16. Deep Hypnosis

The curtains were drawn tight, and a sheet had been stretched across the door to the hall. After we closed the kitchen door, Lianne adjusted the dimmer switch so that the room was softly lit.

​

The room's usual furniture had been pushed back to the walls. Five high benches with padded leather seats were placed in the middle of the floor, in a pentagon pattern. The benches seemed too high to sit on comfortably. The game victims each stood a foot or two away from a bench.

 

There were four video cameras set up in the room's corners, all with their red record lights on. Tina noticed me looking at them.

​

"Pretty soon," she said, "we're not going to be able to tell what's going on. Several of us want to see what we look like all hypnotized and dead and stuff..."

 

Tammy shushed her. "You're giving too much away!"

​

"Are you all on your marks?" Lianne asked. "Remember to stand up straight. Throw your chest out for Tommy."

 

Each game victim checked under her feet for a piece of masking tape stuck to the floor. They all faced directly away from their bench and stood tall. Melanie and Sarah giggled.

 

There was one piece of tape on the floor with no one standing on it. Who was missing?

 

Lianne said, "The props are part of my show, though I don't use them very often. They're heavy and hard to set up and cart around."

 

"Tell me about it," said Tammy as she rubbed her bicep.

 

Lianne walked over to Tammy. "OK, we'll start with you." She placed her hand on Tammy's forehead. "Sleep," she said, and Tammy's head dropped against her chest, her arms relaxed by her side, but her back remained straight.

 

"You forgot the soundtrack," Kim said.

 

"Oh, right," Lianne said. She picked up a remote from a table next to the wall and turned on the sound system. Mysterious, lyrical music began to play, with a deep, fairly soft bass that sounded like a heartbeat.

 

Lianne walked over to Melanie, who stood next to the now entranced Tammy. Melanie looked a little self-conscious in her tiny costume. "Sleep," Lianne said, a hand on Melanie's forehead. Melanie's head fell, just like Tammy's, and her arms also fell relaxed by her side.

​

Tina and Lacey were at the next bench, and Lianne put them under in the same way. She proceeded on to Kim and Stephanie at the third bench, Lisa and Jessica at the fourth, and then Sarah, standing alone before the fifth bench next to the unoccupied tape mark. Each woman fell into a hypnotic trance, their chins against their chests, their breathing deep and relaxed, their arms limp at their sides.

​

"Is someone missing?" I asked Lianne, looking at the extra mark on the floor.

​

"No," she said, and walked back to Tammy. The music changed and the heartbeat got louder.

​

"Ladies," Lianne said, "arms up."

 

The entranced women each lifted their arms high above their heads, as if reaching for the ceiling. Their heads remained down, however, and their breathing continued slow and deep.

 

Lianne gave me a moment to look around. It almost looked like the women had all been suspended by their arms from the ceiling. It was quite a sight.

 

"OK, Tommy," Lianne said. "You'll need to help me now. If we set this up right, you should be able to do it mostly by yourself."

 

"All right," I said. "What do I do?"

 

Lianne walked up to Sarah, raised her chin and said, "Rigid rigid rigid rigid." Then, to me she said, "Put one hand behind her shoulders, and with the other, push her back."

 

She demonstrated, and Sarah toppled backward, stiff as a board. Her beautiful, long, red hair tumbled out of her face as Lianne let her settle onto the bench. Then, she let go, and Sarah tilted back, balancing like a see-saw. Her eyes were closed, her face relaxed, but her body and upstretched arms were iron rods.

 

"That's why we did the tape on the floor," Lianne said. "We found the place where everyone balances. Now, it's your turn. Who next?"

​

"Tina," I said, amazed at how still and stiff Sarah was, lying on the bench.

 

Lianne walked over to Tina, lifted her chin as she had Sarah, said "rigid" four times, and then stood aside, gesturing for me to take over.

 

Tina's flesh was warm, and her breathing relaxed, but she fell tautly backward to my touch just as Sarah did to Lianne's, and ended up balanced just like Sarah on her bench. She might have been tilted a little more foot-down, but only a little.

 

We proceeded through Tammy and Lisa and Kim, Lacey (who shared Tina's bench) and Melanie (on Tammy's) and Stephanie (on Kim's).

 

Before we got to Jessica, the last Game victim standing upright, Lianne asked me to pause the music, saying she'd gotten a bit behind. It was true that the heartbeat had gotten very strong and the mysterious melody had grown much more intense.

 

I retrieved the remote and clicked "pause" while Lianne prepared Jessica. The room was now oddly quiet.

