The Social Experiment

I look inside at the three volunteers, all of them facing each other in a triangle. They each have their different motivations to be here, but they’re here, nonetheless. Let’s hope this experiment succeeds.

The introductory recording started playing as the three volunteers found their seats.

“Good day, ladies and gentlemen,” the lady in the recording said. “Welcome to the newest socializing experiment, the Triangle. Here, you are gathered to discuss your innermost problems. Research shows that it’s easier to confess to strangers instead of close friends...”

“...bullshit,” one of the men grumbles as I tune out the recording and pay attention to him. The grumbling man is tan, has brown hair and green eyes. He wears a leather jacket over a body-hugging tank top. His legs are covered by leather pants and long, black boots. There are visible scars on his face, with one of them running across his cheek, and the other on his nose. He seemed visibly displeased to be here. Strange.

“...And that is the gist of this experiment,” the lady concluded. “Have a happy confession!”

The recording stops, and the monitors shuts off. The second man, a ginger-haired, brown-eyed fellow with a gentle demeanor groans loudly. “Crazy. How am I gonna believe that?” He stretches his legs. His outfit is mostly casual, with a plain, green tee and distressed denim jeans. “I just joined here to prove to myself that I still have a heart.”

“We have reasons to be here, and let’s leave it at that,” the third man said. He was dressed in a brown, fur-lined parka and no shirt under it, leaving his midsection bare. Where is this man’s manners? He has the decency to throw on khaki shorts and leather shoes, at least. “Let’s start with introductions.” He stands up and zips his parka up halfway. Phew. “I’m Christopher, author of some renown, just call me Chris. I’m here because I wanted to see if this’d get me some friends.”

The biker-looking man scoffs at Chris. “Christ, man, what a lame reason.”

Chris looks visibly upset as he takes a step towards the biker. “Then introduce yourself, please, since you seem to have better reasons than all of us here.”

The biker stands up, chest-to-chest with Chris. “I’m Alin, the baddest fucker you’ll ever meet. Ex-convict, gun store owner. And you know why I’m here?” The way he’s asking Chris, pushing against the author’s smaller body... it’s kind of pathetic.

The second, unnamed man tries to get in between the two other men, pushing them away from each other. “Please stop fighting. We’re just at introductions,” he says, desperately keeping Alin away from Chris. “Just calm down, please.”

Alin thinks about pushing the unnamed man but stops himself and sits down. Unnamed man sighed in relief as Chris takes a seat on his own chair. “Finally, I can introduce myself. I’m Bradley,” formerly-unnamed man said. “I’m a zookeeper.”

“Mind if I call you Brad?” Chris asks.

“No, I don’t mind,” Brad curtly responds. “But anyway, we all have reasons to be here, and we all have problems, right?”

Chris looks at himself, then at the other two. “I would think so.”

Alin sighs. “We all do.”

Brad’s face seemingly brightens, but... “Great, then let’s talk about why we’re all here!”

“Actually, Alin is the only one who hasn’t mentioned why he’s here,” Chris says. “I want friends, and Brad wants to basically know if he still knows what feelings are. Why are you here, Alin?”

Alin grunts. “Money.”

Chris blinks. “That’s it?”

“That’s it,” Alin says.

They’re on the right track, I guess. They know each other’s motives now. Now to wait and see if they reveal their problems.

“But that’s shallow, Alin,” Brad points out. “I know you have a deeper reason for being here,” he says, slowly approaching Alin. “What’s your actual reason?” Brad places his hands on Alin’s lap.

Alin visibly shivers, probably thinking that Brad needs to be put in the mental ward.

“Get off me and I’ll tell you,” Alin says to Brad. When he backed off, Alin dusts off his shirt and clears his throat. “You’re sharp, kid, lemme tell you that. The reason why I’m here is obvious: money. I need it for personal reasons.”

Brad boos Alin. “That’s what you just said a minute ago,” Brad complains. “Why don’t you tell us about your personal reasons, huh?”

Alin snaps and glares at Brad. “Shut up, you piece of shit!”

