This story owes a debt to JukeBoxEMSCA, and I'd like to take a moment to thank them for their work and for their inspiration. Any similarity between their work and mine should be taken as imitation (aka the highest form of flattery).
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It had a been another long day. Another day of rising early, bleary-eyed and tired, to get to the station to sit on a rocking train wishing he was still in bed, nodding off as the track rolled by. Another day of calls and reports and queries at work, of feeling that it was easier just to sit at his desk at lunchtime and eat his sandwiches there rather than take a walk. Another long train ride back home from London, dozing off sleepily in the carriage.
Paul had arrived at his home station to find a light drizzle of rain falling. He's walked home as quickly as he could, hoping it wouldn't get any worse and relieved to find it hadn't. He'd slipped out of his coat and shoes and slumped down on the couch, vowing just to catch a couple of minutes of rest before sorting out his food.
When the doorbell rang Paul's eyes flew open. Pulling himself out of his chair he saw on the clock that a few minutes had become twenty, and he felt groggy and muddle-headed. Who the hell was knocking on his door at this time of night?
He opened the door to find a wet and bedraggled young woman in blouse and skirt almost pressed up against it. She almost fell into him as he yanked the door open crossly before pushing one hand out against his chest and catching herself. Over his shoulder he saw the rain was hissing down more firmly now, bouncing up off the pavement. She had light red hair plastered to her head and startling bright blue eyes.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" she exclaimed, pulling her hand back. "I was just trying to catch a bit of shelter..."
"Yeah, uh, no worries," Paul replied. "Uh...what do you want?"
"I'm from HypnoCo and we're doing some door-to-door hypnosis in your area," she said brightly. "My name is Lisa and I'm your registered hypnotician for this area! What's your name?" She held up a business card with a complicated looking logo on it Paul's eyes automatically looked down at it.
"Paul. Um, what? Did you say door-to-door hypnosis?" Paul wondered if he was still asleep and having a particularly odd dream. He looked at the logo, some sort of complicated Celtic knot design, and his eyes began to trace the pattern.
"Yes, and as it's so wet and raining so hard out here would you mind if I came inside to talk about it some more with you? Thank you." She stepped smartly towards him and Paul found himself backing up politely to make room.
"I'm not sure that's such a good idea...I'm kind of busy tonight..." he replied, a little feebly.
Lisa just kept moving forward and to prevent her from crashing into him he was forced to give ground and back up into the living room. "Now, you see, I can identify one way in which we can help you already. You're clearly tired, confused and in need of some help with your confidence." Now there was enough space she moved neatly around him and sat on the sofa, legs primly tucked up underneath her. "HypnoCo runs all kinds of courses, and I bet I could help you within a single session. I mean, look, already you've let me into your house and I've been leading the conversation since we met, with my voice just running and talking over yours without a pause or a break. I can see on your face you're finding it hard to keep up, and after a long day at work I'm sure you're tired and could do with a bit of a break rather than hearing me go on. But despite that, you're not able to ask me to leave, and in fact you're letting me hold eye contact with you whilst I talk and tell you how easy it would be to let me keep going. Why don't you sit her next to me and I'll drop you some more information?"
Paul felt totally lost now. This woman had just marched in and sat on his sofa before he'd had a chance to say anything, and now his head throbbed trying to follow her long sentences. Feeling as though he was missing something important, he shut the front door and crossed the room to sit next to this strange, forceful woman, still holding the business card. The pattern on it still drew his attention, and he thought he could see words hidden within it.
"That's it, Paul, see how easy it is just to follow my suggestions?" She flashed him a warm smile and leant forwards, getting uncomfortably close. Her wet blouse was clinging to her chest and proving quite distracting as it showed the smooth curve of her breasts underneath. "You'll find the more you listen to me the easier it gets, too, and that's exactly what I'm talking about. I'm here to make sure your life gets easier and simpler, and the best way I know of that is helping you to let go of some of the things that are making your life so difficult right now so you can concentrate on the most important things. Take another look at that card, for instance."
Paul, who had been trying to avoid staring down her top and trying to find room on the sofa that was slightly further away from her without forcing him to fall off the edge of it, glanced down at the logo again.
"Closer, see how the words are hidden inside?" He bent his head down, feeling the weight of it on his chest. Bringing the card closer to his face, he peered intently at the logo and the loops and whirls that made it up.
"Now, Paul, you'll see the logo has lots of little details. Keep looking for long enough and you'll start to make them out. Just trace along the lines with your eyes, that's the best way to see. Focus all your attention on the card – we've been very clever in designing it." Lisa's voice was now much less bright and perky, instead dropping to a lower tone and slowing down. Paul's head seemed heavier and heavier as he stared into the logo. The rest of the room almost faded away as he concentrated on looking along the line of the knot. Nothing remained other than the symbol and Lisa's voice.
"Keep looking at the card, Paul, and keep listening to me. It's important that you do what I tell you because I'm going to take everything that isn't important away from you now. It would be good not to have to worry about anything, wouldn't it?"
She wanted him to make some kind of response, Paul realised. The symbol was so intricate, though, drawing his eyes along it. Up, and along, and across, and down, and back round again...Lisa had gone silent, and Paul felt as though he should say something to fill the gap.
"Uh, yes," he murmured.
"Very good, Paul," she breathed quietly into his ear. Paul felt an uncommon rush of pleasure at being told he was doing it right. "Look at the symbol, see it, stare into it, see how the more you look the more detail it reveals, the deeper into it you see the more is revealed. Feel yourself dropping into the symbol, taking away everything else from the world other than it's loops and patterns and the sound of my voice." Paul's eyes were fixed on the symbol now, his breathing shallow and slow.
