The Power Of The Mind

(This is a story I wrote as part of my 1st Internal Assessment for 20 marks in my Creative Writing course )

 THE POWER OF THE MIND

Do I still have it?” thought Jerome ‘THE DRAGON’ Edwards to himself.

                He went into flashback to the times when he would march onto the stage and thrill audiences all around the world with his raps, but they seemed a distant memory. The time he spent in prison (he had been sentenced for violence and battery as he had severely injured a few of his fans) and rehab (his violence had been detected to be caused by high levels of cannabis in his blood. A drug…. . It was what he needed to calm his nerves prior to a performance and necessity turned into a habit which turned into an addiction. The addiction resulted in high levels of cannabis in his blood stream, which caused his violent behaviour) was still fresh in his memory. He was seeing such stuff because he was in doubt as post rehab, cannabis was a complete no for him. He had gone onto the stage and faced the empty Bohemian Arena during rehearsals and was barely managing to stay calm. The sight of the lights and five thousand empty seats facing him made him feel nervous. He wondered what would be his state in front of a full arena. How would he perform without cannabis? The doubt was playing on his mind (which he would soon realise was a very powerful thing)

There came a creaking sound which caused Jerome to snap out of his stream of thoughts. He opened his eyes and looked around the rectangular room. It had a white wooden door which was now open and had a lot of chipped edges. A woman stood at the doorway.  The door handle on the inside of the room had a slight dent. There was a brown couch to the right of the door main door next to the door to the shower. There was a table bang opposite the shower door. It had a mirror in front of it. There were 5 red lights on each side of the four sided mirror frame. The room had a small yet quite bright blue light. There was a small rod with hangers to the left of the dressing table. The room had a creamish colour with cracks on quite a few of the walls and was windowless. There were 2 yellow wooden chairs in the room.

         “Are you ready?” came his sister Janie’s voice from his left of the table at the doorway.

         “I’ve never been on stage without cannabis,” replied Jerome and exhaled deeply.

         “You’ve performed without that thing before,” said Janie in a soothing tone.

          “Yup! But that was ages ago in high school and the underground battles,” said Jerome and stood up and turned to the left and faced his sister.

She was about 5’ 8’’. She wore a red ‘DRAGON’ t-shirt which had Jerome’s face on it, blue jeans, and mismatched sports shoes (Red left shoe and green right shoe). Her shoulder length black hair was open and in her hand she carried a cell phone which she now stowed away into her pocket and walked towards her brother who stood at an average height, approximately 5’7”, he had a buzz cut and a beard a moustache of the same length as his hair. He had no piercings he wore a blue hoodie which was fully zipped up, black three quarter length pants and red converse shoes with no socks. He was skinny and to an observer he would weigh about 120 pounds. His round face was wet with sweat.

The brother and sister looked alike except for the eyes. Janie had green eyes unlike her brothers brown ones.

They held each other’s hands and stared intently into each other eyes. Jerome could smell the sweet fragrance and he felt a sense of calm as he inhaled the strong  fragrance of her perfume. He identified it as a rose scent.

”I know you can do it!” said Janie in a voice that exuded confidence.

Her phone rang and she pulled her arms away, took out the phone, flipped it open and stared at the caller id.

“It’s Dave. I need to go and get him in as he has forgotten his backstage pass and I have a spare,” she said and excused herself.

Janie marched out of the room and then stuck her head back in and said, “Why don’t you take a shower and get ready until I get back with Dave?”

Jerome was glad to hear that Dave had called. He strode over to the couch where he had kept his red and blue backpack and opened it. He turned it upside down and emptied its contents onto the couch. From the mess on the couch pulled out a red cap, black capris and a green t-shirt. He slipped off his shoes and strode into the white tiled shower room and shut the door. He undressed and placed his clothes in a pile on the rack in the shower room just besides where the pile of fresh clothes had just been placed.

Jerome turned on the shower and shut his eyes. The force of the ice cold water hitting his head and shoulders felt amazing. He calmed his mind and focused just on the water trickling down his body and took deep breaths. He suddenly saw himself walking into the arena that same evening when he was bombarded with chants such as “you suck” , “You are a horrible human being who beats up his fans , ” Go back to jail you freak”, “want cannabis?” The images seemed blurred. He was afraid of what might happen when he went on stage without the influence of cannabis. Fear was holding him prisoner.  His favourite movie, The Shawshank Redemption had added 'hope can set you free' to the fear can hold you prisoner statement. He was hoping for a joint, but knew that wasn't going to happen.

