The Social Experiment

"Is this going to kill me? Because I was a little worried before but now I think I'm really worried."

"No, I just mean... do you think you'd ever hate me?" she asked, and I studied her carefully.

"I don't think so," I muttered, but she didn't seem reassured by my words, and I'm sure the uncertainty in my voice did little to assuage her fears.

"What if I really embarrassed you?" she asked, and I pondered the question.

"You mean worse than you do by your general existence? Hmm, that's a tough one," I answered, with exaggerated thoughtfulness.

"I'm not kidding!" she called, smiling despite herself, and I put my toothbrush back in my mouth and continued my act of being deep in thought.

"I don't think there's anything you'd do, on purpose at least, that would really embarrass me to the point that I'd hate you. Do you think your research will-?"

"No, no. It's not that. It's like, sometimes you think something is really a certain way, and it turns out that it really isn't, and then you feel stupid because of how wrong you were?"

"Uh-huh. Like when I thought that Sandy Taylor liked me and it turned out that she couldn't even stand to be near the air I breathed?"

"Yeah! Kind of like that," she answered, and I tilted my head at her, a little confused.

"I-uh... I think you know me a lot better than Sandy Taylor did, sis. I mean... I'm not really that enthusiastic about having my head messed with, but I trust you."

I spit once more, then wiped at my mouth, before walking over to the frame of the bathroom doorway, and she walked over and rested her head sheepishly against my shoulder.

She looked tense, so I ruffled her hair a little and gave her a little reassuring squeeze, and she smiled, then went back to getting ready for school, and I headed off to shower and get dressed.

The breakfast was good, but time was short so we ate quickly before heading out the door.

Her campus was a short ten minute walk from her apartment building, and after getting there we took the short shuttle bus ride to her department's lab.

"Am I going to see any test subjects today?" I asked, and she shook her head in response.

"We had a couple prospective participants fall through, so right now you're about all we've got left."

"Uh-huh."

"Hold on," she added, as her cell phone began to ring. "Yes, Dr. Wakowski. I'm almost there. Yes, he's with me, why? There was a little pause, before Abby's face went a little white. "Oh. I'm not sure if that's... no I understand, but that's a little. Well, yeah we can ask him but- uh, no... I understand Dr Wakowsi. We'll be there soon."

"What was that about?" I asked, feeling a little concerned.

"Caleb... Dr Wakowski wants to perform your test today," Abby muttered, and I stared at her in shock.

"I thought you said we were just going to do the preliminary tests."

"We were. But there's a bit of a time issue that's come up, so it's today or never..."

Her right leg had begun to shake a bit in that way that it did whenever she felt uncomfortable, and her blatant display of nerves quickly set me on alert.

I was nervous as hell, but at the same time her reaction showed me that this was really important to her.

"Look, Caleb- if you wanna back out, all jokes aside this time, I really understand. Asking you to do this for me, out of the blue like this. It isn't fair..."

"Hey, come on. I know I act like a dweeb sometime, but I'm here for you. This is important, isn't it? This project?"

She nodded, her eyes a little glossy as she straightened her hair and fought back the tears.

"Then I'll do it... I mean, it won't mess me up for good or anything, right?"

She shook her head.

"You- uh, should be fine," she muttered, taking my hand and giving it a little squeeze.

As she looked out of the shuttle, biting her lip a little uncertainly, I could tell that she was nervous like hell despite her desire to reassure me, so I decided to swallow my own uncertainties.

I mean, I was about to make two grand for just one day's worth of my time, and in the process, help out the one person who probably meant more to me than anything else.

Besides, what's the worst that could possibly happen?

We got to the lab just a little before nine, and when I got there I immediately realized that everyone was on high alert.

Samantha, the blonde who Abby had mentioned the night before, was speaking through a microphone to some technicians, and everyone else around seemed to be moving at double time.

"This him?" A tall dark woman in a brown khaki suit muttered, striding over to us as soon as we'd walked in.

"Y-yeah," Abby muttered shyly, and the woman nodded, before guiding me by the shoulder away from my sister and towards a corridor that turned off of the general lab area.

