The Rabbit Hole Ch. 01

Chapter 1: To All the Skeptics

Penny

"For my next trick," said Penny to the quiet theatre, "I need a volunteer." Most of the crowd groaned and tried to divert their eyes from the hypnotist. Two or three people eagerly pumped and waved their hands, desperate for Penny's attention. "Not just any volunteer," clarified Penny once they settled down. "I need a skeptic."

The crowd looked uncomfortably around the room. The volunteers put their hands down. Volunteers were believers. Skeptics were the groaners. They didn't want to participate in something they didn't believe in. They wanted to mock. But this trick was the big finale. Hypnotism shows are cute; anyone can take a willing volunteer and use childish inductions and peer pressure to make someone do something silly. Play it safe, make them the center of attention, and give everyone a laugh. Penny wasn't like other hypnotists. Her first trick, unbeknownst to the crowd, was to induce the entire audience without their permission. The lights in the theatre, the music from the lobby, even the air fresheners plugged in throughout the theatre all worked to help put them in a receptive state. She wowed them with her control, made them forget the trick, and then left a new idea in their head: "this was the greatest show ever." From there, she gave them what they wanted. All in the spirit of showmanship. Despite all that, finales are for the unexpected, and for that, you need a skeptic.

Penny brought the lights up on the crowd so she could pick her victim. A couple of true believers nudged their skeptic dates in the crowd. Penny looked for people with a drink in their hand. Alcohol made it more frustrating to trance someone, they struggled to focus, but a small amount may make them more likely to get on stage. Penny wasn't worried about getting volunteers. Her induction at the beginning of the show made her confident she'd get someone. But she needed someone perfect. The cockier the skeptic, the more beautiful the finale.

In the back corner, a short-haired redhead kept poking her date: a thin, wiry man with a shit-eating grin on his face. He kept making comments to her and looking around, waiting to see who would volunteer. He looked perfect.

"You, there, young woman," said Penny. The whole building turned to look at the woman. She was young-ish, maybe in her mid-twenties, with a bob haircut of deep red hair. She was in a striking green dress that sparkled from the back of the room. She blushed as soon as she realized who Penny was talking to. "Your friend there," said Penny, "he's a skeptic, isn't he?" The theatre buzzed with murmurs and the couple had some back and forth. He didn't look embarrassed at all, but the redhead looked mortified.

The young man stood up. Penny underestimated how thin he was. He was almost a twig with thick dirty-blonde hair, a clean-shaven face of a perfect fraternity asshole, with thick, full lips. He smiled and enjoyed the attention. "Skeptic is too kind of a word, Miss Penny." He looked around the room and back to his girlfriend, seeking some type of encouragement. "I think you're full of shit." The room bursted out in giggles and more whispers.

"Oh?" asked Penny. Her skeptics didn't normally give a full speech about why they were skeptics, but this was better for the theatrics. "And why's that?"

"Hypnotists can't make anyone do what they don't want to do."

"Many believe that."

"So everyone you brought up on that stage today did exactly what they fucking wanted."

"In a way, yes."

"So you're more of a variety show than any kind of mind control shit."

"Then why did you come if you don't believe it?"

The man gestured to the redhead by his side. Her face was red with shame and embarrassment. "It was her idea. She's nuts about this shit."

"Ah, well, she's my kind of -"

"I guess I came," he interrupted, "to see what a joke you are." Penny clenched her fists. "And I must say, I was disappointed. You are a FUCKING joke!"

"You'll be perfect," muttered Penny. She looked around at the crowd. "This one sounds perfect. What do you say, ladies and gentlemen, would you like me to give it my best try?" The crowd roared in approval. People waved him to the front of the stage. He stood in place, crossed his arms in defiance, and shook his head. "What's wrong?" teased Penny. "If it's all pretend, why not expose me as a fraud? Prove to all these people that I'm a variety show. Show them your self control." Penny smiled, and he wilted. The crowd applauded.

Penny turned away from him and set up the two stools. She preferred simplicity in her show. She didn't want to leave anyone suspicious about her power. The trance should amaze the audience, not the staging. The audience grew silent as the skeptic walked down the aisle towards the stage. They wanted definitive proof that hypnosis was real or unreal. They wanted to see Penny taken down or ascend to a level of godhood and supernatural power. Either would be a story. They'd tell their friends about the hypnotist who invited a skeptic and lost. They'd talk about the skeptic crushed under the hypnotist's power.