Jerome balled up his fists and placed them onto the wall in front of him and cleared his mind. He stared into the mirror and what was reflected back could be described as an emotionless, but determined picture of concentration. He shut his eyes again and buried the quotes and chants which were streaming back into his conscious mind deep inside his head and got lost in the amazing feeling of the cold water.

Everything was hazy and words were sounding like slow motion growls. He was walking through the narrow corridors. Followed by a man in a clipboard and Janie. He was now waiting in a room where there was a lot of equipment. He identified it as that which he saw in the movies where they showed radio stations. The Bohemian arena, the venue for the night’s concert had a setup where the technical stuff was located directly next to the stage entry.

“NEXT UP,” shouted a voice from behind Jerome. He hugged Janie and she whispered in his ear, ”I know you can do it. You still got it.”

Jerome walked onto stage and received a thunderous ovation. People were shouting out stuff to him, but he couldn’t understand a word. The crowd was seemed like a blur. The spotlights shone so bright and he had to momentarily shut his eyes as he was blinded by the light. His hands started shaking and so did his right leg.

The music played and Jerome stood there motionless. He was trembling too much to actually start rapping. The crowd started buzzing. He couldn’t take it. He turned and ran off stage with great haste and kept up his speed through the technical area just beyond the stage door. He was chased by Janie who seemed to be yelling out something which sounded like his name. He took a sharp turn at quite an alarming pace, tripped over his own foot and fell face first onto the cold hard concrete floor.

His eyes opened and he saw water on the floor and stared at his naked self and the white tiles on the walls. He recognised where he was as the floor of the shower and not the corridor where he had taken a fall and wondered what had just happened. How was he back in his room? He realised it was a vision. His mind playing tricks on him. The mind was so damn powerful yet it only remembered the negative and scary stuff more than the good stuff. (Or did it?)

“I WILL NOT BE INTIMIDATED! YOU HEAR THAT? I WILL NOT BE INTIMIDATED!” yelled out Jerome and closed the tap, wiped himself and dressed.

Janie after she left the room walked to the backstage entry and gave Dave a backstage pass so that he could get past the security. He carried a white backpack and was clad in blue jeans, brown cowboy boots and a white compressor t-shirt over which he was wearing a black t-shirt which had written on it the line ‘RETURN OF THE DRAGON’ in bold red lettering. The man had long shoulder length hair, a diamond earring on his left ear and was clean shaven. The hairstyle suited his oblong face. He smiled a very bright smile. That smile, the expression, the eyes and basically everything about Dave made Janie just feel one thing and that was a feeling of calm. He walked over to Janie and the two of the embraced. Dave inhaled deeply taking in the strong fragrance rose perfume.

 “I love the perfume Janie”, said Dave and asked casually, ”rose isn’t it?”

“Yes it is! Thanks Dave,” said Janie and blushed.

The two of them started walking back to the room.

How’s he holding up? Asked Dave.

 “He’s fine as of now, just perspiring a lot,” replied Janie.

“That’s good. Let’s just keep our fingers crossed that he doesn’t fall prisoner to the prison that is his mind and want cannabis to calm himself before his performance, ” said Dave.

When does Jerome perform?” asked Janie

 Dave checked his watch and said, “in about forty minutes.”

“He’s been alone for the last ten minutes. I hope he’s not had a panic attack or hallucination of some sort,” sad Janie in a worried tone.

“Well Janie, no need to worry, I’ve given one of the box tickets to Dr Hardy(Jerome’s therapist), and he is here in this very building and in the event of Jerome having any issues…… he can sort it out,” said Dave.

“That’s brilliant!” exclaimed Janie, “I hope for everyone’s sake, it doesn’t come down to that.”

The two of them passed a TV set where they saw the show on in full swing. Forty minutes was all they had to keep Jerome calm and make sure he didn’t break down.

Janie cast a worried look at Dave who just stared calmly back at Janie and smiled. The two of them reached the room and knocked on it.

Inside, Jerome had stepped out of the shower, completely dressed and he heard a knock on the door.

“Come in, it’s unlocked,” said Jerome.

Dave opened the door and stared at the chipped edges and the cracks in the wall. He stood there and muttered, “ this place could do with a makeover.”

Dave walked into the room and embraced Jerome.

“Return of the Dragon bro! Are you ready?” Asked Dave.

