Great White Shock...

I almost felt like I needed to put a disclaimer in, how bad this idea was. As I thought about it, I noticed a little placard right next to the outlet.

WARNING: Electrical Systems are incredibly dangerous, and the property of Zeus. Do not fuck with them, because he will smite your ass if you do. Seriously. Don't.

I mean yeah, there was a very slim chance I'd survive. I mean, I was going to endanger not only myself but every single person around me cheering and shouting. I mean, surely he had circuit breakers and safety equipment set up. One little short circuit couldn't cause any amount of damage. But then, if it couldn't cause any damage, why was I so worried about it?

"THUNDERSTRUCK!" The voice shouted as the music continued to blare, and the crowd cheered again as the spotlights coalesced into a single point on the stage.

Well if I was going to do this... I dropped to my knees at the rail, and the crowd cheered in approval as I did so. For a second It almost felt like they were cheering for me as I brought the small copper piece to the outlet. The cheering slackened... and suddenly a sound of horror escaped from the woman next to me.

I paid it no mind, instead pressing hard against the plastic, which held for a second, before snapping easily to the pressure, allowing the coin to bridge the contacts.

The scream of horror continued, and I looked up to see a sudden spark jump from one of the lights to another. The outlet itself had begun to smoke, and the smell of ozone became much more pronounced as sparks and a sound like an arc welder began to be audible over the slackening sound of the music.

A sudden sizzle from the stage caused a detonation off time. The detonation caused a sudden scream of horror from the front of the crowd, and again a snap of electrical current forked, but this time unguided. It seemed to arc between two lights, fluctuating in a manner like an exotic dancer, before snapping again, and a shower of sparks began to float downwards.

The screams of horror from the front of the stage became louder and more numerous as the first lick of flame seemed to rise from the edge of the choir box. On the small barrier in front of me, the outlet sparked again and again, flame now rising from the melting plastic.

The penny flashed with a spark of electricity, before somehow it seemed to jettison directly at my face. The spinning coin sped towards me, and my left hand naturally caught it, and I winced at the heat that emanated from the narrow edges as they dug into my palm.

The crowd around me had started to shove against each other as I stood there, stampeding towards the exits as the flames onstage began to grow higher. The smell of ozone was everywhere now, and the crack of metal emanated from the stage as numerous members of the chorus seemed to begin casting about for somewhere to run. The fake prop wings that they wore apparently were pretty flammable, and I winced as the first wail of agony joined the screams of fear.

"Oh... shit..." I mumbled, the screaming continuing around me as everybody pushed towards the exits, the sound of punches now heard and breaking glass everywhere. Onstage the flames began growing higher exponentially, the various pyros that hadn't been set off yet beginning to detonate as one brave soul in a choir robe and wings raced out with a garden hose to attack the electrical fire with water.

The resulting arc of electricity brought a momentary pause to the panic as everyone watched the flaming angel as he arced across the darkened sky.

Again the crowd surged against the doors, the screaming giving way to panic as a baby carriage bounced down steps and a mother wailed nearby. The wheels bounced carefully in sharp relief, past a disabled lesbian trans-sexual catholic nun pleading for aid, a kid wailing for his dead mother, and soldier getting a dear john letter in the field while his friend dies next to him.

The shoving continued, and the people poured out of the auditorium, as the fire roared onstage, pyrotechnics exploding across the stage and the sound of a revving motorcycle replaced with the sound of falling metal clanging against surfaces.

One of the Choir boxes fell, , smashing into a fire hydrant which was nearby for some reason and spurting a fountain of water into the air in response, which fell onto the fire. It didn't do much, other than set off a beautiful kaleidoscope of cascading water, which was offset nicely by the flames.

A sudden shake of the earth occurred, and the sparks again flew across the stage, causing the opposite choir box to collapse with much less ceremony, and an angel with a detonator to wink and flash a thumbs up at me before running offscreen never to be thought of again.

The fire continued to burn and I watched as the screaming and rage continued, culminating with one sad minotaur left over from the earlier dramatic battles sitting on the wreckage as the flames burned around him, leaning one hand on his chin as the last detonations finally cooked off.

"Mongo only pawn... in game of life..." He murmured.

He shook his head, and died dramatically and poignantly.

I found myself standing alone, as an occasional sound of something falling to the ground echoed in the background.

"uh... Fire?" I said softly to no response.