Pain seared through my cranium as the back of my head collided with the brick wall. I slid down the rough surface, my body completely devoid of strength as my legs gave out. I slumped forward, holding my head as the world came back into focus once again. A striking pair of black leather boots stood before me, the toe of one tapping impatiently.

“C’mon, four-eyes, I haven’t got all day,” I heard a rough voice call out to me. I looked up and saw the face of my assailant, her face sneering with contempt. Wavy golden locks framed her otherwise beautiful face, and were it not for the situation I found myself in I likely would’ve found her to be quite the looker. She had a scar on her jaw that extended to her lower lip, giving her a grizzled appearance. She was wearing torn-up dark denim jeans and a tattered leather jacket over a tank top, her chiseled abs and quite sizable tits on full display. Her arms and legs were all incredibly muscular, and her gloved hands tightly gripped the pistol aimed at my chest. Her deep brown eyes narrowed, and she cracked her neck menacingly. “Empty your pockets. Money, valuables, all of it. Don’t do anything stupid, and you’ll walk away still breathing.”

One shaking hand slowly reached up to adjust my glasses, and the other began moving downwards. I brushed my now dirtied lab coat out of the way, revealing the khakis and polo I was wearing underneath. I moved my hands into my pockets, to find my phone in the right one and… nothing in the left.

Oh, for the love of… out of all the days to get mugged, it just HAD to be the one time I forgot my wallet at the lab, didn’t it?

I felt my eyes grow wide as I realized just how utterly fucked I was. I had nothing to offer her. She was probably - no, almost certainly going to kill me. I felt a chill run down my spine as I imagined my corpse rotting in this alleyway, only to be discovered a day or two later when my lifeless body began deteriorating and getting picked apart by vermin, and- 

A swift kick to the gut brought me back to reality, and I felt red creeping in around the edge of my vision as I doubled over. “My patience is running thin, four-eyes,” the woman sneered at me. “Get your hands out of your pockets, now.”

I coughed and hacked from the sudden bruising impact to my diaphragm, struggling to catch my breath as I wheezed out a response. I slowly pulled my hands out of my pockets, raising them up defensively while I gripped my phone tightly. “I-I-I don’t have any m-money! I, I left my wallet a-at the office! Here-- t-take my phone instead! Please, d-don’t kill me!!”

She squinted her eyes, her gaze scanning me head to toe as malice dripped from every fiber of her being. “A phone, huh?” She scoffed. “Well, better than nothing. Open it up for me, now.”

I quickly pressed my shaking thumb to the screen, opening it up with my fingerprint. I swiped up to close my calendar app, then looked up as I offered the phone up. To my surprise, the burglar was looking down the alleyway, scouting out the sound of a car driving past our little alleyway to make sure we weren’t being watched. I took the briefest moment to consider my options while she was distracted.

Can I run?

No, the moment I start running she’ll notice.

Maybe I could take her by surprise?

No way, especially with how she just thrashed me. I’d barely get a punch off.

Go for the gun?

Way too risky. I’d rather not get shot immediately.

Call 911?

Yeah right, she’d shoot me a second later.

So, what can I do? Should I just give her the phone, or…

Wait, my phone! I have that app installed!

It’s… still a risk. I’ve never even tried it on anyone. 

But, well… I guess it’s my only option. I can pass it off as just being a random app I had open already if it doesn’t work.

Please, God, if you’re listening, help me out here…

I swiped left twice with my thumb, and tapped the first icon on the last page. I saw warm, colored lights come out of the screen for a brief moment as I turned the phone towards my assaulter. And not a moment too soon either, as her eyes immediately flicked back to me as soon as I turned it towards her. She quickly snatched the phone out of my grasp, then gave me a satisfied smirk. “Good girl. I like it when people…” Her voice trailed off as her eyes caught on the screen, her face morphing into confusion. “The hell is this, four-eyes?”

I felt a pit form in my stomach, unsure of whether the app was working or not. “Um, i-it’s my m-meditation app,” I stammered out. “I look at the colors, a-and it helps me relax. I, I find it really helpful, I c-can hardly take my eyes off it.”

The robber squinted her eyes at the phone and tapped the screen experimentally with her thumb. “Yeah, yeah, don’t care. Now how do I…” she jeered as she brought the phone closer to her face, her scowl growing deeper by the second.

But I noticed the slight sigh she let out, and I could tell that her eyes were glued to the screen. I cautiously got up on one knee, leaning against the wall for support and making sure my movements didn’t break her focus. “I-It’s simple, really. All you need to do is, is keep watching. L-Let the pretty colors relax you, a-as you keep watching them. The more you watch them, the more relaxed and happy you’ll f-feel.”

Her scowl deepened. “No, I’m not asking how to… to use it, I’m asking…” she tried demanding, but the vigor wasn’t in her voice anymore. Her incessant tapping on the screen began to slow, and I could see her eyes softening the longer she looked. Her gun arm was slowly lowering to her side, no longer pointed directly at my chest.

