"Are you really a hypnotist?"

He looked up. It seemed like the right guy. He was wearing a dark gray sweater & dark gray jeans, and sitting under the 3rd lamppost from the south side of the bridge with three arches. That's where he said he'd be, and what he said he'd be wearing, so him here wearing that seemed like it couldn't be a coincidence.

He looked in my eyes. "Where did you hear that?"

I felt the corner of my mouth smile. His was too. The look in his eyes was one of those "I know you know I know" looks -- I felt myself flush & broke away, looking down at my shoelaces.

"...the internet."

I blinked & looked back up at him, but he was looking down -- he'd taken a small piece of paper from somewhere, and then he looked from it to me, and back to it. I supposed he'd written down what I said I'd be wearing -- light blue jeans & a turquoise sweater. Well, I was.

He tucked the piece of paper away & stood up, meeting my eyes again.

"Why don't you have a seat?"

I blinked & looked at the bench, then sat next to where he'd been sitting. I expected him to sit down next to me, but he stayed standing.

He looked out at the park -- not like he was anxious being seen, but like he was taking in the kind of day it was. He stretched his arms out over his head, took a deep breath, & yawned.

Then he turned to me.

"I am a hypnotist, that's true. At least, if a hypnotist is someone who hypnotizes people."

I blinked, and cocked my head, as if to ask, "what else would it be?"

"I've never, you know, put on a show." He grinned, a little thirstily, as if he would really like to put on a show, but couldn't for some reason. He reminded me a little just then of a wolf in a cage.

He stepped a half-step closer to me. "You would really like to be hypnotized?"

It's a hard question to answer, looking right in someone's eyes. I blushed & looked down at my lap. "Yes," I said to my lap.

I looked back up at him, into his eyes, & took a deep, quick breath, laughing a little as I let it out, obviously nervous.

"Why do you think so?"

I blinked. "Well, I suppose to relax, and...well, to see what it feels like when...you know...you see things of people being hypnotized, and I want to know what that feels like. I want to know if it feels really real, if I really couldn't...you know...snap out of it, even if I really tried."

"Well, we'll see, won't we?"

"We'll see"? Does that mean he's going to start right now??

I looked deeply into his eyes, trying to figure out what he might do.

I couldn't -- he was just still smiling at the corner of his mouth. It was like he was still waiting -- but I wasn't sure for what.

After a few seconds, I looked off to the side, & ventured, "Are you going to do it right here?"

He laughed. "Well, sure -- it's not like I need equipment. Just as long as you're ready."

I blinked, looking in his eyes still, and took a deep breath, slower this time, straightening myself and leaning back against the bench. As I'd seen others do when they were about to be hypnotized, I put my feet together and rested my hands in my lap. It sort of felt automatic, doing that while looking in his eyes. He seemed a touch amused at my instinctual preparation.

"Look right here."

Suddenly his palm was up close, about six inches from my eyes.

"Look right in the center."

I looked right in the center of his palm. Right in the center, there were two lines crossing at an angle, and the center of that X seemed like the right and natural place to look.

"Right in the center."

He started moving his hand back and forth just the slightest bit. It took a second for me to realize he was moving it -- at first I though my vision was slipping into double or something like that. I blinked and focused again on the X right in the center.

"Left. Right. Left. Right."

He moved his hand the way he said, just the slightest slightest bit each way, and I followed the X right in the center.

"Left. Right. Left. Right."

I realized, as I followed the X right in the center, that he had to be saying my left instead of his left, which must take a little practice not to goof up. It certainly felt like this wasn't his first time doing this.

"And up. Down. Up. Down."

He started moving his hand up and down -- y axis, I thought to myself for some reason -- and I kept following the X right in the center.

"Left. Right. Left. Right."

x-axis, I thought to myself.

"Up. Down. Up. Down."

y-axis. I see the pattern. Two lefts, two ups.

And that was the pattern. And he kept that pattern up -- left, right, left- right, up, down, up down, while I followed the X right in the center -- but he stopped saying the directions. For about four cycles, he didn't say anything. I felt myself blink, and blink again, as my eyes started to get a little "focused out" & faintly strained. I wondered if he was watching my eyes -- all I could see was his hand, but maybe he could see me blink from above.

Then, sort of suddenly, he started talking rather quickly, still moving his hand in that pattern, left, right, left, right, up, down, up, down, while I focused on the X right in the center.

"You are in the first stage of hypnosis right now -- effective focus. You have reached this quite quickly. You are most likely an excellent hypnotic subject."

I blinked, & felt myself blush, still following the X right in the center of his palm, left, right, left, right, up, down, up, down.

"Your state of focus is already such, believe it or not, that what I say to you right now is likely to be taken as a hypnotic suggestion. That would mean you're already hypnotized, yet whether you think that's true or not, take a deep breath right now -- in..." -- I breathed in, still following the X right in the center -- "...and out. And let the muscles in your shoulders relax." I felt the muscles in my shoulders release & relax completely. It was an incredible feeling. "And let the muscles in your neck relax." The same thing happened there, though the feeling was a little smaller in the smaller muscles. "And let the muscles in your core relax." I tried, but they mostly started to flutter a little -- I was so nervous, and it was making me tense up even as I tried to relax. I took a deep breath in, and let it out, still following the X right in the center, and as I breathed out, I felt my core relax a good way --

"Listen to me right now. Totally stiffen up your left arm, tense it up as stiff and hard as you can make it." Suddenly he was holding my left arm out straight to the side. The palm of his other hand was still right in front of my eyes, left, right, left, right, up, down, up, down. I tensed up my straight left arm as hard as I could, harder and harder and harder until it was shaking, until it felt like the veins were twitching -- "Good. Now that left arm is too stiff to bend, rigid and solid and hard like a bar of steel, getting stiffer and stiffer and tighter and tighter every moment -- even trying to bend your arm just makes it tighter, tighter, tighter, stiffer and stiffer, stiff and straight like a solid rod of steel -- could you try now to bend your arm?"

I tried to bend my arm. I couldn't. At all. In a second I was shaking with the effort, blinking and trying twice as hard, and twice as hard again, or so it felt like, and I couldn't bend it at all. "It won't -- "

"It will -- in just one, two, three, and -- " *snap* " -- loose, relaxed, completely melted..." -- it happened right as he said it. He was holding my left arm by the wrist still, swaying it side to side. It was suddenly completely loose, and sort of tingly, and vague, like I wasn't quite certain of where it was -- "...and...relax." He dropped my hand in my lap, and I felt it fall, and hit my leg, and then slide off, to rest on the bench.

I blinked. I wondered what he would do next. I kept following the X in the center of his palm, left, right, left, right, up, down, up, down.

In a flash, he switched which palm was right in front of my eyes. I almost didn't notice -- the sudden movement made me blink, and I was almost confused for a second about how the angled X was oriented the other way now, until I realized he switched hands.

Then I felt him take my right arm by the wrist, and start swaying it side to side, like he did with my left arm after it relaxed. The way he moved my wrist & swayed my arm matched the way his hand moved -- left, right, left, right, up, down, up, down.

"I want to tell you something interesting." I listened closely.

"A finger on your palm -- like this..." He traced small circles on my right palm as he swayed my hand side to side.

"...will cause everything to start to relax, very quickly. It's like a pressure point, or a sort of instinct, really."

He was quiet for a moment, swaying my right hand, making little circles on the palm at the same time, & still moving his other palm in front of my eyes, all together, left, right, left right, up, down, up, down. I could feel everything starting to relax, from my right hand up the arm, across my shoulders, down through my core, my legs, all the way out to my toes...

"It will quickly...get so relaxing...that you may find your eyes...start to get...heavy." I blinked. They really were heavy. I resolved to keep them open as long as I could. I was definitely being hypnotized right now, so this was the moment to see if it would really work.

