Correspondence

Before he left the living room, he saw his wedding portrait in the living room, covered by one of his neckties. He winced at the thought, wondering if it was significant that he was covered up by the tie. Before grabbing it to take it back upstairs so Patty couldn't chew him out about it, Dave saw another necktie hanging off the railing leading upstairs. It was green, a Christmas present from Patty, and one he remembered properly putting up two days ago after wearing it. The confusion of why it was out was only matched by now his ties never absentmindedly never ended up on the railing before.

It suddenly hit Dave that Patty had placed them there, slipping by him when he was on the phone, giving him a breadcrumb trail to follow. Looking around as he climbed the stairs, the next crumb was tied to their bedroom door, his black silk tie. He entered to see Patty sitting on the futon, reading, looking up at him and smiling. He smiled back, thinking she was playing innocent for a moment, but noticed the folding closet door had another tie, and the door was ajar. One of Patty's big pet peeves in their house was an ajar door that didn't have to be. He made sure to accede to her wishes early in the marriage, and he never saw her do it until today. Turning the light on, he checked the already-open safe behind his clothes, to see if everything was still there. Nothing seemed to be missing, so he breathed easy, though much easier than he expected.

"Patty?" he called to his wife. Dave didn't even look in her direction until she was right behind him.

"Yes?"

"Did you leave some of my ties downstairs?"

"Yes. I think it was something Cecelia asked me to try."

"Cecelia?"

"Yeah, a 'trust exercise' she put in an email I read earlier. Something like 'what could you entrust me with, besides your mind?'"

"She sent you an e-wait. She's hypnotizing you?"

"Hypnotizing you 'too,' I think you mean. When were you going to tell me about your little interest, dearest?"

"I...honestly I didn't know how to bring it up with you. Wasn't sure how you'd react. I ended up being a lot more fascinated with it than I expected."

"You're not alone; it's quite the experience. And Cecelia is quite the mesmerist."

Dave couldn't argue with that. He wondered how well she took to hypnosis, or even when Cecelia had begun trancing Patty. "Maybe when they met and shopped together," he figured.

"What was the email about? Some kind of story?"

"Actually, yes. I didn't understand it all, but I found myself compelled to make a trail in the house like she described."

"All the way to the valuables..." he concluded.

"I guess so," she agreed.

Dave felt on some level that the suggestion they were given felt like a very improper invasion of privacy, even a violation. And yet, there was no anger to be had; he couldn't even muster enough of the emotion against Cecelia, because he did trust her, on a very deep level, stronger than the trust a family friend would gain after many years. It really wasn't so different from freely entrusting her with his mind, a part of him reasoned. The pleasant smile across Patty's face told him she was having similar thoughts.

"I'm guessing you got the same email," Patty assumed.

"How did you know?"

"Because you left the door to the valuables opened, and didn't touch the ties leading here, did you?."

Dave looked at her, ready to counter her suggestion, but stared away into space as he realized she was right. He chuckled a little bit at the thought, and so did she. No alarms went off in their heads; worrying didn't cloud their clear heads. To them, following Cecelia's instructions amounted to taking part in a fun exercise. It helped that taking from them was no great heist, as they were still building up their savings into something a thief would consider substantial. In both their minds though, there was a little thrill of giving someone access to that. 'A little more power for Cecelia,' both of them individually thought.

Just for the sake of testing the bounds of the exercise, Dave moved close to the safe, to push it closed. Patty watched him take slow steps toward it, interested to see if he would be able to do what had never occurred to her. As he moved closer, more parts of the badly coded message popped up in his head. There was something about "can" and "resist" there, but his subconscious knew the true meaning was "can't." He shook his head in amazement as he stopped a foot away from the safe, the dwindling defiance in his head settling to where the rest of him was - he couldn't resist Cecelia's suggestions, and found no good reason to.

"I wonder which one of us would let her in, or leave a house door open. Was that in the email?"

Dave thought to himself if he missed an instruction, as he thought of the most obvious barrier. Then something...clicked in his mind. Patty saw a flicker of realization come over him. She began to worry as he put the pieces together, hoping the puzzle didn't turn into something ugly.

