Much Mightier Than the Sword Ch. 02

"Oh, really?" Eli asked as he marched to the fridge and opened it. "Want something to drink?"

"Sure," Bobby said as he took a seat at one of the stools sitting by the tiled island in the middle of the kitchen. "Whatever you got." Eli pulled out two canned sodas and handed one to him. "What are you doing?"

Eli popped the top on the can and took a long swig. "Just hangin' out, watching TV." Sure enough, the TV was blaring from the living room. Bobby never understood why he watched it with the volume so high. "John's supposed to be coming over soon, I think. Apparently, Lisa went out of town this weekend, so he doesn't have shit to do." Bobby nodded, taking a drink from his own can. "What's going on with you?" Eli asked with an elevated level of interest. Bobby looked into his drink for a moment as if searching for something inside, and then looked up at his friend with a broad smile.

"You're not going to believe me, but I have found something…incredible," he started, immediately capturing the interest of Eli, who grabbed his own stool on the other side of the island.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I've found something that's going to change my life, or, hell, our lives, forever." Eli was searching his eyes for any kind of hint that Bobby was bullshitting him. He saw none. He had never seen his life-long friend like this before.

"Well…what is it? Spill the beans, motherfucker," he chided.

Bobby set down the drink and reached into his pockets for something. He pulled out the canister of ink and the pen, and laid them on the counter before Eli's eyes. He looked at them for a long moment, then looked back up at Bobby.

"A fountain pen and some ink?"

Bobby only nodded, wide eyed. Eli's eyes drooped and the well-known look of skepticism swept across his face. "And what, pray tell, is so special about it?"

Bobby leaned over the counter, and in a hushed tone, said, "It can control people's minds." Eli said nothing for a long moment and took another big gulp of his soda.

"Sure it can, buddy," Eli retorted finally. "How many box tops did you need for that one?"

"I'm not kidding. I'm dead serious. I've tried it. It works."

"You tried it? On who?" he asked, still disbelieving.

"On Alexis. I used it to stop her from being such a bitch. It worked. She's practically my fucking sex slave now!" Eli looked at the ink canister and pen again.

"Are you serious?"

"Yes!"

"Well, then, how does it work?" Bobby felt he was only humoring him, now.

"You just a write a message with it, addressed to a specific person. If that person reads it, they obey whatever the message is…"

Eli sighed heavily. "Bob, you've gotta be shittin' me."

"Look, I can prove it to you," Bobby said, exasperated.

"Oh yeah? You gonna control my mind?"

"No, not yours," said Bobby and stood up from the stool. "Where's some paper at?"

"In the living room, on the coffee table, I think." Eli stood up as well, interested in this little demonstration. Bobby disappeared into the other room for a minute before returning with a sheet of paper in his hand. He sat back down at the counter and took the lid off of the ink canister.

"You said John was coming over soon, right?" he asked, dipping the pen in the ink for the first time that day. That exhilarating surge of power coursed through him again.

"Yeah…should be here any time." Bobby nodded and put the pen to the paper, beginning to write a message. It took him only a minute to transcribe it and when he finished, he slid the piece of paper over to Eli so that he may read it. "We'll give that to John to read after he gets here, then you'll see." Eli read the note.

John,

Whenever you hear the word "fungus" you will laugh hysterically for two minutes straight. It will be the funniest thing in the world to you until that two minutes is up.

"Okaaay," Eli said. "But how do I know John isn't in on it?"

"You don't, but we'll time it just to be sure. I'm not sure someone can fake-laugh hysterically for two minutes exactly."

"Alright…" His remaining skepticism was quite obvious.

Only fifteen minutes had passed before a knock came to Eli's front door. It was John. He was a shorter, blond guy with a keen sense of humor and a quick wit. He was definitely the goofiest of the three, and could always manage to make someone laugh if need be. That's why Eli was worried that this little test wouldn't be much of a stretch for him, if he was indeed in on it. Bobby and Eli were discussing what had happened to him and Alexis in more detail before John arrived. That discussion ceased abruptly after they let John in and he produced a stuffed bag of ganja he had just acquired.

