“Thanks so much for doing this,” Lauren sighed, sitting down heavily on the sofa.

“Hey, no problem,” Glen said kindly. “I’m happy I can help! I hate seeing you so stressed, mate...”

Lauren smiled weakly. She’d had a hell of a time in recent weeks. It had already been difficult trying to balance work, the amateur theatre group of which she was a member, and what little time she had to herself and with her boyfriend Tom. But now half the staff at the bank where she worked were off sick, including the boss, so she’d had to step up and basically run the place.

Now, with so much on at work, and the week of their group’s show inching nearer, she was getting increasingly stressed and frantic. Glen, a fellow member of the theatre group whom she’d befriended over the past few months, had offered her a sympathetic ear. He was quite a naturally relaxing presence to be around - his calm, laidback demeanour and smooth voice set her at ease. She hadn’t known him for all that long, but she’d quickly grown to trust him.

So when he’d revealed that he’d been learning hypnosis for therapeutic purposes, and that he was more than willing to use what he’d learned to help her de-stress, she’d jumped at the chance and came over to his flat to give it a try the first chance she got. She knew deep down that it wouldn’t help with her workload, but maybe it’d help stop her from panicking about it!

“So, how do we do this?” she asked. “Sorry, I know bugger-all about hypnosis...”

He chuckled, sitting down in an armchair next to the sofa. “No worries. I’m an expert, and I’ve done this with a few people...”

“I’m in good hands, then,” she said with a grin.

“You should make yourself as comfortable as you can get, so this has a better chance of working...”

Lying down, Lauren shivered a little at the feeling of the cool leather on her skin. Feeling her panties get slightly bunched up as she did so, she discreetly tried to shuffle them back into a more comfortable position.

If Glen noticed, he didn’t comment on it. “Now, Lauren, you might think that hypnosis only works on dumber, more easily led people. But that’s not true - in fact, in many cases intelligent people are easier to hypnotise, because they have more vivid imaginations and can handle more complex ideas and suggestions. You’re probably my smartest subject yet, so this should go very well!”

Lauren beamed at the flattery.

“It helps that you want to go into hypnosis so much - it only works if you’re willing. That brings me to my next point - hypnosis isn’t mind control. It’s manipulating the mind, sure, but only to a certain extent. You can’t be hypnotised to do anything you don’t want to do - and I wouldn’t try to, anyway. OK?”

“Yep.” She nodded keenly, eager to start. The idea of her friend trying to control her and make her do things against her will hadn’t even occurred to her - it seemed ridiculous in the extreme.

“Very well then, let’s begin.” Sitting forward, he pulled a pendant out of his pocket, with a small crystal ball dangling from it. He grinned, preparing himself for Lauren to ridicule the cliched nature of his hypnotic tool.

But she didn’t. Rather, her gaze was immediately drawn to the pendant. From what little she knew of hypnosis, she was aware that such objects were used to fixate a subject and lull them into trance. In fact, her eyelids already felt a little heavy.

Glen grinned. This was going to be even easier than he’d anticipated. He began to roll the pendant string between his fingers, making the crystal slowly spin in mid-air.

“That’s right, Lauren, just stare at the crystal ball. Watch it twirl and sparkle in the light. It’s pretty, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” she said quietly.

“It’s so pretty, you don’t want to look away from it. It’s so pretty, you can’t look away from it. You feel it compelling you, drawing you in, enchanting you...”

“Huh,” she mumbled.

“And as it sparkles and shines, doesn’t it remind you of a disco ball, Lauren? Hanging in the air, dozens of lights beaming out of it, illuminating everything around it...”

Lauren dimly recognised the analogy, and appreciated it. But she was so relaxed now, she couldn’t muster the willpower to respond, even with another little mumble.

“And all those lights coming out of the disco ball are your thoughts, Lauren. You have so many thoughts, because you’re so smart, and so busy... But now, a row of lights at the top of the ball go out, and so does a row at the bottom. And as they do, some of your thoughts disappear, and you feel sleepier...”

Her eyelids began to droop. Her mouth gaped open. Her breathing was slow and heavy.