It was difficult right away, though. I blinked, and blinked again. Only it started to feel like more than blinking -- it was like when you're incredibly tired and your eyes slip closed for a moment before shake yourself awake. Longer than a blink.

I thought, let me at least try and keep them open for one whole cycle.

I realized I couldn't. Somewhere in that short pattern, left, right, left, right, up, down, up, down, I would realize I had let my eyes slip closed, and I would notice how incredibly relaxed everything was, and then I would blink, and I wouldn't know quite where I was in the cycle, and I would have to watch for the up, down to change to left, right so I knew it was a new cycle to try to keep my eyes open for. Sometimes my eyes would slip closed before I even found where the cycle started again, and then I would just have to try again. I realized my eyes were slipping closed after only about two or three left, rights or up, downs. I blinked several times, trying to blink some wakefulness back into my eyes, but it was just like being incredibly tired & unable to stay awake -- my eyes slipped closed again almost before I'd even realized. And then I thought, I'll just try to keep them half open, rather than all the way. And that worked for a minute or so, I think -- I'm not really sure how long this took.

At some point I realized my eyes were closed -- and I couldn't open them. I tried to blink awake but I could only make them flutter a little. I tried as hard as I could to lift my eyelids but they just wouldn't come up. It was the funniest feeling. I didn't feel like I was asleep, but my eyelids just wouldn't lift up. It was like they were just stuck.

Then I heard him say, "Now, you're at the next stage of hypnosis. Eyes closed, hypnotized. And in a moment, it'll take just one word, and you'll be deeply hypnotized."

I resolved to tense myself up against this. Whatever word he was going to say -- probably "sleep" -- I would not just ignore but reject. I would do the opposite. When he said sleep, I would wake right up.

"Take a deep breath in...and out." I yawned as I breathed out.

"What force is holding you to the ground?"

"Gravity..." I answered.

"Isn't gravity interesting? No one knows where it comes from."

That's true, I thought. There are theories about gravitons and things, but gravity is pretty mysterious.

"Hmm."

I had the slight sense for a second that things hadn't gone as he expected.

"Most people say, 'the Earth.'"

"Most of the gravity on us does come from Earth," I said.

"Yes. But usually people say, the Earth. And then I say, "That's true, but it comes from other planets as well, and the moon. In fact, the moon makes you 2 and a half grams lighter when it's right overhead. The sun in fact makes you 42 grams lighter when it's directly overhead. And thus, during a solar eclipse, you could be as much as 44 grams lighter. It's a strange thing to imagine, isn't it? The sun and the moon both, pulling upwards on you with a force that, though small, is very real? What if you imagine the sun and moon, both hot and cold, pulling upward, upward, upward just one your left hand? Like the sun and the moon were shining down on just your left hand, and even though Earth is huge, huge, huge and heavy, the sun and the moon, hot and cold together can pull you up a little bit lighter, a very real little bit lighter. If you imagine reaching your hands up toward the sun and moon together, in a solar eclipse, you really could stretch a little further, jump up a little higher, because there really would be less weight, like you're in space a little -- and it shows we really are in space. we are affected by forces from beyond our planet every day, the very gravity of the sun and moon. imagine reaching your left hand allll the way up to the sun and moon in a solar eclipse. would you lift up your left arm all the way straight in the air for me now?"

I did. "Thank you."

"Now imagine sun and moon slowly shifting apart, apart on their own orbits, each going off slowly to the horizon, off to the horizon, over the horizon and both out of sight, and now they're both making you a little heavier, a little heavier, a little heavier. It's dark, now, no sun, no moon in sight. no moon, but there are stars, tiny little sparks that fill your vision everywhere you look. they're beautiful. fascinating. and in a moment, when I snap my fingers, your left arm is totally straight up and down stiff solid and rigid like steel all over again. *snap.* And even if I try to bend you arm, I can't, in fact it's stiff all the way down to the shoulder, all your back is stiff, stiff straight up and down with your arm. And so if I try to bend your arm like this -- here he pulled my rigid arm forward, toward him -- you'll just bend with it." He moved my arm back and forth and I moved with it like there was a bar of steel in me. Then he said, "Can you move it?" I couldn't. "It will." He snapped his fingers and took my stiff left arm by the wrist, and somehow swayed it so that it relaxed without him even having to say anything.

Then he was holding both of my wrists, and swaying them, back and forth, up and down, and over and under each other i think, and it was like i didn't even know where they were anymore, and then he sort of tugged at them and i kind of fell forward, just some, and then he tugged at them again and i fell forward some more, despite really trying to resist -- although I'm not sure what I was resisting exactly, since I don't remember him saying anything then -- and then he tugged at them again and i fell forward more and more, too much, more than i really could be, like i was falling and falling over myself, and then he dropped my hands, and i felt them touch the ground. i had the strangest flash of a sense that i was lying down but still falling forward, sort of spinning -- but just a flash.

Then I blinked, and opened my eyes. I felt like I just woke up from a nap, but I was sitting upright, so it was a weird feeling. He was holding both of my wrists together, swaying my arms slightly left, right, left, right, up, down, up, down, and then over & under I think, feinting one way & then the other, & then - he held my arms up with one hand, pressing my palms together in his fingers, and snapped with his other hand, saying, "Antigravity." And then he let go of my wrists.

And my hands...just sort of floated? It was like there was no gravity on them. I could do something, like cross my arms, or put them at my sides, and I tried, but in a moment or two, when I looked away, they would just starting floating again, up in the air. This was a really weird feeling. Then he snapped his fingers and said, "Gravity." And suddenly there it was. My hands dropped right down, like gravity was suddenly turned on. It was such a hilarious and bizarre feeling. It was tripppy. It made me laugh in disbelief and just feel kind of...out of it almost, like something was happening that I just did not get. I started laughing and just felt sort of...not tired...but wanting to be alone with my thougts, eyes closed, or just half-closed, so I could still mostly see, but still just relax and think to myself about how funny that feeling was, and then suddenly there was a tap on my forehead -- and he said, "Sleep."

I felt myself instantly go to sleep. It felt exactly like sleeping. I took a deep breath in and I felt myself enter a deep, deep sleep as I closed my eyes. It was just like one of those nights where you're so tired you can feel yourself falling asleep as soon as you close your eyes.

I woke up yawning, stretching my arms, and feeling incredible.

He asked, "Do you like laying on the grass?"

"Yes," I said.

"Good."

He walked & I followed partway across a vast lawn. Suddenly he dropped down onto his side, laying with his propped on his arm, looking up at me. "Come down, come down. Come down to eye level." I lay down beside him, facing him, a hand's width of grass between us.

Looking me straight in the eyes, he said, "Do you believe that if I said one word, you would feel totally held down to the Earth by an immense force, such that you wouldn't be able to lift so much as a finger?"

He didn't wait. "Supergravity."

It was intense. I slipped from my side to flat out on my back in a second. I couldn't raise even a finger off the ground. It was true. It was such a silly feeling somehow that I started laughing, and just then he snapped his fingers and said, "sleep."

I felt myself fall asleep again like before. My eyes were closed before I even realized it was happening and then I felt everything cloud out -- I felt myself take a deep breath in, and let it out with a deep sigh that made me, even to myself, sound utterly asleep.

I blinked, and woke up. I swayed for a second before I realized I was standing and caught my balance. I blinked. It was really disorienting to have been lying down -- I think? -- and to wake up standing. And -- where was he?

Where was who?

What was I doing?

I turned around. There wasn't anyone there. I was by myself in the middle of a vast lawn, the one we walked partway into. Who -- who was we? What was I doing? What was I just doing?

I came here to...meet someone. A hypnotist. He was by the...third light pole, south of the bridge. He was wearing grey jeans and a grey sweater. And then...I was hypnotized? I remember him swaying my arms, and my arm was stiff, and then my arms were floating...?