The skeptic climbed the steps of the stage, turned around, and bowed to his adoring fans. There was a smatter of applause for him. He walked straight to his stool and took a seat. He smirked at Penny and said, "you're not going to break me."

"I won't have to," whispered Penny. "This isn't real, remember?"

Penny turned to the audience, "What's your name?"

"Uh, Joe," said the skeptic.

"Beautiful," projected Penny. She turned to him and whispered, "Let's prove me a fraud, Joanna."

"Joe," he corrected.

"Whatever you say, Joanna."

"I'm not Joanna."

"Yet," whispered Penny. Only Joe could hear it, but he let it go. It was a threat and a challenge, but he didn't feel threatened, right? He was superhuman, right?

Joe smiled, and they both took their seats on the stools. The lights in the auditorium fell and the lights on the floor of the stage began to glow. They started with a simple pale orange. The auditorium fell silent and the soft; ambient music picked up; it was gentle, with rain sounds, bells with a hum, and a slight beat layered into it. It was designed to match the audience's heartbeats. They'd notice it, but forget it in a moment. It was better than a pendulum or metronome, and it had the feel of a high-end club downtown.

Penny raised her hands in front of Joe, letting her wrists go slightly limp. Her fingers extended as though she was going to cast a spell. It was a bit of showmanship, but also a focus for Joe. Watches and necklaces felt dated. Penny kept a bright ring on each middle finger with a large sapphire in it. Her hands began to sway, her fingers danced, and the light caught the sapphire. There was little light pointed at the stage, as she didn't want to distract Joe, but the sapphire gleamed all the way to the back of the room.

The lights ringing the edge of the stage changed to a neon pink. The lights gradually moved to oranges, yellows, greens, blues, purples, and then back to pinks. The goal was to stimulate the subject's senses in a predictable pattern. That was the best way to shut off the senses. You notice a blur rush past your peripheral vision, but you don't notice the plant that's always there. Create a new normal. Dull the senses with normal. Then, you can reach right out to the psyche and kiss it.

"How do you feel, Joanna?" whispered Penny.

"Joe," he corrected.

"How do you feel?" asked Penny so the audience could hear her.

"Bored," he sighed. He added a yawn for effect. There were a few scattered chuckles in the audience.

"Good," added Penny. "Let's give you something to do."

"Like make a joke out of you?" Joe smiled and turned to the audience. "You're doing all the hard work for me."

"Look at my hands." Penny kept her tone even. There was always the chance of getting a skeptic like this. It happened once in a while to get a heckler or someone who wanted to be the center of attention. It wouldn't save him from a trance, and soon it wouldn't matter at all. "It's okay if you're bored," she added. "You won't prove I'm a fake if you don't follow instructions. Look at my hands and listen to my voice." Penny waved her hands and said, "Getting sleepy, Joe?"

"No. Bored. This is all so boring."

"Yes, it is."

"It's predictable and repetitive, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"You don't know why you came at all."

"Nadia wanted to come."

"Your girlfriend?"

"Yeah." Joe's tone was losing inflection. He was falling into her. It starts with agreement. Agreement leads to oneness. Oneness leads to no-ness. Once he is nothing, he can be whatever she wants him to be.

"You like her?" whispered Penny. Parts of this had to be private. People kept up a guard when they thought hundreds of people were watching. She had to lure him into privacy, and then she could enter mind like an open window.

"She's alright."

"A bit uptight for you?"

"A bit uptight."

"Not what you normally go for?"

"Not what I normally go for."

"Girls are something you abuse isn't that right?"

"What?"

"You use them, Joanna? Talk to them like they're scum?"

"They're scum," he intoned. The words barely had meaning to him. They were true, he wouldn't say them if they were true, but to his waking mind they were a grunt or a chuckle.

"So deep now," whispered Penny. Joe's face drooped.

Penny looked out at the audience and made a shocked face, as though she couldn't believe it was working. They giggled with her. Joe did nothing. Penny looked out at the crowd for Nadia, Joe's date. The redhead was uncomfortable. She kept looking around, expecting people to look at her. No one looked at her. Joe was the show. Penny was the power. Everything worth looking at was on the stage. "Poor girl," thought Penny. "I'm probably doing her a favor. Her date is an asshole."

"Mindless deep," said Penny so the audience could hear her. Then, she lowered her voice and whispered, "what do you go for?"