 

"Bring the remote with you," Lianne said, so I tucked it in my pocket.

 

I returned and lowered Jessica onto her padded bench just as I had the others. I took a moment to look around again. It was a very eerie sight, all of the ladies frozen and lying in more-or-less horizontal positions, two on each bench (except that Sarah was by herself), each with hair falling down, eyes closed, faces serene, wearing the skimpy flashy bikini tops and thongs and showing no sign of effort. Was this rigidity what Tammy meant when she said they'd be hypnotized and dead?

 

Then, I noticed that Lianne was again taking deep breaths. "Are you OK?" I asked.

 

"From here on," she said seriously, looking me directly in the eyes, "I'm in somewhat uncharted waters. We rehearsed this, but it's still a little scary."

 

Then, she kissed my cheek warmly. "Still, I trust you, Tommy. Turn the music back on," she whispered.

 

Puzzled, I pushed "play" and the music started again. Lianne looked down, shuffled a bit, then looked back up at me. I looked down too, and realized she was standing with her heels on the last strip of tape.

 

An odd, distorted voice interrupted the music. "Sleep," it said, and the music stopped.

 

Lianne's head fell forward, her arms limply at her side. Her long, wavy, brown hair curtained her face from

me, falling past her waist. I peeked through and saw that her eyes were closed. It seemed the voice had entranced her.

 

After a moment, the distorted voice said, "Arms up!"

 

Lianne lifted her arms to the sky, raised her face, and opened her eyes. They were blank and expressionless: dead doll eyes. She stood very erect.

 

"Rigid rigid rigid rigid," the voice on the recording said. Then, Lianne's voice added, "Tommy, I'm hypnotized like the others now. Tip me back onto the bench next to Sarah."

 

I did as I was told. Aside from the fact that her eyes were open, and now and then blinked, she was identical to the other ladies, an iron rod. Her brown hair fell back and pooled on the floor.

 

After a moment, Lianne's recorded voice said, "There's Sleep Spray on the kitchen table. Use it whenever you like, but before you do, say the victim's name and touch her forehead. She'll start to wake up a bit, so she can enjoy the feeling of the Sleep Spray. Spray me too.

 

"But first, we've got some dying to do."

 

The music started again, but this time, it was heavy on guitars, much darker and ominous.

 

Lianne's voice again, "In any order you like, Tommy, say someone's name. Sometimes, it might even work more than once for the same person."

 

After a second, Lianne's voice continued, "Why don't you start with me?"

 

The music continued.

 

OK, I thought. "Lianne," I said in a full voice.

 

Instantly, as soon as I said her name, Lianne changed from iron bar to wet noodle. Her head dropped back, her back bent, and her arms and legs flopped about. I walked around to see her face better. Her eyes were still open, staring off. Her mouth was agape.

 

I lifted her hand and let it drop. It offered no resistance, either to my touch or to gravity.

 

"Lianne," I repeated, to see what would happen.

 

Lianne lifted herself up a bit, pulled her legs up bending her knees, but then collapsed again, this time closing her eyes and spilling off the bench onto the floor. Her knees were still hooked over the bench.

 

I looked at her for a moment, lying there beautiful and vulnerable, but then figured I had lots of time for gawking later. I walked back into the pentagon of benches.

 

The music suddenly stopped, leaving the room in silence again.

 

"Tina," I said.

 

Tina flopped back just as Lianne did, though when she did so, she jostled Lacey who was lying next to her. The lovely blond slowly tipped back, eventually resting on her fingertips, still quite rigid.

 

Tina, however, was anything but rigid. Her hands also rested on the ground, and her head bent back in parallel, her straight brown hair dusting her palms and just touching the floor beside the bench.

 

"Tina," I repeated, but Tina had done her final scene.

 

I leaned over the bench and lifted her head, then let it fall. It bounced and twisted before coming to rest where it was. I looked for a moment at my girlfriend, and then continued.

 

"Tammy," I said.

 

Tammy went ragdoll, just as the others. Her glasses slid up to her forehead. I removed them and set them carefully aside, not wanting them broken.

 

"Tammy, " I said again.

 

It was no surprise that Tammy was one of the "multiple little death" women. She jerked as if electrocuted, tossing bare arms and bare legs and brown hair back and forth wildly. She occasionally touched, or even kind of hit Melanie, but the larger girl didn't move.

 

Finally, she came to rest again, in nearly the same pose as before, except for the much more tossed and tangled hair.

 

"Tammy," I said a third time.