And then I was lying on the grass...and then I woke up here. And where was he?

I walked back to the bench. He wasn't there either. He wasn't anywhere around. I sat down on the bench, again next to the spot where he'd first been sitting.

Suddenly, from nowhere, I felt a hand on my shoulder -- and he said, "Sleep."

I took a deep breath in, and felt my head fall forward. I tried to open my eyes but there was no way to. Trying just made my eyes roll back.

Then I blinked, and woke up. My head was on his shoulder, and has arm was around me. The palm of his other hand was right in front of my eyes, so I looked at the X right in the center as it went left, and right, back and forth, around in little circles, and then he tapped my shoulder with his other hand, and said "sleep," and i went right to sleep. It was like I just breathed everything out, and crashed straight into deep sleep. He started tap-tap-tapping my forehead, in a quick little rhythm, ataccato. Then he lifted my left arm, and dropped it in my lap.

When I opened my eyes, it was dark. It hadn't been that long, but the sun had slipped below the horizon, and there were early stars out on the other side of the sky.

I remembered just walking home, and I suppose going to sleep -- at least, that's what I thought until finding all of the above written out on my computer just now. The file is dated a week ago, and I sweat I don't remember doing any of this. I don't even remember setting up anything about someone in a gray sweater and gray jeans. There are a few people I've been curious about messaging, but...I'm not sure if all this happened. However, while I remember walking home that day, I can't for the life of me remember what I was walking home from...so I guess I can't rule out the possibility. But would someone really hypnotize me and have me not remember it? Did they not like me? Or maybe I just don't remember it yet...maybe I'll see something that'll spark remembering that all that really did happen. Or maybe the hypnotist gave me something I would come across later and remember -- I've read things about a hypnotist leaving a phone number on a blank card that someone feels oddly curious about calling. That would be risky with me, though, with how I lose things...but I should check the pockets of those jeans I was wearing.

Oh. There is a card in here.

And of course there's a number on it.

Well I mean I'm not NOT going to call it. This is hot. That I really didn't remember being hypnotized just makes me too fucking horny. And somehow, now, I am completely certain that I was hypnotized. I can't remember how -- well, I mean, I read what's above, which I must have written, but I don't remember it actually happening. It feels like it must have happened to someone else almost. But I am certain that I was hypnotized. And somehow I feel completely certain that if I call this number I will be deeply hypnotized again with just one word.

I found my phone & dialed -- and for some reason, as soon as it picked up after two rings, I said, "I heard you were a hypnotist?"

"...Traa-aance."

That was all he said on the other end. I started to think about what it would be like to really be in a hypnotic trance. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath in, and yawned as I breathed out. Trance would probably feel like complete relaxation, I heard myself think. Trance would probably feel like incredibly deep meditation, I heard myself say to myself. It was like the words were resounding within a deep and vast space inside myself. I felt suddenly like I was falling, falling forward --

& then I blinked, and woke up. I wasn't at home anymore. I was in the lobby of a hotel. How did I get here asleep? I must have had my eyes open. But then...why did it Just feel like I woke up -- ?

And there he was. Across from me. Different sweater, also grey.

"Good evening," he said. "Would you like to get a room for the night?"

I blinked.

"I'll go half," he said. "I'm having an excellent time."

I blinked. "Can't you get a room for free? Just...do this to the person there, like..."

"Uncool."

I shrugged.

"It would also be uncool of me to influence you in any way about going into a room with me. At least, other than by having a good time with me. So I hope you can trust that I haven't tried to incline you to yes."

I thought on that one.

"How much is it here?"

"Fifty-five. Your half."

"Mmm...that's kind of a lot. Don't you have like, an apartment? Wait a minute, I have an apartment. Just come over."

"Some would think that uncool with this kind of thing. Being in my, you know, domain, or me being in yours, could make things...you know, stronger than you might expect."

I crossed my arms.

"Look. I insist. Okay? You can owe me the fifty-five. Fine. But you do owe it. We're having fun together. I'm not...you know, buying your time. I don't do that. You should be buying my time, if anything. I'm the one with the skills, here. You're just, you know...experiencing."

Something seemed to have got under his collar a little. "Okay, I owe you, I guess. You should've done a credit check, though. I don't even pay the IRS."

He smiled a little sullenly. He stood & we crossed the lobby to the elevator. We stepped in, & he put his arm around me, hand tapping my shoulder, and then I think he tapped my forehead -- and -- I don't remember anything after that, until --

Suddenly, I was awake. Clothes off, but I didn't realize it yet. I was spread out, stretched far out, relaxed as I could be on the bed there.

Bed where? Where was I?

Why couldn't I move? My wrists were -- tied? My ankles -- tied also. I couldn't look to see what tied them, but they felt tied tight. On my back like this, all I could see was the ceiling, and it was just white, aside from a few half-dimmed lights glowing there.

Suddenly something I couldn't see brushed against my nipple. It sent an absolute shock of heat & sensation through me -- I jerked against the restraints, but I couldn't get away from it, and it kept -- oh god!! -- for the first second it felt ticklish, but now I was bucking, convulsing, so fucking HORNY, oh god, oh god, oh GOD and I -- went over the edge --

or I think I did. I felt that absolute peak that you only get when you -- you know. But I don't remember if I -- I just sort of opened my eyes and I was sitting up, in one of two chairs there in the room, with hot coffee in a glossy black cup in my hands. I was dressed again, but didn't really notice the change. It was like I had just been dreaming. And really -- could I have already been hypnotized just like that? Or was I daydreaming for a second just now, while he made this coffee? I feel like that sort of must be it, I thought. I've only been here a minute or so.

He was just sitting there, looking at me, like he was watching me think -- guessing what I was thinking. Then, without a word, he picked up a tablet that was on the small table between us. I hadn't even noticed it there -- glossy black against glossy black. He opened it & pulled something up, then handed it to me.

I took it. It was me. Spread out on the bed -- the one right there. Staring right up into the camera -- into this tablet, which must have been held right above me.

I could see that my eyes were closed -- not normal closed, but fluttering -- I could see my breath slow and deep -- i could see my hips bucking, now, and again, and then faster, and faster, and faster, until -- I saw myself go over the edge. I heard myself gasp & sigh -- and then I saw myself melt, and just relax utterly, deeply & completely.

I looked at the time up in the corner. It had only been thirty-five minutes since we came in. And I had already been deeply hypnotized, and completely forgotten about it. I went completely over the edge and didn't remember a thing.

I put the tablet down, blinking. I wasn't even sure what to think anymore. I just sort of stared into the middle distance and sipped my coffee. When I finished, I put the cup down, and then -- suddenly, the next thing I knew, it was full again. I blinked. This was getting REALLY weird. I kept sipping it, wondering if I really should be drinking so much coffee.

"Let's prove to you now that you're hypnotized."

I looked up, almost surprised that he was there, sitting across from me -- he'd been there the whole time, of course, but it felt like he hadn't said anything in ages.

"If you'd just step over and sit on the edge of the bed there, we can quickly prove that you're unable to resist being hypnotized."

I did as he asked, fairly certain that I could resist being hypnotized if I knew he was about to hypnotize me. i remember how it felt to fall deeply and completely asleep when he said "sleep," but i felt like it had taken me by surprise those times -- now that I knew, I would definitely be able to resist when I felt it happening.

So, thinking along those lines, I stepped over and sat on the edge of the bed, facing him directly.

"Close your eyes." I did so.

"Lie back now." I did so, bouncing slightly.

"Sleep," he said, snapping his fingers.

It really did feel like I fell asleep. But I was pretty sure that I was just asleep, not "hypnotized."

So I asked, "When are you going to hypnotize me? Or, I mean, when should I try and resist?"

"Antigravity."

My arms started floating up in the air again. With my eyes closed, I couldn't quite feel where they were after a few moments, and they started to get really tingly.