"I..." Dave began, "I went to get a key for the house made. I thought it was for you, but I forgot to give it to you. I think...I mailed it off to Cecelia." It became very easy to imagine how he got all the bills paid, and absently put a key wrapped in folded blank paper, and sent it to her in a mailbox on the way to work. It wasn't even farfetched to imagine the paper wasn't blank, and gave her something else she might've asked for, like the code to the alarm system.

The wheels began to turn in both their heads.

"Feels pretty exciting, doesn't it?" Patty asked her husband.

"I'm about as excited as you look joyous," Dave replied in turn.

Their words set them off and Patty leapt into Dave's arms, deeply French-kissing him. Previous thoughts suddenly gone from his mind, he carried them both to the bed where they quickly disrobed and gave in to their sudden familiar surge of arousal based on one subconscious fact - they obeyed Cecelia.

**********March 13th**********

Dave pulled up to the parking lot of his alma mater, trying to keep high spirits. It was a two-hour drive from home, and he would've much preferred to spend that time in his wife's company for the night, but he did make himself attend at least one alumni meeting every few months. Patty seem half receptive to the idea of coming along, and Dave admitted she'd only be there to keep him from being bored to tears. What neither said was the lewd acts they could get away with somewhere on campus. If she had been free that night, she might've taken him up on his offer.

"Another time," they unspokenly reasoned.

Walking through the interior to the meeting hall, he already got the sense that attendance was light, so he hoped that would mean a short meeting, and politely turning down getting drinks afterwards.

They'd chosen a small hall to meet in, and he saw a few people seated near the front with someone speaking at the podium. The door creaked unceremoniously, and all heads turned back to him. Dave looked around in confusion as he didn't recognize a single face.

"I'm...sorry. Wrong roo-"

"Where are you supposed to be?" the podium speaker asked him.

"Sheldon-Yearnly College," Dave said unbidden. Everyone noticed his triple-take as he realized he never attended such that college.

"You're in the right place. Please come in." the voice praised him. He put it together that he did recognize at least one of the occupants. He focused more on the speaker to clearly see Cecelia for the first time, ushering him to enter with an outstretched hand. The sound of her suggestion was a stronger gesture that got him to approach. There were only five other people present, and one of them offered the seat next to her in the front row.

"Glad you could make it sweetie," Patty greeted him with a smile. His eyes remained wide in surprise, but still did as he was bid.

"So," Cecelia regarded her audience. "Now that everyone is here, I'd like to welcome you all to our latest alumni meeting. And I think we should give a warm welcome to our newest additions, Patty and Dave Larkin."

Small, yet enthusiastic applause was given to the couple. Patty rose from her chair to give thanks for both of them, as her husband still looked bewildered.

"As you've arrived a little later than expected Dave, I hope you don't mind, but we've already gotten started with Patty giving us an self-introduction. Now I'd like you to give yours."

Confusion was still plastered all over his face as he took his place at the podium while Cecelia rested in a comfortable seat close by. The hypnotist took up most of her newest subs attention as he stood. She was about Patty's figure, short layered hair, an expression that made the few wrinkles on her face even more attractive somehow. She wore a dark grey pantsuit and white shoes to match the blouse, arms and crossed legs draping off the cushioned chair, one hand under her chin. Her posture exuded nothing but confidence and casual sensuality; he could feel it just by being near her; feeling her eyes and mind inspect the breadth of him, appraising her work. Dave literally didn't know where to start, so Cecelia broke the silence again.

"I imagine your mind is primarily filled with questions at this point, yes?"

He nodded in affirmation.

"I imagine piecing together Patty's introduction isn't so hard."

"You...met her last Saturday, and you've been trancing her ever since."

"Truthfully," Cecelia smiled, "It's been a little longer than that, but your wife is a remarkable subject, one of the best I've ever had the pleasure, or joy, of introducing to hypnosis."

Out of the corner of his eye, Dave saw Patty close her eyes and succumb to the effect of the word.

"You're no slouch either when it comes being subjected to inductions. Your whole interest in recreation hypnosis started around the time we really met. Though not as responsive, there was genuine interest in what you felt, enough to lead you this far. It was always tempting for me to assert myself with you further, but I still took you both slowly, incrementally. Gradual reaps more benefits in my experience; the slow path is often the savored path."

