Sonja's Story Ch. 04

Sonja's Story Ch. 04

***

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The day was warm, with clear blue skies and only the lightest gust of wind whispering past Sonja's face. It was Saturday, almost ten minutes to three in the afternoon, and Sonja was walking from the bus stop to her hypnotherapy appointment with Dr. Dotz.

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Sonja had become accustomed to her new heels over the course of the last week, and now she enjoyed the satisfying way they struck the pavement as she walked. They were a pair of black kitten heels with an open toe, and from their ends could be seen most of Sonja's toes, each painted with royal blue nail polish.

Her fingernails were painted to match, and she had worn her brand new blue sundress to match. She had worn the dress out with coworkers the night before, but only for a couple hours before coming home and changing into something more comfortable and going to bed.

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Sonja looked down at her shoes and her painted toes, and wondered if the colors didn't clash a little bit. She wasn't really an expert, but she thought the outfit worked better when she had worn the wedge-heeled sandals the night before. Sonja had debated wearing them today, but the heel was taller and harder for her to walk in, especially for the ten-or-so minute hike from the bus stop to Dr. Dotz's office. Ultimately she decided on the kitten heels, secure in the knowledge that she had worn them for the whole week at work without any issues.

Besides, she was pretty sure she had spent most of last week laying on the couch without her shoes anyway, and once the heels were off it wouldn't matter. She'll see how good they look, Sonja thought, and the sound of her heels against the pavement invaded her thought process just enough to distract her from reflecting on that statement. Surely, if she had consciously realized it, she would have sworn she wasn't trying to impress anyone, anywhere.

But that wasn't quite true. Not anymore.

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***

Thomas was sitting at his receptionist's desk in the lobby when Sonja arrived just a few minutes before her appointment. He watched her through the transparent glass of the door as she paused to look at her reflection. With the bright light of the afternoon sun, the glare against the glass kept her from seeing inside, but showed her reflection in sharp detail.

He remembered that she had done the same thing the week before, but whereas last week she had seemed almost startled by her own reflection, today she seemed unbothered, even taking her time to adjust her hair and fix her dress.

Her dress! Thomas felt shocked. He wasn't sure if he was more surprised to see her in a dress or more surprised at how well she wore it. It was a modest piece that didn't show off any cleavage, but it cut off just below the knee, and Thomas thought that was more leg than he'd ever see on Sonja of all people.

And they aren't bad, he thought, as Sonja opened the door, triggering the small bell attached to the top of the doorjamb. As she turned to close the door behind her, Thomas shot a surreptitious glance first to her buttocks, then down the back of her legs to where her feet settled into black heels.

His jaw actually dropped as he leered at her ankles and the curve of her calves, but he quickly closed it again, and when Sonja turned back around to greet him, Thomas held her eye to eye.

"Welcome back, Sonja! That dress looks great!"

For her part, Sonja was not able to hold his gaze for long. Her face reddened at the happy greeting, and she cast her eyes downward shyly. She wasn't used to compliments like that, and one from Thomas had been especially unexpected.

"Thank you, it's brand new. I'll just, um... have a seat." She turned slowly to look at the row of stuffed, cozy-looking chairs in the lobby and took a few strides.

Thomas smiled kindly at her as she turned away, but she didn't see. He went back to watching her, gazing between her feet tucked into their black heels and the outline of her breasts against her dress. He thought it still left too much to the imagination, but it was way better to look at than that sweatshirt two weeks before.

Sonja stood there for a moment, clueless of the eyes roving over her, still looking at the row of chairs. Their colors had swapped again. The brown chair was back on the far right of the row where it had been originally, but now the blue chair she had waited in last week was gone.

Slowly, she took a step forward, her heel clicking softly against thin carpet. She wasn't sure why it mattered, but for some reason she felt like it did. Blue had felt good, but now it was gone. She could go back to brown, but...

Sonja squinted at it, and decided no, she would go with green this time. It felt like a good replacement for blue, but the brown... the brown just felt wrong now.

Thomas watched her wheels spin and then, when she finally made her decision and sat down, he looked down at the paper on his desk and wrote down a few quick observations to pass on to the doctor.