"Try not to let your arms float. Try to hold them down against the bed."

I tried to pull my arms down from floating, first the right, and then the left -- but by the time I pulled the left to the ground, the right would start floating again. And by the time I got the right back on the ground -- well, the bed -- the left would be floating in the air again. I tried getting the left down, and the right was floating before I even realized.

I laughed, and just let both my arms float. It was a really funny feeling.

"Gravity." My arms fell down on the bed beside me.

"Could you sit up for a moment?" I did so.

"Try to stay sitting up for a moment, alright?" Sure I can.

"Supergravity." Like I weighed a million pounds, suddenly there was this intense force -- I tried to stay sitting up, but it slowly & then quickly pulled me back. I wasn't able to resist for long at all.

"Sleep." I felt myself go right to sleep.

Pressed into the thick bed by what felt like a million pounds of force, and feeling myself deeply asleep, I thought, this feels pretty damn good. like a massage chair all over, but totally soft. I could feel small muscles now & again flutter & relax, as I flattened out further on the bat under the immense force I felt everywhere at once.

Then I heard him say, "Try to sit up now."

I tried for a second, but there was just no way I could do it at all. It was impossible. I tried again, harder, and again, even harder, but it was just impossible. I took a shaky breath in.

"Antigravity." I felt my arms float up. That feeling was so funny.

He snapped his fingers. "Take your shirt off."

My hands pulled my shirt over my head, then went slowly floated off into the air again.

He snapped his fingers. "Undo your pants."

I did. I felt blood rush down there. Harder with each pulse.

"Spark."

It was like lightning shot through me. My hips bucked. Just once, but hard. Like lightning, it faded fast.

"Spark."

Oh god. My hips bucked again. I took a deep breath in, waiting for the next --

"Shock."

It was like lightning a hundred times a second. My hips bucked hard, then again, and again, and again, hitting a spastic rhythm -- behind my eyes it was somehow all white and shimmering all kinds of colors at the same time -- my breathing got quick, then really slow, then quick again --

He snapped his fingers. I took an incredibly deep breath, tensing myself, waiting for what he'd say --

I thought about how this might be where I came. Like I saw on the video of myself, lying here just like this. It certainly felt like I could come -- I was diamond hard and quivering. I couldn't stop myself to catch my breath -- it was almost overwhelming -- and if I really came now, just from him talking -- knowing someone had that kind of power over me -- if that really happened -- the thought was almost too much. I felt my hips buck the hardest they had yet, and then -- I came. I heard myself gasping and I felt it all coming out of me, pulse by pulse --

then I felt that funny staccato tapping on my forehead.

I blinked, and opened my eyes. I was by the pool, in a lounge chair, in a bathing suit. I looked around. It didn't seem like there was anyone else there. Where was he?

No one was there but a lifeguard, on his chair down at the other end of the room. Odd, I thought -- I feel like it's kind of late for there to be a lifeguard on duty.

I figured he -- that is, the hypnotist -- would be back soon, so I just closed my eyes and waited. I thought about what I'd just been hypnotized to do -- it all happened so fast, it was like a heap of images rather than a proper memory. I thought about how it had felt when he said "sleep," when he said "shock," and the funny way my arms floated when he said "antigravity" --

I heard footsteps on the tile, coming closer to me. It sounded like it was the lifeguard coming my way. I figured he was leaving, which would have made sense, since it was late, but he stopped right beside me.

Out of nowhere, he asked, "Are you hypnotized?"

I blinked, and opened my eyes. He was looking at me kind of funny. What kind of a question was that? How would he know about anything we'd just been doing?

"Uhm...why do you ask?"

"Well, you closed your eyes, and then your arms started floating up in the air, and I've seen like, stage hypnosis shows where that happens. And also, before, you were lying here with your eyes closed, perfectly still for more than half an hour."

"Did you see anyone come in here with me?"

"Uhm, no. You came in by yourself half an hour or so ago, sat down in this chair here, leaned back, and closed your eyes."

Where the heck is he?

"Well, I'm just tired. I don't know what you mean about being hypnotized."

"Have you ever been hypnotized?"

"I -- " I blinked. "Well, some."

"Can I try hypnotizing you, then? My shift's over, so I have a minute. If you're tired, it can help a lot."

I wasn't sure what to say. He was attractive, but I was sort of...here with someone. And this was -- well, it was just weird! What were the chances this random guy would see I was hypnotized?

I realized my arms were still floating, about midway out in front of me. I still wasn't sure what to say. I just blinked, and looked at my hands slowly floating around.

He -- that is, the lifeguard -- sat on the side of the lounge next to mine, just watching. After a few moments, he said, "You seem most of the way hypnotized already."

I blinked. I still wasn't sure what to say.

"I'd really like to practice."

After another few moments, I heard myself say, "...Okay."

"Look right here."

Suddenly his palm was in front of my eyes, and my eyes found the X right in the center. I remembered that this was how the hypnotist had started in the park before, when I was sitting on that bench -- funny that they've both done that, I thought.

He was moving his palm slowly left, right, left, right, up, down, up, down, and then in several little circles, the same way the hypnotist had, while I watched the X right in the center.

When the hypnotist was doing it, my eyes quickly started to get heavy, and remembering that, I started to feel it happening again.

He -- the lifeguard -- didn't say anything, but soon my eyes were closed. Then I felt that staccato tapping on my forehead. It's so funny that they both do that.

Then I blinked, and opened my eyes. I didn't know where I was. It was dark. It was hard to quite tell if my eyes were open or closed.

I heard him say, "Close your eyes," so I did, to the extent that I could tell. I had the urge for a moment to sit up and see what was going on, but as soon as I tried I noticed that that immense weight was there again. Supergravity, I thought to myself, & as soon as I did, I noticed it everywhere, suddenly overwhelmingly strong.

Next I heard him say, "Try to keep your eyes closed."

That's easy, I thought, and I pressed my eyes firmly closed, to the extent that I could tell, with everything dark one way or the other.

I remember breathing a little hard, in and out, a little tense, pressing my eyes closed, trying to keep them closed, waiting for the next thing he would say, but he was quiet for a minute. I was just breathing in & out and wondering when he would say something when I realized that there was a faint glow somewhere -- I realized it must be a light of some kind in front of me, slowly getting brighter -- slowly pulsing fainter and brighter in turn, in fact, but getting brighter on the brights each pulse.

My instinct for a moment was to open my eyes and see what it was, but I caught myself, and kept my eyes pressed closed, even as the light got brighter & brighter. It felt odd, sensing the brightening and fading there in front of me, even though my eyes were closed -- it was like seeing without seeing.

The next thing I realized was that, slowly, the brighter-fainter pulsing was getting quicker. It was definitely a little faster now than it was at the start. It made me feel like I was drifting out in space -- as it flashed faster and faster, I was more & more curious about what it was, and where I was -- and I got more curious about opening my eyes, but I still kept them pressed closed as hard as I could.

Then, just like I'd noticed the light, I noticed there was a faint crystalline ringing sound -- like thin, delicate glasses tinking against each other -- crystal bells -- and it was pulsing with the light, louder by a bit as the light brightened, fainter by a bit as it faded. And the same way the light was getting brighter and brighter, the volume of the sound was increasing just the slightest small bit with each pulse.

It started to take over my attention -- the sound and the light were like a wave washing up over me, receding, but not quite all the way, and then washing up over me again. i noticed i was breathing in time with the pulsing of the sound and the light, slowly faster and faster -- i forgot for a second what I was supposed to be doing, but then I remembered -- try to keep your eyes closed.

