The Midas Study

         Video Received from Clarksville Psychiatric Hospital.

         “Hello Mister Lois, I’m Dr. Jebediah Fring, and I will speak with you today about—your current situation.” The doctor said to the man strapped down to a chair.


         “Could you at least do something about the straps before we talk? And just call me James” James said in a tired tone.

         “I was instructed to keep you in this position considering your condition,” Dr. Fring said examining James. James was a tall middle-aged man. From top to bottom, he would appear to be average if it wasn’t for the clumps of missing hair on his head. His various missing teeth. His missing right arm and left foot. Doctor Fring made note of the chunks of skin missing from his left arm and from his examination of the notes he knew chunks were missing from James' torso as well.

         “Right,” James said softly. His tired eyes looked over Doctor Fring. He did his best to look as pathetic as possible to gain some sort of pity. The Doctor sighed softly and carefully released James from his bindings.

         “I brought an extra seat if you wish to partake,” Doctor Fring said kindly. James nodded stretching for a moment and carefully hobbling to the chair. He kept his head down afraid to make eye contact with the doctor. “Now from what I read, you believe you can—” Doctor Fring paused making sure to examine his notes once again. “Turn things into gold” Doctor Fring’s voice was skeptical as he slowly peered over his notes to look at James.

         “No!” James said quickly, his posture straightening. “I’ve tried explaining this but nobody will listen. I can’t turn things into gold, when anything comes off my body it turns into gold” James exclaimed.

         “Would you care to elaborate for me?” Doctor Fring asked curiously.

         “So things like, my hair, my fingernails, my teeth, my tears, and—” James paused looking at where his arm once was. “And my limbs,” James said softly.

         “I see,” Doctor Fring said writing in his notepad. “And if I were to take a piece of your hair off now then it would turn to gold?” Doctor Fring said raising his eyebrow.

         “Well—” James paused. He knew that his ability had seemed to stop but he was hoping maybe he could convince the doctor to believe him. “It doesn’t work now,” He said softly.

         “And do you know the reason for this? Has something like this ever happened before?” Doctor Fring asked curiously.

         “No it—it hasn’t,” James said softly.

         “I would like to know more about this—ability of yours. When it started, how you used it, and perhaps—” Doctor Fring’s voice lingered as he looked over at James’ missing limb. “Perhaps we can discuss other things if you are comfortable talking about more personal things,” Doctor Fring asked curiously.

         “If I tell you will you believe me? I’ve told others but they just—” James frowned. This wasn’t the first doctor to probe his mind-space and he knew it wouldn’t be the last. But maybe this Doctor could make things easier, he seemed curious enough.

         “I am open to listening and keeping an open mind” Doctor Fring smiled.

         James smiled softly and nodded. “It all started when I was 13 years old. I remember cause that’s when my voice started to crack. It was awkward but, that’s growing up for you.” James chuckled softly.

         “When I got my haircut I noticed something. My hair seemed shinier than normal. Before they could sweep it up I picked up a strand of hair and noticed that it was gold-colored. I examined it at home and it felt soft, almost like velvet. I decided to test to see if it was consistent and decided to cut another small piece of hair. The same thing ended up happening. I decided to start growing out my hair and saving the clippings in a little jar after that, along with learning to cut my hair. When I cut my fingernails the same thing happened. They turned to a gold color and had the same texture and feel as the hair. I saved them for years and when I was 17, I decided to see if I could—maybe sell it? I had my theories that it was real gold but didn’t know for sure. When I went to the pawn shop they were a bit—hesitant but after looking it over, it was real gold. I was shocked but also excited. 2 years of saving and I made close to 4 thousand dollars. It wasn’t much in retrospect but when your 17 that’s a lot of money. I continued to do the same, saving my hair and fingernails. Saving my dead skin was a bit—difficult. It was too frail and would crumble when I touched it. Then—well—things just started to go wrong. From school debt to credit card debt to medical bills, I couldn’t keep up with the cost.” Andrew paused and his eyes trailed off toward his stomach.

         “Was this the first time you partook in self-mutilation?” Doctor Fring asked.

