The Experiment // L.S.

One

Harry looked around the room at his competition. There were many men, young men, doing just the same as he was. Waiting. Waiting to see what happens. Waiting to see what Doc had to say. It was maddening, really. That he'd go so low as to practically give up his mind as a psychiatric piece to God know's what.

When he read the news article, it simply said to be at this location to partake in a psychological experiment. Four figures per day. But before he jumped to conclusions, he realized, judging from the address, that this wasn't some abnormal scientific laboratory like in Frankenstein, it was a local psychiatric facility, the one where he used to drop by and do volunteer work. So, he decided to come and check it out.

And it was packed with lots and lots of people all aiming for a position. Harry wasn't worried, he'd answered each basic question  truthfully and respectfully. Last thing he needed was to be caught in a lie. He was then strapped up to a lie detector test where he answered more questions. And being true to his word, none were of his past.

Too drowned in his own thoughts and mild nerves, he hadn't noticed a man sat next to him rocking a swept quiff, wearing a black blazer overtop a black button up shirt and dress pants.

The man seemed a bit nervous himself, so Harry wanted to help him out a bit.

"Nice choice," he started, waiting for a response. The man, also too nervous to be paying attention, replied, "Huh?"

"Of clothing. Nice choice. I wish I had thought to get dressed up for this. Wasn't thinking." Harry realized he talked really slow, so he made it his mission to speak a little faster from now on. Seeing the man befuddled look, he kept on.

"I'm Harry. Harry Edward Styles," he said with confidence and stretched his hand out for him to shake.

The man finally looked aware. "I'm sorry, bit distracted there. I'm Aiden Grimshaw. Of no relation to the famous Nick Grimshaw. Nice grip you've got there," he said, firmly gripping his hand. Harry nodded, feeling a weird vibe from this man. Thank heavens Doc had come in in just that second so he didn't have to continue the conversation.

The group of men had instantly quieted down at his presence, knowing that this was the moment where they'd finally know what was going on.

"Good evening, gentlemen. Welcome to the first ever experimentation project that you have the opportunity to be apart of. As you all may know, I've interviewed each and every one of you individually with my lovely doctors here, Dr. Cohen and Dr. Moore. Needless to say, you're a very....interesting group to say the least and the oldest age in this room right now is 34, the youngest being 20," he stopped and waited for the murmurs of disbelief and the shifting of bodies in the room to quiet down before he continued.

"Yes. Now I'll bet you're all wondering what will be happening in this experiment to begin with, so I will explain it to you right now," he walked to the center of the room to make eye contact with everyone.

"In this experiment, we're trying to determine how humans can have a great amount of power in a short period of time, and how we are capable of sustaining other's power over us without the cause of chaos. It's similar to the Stanford prison experiment of 1971. If you're selected, you'll be chosen to participate in an simulation where you are either a guard or a prisoner in a penitentiary to see how you would survive, or if you would survive in that situation. But the difference between having that power here in the real world and in this simulated world, is that there are no laws. No regulations to abide by, aside from the ones we've given you. But before I go into further detail, I'm going to call your name, and if I call your name, you stay seated. That means you've made it in."

Harry was a bit nervous, but also relieved. If he did, in fact, get in, he didn't know what he'd expect. To take the nerves off of himself as Doc went to fetch the list, he looked around the room at all the expectant faces, but was surprised when one was looking back at him. Pretty boy....