Moving To Seattle Pt 01

I always wanted to go to Seattle. Something about it was so alluring. It just seemed so much cooler than the arid pits of Texas. I couldn't stand the dry heat, and the people were just as bad. Once college was done with, I knew where to head to for better or worse. Only problem was the expenses. It's one of the most expensive cities in the United States, so moving from the relatively cheap prices from where I'm from to a high-end apartment wasn't gonna be easy. But somehow I got lucky.

I searched quite a bit for good deals on apartments and townhouses online. Nothing really stuck out as a good deal, and I was worried I would have to settle on a place that would eat up all my income. That's when I started to look into roommate websites, because I figured the cheapest way to live there is to not live alone. The best deals were unfortunately either in bad places of the city or with creepy old men. I really started to lose hope, when suddenly I got an email from a guy named Matt.

He found me through one of the roommate websites, and his offer was just too good to pass up:

"Hi, my name's Matt. I'm 23 and a recent graduate in psychology. I saw that you're looking for a cheap place to stay in Seattle with a roomie, so I figured I'd put in an offer. My family is pretty loaded with cash, so I like to be more lenient on helping friends and strangers. If you'd be interested, you could come live with me for 1/3 of the rent. I'll pay for the rest of the rent and utilities. All that I ask is that you are my friend and help keep the place clean. Please message me and let me know if you are down!"

I couldn't believe my eyes. It felt like a dream come true. I get to move to the city of my dreams with decent rent and a friend who I could explore the city with. Hell yes I'm interested!

We emailed back and forth, getting to know each other and talking out the details. Fast forward 3 months, and its move-in day. I had the small amount of possessions that I owned be shipped over so I didn't have to worry about bringing back a U-Haul truck and also not have my car available.

He greeted me at the front door with a smile and a handshake, ready to help me get my stuff in. He was a decent looking guy, not exactly handsome but definitely not ugly. A little fit, but not toned and muscular. I might even be a little intimidated by him if he weren't shorter than me by about 3 or 4 inches (I'm 6'1). He was a nice guy and he made me feel like we'd known each other all our lives.

After the move in, we went out of some lunch at a local sandwich place, which was great for me since I'm a big foodie. "You'll love it here", he said, winking at me. "Seattle is really sick, and you and I are gonna be best friends."

I smiled back, "I sure hope so. I kinda put all my cards on the table to move here, so I don't really have a choice if I don't enjoy it."

He laughed at that and took a bite of his food. Then he furrowed his brow and asked as he chewed, "So what made you wanna leave that place so bad, anyway? I always thought Texas seemed like a pretty neat place."

"Well, it can be. I knew some cool people down there. But the keyword is 'some'. Most of those idiots are just bigots that don't care about other people. Racists, homophobes - y'know the deal."

He nodded in response. "Ahhh, I gotcha. And is that a more personal thing for you? Are you part of LGBT?"

I shook my head, "Nath, that ain't me. I have friends in the community, but I just cant get with the thought of being with a guy. Or anyone with a dick, for that matter," I chuckled. "Just the classic cis white male, I guess. What about you?"

"Oh, I'm just the same," he said, keeping eye contact with me. "Straight as an arrow." There was something in his tone that threw me off. It felt a little strange. Like maybe he wasn't telling me the truth. But what was the point? It was obvious I cared about the LGBT community, so why would he keep that hidden?

We finished up our lunch and went back home, where we continued to unpack my things. By the end of the night, almost all of it was done with. We were both pretty tired and ready to call it quits. It was 8pm, and neither of us were in shape to make dinner.

We both had slumped down on the living room couch in exhaustion. Matt turned toward me saying, "I'll order us some pizza and we can watch a movie, how's that sound?"

My stomach growled and I patted it. "Hah, guess that answers your question. But I'm paying. You've helped me out too much today to not get something back."

He put his hand on my shoulder and chuckled a little, "It's not a problem at all, really. I don't think you should have to pay for more stuff after all you've paid for these past few days."

