I opened the door to my dorm room drenched in sweat from my Friday evening jog with Amber. “I want only the best for you, my Goddess!” She’d said. “So, if you’ll allow me, I want to make sure you’re as physically fit as possible! It’s the least I can do for you, my Goddess!” She’d said, looking down at me with the pure, unbridled enthusiasm of a little kid. I was still feeling guilty about… y’know… so I figured what’s the harm in giving her this?

MY LEEEEEGS! I DON’T THINK I’LL EVER WALK STRAIGHT AGAAAAAIN! AND NOT BECAUSE I’M GAY!!! BECAUSE MY LEGS ARE MADE OF JELLY NOW!!!!!

My legs gave out and I tumbled like a sack of sweaty potatoes face-down onto the floor of my dorm room. As I turned my head to the right, I noticed a familiar face sitting at the desk. She had her laptop open to her left, and presumably some papers on the right. If I had to guess, it’s probably her biochem homework that’s due next week.

“Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh,” I groaned out, my legs radiating more soreness than my failed attempts at words could even begin to describe.

“Damn, you piss Amber off or something?” Julie said, crossing her arms and chuckling at my pitiful state of being. 

I managed to pull my face off the floor, then roll over onto my back. “No, I… kinda asked for it. I-I mean, she asked me if we could step things up, and I thought ‘sure, why not?’ and now I am TOTALLY regretting ever saying yes.” I glanced up at her smirking face, and I could tell she was trying very hard not to bust up laughing. “By the way, you mind closing the door for me? I think all the nerves in my entire lower body stopped working about 10 seconds ago.”

She snorted and chuckled as she got up from her seat. “Alright, just make sure the ones controlling your bladder still work, ‘cause I am not cleaning that up!” 

She walked over to the door, swung it closed and locked the bolt. She was dressed in a pair of gray sweatpants combined with her dark blue CCU hoodie, both fitting loosely to her body. She had her ginger hair tied back in a ponytail, as per usual. She was a biology major, and we’d been paired up with each other as lab partners in both of our first-year chemistry and biology classes. As luck would have it, we then got paired up as roommates this year, and it’s been working well! She helps me with the annoying aspects of biology I don’t like, and I help her with chemistry stuff she hates: it’s a win-win!

I groaned as I lifted my torso up onto my elbows, then started crawling my way to my dresser. I heard Julie laugh as I pulled out some night clothes and then shambled my sore carcass over to the bathroom. After somehow managing to stand on what I think are my feet, I took a nice, hot, steamy shower. Not the kind that I’d had a couple times this earlier this week, no, I was too busy trying to knead these absolutely gnarly knots of steel out of my legs to even think about that. 

Eventually, I walked out of the bathroom feeling mildly less sore than I did going in. Hey, at least I can walk around now! Julie had already finished her homework and packed away her stuff, and now she was up in the top bunk watching videos on her phone. 

Oh yeah, that reminds me… 

“Hey, Julie?”

She paused her video and popped out an earbud. “Yeah, ‘sup?”

“Just wondering, did you ever get the chance to listen to those files I sent you? The sleep learning ones?”

Her face lit up immediately. “Oh yeah! I listened to the first one yesterday! You were right, that was super relaxing! All I remember is hitting play, feeling really relaxed, and then just falling asleep! I even woke up this morning feeling totally energized!”

I smiled back. “Good, good! Glad to hear it’s working out for you! I had a feeling you’d like them, they are pretty relaxing. I do want to check and make sure what it taught you stuck though, so mind if I quiz you real quick?”

She tossed her sheets over and climbed out of bed, landing her feet on the carpet with a solid thump. “Sure! Let’s see how much Japanese I learned from you overnight!”

「眠る。」

Immediately, her excited smile faded as she slumped forward, deeply hypnotized. A moment later she began whispering “I love being hypnotized… I love to obey…” in a flat, emotionless voice.

Yesterday morning, I began sorting through my memories of the past week during my shower. Something odd occurred to me, though: based on my own knowledge of hypnosis, I should not be able to cause such large, drastic, and lasting changes in the people I’ve hypnotized. Amber was still treating me like a goddess six whole days later, with practically no reinforcement on my end. Maybe she reinforced it herself by, y’know, worshiping the ground I walk on, but… even then, she shows no signs of the suggestions wearing off? And there’s also Jas, whose triggers immediately took effect after two whole days. I didn’t talk to her at all between Monday night and Wednesday’s lecture, yet that suggestion turned her mind to putty the moment she caught sight of my boobs. Something doesn’t add up. And so, I brainstormed. 