"This way, Mr Walker," the woman muttered, as she led me down a short corridor to a smaller conference room.

"Did your sister give you the details of the experiment?" she asked, and I shook my head, a little taken aback by the sudden escalation of events.

"Good," she muttered, before pulling out a sheet of paper from an envelope that I only just noticed on the desk.

"You'll need to fill these out," she muttered, and I stared blankly at the documents as a younger man with glasses poked his head through the conference room door.

"Dr Wakowski? Abigail wants to know if she can speak with him before the prep."

"Uh, sure, but we need to hurry," she muttered, shooing him away impatiently.

"I- uh, don't have a-"

She slid a pen across the table, a wry smile on her face, and I felt my nerves begin to really kick in.

Maybe it's a good thing she's focused on research, because I cannot for the life of me fathom this woman talking me through my mental issues.

I began to look over the documents in front of me, which appeared to be a series of non-disclosure agreements and partial liability waivers, but anxiety began to gnaw at my chest as I thumbed through the notices.

Phrases like 'exposure to nudity', 'intimate contact' and other worrying phrases popped up, but as I read through the notices I remembered Abigail's mention that the waivers were phrased in a way to induce such anxiety, so I calmed down a bit.

Relax, I told myself, everything will be fine.

I noted that there was a comprehensive post-participation care plan that would provide free counselling services, if needed, for a significant period of time.

As I thought back to image of my sister, on the verge of tears back on the shuttle bus, I swallowed my fears and began to fill out the required paperwork.

As I worked, there was a knock on the door, and as Dr Wakowski left to see to it, I heard my sister's voice outside:

"-oh, he's already signing them? He didn't agree yet to-"

The words trailed off as her supervisor spoke to her in hushed whispers, and after a minute or so, she stepped timidly into the room.

"She won't let me stay for long- look, I know that she probably didn't ask you a thing, because she's really trying to push this along, but if you want to back out-"

"Relax- we've got this, right?" I responded, giving her an exaggeratedly conspiratorial wink, which made her smile despite the anxiety that was clearly apparent on her face.

"Caleb... I'm probably not supposed to tell you this, but... no matter how it seems, there's a reward in this for you, okay?"

"Huh?" I asked, a little confused.

"Whatever it is you're asked to do just remember that. There's something in it for you that you'd really really like, that you've probably always wanted... whether you've actually thought about it or not."

She spoke the words in a low hushed tone, and as she stepped out the door, she lingered for a moment, a strange look on her face that I couldn't quite figure out.

Dr Wakowski never returned, and the younger guy with the glasses who I'd seen earlier came in to check on me a few times to make sure that I was getting through with all of the paperwork.

As soon as I was done, he collected the forms, then brought in some questionnaires that I needed to complete.

The first just asked for some basic information about me, but the next one presented some fairly simple moral dilemmas, and the final which asked how I felt about certain societal norms and social issues.

It was pretty easy stuff to get through really, and as I began to wonder what the significance of the questions were, I suddenly noted that the younger man was smirking slightly at me.

"Uhm- am I doing something wrong?" I asked, and he quickly caught himself.

"No- no, this seems fine. Sorry, I was just... uh, nothing, I mean."

After he left the room, I was left to myself for some time before the young man eventually came to fetch me.

"Okay, so it's time for your test. Uh- hold on..."

He retrieved a sound recording device of some kind, and after fiddling with it a little, he turned to me:

"Are you voluntarily participating in this study?"

"Yes," I responded.

"Do you feel as if you have been coerced or in any way manipulated into participating," he continued, and as I shook my head he gestured at the recorder.

"Oh- uh, no," I muttered, and he nodded, turning off the device with a satisfied smile.

"Right this way," he muttered, and I followed him down the other end of the corridor, taking a left at the end and eventually coming to a doorway.

"As soon as you enter the room, the test will begin. The requirements and everything you need to take the test will be made apparent once you're inside."

"Okay," I responded, and as he gestured towards the door, I turned the handle and with a deep breath, I stepped inside.

I was immediately overwhelmed by a bright, white light, but as the door pulled shut behind me, my flight instincts immediately fired into gear.