I nodded a little. "I guess that's fair to say." I point at him lazily. "But I am 100% gonna pay you back for all this, ya got it?"

Matt beamed at me, "Of course." He patted my shoulder, and a slight look of concern came over his face. "Man, you look really beat. Are you alright?"

I laughed a little, "Is that even a question? After I eat that pizza, I'm gonna go into a coma, dude."

He positioned his body more towards mine and said, "I have a way I can help with that, actually. Like, you wouldn't have to sleep for a long period of time to get that energy back, and all."

I furrowed my brow and looked at him questioningly. "What are you talking about? How would that even work? Are you about to lace my pizza with Adderall or something?"

His mouth barely twitched at the joke, I could tell he was pretty serious. There was some.. intent in his eyes. What for? "No, not at all. I have a bachelor in psychology, y'know. I took three classes on hypnotism, so I'm pretty well-learned in it." I made a strange face at him. "Pff, don't give me that look. I know, everyone has some kind of opinion on it, but hardly anyone knows how it really works. I mean, it's like talking straight to your subconscious. You get suggestions and they become easier to take in. So if I tell you to relax, it's easier for you to relax. You don't even have to think about it."

I raise my eyebrow and nod. "Huh.. so you're implying if I relax deeper through hypnosis, I won't necessarily need to sleep as long through the night because I'll be more well-rested?"

There was a gleam in his eye. "I knew you were a smart one. And it really doesn't even take long to do! You would be in and out of trance before you know it."

I nod again. "Hm, alright. You think you could do it between the time you order the pizza and the time it gets here?" I rubbed my stomach a bit, "I really am hungry."

He again didn't react to my humor, but was definitely excited about this. "How about we just get it out the way now? Like I said, it'll be done before you know it."

I shrugged, "Okay, whatever you want. But if I get hangry, just know its your fault!"

"Perfect, just stay where you are." He got up and walked behind the couch. "You don't need to get up or anything. Just sit where you are and take some deep breaths." He pulled up a stool form the kitchen bar area and sat on it behind where I was on the couch. "From this point forward, I need you to listen. I need you to be quiet and only speak when I ask you to, okay?"

"Okay," I said. I had no idea what to expect. This was not how I thought my first night in Seattle would be, that's for damn sure. I wouldn't say this was a bad direction, though. If it worked like he said it does, my transition to moving here would be a lot easier. Still... what a strange thing to do with someone you don't know that well...

"Great, now I want you to just close your eyes and focus. Focus on your breathing. Focus on the couch beneath you. Focus on here and now. Focus on my voice. All there is to think about is this moment here." He placed his hands on my shoulders. "I want you to take five deep breaths for me. In through the nose, out through the mouth."

I did as he asked. At the very least, it was already relaxing me a lot. "Very good. Now I want you to imagine this couch as a nice big cloud. So very fluffy. So very comfy. So warm and soft. With each breath, you sink into it just a little deeper. With each breath, you can find yourself relaxing into the cloud. Each breath making you feel more heavy."

He kept going on and on about the cloud and sinking, I'm not sure I was fully paying attention. It was just the same stuff over and over. Kinda silly honestly, but I didn't want to laugh and hurt his feelings. How was this supposed to do anything?

"Each moment that passes you fall through another layer of clouds. Sinking deeper. Deeper down." He snapped his fingers right behind my head. "Down." He snapped them again. "Down." Matt went back to explaining the cloud. The sinking.

Suddenly he was asking me to talk sometimes. Like every time he snapped and said "down", I was supposed to say "down" back to him, like it's some kind of little game.

*snap* "Down," he said.

"Down," I said, in a sleepy voice. I could barely put any effort into it. Where did all my energy go? I thought this was gonna be a simple-

*snap* "Down."

"Down."

*snap* "Down."

"Down."

Down. Down. Down. All I could think of was going down. Down deeper. Deeper down. Down. Down. Down.