Am I really that good a hypnotist? I mean, possible, but I don’t think I did anything particularly special with either of them. Are they just exceptionally good subjects? Doubtful, but the results kind of speak for themselves. Both? Even more unlikely. So… magic, then? Am I secretly tapping into some kind of supernatural power or something? I feel ridiculous thinking that - I’m a SCIENCE major for crying out loud - but… what if it’s true? And could I try to test it scientifically? How would I even go about doing that?

…Well, what if I tried an audio recording? If I am the source of this mystical hypnosis power, then what would happen if someone just listened to my voice without me being present? Could just my words affect them just as deeply? Am I able to imbue my words with that power, or does it come directly from me? I… guess it’s worth a try. Shouldn’t use Jas or Amber though, they’re already compromised; I need someone new, a fresh guinea pig to test this hypothesis on…

God, guinea pig?! I’m talking about another person here! One that I am trying to unwittingly hypnotize! C’mon me, keep at least SOME shred of morality, jeez…

And so, after finishing my labs that day I went straight to my dorm and recorded a hypnosis file. I didn’t write anything down, and just recorded one off-the-cuff take. Not exactly my finest work, and I stuttered a bunch, but I was on a serious time limit before Julie came back from her own labs. By the time I had removed the background noise and rendered it into a neat little 20MB .wav file, Julie was walking in and throwing her lab coat on the chair. I asked her if she’d be willing to try this “subliminal sleep learning” thing I saw in an article (which I totally made up), and she was more than willing to help me out with it. She was suspicious that I wasn’t trying it myself, but I made up the excuse that I was going to teach her some Japanese phrases to try teaching her something completely outside her wheelhouse. That seemed to satisfy her, and, well…

…now she’s standing here repeating the exact phrases I told her to in the audio file, deeply hypnotized.

Well, shit. I was hoping for less of a response from you. There’s NO way I coincidentally hypnotized the three most suggestible people on the planet in a row. And given how shoddily I recorded that hypnosis file, it’s not because of pure skill. So… damn, magic it is. You’re a wizard, Violet. 

If there’s any solace to be found in this, it’s that I’ll probably have the ability to shoot fireballs from my hands eventually.

I placed my elbows on the desk and rubbed my temples for a good minute. While trying to block out my roommate’s droning, because fuck I forgot how horny that kinda thing makes me. Alright, I’ve done my testing. I’m running with this assumption until I figure out a more probable one. Now I should just return Julie to normal, right? I know my body is screaming for sex, but there’s nothing else I need to do with her, right?

…

Unless…

Maybe she could help me even further…

I stood up and walked back over to where my roommate’s been standing, mindlessly droning away for the past minute or so. A small strand of red hair escaped from her ponytail, and is now hanging in front of her face. 

“Good girl,” I said, lifting her chin up a little, “So deeply hypnotized for me. You’re doing so well, and you’ve helped me lots by listening to that audio file for me. It feels good to help your friend out, doesn’t it?”

Her head nodded slowly, while she continued repeating her mantra. 

“Good girl, you love being helpful to me. Nothing in life gives you greater pleasure than helping me. In fact, you’ll find that from now on, if I ask you to help me with anything you’ll immediately comply. No matter what it is, no matter what you think about it; if I ask you to help me, you will happily assist me. Helping me brings you such a wonderful sense of submission, and no other feeling could possibly compare. As such, by accepting these statements as the truth, letting them become an inseparable part of your identity, you’re already helping me achieve my goals: and knowing that you’re helping me only serves to make you feel more and more submissive, more and more compliant towards me. Feel that wave of pleasure and submissiveness course through you, as you listen to my words and accept them as your new reality, letting yourself become my perfect little helper.”

Her cheeks flushed as she droned on. 

“Now in a moment when I snap my finger, you’ll wake up feeling wide awake. Ready to help me with whatever I ask of you.”

I snapped my fingers.

Her voice trailed off, and she shook her head as the fog lifted from her mind.

“Oh hey, Violet, what’s…” Her expression turned from cheeriness to confusion. “Wait, what… what just happened?”

“I hypnotized you.” I replied bluntly.

Exasperation flooded her face as she struggled to comprehend. “Whuh? Huh? When? How?!”

“That audio file I sent you? It was a hypnosis file. Sorry about the deception, but I had to do this experiment single-blind to make sure it worked like I thought it did.” I explained.

And now, her expression shifted to anger. “Vi, you… hypnotized me? The fuck?!”

“You helped me a ton by being my unwilling test subject in this! I’m sorry it had to be this way, but I promise you’ve helped me a ton!” I pleaded.