I focused on thinking that to myself, because everything else was starting to spin, and at the peak of each pulse I couldn't think of anything else -- as it receded a bit I would catch my breath and remember to think, try to keep your eyes closed.

try to keep your eyes closed.

try to keep your eyes closed.

try to keep your eyes closed.

try to keep your eyes closed.

i remember thinking that over and over. and then i remember an incredibly sharp & intense moment -- the light, pulsing, got so bright and so fast in its pulses that it was like a strobe -- then it was just bright, incredibly bright, brighter every second, with just a faint flicker I could barely follow -- and the crystal bells were all ringing -- it sounded like hundreds of bells -- and they sort of merged, sort of came together into one faintly wavering, faintly sparkling sharp crystal tone --

and then I remember a sound like someone taking a deep, sharp breath in -- I did too, hearing it -- and suddenly there was deafening silence for a few long moments. Then there was the snap of a finger. Then a voice said, "Open your eyes."

I did without thinking about it. The light I had been seeing was from a spiral, a rippling rainbow that was everything I could see -- my vision was blurry for a moment, doubled, but I adjusted quickly and found the center, which was the most comfortable place to look -- that little dot of black right in the center, where everything else spiraled in, was the most comfortable place to look. It seemed like it was wiggling a little, the center point -- left, right, left right, up, down, up, down -- but I couldn't quite tell if it was really moving or if it was just my vision.

A low thrum started to be audible, slowly getting louder and louder. It was a calming tone. I took a deep breath & slowly let it out.

Tiny letters appeared right in the center of the spiral, infinitesimal white lettering in the little black dot there. Too small to read, but I could tell there was a word there, and I could tell it were getting incrementally bigger by the second.

Suddenly, a vibrating, ascending tone played -- like ahhhh-hmmmm! -- and the word rushed up to HUGE -- almost up too close to read -- and started flashing black and white like a strobe, leaving faint streaks in my vision around it with each flash because of the contrast -- and there was a *snap.* *snap.* *snap.* that just kept going. It was so overwhelming I had to focus on the letters of the word that was there one by one -- they went all the way from furthest left to furthest right across my vision, filling it almost totally. A-n-t-i-g-r-a-v-i-t-y, I read slowly, my hips bucking with the snaps -- Antigravity.

I blinked. That's the word that makes my arms float. Suddenly I noticed the immense weight on me was gone, and my arms were floating slowly up into the air, though quite where I couldn't tell.

Suddenly I heard that tone start -- ahhhh-hmmmmm! -- and I noticed more tiny letters starting & rushing up to huge -- S-t-a-n-d...u-p, I read.

I stood up instantly, hips still bucking as I stood with the snaps as the words kept flashing in front of me, then suddenly vanished.

Then the tone again -- ahhhhh-hmmmmm! -- and the word rushing, flashing -- *snap* -- *snap* -- *snap* -- l-i-s-t-e-n.

I focused intently on all the sound I could sense. There was the low thrumming, the snapping, and under these, myself breathing -- and then a voice said, "When I ask, 'are you hypnotized?,' you'll say, 'deeply hypnotized.'"

When I ask, "are you hypnotized?'," you'll say, "deeply hypnotized."

Then the voice said, "When I ask, 'are you hypnotized?,' you'll answer, 'deeply hypnotized.'"

When I ask, "are you hypnotized?," you'll answer, "deeply hypnotized."

Then the voice said, "When I ask, 'are you hypnotized?," you'll respond, 'deeply hypnotized.'"

When I ask, "are you hypnotized?," you'll respond, "deeply hypnotized."

Suddenly the word disappeared. For a few moments the outline lingered in my vision. Then I heard the tone again -- ahhhh-hmmmmm! -- and "listen" started small and rushed right back, strobing --

and the voice said, "When you say, 'deeply hypnotized,' you'll streeetch as far as you can, take a deep breath, yawn, let it out, and sleep. Deeply hypnotized, deeply and completely, deep sleep...now."

*snap.*

When you say, 'deeply hypnotized,' you'll streeeetch as far as you can, take a deep breath, yaaawn, let it out, and sleep. Deeply hypnotized, deeply and completely, deep sleep...now.

It felt like that last word -- now -- and that last snap were ringing in my head. There was silence for a few moments, except for that low vibrato thrum, and my breathing underneath that.

*snap.*

"Try and close your eyes."

I could only get them down about halfway, and then they would spring back open. It was funny -- I would try as hard as I could to close them, & after a few seconds of effort they would spring back open, & even though I would blink in surprise, I couldn't close them on purpose. It felt like the glow of the spiral was forcing them open -- like the pulsating, rippling glow was visually too much to look away from. It was such a funny feeling, only being able to force them half-closed, even though they felt more and more strained & red now --

then the sound of the crystal bells came back, faster and faster. It made my eyes feel incredibly as it approached a steady sparkling tone, but I still couldn't close them.

Then there was a low, loud sound, a deep hum and everything else faded away. There was just this overwhelming hum, and the rippling spiral, incredibly bright. I started to lose track of everything.

Then there was a resounding metallic ping -- and a *snap* -- and the word, "sleep." My eyes felt an incredible weight, like when they closed I would be sssshhhhwwwww out...I still couldn't close them, though. It was like the rippling brightness itself was keeping my eyes open, even as it overloaded my vision -- even though it was so blurry now -- I tried to focus my vision, but I couldn't. It was like I had opened my eyes while I was deeply asleep, and could only see vague shapes, only a blurry bright rippling pool

The voice said, "There are sparks that fill your vision everywhere you look. They're beautiful. Fascinating. In a moment, when I snap my fingers, you will close your eyes, and sleep."

The sparks were incredible, like sparkler fireworks all across my vision, over the rippling rainbow pool -- *snap.*

"Sleep."

My eyes closed and I fell deeply asleep.

Am I hypnotized now?, I thought. I do feel deeply asleep, but how do I know if I'm really hypnotized?

I felt that staccato tapping on my forehead again. I remember wondering again how the lifeguard had known to do the same thing.

Then I blinked my eyes, and woke up. I was sitting on stage next to a whole row of people in chairs -- on both sides of me, in fact, there were people in sitting in chairs, six, seven, eight of them on both sides, though I couldn't quite see. I was right in the middle.

Out in the audience, there were hundreds and hundreds of people watching, the rows leading back into the darkness -- I was too nervous to look too long at anyone watching, but there was a light above the door, way at the back of the room, and I could just rest my eyes there.

I took a deep breath in, yawned, and let it alllll the way out.

I realized that I didn't know how I got here. I realized that I didn't know where this was. And I realized that that must mean that I was deeply hypnotized. I must have been hypnotized to forget how I got here -- to forget volunteering to come on stage -- or being hypnotized in the audience. Otherwise, I would remember how I got here.

So I was hypnotized. I realized it for certain then. Try as I might, I couldn't remember how I got there, and that made it certain that I was hypnotized -- so there was nothing to do but wait to hear what the hypnotist said next.

I felt hands on my shoulders, and then there was a *snap* just by my ear -- "Good. Keep looking at that light right there." *snap.*

I focused on the light. The hands on my shoulders swayed me slightly, left, right, left, right, forward, back -- but I stayed focused on the light.

"Try to keep your eyes open."

I blinked, and tensed up, steeling myself to try my hardest.

"Are you hypnotized?"

"Deeply hypnotized," I said, and then I streeeetched, took a deep breath in, yawned, breathed out, and felt my eyes close, and felt myself go into a deep hypnotic sleep, everything clouding over. I remembered for a moment that I was supposed to try to keep my eyes open, but I lost the thought in the clouds.

I felt the staccato tapping on my forehead, and then a *snap* --

"Could you open your eyes for a moment?"

I blinked, and opened my eyes. I was in the same place, so I focused on the light out in the far back of the room, and waited for what the hypnotist would say next.

"Spark."

My hips bucked before I realized what was happening. In front of all these people! I blushed, gasping --

"Shcok."

Ooooh god -- my hips were bucking and I couldn't stop them. Heat was screaming through me like lightning flashing every second --

*snap*

"Pull off your shirt."