“Another row of lights go out at either end. It’s like darkness is starting to swallow up the light, to swallow up your mind... Another row goes out. There are only three left now...”

She could barely think now. But she was vaguely aware of how this was working so much faster and better than she’d expected. That made her happy, even though her face was too relaxed and numb for her to smile.

“And now the rows either side of the centre go dark, leaving just that one band of light around the middle... And one by one, the lights in that row start to go out on either side, and the light shrinks from a ring, to a line, to a single dot...”

She could barely keep her eyes open. She couldn’t feel her body. She couldn’t see anything but that one tiny spot of light, which seemed so far away. She could hear nothing but Glen’s voice, echoing through the empty caverns of her mind.

“And as that one last light goes out, you close your eyes and sleep for me.”

Glen’s hand closed over the pendant. The little light was gone. Lauren’s eyelids dropped shut, and she thought no more.

“Very good. Now - still so deep asleep, so empty and blank - sit up for me, Lauren, and open your eyes.”

Lauren did as she was told, pushing her back up off the sofa and swivelling into a seated position in the middle of the chair. Opening her eyes, she stared dumbly into space.

“Good girl. Now, Lauren, you’re completely hypnotised, completely mindless and vacant, only aware of what I tell you, only able to speak when I ask you a question. Isn’t that right?”

“Yes,” she droned automatically. Her mind was gone, and her body was numb, but still, the response came easily, as if it came from somewhere or someone else.

“Excellent.” He stood up and moved in front of her. “Look at me.”

Tilting her head back, Lauren gazed up at him, open-mouthed.

“How do you feel right now?”

This time, she failed to come up with an answer. She simply didn’t know how she felt.

Smiling, he reached out with one hand and rapped her forehead with his knuckles three times, as if knocking on a door. “Like an empty toy?” he suggested.

Numb and mindless as she was, Lauren didn’t even notice him knocking on her empty head.

“From now on, when you’re in trance and I ask how you feel, you can just say that, Lauren,” Glen told her. “You can say ‘like an empty toy’. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“How do you feel?”

“Like an empty toy.”

He closed his eyes, delighting in her words. “Very good, Lauren... It feels good to be empty and mindless, doesn’t it?”

“Yes,” she said emotionlessly.

“From now on, whenever I say ‘lights out’, you return to this blank-minded trance. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

He stroked his goatee. “Hmm. From now on, while you’re in trance, you say ‘Master’ every time you respond to me. So it’s not ‘yes’ - it’s ‘yes, Master’. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Master.”

Glen’s face lit up. Lauren’s remained completely slack and devoid of feeling.

“Good girl. Now, when I wake you up, your mind will be fully restored, and you’ll be refreshed and full of energy. But from now on, when I say the word ‘underthink’, your mind goes clear. Not completely blank, though - you’ll still be awake and aware, but you’ll find you can only think about and focus on one thing at a time. Nothing else matters - nothing else registers. For instance, if you’re having a conversation with someone, you can only be aware of that conversation. If you’re filling out a report, you only think about filling out the report. You won’t notice anything else in the world around you, anything else anyone is doing, anything else happening to you - one task, one goal, one experience is all your mind can register.

“This trigger will last a long time once I use it - two or three days in a row. But eventually, it’ll wear off, and you’ll need me to use it again if you want to feel its effects once more. Only I can use your triggers, Lauren. Only I can put you in trance, and only I can clear and simplify your mind.

“Do you understand?”

“Yes, Master.”

“Perfect. Now, on the count of three, you will awaken from trance. One... two... three.”

A spark of awareness ignited in Lauren’s glazed eyes, and she inhaled deeply, blinked, and looked around in surprise. “Woooow,” she sighed. “That was... wow! That worked so well...” She gazed up at Glen, smiling gratefully. “Thank you so much!”

“Oh no, thank you,” he replied, sitting down next to her on the sofa. She shuffled along a little to make space for him. “I was right - you were a fantastic subject! Probably my best ever.”

She blushed. “I’m so glad!”

“How do you feel right now?”

