Amanda felt a flash of pain as the pen-light quickly swept across her eyes. The doctor was holding her head, examining her closely. She smelled the fragrance of his aftershave, enjoying how it made her feel.
"You feel ok now? No headaches or blurry vision?" he asked.
"No," she answered. "I feel fine."
"That was a pretty bad accident you had. I'm surprised you've recovered from the head trauma so quickly. I'd like to do more tests, but you seem to have recovered well." The doctor pulled away, putting the light into the pocket of his white lab coat, exchanging it for a pen, then making notes on her chart.
"Well, I can tell you I still don't remember much about the accident, if that makes you feel any better. The police showed me pictures of the car, so I know I was in one."
"And I think the hospital records would confirm that, being in here for a week and all," he laughed. "But, I have to say you're doing very well as far as I can tell. It's only been a month, but you've progressed really well." He put the clipboard aside and stood. "We'll look at you again in two months for a follow-up. But other than that, you're free to work, drive, and all that."
"You sure you can't keep me out of work?" she asked, trying to look pouty and sad.
"I'm afraid not, Amanda," he sighed. His soft, genuine smile stretched across his face, making her wonder if she should ask him out. She was single, after all, and definitely available. But she was way too shy to ever be so brazen. She blushed, hoping that maybe he would ask her out. When he got out of his chair, all her hope was dashed. When he left, she quickly got dressed and left the hospital in a taxi, heading home.
*****
She was startled awake by her cell phone ringing and picked it up, groggily, without even noticing who it was. "Hello?"
"Hey. It's Jenna. How're you feeling?"
"Oh, hey! I'm doing ok... no problems... The doctor cleared me for work."
"Good. Gab and I wanted to take you out tonight... it's been a while. And there's this hypnotist show at the comedy club tonight that we thought you'd like to see."
"A hypnotist?" Amanda sounded surprised.
"Mmhmm... and he's supposed to be hilarious!"
*****
Amanda sat on the stage with a man and a woman nearby, calm, her eyes closed. She briefly wondered how she got up there, but remembered how quick her friends were to volunteer her when the hypnotist asked for volunteers. He'd been pretty tame, yet funny with the people he'd hypnotized so far, so she wasn't too scared. She briefly remembered shaking his hand in greeting as she walked up onto the stage and then feeling the effects of his voice as she quickly dozed off. Suddenly, his slow-tempo voice made her concentrate on him again and leave her memories behind.
His voice was so deep and gentle, she couldn't help but want to listen to it. She couldn't help but to do what it said, no matter how strange it seemed. She walked into the dressing room that he'd made her imagine, took off her clothes and examined her body in the imagined mirror. She put on the new clothes that he described, clothes that now seemed so real to her. She'd never wear clothes like that in real life, they were far too flashy, too sexual. She looked in the imagined mirror and cringed at the amount of skin she was showing. It felt so wrong.
But the more he talked, the more she believed, the more she accepted.
He told her that the new clothes were not only changing her outward appearance, but they were changing her emotions, her inhibitions, and her actions. He made her outfit release her flirtatious, sexy self, and when she was finally dressed, she moved about the stage expressing her new self. She didn't remember specifically what she did, since he told her not to remember it, told her it wasn't important, so it was easily forgotten.
Something about this new self was hurting her head, though. A headache was building up that surprised her. It was making it harder and harder to concentrate on him and she knew he felt it. After a time, he drew her back into the dressing room and started to relax and reassure her. She didn't know what it was... if it was something he said or if it was something she did, but all of the sudden, everything felt right and ok. The pain just disappeared.
He directed her to remove her sexy, flirtatious, uninhibited clothing and self and to put them away, returning to her normal clothes and self. But as she stared in the mirror, she realized she didn't want to. In her imagination, she put her normal clothes on over the sexy outfit. She covered the flashy, sexy clothing with her dull, lifeless clothes... buried the uninhibited feelings behind a wall... awoke... and forgot.
The crowd was clapping loudly, cheering and whistling as the three volunteers on stage opened their eyes and became aware again. The hypnotist thanked each one, getting the crowd to applaud for each before a female assistant escorted them all off the stage and back to their seats, concluding the show.
Surprisingly, both Jenna and Gab were smiling broadly and laughing at her as she was ushered back to her seat.
"Uh oh, what did he make me do?" she asked smiling herself, checking her clothing to make sure everything was in place.