I threw my shirt off, hearing myself gasping deeper --

*snap*

"Undo your pants."

My hands did it in half a second. I was -- it was -- it was out!!

Hard!! Just completely out there...

In front of all these people...

I didn't hear a word. Everyone must just be watching, I thought.

I felt that staccato tapping on my forehead again. I hadn't even noticed him moving his finger there -- with the tapping and the bucking, everything went white. I don't remember if I came. I just remember incredible heat, pulsing, pulsing, pulsing higher...

I blinked, and opened my eyes. I was in the same chair -- but the audience was gone. The room was gone. I was just -- I was just looking at a blank white wall. I just stared for a second, disoriented.

From somewhere behind me, he asked, "Would you like a cup of coffee?"

I looked around behind me at him. "I shouldn't. I just had two cups a minute ago." He looked at his watch, and said, slightly wryly, "...right."

I went back to looking at the wall. I blinked, feeling out of it. After a moment, I stood, and turned my chair back around, setting it just where it was when we were having coffee at the small table in the room earlier. As he set the machine for himself, I stretched, yawned, & stared out the wide window. Somehow I hadn't noticed before that the blinds were open. And --

the sun is setting??

But it was already dark.

The sun -- the sun is rising!?

I blinked, and looked over at him. He was standing at the room's desk, watching the coffee-maker drip, blinking & looking like he hadn't gotten much sleep.

It only slowly dawned on me that it was really morning. It felt like we had just been drinking coffee a few minutes ago. Maybe thirty minutes ago at most. It did seem like a lot had happened in between -- the glowing spiral somehow right in front of me, then the stage that wasn't really there -- and maybe more before that? -- it was hard to recall -- but it didn't seem like it could possibly be morning.

I sat down on the bed, staring out the window, just looking at the sunrise. As the sun crept higher above the horizon, and the coffee dripped, I just took everything in, every ray of sun & every sound.

"Are you sure about coffee? While the thing's still hot?"

I blinked. "You know, sure. I think it's been longer than I thought."

I saw that wryness again. He sipped his coffee, then set it down on the desk. He picked up a loose stack of handwritten pages that had been on the desk, & straightened them, then started putting them in order.

Then he looked around, and noticing several more on the coffee table, he added them to the others. Then he noticed a clipboard with more written-out pages on the small table beside the bed. I looked at it too, & since it was right next to me, I picked it up. It looked like my handwriting, but rather loopy and loose.

It said: "I am hypnotized.

I am deeply hypnotized.

I am completely hypnotized."

I looked up at him, surprised, since I didn't remember writing that at all.

"Was this me?" I asked.

"Naturally."

"When?"

"I asked you now and again to write down what you were thinking -- to write every thought as you thought it, and to think only as fast as you could write. With some people you can barely read what they've written, but your hypnotized writing is quite clear, as it goes."

My hypnotized writing. A small spark ran through me thinking that.

"And what were you collecting it for? So you could have all my secrets?"

"These are my notes. Those on the clipboard are yours."

"Your notes? On what? On me?"

"Well -- I suppose. What phrases we used -- what seemed to resonate. Response times and degrees for a number of...standard suggestions."

"Am I a case study?"

"It's not -- it's not science, exactly. But -- well, yes, I do have some graphs. Just, you know, correlations."

"How did I do? Did I do the best eveerrrrrr?"

"Well, that's -- I'm not sure what best would be. The intensity of your responses to some things was...high. Quite high. Very high."

I blushed at this a little, wondering if he meant how I...you know...came.

"On the other hand -- on some of the elements, you were...more resistive than most."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, when I asked you to try not to close your eyes, when you had the headset on -- "

"So that's what that was! Where is it? I want to see it in the daylight."

"I'll -- in a second! It's in a case, it's delicate."

I crossed my arms.

"So -- when you had the headset on, at one point, you're asked to try not to close your eyes."

I nodded, remembering. It was really hard not to close my eyes.

"Most people, from the physical situation, and the brightness, and the sensational overload, will actually close their eyes quite quickly."

I blinked. "So I did it wrong?"

"No, it's more like -- you tried harder to follow the instructions, to follow the suggestion that you try to resist. You focused more on the words -- other people tended to forget about the words in the heat of it, and give into the...inherent situation, the inherent sensations. It feels like it would be very comfortable to close your eyes in that moment, and so most people do. They forget to resist. You, though, resisted closing your eyes right until you were suggested directly to close them. You followed things to the letter."

"So that's good, right? I did well?"

"Well, sure -- but it also means I should be a bit careful in what I say to you, because...you could take something literally, focusing on the words themselves, even when I don't mean them -- like, if you were hypnotized, and I said -- *snap* -- 'Wake up and smell the coffee!' and I just meant for you to wake up, you might, you know, shoot up awake and go looking for coffee to smell. Do you get what I mean?"

I blinked. The smell of the coffee was really overpowering. He was looking at me, waiting for me to answer, but all I could think about was the smell of the coffee. It was warm & rich, a dark roast -- my nose twitched, breathing it in.

I blinked. "Uhm -- sorry, I was -- the coffee smells really good. What did you ask?"

He blinked. "Well, there's -- there's an example of what I mean right there."

I blinked. "What?"

"I said 'smell the coffee,' and you -- you smelled coffee."

"Well, you're making it right there. How could I not smell it?"

"Well -- I'm standing right here, and I don't smell it. Didn't you notice how it was suddenly so much stronger after I said, 'smell the coffee?'"

"When did you say that?"

"Just a moment ago. I -- you see, it's quite hard to go over the notes right now. You're still sort of...in it."

"In what?"

"In -- you know, I shouldn't say it. You might go right back in."

I blinked. He means being hypnotized, I suppose. Would that really happen?

The coffee maker gave a sharp beep, and hissed to a stop. I stood up, poured myself a sensible cup, and sat opposite him.

"What do you want to talk about, then?"

"I, uh -- well, how is the coffee?"

"I can't drink it yet. I'm very sensitive to hot things."

"Well, here, let's -- " he gave me his coffee and took mine -- "there we go."

His coffee had cooled a little, since he'd made his first. I ventured a sip. It was...fine. Average coffee.

But as it hit the back of my throat, I felt something odd -- a tingling in my chest, then an incredible rush of energy - I started breathing faster & faster, extremely rapidly in a matter of moments -- shaking, I carefully put the coffee down, then held onto the arms of the chair as it kept getting more intense --

I blinked & looked at him, then at the coffee, then at him -- "D-did -- did you-- put something in -- the coffee??" I asked, shaking with the rush.

"No," he said, calmly, sipping his.

I looked at the coffee and tried to get ahold of my breathing, but I couldn't -- I stood up and walked to the door, then back to the chair, then back to the door, trying to get ahold of my breathing --

"Whoo, no, I -- you definitely -- I -- I don't feel normal. This -- "

"Listen," he said, calmly. I sat down on the bad and looked right in his eyes, a little calmer, still breathing fast. "How could I? I gave you mine, and I'm having yours?"

That was true. But maybe it was in both, and he was immune. Like in The Princess Bride. Or he knew I would have his -- or --

"There's another possibility you shoudl consider."

I looked back into his eyes. "What?"

"Are you hypnotized?"

"Deeply hypnotized," I responded. I streeetched my arms up, took a deep breath in, yawned, let it out, and feel into a deep hypnotic sleep, feeling myself falling back on the bed, bouncing a little. I had just been sitting on the edge of the bed, so after a second, I felt my hips slide forward off the edge -- my knees bump the ground -- and then I felt myself slip totally of the edge of the bed, rolling sideways as I slipped to the ground. I lost all sense of my position, and everything started to tingle with a little bit of that shock...

Just as I had started thinking about what it felt like when he said "shock," I felt that staccato tapping start in the center of my forehead.