Chris starts fumbling, thinking of words to say. “A-Alin,I think that’s too--”

Brad laughs humorlessly. “Nah, it’s fine… no wonder I never wanted to exist,” he says to Chris. “Like Alin says, I’m a piece of shit that can’t do anything with his life. I’m as unstable as they get, I’m worthless… I’m so worthless… I’m worthless I’m worthless I’m worthless--”

Chris grabs Brad by the shoulders and tries to calm him down. “N-Now, now, Brad! No need to think like that!” Chris shoots Alin a dirty glare.

“What?” Alin asks, clearly not giving a damn about triggering Brad.

“Say sorry,” Chris demands of Alin.

“Says who?”

“Says me.”

“You and what army?”

Chris sighs and lets go of Brad momentarily. The author moves closer to the biker, clearly thinking of trying to use threats. “Think about it,” Chris says as he forcefully drops himself into Alin’s lap, temporarily stunning him in the process. “Do you want,” Chris says, both of his hands on Alin’s throat, “...to die early?”

Alin doesn’t seem shaken at all. “Try me, bitch, your scrawny arms won’t get any--”

Almost immediately after daring the author to make a move, Alin started making choking noises. This could end badly. Should I intervene?

Chris giggles and keeps his hands firmly pressed against the biker’s throat. “Now, it’s your choice. Die by the hands of a scrawny bookworm or tap out and say sorry to save yourself.”

Alin tries to claw off the hands choking his throat, but they simply won’t budge. If he doesn’t let up soon…

Alin immediately starts tapping Chris’ shoulders, surrendering as soon as he reached his limits. Chris slowly removes his fingers from Alin’s throat. The author stands up and takes his seat on the floor beside Brad, who’s curled up into a ball at this point. Soothing words fill the air, but they all seem ineffective at breaking Brad out of his trance. Do I intervene?

Alin stands up and lies down in front of Brad. The biker takes a moment to hold Brad’s face so they can look each other in the eye. “Kid, I’m sorry. You’re not a piece of shit. I’ll tell you why I’m here,” Alin says, gulping as he tries to think of what to say next. “The money is for revenge, but I don’t want to talk about it because I don’t want either of you involved.”

Brad stares straight ahead, not quite seeing Alin in front. The zookeeper’s eyes are blank as he continues to space out. For a moment, his eyes focus on Alin’s face. Surprisingly, worry is etched on Alin’s countenance, though I can’t be too sure from my position. “Kid,” the biker tries. His attempt to call out to the zookeeper seems useless. “Brad,” he tries again.

“What,” Brad asks monotonously. “What do you need from me, a waste of time?”

Chris inhales deeply, probably to stop himself from snapping at the seemingly irreversible damage Alin inflicted on Brad. “Do something,” the author demands.

Alin gives Chris a look that says, “I’m trying, so shut up.” Alin tries to get Brad to sit up. Brad just seems to be following wherever Alin’s arms are going. “I’m sorry, you’re not a waste of time. You’re nice, you’re kind, you’re cool, you’re better than me.”

Alin might have a soft spot for kids if he’s willing to lay it on this thick. “So please don’t be sad. Please talk with us. I’ll take back what I said, I’ll tell you more about me, I’ll… I’ll…”

Chris’ expression is definitely matching mine right now. What the heck is going on?

Alin leans closer to Brad. I’m not even in the same room as them, but I can feel their tension from here. Just what will happen next?

“Alin, what are you…” Chris starts, but trails off as soon as he sees what Alin does. I’m just as speechless.

Alin gently cups Brad’s face in large, weathered palms. Their lips touched, if only for the briefest of moments. “Brad, you’re going to be okay.”

Brad’s eyes light up as he processes what just happened. He lifts his hands up to touch Alin’s gloved ones. Slowly, both their hands are lowered as Chris looks at them with nothing but surprise. “What… what just happened? That was really…”

Alin and Brad don’t respond to Chris. They seem to be lost in their own world. This was not what I was expecting, but…

Chris just sits there dumbfounded. “Thank you, Alin,” Brad said to the biker. Brad then faces Chris and says, “Would you like to join us? We’re going to talk to each other about our problems. You can talk about your problems, too!”

The author tilts his head, clearly confused, but he decides to oblige Brad. ”I’ll join you two, don’t worry.”

Everyone gets back into their seats again. If those first few events are the weirdest thing that’ll happen today, then I think I’ll manage. “Let’s try that again,” Chris says. “Let’s talk about why we’re all here and what we can do for the future.”