With a surge of conviction, I slowly rose to my feet and stumbled back against the wall. “It’s okay, j-just let yourself relax. Watch the pretty colors. It’s the only thing you can see, the only thing you care about right now. The colors are just, just so nice and relaxing, aren’t they?”

Her eyebrows turned up in confusion, and her lip quivered with uncertainty. “I… they are, but… why…” her voice took on a more pleading tone as her eyes reflected all of those beautiful colors. Her ample chest rose and fell gently despite her concern, and the gun was now at her side, forgotten.

“Just relax,” I cooed gently, “let the colors fill your vision. Watch them swirl, and melt, and combine, and separate. It feels good to just watch the pretty colors, and it’s all you want to do. Let yourself relax, as the colors take you deeper. All you want to do is watch the pretty colors, right?”

Anxiety was trying to creep its way onto the burglar’s face, causing her lips and eyes to twitch slightly, but it was smothered by the overwhelming power of the colors. “Watch… the colors…” she sighed, her voice slightly shaky.

I nearly jumped out of my skin as the gun clattered against the cement, dropped unceremoniously from her limp fingers. I took a deep breath in to center myself, then spoke with confidence. “That’s right, so relaxed. So peaceful. The colors are everything to you. Nothing matters except seeing the pretty colors. You’re so entranced by them, the shifting colors are so mesmerizing, that all you want to do is watch them. So let yourself relax deeply, and just watch the beautiful, relaxing colors.”

The last remnants of her stubborn will flickered away with a whimper as she stared glassy-eyed at the screen. “Pretty colors…” she sighed contentedly, her mouth lazily hanging open.

Holy shit, it worked! Not the way I ever expected to test that, but hey!

I did a little celebratory fist pump, then addressed my robber clearly. “Good girl, feeling so wonderful as you continue watching the colors. These colors that make you feel oh so good are coming from my phone, from a special little program I made. And since I own the phone with the colors, and I created the program that’s showing you the colors, it makes sense that I’m the one who controls the pretty, relaxing colors. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Her eyebrows creased slightly. “But it’s… my phone now…” she whimpered quietly.

Right, the phone you literally stole from me a minute ago? Jeez, possessive much?

I let out an annoyed sigh as I pushed my feelings aside and thought of a plan. “Well, how about this: if you give me the phone with the pretty colors, I’ll let you keep watching them for even longer! After all, eventually the phone’s going to lose its charge, and that means the colors would go away. But the colors are so important to you, all you want to do is keep watching them! You wouldn’t want to let the colors stop, right?”

Immediately, her face scrunched up with anxiety. “No, I… I want to keep watching…”

“Then if you want to keep looking for longer, you need to give me the phone. I can make the colors last even longer than they would normally! Doesn’t that sound nice? If you give me the phone, you’ll get even more time with the pretty colors!”

“Give you… the phone…” she whispered before she dropped it into my waiting hand. I made sure to look away so I didn’t catch myself with the program, then I angled it back towards my assaulter’s eyes immediately.

Finally, took you long enough…

I brought it up a little closer to her face, to ensure it took up as much of her eyesight as possible. “Good girl! Now that you’ve given me the phone, that means it’s mine now. That means I control the colors, the pretty colors you keep staring at, that are controlling you. Therefore, that means that I control you.”

“You… control me…” she flatly repeated, her eyes continuing to absorb every color in front of her.

I couldn’t help but smile triumphantly. “Now, the phone is going to turn off in a moment, and the pretty colors will go away,” I explained. “When the colors are no longer there, no longer making you stare and relax, you’ll find yourself returning back to normal, just as you were before you started looking at the pretty colors. In fact, you won’t even remember seeing these wonderful colors any more.”

“But… I like them…” she whimpered, her lip quivering.

I grinned wickedly at that response. “It’s okay, I’ve got a solution! Whenever I tell you to ‘remember the colors’, no matter what you’re doing, you’ll find that you’ll instantly start remembering the pretty colors again. They’ll take up your entire vision, completely dominate your mind’s eye just like they’re doing now, and send you right back into this deep, relaxing state once again. And deep down you’ll know how amazing it feels to look at the pretty lights, so you’ll drop right back down without hesitation whenever I tell you to remember the colors.”

“Remember… the colors…” she sighed, her anxiety melting away and an empty, content smile replacing it.

“Very good, coming out of trance now, remembering nothing about the colors.” I turned off my phone’s screen and pocketed it into my lab coat.

The mugger blinked her eyes a couple of times as the world came back into focus, then shook her head. “Ugh, what was I…” She looked down and saw the gun on the ground, and quickly reached down to pick it up before I could fish my hands back out of my pockets. She pulled back the slide and ejected a bullet, then glared at me with renewed vigor. “You. Four-eyes. Don’t do anything stupid. Hand over your money, and you walk away alive.” She pulled back the hammer menacingly, pointing the barrel straight at my chest.

Confidently - or perhaps stupidly - I simply leaned back onto the wall behind me, crossed my arms, and said “remember the colors.”