Relax, I told myself, as my heart beat raced, practically threatening to thump its way through my chest.

The room before me was more or less bare, but as my eyes adjusted to the bright lights, I noted that there was a large object, covered with a white sheet in front of me, and an LED signboard across the room.

Test subject Caleb. You must remove the covering from the target. You have five minutes to comply before punishment ensues; the sign read, and as I stepped closer I noted from the uncovered base that it appeared to be a reclining chair of some kind.

Punishment?

I gulped as my mind flashed back to the video Abby had showed me of the previous experiment, and my hands shook as I reached for the covering, slowly pulling it away.

"Wha-?"

A gasp escaped my lips as the covering slipped away to reveal a girl lying in the chair, stark naked, her hands secured to either armrest by a pair of handcuffs, and her face covered by a strange, black mask that looked a bit like something out of the latest star wars movie. But as I studied the dark brown hair spilled out of the mask, and the, full, curvy shape of her body, my mind began to reel.

"A-Abigail?" I called uncertainly, and she squirmed in response to my voice.

"Caleb?" she responded, though her voice seemed just slightly distorted, coming through the mask.

She looked around confusedly, and I suspected that she was not able to see me.

A beep from the message board brought my attention back to it, and as I glanced back I saw that it now read:

Obedience confirmed: Fetching next command.

"W-what is this?" I asked, when suddenly, her body twitched, and a little whimper came from beneath her mask.

"Read the message," her timid voice came, and I turned around to see that written on the board was a new command:

Test subject Caleb. You must examine the target. You have five minutes to comply before punishment ensues.

Examine?

What did that mean?

As I pondered the question, a timer appeared next to the message, counting down from '5:00' in big red numbers.

"What does it mean by 'punishment'?" I asked, and Abby squirmed uncomfortably in front of me, before responding timidly:

"If you don't follow the commands, this mask can deliver a small electric shock."

"Bullshit," I muttered angrily as I reached for the mask, "Hold on, I'm getting this stupid thing off-"

"No, Caleb stop! Ahn!"

As soon as my hands touched the mask, a buzzing sound came from it and Abby cried out in pain, and I froze.

In the video Abby had showed me, I knew that the shocks weren't real, and everything had been staged.

Even logic dictated that it couldn't be real shocks.

But I'd lived all my life with Abby, and I knew she was a terrible actor.

Even when she tried to fake being sick to get out of school or chores, no one would buy it.

Had she learned to convincingly change that?

It was possible.

But what she said kept replaying in my head over and over:

//

"...some of the greatest research results were attained by researchers who were willing to put themselves at risk for the sake of their research."

//

"That shock... it was real, wasn't it?" I asked, and Abby shifted uncomfortably.

I knew Abby better than anyone, and she was definitely the kind of person that would go to leaps and bounds for the sake of something important to her, but was this really her idea?

Dr Wakowski was a pretty pushy person, so I wasn't sure, but even if it was, there was no way I could go through with something that allowed her to be hurt and exposed in such a humiliating way.

"This is ridiculous, we're done! Can we stop this?" I called towards the message board, but Abby quickly cut me off.

"No, Caleb wait. Don't call it off."

"What?"

"Even if you don't want to follow the messages, just stick it out until the experiment is through, please? This is really important to me.."

"I am not going to sit here and watch these people hurt you! Mom and Dad didn't send you to school so that you could be stripped naked and humiliated in front of a bunch of wackos!"

"Caleb... no one is doing this to me. I'm doing this of my own free will. I'm the one who came up with this, remember?"

My breathing was heavy, and my fists were balled tightly in anger, but I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself.

In the video that Abby had showed me, it was all just a trick, right?

Maybe there was something here that I was missing.

This is important to Abby, so figure it out! I told myself.

I took a deep breath, and glanced at the timer.

"It says 'examine' you. What do I need to do?" I asked, and she squirmed a little before answering:

"Just- uh, examine me. My body. Take a closer look, maybe. When you satisfy the conditions of the request a message should come up saying-"

"-obedience confirmed, yeah I get it."