Dress. Heels. Makeup. Green ch.

Used the door glass like a mirror.

Sexy cute.

He folded the piece of paper and held it closed in his hand, then pushed back his chair and stood up.

"I'll go tell her your here, Sonja."

"Thanks, Thomas!"

He walked away down the hall, and Sonja blushed at her eager tone. She found him attractive, sure, but there was no need to come across as desperate.

Sonja shook her head, clearing her mind, and waited for Thomas to return for her.

***

He was back just a few moments later and took his seat behind his desk.

"All set, Sonja. She's ready for you."

Sonja stood quickly and walked toward the hallway. She kept her eyes down on the ground like she normally did, too shy to attempt eye contact with the handsome receptionist.

Or at least, she almost kept her eyes on the ground. Today she looked up at the last second to say 'Thank You,' but before she could speak she realized he was looking at her. Not at her eyes or face, or even her chest, but at her bare legs and at her feet.

She looked away quickly, back at the ground, trying her hardest to keep her face from going red, and continued walking down the hallway. She wasn't used to being looked at. She wasn't used to liking it.

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Thomas watched her go, unaware his gaze had been observed. He liked the way her dress swished against her backside, and in those heels he thought her calves looked good. Sonja turned the corner and he sighed, leaning back in his chair. He reached down and adjusted the crotch of his pants as he wondered what it would be like to witness the session today.

***

Sonja came to the doctor's office door, but before she could even knock, the door swung open wide and she was greeted warmly by her hypnotherapist, Dr. Victoria Dotz.

"Hey you!" said Dr. Dotz excitedly. She looked Sonja up and down, her mouth open in enthusiastic awe of Sonja's outfit. "Wow you look so good, look at that dress! I love it. Oh and those heels! They're perfect on you, Sonja!"

Sonja couldn't hide her blush, but the good doctor had the grace to turn and close the door and act like she didn't see. Then Dr. Dotz turned back to her client and her smile was as warm and wide as ever.

"So what brought this on? Just needed to shake things up a little?" she asked as she gestured towards their now-customary positions on the two stuffed couches that faced each other in the center of the room.

Sonja strode to hers and sat down, and Victoria followed, sitting down across from her.

"It's kind of strange actually... I don't really understand it, but it was like all my pants were suddenly too claustrophobic, and all my socks were too itchy." Sonja looked at the doctor and offered a puzzled shrug. "They all just... felt wrong."

The doctor raised an eyebrow, reaching for her notepad and pen. "That's interesting," she said, now looking down at her notepad as she scribbled a quick note.

Her eyes shot back up to Sonja's suddenly and held her in a sharp gaze, "What do you think that means, Sonja?"

Sonja was taken aback and swallowed, glancing up at the ceiling and then down at the floor, avoiding eye contact with the doctor while she tried to think of an answer.

"Look at me, Sonja." It was a command, and Sonja's eyes disobeyed her mind, too attracted by the doctor's magnetic authority to do Sonja's bidding.

"What do you think that means?" the doctor asked again evenly.

This time Sonja didn't look away. She felt like she couldn't. She felt like she was being pulled in by the doctor's deep brown gaze, like a black hole she couldn't escape.

"Because..." she spoke slowly, almost overwhelmed by the eye contact. "Because... we're making progress?" Sonja hoped it was the right answer, but she felt like her mind wasn't working quite right while the doctor held her gaze.

The doctor grinned happily, smiling wide and sweet. "That's exactly what I was thinking too! I was so hoping you'd say that. I think this is a great sign of progress!" She averted her gaze now, making a note in her notepad and releasing Sonja.

Sonja blinked, and now she felt like she'd been imagining her brain fog. She shook her head and blinked again, clearing her head, then smiled back at the doctor. "Oh gosh, I feel like we did that really fast. I felt like it would take a lot longer than that to finish the treatment." For a second she looked disappointed at the prospect, but she tried to hide it.

She couldn't fool Dr. Dotz though, who saw right through her. "Oh we still have quite a few sessions to go, honey. We have to reinforce everything and make sure it really sticks, or you could end up falling back on old habits. We have to make sure we break those habits!"