“Just nervous Dave… Just nervous,” replied Jerome.

“I have full faith in you, pay no attention to what the people say,” said Dave.

“You always bring a sense of calmness to every situation Dave,” said Jerome and stared directly into Dave’s eyes. He saw Dave’s calm blue eyes stare back into his own brown ones.

“Do I still have it in me, to go out there and thrill the audiences?” asked Jerome and his stomach growled.

“I believe in you, you still got what it takes. You are the master of your own mind, so just believe that you can do it and remember... You can do anything you set your mind to man,” said Dave.

“You need to eat,” said Janie and excused herself from the room as her phone started ringing.

 ”I’ve got the snacks,” said Dave who too had heard the stomach growl and took out a brown bag from his backpack and a bunch of paper plates.

 He laid out a few plates on the table and opened a paper can of chicken wings and another one of chicken legs and placed a few on two plates.

 ”Dave I’ve just had a dream………, ” said Jerome. He continued, “I just saw myself go on stage and run off in panic, I can’t do this concert without cannabis.”

“You just stay calm and get some food inside you,” said Dave and shoved the plate in his hand.

Jerome stared at the chicken leg with intent.

 ”Eat up,” said Dave.

Jerome picked up a chicken leg and bit into it. The two of them ate the wings and legs in silence for the next few minutes. Jerome finished his plateful and just sat motionlessly with it still in his hand. A huge roar was heard from outside. Jerome dropped his empty plate onto the floor and stood up in alarm.

“What was that? Do we need to evacuate?” asked Jerome. One could sense the note of panic in his voice.

Dave checked his watch and chuckled and crumpled his plate and put it in the trash.

 ”HOW CAN YOU FIND THIS FUNNY!” thundered Jerome.

“That’s the reaction that the performance by the high school rock band ‘Blue Lightning’ is receiving,” said Dave.

“And I have to perform in front of that crowd in that sort of mood!” said Jerome and yelled out, ”I’M GETTING OUT OF HERE!”

He charged towards the door in a wild attempt to flee the room and also the arena, but Dave caught hold of him around his waist, lifted him into the air with ease and pinned him onto the couch and said, ”Just calm down and relax. You still got it, but don’t bloody overreact. It’s just your mind playing tricks on you and making you nervous.”

Jerome repeatedly tried to escape put Dave hadn’t released his grip. Jerome began to thrash wildly and then stopped and started sobbing.

”I’m such a coward……, I can’t perform……. without cannabis”, said Jerome.

“Yes you can! Snap yourself out of this and take deep breaths,” said Dave with a slightly raised voice, yet calm voice.

                Jerome breathed in slowly and exhaled at an even slower pace.

                “Yes carry on and get your mind under control,” said Dave.

“Cannabis…… cannabis …… I need it,” murmured Jerome and began shivering violently.

Dave felt a sense of Déjà vu. He had seen Jerome like this, as a prisoner of his mind and remembered how he would get a joint for Jerome to smoke and calm himself down. Unfortunately that wasn’t an option this time. He stared at his wristwatch and saw that there was half an hour left.

“Stay put and don’t do anything stupid,” said Dave.

“Where are you going?” asked Jerome.

“Got to do something”, said Dave.

He spotted Jerome smile and quickly added, “I’m not getting you a cannabis joint.”

Jerome stared at Dave in astonishment.

“I thought you were my brother,” he said and stared at Dave in shock.

“And as a brother I can’t let you smoke up that disgusting thing which ruined your life,” said Dave.

He walked out of the room and shut the door. Jerome heard him walking away, the sound coming from the thud of his shoes on the concrete reducing with each step.

Jerome sat in front of the mirror and thought to himself. I can’t do this, what was I thinking why did I agree to this, what Dave, Janie and my few fans will say if I chicken out. He then snapped out of his stream of consciousness for he heard a voice.

 “You are in a bad place,” came a voice from somewhere. Jerome extremely startled, opened his eyes, lifted his head up from his palms and stared back at the mirror only to see his own black t-shirted self. He looked all over the room as if searching for the voice.

 “Who are you?” asked Jerome with a little panic for the voice sounded a lot like his own.

“That doesn’t matter, ”came the same  voice, ”what matters is that you fucked up your life.”