Twenty minutes later, the three friends were sitting on Eli's back porch, baked out of their minds. John put out the roach in a nearby ashtray, his eyes sufficiently red and glossy from the marijuana. "That was some good shit," he remarked, falling back in his chair. Eli and Bobby looked at each other, a silent conversation transpiring between them with only their eyes. It was Bobby who spoke up first.

"Hey John, I've got something I want you to read."

John didn't bother to look over at his friend. His eyes were drawn to the neighborhood activities that were happening in the distance, beyond the large backyard they were overlooking. Some neighbors a few houses back were apparently moving. "Oh yeah? Well give it to me. Reading is fundamental."

"I completely agree," Bobby replied, as he pulled a folded piece of paper out of his pocket. He leaned over and handed it to John. Now somewhat curious, he unfolded the message and read it, his bloodshot eyes darting over the words laid out before him. Bobby immediately recognized the trance-like expression that filled his face, but to anyone uninitiated, it could very easily be mistaken for stoned lethargy.

"What the fuck?" he quickly said upon finishing it. He crumpled the paper into a ball and threw it at Bobby. "What the hell is that about?" Bobby caught the balled-up paper and threw it back at him. He then turned to Eli, who had remained silent for a long time.

"Say it," he told Eli. Eli looked back at him, hesitant.

"Say what?" John cut in. "Fungus?" He immediately started to chuckle, but it quickly evolved into full-blown, uncontrollable laughter. Eli just watched the display, too stoned to say anything. Bobby thought to time the event and quickly looked at his watch. John doubled over in a fit of laughter, falling out of his chair and landing on the hard porch. He clutched his ribs as he rolled around, barely able to breathe. It was two minutes, to the second, when the laughter stopped. It didn't fade away; it ended abruptly, as if someone had slammed the door on the laugh room. John looked very concerned and confused as he pulled himself up from the porch, stilly trying to catch his breath. He fell back into his chair and regarded his friends with worried eyes. "What the hell was that?"

Eli looked at Bobby and Bobby looked right back at Eli, grinning triumphantly. "Two minutes exactly," Bobby quipped, tapping the face of his watch with his finger. But Eli was still skeptical.

"He's just playing into it, or he's in on it with you. Plus, he's high as hell. Laughter isn't exactly hard to come by when you're baked out of your skull," he reasoned. John shook his head emphatically.

"No, dude. I wasn't playing into shit. It just came over me. I couldn't help myself. No bullshit. What the fuck did you to me?" John asked Bobby. It was then that Bobby laid everything out for his other friend, explaining the pen, the ink and all of its applications. But no matter how much they tried to persuade Eli that it was all true, he wouldn't believe it. He couldn't. After a few minutes of silence between the three, Bobby noticed the next door neighbor through her kitchen window. She was moving around in the kitchen, doing something.

"Okay, then. I guess I'll just have to prove it to you in a different way. We'll use the pen on Janice," Bobby offered, nodding his head in the direction of the next door neighbor.

"His neighbor?" John asked, more interested than ever. "Yes! She's so hot. I would tear that ass up." Bobby smiled at Eli, but Eli was only worried.

It was mid-afternoon when Bobby finished writing the note. The three guys were back inside Eli's living room, gathered around the coffee table as he finished the lengthy message. John immediately reached over and snatched the piece of paper out from under Bobby's hands. He held it up and read it aloud for the benefit of Eli.

"Janice," he began, in his best dramatic reading voice possible. "From this day forward, you will drop your current sense of morality and adopt the mentality and sensibilities of a foul-mouthed slut. Every principle of etiquette you have been brought up on will be forgotten. You are now fully uninhibited and will automatically act on your base desires, which include sex in any form, with either gender, and dressing as slutty as possible at all times. You are a sex-crazed nymphomaniac without much need for anything else in your life. You will feel instantly submissive to any man and will have the overwhelming desire to please them at any cost, especially your neighbor Eli and his two friends John and Bobby. Cum is your favorite food, and sucking cock your favorite hobby." He finished reading and looked up at Bobby. "This is good stuff."

"I don't know about this," Eli said. "What if it doesn't work? She's a goody-goody, holy-roller. She'll probably call the cops on us or somethin'." Bobby placed his hand on Eli's shoulder and looked him square in the eyes.

"Trust me."

"Alright, I guess. But I forgot to mention that she's not alone over there."