"What do I go for?" he muttered. His lips moved slowly, and the words were soft. No one could hear them now.

"You want me to tell you?"

"Tell me."

"Don't you go for cock?"

"Go for cock?" asked Joe. It was risky to put such an aggressive thought in his head. Phrasing as a question was key. Going slow and helping him piece it together rather than ramming it down his mind was best.

"You like cock?"

"Like cock?"

"It's okay, Joe. Cock is good. For you. Cock is for good girls."

"Cock is good for me?"

"Good girl," cooed Penny.

You don't destroy a wall if you want to get to the other side. You go around it if you can. Minds are no different. "I heard you were a great cocksucker," suggest Penny.

"I'm a great cocksucker?"

"Oh, yes. Everyone knows you like cock."

"Everyone knows I like cock?"

"They say you have great cocksucker lips."

"I have great cocksucker lips?"

"Good girl."

"I'm not a girl," he mumbled.

"Yet," whispered Penny.

He wasn't accepting the thought. That's fine. There was time. Penny had the audience's attention, though they couldn't hear her. She had Joe's attention, though he could barely think at all. All she needed was a tiny nugget of truth from his past to latch onto and then she could build a whole new mind.

"You think about cocks, right?"

"I think about cocks?"

"That's what I heard," shrugged Penny. "I heard they called you a homo."

"They called me a homo."

"Yes dear, and it excited you."

Bingo. Of course someone called him a homo at some point. He's got great features for a twink. Boys can be cruel. They'd tease him, but that's all Penny needs. He's not gay. That's fine. They called him gay. They called him a homo. That's a truth. She just needs to build off that tiny truth.

"They said you were gay."

"They say I'm gay," echoed Joe. He was deeper and deeper in trance. Penny was safe here. She could make a few missteps before he snapped out of it.

"You look fabulous."

"I look fabulous?"

"I bet you drove all the boys wild in school."

"I drove the boys wild."

"Good girl."

"I'm not a girl." It was a whimper now.

"Yet."

"They hit on you?"

"They hit on me."

"You liked it?"

"I liked it."

"Good girl."

"I'm not a girl?"

"Not yet."

"Their attention was flattering."

"I was flattered."

Penny looked out over the audience. Murmurs were blossoming throughout the room. The show needed to go on. She had him on a leash, his mind was hers. He was deeper in trance than the audience knew, and she could risk moving the conversation along. She whispered some additional instructions to Joe, "When you hear me say 'good girl,' you will have the most mind blowing orgasmin, the strongest mind blanking, head thrashing orgasm. Everytime I say it, the pleasure grows and your craving of everything I have said will become so much more intense."

She smiled and turned to face her adoring fans. "When I snap my fingers, Joe," projected Penny to the audience, "you will stand up and tell everyone one of your most embarrassing secrets." The murmurs were silenced. "You will still be in trance with me, okay?"

Joe nodded.

"I suggest you don't share anything illegal." The crowd chuckled.

Penny snapped her fingers and Joe slowly looked up, like waking up from a nap. He blinked repeatedly and stared at Penny with dead eyes. "Do you have anything to share with the group, Joe?" Joe looked around at the crowd. They were holding their breath. This was it. This was the moment. Was hypnotism real? Was Penny a fake?

Joe smiled like he was in on the joke. "Yeah, I do," he said loudly. The light in his eyes was back. "My deepest darkest secret is that this is all fake." The crowd gasped and then laughed. "It's a load of shit. She's a shit hypnotist, and you all wasted your money." Penny rolled her eyes and looked back at the crowd. They were laughing at her. Joe was laughing at her. But that was fine. "The bitch didn't do shit!" he yells. More laughter. "I'm telling you, she can't make me do anything I don't want to do."

Penny snapped her fingers by pressing her thumbs against the base of her sapphire rings. From a distance, it sounded like a traditional snap, but to Joe it was a gong. He jolted off the stool and looked at his feet, surprised to have landed on them. He looked at Penny in shock, and she snapped her fingers and rings again. The light in Joe's eyes went out and his neck drooped.

The audience clapped. Penny nodded appreciatively to them. She raised her hands and took a bow. More clapping. She gestured to Joe, as though to thank him, and the audience clapped more. She lowered her hands with her palms facing down, as though pressing down and out the volume of the crowd. The clapping died as her hands fell.