Jerome stood and ran to the washroom and smashed open the door with such force that it collided with the wall located at a right angle to it and cracked a few tiles. The broken pieces of cheap marble hit the wet floor of the washroom with soft clunks. He looked all over but saw that the room was empty. Jerome trod heavily on the wet floor and slipped in such a manner that he was now sitting on the floor. His legs below the knee were on the wet floor and the rest of him knee up was on the dry floor outside the shower room.

“Get out of here man,” continued the voice and chuckled.

“Who are you?” asked Jerome, his voice rising slightly as he picked himself off the floor and strode to the centre of the room.

”You’re a sick miserable wreck,” said the voice.

“WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?” thundered Jerome.

 “You’ve got anger issues. You were the king and now you’re just a pathetic addict,” continued the voice.

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” thundered Jerome in a voice so loud that he felt as if his ears were screaming and a buzzing noise filled his head.

Jerome clasped his hands onto his ears and attempted to shake off the buzzing. He sunk to his knees right in the middle of the room and was panting.

“You’re a coward! This dragon doesn’t breathe fire anymore”, came the voice.

Jerome looked wildly around the room as if to search for the voice, but he was unsuccessful in locating it.

“Where are you? Who are you? If I’m a coward why don’t you face the coward?” asked Jerome in an ice cold voice that would send shivers down the spine of any normal human.

“I am you, ”said the voice.

“You are not me,” said Jerome who began turning around in clockwise circles as if to spot the source of the voice.

“We are the same……,” said the voice but was interrupted by a loud yell.

“THERE IS NO WE!” Jerome yelled out, ”THERE IS ONLY ME”.

”Look into the mirror,” said the voice.

Jerome looked into the mirror and saw a figure with buzz cut and a beard a moustache of the same length as his hair. The figure had no piercings he wore a hoodie which was fully zipped up. What he saw was himself but it couldn’t be him as he currently stood far away from the mirror and the reflection was such that in order to be reflected he would have to be seated on the chair right in front of the mirror where he was just before hearing voices, also he wasn’t wearing his hoodie at the moment. So both the voice and Jerome had been right. It was him in the mirror, but….it wasn’t him.

The Jerome in the mirror was laughing and mouthed the words ‘you don’t have it in you’.

Jerome moved forward aggressively lifted the chair in front of the dressing room table and hurled it straight into the mirror created a huge cracks all across the glass and shattering 3 out of the 20 red bulbs. There was nothing but the shower door now which was directly opposite the mirror that was being reflected.

“Hahahahaha…. You freak... missed me,” came the voice again.

“I STILL GOT IT!! YOU HEAR ME? I STILL BREATHE FIRE!!” yelled Jerome.

The sound of the door handle being unsuccessfully use to open the door could be heard.

“Hey Jerome, unlock the door right now,” came Dave’s voice from outside.

Jerome pulled away the chair that was barricading the door and opened it.

“I heard glass…..,” began Dave and stopped in mid sentence for he saw the smashed up mirror and bulbs, he continued, ”What is wrong with you?”

Janie followed Dave in and stared in shock at the mirror and the chair now lying atop the dresser amidst the broken shards of glass. Jerome backed off at top speed and fell back onto the couch. His face and t-shirt were wet with sweat

“I am hearing voices,” replied Jerome in an extremely terrified tone, “and I saw my reflection in that mirror.”

“That’s what mirrors are for,” replied Dave in an exasperated voice,” so that one can see their own reflection.”

“I wasn’t in the path of the mirror,” said Jerome.

“Calm down Jerome, you must have been hallucinating,” said Janie.

Dave looked like he understood what was happening and seemed glad.

“So it’s a good thing I took a precaution and called Dr Hardy,” said Dave, “come in doctor”.

Dr Jack Hardy was a tall man in his mid-forties. He was bald and had no facial hair. Even though he was at a concert he wore a crisp grey suit with polished black boots and looked completely out of place in the audience thought Janie.

 “Desperate times call for desperate measures,” said Jerome, “Get me cannabis just for tonight Dave,” pleaded Jerome, “I’ll work on my anxiety after tonight’s concert.”

“No cannabis for you”, said Dave in a very calm voice.

 “OUT OF THE QUESTION!” exclaimed Janie at the same time completely drowning out Dave's voice.

“I’d like to see Mr Edwards alone,” said Dr Hardy. 

Dave and Janie gave Jerome reassuring smiles and left the room, shutting the door behind them.

 “I hope he can do something,” said Janie and crossed her fingers nervously.

“Have faith Janie,” said Dave,” this is the man who cured him after his previous addiction and anxiety disorder.”

