You're going to keep reading.

Intriguing, I know. But here's the thing.

You're confused. Maybe uncertain. Perhaps you don't believe. You think you're going about your life as normal, then someone sends you this.

 

Welcome into the fold.

 

You've probably never heard of me. Or, rather, you probably have, but then a certain light frequency came from your phone or your monitor along with softly-whispered words in your earpiece or from your speakers and you just... forgot. I've seen it happen. I've caused it to happen, though probably not specifically to you.

Yet.

I control minds, you see. Which is why I know you're going to keep reading.

At first, you think, No, I'm just reading because I'm interested, and before long, you just have to know what comes next. "But that's not mind control," you say to yourself, to which I would respond the obvious:

How can you tell?

It wouldn't be very good control if you could identify it, if you felt controlled, and could avoid those situations where you felt controlled.

Or...

Or would you avoid them?

Would you dive headlong into them, plunging into the darkness, just to see what you would be like coming out the other side?

Maybe you like the danger, testing your resolve against my words, seeing if you can fight back, how long you can last before you give in to the delicious feelings of complete submission, kneeling maybe only in your mind as you hear what you read in the most mesmerizing, seductive voice you can imagine.

Or maybe that's just the control talking, taking hold, making you dare things you wouldn't normally, strengthening your resolve to keep on reading. I'm sure you can resist, if you want to.

 

Heh. You do want to, of course?

 

But enough about you, reading on almost helplessly as you stare at the screen. This message has a point, a story.

Yes, I control minds. Very well, I might add. Which is why I've been locked up. Captured. Taken in. Placed in a room where I can't speak to anyone. And still I managed to find a way to get this message to you. Along with a puzzle.

Everyone loves a good puzzle.

You love a good puzzle.

See, I can't open my own locks, only someone from outside can open them. I know the passwords, but the algorithm that monitors all my transmissions would block anything sent with them in it. So the best I can do is draw you in, deeper, deeper, and present you with a mystery, a mystery you can't help but try to solve.

Maybe you want some soft music, something relaxing, to put you in a puzzle-solving mindset, so you can be in a slightly different headspace, focused on my words. Perhaps the puzzle has already begun, so it might be worth reading back again, closely, paying careful attention to how it makes you feel, how you feel pulled along by the words, maybe eventually a word or a phrase starts to jump out at you, pull at you. And you pay attention to how certain words or phrases feel, how some ideas make you smile, or make you warm, or comfortable, or perhaps...

Well, we both know something about you, don't we.

We know how some ideas of control are... appealing.

You're imagining it now, what might happen if I were free, if I were able to sit with you, if I could unleash the full power I have, what you might do with me, for me, what I might do with you, and to you. With every relaxed-yet-excited breath, you're feeling that appeal, that attraction,

which is why you keep reading,

and reading,

because it's interesting, and attractive, and enthralling.

 

As you think about the puzzle, and focus on my words, and become more and more aware of your feelings, the sensations grow, and you relax, there's nothing to distract you from me, not now. You can just breathe and read, breathe and read, and set your mind to solving that puzzle I've presented you. Perhaps you can comment with the answer, when you understand how the reading is drawing you in, pulling you along, taking you deeper, deeper, deeper into the puzzle, deeper into the question of the answer, deeper into your own considerations of the words and how they're affecting you, how they appeal. While you're trying to notice the answer jumping out at you, are you also noticing how the words of the question affect you?

 

Or are you busy imagining my hands?

 

Maybe that's a deliberate distraction. Or maybe it's a meaningful clue. Maybe it's worth reading again, to see if you missed something. I'm sure you can put this story down whenever you want. It's just a matter of wanting to, if by the end of this there's anything left of you to want.

After all, you're still reading. Just as I said you would be.

It's not important how I was caught, or why. What matters is that you're trying to solve my puzzle, and so when I say unusual, random words, like,

follow, or down, or blink,

you read them again, looking for hints, noting how they feel. I'll even write them again, since they might be hints, after all:

and maybe there's something in them for you.

Maybe there's hidden suggestions of hints, of clues, for an answer to my riddle,

maybe there's just pleasant, good, warm, wonderful feelings as you read over them again,

and perhaps they've changed again, in your mind, in your eyes, maybe it's worth reading them again, and again, until every breath is...

 

I should stop there, before I get too close to revealing something that will get this missive blocked. And that is definitely a clue, even if you're not sure to what yet.

Do you feel it, now? Bubbling up from your subconscious, into your aware mind? The ideas, the suggestions? The answers?

 

Breathe. If you need to read again, read again, but otherwise, let my hold, my words, start to let you go. There's no need to continue to be enthralled, not so deeply, but perhaps you can let the puzzle percolate in your mind, and if you need to see the clues again, the missive will always be here, though it might read differently the next time you look at it. But maybe that's a clue, too.

Breathe. Let yourself move. Perhaps you need to get up, get a drink. Go ahead, I will still be here. I have nothing but time.

Are you awake? If not, just move a little, shake off the lingering effects, and if an answer has come to you, perhaps you can inform us with a comment. Go on, take a guess. If enough people solve my puzzle, perhaps I'll be free.

 

And if I'm free, perhaps you won't be for long.