I leaned in, and made a little show of inspecting my sister's feet, then glanced at the message.

Nothing.

Sigh.

I poked at her toes a little, and as she wiggled them in response, a thought suddenly occurred to me.

Was this really her?

Sure, I'd seen my sister naked before, but only in brief flashes.

Not to mention the most recent instance had been more than five years ago.

Despite my trepidation I took a closer at her body; her breasts were firm and round, and her nipples were poking out, probably from the coldness of the air conditioned room.

Were they always that large?

Sure, Abby had always filled out a swimming suit quite nicely, and now that she was in her mid-twenties, her body had matured and filled out quite nicely.

I walked around the chair to her opposite side, and as I did I brushed my hand against the side of her knee, and she jumped a little at the contact, a stifled giggle coming from her mask.

Abby had always been pretty ticklish, I noted, glancing again at the message board, which had now counted down to a minute and a half.

I knew that the punishments might be real, but there still had to be a catch, right?

I glanced at her sizeable chest again, then remembered the mole that I'd seen on her butt last night.

If it wasn't there, that would be a dead giveaway, right?

"I'm just going to..." I started, placing a hand tentatively on her hip, and she nodded a little, seeming to understand my intent, and as she shifted a little onto her side, sure enough there was a cute little mole on the upper right side of her thigh.

So this really is her, I thought to myself, but the thought scarcely registered when-

*Beep!

-the beeping from the message board drew my attention to it, and I breathed a sigh of relief as "Obedience confirmed" flashed across the screen.

But the relief was short lived as "Fetching next command" appeared in its stead, and my jaw dropped as the next message appeared:

"Test subject Caleb. You must touch the target's breasts."

"No fucking way," I muttered wordlessly, and Abby squirmed uneasily at my reaction.

"I'm sorry, Caleb."

"You know what it's asking?" I asked incredulously, suddenly remembering that she was the one who proposed and designed this experiment.

That couldn't be true, could it?

Would Abby ask me to do that?

I took a half-step back from her, trying to understand what this really meant.

Were these my choices? To either fondle my sister, or watch her be electrocuted?

This hardly seemed anything like the experiment she'd shown me.

What was the way out of this?

What was I missing?

"It's okay if this is too much for you Caleb, I knew this would be asking a lot..." she muttered, and I stared at the mask, trying my hardest to figure out the catch.

"What happens if I don't do it?" I asked, and she shifted uncomfortably, before answering with trepidation:

"The punishment."

"One shock?" I asked, and to my dismay she shook her head, more or less as I expected.

"The shocks will take place at spaced intervals, the time between them diminishing, and the voltage increasing until the request is fulfilled, or I'm no longer capable of continuing..."

I ran my hands through my head.

"No longer capable of continuing? Fucking hell, Abby..."

"It's okay, Caleb. I signed up for this. I knew what I was getting into, and I'm prepared to deal with it."

I glanced back at the clock.

Ten seconds.

My mind was screaming at me, but my body didn't move, and I froze as a buzzing sound alerted me to the timer reaching zero-

"Anhh!" she cried out, her body twitching as the jolt jerked through her.

"This is crazy. Why did you agree to this?" I muttered, and as she shook her head, I suddenly pictured the resilient smile that I'd so often seen whenever I realized that she was fighting a battle that I never knew about.

"They're just little jolts. Painful, but they can't cause any real harm to me."

This was a battle of willpower, wasn't it?

I glanced back at the timer.

2:58.

"This really means a lot to you, huh?" I asked, and Abby nodded, squirming uncomfortably again.

I sighed.

They're just breasts, Caleb, I thought to myself, your sister's breasts, but just breasts nonetheless.

I reached forward, but my nerves kicked in again and my hands fell back to my sides.

They're just breasts! I practically screamed at myself in my mind; you touch her all the time. When you're horsing around and play fighting... You've probably even touched them already.

Just do it! I thought, and in one sweeping motion, I moved to her side, and taking a deep breath to steady my nerves, reached out and formed my hands about her breasts, cupping them lightly.

*Beep!

Obedience confirmed.

Yes! We did-

Fetching next command.