“Jerome is due on stage in twenty five minutes Dave,” hissed Janie.

“That is more than enough time for a man of the calibre of Dr Hardy to do his work,” said Dave.

Janie stared at Dave and even as she walked with him all she got was a feeling of calmness. She wondered how he could be so calm in such a tense situation. Staring at him he decided that staying calm was all they could do as of that moment as anything that could and would be done was up to Dr Hardy.

Dr Hardy grabbed a chair and placed it directly opposite the couch where Jerome was seated. He could see the Jerome was perspiring and shivering. He checked his watch and saw that there were only twenty three minutes left and knew that he had to be quick! He skipped the pleasantries and got straight down to business.

 “Dave informs me that you are repeatedly saying you don’t want to perform…….Do you want to perform today Jerome?” asked Dr Hardy.

“Dave echoes my statements but, yes, I do want to perform … but…. I am scared,” said Jerome.

“It’s a comeback performance Jerome, nerves are an issue even for a seasoned performer,” said Dr Hardy," I believe that you can perform tonight, like I did believe that you could be cured, when everyone had lost hope all those years ago."

The two of them sat in silence for a few seconds

“What is it about tonight’s concert that scares you?” asked Dr Hardy.

“Me embarrassing myself in front of the crowd and the voice saying that I can’t do it”, said Jerome, “it is a pressing issue doctor as I need to make this performance work, for this may be the only opportunity that I got,” said Jerome.

“But since you say you want to perform I’d suggest that you ignore this ‘voice’,” said Dr Hardy and asked Jerome , ” How do you feel you can stay calm in front of the crowd? How can you act in response to the external problem of the crowd that you are facing?”

“Cannabis….. also doctor, I saw myself…..”, said Jerome.

“Yes Jerome… I heard your description of the events which led  you to smash up the mirror and realised it was a hallucination that was projected by your mind’s wish at that time to not do the concert which was fuelled by your self-doubt ”, said Dr Hardy and asked Jerome, “So why don’t you smoke the cannabis joint?”

“I’m internally conflicted doctor, I know I need it, but I know its consumption could possibly lead me down the path of addiction once again”, said Jerome.

“Jerome, there’s 20 minutes till you are due on stage,” said Dr Hardy.

“What do you suggest I do?” asked Jerome in a desperate voice.

“Let’s just solve today’s problem,” said Dr Hardy and took out a leather pouch out of his coat pocket and pulled out a joint from within it and tossed it to Jerome.

“Smoke up,” he said and lit the joint with his lighter.

Jerome took a few puffs.

“It is the right thing. Remember... only you have the power over your mind, now convince it that you are going out there tonight, and you are going to perform,” said Dr Hardy and put the pouch in his pocket. He rose from the chair and walked to the door.

“Get ready in 10 minutes, I’ll stall Dave and Janie until then,” said Dr Hardy.

Jerome smiled and continued smoking. Dr Hardy stepped out of the room and seeing him Dave and Janie walked up to him expectantly. He smiled and nodded his head.

“Mr Edwards has consented to perform tonight without cannabis,” lied Dr Hardy, ” and requests that he get ten minutes of alone time to get ready.” said Dr Hardy.

“Thank you so much doctor,” said Janie.

“I’ll see you after the concert,” said Dave to Dr Hardy.

Dr Hardy smiled and walked off to his box.

In the room Jerome got off the couch, discarded the half smoked joint down the drain and sprung around the room. He pulled a white tank, blue capris, a grey jacket, and mismatched converse shoes (blue left shoe and yellow right shoe) from the pile of clothes on the couch.

He took a second shower and began pumping himself up for the performance and suddenly he heard the voice in his head again.

“I believe in you. You still got that fire within you,” said the voice.

Jerome smiled from eye to eye.

“You are arguably the best rapper around,” said the voice.

“I KNOW I AM… I AM THE MASTER OF MY OWN MIND,” said Jerome and punched his left palm with his right fist.

“Now go out there and thrill the audience and show the world.. That you still got it,” said the voice.

Jerome wiped himself off and dressed up in a blue capris and a white tank he marched out of the shower and put on his shoes. Just like old times he thought to himself and smirked when he remembered the time when he would get ridiculed for not wearing socks and how at the peak of his popularity his shoes on bare feet style was a major global trend. Just as he finished lacing up his right shoe he heard a knock on the door.

Janie and Dave walked to the room after ten minutes and knocked on the door.