"Try to open your eyes." I couldn't.

"Try to lift your left arm up." I couldn't tell which way was up.

"Try to tense up one muscle or another, and pull yourself out of hypnosis that way." I looked inside for a muscle to tense up, but each one I tried just relaxed more.

I tried my left arm, my right arm, my left leg, my right leg, my neck, my core, my hands, my toes, but they all just relaxed more from trying to tense them. I couldn't find any way to tense a muscle and pull myself out of hypnosis. I was still quivering from the rush of energy from the coffee, and it was hard to focus on anything for more than a moment -- I felt like that was why I couldn't tense anything. If I could only take a deep breath and focus for a moment, I was sure I could tense something, but I kept trying and trying and I just couldn't.

Then there was that staccato tapping on my forehead.

Then I blinked, and opened my eyes. I was staring at the ceiling. I sat up, and didn't see him -- but I heard the sound of the shower. On the coffee table, his cup was empty, and mine was still mostly full. I tentatively took a small sip, and -- oh, yeah. it's still happening.

The rush came right back into me. I couldn't believe how strong it felt. I took another sip, so I could see how intense the feeling would get. It felt like my pulse about doubled in the space of a few seconds. I took another sip, then another deep one.

When I put the cup down, it felt like my heart and brain were playing chicken -- I couldn't keep a thought in my head for even half a moment, because it made my heart beat too fast, and I had to switch to something else. Same with looking at any one thing. My vision kept flicking from object to object -- cup -- table -- bed -- desk -- trees -- clock -- lamp -- pillow -- television -- notepad -- papers -- !!

papers!! -- I about leapt up & was at the desk in two rapid steps -- I SO want to know what he wrote about me!! -- it read, "subject is succescsfe..." -- it read, "subject is succlesffuf" -- it read, "subject is suffecefleu" -- I blinked. I was so hopped up on supercaffeine or whatever -- or at least I felt like I was -- that I couldn't focus or see straight enough to read right, or at least not his small handwriting.

I slapped the stack of papers down on the desk, and started pacing the room. I couldn't focus on anything -- just kept flicking from thing to thing -- door -- doorknob -- closet -- phone -- desk -- table -- beige painting -- bathroom door -- !!

I stopped, staring at the bathroom door, listening to the sound of the shower. It sounded like a strong, hot current. Steamy.

I wanted to be in there. Or maybe it was just that nothing out here could hold my attention. Is it ok to go in?, I thought. He closed the door. So I feel like I shouldn't.

I blinked. But...I want to be in there. And...he probably hypnotized me to...want to be in there. That would make sense. That would be hot...so there's nothing wrong with going in. I'm hypnotized to do it.

Feeling certain of that, I opened the door & stepped right in.

"Hey!" he said, from behind the fogged-over clear shower curtain.

"Hello," I said.

"What, uhm -- hello. I'm taking a shower."

"Yes," I said. I could see his outline through the fogginess. He was thinner than he'd looked in clothes.

"Uhm...finished your coffee?"

"Ye-es," I said. The rush was wearing off a bit, but if I thought about sipping coffee, it came back full force for a moment.

"Well, I'll -- I'll be out in a moment."

I waited. After a minute or so, I saw his silhouette turn off the water. Then he just stood there, behind the curtain, for a few moments.

"Well, I'm -- I'll be coming out now."

I blinked. Does he mean I should leave?

We both just stood there a few moments. He saw *me* naked. Or with my cock out anyway.

He peered out around the curtain. "Trying to see all my glory?"

"Shy?"

"Well, you're -- dressed. It's uneven."

"I'm hypnotized, or I was, and you're the hypnotist. It's uneven your way. Couldn't you just make me forget?"

"It's not -- I'm not embarrassed. I wouldn't do that in any case."

He rolled his eyes, and drew the curtain to the side.

I looked him up & down. He was thin, and wiry -- not cut, but tight, with the subtle warmth of tone of someone who is in the full sun a good number of days every year.

Our eyes met, & there was that wry smile again. He reached over & took a towel from the bar, wrapping it around his waist as he stepped out.

"My turn!"

I pulled my shirt off & flung it out the door of the bathroom, then undid my pants & pulled them off & did the same with them. As I undressed, he looked away awkwardly & then turned to leave --

"Stay! I'll be bored!"

"That's -- Well, fine. But let me get another cup of coffee. I need two today."

"Up late taking notes!" I said --what else could it have been?

That wry smile -- & then he stepped out to fill his cup. I stepped in the shower & found a comfortable temperature for the water -- always hard in hotels! I really am sensitive to hot things. I was feeling that rush rather strongly, because he'd mentioned coffee again, so by the time he came back, I was about halfway done. Hair shampooed in three seconds, body washed in five! Just a good rinse all over -- then I turned off the water, & threw the curtain open. He was just standing there blinking. I pulled the other towel off the bar, dried myself quickly, & then wrapped the towel around my hair, stepping out of the bath naked. I think he was looking...there.

"I have to brush my teeth," I said.

He blinked, & sipped his coffee.

"A moment?" I said.

He cocked his head. "For brushing your teeth, but not for...?"

"You want to see me gargle?"

He blinked, pursed his lips, & stepped out. I brushed my teeth. When I stepped out, I saw that he had sat on the bed & laid back, staring at the ceiling, one hand behind his head & the other holding the cup of coffee, resting it on his ribs as he lay back. His eyes were closed. He did seem really tired.

I stepped over in front of him, & he didn't react at all. I had the urge to pull the towel off from his waist -- & I wasn't sure if it was right, since it's not like I'd asked him, but if I wanted to do it, then I was probably hypnotized to do it, right? So -- there was nothing wrong with it.

I took the towel off my head, folded it, & set it on the floor, just between his feet. I kneeled on it & took a deep breath -- absolutely...I am absolutely hypnotized to do this. I cannot resist. I reached up under his towel with both hands, found his cock, and with both hands started stroking --

"Hey! Hey, hey, hey, hey!"

He jerked upright, splashing coffee from his cup all over the white sheets, the white blanket, the white towel across his waist --

"Ooh. Darn. Uhm. Well -- " He crossed his legs, leaning down to look in my eyes -- "what exactly are you doing?"

"I -- uh...I was..." I made a squeezing motion with both hands. "Cock."

"That I realize. But you might ask."

"I -- I'm not..I thought I was hypnotized to -- you didn't hypnotize me to...do that?"

"Not as far as I know. That would be uncool."

"But you -- I was -- my cock was already out, though."

"Yeah, but I didn't touch."

"These rules are complicated."

I stood up, and crossed my arms. "Well...so what?"

"What what?"

"What do we do? Do we just like...leave?"

"Well, uhm...Yes, the checkout's in an hour or so. Would you like to go down for a waffle? Or I could do a swim -- I like a swim in the morning. My hair always dries looking very nice, I don't know what it is exactly."

"No, I -- I mean, sure -- but -- are you going to call me, or -- you know, show up when I least expect it, and like...you know..." I bit my lip. "Or would that be uncool?"

He laughed a bit. "Well, sort of. I mean...I usually prefer people calling me."

"Well, who doesn't? Isn't that selfish?"

"Er, sure, but -- with this...I'm worried about, you know, taking over people's lives, sort of. I like hypnotizing people -- I like it a lot -- but I don't want to, you know, impose."

"So I have to call you? I like being hypnotized. Can I impose?"

"Ah, sure! Whenever you want."

"Well, you are cordially invited over this afternoon for...cordials, or, you know, whatever."

"Thank you, but -- well, I have to drive to Philadelphia tomorrow."

"I said today -- who cares about tomorrow?"

"Well, I should probably...you know..sleep well...it is a few hours..."

"My place is nice. I sleep excellently there."

"Sure, but...if tonight is like last night...then I probably won't. And I think tonight would be like last night. Or, you know...more."

