Adam's make-up was finished, the microphone was installed in its proper place under his collar, and amidst the commotion, amidst those who were running right and left to get the job done perfectly, the production crew finished the preparations, and the interviewer prepared with the questions . When Adam signaled to them to be ready, the director signaled to start the television broadcast .
Adam got used to these meetings from time to time until it became boring. After the horrors he went through, he wanted to return to his world. He wanted to get used to being used to it again.
That ship has left forever.
For the second time, he left and swore not to return, even though Ramez had sworn to him that they were making progress, but he had simply had enough.
In front of the intense lighting and cameras focused on his face, the interviewer sat next to him and began speaking in his solemn voice:
- "Dear viewers, let us welcome our guest Dr. Adam Wagih, CEO and Managing Director of Premium Pharm. Welcome sir."
- " Hey, you " .
Forgetting what he had seen or what he had been through, Adam tried to put himself back into his old mold.
The questions that were sent to him in advance, he answered with the tact of an expert. They asked him about his health setback, then about the state of the pharmaceutical market in Egypt, then about his future aspirations. Those dull programs that he knew were watched by no one except members of his company or enemies of the labor market to study him, and Adel, who watched them obsessively, waiting for any sign of helplessness, tremor, or distraction, or any trap he would fall into or any nets that would snare him.
In front of the television, he was sitting like a worshipper in a mosque, like a hermit in a monastery, seething with anger and hoping that a fate would be kind enough to bestow upon him one of the falls that would bring him closer to his goal. But his hopes were almost shattered in front of this confident, sober man who answered all the questions calmly and with unparalleled eloquence. The interviewer said:
" And here, Mr. Adam, or let me call you as your colleagues in the profession do: the Egyptian magician."
Adam smiled, and the interviewer continued:
- "Dr. Adam, let me stop you to ask you about something that is the most important in this session in which we enjoyed your limitless experience. Mr. Adam, how do you see the future of education in Egypt? Can we claim that we are an educated people, or are there some considerations that must be put into the future education plan?"
Adam sighed, then raised his eyes and said:
" Sir, I have always imagined myself wearing some kind of glasses...."
He took off his glasses, then continued, saying:
" These are the glasses I see you with, and with them I see all the natural things around me. But do you know what I see when I take them off? I see armies of conscripts searching the streets, every corner and every nook, to find the first educated and searching person and shoot him dead ."
Imagine this with me - a scene from the end of the world - fires everywhere, and these mercenaries are spreading with an organized strategy to kill and exterminate everything that heralds a cultured or advanced era, and as long as none of the officials share this vision with me, do you know what I will do?
I'll go back and wear it again, and pretend nothing happened."
Adam put his glasses back on theatrically, but now he actually saw something that no one else could see, something that made his mouth open wide.
Then he saw something moving behind the crowd, another visitor from hell, a deformed, muscular dwarf, carrying a rusty dagger and dragging chains that made a deafening sound in his wake. His face was like a doll's, a little boy's face with a wide smile and glassy eyes that stared into Adam's soul.
The interviewer stammered, asked him questions but he didn't answer. Now, he doesn't see or hear anyone.
He sees nothing but this entity approaching him ... the dwarf breaking through the crowds.
Adam tried to move, but a paralysis crept into his limbs, like the paralysis that comes to you while you are asleep; inside you scream and tremble, and outside you are dead still.
The entity gradually approaches him until it is very close to him ... smelling his breath.
The entity screams, raising the dagger of death high ... and before it falls on him, Adam sees everyone gathered around him ... and the broadcast is cut off.
Adam has now shown everyone that the ropes of madness have wrapped themselves around his mind to strangle him.
As for Adel, he was still sitting like a statue in front of the TV, in disbelief. He had never expected, even in his most ambitious dreams, that fate would respond to him so quickly.
***