“Really good. Relaxed, refreshed, re-energised...” She giggled. “Lots of other words starting with ‘re’! But yeah, no, I haven’t felt this good in weeks - months, actually!”

“Aw, that’s wonderful! And it doesn’t end there.”

She raised her eyebrows. “It doesn’t?”

“I figured that the hypnosis would be relaxing, but once you leave here you’re gonna be back in your hectic life. So I’ve given you a little trigger that might help you.”

“Oh, yeah?” She shivered, nervous but excited, and smiled at him.

“Yeah, see, I know you have a lot on, and that’s obviously not great. Nothing I can do about that, I’m afraid. But I reckon half the problem is that you’re thinking about everything you have on, and getting stressed about it. You probably feel like your mind’s being pulled in loads of different directions, and it’s hard to know what to focus on at any one time. Am I right?”

“Yeah, dead on,” she said with a grimace, rubbing her temples. Just hearing Glen describe the way she’d been feeling had started to bring back some of that stress.

“The trigger I’ve given you will wipe away everything else you’re worried about, so you can concentrate on one thing at once. It should help make things easier and simpler for you - you might have lots of jobs and problems to deal with, but you can only deal with one at a time, and forget about everything else until you get to them. Just work through each thing on your list one by one, without even really remembering that you have a list.” He smiled and winked at her. “How’s that sound?”

Lauren’s mouth hung open again, though from astonishment this time rather than mindless bliss. “That sounds fucking amazing! That could be exactly what I need!”

“So you’re happy for me to use this trigger, then?”

“Of course! Go for it!” She was practically bouncing in her seat with enthusiasm.

He grinned triumphantly. “Alright, Lauren... Underthink.”

For a few seconds, she didn’t feel any different. But gradually the clamour in her mind, which had just started to build up again after she’d woken from trance, started to die down again. Soon, she was almost completely blank and vacant again, staring at Glen.

“How do you feel, Lauren?” he asked.

Her eyebrows twitched upwards slightly as the cogs in her brain started to slowly turn again. “Weird,” she said quietly, letting out a small chuckle. “But good weird. Like... like I don’t have a care in the world.” She grinned broadly.

“And what are you aware of right now?”

She shrugged. “Not a lot. I’m just talking to you.”

He waved his hand in front of her eyes. She didn’t even blink. He reached out and poked her in the shoulder, and then booped her nose. No reaction at all. She just sat there smiling placidly at him, waiting for him to speak again.

“You don’t notice anything else?” He edged closer to her on the sofa, closing the gap between them. Their proximity didn’t register with her at all.

“Nope. It’s actually really strange!” she laughed disbelievingly. “It’s like I’ve got tunnel vision, but it’s not my eyesight, it’s my mind. I can still think - all my intelligence is still there - but it’s like it’s all laser-focused on just talking to you. I don’t notice anything else - I can’t notice anything else!”

As she spoke, he took hold of the bottom edge of her fluffy burgundy top and rolled it up over her pert breasts, which were clad in a black bra. “And that’s not frightening at all?” he asked as he tugged down the bra’s left cup, tucking it under her boob.

“Frightening, no - it’s a bit unnerving, but I’m sure I’ll get used to it!” She didn’t notice the slight catch in her own voice as he began to gently rub and squeeze her tit. “A bit of weirdness is a small price to pay for not being so bloody stressed all the time...”

“I’m glad you think so!” Leaning forwards, he licked and sucked her hard nipple. Lauren’s gaze followed him, but her mind didn’t take in what he was doing, or how much it was turning her on. Her boobs had always been sensitive - she loved it when they were groped and licked.

“So this trigger - it’ll keep working, right? You’re not gonna switch it off, or whatever?”

His lips relinquishing her tit, he sat back up, letting her top drop back down and cover her chest again. “Oh no, I didn’t put in another trigger word to undo it - it should stick, and allow you to focus like this indefinitely. Of course, if the suggestion does fade, just let me know and I’ll trigger it again.”

“OK,” she chirped, smiling guilelessly. “So, do you want me to pay you for this? I swear, you’ve helped me so much, I’ll pay you whatever you want.”

