"So, what do we do?" Ethan asked.
Josh shrugged. He was lying on Ethan's bed, scrolling on his phone. "Dunno."
"Come on! Put down the fucking phone! You won't get any girls that way! And I won't." Ethan got up from the chair and walked up to the window. It was June already, and here they were. Two good-looking young men, who lacked female company for the summer. The plan had been different, and would have been, if dumb Hannah hadn't dumped Ethan back in April--and if slacker-Josh had gotten himself a girl.
Ethan looked at this friend. They'd known each other since they were kids, but they seemed to be growing apart now. Josh seemed content to just... drift. Just follow along. Ethan... wanted to do things. They'd talked about going out in the city, and find a couple of pretty girls. Every time Ethan had proposed they go out, Josh had come up with some excuse. So nothing had happened. Ethan sometimes thought he needed some new friends. He and Josh mostly hung out because they'd grown up together, and because they lived so close.
Ethan crossed his arms. He could see two options. One was to go it alone and, well, dump Josh. Wouldn't be fun, but he was not going to spend the whole summer without sex. And then he needed a girl. The other option was... It was actually Josh's idea, but he'd meant it as a joke. They'd argued about it and Ethan couldn't let it go. But he didn't dare just trying it on some random girl. Or a girl he knew. He wanted to test it, at least the initial bit. So, why not...?
"Hey," Ethan said. "Put down the phone." He kicked at the bed.
"Yeah, yeah," Josh said--but put down his phone.
"I have an idea."
"For how to get girls?"
"Yes."
"Not... Oh no. Not hypnosis, right? Again?"
"Yes. Actually. I have read some more. I have a plan."
Josh groaned. Ethan had been fascinated with hypnosis since those stupid Scooby Doo cartoons. They'd experimented with it, and he knew Ethan had experimented with others. But it had never worked. Then he'd proposed it as a solution for what seemed to be Ethan's huge problem this summer: getting laid. Ethan had been going on about it ever since.
"It doesn't work. You know it. I mean, look, you blame me for being lazy, but, seriously, you want to hypnotize girls into having sex with you? It doesn't work that way!"
"How do you know? What do you know about hypnosis?"
"I know enough! Look. If it worked, don't you think... it would be used, like a lot?"
"It works. I have a plan. I just need to test it."
"Fine. Do that. Go out there, and find yourself a sexy blonde and test it. Bring her back here and show me. I can try her out."
"I will. And you'll get to do it. But I want to test it. I want to test it on you." Ethan held his breath. There. He'd said it.
"Me?!" Josh sat up. "No way! I'm not going to have sex with you!"
"Oh come on!" Ethan walked over to the door and turned towards Josh. "Not for sex! I want to test the induction!"
"The what?"
"It doesn't matter. All I need is for some volunteer to let me hypnotize them, just to verify my plan. Then I will do it on a girl."
Josh shook his head. "This... this is.. I dunno." He didn't know much about hypnosis, but he'd heard it was mostly fake.
"No, you don't. And you don't think it will work. And that hypnosis doesn't work. So what's the problem? Let me try, and then you can laugh at me all summer. You can even tell the girls."
"Hey... Take it easy. No need to be angry. I'm just..." Josh was surprised. Ethan was staring at him, face set, arms crossed. He looked really annoyed. "I mean, it's not that I think you can't do it... I just don't think it works..." Josh trailed off.
"I know," Ethan said, his voice flat. "You mentioned."
Josh was silent for a while. He didn't like when Ethan was angry with him.
"Okay," he said. "Try it, then. What do I do?"
Ethan stared at his friend. Then he nodded.
"Lie down on the bed. Head on the pillow. Just look up at the ceiling," Ethan said.
Josh hesitated, but then did so. Ethan went to his desk and got something from a drawer. He pulled the chair close to the bed, sat down, and leaned in towards Josh. He held up his hand, and held a crystal hanging on a chain, over Josh's face.
"Don't talk," Ethan said. "Just look at the crystal. It doesn't matter if it works or not. Just look at the crystal, and follow it around." He swung the crystal in slow circles above Josh's face. Josh tracked it, as it went round and round. He was skeptical and uncomfortable, but he went along. For now.
"Look at the crystal, see it go round and round. And see how the light from the window is mirrored in it, but in pieces. like little flashes. Focus on the crystal, simply look at the crystal and nothing else."
Josh did as Ethan said, even though it was a bit of a strain on the eyes. He could see the light flashes, especially... there... and there, when the crystal was over there... Ethan was speaking in a slow, deep voice, pretty different from his normal one.
"Look at the crystal as it goes round and round. As you look, feel yourself relaxing. Just relax on the bed. Let all your muscles relax, just sink into the bed. Look at the crystal, look at the flashes, while you relax. You can count the flashes if you want. Count them as you follow the crystal, round and round, relaxing deeper and deeper." Josh found himself following Ethan's directions, and actually felt some tension releasing. He counted the flashes quietly. One. Two. Three. He thought about how to handle this afterwards. He shouldn't tease Ethan too much.