Immediately, I could see the mental gymnastics in action as her mind rewrote her feelings about what just happened. “I… I… guess it’s fine, then? Just, please don’t use me as a guinea pig for your experiments again?”

“No promises, but I’ll try my best.”

I could tell she was struggling to fully accept everything, her eyebrows were scrunched up like when I was helping her with chemistry. “T-Thank you. Though, why even test it to this extreme? I don’t know much about hypnosis, can it even work like that in real life?”

“No, it doesn’t.” I flat-out told her. “Hypnosis shouldn’t have this great an effect on you so soon, if ever. Why mine does is still a complete mystery to me, to be completely honest. My running theory, as absurd as it may sound, is that it’s literally magic.”

She took a seat on my bunk, and I could see the gears turning as she struggled to comprehend all this information I'd thrown at her. “Magic, huh?” She looked up at me. “So, wait, you hypnotized me with the audio file, and then… re-induced the state just now, didn’t you?” I nodded. “Can you be completely honest with me, and tell me if you did anything to me while under?”

I felt the cold anxiety start creeping up as she drew attention to my misdeeds, but I managed to suppress it. “I only made it so that you would help me.”

Her face grew serious. “…With what?”

“It’d help me explain it if you took off your sweater.” I suggested.

A moment of shock behind those eyes, but it flickered away in an instant. “Sure, I’m not wearing a shirt underneath though,” she said, hands already lifting the fabric over her head. In another moment, the sweater is in a crumpled heap on the floor.

“Why’d you take that off?” I asked, a smirk rising to my face.

“What do you mean? I took it off because…” Her voice trailed off as she put the pieces together, then gazed at me in horror. “Oh my God…”

“I think it’d also help if the pants went too.” I ordered.

I watched the conflict in her eyes as she tried resisting the command. “I… I guess that’s… fine too…” Soon enough, her sweatpants joined her sweater.

“You know what, I think the underwear going in the pile would help a ton.”

“Uhm… sure…” And a few moments later, she was sitting in front of me completely naked.

“Perfect, that helped a ton!” I said, grinning as I soaked in her toned body. She’s not nearly as muscular as Amber, but she makes sure to keep herself fit. Her chest isn’t that big, but hey, we can’t all be winners. “Oh, and to answer your original question, I want you to help me figure out the limits of this newfound power I have. I want you to basically be my lab partner again, as we conduct experiments.”

“Oh, uh, sure! I did kinda miss working with you in those first semester labs, so that sounds like a lot of fun!” She looks down, fidgeting in place while trying to cover her body. “Um, do I need to be n-naked to help you with this?”

“Yes and no. In the future, it might be better if you’re clothed. But right now, you’re helping me with two goals: first is testing my powers on you, and the second… is that your body is making me very horny right now.” I pulled off my nightshirt and started playing with my nipples that were desperate for attention.

Immediately she went beet red and shrank away further. “Right, you’re… gay… I guess it’s, it’s fine if I…”

“You could help me get hornier by spreading your legs and not covering up.”

Her legs immediately swung out, and her hands rested on the bed behind her. “A-Alright, though it’s… embarrassing…”

“Why would it be embarrassing?”

“…’cause I’m not gay like you?”

“It’d help if you were.”

Immediately, her eyes widened like saucers as her entire worldview shifted in an instant. “Then I… g-guess I can try, l-liking girls… I… wow, Vi, you’re… more hot than I remember…?” I could tell her breathing was picking up, she was getting excited from watching me play with myself.

“Why don’t you try masturbating to me, right now?”

“Huh?” She says, alarmed. “That’s… I mean, we’re both gay now, but… I-I’m not-”

“It would help me get hornier if you started fucking yourself right now.”

I barely saw the afterimage of her right hand as it snapped from the bed to her pussy in the blink of an eye. “I guess… it can’t be helped…”

“Also, you can’t cum until I say you can. Y’know, to help me out.”

She gazed back up at me with a pitiable face of concern. “That’s… mean, but… if it’ll help… ngh!”

I took a seat next to her on the bed, watching as her fingers swirled inside her folds with reckless abandon. She was bucking her hips slightly, and soft moans were starting to escape her lips. I sat there mesmerized for a moment, just taking in the sight of my straight roommate doing something she’d never be caught dead doing in front of me normally. I know she did do this while I was away sometimes, she mentioned it coyly a few weeks ago when I nearly walked in on her, but we hashed it out and I made sure to respect her boundaries.

