Becky blinked twice, leaned in a little, and focused. She could do this, she knew she could do this.
The screen wasn’t showing… anything, really. Or maybe it was. It was black, but a deep, inky black that almost seemed to ripple. Like faint light on an oil slick. Like a close-up view of a massive, sinuous creature sliding past.
There was a message in the darkness, Becky knew, and she had to find it.
If she could find it, she could save Julia. Her friend had been acting so strange lately – skipping classes, quitting her job, isolating herself from her friends. When Becky finally barged into Julia’s apartment, Julia hadn’t been there. Looked like she hadn’t been home in days.
So Becky tracked down the guy Julia’d been seeing. The one she’d met online, the one she’d talked about incessantly before suddenly vanishing. Becky went to his house – a shockingly palatial place, overlooking the ocean.
And he’d been there, and he’d invited Becky in, and he’d been charming and hospitable, and he’d given her a glass of wine…
And after that, things were blurry. He’d explained things, but Becky had found it hard to follow. Julia was there, somewhere. He’d done something to her. But he was willing to let her go – let them both go – if Becky could prove her mettle.
So he sat her down in front of the screen and told her to find the message hidden there.
She’d been sitting there now for a while. A few minutes, at least. Maybe a couple of hours. Possibly more than a day or two. It was hard to keep track, when the silky black darkness took up everything she could see. She blocked out everything else – she needed to watch it, needed to look ever deeper.
A voice, a man’s voice. Coming from somewhere next to her. She didn’t listen, didn’t pay attention. Had to watch the screen.
Someone took her hand. Becky let them lift it from her lap. It wasn’t important. She had to focus, stay focused on the screen, the darkness like ten thousand starless night skies laid over one another.
Something was pressed into her hand. Or her hand was pressed against something. She couldn’t tell. Whatever it was, it was warm, and firm, and familiar. Her hand wrapped around it, instinctively, and slowly slid up it. Then down.
Up, and down, and up, Becky stroked. She didn’t think about it. It was an automatic reaction. As natural and involuntary as pupils dilating and constricting in response to light.
Becky imagined how her own pupils must look, staring into the darkness. Wide, wide, so wide and so dark. She imagined the blackness of the screen shimmering in her own eyes, and she shivered.
Just then, as her hand pumped mindlessly, a word flashed. On the screen, on her eyes, on her mind. It was less like words appearing on the screen, and more like the surface shifted, the notion embossing itself across her awareness.
Obey.
“Obey,” Becky breathed through parted lips. Had she done it? Had she discovered the message?
“Very good,” a voice said next to her. “You’ve found one of the words.”
One of? Were there more? Becky kept staring, kept stroking. She felt the shape of the word she now carried in her mind, rising, expanding.
“Keep looking,” the voice said. The thing her hand twitched, throbbed. “There’s more to find. Plunge deeper.”
Becky opened her eyes wider, letting the blackness pour in. Plunge deeper, she thought. Obey, she thought. She let the screen fill her vision. She let it fill her mind. She let it fill her. She waited for the next part of the message.
Great portrayal of an obession-induction. Very hot!