 

Tammy did indeed have one more death in her. At my pronouncement, she jerked again, but this time, her legs jacknifed at the hip, toppling her heels over head off the prop bench, landing on the floor behind, her scantily clad rear end high in the air over her bent knees.

 

I thought that she must be faking the hypnosis to do such pitch-perfect poses. It was all right; she's amazing at these. But still, to be fair...

 

I walked out of the room, retrieving the Sleep Spray from the kitchen table, just as Lianne had said. I knelt beside Tammy's still form, patted her little behind and brushed a few strands of hair from her face.

 

"Tammy," I said, and touched her forehead, just as I'd been instructed, and just in case I was wrong and Tammy was really under.

 

Her eyes opened slowly. "I get to be first?" she asked in a high, breathy voice that didn't quite sound like she was waking up.

 

"I thought you might be faking," I said, and sprayed her face once, lightly misting her skin.

 

"How could you think..." she said, her voice, never really strong, trailing off at the end.

 

Her eyes closed again, and her body relaxed even further, her legs slowly, slowly unfolding, until at the very last, when her rear was only a palm's width above the floor, and then she suddenly dropped the rest of the way, and lay straight and motionless on her stomach.

 

Tammy would never forgive me if she saw the tape and didn't see me do anything with her. I grabbed her legs and dragged her around until she was next to her padded bench again. I then pulled her up by the feet onto the bench, and then let go so that she drooped down like in those old westerns when they threw the girl over the saddle.

 

Seeing her there gave me another idea.

 

I scooted Tammy down to the end of the bench farthest from Melanie. Then, I carefully rolled Melanie's rigid form over onto her stomach, always mindful of her balance. She had her brown hair in a ponytail as usual. I lifted it up and lay it down the center of her almost bare back.

 

There was no doubt about it. Melanie was really hypnotized.

 

"Melanie," I said.

 

She dropped violently into floppiness just as Lianne and Tammy, but this time, she bent forward at the waist and wound up draped over the bench, ponytail pointing to the ground, approximately mirroring Tammy's pose, but with Melanie's larger form, the effect was in many ways more sensuous.

 

"Melanie," I said again, but Melanie didn't react; she just lay flaccidly over the bench. Between her and Tammy in their little thongs, the view was quite pleasant.

 

For Sarah, I scooted her down to the end of her bench, and then lifted her rigid form in my arms, placing my hands carefully, mindful of how her body would change in a moment.

 

"Sarah," I said.

 

Instantly, she wilted in my arms, her waist sagging, her arms awkwardly bent, her neck arched, her mouth open. I set her down next to Lianne, covering Lianne's face with Sarah's long, beautiful, red hair. No reaction at all from Lianne or Sarah.

 

"Sarah," I said again, but she did not move. She simply lay there next to Lianne, lost and vulnerable.

 

I turned to face the bench where Lisa and Jessica balanced. Lisa's ponytail just brushed the floor, her legs extending out a few inches beyond Jessica's.

 

"Jessica. Lisa," I said.

 

The fashion-magazine-beautiful Jessica and the tall ponytailed Lisa fell nearly together back into their arched positions, their arms touching as they rotated at the shoulders.

 

Lisa was a little unbalanced toward her feet, and started to slide down the bench, her arm drawing across Jessica's shoulder and causing her to turn slightly, getting more parallel with the bench.

 

"Lisa," I said again, and Lisa shook as if shocked with electricity. She fell with a thud to the floor, and pulled Jessica down with her. They lay in a heap, Jessica atop Lisa on the floor.

 

"Lisa," I said once more, but the bodies on the floor were still.

 

"Jessica," I said.

 

The stunning Jessica raised her head, drew the curtain of her hair back with one hand, and then dropped again onto Lisa's side, her head resting against Lisa's shoulder, her hand limply on Lisa's behind.

 

Again, I suspected someone was faking. I got the Sleep Spray.

 

"Jessica," I said, and touched her forehead.

 

Her eyes opened quickly.

 

"Spray me, Tommy," she said. Her face was pink and her breathing shallow.

 

Then, I sprayed her face. She moaned softly, but the sound soon faded into silence. Slowly, the blush left Jessica's face.

 

I pulled her off Lisa, and then lay her very limp form onto her back. I lifted Lisa by the shoulders and posed her so that her face rested on Jessica's chest.

 

"Lisa," I said, and touched her forehead.

 

Slowly her eyes opened, then darted about. She pulled herself onto her elbows. "How did I get here?" she said.

 

She looked at Jessica's limp form beneath her.

 

"Sleep, Lisa," I said and sprayed her with Sleep Spray.

