Interactive Story - Career Change
Choice 5
by The Traveling Master
C – My trepidation just continues to grow as I feel the walls closing in around me. Was there no escape? I couldn’t think of anything to get out of this! I… I just wanted to break free of this insane nightmare. I throw my head back and scream to the top of my lungs.
Thinking about how insane this was didn’t help at all. If I didn’t believe in his spell when I walked out, but I was forced to admit that at the very least some parts of it were true!
Because if they weren’t…
Then it would mean that I WANTED to stay here. I WANTED to become his stupid obedient wife and that’s the only reason why my mind was playing tricks and preventing me from leaving. Preventing me from even TEXTING someone!
No… It had to be magic… Or whatever… But that too was insane! Magic wasn’t real! It can’t be! My mind started to spin around in circles as my heart pounded in my chest.
I had to get out… But I couldn’t!
I had to warn someone… But I couldn’t!
Was it magic? Was it my own stupid mind? Had I been drugged? Brainwashed?
A thousand questions cascaded through my mind as my heart pounded harder and harder. I felt dizzy… My brain couldn’t make sense of anything that was happening to me! A tattoo? Magic? His Wife? OBEDIENT?
I will touch my nose for my husband.
OH FUCKING CHRIST!!!!
I grabbed my head as I felt my grip on reality slip away. I couldn't take this… I… I… I wanted to scream!!!
I felt the panic bubble up from within as the emotional pressure I felt pushed everything else out of my mind. I NEEDED TO LEAVE!!!!
I took in a large breath, ready to scream at the top of my lungs! Maybe SOMEONE will see me… Hear me…
I felt my primal rage, fear and panic all combine to produce a scream that would surely rip my vocal cords apart, but I didn’t care. It needed to get out!
So I let it out…
“OH HUBBY!” I said… Loudly?
I blinked as the pressure and panic subsided for a brief instant before I realized what I had just said. What the fuck? No… NO NO NO!!!!!
I can’t even scream???
That’s not possible!
I looked at myself with my phone’s camera and saw that I was still smiling like an idiot. There was no trace of the panic I felt inside. My face was the picture of calm happiness.
Oh god… FUCK!
I will touch my nose for my husband.
NO! I won’t give in… I… I can’t! It’s not right!
I felt weak in the knees and wanted nothing more than to crumble in a pile of sobbing limbs right there on the sidewalk. But… I just stayed upright! Perfectly composed on the outside as my mind went completely insane on the inside!
“Yes Honey?” I heard him say from the doorway.
My blood ran cold as I realized he had come to find me. Of course he had! I called him! I looked up at him and he was standing there in his white shirt and casual shorts, leaning on the open door frame.
“You called?” he added.
My first thought was to start running down the street. But I quickly thought better of it. I’ll probably just wind up back here like in some freaky horror movie. He wasn’t showing any signs of aggression, if anything, he was so very calm!
While I was freaking out!
“I… I didn’t mean too Hubby.” I found myself saying.
I just wanted to say that I didn’t mean too, but my mouth added the Hubby all on its own!
“It’s ok Honey…” he said with a smile. “Did you have a nice walk?”
I will touch my nose for my husband.
Oh god… NO! Stop it…
Why did he have to be so calm! He looked like… Like he was just welcoming his wife back home! But I wasn’t his wife! He was acting as if we had been married for years! I suddenly realized that if someone was looking at us, they would simply assume we were a happily married couple. Why wouldn’t they? He had obvious love in his eyes and I was standing there perfectly composed and smiling like nothing was wrong!
I took a long calming breath and tried to push down the swirling panic I felt inside. It wouldn’t help me deal with him if I couldn’t think straight.
Get a grip on yourself Taylor…
I couldn’t run away… And he didn’t seem to want to hurt me… So I decided to at least walk towards him, since I couldn’t very well stay standing on the sidewalk all day.
“My walk was…” I started to say, but caught myself when I realized that I probably wouldn’t be able to say what I meant.
So far… I could only act like I was his wife… His loving smiling wife…
But inside… I didn’t feel like my words were being changed… I could be myself and say the things I wanted to say. With the exception of my real name anyway. So… Logically, that meant that in the house, I could speak freely… But outside… Where people could see me, I couldn’t.