"Thank you, all. But we're not done yet, are we? We have to prove definitevely to this man that hypnosis is real, and he is firmly under my control." There was a smattering of laughter. "I'd hate for him to say it was all an act he was a part of right before he walks off stage."

Penny crossed the stage in front of Joe to make sure the other side of the audience got to see her in her glory. She was rolling now. "Now Joseph," she projected. She turned to Joe and bent down to condescend to him, "I may call you Joseph, yes?"

Joe nodded. The crowd laughed. "Now Joseph," repeated Penny, "I'll need you to speak loudly when you answer me so the crowd can hear you. Okay?"

Joe nodded. "Speak up, Joseph. The people in the back can't hear you."

"Okay," said Joe.

"Louder Joseph. Didn't your mother ever tell you not to mumble?" More laughter.

"Okay," said Joe louder.

"Can everyone hear him?" shouted Penny to the crowd. There was scattered nodding and mumbling of assent. "Good. I'll need everyone here to take out their cell phone. Still no photography or video, sorry loves, but I want you to create a new contact."

There was more murmuring. People were confused and excited, which is precisely where a hypnotist wanted them. Penny paced back and forth in front of Joe. She doesn't normally enjoy this part. This is her job. This is how she pays the bill. The real fun happens back at her penthouse. Hypnotism is her gift and her passion, but performing was a mundane necessity of life. But Joe had pressed her buttons, and based on his attitude, she wasn't the only one he felt comfortable belittling. Joe needed to be put in his place, and Penny was all too happy to assist him.

"Everyone create a contact in your phone. It can be Joseph, or if you want to be more creative, you can call him Penny's Bitch." More laughter. Penny turned to Joe. "Joseph, please tell the good people of the audience your phone number." Joe muttered the number, and Penny asked him to repeat it louder. There was more chuckling.

Not everyone in the crowd put in his number. Not everyone took out their phone. It's a bit much to ask for one hundred percent participation. People are shy. They want to respect Joe's privacy. That's fine. If one person contacts Joe after this, it will have been worth it.

"Ladies and gentlemen, if young Joseph here claims that this was all a hoax, that's fine. Proof is difficult with hypnosis. But proof comes in time and with surprise. If any of you doubt this is real, feel free to contact Joanna in a week's time and see if he remembers giving his phone number out. He won't. Feel free to ask him if it was all an act then. Up here, he feels brave. When he gets a message from someone he doesn't know and doesn't remember giving his number to, he won't be brave. He'll be honest."

There's an uncomfortable applause among the audience. This crossed a line for some people. They imagined themselves up there giving out their personal information. They imagined strangers contacting them and feeling embarrassed.

They're afraid because they've realized Penny's power. Good.

"One final trick, what do you say?" Penny didn't wait for a response. They were nervous. That's fine. All you need to do with nervous people is give them someone to laugh at. That made everything sweet. "Joseph, I asked you before to share your deepest and darkest secret. Remember?"

"Yes," intoned Joe.

"Beautiful. When I clap my hands together, I want you to share, loud and proud, what your deepest and darkest secret is. Understand?"

Joe nodded.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, are you ready?" There was stronger applause. People loved to learn secrets. Hell, Penny's made a killing getting paid to find secrets from people.

Penny clapped her hands together, making sure the rings collided with each other as she did. There was a clink hidden beneath the clap. Nothing happened immediately. The audience held their breath. Joe held still. Anticipation is the key to showmanship.

Joe looked up and smiled at the audience as before. "You want to know my secret?" he asked the audience. His swagger was back. He sounded like a completely normal, arrogant asshole. They clapped and cheered. Joe leaned back and bellowed at the top of his lungs, "My secret is that I love cock!" There was a gasp and laughter, but Joe didn't wait for the room to calm down. "I'm such a good cocksucker!"

Penny looked out and saw Nadia, Joe's date. She blushed with embarrassment as people around her turned to look at her. They whispered, but the rest of the room roared with applause and laughter. Penny stepped to the front of the stage and bowed. The laughter grew. People stood to their feet and clapped for Penny. Nadia didn't stand.

Behind Penny, Joe was still loudly declaring his love of cock and his various skills. "I have the perfect cocksucker lips! I love to suck cock!"

It wasn't true, of course. Penny couldn't change someone's sexuality so easily. That took time and patience. But in that time, you can give someone a script and get them to shout it to a room of strangers. She made Joe a co-performer, not a cocksucker.