to jim, there was something satisfying about disproving and debunking ghost stories and other paranormal things. it had been a hobby of his for a while - his friends would share their own stories, or even bring others over to him to talk about it. he handled a good number of cases, for someone who wasn't especially famous or popular - just enough to make him feel sort of like a detective, or something.

still, most of it had been when he was a teenager, who particularly reveled in feeling smart and proving something. as an adult, he'd read up on those sorts of stories occasionally, but at a certain point, it was just boring and repetitive, nothing that he hadn't seen before - alien abduction stories that were just sleep paralysis, supposed predictions of the future that were vague enough that they could have meant anything, videos that just edited something in well enough for people who already believed in that sort of thing to accept it. none of his friends or acquaintances especially cared about the topic anymore either, or, if they did, maybe they didn't want to tell him about it just to have him ruin it. as he matured, he made an effort to be more understanding of that.

so it was surprising, and even a bit nostalgic, when an old friend of his had asked him about a cd they had found and listened to. they said that something about it compelled them to listen over and over, and that even if he couldn't figure out what the deal was, it might be better for him to keep it, just so that they wouldn't be tempted by it anymore.

before even listening, he had a few theories. the physical object matched the stereotypical idea of what a haunted or creepy item would be like - old, mysterious, with only the word "training" handwritten on the front. if you were a fan of horror stories, it would be easy to go into it expecting something to happen.

there was even a chance it was a prank, or a hoax, intentionally made to appear this way, to creep someone out.

of course, he wasn't going to jump to conclusions without taking a listen himself. he had been warned that it might be addictive, but, as someone who wasn't inclined to believe in ghosts and mysterious powers and mind control, he didn't think he would be especially susceptible to that.

he plugged in his headphones, pushed it in, and started playing it.

immediately, there was a strange tone in the background, and static noises, which sent chills down his spine purely from the sound. that alone could have been the culprit, especially if even he had such a reaction to it. he had no idea why these sounds would have been there, unless they were added intentionally - it didn't seem like some kind of degradation of the physical disc.

a voice began speaking, dull, monotonous, and slow. so slow. it should have been boring and frustrating to listen to, but it added to the eerie feeling, and he found himself giving it his full attention - which was good, considering he wanted to analyze it, he supposed.

he was trembling slightly, that tingling sensation coming in waves through his body. hopefully he would adjust to it soon enough.

apparently, this was supposed to be some sort of typing practice. he was at his desk, so his computer and keyboard were right in front of him - he opened up a word document, although it wasn't the same outdated software mentioned in the actual recording. this was an odd format to use for typing practice, though. a computer program could do things like assess your accuracy, cd audio couldn't - and besides that, if you just type out words that someone tells you to type out loud, you also have to focus on spelling them, and you might not know how, or they may use words that are ambiguous until you hear the full context of the sentence.

then again, it wasn't as if it would be unbelievable for someone to make a product that was completely pointless and inferior to another one.

it started with simple instructions for things like posture and where to rest your fingers. as an adult in his 20's who grew up with computers, he was already well acquainted with the home keys, although his sitting posture might have left something to be desired. he adjusted, straightening up the way the recording told him to.

the instructions themselves and the way they were phrased didn't strike him as especially unusual. it was really only the tones and static in the background, and the very slow, almost tired sounding speech that made it feel different from any other educational or training audio. there weren't any conspicuous suggestions to relax, or give in, or something like that, no outright hypnotic language, no triggers being implanted, no subliminals being whispered in the background.

and yet, it felt very odd to listen to and follow along with. he was warm, his head becoming sort of fuzzy. it wasn't as if he couldn't think. but it was... unlike anything he had felt. his body was no longer trembling, but there was still this persistent feeling, this sensation, that was... good. it felt good, for some reason.

finally, it was time for him to type. he waited for the voice to finish saying the first phrase before hammering it out on the keyboard all at once - the candy melts on your tongue. it was an interesting sentence. he would have expected it to be, "melts in your mouth," since that was a more common phrase. there was something more intimate about mentioning the tongue, specifically. the word "melt" also stuck out to him - a hypnotic induction could mention something about having your tension or resistance melt away.

it was a stretch, sure - he didn't really think this was actually intended to be covert hypnosis, or anything - but, if he wanted to make sense of his friend's reaction to this recording, it was worth listening for anything that someone could potentially react to.

for the next one, he figured he would attempt to type it out as the phrase was being spoken, which seemed more like what he was intended to do. the machine needs power to operate. he found himself finishing each word before the voice had finished saying it, and waiting impatiently for the next. that didn't feel like the ideal approach for this, either.