Sonja listened to the doctor and then nodded, feeling a smile come to her face unbidden. "Ok, cool... good." She had realized mid-conversation she wasn't ready for these sessions to end, and she couldn't deny the progress she had made with her social anxiety the last two weeks. Doesn't matter if I don't really remember the hypnosis, she thought, whatever we're doing, it's working.

Suddenly, the doctor stood up and looked down at Sonja. "Tea? My special blend." She turned away from her client and hurried over to a cart near her desk that held a tray with teacups, saucers, an electric carafe filled with hot water, and a wooden container the size of a small jewelry box. Dr. Dotz hoisted up the entire tray and brought it back, setting it on the table between them.

At first, Sonja had been too surprised by the doctor's sudden movement to answer. She had intended to politely decline, anxious she would hurt the doctor's feelings if she didn't like it, but Dr. Dotz had returned too quickly and was already pouring a second teacup full of water.

"Oh, um... sure, I guess, why not?"

Victoria smiled back at her as she turned the wooden box toward her and opened it.

"That's the spirit, Sonja."

Dr. Dotz reached into the box and pulled out two identical teabags attached to little strings, weighted at the end by a small keyring just large enough to slip a finger through. She set one in each teacup, draping the keyring over the side of the cup, and slid one closer to Sonja, who took it politely.

Sonja watched the doctor carefully, casually mimicking her movements as she dabbed the bag in the cup and then set it down again, letting the tea seep into the hot water.

"Should be mixed and ready in just a couple minutes," said Victoria, and Sonja nodded.

While they waited, the doctor asked Sonja more about her week. Sonja elected to skip over what she had done when she returned home from the last session, instead describing her trip to the mall and her reasoning for everything she had picked out. She said the week was uneventful, but when Sonja mentioned that she had gone out with her coworkers the night before, Victoria took special interest, writing down all of the details.

"Oh that's very good, Sonja. It sounds like you're approaching things at a slow and steady pace, but you're still pushing yourself forward on your journey, and that's good. It's important to keep pushing yourself. Oh- " Victoria raised her hand and pointed a slender finger at Sonja's teacup. "That should be ready. Drink up, I promise it's good!"

In a sign of good faith, Victoria moved her pointing hand down to her own teacup and picked it up, raising it to tap lightly against Sonja's as the younger woman mirrored her action, then took a small sip.

Sonja took an experimental sip, not sure what to expect. She could feel Victoria's eyes upon her, and she was afraid her face would give away her feelings if she didn't like it. Her anxiety began to rise, and then the liquid touched her lips and washed over her tongue.

Her expression did give her away, and Victoria laughed at how Sonja's face had lit up.

"See, I told you!"

Sonja licked her lips and took another sip. It was sweet, but not cloying. It felt rejuvenating, but not rich. Sonja was no tea expert, and to her it just tasted delicious.

"It tastes like strawberries! Wow... I think... I think I could drink this every day."

Sonja raised her teacup to her lips a third time, and this time took several gulps.

Victoria's eyes flashed and she smiled her sweet, sweet smile and took her second sip. It was a small sip, even smaller than her first, and then she set the teacup down on the table. She stood and moved to her desk, opened a drawer and pulled out a few devices.

Sonja watched her, slowly sipping her tea. She recognized the pocketwatch from her first session, and wondered if Victoria would use it again. The doctor also pulled out a remote control and clicked on a stereo system that filled the room with the soft sound of harp strings. It was clearly audible, but it wasn't loud, and she clearly heard the doctor when she told her to finish her tea and to go ahead and take her heels off.

Sonja complied immediately with the first command, draining the last quarter-ounce of tea still in her cup and setting it down on the table. She reached down to take off her heels, only to realize she had already done so without realizing moments earlier, and they were now tucked neatly under the table. Before she could marvel at that, she saw that the doctor had barely touched her tea.

"Are you... drinking that?" she asked, gesturing toward the teacup and looking up at Victoria, who was just now sitting back down on her couch.

