Knight of Spirals

By Morgan Grey

A note from the author:

The following story is a work of complete and utter fantasy. Any and all depictions of hypnosis found among these pages are, likewise, fantastical. Hypnosis cannot be used to mind-control people, or make them do anything against their will. Do not attempt to hypnotize anyone into being your slave as that would make you look creepy. Just saying.

All characters engaging in sexual acts and romantic relationships in the proceeding pages are over the age of eighteen. Enjoy.  

Copyright 2021, Morgan Grey

All Rights Reserved

Chapter 1

February 14^th, 2019 A.D. (5:44 PM. CST).

Adam was in a panic. Granted, anyone would be, if they had to take a calculus II midterm exam with Professor Lawrence. Twenty five questions to answer in two hours; the exam started at 4 PM. Every question meant to squeeze as much time as possible from Adam, but there was a double concern on his mind. Today was Valentine’s Day!

On the campus of Great Eastern State University, they call a day taken on Valentine’s Day as a “Heartbreaker” while a test taken on Valentine’s Day evening is known as a “Heartbreak Express.”

“Fifteen minutes left!” bellowed Professor Lawrence. Professor Lawrence was a tall man with much akin to an oak tree. Unbending, inflexible, and sturdy. For two and a half decades, Eliot Lawrence made his calculus II section a living hell for anyone taking it.

The professor’s voice can best be described as a constant barrage of shouts assaulting one’s ear. Anger often pulses through his brown hued face, but was hard to recognize.

Lectures were hell on Adam’s ears. For some reason though, girls in the class swooned for the married Lawrence.  It was an anomalous phenomenon to say the least. One which has gained Adam’s natural curiosity.

The girls would first come in scared and quivering like wet deer during winter. Girls would be terrified of Eliot by his direct questions and harsh voice. But after awhile, two months in, they are all awestruck at the man. Some girls would even raise up their hands with a ready answer; Adam was left completely bewildered at this subtle shift.

But there was no time to think too deeply onto this because the clock was running! It was so hard to concentrate on the exam already because of the slight static buzz in the background. A constant buzz always bothered the students and left them unable to zone out as was natural in most other math classes.  

Now, it was hurting Adam. He had ten minutes left and two problems to complete. He was nervous. Sweat coated his hand as spasms of pain from a carpel tunnel pulsed continuously. Agony was evident on his contorted face.

If Adam’s suffering was noticed by the proctoring TA [teacher’s assistant], there was no sign of acknowledgement in her cold, distant stare ahead. Lisa Szilard simply did not care. Lawrence's star pupil and TA for the last two years. She kept watching on patrol with long blonde locks hanging behind her scrawny frame. Lisa was a pretty woman, but only seemed to be focused on doing whatever Professor Lawrence needed.

TICK TOCK, *BUZZ* *BUZZZZZZ*, TICK TOCK, *BUZZZZZZZZZZ*.

Adam couldn’t take it anymore! He was on the verge of simply guessing whatever the last two questions were, because, there were five minutes left. Adam’s wrist was hurting while he couldn’t even feel his right index finger or thumb, he became to succumb to desperation. No way he can get the right answers in time.

Just then, Adam remembered Katherine’s sweet words when they were studying for this exam.

“When you’re stressed out, think of me.” Katherine said the night before.

Adam ignored the static and focused on the exam. The answers were clear as daylight. In his mind, Adam had the formula appear out of nowhere. A couple of seconds later, feeling no pain or ache, Adam filled out the response to the penultimate question. Only one more to go.

Time suddenly slowed down. Adam looked up from his exam.

Professor Lawrence loudly and clearly shouted in a snail’s pace, “One minute left.”

At that moment, Katherine materialized in front of Adam. She was wearing a white dress-shirt, a white and black plaid tie, as well as an equally plaid skirt. No lipstick or cosmetics were on Katherine’s visage. But there was something odd, her normally verdant eyes were replaced with spirals.  Ever-spinning, forever turning spirals. They captivated Adam.

Adam lost all care for anything else and focused his attention on his love as she told him the answer. In a flurry of motions, Adam wrote up the answer and ---

“Times Up!!!” Professor Lawrence bellowed from the top of his lungs.

Two minutes passed as Adam got up and stood in line to hand his exam to Lisa sitting on the other side of a large sturdy table made of bleached plastic.

She had an unusually wide smile on her face. Her eyes were wide open yet, the silver-blue eyes of Ms. Szilard had an empty, intensity to them. A pretty machine is what she acted like, taking the exams of students and wishing each “a happy Valentine’s Day!”

The way Lisa spoke always unnerved Adam more than Professor Lawrence’s high pitch and high bass performances. Lisa repeated the same phrase in the exact same monotonous tone of voice for the twelve students in front of Adam.

An original thought appeared in Adam’s mind.

As he turned in his exam, Adam asked “Are you doing anything for Valentine’s Day?”

Lisa’s eyes looked up at Adam and lost much of their intensity, replaced by a gentle soft cyan gaze.   

“Yup, I am going to have dinner with Pr---” Lisa said excitedly before being cut off by Lawrence.

“Lisa! there is no time for chit-chat. We have to go, the janitors are coming to clean the room. I think they would mind if we got out of here when we are supposed to.

A switch seemingly was flipped in Lisa’s head. She broke eye contact and said “Have a happy Valentine’s Day!” in her everyday monotonous tone.