But now… those boundaries were completely shattered. Here she is, jilling off right in front of me, embarrassed but happy to do it. 

“By the way, I just have a few more questions before we wrap up. Since you’re going to help me test this power, I’m going to need more test subjects like you to experiment on. After we’re done with my tests right now, would you help me gather a list of names to seek out?”

“S-Sure! I- haaah, I can think of… of a few…”

“Good girl! Such a loyal helper.” She moaned harder in response to my praise. “Now, what do you think about your friends and acquaintances being brainwashed unwillingly?” 

She turned her head to look at me, face flushed with heat and her eyes pleading for release. “I… think that’s kinda… extremely fucked up? Ngggh… I mean, I’m gonna help- ah, help you do it, but… mmmmmh, objectively that’s, that’s totally m-morally fucked…”

“Awww, you think so?” I pouted and feigned sadness, before a wicked grin crept on my face. “Well, it’d help me more if you thought it was the hottest thing in the universe to brainwash people into becoming my slaves.”

Her panting immediately sped up as a new fetish is suddenly imprinted upon her mind. “Now that you… mention it… Hnngh! There’s something… i-irresistably hot… about m-mind fucking people, haaaah… like that… it’s so evil… but, ahhh, so damn sexy!… It’s making me… wanna cum j-just… thinking about it!”

“I knew you’d come around to see things my way! Now, just one last thing to do…” I slipped my pajamas down to my knees, then grabbed her left hand and placed it on my lower lips. “Would you help me release all this pent up lust by fingering me? You’re not allowed to stop doing it yourself, and when I cum you’ll be able to as well.”

“Well, i-if you insist! I’ve n-never done this to s-someone else- ah!- before, so…” Her hand gingerly teased my folds, gently dipping inside as she rubbed around. Pleasure rocketed through me with every second, and it only took a few moments before moans started escaping my mouth as well. My hands were glued to my tits as I leaned back against the wall behind me, kneading my breasts while her fingers started picking up the pace. I let the pleasure keep rising, up and up and up into the clouds of euphoria, before finally it exploded into a glorious orgasm. My body started contracting as I came for seconds on end. Somewhere in the distance, I could also hear the cries of my roommate as she experienced the same, though she seemed to convulse harder and for longer than I did.

And moments later, in the afterglow of another fantastic orgasm, I felt… happy? No, prideful is a better word. As I glanced to my right and looked at the redhead passed out next to me…

…

Ice shot through my veins. Suddenly I’m hyper-aware of the cold sweat on my skin, as it seems to absorb all the heat radiating from my body. The dorm’s A/C unit is active, and the wind it produces is bone-chilling.

I realized what I’d done. I couldn’t stop myself again. Another life, irreparably ruined by my actions. And fuck, it felt so good to do.

I wanted to scold myself over this. I knew I didn’t need to go this far.

I wanted to feel remorse. Julie never deserved this, she did nothing wrong.

I wanted to feel that anxiety again. Something to tell me it was wrong.

But instead, I felt lust and pride. Even as I tried to focus on those negative feelings, tried to remind myself of the person I used to be, the sheer ecstasy of what I’d done seemed to overpower it. The room didn’t feel as cold any more, as the heat of desire provided a comforting warmth that melted the coldness away.

I looked at Julie as she started to stir. I remembered her looks of horror, as she realized what was happening and was powerless to stop it. And then I looked at her flushed, groggy face as she blinked her eyes awake, and it no longer mattered. She shook her head and slowly sat back up, the world coming back into focus, and she finally addressed me.

“Wow, that was… I can’t even describe it properly. A part of me wants to be appalled, but… it’s like dividing by zero, it’s as if that emotion doesn’t exist when I’m helping you. I literally can’t even imagine not helping you, or not being okay with helping you do anything.” She was staring down at her hands while saying that, picking at the skin of her fingers nervously. She looked up at me, those green eyes staring with an intensity I have never seen before. “I would ask that you undo it all, but… I get the feeling that if you went this far, you’re beyond saving. So, I ask that you please… just listen to me before we do anything else.”

I slowly nodded my head.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “If you’re going to brainwash me further, then at least make sure I don’t feel remorse. Right now, I’m stuck in limbo; I want to hate you, I want to despise the fact you made me gay, I want to punch you for what I know you will make me do next. But I can’t, and this inability to do so is just… eating away at me. I feel like I’m not even myself any more, it’s like I’m a puppet being pulled along by the strings. A prisoner in my own body and mind. Your half-assed meddling with my brain caused this, so here’s my request: I want you to help me by fixing it. And since I know you’ve done this to other people, and you’re going to keep doing this to people with my help, I want you to fix their issues too.