There was a moment of shock that took over the robber’s face, but it quickly faded into a dopey, relaxed stare. Her arm slowly lowered back down, and before the gun could drop to the floor again I removed it from her hand without resistance. She didn’t even seem to notice as a content smile crept up on her lips and her breathing slowed into deep, even intervals. I quickly located the magazine release button, removed the magazine, and with some effort pulled the slide back to eject the remaining bullet.

Yes! I did it!! I completely hypnotized her!!! Take that, uh…

…Right, who the hell is she?

I cleared my throat, pocketed the empty pistol inside the other pocket of my lab coat, then walked behind the mugger and placed my hands on her shoulders. “That’s right, so relaxed, so helplessly captivated by the colors once again. You can see them, can’t you? All those pretty, wonderful, shifting colors?”

“Yes…” she sighed. “Pretty colors…”

“Good, and do you remember who controls the colors, and therefore controls you?”

“You do… you control them… you control me…” her voice was just as flat and emotionless as before.

“Exactly, so if you want to keep seeing the colors, you need to do everything I say. Tell me, what’s your name?”

“Meredith…” she obediently replied.

“Very good, Meredith. Can you take off your jacket for me?”

Her body moved slowly, and with the least amount of effort required she shrugged off her jacket into a lazy heap behind her. She didn’t even bat an eye as she was doing it, she just continued to stare off into the great beyond.

“Good girl, Meredith. Now, do you have anywhere you need to be tonight? Anything important you need to do?” I asked, rubbing her bare shoulders gently.

“No…” she whispered back.

Wow, a more perfect subject couldn’t have possibly presented herself to me, huh? Tonight’s going to be very fun…

I licked my lips as I gazed down at her very full cleavage from behind. “That’s wonderful, Meredith. I’m going to give you some instructions to follow, but I need something to write them on. Would you happen to have some paper handy?”

“No…” she replied flatly.

Well, shoot. I knew it was a longshot, but… guess that means I’ll go back to the lab. I need to grab my wallet if I want to actually eat lunch, anyway. 

I sighed annoyedly. “That’s fine. Here, give me one of your hands,” I ordered as I walked to her side. She slowly raised up her left hand, and I pulled out a red pen from my lab coat. I quickly jotted down some instructions before putting away the pen and addressing her again. “Meredith, listen closely: in a moment I’ll have you count to 30, and when you reach 30 you’re going to wake up again. However, you must obey the instructions I just wrote on your hand. It’s vitally important that you follow them, just as important as the colors are to you. Do you understand?”

“I understand…” she replied.

“Good girl! Get counting.” I quickly darted out of the alleyway, an excited yet nervous energy filling my body as I practically sprinted back to the lab. I walked into the building, took the elevator up, took a sheet of paper from the nearby printer, wrote down some very specific instructions, grabbed my wallet from my purse - before remembering there was a gun in my lab coat pocket, which made me extraordinarily glad that everyone was still out for lunch - and then left as calmly as I could manage. I then retraced my steps back to the alleyway I was mugged in, to find Meredith leaning against the wall and picking at the skin on her fingers absentmindedly. As soon as I started approaching, her head swiveled towards me and she stared at me with a cool, serious expression.

“So,” she called out as she kicked herself away from the wall, “You’re the one I’m supposed to talk to or whatever?”

I swallowed the lump in my throat nervously, clearing my throat and steeling myself as I approached as confidently as I could manage. “Yes I am,” I called back.

Meredith sauntered up to me, crossing her arms and sizing me up with the most unimpressed look on her face. “Alright, well, get to it then. Time is money.”

I sighed performatively, then gave her a knowing smirk. “You’re right, and I’m short on both. Remember the colors.”

Immediately her snarky exterior dissolved into placid obedience. She stared past me with glassy eyes, her mouth slightly agape. She bent forward slightly, her chest swaying below her. 

“Good girl, Meredith. Now, we’re going to do the same thing we did last time, having you count to 30 and waking up. However, this time you’ll ignore the writing on your hand,” I fished out the folded piece of paper from my pocket and pressed it firmly in her palm, “and follow what’s on this paper instead. And again, these instructions are vitally important, just as important as the colors are right now. Make sure you don’t lose this paper, understand?”

“Got it…” she muttered quietly.

“Good girl. Start counting.” I quickly made my way back onto the pedestrian sidewalk, turned the corner, put my hands in my pockets, and-

THE GUN! YOU’RE STILL CARRYING AROUND A GUN, DUMBASS!

I immediately backpedaled as fast as I could into the alley again, scanning Meredith’s statuesque figure as I approached. I quickly looked for a holster, only to find none. After a moment of indecision, I quickly pulled back on the denim and fabric at her hips and threw the gun barrel-first into her pants, followed shortly by the magazine.

Fuck it, it’ll work!

I fled from the alley even more expediently than last time, just to make sure she didn’t see me on the way out. My heart beat out of my chest as I entered a fast food shop, the reality of what had just happened finally starting to set in. It took forever for my heart to finally slow back down to a normal pace, but excitement still flooded every facet of my being. My shitty little mind control app wasn’t just a success, it was a rousing success! 

And once I got through this day at work, assuming everything went well, the oh so delectable fruits of my labor would be awaiting my return.