"What are you talking about? You said her husband was gone on some business trip," John asked, setting the paper back down on the table.

"He is," Eli replied. "It's her niece. She's been staying over there for a while now."

"Niece?" Bobby echoed, his eyebrow rising curiously. Eli told them about Sky, the young, bleach-blonde nineteen year-old that was living with thirty-one year-old Janice next door. According to him, she was stunning, with a gorgeous face and a tight, tanned body. He mentioned she had tits a bit on the smaller side, but still looked to be around a B-cup. Bobby thought this improved the whole situation and decided to write a second note identical to the first one, only addressed to Sky. He got Eli to write it, however, explaining that he had limited himself to writing two notes a day as a precaution. Eli quickly copied the note on a different sheet of paper and they placed the messages in two separate envelopes, writing the women's names on them.

Led by Bobby, the three ventured next door and ascended the steps of the front porch. John and Eli were very nervous. Eli was especially paranoid, having seen no truly inspiring evidence that Bobby's magic pen did what he claimed it did. But he had never known Bobby to do anything particularly foolish, so he trusted that he knew what he was doing. Bobby stepped aside and gestured toward the front door. "Go for it," he said, and waited. Eli stepped up to the door, glanced at Bobby with a look that said "if anything goes wrong, you're dead," and rang the doorbell. Moments later, the door opened to reveal Janice standing on the other side. John wasn't kidding; she was smoking hot. She stood just under six feet tall, with a fair complexion and shoulder-length blonde hair. Although she was wearing a conservative outfit consisting of slacks and a sweater, her ample chest still managed to impress, and her face was simply beautiful. She smiled gorgeously when she recognized who was at her door.

"Eli! Hello!" she greeted and then looked at John and Eli standing in the background. Her smile dimmed a bit, but still remained.

"Hey, Janice," Eli said, not doing a very good job of concealing his bad nerves. "Listen, I found these letters on my porch earlier." He held up the two envelopes for her to see. "I don't know where they came from, but they have yours and Sky's names on them." Her brow crinkled curiously as she pulled the envelopes out of his hand.

"Hmm. That's weird. Thanks, Eli. Is that all?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess that's all," he stuttered, glancing over at Bobby.

"Okay," she smiled beautifully once more. "You boys have a nice day." She started to close the door. Bobby took the initiative and jumped in front of Eli.

"Uh, hi. My name's Bobby," he said and extended his open hand to her. She smiled at him and shook his hand.

"Hi, Bobby."

"And this guy over here is our friend, John," he continued, making sure all their names were known. John just waved from his position behind them.

"What's up?" he said with a giant grin.

"We were just wondering if you might have something to drink, right Eli?" Bobby prodded, and turned to slap Eli on his shoulder. His response was a knee-jerk reaction.

"Um, yeah! We are all very thirsty and there's just nothing to drink at my house, so…," Eli improvised. Janice looked between the three of them with a bit of suspicion, but her charming smile still remained.

"Yeah, sure. How about some lemonade?" she offered.

"Perfect," Bobby responded, smiling big. They all followed her inside the house.

Once they were in the kitchen, Janice poured them all some lemonade. They all sipped their beverages and told her what fantastic lemonade it was. She told them it was store-bought and an awkward silence immediately followed as they drank. Janice was rubbing her hands together, as if she were nervous about something. She quickly spoke just as they were finishing.

"I'm sorry, guys. I don't mean to be rude, but I have a meeting with my church group very soon. I'm the head of the charities committee and I don't want to keep them waiting." Eli nodded and started to say something, but Bobby swiftly interjected.

"So you aren't gonna read the letter?" he suddenly asked. If Eli could have shot lasers from his eyes at Bobby, he would have at that very moment. Just before Janice could respond, another feminine voice rose from behind them.

"What letter?"

The guys spun around to look at Janice's niece, who had just descended the stairs and stood in the entranceway to the kitchen. Sky was indeed a fox. But, like Janice, she was dressed most conservatively, wearing only jeans and a t-shirt. But both of those articles were tight against her firm, curvaceous body. Her layered, platinum blonde tresses framed her gorgeous face, until she pulled back one side behind her ear. She raised one perfect eyebrow and pursed her small, pink lipstick-coated lips as she posed her question. The boys were speechless.