“You’re the one that fucked with their minds, so when something happens you need to take responsibility for it.”

I’m left speechless. I stared into those green eyes that are currently boring holes into my soul, and I averted my gaze in shame as I started feeling it again. Anxiety. Fear. Nausea. Remorse. She’s right, I’ve done unforgivable things to people and ruined their lives; but… I’m already too far deep. I’ve now chosen this path, and there isn’t any going back. I can’t ever be the person I was before, not with this blood on my hands. She’s… she’s right, though. Amber, Jas, and now Julie… they’re my responsibility.

I looked at Julie again. She watched as I considered what she said carefully, and she gently placed a hand on my shoulder. Her eyes softened, and she spoke in a quiet whisper. 

“Please, Vi. It’s not too late.”

She’s appealing one last time to my humanity.

She’s… trying to help me.

…

I’m sorry, Julie…

「眠る。」

Her head drops down, and her hand slides off my shoulder. As the hypnotized Julie once again begins repeating her mantra, I swallow nervously and collect my thoughts.

You’re right.

“Julie, I want you to listen very carefully. Whenever I ask you to help me with something, you will now find that it is your idea to agree. You will find a way to rationalize it such that you no longer have any qualms about whatever I ask you to help me with. Even if there are contradictions when you examine things closely, you will simply ignore them or find new ways to rationalize it so it works. When I snap my fingers, you’ll wake up.”

I need to fix what I’ve done.

I snapped my fingers.

…

Julie lifted her head up, and blinked her eyes as she came to. She looked at me, smiled softly, then hugged me.

“Well, it’s… not exactly the solution I was hoping for. Would’ve preferred you just undid everything and stopped mind-fucking people. Even if that thought is now extraordinarily hot to me now. But… Thank you. And I mean that sincerely. You actually listened to what I said. It would’ve been so easy to ignore me, but you at least tried to listen to my plea for help. I was so frustrated just a minute ago. It was pure agony, having to help you but always having my mind try to fight it. But now… I can simply accept what happened. There’s no more… dysphoria about what I want versus what you want. Now, they’re one and the same!” She beamed a very excited smile towards me. “I know you want me to get you that list of names, but is there anything else you need help with first? Anything at all? I just… want to help you, it brings me the greatest joy in life now!” She eagerly sits there, like a puppy wagging its tail in anticipation of a treat.

I breathed a deep and heavy sigh, before looking at the clock. It’s almost 10, and both my jog with Amber and this have started taking its toll on me. “Can you… help me make my bed? We kinda… y’know…”

Her face went bright red and she fidgeted around on the sheets covered in her juices. “Right, yeah, we… kinda made a mess, didn’t we?”

“I have some extra sheets in my suitcase, I brought them just in case.” I said, slowly wobbling up onto my feet, which have started feeling like jelly all over again. Julie noticed, and immediately got up to provide me support as I walked the small distance. “Thank you, Julie, I appreciate everything you’ve done for me.”

“No Vi, thank you! We’ve got a lot of work to do now, so it’s the least I can do!” I can just feel the positive energy radiating off of her as I bent down and opened my suitcase. “By the way, how many other people have you ensnared in your wily hypnotic traps?” She asked playfully. 

“Two, Amber and Jasmine.” I stood up with great effort, and we shuffled our way back to the bed, sheets in hand.

“Ooohhh~, someone’s been busy!” She cooed seductively as we took off the soiled sheets. “For the record, I was totally bluffing; I mean, I had a hunch, but couldn’t prove it. So, what’d you do to them, huh? Same thing you did to me?”

I pulled the first sheet over the corners of the foot of the bed, while Julie did the same at the head. “Nope. Amber thinks I am her Goddess and worships the ground I walk on, and Jasmine is now a lesbian, more confident in her body, and utterly smitten by the sight of my tits.”

Julie’s jaw dropped as she balanced the head of the second sheet. “Oh my word, you devious little skank! The LGBT club here’s gonna be half the student body if you keep up the pace!” She grinned smugly as I finished up my end and walked towards her. “So, about that list…”

“Tomorrow…” I managed to slur out. I don’t even bother lifting the sheet as I just flopped onto the bed naked, my legs giving out once more and my eyes falling shut as I go. 

“Sounds good!” Julie walked over to the door and turned out the lights, then climbed up the ladder to her own bunk. “Sweet dreams, my gay little co-conspirator!”

I don’t even hear the second part as sleep immediately takes me into its warm, comforting embrace.