         “Yes,” Andrew said softly. “A pound of flesh turning to gold is around 16oz.

         “My knowledge of gold isn’t up to date. How much does that convert to?” Doctor Fring asked

         “Around thirty-two thousand Dollars,” Andrew said softly.

         “That is a rather large sum of money,” Doctor Fring said raising an eyebrow.

         “It is, and I thought it was going to be enough. It paid off my debts and medical bills. Things were starting to look good. The scar even healed pretty well, at least—enough so I didn’t get too many questions when I had to take my shirt off” Andrew chuckled slightly, but felt discouraged at the Doctors' lack of a similar response.

         “Would you be willing to explain—the rest of—” Doctor Fring’s hand moved motioning towards the elephant in the room that was Andrew’s missing limb.

         “Right. That.” Andrew said softly. “Well, my family needed money. They had just recently found out about my ability. Finding out how much debt they were in was shocking, and at first, I didn’t want to—” Andrew paused and a few tears streamed down from his eyes. Doctor Fring made note that the tears were simply normal and not the gold tears that Andrew had mentioned “I didn’t want to do something as serious as removing another part of myself. They kept calling me and guilting me. So I caved” Andrew sighed deeply, his eyes trailing toward his foot. “That was another thirty-two thousand dollars and it was all down the drain in an instant.” Andrew took a moment to wipe away the tears from his eyes.

         “I can understand the difficulties of family pressure. It is something that we commonly encounter here.” Doctor Fring said in a compassionate tone.

         “Thanks, but it didn’t stop there” Andrew sighed. “They started to use me as a way to make money fast. Other family members and friends of the family kept trying to use me. I couldn’t keep up with the demand. I kept removing teeth, clumps of hair, clumps of my body, and finally—” Andrew paused looking over at his missing arm.

         “And that is how you ended up here? Correct?” Doctor Fring. Andrew could only nod. “We did have a conversation with your family about the situation, along with some of the things that you mentioned before this meeting,” Doctor Fring said examining his notes.

         “What did they have to say?” Andrew asked sheepishly.

         “Well—” Doctor Fring looked at Andrew. He looked rather tired and clearly in need of some help. “Your family denied all allegations of this gold ability of yours.” Doctor Fring said softly.

         “They what!” Andrew yelled getting up from his seat in an instant. “Those fucks. Those ungrateful fucks!” Andrew’s face began to turn red.

         “Andrew I’m going to have to ask you to calm down,” Doctor Fring said carefully.

         “Calm down? How the fuck can I calm down! They made me do this” Andrew yelled motioning to his arm. He lifted his shirt revealing various scars and missing chunks of fat and skin from his torso.

         “Andrew. We can get this settled if you just. Calm down.” Doctor Fring said standing up and putting his hand up.

         “No! I’m tired of being calm. I am tired of simply talking and getting nothing. Do you even believe me?” Andrew said, his breathing starting to get heavy.

         “I—I have my skepticism,” Doctor Fring said a bit nervously.

         “Of course.” Andrew sighed deeply. “Just like the other Doctors” Andrew’s voice grew darker and he stepped towards the doctor slowly.

         “Mr. Lois, I will ask you once more to stay calm. If you don’t take your seat then I will have to inform security of the situation and they will have to restrain you once again” Doctor Fring said in a slow calm tone.

         “No,” Andrew said reaching out and grabbing Doctor Fring’s arm. “I’m done listening. I’m done doing the same old song and dance with the doctors here. I. Want. Out.” Andrew said in a menacing tone.

         “Let go of—” Doctor Fring’s voice grew silent and his eyes widened. His arm slowly began to turn to gold. As he tried to break free of Andrew’s tight grip Andrew quickly pushed him up against the wall.

         “I would have let you go if you just believed me,” Andrew said in a serious tone. Doctor Fring could feel the gold start to coat his entire body. His body was slowing down as the gold started to fill his bloodstream. Breathing became nearly impossible as the gold started to bleed over his lungs. The pumping of his heart grasping for dear life.

         “Ple—” Was the last thing to escape Doctor Fring’s lips. His body simply turned to pure gold. Andrew glared at the camera and quickly tossed the chair at it ending the video feed.