If I calm myself. It made sense. If only in a freakish way…
So as long as we were outside, I would be smiling and acting, on the outside, like his wife.
“… Interesting.” I finally said.
I almost sighed in relief as my mouth actually matched my thoughts.
“How so?” he asked as I stepped on his porch.
“I had a go around the block… Twice!” I said with an annoyingly fake bubbly tone. “I met a few of the neighbors as I walked and couldn’t help but greet them as warmly as they did!”
My voice almost sickened me. So bright and bubbly!
“Did you now?” he said with a smile. “And you found that interesting?”
I will touch my nose for my husband.
I took a calming breath as I pushed my treacherous thoughts aside.
“It was.” I said. “I was able to explore our neighborhood while also reminding me how wonderful our neighbors are.”
Crap… That’s not exactly what I wanted to say. I wanted to say that I discovered how I couldn’t seem to leave, but of course, the spell wouldn’t let me say that out loud. Not out here. I looked up at him and he chuckled.
“Why don’t we go back inside and have a nice breakfast? You must be famished after such a long and eventful walk.” He said as he moved to the side and extended his hand towards the house.
As much as I wanted to refuse, I felt like going inside would at least make me feel like myself. I took a deep breath and walked past him. I made my way to the kitchen as I heard him close the door.
Once I reached the kitchen, I turned to face him. He came in and didn’t seem angry or annoyed. Just… calm…
“I take it that you understand a little more about what the spell can do?” he asked as he moved past me and went to the fridge.
“I do.” I said glad to feel a little more like myself. “Why can’t I leave? Am I trapped here forever or something? Doomed to be your fucking stupid airheaded wife?”
He chuckled.
“I can certainly understand why you would feel that way.” He said as he started to take out vegetables and eggs. “But no, you aren’t trapped here forever.”
“Right…” I said, rolling my eyes. “Sure doesn’t feel like it though.”
He gathered the food on the kitchen counter and took out a cutting board and knife.
“I completely understand my dear.” He said. “The way the spell works, in regards to your little explorations this morning, is that you can’t leave our home if I don’t agree that you need to leave. And since this morning I feel like you should stay home, the spell made sure you couldn’t leave.”
“WHAT?” I said.
I will touch my nose for my husband.
I shook my head to chase away the thought.
“The spell…” he continued as he started to cut up the vegetables. “Is based on the ideal married couple. That can mean a lot of things to a lot of people. But since I’m the one that cast it on you, the spell is about my own vision of the perfect married couple.”
My jaw dropped as his words started to make sense.
“Is that why I couldn’t stop smiling like a fucking idiot when I was outside?” I asked.
“It is…” he said as he bent down under the counter and took out a bowl.
“So what?” I said. “Your idea of a perfect married couple includes a wife that can’t stop smiling?”
“Not quite.” He said as he started to put the vegetables in the bowl. “To me, a married couple should always look and act lovingly and happy while out in public. Call me old fashioned, but I believe that no one should be a witness to our dirty laundry. The best way to achieve that is to have a proper looking wife that smiles and stays civil while others can see her. Regardless of what she feels on the inside.”
My jaw dropped again as he started to crack and dump a few eggs in his bowl.
“That’s insane! So what?” I asked, glad to feel I could express my disbelief and anger. “You dream about having some sort of Stepford Wife?”
“Heavens no…” he said as he went back to the fridge. “Nothing THAT old fashioned. But I do agree with the mindset while out in public. And so, the spell will help make it easy for you by making you feel natural and composed as you smile for the world.”
“BY MAKING ME SMILE AND ACT LIKE AN IDIOT YOU MEAN!” I almost screamed.
He grabbed a whisk from a drawer and looked at me.
“A side effect… Which will only get stronger if you try to act differently from what I expect my wife to act like while out in public. But that’s just your actions, you are still yourself aren’t you? Even if the spell makes you ‘smile like an idiot’ as you say, your mind is intact. Is it not?”
“I…” I started to say before I realized he was right. “Yes…”
“Of course you are!” he said as he grabbed the bowl and started to whisk away. “I might want the world outside to see you as a loving and respectful wife, but I wouldn’t go so far as completely erasing your wonderful mind. Which I could do by the way…”
I watched him whisk the eggs for a few minutes before he placed the bowl on the counter.