Victoria flashed her sweet smile again and nodded. "Of course! But I have more time to drink mine than you, since you'll be under a trance here in about five minutes. And it helps soothe my throat while I'm talking you through the exercises."

Sonja nodded, oblivious to the fact that she was being lied to. She had been halfway considering asking the doctor if she could drink her tea if she wasn't going to finish it, but then decided not to, not if the doctor was still going to drink it... Besides, her throat was beginning to feel a little warm, probably from drinking that hot water so fast, she thought to herself. She could feel it in her stomach too.

She tried to ignore it, but the warmth in her stomach also made her feel a little giddy, and she smiled at the doctor mischievously.

"Five minutes, huh? You think you can do it that fast this time?"

Victoria looked at her evenly and took another tiny sip from her teacup.

Sonja looked at her for a moment and then blushed - partly because she realized Dr. Dotz probably already had done it to her that quickly, and partly because the feeling of warmth inside of her had begun to rise and crept up her chest, her neck, and into her face where it now settled in her cheeks. Her blue-painted toenails disappeared as she curled her toes nervously into the plush rug underneath her feet.

Victoria merely smiled her sweet smile and traded her teacup for the pocketwatch.

"Are you ready?"

***

Sonja had not just been ready, she had been eager.

The tea helped with that somewhat, Dr. Dotz thought to herself. It was her own blend, alright, and far from the only type of concoction she was capable of putting together. This one was a particular favorite of hers. It combined four very important ingredients that made it useful to her. First, a healthy dose of ginkgo, which not many knew to be an herbal aphrodisiac. The second ingredient was ketamine, in trace amounts so small they could not outright incapacitate a person - as unethical as she was, Victoria's goal was to make her clients more suggestable during a trance, not knock them completely unconscious. The third important ingredient was the shavings of dried, sugared strawberries that gave the tea its delicious flavor. The fourth was powdered chili peppers, added in such a way to have a delayed release so that the drinker wouldn't feel it for several moments. All combined, Dr. Dotz found it to be a potent tool in many of her dealings.

The doctor had clicked open her pocketwatch to reveal the hypnotic swirl and bade Sonja look into it. The younger woman complied, uncurling her toes and gazing intently into the hypnotic pattern. Victoria loved how seriously Sonja took it, how eager she was to be put under the trance, to let the doctor in and mold her mind however she saw fit.

"Breathe in, Sonja... and breathe out... Good, now again."

Sonja obeyed, and she could feel her muscles relax as she breathed.

"Very good, now just a couple more... In through the nose, good, very good. Hold it, and now out through the mouth, blow it all out. Very good, now in again... and out... Excellent job."

Sonja marveled at how a few simple breaths could help her feel so relaxed, and wondered if it wasn't the doctor's coaching more than the breathing itself. She didn't have much longer to think about it though, as Dr. Dotz began speaking again.

"Now listen to the sound of my voice, Sonja, as you begin to feel heavier and heavier. It starts at the top of your head and you feel the weight on your scalp, creeping down your forehead and down your face, you feel the weight on your ears and your neck, and now you feel it on your shoulders. Keep staring in the spiral, Sonja, and listen to the sound of my voice as you feel the weight now descend down your arms, from your shoulders to your elbows, and from your elbows to your wrists, and from your wrists down to the tip of each finger. You feel the weight coming down from your shoulders and your neck and go down your back, crawling along your spine. You feel how heavy it is going down your chest, and even your breasts feel heavy and you feel the weight move down around them and between them to your abdomen, and now you feel it on your hips..."

Victoria continued onward, coaching Sonja's meditation down to the tip of her toes. She watched Sonja carefully while she spoke, noting how the other woman relaxed the muscles in each part of her body as Victoria mentioned them. She really is a good girl, the doctor thought to herself. I can't wait to break her.

"Now listen to the sound of my voice, Sonja, as I give you your next instruction. I am going to click my pen, Sonja, and when I do, you will begin falling into a deep dark pit, but you know you will be perfectly safe there. And every time I click my pen, you are going to fall further and further, deeper and deeper into the pit, where you will be safe and hidden and no one can find you."