They walked in and saw Jerome just finishing up his laces. He stood up, reached for his grey jacket and put it on, fixed the zipper but left it unzipped.

“I am ready,” said Jerome.

“GO DRAGON!!!!” chanted Janie.

“Give them the real deal dragon!” exclaimed Dave who for the first time was displaying some sort of emotion in his voice.

A volunteer knocked on the open door, popped her head in and said, “5 minutes to go.”

Jerome marched out of the room and followed the volunteer. He was flanked by Dave and Janie. They four of them marched through the narrow paint deprived corridors of the old Bohemian Arena in silence. Jerome was skipping along and pumping himself up. They entered a room lit with hideous red light.

“Wait here,” said the volunteer.

Jerome turned and faced Dave and Janie.

“It’s just 6 songs Dragon, it’ll be over in three quarters of an hour at the most,” said Dave.

“If you’re nervous…. Shut your eyes and perform,” said Janie.

“He’s on in 30 seconds and counting,” came a voice.

Jerome, Dave and Janie walked closer to the door above which a sign ‘stage door’ was nailed.

“Oh Janie….Janie… Janie. I don’t need to be worried. In fact I’m not at all anxious,” said Jerome.

Dave and Janie stared at him in astonishment.

“What sort of magic did Dr Hardy work?” asked Janie to Dave.

“5 seconds,” came the voice.

“He gave me cannabis,” said Jerome and pulled on his hood, zipped up his jacket till his chest bone and marched onto stage just as the announcer yelled out “THE DRRRRAAAGGGGGONNNNNN.”

Jerome walked onto stage and felt amazing.  A capacity crowd at the Bohemian Arena was chanting his name and the spotlight was completely on him. The music began and Jerome started rapping.

Dave and Janie stared at him in horror and Janie collapsed. Dave knelt down and put his arm around her.

“I don’t believe it….. Dr Hardy… I…… I….,” stuttered Janie apparently lost for words.

“Let’s talk it out with him Janie,” said Dave who had still not lost his aura of calmness.

 “But I get in a few whacks first,” snarled Janie.

“No violence on your part Janie,” said Dave but got no response and chose not to press on with the conversation.

The two of them headed off backstage. Jerome was now performing ‘Lords of Dogtown ’ and was accompanied by the very vocal crowd at the Bohemian Arena.

When Lords of Dogtown got over the audience stared yelling out “DEMON”. They knew that as always ‘Lords of Dogtown would be followed the ‘Demon Kings of Dogtown’’

Minutes later a huge roar was heard from within the arena. Janie sprinted to the backstage TV and saw that Jerome was now performing ‘Revenge of the dragon’. The song was one of three that had catapulted him to global stardom, so one could easily comprehend the insane fan reaction.

Jerome performed ‘I’m never going back’ and ’Fire breathing dragon’. Whilst performing Fire breathing dragon he went over to the box and got Dr Hardy onto the stage.

“This man believed in me, he is the reason that I am back”, said Jerome,” and as a tribute to him we are going to have an additional song tonight”.

The crowd roared as Jerome treated them to ‘Blazing Inferno’.

Dr Hardy was ushered to the stage door into the backstage area by a volunteer. Just as he strode out of the room with the hideous red light, he heard a loud yell and turned to the source of the noise and saw two figures racing towards him, a man and a woman. The woman seemed furious and the man seemed to be chasing her. He identified the two figures as Janie and Dave.

 “WHY?!?!?! WHY?!?!?!” screeched Janie as she tore towards Dr Hardy.

She seemed ready to pummel Dr Hardy into oblivion, but mercifully Dave caught a hold of her in time. She began thrashing wildly, her hair flying all over her face, and she had on her face a look so fierce, that Dr Hardy exclaimed, “ My gosh Janie!!… if looks could kill I would be dead right now.”

“I’ll kill you with my bare hands!! How dare you give him a joint..? How dare you lead him down a path of ruin once more?,” spat Janie and screeched out, “DAVE, LET GO OF ME!”

“The substance inside those joints isn’t a drug of any sort,” said Dr Hardy.

Jerome had just finished his final song of the night ‘I am the Dragon’ which was also his biggest hit and the reason he had earned the moniker of ‘THE DRAGON’.

The crowd broke into applause and were chanting “You still got it” and “Encore, encore”. Jerome bowed and then stood up straight and raised both arms to the crowd and acknowledged them. He was ushered off stage and was getting congratulatory messages from all sides. He ran into Dave and Janie in the corridor and was puzzled as to why Dr Hardy was with them and more so about why Janie looked like she wanted to kill someone.