He started to ruffle my hair with his hands. "So far down for me. So sleepy and tired. Doesn't it feel good to go down for me?"

I didn't have the energy to even nod my head. "Yes."

"Then let's bring you even further." He leaned down to my ear, snapped his fingers again, and then whispered, "sleep".

I felt my head fall down completely, and my entire body melted right there on that cloud. I was completely relaxed. Completely down. Down. Down...

He smiled and continued to whisper in my ear, "There's a good boy. Sleepy like you should be. It feels so good to be down. Down into your cloud. Down into trance. You belong here, where you can listen to my words and fall even deeper," *snap* "down."

"Down," I say mindlessly.

"Here you have no thoughts. You just relax here. You just listen to my words. You just obey. Like a good boy does. And you want to be a good boy for me, dont you?"

Good boy..? Why is he.. calling me that...? "I.. don't... know.. wha-"

*snap* "Down."

"Down."

"Yes, you do. You want to be a good boy for me. It will feel good to be called a good boy. You want to be called a good boy. You want to be called a good boy." *snap* "Down."

"Down."

"You want to be a good boy for me." *snap* "Down."

"Down."

"You want to be a good boy for me." *snap* "Down."

"Down."

"There's a good boy. You like to be called that, don't you?" He said, glee in his voice.

"Yes," I say weakly. I'm a good boy. I'm a good boy for Matt.

"Goooood boy! You're a very good boy for me!" He continued to play with my hair. "I want you to focus on my fingers. Let them take you even deeper in your cloud. Deeper down. Deeper down. Deeper down..."

He spoke some more about going deeper. I couldn't keep up with him anymore. I couldn't think about what he was saying. His fingers were completely tracing over my thoughts. Anything I had to think, he pulled it away with his caresses. All I knew was that whenever he told me to do something, I did it. And whatever he wanted to do to me, he could do it. That's all I knew. He started repeating something else to me... something about relaxing.. and obeying... down. Down. Down. Down.

*snap* "Down."

"Down."

*snap* "Down."

"Down."

"Goood boy! Youre being such a good boy for me. Now, just a reminder, what do you say when I command you to sleep?"

"I relax... and I obey..," I say mindlessly. I relax and I obey. I relax for Matt. I obey Matt. It felt natural to me. I just knew what to say by instinct. It was the right thing to say. It was what Matt wanted me to say.

"Perrrfect. You're just perfect." He stopped ruffling my hair and patted my shoulder as he got off of his stool. "I'm going to wake you up soon. But I want you to know about this dream you've had. This dream where you and I spoke together for so long while you were on this couch. It was all just a dream, really. A nice one. A pretty one. One that you feel good about in the morning. But you forget dreams pretty easily. So easy to forget. A good dream, but not one you remember. You know what I mean?"

"Yes..." It was so difficult to understand what he was saying. He said so much. I can't think at all. A nice dream with Matt..

"A good dream. A good dream of your friend Matt. But you don't remember it. A good dream. A dream that makes you want to dream again. It felt good to dream. And you might even ask me to dream again." He finished returning the stool and was now right in front of me. "In fact, you will. You'll ask me to hypnotize you again. Because you would love to dream again. Dream and forget. You want to dream with me. Forget." *snap* "Wake up!"

I blinked my eyes a few times, "eh? Was I really out just now?"

Matt had a huge smile on his face. "Yeah, you actually went under trance quicker than I've ever seen before. You must have really wanted to relax."

I raised my eyebrows and then checked my phone. "8:45? What?? What about the pizza? You said this would be a quick thing!"

He shrugged. "Guess I got carried a way, I'm sorry. I'll pay for it this time, to make up for it. I'll even get us some garlic bread!"

I sighed in annoyance, "Alright, fine. Just go order, I guess. I'll get a movie started."

"Sounds good to me!" He walked over to the kitchen to start the phone call, eyeing me a bit before dialing the number. I was his prey, and I was caught in his trap without even knowing it.