain started engaging Heart with ‘hello-how-are-you’ type conversations.
On one odd day, Heart dreamed. The imprisoned Heart saw another Heart outside and was instantly hypnotized. In the other Heart, the imprisoned Heart saw all those flavors found at yoghurt shops: the vanilla affection, cookie care, tart knowledge, and strawberry concern. The other Heart who sat on the driving seat of a truck filled with the freedom cream-pies waved at imprisoned Heart. The imprisoned Heart wanted to go out and say to the other Heart, “You pulsate beautifully.” The imprisoned Heart looked for Brain; Brain was busy decoding some unconscious messages from dreams. No one else was there to hold the imprisoned Heart back. Still imprisoned Heart couldn’t get out. After waiting for long time in expectation, the other Heart drove away. Suddenly Heart woke up, feeling alone in whole world. Heart yelled and sobbed. When Others asked, Heart said nothing.
Brain knew the reason of Heart’s sadness-Heart’s feeling for another Heart. For a moment, Brain thought of letting Heart go and follow the other Heart carrying the freedom cream-pies. But Brain knew that in the absence of Heart, family won’t be alive anymore. Also, Heart can’t handle a single bite of cream pie. Heart was still recovering from atherosclerosis, the worst disease to affect a Heart and the disease could spread to whole family. The name of disease brought memories of Heart’s turbulent past.
In the past, Heart devoured a lot of young cheeseburgers, relished pulpy ice-creams and enjoyed heavy corn diet. Heart smoked mentholated cigarettes with supermodels. Also, Heart enjoyed the company of ex.- the love-liquor. Heart drank so much that Liver, Heart’s friend, who previously had metabolized all the liquor and excess of fat, died from emotionless cirrhosis as a result of Heart’s irresponsibility. Sad and weary Heart lay down on a couch for a month. Heart grew fat. Though the life of family was saved by liver transplantation but Heart was imprisoned for not following the diet rules and putting the entire family at risk. The fat, angry and diseased Heart could only pump scantily leading to further deterioration of family’s health. Brain who supervised the imprisoned Heart started a different therapy the basis of Brain’s reading of The Stockholm syndrome. Brain took good care of Heart and fed him well.
As Brain reminisced about the past, Brain realized that freedom cream-pie will not bring freedom to Heart but instead demise to whole family. Thus Brain directed all of his attention to sad Heart. Sad Heart throbbed with a complex feeling of isolation, fear, loneliness and lack of freedom. Confused with dream, Heart asked to Brain, “Why I couldn’t get out?” It was Heart’s misfortune that this question turned out to be a multiple choice type. As per Brain, Heart’s choices were:
1. Heart wasn’t young anymore.
2. Heart was a responsible member of family.
3. Heart was suffering from atherosclerosis.
4. None of the above.
Anand Prakash is a Graduate student at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. His fiction has appeared or forthcoming in Tiny Happy Journal, Perceptions Reflected Quarterly, and Crack the Spine. His writings can be found at http://gradstudentwriter.blogspot.com/