“The cannabis worked Dr Hardy, I felt incredible out there,” said Jerome.

Janie tried to break free but Dave hadn’t released his grip around her waist.

“You smoked something Jerome. But, it wasn’t cannabis,” said Dr Hardy.

“It tasted like cannabis,” said Jerome.

“It wasn’t,” said Dr Hardy.

“Don’t lie, you freak!” screeched Janie.

“Doctor please don’t tell me that I didn’t smoke it, like you said on our first day of therapy…..” said Jerome

“Acceptance is the key to everything,” said Dr Hardy completing his sentence for him,” But wasn’t the joint a little too sweet.”

“It was,” admitted Jerome.

“The substance within that joint was a sweetened lab made harmless fragrance which feels like cannabis, but is actually nothing harmful,” said Dr Hardy.

Janie and Dave stared at him incredulously. Janie even stopped trying to break free from Dave’s hold, but Dave was wise and didn’t release her just yet.

“But then…….” spluttered Jerome.

“When Dave informed me of your urgent need for cannabis, I knew that it was just a fear in your mind caused due to hearing the negative comments just prior to entering the arena. I knew that they were playing on your mind and causing your nervousness, we had had excessive therapy sessions to wean you off your addiction, but none of them involved a real time setting prior to a concert. I realised that it was your pre performance self that had come to the fore. You had made a vow to never smoke that again, No matter what,” said Dr Hardy and paused for a moment before continuing, “So all I had to do was to give you a little bit of hope that you could do it and indirectly by giving you hope, trick your mind into believing that the cannabis was in your bloodstream and you were ready to go out and thrill the audience,” said Dr Hardy.

“You mean…. That wasn’t cannabis,” said Jerome and clapped his hands on his mouth, his eyes wide with joy.

“It wasn’t. All you did was trick your mind that you had smoked. Even all those years ago it was your mind that made you desire for cannabis prior to a performance. You never ever needed cannabis to calm yourself and perform and that has been proved today. You now know you have control over the power of your mind,” said Dr Hardy with a smile.

Dave asked the doctor for a joint and he smoked it.

“It isn’t cannabis,” said Dave, ”and I would know for I too used to smoke it on rare occasions”.

 “Your mind had imprisoned you Jerome and today is the day you, you and only you have broken free of it, you now know how powerful... yet how weak the human mind is” said Dr Hardy.

Dave was smiling and finally released Janie who embraced the doctor, thanking him and apologising to him.

 “Like I told you Jerome…. I am you…,” came the voice that Jerome had been hearing whilst in the dressing room, “I just echo your thoughts and feelings.”

Jerome looked back and realised that the voice was his mind. It was tormenting him just after he had tried to flee the arena and it was motivating him after he had tricked it that he had smoked cannabis and was ready to perform. It was just playing out scenarios based on how he was feeling at that moment. He understood what Dr Hardy meant about the mind and realised that he was its prisoner, but not anymore He was free! He smiled and said, ”Thank you doctor.”

Dr Hardy just smiled at took his leave. Dave took Jerome and Janie to the dressing room and decided they should wait there and leave only after the media and paparazzi had left.

Jerome, Janie and Dave stepped out of the Bohemian arena in the early hours of the morning, about 5 hours after the concert. Jerome was still in his performance outfit. The road was empty. They got drenched in the rain. Jerome took off his bag and his jacket and tossed them aside. He walked ahead and knelt on the wet road. He stared up into the night sky, and looked upwards and shut his eyes for the rain was really heavy.

“I’M BACK!!!!! I AM THE KING!!!! I DON’T NEED NO CANNABIS!! I AM THE MASTER OF MY MIND!!!” shouted out Jerome and lightning struck causing him to see a white light from within his shut eyelids.

“Doesn’t Jerome look like Andy from The Shawshank Redemption right now?” asked Dave.

“Well that is his favourite film and he’s broken free from the prison that was his mind”, smiled Janie, ”so I guess he wants to actually feel that moment in real life.”

And she was right, for Jerome was actually imagining that very scene in his mind and in the image in his mind he was breathing fire with each and every word.

“I STILL GOT IT,” said Jerome and was accompanied by thunder echoing in the night sky, ”I STILL GOT IT!!!”

He had complete control over the power of his mind. Nothing could stop him.