Dave looked down at his subduer the way he imagined he'd look at a unicorn. A normal yet intriguing creature, possessing one or a few attributes that makes him question whether Cecelia was real or the stuff of legends. All of his acquired knowledge and life lessons told him it was up to him to do as he wished, to move unrestricted and leave with Patty in-hand and cut off contact with the bewitching Dr. Mathis forever, to prove her hold inadequate. But he was surely being schooled in the one discipline that changed his world, watching it be reshaped and sculpted from the outside in.

"As much as I like self-introductions, interview-style is a fine way to get to know someone. Did you have any expectations at the beginning of our correspondence over hypnosis?"

"N...no. I was just curious about it, and looking forward to learning."

"And you've enjoyed your education thus far?"

"I never expect I would like this. I never expected any of this."

"Enlightenment isn't always expected, Dave."

A low moan sounded in the auditorium, not loud enough to echo, but still keeping everyone's attention.

"I'm sorry Shelley, slipped my mind that that is your word. But it is nice to feel enlightened, isn't it?"

"Yes, Cecelia," the brunette with a long ponytail responded through another moan.

The hypnotist smiled in her direction before looking back at Dave, seeing a hint of worry to go with his confusion.

"Yes, Dave?"

"Not Mistress Cecelia?"

"I have friends who are similarly into recreational mind control and domination. You'd be using 'Mistress' with them if you'd met them. Whether or not there are commonly established guidelines for a dominant like me, I favor my own path, my own set of rules to follow and imbue into those of my choosing. Whips and chains aren't my style, but words and states of mind are. Very much so. My subs don't need to be naked, but I do require your minds bare and open to me. The 'mistress' title is a nice gesture, but doesn't hold a candle to empowering one's own name in the minds of those who serve you. Can you think of a name with more power behind it than mine in your everyday life?"

Patty, the names of his friends and parents, even fictional characters he loved, all of them paled in comparison to Cecelia. There was something palpable in even mentioning her name in his head, swimming in waves of submissive pleasure reminding him who held dominion there.

"No," he answered plainly. Cecelia took even more satisfaction in how he really did give it some though.

"Just hearing my name in your head feels like a mental caress, doesn't it?"

"Yes, Cecelia." His low whisper, caused by saying her name, was only audible to her, which pleased her even more.

"How long have we been in contact, Dave?"

"I can't remember before the 5th, but it's been up to the 10th or 11th."

"Are you sure?"

"Pretty sure."

"You might be surprised how fragile that surety is. We've had a lot of correspondence yesterday as well, and I asked any trace of it to slip from your awareness until I mentioned it, and so it did slip away, didn't it?"

Dave didn't answer, but instead pulled out his phone to check his email account. He checked it everyday, yet couldn't understand how six messages from Cecelia went unnoticed or ignored earlier in the day, until that moment.

"That's not the only thing that could slip if I willed it. Your name would slip away if I asked your mind to lose track of it, wouldn't it?"

"No, it's..."

His voice and brain stalled to find an answer that wasn't coming.

"The compulsion to check your phone or wallet for said information also slips away, in case you thought otherwise," Cecelia preempted Dave reaching for either lifeline to his identity. Patty knew his name, but a glance in her direction told him she was purely content to watch the show and not interfere with the trick being played. He stood for several minutes, trying to fight her suggestion and remember, no closer than when he started.

"Ok, you gave a good effort, and I think you enjoy a little reward for trying so hard. Do me a favor and check your CM folder, Dave."

He did as she asked, happy to have his name back, but filled with more surprised to see a string of emails from an account he knew Cecelia owned, all in a folder he never remembered creating until now. Checked a few to find each message no longer than one or two sentences, all phrased as commands, supplementary subliminals that went further back than a week, commands that filled in several gaps in his behavior.

"You're so passionate about recreational hypnosis, inexplicably, and Cecelia Mathis is your authority."

"So easy to envision yourself in all I describe, so easy to fall deeper with every word."

"You can always re-read my emails, solidifying my control more and more."