Brad sits up straight and clears his throat. “I’m here because I want to be distracted. I just want to know I’m still important to someone at the end of it all.”

“I suppose everyone wants to be important, no matter when,” Chris mentions to Alin. “He has that now that he has you, I guess.”

Alin tilts his head away from Chris. “I’m here because…”

Brad’s body seems to slowly lean towards Alin. “Because what?”

“I want to move on. It’s shitty to be stuck on the past for the rest of my life. I was thinking revenge might help, but…” Alin’s voice trails off as he looks at Brad. “Maybe revenge isn’t necessary?”

“That’s cute,” Chris says with a hint of sarcasm in his tone.

“Shut up,” Alin says to Chris.

“But Chris,” the zookeeper starts. “What about you? I wanna hear your side before Alin actually asks you to keep quiet.”

Alin shoots Brad a glare but doesn’t react beyond that.

Chris takes a deep breath. “It’s a good thing I brought a flask,” he says, pulling out the mentioned item from his pocket. He uncaps it and takes a swig. Probably alcohol to loosen his lips. “Listen, I don’t wanna rain on your parade, but what you two have happened to suddenly for me to really think it’s real.”

Alin shrugs, but Brad responds, saying, “And what makes you think that, exactly?”

“Simple,” Chris says. “I had a relationship of four years with a girl I really liked. Then I found out three months ago that she already has her own family.” He shakes his head and chuckles bitterly. “I’m so blind. A whole family should’ve been seen from a mile away.”

“Wait,” Brad says. “Weren’t you suspicious when she got pregnant?”

“Infertility problems, she can only adopt,” Chris replies. Alin grunts. Brad sighs. They both seem to feel bad for Chris.

The room fills with an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes.

The next person to speak, Brad, says this: “Stay with Alin and me.”

Alin and Chris both look at each other, then they both stare at Brad like he just grew a second head.

Brad could only blink. “Is there a problem,” he asks, “because I don’t see one.”

“Before I go jumping to conclusions,” the author says to start his train of thought, “you’re basically asking me to be part of the relationship you two have as what, exactly?”

“As a life partner,” Brad tried. “Does that work, or…?”

Alin takes a deep breath. “I’m not sure how I feel about this, but it’s not the worst idea. If anything, we can all hold each other up, or we can be fucked up together.”

Chris leans back in his seat. “It’s something.”

After that, another minute of silence passes.

“We can try that, but I’m gonna stick to being your friends,” Chris decides. “I’m not ready for anything commitment-related just yet.”

Brad smiles. “That’s fine,” he says, facing the biker. “Right, Alin?”

Alin closes his eyes and scratches his cheek. “I guess.”

Brad smiles at Alin, then smiles at Chris, too. “Then let’s figure out what we want to do later.”

-----------------------------

Dear Diary,

That experiment was… for a lack of a better term, weird. I came in that day and was expecting three weirdos. I got that for sure. The weird I wasn’t expecting was the kind of weird that sprouts possible polyamorous relationships? Was I interpreting that wrong or is that what went down in that room? I was surprised enough to see a biker with a soft spot for young adults, but then he had to go and start dating the guy.

Funny thing is that their relationship is doing well. Well, I’m thinking it’s not funny if it’s lasted for a few months after they met. They managed to stick together with Chris, so they’re definitely helping each other out in some way.

I looked up their actual identities, so now they’re more than just a biker, a zookeeper, and an author. I’m impressed with some of these records, honestly. I guess it pays to pioneer psychological experiments. These guys do have interesting last names. Alin Nikolanikov, Bradley Dogma, and Christopher Mann. I was thinking Alin was foreign for sure, but man, I wasn’t expecting the full Russian package. I’m actually still kind of jealous of Brad and Chris until now. They have the handsome muscle.

I’m writing this entry about them because funny thing; they found out who I am. I’d be a bit more freaked out about it, but I was given an invitation to Alin’s house tomorrow afternoon. I can’t wait to write about that when it happens. Maybe I can pull some more matchmaker strings and get Chris to really stick with them. Ohohoho.

Anyway, I’m excited for tomorrow, but like any other mortal, really, I still need sleep. It’ll be great to greet them in person.

Love,

Franni Sallamonce