PUPPET
696 Words
Johann had a reputation as a successful young singer. She launched one album after another, one concert after another. She had all the tools to become a world-famous artist.
Her manager and her father did everything possible to ensure that her daughter made as much money as possible. He saw only money in her talent. He took full advantage of his daughter, who enjoyed the attention of her father regardless of everything.
The crew went to Boston for a big concert. So far, over 80,000 people had bought tickets. Johann was very nervous, but also very happy. He had never had such a large audience.
On the eve of the concert, the crew noticed that Johann was acting strangely. His speech was slurred, his movements were unsteady. They simply didn't know whether his behaviour was caused by the stress of the concert or by something else.
Everyone had gone to bed when Greg heard a noise coming from behind his bedroom door. He slowly climbed out of bed and headed upstairs. He wiped his eyes and walked straight to the door. He opened it, but was greeted by emptiness. When he lay back down, the same noise filtered into the room. He pushed open the door and bumped into Johann at the foot of one of the corridor walls.
Greg carried her into the room and laid her on the bed. Johann just stared at the ceiling with a shaky face. With half an ear he could hear the man calling to him. But he simply could not answer. There was no strength in him. It was as if he had simply been switched off.
The next day, nothing of Johann's behaviour of the previous day was noticeable. Although the whole room was filled with the sound of his father's exasperation, who was talking about a software glitch on his phone. Everyone was listening to him.
As the time approached, Johann became more and more nervous. He was afraid that the concert would not go as planned. Somehow, he felt that his limbs were not moving as he would have liked, and his speech changed from one moment to the next.
Johann took to the stage to find himself facing the stares of tens of thousands of people. He found it shocking. One song followed another, but he wasn't sure what he was doing. He deduced from the huge cheers that he was doing what he was doing well. The audience went wild and applauded happily in the air for their favourite star. The light show was just icing on the cake. Everyone wanted to get closer to their favourite star. And his manager was on the phone with a happy face. The increased income in the meantime filled his soul with warmth. He no longer cared what he pressed on the phone.
Johann suddenly stumbled, but corrected the slip without attracting attention. He was losing more and more control over his own body. Suddenly a strange feeling came over him. It was like a time bomb had gone off.
The manager jumped into his car and left the venue before the concert was over, watching the action from a distance of about two kilometres.
The stadium was level with the ground. The whole thing exploded with all the fans, crew, vendors. There was nothing left of it.
The father dropped a tear but quickly wiped it from his face. A smile came over his face. A few years ago, when Johann was still fluttering his wings, he had a chip implanted. It was experimental and, of course, he jumped at the idea. From then on, he didn't let his daughter stray off course. He controlled her speech and her movements.
The biggest hit of the Boston concert came when Greg told her she was talentless. Now he's written himself into the history books for eternity.
’Now the name of my talentless self will live on forever.’ he drove to the police building with a smile.
He gave himself up without hesitation. He wanted his name and face to be everywhere.
His plan had succeeded. His face appeared on every TV programme with a smug smile.
- Writer