More. I shivered a moment at the idea.

"So -- when are you back?"

"Friday."

"Friday, then."

"Friday, then. Right." He nodded, and looked at his now-empty coffee for a moment. Suddenly, we both noticed the coffee spots spattered across the sheets & blanket again. "Sorry about that, I -- uh --"

"My fault, isn't it? Coffee in bed? Who does that? I was about to doze off and spill it anyway, probably."

"Let's just, uhm, leave a note, I guess? It probably happens all the time. Spills, spit takes, fights, you know, people being like, 'wake the f-ck up,' splash!" and then the other person's like, "jesus christ! why the f--- would you -- "

"Haha...right. Yeah. Well, regardless, it was my fault, so you still just owe me fifty-five, if they do charge anything."

I looked at the spots sheepishly. Mostly I was embarrassed for thinking I was hypnotized to stroke cock, when actually I just kinda wanted to. Or did I????, I thought to myself, faux-dramatically. I shot him a sly look, certain for a second that this was just part of the game -- hoping for a moment I was only hypnotized to think it was morning, and there was a whole night ahead of us still -- but he was just rubbing his eyes.

I stood up, looked around, & for lack of any other ideas, got dressed. I made sure everything I came with was zipped away in my backpack, along with the pages I'd apparently filled, & then I noticed he had dressed too.

Quietly, we stepped out & took the elevator down to the lobby. We took turns at the waffle-maker there. He had another cup of black coffee. I had another cup too, but half milk. I took two apples and put one in each of my cardigan's pockets. "For luck," I said. "Hm," he said, shrugging, & seeming to believe me. (Really, I just love free fruit.)

We didn't say anything else, besides with glances. There were too many people around.

I checked the time on my phone. 12:11. My obligations aren't that strict, but I do have to be somewhat on top of things for what I do, so I was getting a slight itch to get back to my apartment and check up on everything. For another night like the last one, I would let it slide, but...that wouldn't happen until Friday...sitting this close to him, knowing I had to wait until Friday, was getting painful. I couldn't take it -- I needed him to start saying things in that voice again, and I needed it now...or else I needed something else to think about. At least until Friday. Friday!...that's so many fucking days....fuck me...

I sighed, & straightened up, & looked right in his eyes. "Friday, then."

"Friday," he said.

I stood & cleared the plates from my side of the table, setting them where they go, then I came back & sat down at the empty table, folding my hands.

"Friday for certain."

"Friday," he said, nodding.

"Right. Well...until then," I said, standing up.

"Until then," he said, nodding.

I turned on my heel & strode over to the main doors, and then out, half thinking he had to be right behind me, about to say something that would -- do that...or any of those things...but he wasn't. I looked back, through the wide glass window of the lobby, and he was still there -- in fact, having another waffle. And more coffee. That guy needs to slow down on the coffee, I thought. As I watched, he leaned down and took something from his backpack -- a tablet, I thought, at first, but it was a book. He pushed back from the table, angled his chair a little to the side, crossed his legs, & started reading & sipping coffee like he was in an old-time study, rather than at a rather busy hotel breakfast. In no hurry, I thought. Do I believe that about Philadelphia? Or does he just have another appointment?

I sighed. Well, he must do *something*...he didn't mind paying for all of the room. It can't be just, you know, hypnotizing people every day. Then again, I suppose some people might pay him to do just that...heh, that would make him, like, a hypno-gigolo. I'm not sure I can see that, though. He seems more about...figuring things out...but I should ask him Friday. It might make him blush. He's cute when he's like that.

I blinked, & realized I'd just been standing there outside the hotel. I checked the time on my phone - 12:23, not that it really mattered. It was about a fifteen or twenty minute walk back to my apartment, mostly through a forested park, at least once I had crossed the river a few blocks away. I planned to go over things to myself as I walked, thinking about each thing I remembered happening in order, so I could set it clearly in my mind -- sort of like writing down a dream, except inside myself. It's something I do a lot when I've just experienced something I want to remember. This time, though, I kind of kept starting at when we met in the park, and then I was looking into his palm, at the X right in the center...and then I would just start thinking, Friday...Friday...Friiiday...fuuck....and then I would realize I'd dropped the thread, and start over. We met in the park...grey jeans, grey sweater...he held up his palm, and there was the X right in the center...left, right, left, right, up, down, up, down...uhm...Friday...Friday...Friday....fuuuckk...fuck....uhm...so we were in the park, he was there in the grey jeans and grey sweater like he said...and then i sat on the bench there, and I was looking into his palm, right close up, and there was the X right in the center, and he was moving it left, right, left, right, left, up, down, up down, and then there was the...the...?...Friday. Friday...

fuckkk..............Friday....Friday!!!!!! Friday!!!!!!!! COME ALREADY!! fuck!!!!

It's been half a fucking hour!! how am I going to make it til FRIDAY??

I ripped a leaf off a passing tree, then blinked. Feeling sheepish, I set the leaf down at the base of tree, like that would help.

I need to think about something else or I'm going to explode.

But what?

Maybe VIDEO GAMES.

Yes, that's it. I'll just play video games until it's Friday. I'm not sure it'll work, but at least it's a plan. FRIDAY!! No, VIDEO GAMES!!! Don't think about the days. Just play games, and Friday will come eventually. It has to. It always does. I'll live. I'll survive. I won't go berserk in the middle of the night and try to go to Philadelphia and find him. No, sir, there is no chance of me doing that at all. No, sir...I don't even have a car...how would I get to...well, there is the bus.. and the train...or a plane...but I shouldn't think about that. It'll make me crazy. I just have to wait til Friday. I can do that. Going to Philadelphia to find him would be crazy. Like, I'd have to be nuts. I can wait til Friday. I can definitely wait til Friday. Definitely. Definitely. I think. Video games. Friday. Friday. Friday. Friday....fuck...what the fuck... did all that really happen? was it really real? and then -- it's going to happen again Friday? Or -- more?? It's going to happen more on Friday? Like -- it was basically all night, so he must mean more as in, like...deeper. stronger. I -- I can't imagine. I already want it all over again so much, just the way it already was. More...fuck.

I blinked. I had reached my door, lost in thought. I half expected he would be right inside the door, waiting for me -- that would be an excellent trick, I thought. I bet he's right...here! I said to myself, jumping around the corner from the foyer.

I dropped my backpack on a chair, and threw myself down on my couch. Friday!!!!

I could have almost screamed. I started punching the couch cushion. Hard.

FRIDAAAAAAY!

I tried listening to a hypnosis file, but it felt silly just after the real thing.

I resigned myself to playing video games, and set my laptop up on the coffee table by the couch. (Couch and controller for retro stuff, table and mouse for World of Warcraft -- you've got to switch it up every five or six hours if you're going to really game, at least in my experience.)

I stopped screaming "Friday" inside quite so constantly, or quite so loudly, but I was still doing it every few minutes, even after an hour of Pokemon Emerald.

I sighed. One hour down, like a HUNDRED or something to go. I'm not even gonna work the hours out. That'll just make it worse. I am NOT going to work out the number of hours between 3PM now and 11AM Friday. I am going to block out that train of thought. It is so blocked.

but....FRIIIIDAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My hips bucked. I tried to focus on Emerald, but I started stroking myself, and I came fast, & hard. I stretched, yawned, and fell asleep right there. (Yes, a little sticky. Sorry. Truth in storytelling.)

When I blinked, & woke up, it was midnight. Perfect, I thought. Waiting for Friday, with an effed up sleep schedule already. Oh, well...VIDEO GAMES!!!! I'm gonna beat that Battle Tower with nothing but bug types, and I don't care how long it takes!! Every time I lose, I'm really still winning, because I'm a minute closer to Friday! This is really the perfect way to play games. FRIIIIIIDAAAAY!!!!! FUUUUUCKK!!!!!!!!!