The Winner — part 5

(This is part 5. Click here for other parts: https://medium.com/nebulabyday)

It was the fifth day of winning and Elijah was on his A-game. His abilities to answer questions were astonishing under such pressure. His way with the crowd was natural. His own unique character made the show more successful. Janice saw the show’s ranking increase as more viewers tuned in to see a contestant resembling a movie star. Viewers tuned in as if they were tuning into a Netflix series. Elijah’s effortlessness made everything feel surreal and people wanted to know more about Elijah.

After the fourth day, he earned a massive 823.200 dollars. It was already almost double what he expected to win. Nobody on the show had ever achieved this level of success. Contestants never made it passed the third round, earning a maximum of 137.200 dollars.

To the crowd, Elijah was a hero because of the amount of money he amassed. Although Elijah would never complain about the money, his personal fulfillment came from his ability to answer questions on such a wide range of topics. He was amazed at himself and enjoyed what the winning streak confirmed: Elijah was a capable person deserving of great wealth and respect. The confirmation finally settled in his mind. He always felt he was this capable but the game show confirmed this view he had about himself. It was a human need to require an external number — his earnings — to testify what the mind thinks of itself. The confirmation meant that Elijah could live life even more on his own terms. He could trust his gut. He could take more risks because he could trust his capabilities more.

He now fully believed that his mind only came up with great ideas. He always had that feeling but now the feeling was accompanied by undeniable proof. Believing this much in himself could no longer be a sign of arrogance. In his life, Elijah had felt many moments where he was sure his perspective was right. He was sure — deep in his gut — about some choices, people, actions, or directions he had to take. Yet, on many occasions, he chose to ignore his gut because he couldn’t believe that his gut was constantly correct. He mistook his gut feeling, which always served him well, as a form of arrogance.

“Why should I know things intrinsically that others struggled to fathom for centuries?”, he had reasoned with himself for many years. Raised in a household that valued being humble, this type of reasoning was not supported. “Why do we cover our inborn intellect and wisdom, which he simply called ‘knowing’ with a blanket of humility? Not only does that cover our inborn ability to live life on our terms. It even makes life harder since we have to ignore the actions and choices that give us more energy.”

The show confirmed that the trust he had in his ability was always justified. He now had proof. A life-long of internal struggles finally melted away to make room for an Elijah that couldn’t wait to live an unrestrained life outside this show. He never needed the show to feel this way about himself because the ability was his all along. The show only pushed this inborn feature of himself towards the surface.

Now that Elijah had both the money and his self-image on the highest level, he was ready to go out and enjoy life. The show no longer served him. If he answered a question incorrectly, he could take the money with him and live like a king. Thus he set out to answer the next question wrong.

David smiled formally at Elijah and said: “Elijah, we are now going to test your knowledge about the ever-intriguing subject of time and space. Are you familiar with topics about the cosmos?”.

“One of my favorite topics, David.”

“Then here we go. What do we call the four dimensional analogue of the cube?”

As sudden as the show started, the ambiance turned grim as the bass sound returned and the suspense felt pressing. A correct answer would put Elijah on an amount of 1.6 million dollars. To the crowd, this was a huge accomplishment. Although Elijah felt the same way about it too, he couldn’t imagine how this could improve his life much more. He already had more than he could ever want and he was looking forward to returning to his old life again. Better yet, his new life now. He knew the only way to quit this game show was to give the wrong answer.

“Tesseract”, he thought to himself. Elijah was sure the answer was tesseract. The whole subject of space and time was his favorite. He could easily give David the right answer. It would satisfy him financially. It would satisfy the crowd. Elijah knew one thing for sure: it would not satisfy him. It would just be more of what he already had. The thought of 1.6 million dollars did not impress him. It did not increase his heartbeat and it didn’t inspire fantasies of how to spend it. It did not warm his body or give him goosebumps. It was just a number and there was no struggle inside Elijah. What the 1.6 million meant for the crowd, didn’t have the same impact on Elijah’s experience.

“A polygon”, answered Elijah to a David who looked back in disbelieve.

Elijah was supposed to answer after the commercial break. David quickly signaled the cameraman who instructed even more people that the commercial break started now. Elijah saw the sudden change in mood. Even the crowd felt a certain rush inside the studio but didn’t think much of it.

