Electric cards
Frank was not having fun. He agreed to do this with his girlfriend, Alice, because 'it'll be fun, we'll make 5 bucks by the end of it, and we'll go see a movie after.' It most certainly was NOT fun, mainly because Potter was a sick arsehole who loved to electrocute people.
"I don't like this," Frank hissed to Alice
"Oh don't be silly, Frank, it's fine." She gently patted his arm, in an attempt to soothe him.
"Oh yeah?! It's fine for you, because you haven't been electrocuted ONCE!" He grumbled. Frank was starting to see why there was a message saying 'Potter burn in Hell' spray painted in red on the door to the 'Paranormal Studies Laboratory'. Frank didn't think Potter or anyone else had seen it. Or maybe the crazy man kept it there, as some sort of badge or something.
Potter was renowned across the student body for performing whacked up psychic experiments on people, but Frank thinks this one takes the cake. He was holding up cards, with different little symbols on them, and you had to guess the symbol without looking at it. Alice was somehow getting them all right, but Frank had gotten every question wrong.
But Franks suspected favouritism. Whenever he guessed wrong, Potter turned the card around and showed him the correct symbol. But whenever Alice guessed, whether they were wrong or not, Potter never once flipped the card around.
"Now, Frank, I want you to pay close attention, focus, and what symbol is on the card?" Potter asked, a large playing card in his hand.
Frank pushed two fingers to his temples and thought for a second before he shakily said,
"A-a square."
Potter grimaced and gently shook his head, and he flipped the card around and showed Frank a star.
"Good guess, but wrong."
He flicked a switch, and a sharp jolt of electricity ran up Frank's arm, causing him to jump in his seat. Alice giggled. Potter wrote something down on a sheet of paper he had on the other side of the desk. It was Alice's turn next, and Frank watched intently to see if she was cheating in any way. She seemed nervous, probably because she must have guessed that the shocks were painful from Frank's reactions to them.
"Clear your head, picture the card in my hand, imagine me turning it over, and... What is it?" Potter grinned at Alice. Alice seems to be deep in thought, probably imagining the card being flipped over. Frank bets that if her answer is right, it will be just by chance. Frank loves Alice, but he hates Potter, and right now this hate is getting in the way. Once he's out of the room, it will be fine, but Potter's like cancer, you kill it in one spot, and then it pops up in another, all smiling and happy.
"A star, the card has a star on it." Alice declared, looking proud of herself.
Potter looked at the card, a smile forming on his face.
"That is correct," he grinned, putting the card down (without showing anyone what was actually on there) and writing something on the sheet of paper again. He turned his attention back to Frank, who was nervously fidgeting in his chair. He held up a card.
"Concentrate, what is on the card I am holding up?"
Frank sighed, and looked at the device he was hooked up to, knowing what was going to come.
"Circle."
Potter flipped over a card with a square on it, and without a care in the world, sent a shock running up Frank's arm. The force of the shock caused Frank to accidentally spit out his gum,
"Close... But oh so very wrong."
Potter turns back to Alice, who now has a massive smile on her face.
"Ready?" He asks, and she nods yes. He holds up a card, and waves it through the air. He holds it out in front of her and looks deeply into her eyes. Alice bites her lip in contemplation and thinks.
"Is it... A figure eight?"
Potter grins and nods, obviously lying.
"Excellent! That's five for five now! You're not cheating me somehow, are you?" He joked, putting the card back, AGAIN not showing either Alice nor Frank whether the guess was correct or not.
"I don't really know, they're just coming to me." Alice mused, looking thoughtful.
"Well, there must be something special inside you for sure, because no-one has ever managed to do that yet!" Potter exclaims, writing something down on the paper again.
Turning back to Frank, he holds out a card.
"Nervous?" He quips, looking pleased with himself.
"Yes," Frank admits, looking at Alice.
"Then tell me, boy. What is on this here card? And be careful, because whatever you say defines whether or not you get shocked again, and we don't want that now. Do we?"
Frank looked at the card and concentrated with every brain-cell in him, but there wasn't a single answer that he could say would prevent him from getting shocked.
"Come on, it's not that hard, and besides, you only have 75 more cards to go." Potter raised his eyebrows at him, a smirk forming on his face.
Frank, for the life of him, could not figure out what the hell was on that card, so he took a chance.
"It's a couple of wavy lines."
Potter immediately put the card down, without showing anyone the results. Frnak knew he had gotten the answer correct, but that didn't matter to Potter. He wanted to shock Frank, so Frank was getting shocked.
"Not your lucky day, is it Frank?" He slowly reached for the machine.
"Eh, but - umm no, no please don't do that, AAAAAGH!" Frank shouted as the machine sent volts of electricity up his arm.
"I'm getting a little tired of this!" He shouted at Potter. Frank was done being patient. He wanted out.
"We're paying you? Aren't we?" Potter retorted, winking at Alice.
"Yeah, like 5 bucks! And I didn't know you were going to be giving me electric shocks!" Frank complained. "What are you trying to prove here anyway?!"
Potter wrung his hands and looked tiredly at Frank.
"I'm studying the effect of negative reinforcement on a human being's natural ESP ability. Some people have it, and some people don't. You clearly are one of the unlucky ones, unlike this beautiful lady here." He gestured towards Alice, who looked slightly concerned.
"Yeah? You wanna know the effects?! It's Fucking pissing me off! So your theory's correct, and Alice is my girlfriend, you disgusting punk!" Frank stood up and shouted, angrily ripping the wires off his arm, and went to leave.
Potter actually looked somewhat remorseful as he stood up.
"Hey, look. I'm terribly sorry about being a 'punk'. Here, have your 5 bucks each and go out someplace."
Frank snatched the two $5 notes out from Potter's hand and walked out, Alice following close behind him.
"I'm sorry, Dr. Potter," she said, looking apologetic.
"Oh, no don't be, no-one has managed to make it past 10 cards anyway before they give up and walk out. I might see if Remus is around and test it on him, but I have to find a place on his arm that has nerves first. Now go, have fun with your boyfriend." He smiled, and closed the door behind her.
"Oh, what a day." He muttered, sitting down at the table, curious, he grabbed one of the wires, and attached it onto his arm. Turning the machine on, he reached for the button and gave himself an electric shock.
"OH, JESUS FUCKING CHRIST OW! Is this what I've been doing to people?! No wonder that person with the spray-paint told me to burn in hell, this shit hurts!"