Mental count
Added 2021-05-24 10:52:58 +0000 UTCI did some fun word games with this piece, all about an almost internalised induction process. Can you spot them?
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How many words does it take for them to drop you? That was the question they posed for you, and since then, they haven’t said a word, just studied you, from the chair opposite. And that has left you time to think. How many words would it take to drop you?
Ten. Surely ten at least. A distraction question and then – hrm, maybe nine? Nine words to take you deeper? How about eight? Eight sounds to sink you? Seven maybe? Though that’s surely too little. Less than that even? How could that be possible?
They’re looking at you, and you notice the slightest nod of the head, a grin on their face as they watch you think. Six? No- Surely not just six. Five then, that’s the least. Four? It might be. Three, surely not? Two? Wait. One. Your eyes roll back in your head.
They snap their fingers. You mind, which was teetering on the edge, plummets downwards, as your eyes close. You hear them stand up form their chair. Feel their finger trace your jaw. “The answer, it turns out, was Zero, pet.” Of course, of course that’s all it took.