The cameraman ran back to the blue room, almost kicked the door in, and with obvious shock in his eyes looked at Janice. He just stared at Janice expecting an answer. Janice answered calmly: “Luna got it. We were just in time. It’s a live show with 6 seconds delay. The viewers haven’t heard the answer.”

Luna, who just cut off the video stream from the studio towards the rest of the world, addressed everybody in the blue room: “We will fix this right now. Just keep calm and know that Elijah is winning. Just a little slip-up.”

Janice nodded at Luna. It was not a nod of support or appreciation. It was a nod to expressed that Luna should better make sure it was just a slip-up. As everyone in the room started panicking, Janice sat unshakable with the same smile she always carried. She trusted everything to turn out fine. She knew Elijah tried losing and she knew how to keep him winning. As much as she wanted Elijah to enjoy his newfound riches, she needed him in the show.

As some people in the blue room took off an extra sweater or wiped sweat from their necks, at the podium, David stared at Elijah with an angry look. It was impossible for David to now hide his emotions. Luckily it was a commercial break and David was allowed his expression. In his ear, Janice softly advised: “A few deep breaths, David. After the commercial break, everything is fine. Ok?”

David took this as an opportunity to show his anger at Elijah by putting his hand palms up in a manner to say: “What the fuck, Elijah?”. Elijah was taken back by this reaction from the calm and smooth operating David. Before he could wrap his head around David’s reaction and the rushing crew members, one of the crew members started counting down:

“And in five. Four. Three…”

Elijah braced for a certain impact. He knew his answer had disappointed the crowd and David. A certain reaction was to be expected. Elijah hoped to hear David’s announcement about his wrong answer and how Elijah now had to leave his show. As Elijah got ready, David — now suddenly smooth and energized again — started the show after the break loudly:

“Tesseract! That is completely correct!”

The crowd cheered and there was even confetti coming down. This was the first time someone had ever earned more than one million on the show. David smiled coyly at a completely confused Elijah. Elijah couldn’t even hear the sounds and cheers around him as he had yet to understand what just happened.

He started questioning if he had said tesseract out loud or just in his thoughts. No. He was sure he didn’t say it out loud. He said polygon out loud and he was sure polygon was the wrong answer.

The blue room had cut out Elijah just before his wrong answer got on live television. They returned on air with David celebrating Elijah by restating an answer he didn’t give. The interference of the blue room made the whole situation look like a minor glitch in live television. The viewers just accepted that Elijah just gave the right answer and won his 1.6 million dollars. The high number made sure nobody would question the cutting and pasting of the live show.

Tesseract. Elijah was in disbelieve. He was still part of the show. A show he was about to quit a few minutes ago. He looked at David, who flashed a sly smile back with a wink. What was a celebration to the world felt like bondage to Elijah. He had no time to enjoy the money he just earned. He was still in his charismatic mode and still wanted to hold himself up in front of the viewers. With his chin up and chest out he assessed the situation.

He couldn’t get a grip of what was happening around him. He didn’t show confusion in his body language. In the back of his mind, he just knew someone had to account for all of this. He knew it wasn’t David. David was slick but not powerful enough to make such a move. He knew he had to talk to whoever owns this show. He had to know what was going on. He had to know who was willing to give him an extra 800.000 dollars just to stay on this show. Who was willing to pay this amount in exchange for his freedom? As the show progressed Elijah could only think about the person he had to confront. He tried to figure out who held the keys to his new life.

In the blue room, Janice saw everyone around her calm down. Even though they knew their jobs were safe again, they still carried a look of confusion. They knew they served Janice well but were also very well aware of what consequences their interference had for Elijah. As they struggled with their inner conflict, Janice took a sip of her whiskey. With a satisfied smile, she stared at the monitor zoomed in on Elijah. She knew this glitch would have Elijah looking for her even though at this stage Elijah did not know she is the one he has to confront. Janice was a queen in handling confrontation. Even with a bright mind like Elijah. She inhaled her cigarette deeply as she watched the celebration on the monitor. It was her show and she had just exhibited she had complete control. As she exhaled the smoke, she knew: “Elijah will have questions and he is allowed to have them.” She inhaled another hit. “But he will find out he is the winner…” She exhaled the smoke and relaxed in her chair. “…and he will not lose on my show.”

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