I watched my sister struggle against the suggestion, trying to will her on to fight it. She had been the one most interested in going to the stage hypnotism show at the bar. I had complained the entire way, annoyed that the classic rock bar was too old, that we weren’t in our forties and wouldn’t fit in. Frustrated that one of the few nights I was getting off work we’d be watching a bunch of drunks pretending to be hypnotized.
That the hypnotist had been a woman had been surprising, but it seemed as if my sister already knew that. She seemed quite keen on the whole thing, more so than I would have expected, and when the woman onstage had asked for volunteers my sister had grabbed my hand and nearly dragged me up onstage.
The hypnotist laughed at her eagerness, and asked her our names.
My sister answered for both of us, “I’m Michelle and this is Jessica.”
The hypnotist laughed and asked us to take a seat on one of the chairs already lined up. I did reluctantly, finding it hard to look out at the audience because of the bright lights lighting up the stage. Michelle sat next to me and soon the stage filled up. Everyone else was older, in their forties or later. The hypnotist herself was blonde and in her late thirties but still in good shape.
Once the seats had filled she began explaining what hypnosis is and how it worked. Then she started on the part that she called the induction. It wasn’t what I expected, no watches and no looking deep into her eyes. Just taking some deep breaths and listening to her talk. There seemed no harm in it, breathing in and out and just listening to her voice.
Then she told us all to stand up and place our hands straight out, linking our fingers together as we pressed our palms against themselves. I glanced at Michelle and she was doing it so I did as well. The hypnotist told us to stare at the top of our thumbs. I noticed that I had been biting my thumb nail as I pressed my hands together. Then she said that we could try but no matter what we couldn’t part our hands. I gave it a shot but as she said it was like my hands were stuck together with glue. The more I tried to pull them apart the tighter they became.
I was so engrossed in trying to pull my hands apart that I did not notice her approach me. She placed her hand on my arm and started to talk.
“Very good Jessica. Your arms are heavy now, heavier and heavier. It was so much work trying to pull your hands apart that you are tired, heavy and sleepy. Heavy arms falling now, as your hands break apart and fall to your sides, falling falling and sleep,” she said.
As she said it my hands were suddenly tired, my arms seemed to burn from strain and so they fell. My hands easily parted and then as my arms fell she said ‘sleep’ and that’s when my eyes closed and everything went dark.
I awoke in her dressing room. Or that’s where I think we are. It’s just Michelle and me in here. Well and her. Michelle is looking into her eyes, her shirt is already off and the hypnotist is talking about how my sister always wanted to be hypnotized. How she’s always wanted to obey. My sister has her blouse and bra off and seems to be struggling to stay awake. Her eyes close and she slumps down asleep.
The hypnotist turns to me noticing I’m awake. She smiles, her deep blue eyes seeming to shine in the light. She looks at me and says, “Now Jessica look deep into my eyes and let me explain to you how good hypnosis feels and how you’re going to love letting go for me now.”
Unf