the phrase was also interesting. someone could be compared to a machine while being hypnotized. particularly while focusing on a task like this. the reminder that they need power could imply that that power could be taken away.

he decided that he would try to follow the pace of the voice, typing out each sound as it was spoken. the next sentence started.

i...

counted...

one...

hundred...

sheep...

before...

falling...

asleep.

the specific mention of sleep was noteworthy. that was obviously commonly associated with hypnosis. including a number was also strange. if he had allowed himself to type more quickly, he probably would have just written it as 100. it could have been written either way, and both would be correct. he would have expected something like this to be clearer and more precise about what exactly he should be typing.

the next sentence started.

he...

emp...tied...

out...

the...

bo...ttle...

un...til...

there...

was...

no...thing...

left.

another chill ran down his spine. was it on purpose? maybe these phrases were intended to be hypnotic, after all.

the way that he had deliberately tried to match the pace of the voice only intensified the effect. normally, he typed very quickly, at about the same rate that he thought the words. writing like this, it seemed almost as if even his thoughts, even his mind, were slowing down to a crawl. as if they were being slowed like that by this voice. the idea sent waves through his body again, and every word he listened to felt more sensitive than the last.

the next sentence started.

they...

list...ened...

close...ly...

to...

the...

sound...

of...

the...

waves...

every word was enunciated so carefully. every syllable was satisfying.

the voice just continued droning on, mind-numbingly, through phrase after phrase, each phrase being made up of words, made up of syllables, made up of letters to press, one after another. the sentences were all just vaguely reminiscent of something you would hear in a hypnotic context, but just mundane and innocent enough that he couldn't be sure how intentional it was. no, it must have been intentional... there was no way that someone could strike such a perfect balance on accident.

after a while, he didn't bother remembering each and every one of them. words stood out to him - sink, deep, relax, blank - and it took a considerable amount of effort to even recall those words individually. after completing a sentence, he would just get the feeling that there was a word in there that had particularly affected him, and he tried forcing himself to remember, just to prove he could, until he eventually told himself that he would simply read through everything he typed once it was over, and analyze it then.

it was particularly nice after he had stopped caring about that. a hazy, distant part of him wondered if what he was typing was even correct or coherent anymore. maybe it wasn't. his fingers moved on their own, his mind just listening to the audio, enjoying the smallest, most delicate sounds of it, the clicks of the tongue, the breaths, the static. the tone in the background was hardly even noticeable anymore.

by the time it had ended, it felt sort of abrupt. it was quiet, the warmth of the sounds being removed from him so suddenly, like someone ripping off a blanket. he reached for the cd player, about to replay it, before stopping himself, seeing his hand hovering just over the button.

this was exactly what he had been warned about. he was really about to do that, without thinking anything of it? he withdrew his hand, taking off his headphones, and looking at his computer screen. it surprised him, at first, how late it had gotten - but then again, looking at how much he wrote, and thinking of how long each sentence took, it made sense.

sure enough, as he read through each of them, he found various words and phrases that he remembered enjoying, all of them seeming to suggest things like relaxing and focusing, falling into something.

even if this was supposed to be some sort of covert hypnosis experiment, that just made it even stranger to give the subject evidence of what exactly they had been listening to afterward. he had remembered the general gist of it well enough, but he certainly wouldn't have recalled or been able to analyze each and every sentence, if he hadn't been instructed to write them all down. reading them out like this didn't feel like it was going to put him into another trance, either - he was in trance earlier, wasn't he? he scrolled through all of it, noting that there didn't seem to be any typos or errors. none of it seemed to give any particularly complicated or concerning suggestions, either.

in fact, much of what he himself experienced seemed completely unrelated to any of it. there was nothing about amnesia, nothing about shivers, or tingling sensations, nothing about slowing your thoughts, nothing about focusing on every syllable. it must have just been how he personally interpreted it or expected it to feel.

as for the desire to repeat it... he supposed there was something about practicing, about how it gets easier the more you practice, but that doesn't necessarily imply repeating it over and over again in a single sitting.

he stared at the cd player. none of it really made sense. he didn't understand what purpose it was made for, and it was hard for him to believe it affected him so deeply. of course, he couldn't do this all day - he needed to eat, and had work and chores to take care of - but, maybe he could come back to it another time, listen to it again, and try a little harder to analyze it as he listened. maybe he would start to understand, if he just gave it another shot. he could make a note of the program they mentioned in it, try to remember other details that he could look up online later... he just had to listen to it one more time.