"These," Janice replied when no once else did, holding up the two envelopes. "Guys, this is my niece Sky. Sky, this is my neighbor Eli and his friends John and Bobby."

"Hi," she greeted, stepping toward the fridge to get something for her to drink. The guys all mumbled their own "hey's" and "hi's", obviously distracted.

"What are they?" she asked Janice after pulling a bottle of Gatorade from the fridge.

"I don't know. Eli said he found them on his porch. There's one addressed to me, and one to you," she said, holding out Sky's envelope in her direction. Sky nearly spit out her sport drink.

"To me?" she said, after wiping her mouth clean. She set the drink down and took the envelope from Janice.

"I have to admit, I'm pretty curious what those are about," John suddenly spoke up. The women looked over at him for a moment, and then turned their attentions back to the envelopes. Bobby and Eli shot John a look. With a quizzical look on her beautiful face, Sky quickly tore open the envelope and unfolded the paper. Janice was doing the same, but more slowly. All three of the guys froze with fear and anticipation as the women started to read the letters. Not a word was spoken in the kitchen while the afternoon sunlight poured in through the draped windows. The eyes of the women were transfixed on the pages, their eyes darting back and forth as they read the entire message without so much as a glance up or an expression of outrage. It was evident when they finished reading, because their entire demeanors changed instantly. Subtleties like their facial expressions and postures denoted that they were not the same people any longer. They both took on a sultrier, sexy façade and this was made abundantly clear when they looked up from the letters to gaze at the men across the room. Sky smirked, brushing her hair back behind her ear once again. The guys were still stone statues, eyes wide, drinks clenched in their hands. Bobby shouldn't have been so apprehensive, but these were the first women he had tried the pen and ink on after his "trial" runs with Alexis. There was still enough room for reasonable doubt to put even him on the edge. But he quickly relaxed as he saw their metamorphosis take place right before his eyes.

"That is really strange," Janice said, laying the sheet of paper on the counter. Her voice had changed as well. It was slightly throatier, more sensual. "I mean, who would write me a letter telling me what type of woman I am? I'm well aware of what kind of woman I am." She moved closer to the three guys, and leaned against the counter, right in front of them.

"I know, right? Mine said the same thing. It told me things I already know," Sky said, her voice also transformed into a sexier facsimile. She also moved closer to the group. Bobby looked at Eli and John, who were both in shock. He could only smile.

***

Alexis had been at the mall for over an hour now, having absolutely no luck. She had walked from one end to the other and entered just about every store possible, all the while trying to catch the eye of every cute girl she encountered. She was using all of her renowned flirtatious maneuvers that had always worked with guys in the past, but they weren't proving very successful with women. But she wasn't going to give up so easily, since she hadn't really made eye-contact with anyone yet anyway. Her greatest prospect had been a cute sales girl inside the Victoria's Secret store. She had flirted heavily with the girl, even eliciting a smile from her at one point, but when Alexis had asked her if she wanted to come with her inside the dressing room to let her know what she thought of a certain bra, the girl freaked out and hurried away. She was quickly learning that scoring pussy was a lot trickier than getting guys. She was actually starting to see why guys get so frustrated.

She was walking past the food court for the fourth time when she tried to pull her phone out of her purse and fumbled it. The phone tumbled out of her hand and hit the tile floor. Luckily, it didn't shatter into pieces. She knelt down to pick it up, and secretly hoped that some hot girl was checking out her highly exposed sheer underwear beneath the barely-there skirt. She remained in that position as she checked to see if her phone was still operational. She glanced up and noticed a smoking hot redhead sitting at one of the food court tables nearby. The girl was undeniably staring right at Alexis's exposed black thongs, entranced. Her eyes slowly lifted to meet Alexis'. Bobby's slave smiled that irresistible smile and stood up. The redhead smiled back as she popped a bite-size amount of food into her mouth and chewed it slowly, never taking her eyes away. Alexis put her phone away and approached the table. Judging from her torso up, this woman was incredibly hot. Her hair was long and she was freckled slightly, but wasn't very pale like most redheads. That was probably due to tanning bed sessions, but it looked very natural. Her tits were easily a D-cup, Alexis noted, since they were straining against and practically overflowing from the top of the low-cut blouse.