 

With a little breath of air, Lisa fell back onto Jessica. A tiny bit of druel fell from her lips onto Jessica's skin.

 

I returned to the bench on which Tina lay collapsed backward, and Lacey lay stiff as a see-saw. I lifted Tina's arm, and let it fall. I lifted her leg and let it fall. She was still a rag doll on the bench.

 

I turned my attention to Lacey. I lifted her and posed her so that she lay along the bench now, her head on Tina's stomach, her unbending body such that her ankles just touched the far end of the bench.

 

Then, I said her name and she instantly relaxed as expected. Her legs parted and bent at the knees so that she straddled the bench, her arms brushed over Tina's body until they fell limply, one on either side of the bench, and her head slid down a bit along Tina's belly, leaving behind wisps of blonde curls. Her chin touched her chest.

 

"Lacey," I said again, and she surprised me by arching her back up and drawing her hands onto her stomach.

 

"You got me," she said in a breathy, distant voice. Then, as her body slowly relaxed again, she said in the same voice, "I'm dying. I'm dying. I'm..."

 

She lay limp as before, her arms and legs swinging slightly as they came to rest.

 

I suspected she was faking as well, but when I lifted her eyelids, her pupils were still and dilated. She was really under. Amazing.

 

I was in the mood to spray someone, and the first person I saw, other than Tina and Lacey (who I wanted to save for later) was Melanie.

 

She was still slumped over the bench, her ponytail pointed down to the floor, her rear end prominently displayed.

 

I undid her ponytail and let her hair curtain down, then, I got the Sleep Spray and lay on the ground beneath her, so that when she awoke, she'd see my face. I touched her forehead and said her name.

 

Her eyes opened slowly. "Tommy?" she asked. "Where am I?"

 

Then her eyes widened a bit as she began to understand her position, and her face flushed.

 

I lifted the Sleep Spray bottle.

 

"You're going to put me to sleep now?" she asked.

 

I sprayed her face without a word.

 

"Unh," she said, and drew her arms up onto the bench, trying to pull herself up.

 

But just as she started to rise, her strength began to fade, and she slowly collapsed back down onto the bench.

​

She had, however, managed to adjust herself enough that she was no longer balanced, and she slowly slid down. I felt her weight on my thighs as she melted onto where I lay beneath her. At last, she fell the rest of the way upon me, her chest pushing breath from me and her now loose hair dusting my face.

 

I turned onto my side and let Melanie's soft form roll off. She lay on her side, her back against the bench's legs, her arms making a "V", her child-like face peacefully resting. Her lips were slightly parted.

 

That left just Stephanie and Kim in the frozen form. They lay as boards across the same bench, oddly mismatched since Kim is so tall and leggy, while Stephanie is so short and petite. What to do with them?

 

I decided that I hadn't carried women on my shoulder enough, so I pulled Kim up again until she was on her feet, doing an almost comic parody of a hold-up: her back straight, her hands reaching for the sky. I bent beside her, took her around her smooth waist, and turned her so that she faced away from the bench. Then, I leaned her a little toward me and said her name.

 

I felt her weight and the warmth of her body melt onto my back. Her arms limply slapped my buttocks and then fell to either side of me. Her knees buckled.

 

I lifted her up. She was soft and warm, and I ran my hand over the backs of her beautiful legs. I carried her to the center of the bench pentagram and laid her onto the floor. She was slightly curled onto her side, her eyes closed, her mouth open.

 

"Kim," I said again.

 

Her eyes snapped open. She stood slowly, almost mechanically. When she gained her feet, she whispered, "Tommy."

 

"I'm right here," I said. I was only a half step away.

 

Kim's eyes were open, but seemed not to see me. There was almost no expression in her face.

 

"Tommy," she whispered again.

 

I closed the half-step separating us and put my hand on her shoulder. "I'm right here, Kim," I said.

 

"Oh!" she said, in surprise and alarm. She jerked against me as if shot from behind.

 

"Ooooh," she sighed as she slid down my body, inch by inch, her hands sliding down my back, her chest and stomach sliding down against mine. She melted into a puddle on the floor, wrapped around my feet, her face resting on the tops of my shoes. She twitched a couple of times and then lay still.

 

If she was faking her hypnosis, I really didn't care.

 

"Kim," I said again, but she didn't respond at all.

 

And that left Stephanie. I stood her up as well, but, instead of preparing to lift her, I bear hugged her and carried her stiff enchanted body toward where Kim lay at the center of the room.

 

I lifted her a few inches off her feet and softly said her name into her ear, "Stephanie."