Ethan saw Josh's mouth moving, and grinned. So far so good.
"Keep watching the crystal, and keep relaxing. That's all you need to do. Listen to the sound of my voice, and relax deeper. Deeper and deeper. As the crystal goes round and round, and you see the flashes, each flash makes you more relaxed. It shoots into your eyes, and makes a wave of relaxation go through your body and your mind, making you relax deeper. It feels as if you're sinking into the bed. Sinking down, into the soft bed, your body and your mind getting relaxed. Deeper and deeper with each flash. It feels good to relax, doesn't it."
"Yes," Josh mumbled, his voice slow. It did feel good. He did feel relaxed. Just lying on the bed. Relaxing his body.
"It feels so good," Ethan said, nodding. "So good to relax, to let go of all tensions, all worries. You can just relax and let go of everything for a little while, and just lie there, sink down deeper, and relax. Keep following the crystal, and keep watching the flashes. Each flash makes a wave of relaxation. Each wave makes your whole body relax, and your mind. As your mind relaxes, it lets go of everything. It's hard to keep counting. The more you relax, the deeper you go, the more your mind relaxes, the harder it is to remember the numbers. That's fine. If you forget the numbers, just start over. Each time you start over, you know you're going deeper and deeper into relaxation, your mind letting go of everything, just following the crystal, just following my voice, just seeing the flashes, just sinking deeper and deeper, deeper into relaxation..."
Ethan kept talking, and sure enough, soon Josh's quiet mumbling stopped.
"Uh... One," he said. "Two..." He was staring intently at the crystal now, his eyes going round and round in the steady rhythm of the crystal. "Three... Uh." He blinked. "One..." He found himself losing track of the numbers. He felt very relaxed. Very calm.
Ethan let him continue, until Josh was just saying, "one. one. one."
"That's fine. You can stop counting. Let me count. I will count from ten to one. With each count, your body will relax ten times more deeply than it is already. You will feel a wave of relaxation from your eyes, through your whole body, in every muscle. Your whole body will relax, so very deeply. Your mind will relax too, deeper and deeper. Each wave makes your mind relax and let go. All thoughts and worries just drift away. With each flash, all your worries, all your cares, all your thoughts just drift away. Ten. Feel your body relaxing. Breathe out deeply, and relax. Feel your mind relaxing, letting go of everything. Nine. Relax deeper. Deeper and deeper. Sink deeper now. Eight."
As Ethan counted, Josh visibly relaxed. His face and jaw became looser and slacker. Only his eyes still focused, tracking the crystal automatically. At five, Ethan added suggestions for Josh's eyelids to become heavier. At three, they started to flicker.
"Two. So very deep now. Your body is completely relaxed. No tension left at all. You are completely limp. Your mind is so relaxed. So free from cares. So free from worries. So free from thoughts. All you see is the crystal. All you hear is my voice. When I reach one, you will sink into sleep. Into a deep hypnotic sleep. You will be hypnotized. You will close your eyes, and listen to my voice." He made a pause. "One. Sleep."
Josh's eyes closed. He didn't think about it. They just shut. He just lay there, his body limp and heavy, his mind empty. It felt good. He was hypnotized.
Ethan held his breath and lowered his hand. Damn. That crystal became heavy after a while!
"You are hypnotized now," Ethan said. "Deeply relaxed, deeply hypnotized. Just listen to my voice. Listen to the sound of my voice. Let it wash through your mind, like the sound of waves. You don't have to think about my words. Just listen to them, just let them wash into your mind, just let them sink into your mind."
Ethan sat back. So. It worked. Like he knew it would. Josh was hypnotized. He felt a huge grin on his face. It worked. It worked! He could hypnotize people! And it hadn't even been difficult.
"Listen to me, Josh," Ethan said. "Listen and respond when I ask you questions. You are hypnotized now, deep in hypnotic sleep. How do you feel?"
"Re...laxed..." Josh sounded almost asleep.
"Good. It feels good to be so relaxed. So good to be hypnotized. You like being hypnotized. You like being deeply relaxed, just lying there, letting my voice wash through your mind, letting my voice fill your mind."
Ethan wanted Josh to focus entirely on his voice now, without thinking about the words. It was hard to know how it worked.
"You're hypnotized. But it's safe. Being hypnotized is safe. You won't do anything you don't want to do in hypnosis, isn't that right?"
"Yes..." Josh said.
"And so you can just relax and go along, let your mind relax and not listen to my words. Just drift, deep in relaxation, deep in hypnosis, and let my words wash through you. And as they do, you can just see the things my words mean. You don't need to listen to my words, you can just see them. Elephant. Can you see the elephant?"
"Yes."
"What is it doing"?
"Eating peanuts... trumpeting."
Ethan grinned. It was working. Josh was seeing things in his mind.
"And now a boat on a river. Floating downstream slowly. Floating down, and as it floats, you go slowly deeper and deeper. What kind of boat is it?"
"River boat... with wheels... and a casino.... dancing girls."
Great. He was associating away.