"The more you interact with me, the more active your libido becomes. A stronger concupiscence fuels your desire to assimilate my words deeper into your psyche."

"You want to better yourself under my control. A better educator, better husband, better hypnotic subject. A better man, under women."

"Your front door will be accessible, unlocked and alarm inactive, on Sunday morning. You'll be consciously unaware of it."

"Communication between us on the 12th remains in your subconscious and only there, only felt and obeyed."

At some point, these messages always arrived in spam, but were read, absorbed, moved to the CM folder, and their existence consciously ignored as they helped to supplement the effects of her normal emails.

"Cecelia giveth, and Cecelia taketh away, Dave. Not to self-proclaim being a Goddess, but I like having a touch of divinity to me. Mine is the kind where worshipping and adoring comes easily, where what's taketh away is unimportant, easily forgotten, and nonexistent because I say so. What I giveth becomes your world."

At some point, her legs uncrossed and spread to make a wide-enough gap. A hand reached down between that gap to caress the suit material covering her sex. Her index finger traced the entrance; Dave and everyone else present followed it, grateful for the gift of fixation and inspired arousal.

"Does this excite you, Dave?"

He panted a yes to her, struck by his trigger.

"As exciting as the first time you got a taste of me? Just thinking about it makes you even more excitable, I'm sure."

The straining within his pants and the stirring within his brain kept him from latching on to a single thought that had nothing to do with Cecelia. Sunday morning flashed into his mind again, but from a third-person perspective where Cecelia was clearly above him enjoying his tongue while Patty laid naked across the bed, stroked and fingered to ecstasy.

"Such a strong eros you have, you and Patty. I find that to be the perfect gift, the most natural consequence of giving in. You two have done literally everything I've asked of you, and now you're back to copulating like newly-weds, unless you've reached a new plateau of love-making, which makes me even more happy. You, all of you, have given me access to your minds, your houses, your lives, and have been bestowed my blessings."

Cecelia moaned as her fingers inadvertently pressed deeper into herself as she narrated what they already knew, gently riding the power trip her alumni meetings gave her.

"I never thought this would still be so hot at my age."

She whispered that to herself, but Dave still caught on to it, and the curiosity was still visible on his face when Cecelia glanced in his direction.

"58, dear," she admitted openly. "And I don't think anyone is more surprised than me. I guess you're never too old to lust for power, nor are you ever too old to enjoy the lust power affords."

"I can't think of a better power than hypnosis. So enlightening, so scintillating and immersive. A sparkling, joyous excitement you can't find anywhere else."

Six sets of moans, one after the other, filled the room amongst their hypnotist's contented purring.

Cecelia eventually ended Dave's introduction, letting everyone mingle and talk save for the rotation of mind-controlled individuals called to please faithfully in whatever way she saw fit. Dave had ceased questioning things and settled into accepting his part in her collective, finally. Watching him laugh amongst the older members while she stroked Patty's hair, eager lips graced her vaginal lips, the hypnotist smiled heartily, recalling the first time she met her new inductees.

**********December 31st, 2013**********

Dr. Larkin had felt himself fading during a discussion with Dr. Mathis, and for the life of him couldn't figure out why. A new year's eve gathering, Dr. Mathis asked to give a hypnosis demonstration, the result of that demonstration leaving Patty with her eyes closed, left arm levitated, and whispering a mantra about how much she liked hypnosis; he should've been much more animated than he felt, and yet simply conversing with the fascinating university professor effected him like Patty had been affected.

Both Dr. Larkin and his wife had certainly been animated earlier, quietly arguing over something earlier in the party. They thought they'd been careful enough, but he got the feeling someone might've overheard, possibly Dr. Mathis.

She talked about the relationship she had with her late husband, how loving it was, how they were able to keep the marriage going for so long (something Dr. Larkin was very interested in), and how receptive Patty, and to a degree Dave, seemed to be with hypnosis.

He politely listened to everything she said, but lost track of when he started sincerely agreeing with the words. He was most conscious when Dr. Mathis pointedly reminded him that a good husband never misses the chance to kiss his wife to usher in the new year. Her statement was clear, and he fully agreed. A minute before the countdown into 2014 started, Dr. Mathis handed him her card.