“Forgot the milk…” he said to himself. “The spell makes you my wife, not my slave.”
I blinked as I heard his words.
I will touch my nose for my husband.
THE COMMANDS!!!
“Right..” I said as I watched him grab the milk and return to the counter. “So the whole ‘obedient’ part of the spell DOESN’T make me your slave?”
He chuckled.
“About that… I must say that I might be slightly wrong there… I guess in a way you are my slave now. But…” he said as he poured a little milk in the bowl. “That is just a tool to help you reach the ideal wife I want you to be.”
“By FORCING me to obey you?” I asked.
He put the milk down and looked at me.
“Has the spell forced you to touch your nose? No. It will only keep reminding you to do it. And since we are being open and honest, I have to phrase my command a certain way for the spell to help you obey it. If I simply ask you to go get some juice from the fridge, the spell won’t bother you with it. I’m not a monster, I won’t force the commands on you unless I need to.”
“Right…” I said, rolling my eyes. “As if you wouldn’t use the spell to force me to do stuff!”
“I could…” he said as he resumed his whisking. “But I won’t. Using commands like that can have a lot of consequences for you and I would rather avoid those as much as possible. Not to say that I won’t use them, but I won’t abuse them.”
He set the bowl down and turned to grab a few spices. He then proceeded to season the mix with a few different things until he got to the pepper. I’m not sure if it was a draft of air or his poor seasoning skills, but some of the pepper wafted up to my nose.
Making me sneeze.
Without thinking, I wiped my nose. The moment my fingers touched the tip and rubbed, I realized what I was doing and pulled my hand away as if it was being burned. I looked up at him as my heart started to pound.
Oh god… NO! I touched my nose! What… What is going to happen now?
I waited, but nothing happened. He looked up at me and chuckled.
Why was he chuckling?
I will touch my nose for my husband.
WHAT? No… I… I did touch my nose!
“What the fuck… Why… Why didn’t…” I tried to say, but couldn’t muster the words.
“Why didn’t the command stop popping into your head?” He asked. “Simple. You didn’t DECIDE to touch your nose. For the command to be released, you need to OBEY it. Willingly.”
“Oh god what?” I said as I looked at my hand.
“You heard me…” he said as he whisk his eggs again. “And I should probably remind you that the more you resist the command and don’t obey it, the worse the consequences will be…”
He stopped whisking and turned his back to me. He brought the bowl to the stove and took out a pan as he turned it on. My eyes drifted to the knife he had left on the counter and I thought about using it on him.
Would the spell break if he was dead? Was I ready to kill someone? No… But maybe I could threaten him… Make him break this spell…
Consequences… He keeps mentioning consequences… What ARE the consequences if I keep resisting?
And what happens when I obey quickly?
This whole insane spell was based on his view of a perfect married couple, what else did that mean?
What did I want to do next?
Choice 5
A – The knife… This was too insane. I had to make this stop before this spell did anything else to me. I’ll just slip around the counter and go threaten him with it. He was big and obviously strong, but he wouldn’t be so strong with a knife pointed at his throat!
B – Consequences… Before I act, I need to know what he means. I decided to ask him to tell me about how the commands work exactly.
C – Consequences… I decided to get it over with and touch my nose. He could say what he wants, but there is nothing like finding out for myself. I’m a big girl and whatever it was, I better find out.
D – Other than forcing this spell on me, I had to admit that he was being a real gentleman about all this. I could easily imagine other men I knew in this situation and I almost thanked my lucky stars I didn’t fall prey to one of those… But it was still very wrong! My thoughts drift to his idea of a perfect married couple. I’m curious and ask him to tell me more about it.
E - Other than forcing this spell on me, I had to admit that he was being a real gentleman about all this. I could easily imagine other men I knew in this situation and I almost thanked my lucky stars I didn’t fall prey to one of those… But it was still very wrong! And besides… Why DID I fall prey to him in the first place? With this sort of spell, he could get whoever he wanted right? So why me? He mentioned something about energies… Connections… That he couldn’t help himself… What did he mean? I ask him why he chose me specifically.