He considered for a moment. “I think a hundred quid and a blowjob is fair, don’t you?” Despite his confidence in the power of the suggestion - which should have reduced her capacity to think outside her mind’s limitations so drastically that she’d accept whatever he told her - he couldn’t help holding his breath as he awaited her response.

He needn’t have worried. “Sure!” Lauren said brightly. “Shall I do the blowjob now, and then get you the money after?”

Glen grinned. “No, money first please.”

“Alright!” Getting up, she crossed the room to where she’d left her handbag. Picking it up, she got out her purse and started counting out notes from inside.

She didn’t notice Glen following right behind her. She didn’t notice him seize her black jeans by the waist and pull them down. She didn’t notice him slip her black panties down, or lift up each of her feet in turn, sliding them free of the trousers and underwear.

Turning around, she held out a wad of cash. “Here you go!”

Rather than take the money, he knelt down and lifted each of her feet again, slipping them back into her jeans, before pulling them up and over her hips, back into place as though they’d never been taken down. Then he took the money from her. “Thank you!”

“You’re more than welcome, mate,” she grinned, not registering the extensive pause between her offering the cash and him taking it.

Returning to the sofa, Glen sat on the edge. Lauren got on all fours, crawled between his legs, and unzipped his flies. His big, hard cock immediately popped out, and she slid her mouth over it without preamble. She began to work her soft lips and tongue over the shaft, hyper-focused on performing the best blowjob she possibly could. At that moment, that was her entire world. Just her mouth, and the cock it was pleasuring. She had a task to fulfil - she’d know she’d done it when he came and filled her mouth - and nothing could possibly distract her from it.

“Ohhhh, fuck, Lauren,” Glen gasped. “You’re so good... even better than I thought...” He grabbed her long auburn hair with one hand. “Such a good little hypnotised slut...”

Lauren didn’t hear his words, or feel his hand grasping her hair, as she took his cock as deep down her throat as she could.

Glen fought hard to delay his orgasm, knowing that once the task was completed Lauren’s mind would focus on something else. He wanted to gloat more while she was distracted. “I knew it’d be easy to get my hooks in you,” he laughed maliciously. “I saw how much of a stress case you were, how much you wanted all those burdens lifted off you... Don’t worry, sweetie. You won’t ever have to worry about all that thinking ever again. I’ll take good care of your mind, you brainless, gullible fucktoy...”

He couldn’t contain himself any longer, releasing a long, thick spurt of cum down her throat. Recognising that her job was done, she slid herself off his cock - which released one last sticky dribble down her chin - and swallowed the contents of her mouth.

Sighing happily, Glen tucked himself away again and sat forwards, gazing down at his subject. “That was fantastic, Lauren! Good job.”

She beamed. “I’m glad you liked it!”

He held up her panties. “By the way - these aren’t yours, are they?”

Staring at the underwear, she frowned. “Uh... they look like mine...”

He raised an eyebrow. “Well, that doesn’t make sense, does it? You don’t wear panties or knickers. You never have. Right?”

Blinking, she dimly processed this. “Yeah... Yeah, they can’t be mine. I don’t wear pants.” She grinned salaciously. “I guess they must belong to one of your lady friends!”

“That must be it,” he chuckled, as he used the panties to wipe the cum off her face. He then threw them carelessly on the floor. “Right, I think you’d better head home now.”

Nodding, she got to her feet. “Thank you so much for your help! I can’t tell you how grateful I am...”

“It was my pleasure,” he chuckled. “Oh, by the way, feel free to tell Tom about the hypnosis - I’m sure he’ll be happy to hear you’ve found a solution for your stress - but don’t tell him about the payment.”

“OK, I won’t.” It didn’t occur to her to ask why not.

He led her to the front door, pausing only so she could collect her handbag on the way. As he opened the door for her, she gave him a hug. “Thank you again! See you on Friday.”

“I look forward to it,” he smiled. “I’d say ‘drive safely’, but with your newfound focus, I know you will!”

She laughed happily. “If I knew underthinking was so good for me, I’d have started years ago!”