 

Her arms dropped down onto my shoulders and slid off. Her face fell against my neck right where it meets my shoulder. Her red curls tickled my chin.

 

"Stephanie," I said again, but she remained limp in my arms.

 

I bent forward at the waist and watched her neck arch back as her head flopped away from me. I laid her down across Kim's limp form.

 

Now, everyone was finished except for the Sleep Spray, and Melanie, Tammy, Jessica and Lisa had already had that. I took the spray and walked around the room, tapping each remaining girl, saying their name, and spraying them.

 

"Lianne," I said, tapping her forehead after brushing Sarah's hair from her face.

 

She opened her eyes, noticed her precarious position (laying mostly on the floor with her legs still hooked at the knees up on the bench), and whispered, "What...?"

 

At the mist of spray, her eyes rolled back and closed again. I pulled Lianne's legs off the bench; I didn't want her to wake up without feeling in her feet.

 

"Sarah," I said, tapping her forehead.

 

She groggily opened her eyes, then pulled herself to a sitting position.

 

"I love the feeling when I'm falling just as the spray starts working," she said with a little grin and in her cute British accent.

 

I sprayed her face, and she smiled even more before toppling over onto Lianne's inert form, her head resting on Lianne's stomach. In a moment, the grin faded from her face, replaced by peaceful slumber.

 

Tammy was already sprayed, but I didn't want to leave her all night bent forward over her bench. I lifted her very dead weight under the shoulders and let her settle onto the floor, next to Melanie.

 

Lacey still lay on her back on the bench, her head resting on Tina's stomach, her arms and legs dangling from either side. Tina lay arched backward beneath her.

 

I tapped Lacey's head and said her name. Her eyes opened slowly and she gave a little yawn. "Do I get sprayed now?" she asked.

 

"How about I spray you and Tina together?" I asked. "I don't want to leave Tina like that all night.

 

Lacey got herself to her feet and looked at Tina. She lifted her head just as I had done earlier, to see it settle back down as before.

 

"Cool," she said.

 

"Tina," I said, tapping her forehead.

 

As she awoke, she gave a little groan. "Gonna be sore," she said.

 

I helped her to her feet.

 

"Tommy wants to spray us together," Lacey said. "It seems he's concerned about your muscle aches."

 

"I'll bet," said Tina skeptically. "Still, he's got the bottle."

 

Lacey and Tina sat on the floor, Tina's legs crossing Lacey's. They held each other around the waist and put their faces cheek-to-to cheek.

 

"Good idea," I said, "but honestly not what I was thinking of."

 

"Do we believe him?" Tina asked.

 

"No, we don't," said Lacey. She tossed her hair back and put her face back against Tina's.

 

"Either way," I said, and sprayed their faces.

 

Lacey's eyes rolled back, and then she flopped onto her back. Tina dropped with her, but ended up on her stomach her arms still entwined around Lacey.

 

It actually was a really good idea.

 

Kim and Stephanie were lying next to each other in the center of the room. They were the last two ladies who hadn't been sprayed.

 

I sat down and pulled the two of them onto my lap, resting Kim's head against my left shoulder, Stephanie's against my right.

 

I touched Kim's forehead and said her name. As she started to come around, I sprayed her face. She dropped quickly off again, her head sliding off my shoulder until it rested on the ground. She was arched backward over my left leg.

 

I touched Stephanie's face, said her name as well, and then sprayed her.

 

Her head drooped forward against my chest, her body sagging forward.

 

I rolled the two ladies off me, and then got to my feet to examine my work.

 

After walking around a bit, I sat down in one of the chairs that the ladies had pushed against the wall for the night's entertainment. I had intended just to sit for a minute or two, but next I knew it was bright daylight in the room. The props were all gone, and the ladies were too.

 

Then, in walked Tina. She looked over at me, and I winked at her.

 

"Oh, my God!" she shouted. "Sisters! He's awake!"

 

And just then all the Sigma Sigma Gamma sorority women ran into the room, got to the center, and flopped down to the floor, piling onto each other as they went. Some (Tammy in particular) put the back of their hand to their forehead and fluttered their eyes just before they dropped down.

 

When they were one big pile, with Melanie on top, Lianne entered.

 

"The ladies look like they need mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, Tommy," she said. Then, as she stepped over to the pile, she said, "Me too," and fell onto them.

 

It made for a very enjoyable morning.

 

I'm not sure I can wait until next year.

Continue The Game (Acknowledgments)

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Please write me if you have any comments about this story.

Copyright 2007-2019 DPsleepy.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.