-Chapter 15-
The next morning, Caitlin and I got straight to business, though not the business her amped-up libido really wanted.
We went over our plan and tried to come up with solutions for any problems we might encounter; although, we knew that no plans ever survive contact with the enemy.
Caitlin and I hopped into my car and, stopped at the ATM for the money Kelly ordered me to get for her. Then we headed to my house.
With sweaty hands and a pounding heart, I pulled into my garage. Caitlin was ready to hide in the back seat if we saw the door open into the garage. We both had a dozen rings each of various types. We were worried about Kelly's possible resistance to commands necessitating many repetitions. We did not want to run out of battery before she was... more understanding of my ideas for her.
Caitlin grabbed my hand before I stepped out of the car. She didn't say anything but she gave me a quick, but passionate kiss. I thought about giving her a wink, but luckily I thought better of it.
"Kelly it's me!" I hollered as I closed the door to the garage. "I brought the cash for you."
From the living room, Kelly replied, "just set it on the table."
She was sitting on the couch staring at the eggshell white wall. She didn't even glance at me when I walked toward her. I sat down in the chair beside the couch. "So you found an apartment you liked?" I asked.
"Yep." She said still not looking at me.
"Is everything ok Kelly?"
"I just have a headache again," she replied numbly, "also why are you still here?"
"Well, this is my house... so," I replied calmly stifling my anger. I really didn't know how she got to be this way. She was once so bright and cheery. Coming home after a long day of work or college to see her was the highlight of all my days for years.
"Anyway, I did make you something that might help with your headaches. I didn't finish before we broke up, but I still hope it helps."
She turned and looked at me for the first time in quite a while. Clearly, she was interested. I pulled two full-sized rings out of my pocket and put them on my fingers to pretend to demonstrate on myself.
"I designed these based on the specifications for a machine I found in a peer-reviewed study on migraine treatments," I lied to her for one of the first times ever. "It uses vibrations and small electric shocks to stimulate some nerve behind the ear."
She looked interested and not at all suspicious. Kelly did trust me for sure. That's the only thing I had going for me in this.
I continued, "all you have to do is put these on your fingers and place them behind your ear like this," I pretended to place the rings behind my ears, but I was very careful not to touch my skin. From her angle, she couldn't tell. "Anyway, they definitely work at least a little. I used them when I had a headache, and so did Caitlin at work. Caitlin claimed it was 'life-changing.' Plus it's about 30k cheaper than the real machine in the study."
"Wanna try?" I held the rings out for her.
"Yeah, I guess I'll try them." She replied as she roughly grabbed them from my open hands.
Kelly put the rings on her fingers and placed them behind her ears. I watched her relax and I was about to breathe a sigh of relief...
"Woah, these work," Kelly said in a very relaxed voice.
I froze, I never expected her to not go into a trance with two rings. Kelly was going to be one tough cookie. I had an idea though.
I grabbed 4 rings and quietly stepped behind the couch. She was dazed enough to not notice and I figured I could come up with an excuse on the fly if I had to.
I was careful to touch all the rings near her ears at the same time. She did slump into a trance, but not as deeply as I wanted.
Her eyes were glazed over, and her cute mouth was ever so slightly parted. With 6 rings, she was just barely past the level Caitlin was with 1 ring.
With both hands already busy, it was too risky to remove a hand to grab more rings out of my pocket. It was then or never.
"Kelly, you trust me."
"I trust you." She didn't tense at all luckily.
"The rings fix your migraines."
"The rings fix my migraines."
"I can use the rings to help you with your headaches." I realized I made a mistake here, but it was too late.
Kelly shot upright in flash. She turned and caught me with four rings on my fingers before I had a chance to hide them. "Well I can't talk my way out of this," I thought to myself.
Kelly stood up dropped her rings and backed away from the couch. "You did something! I don't know what, but you're trying to do something!" She said frantically.
This isn't how I wanted things to go. I did not want her to ever be afraid. I felt terrible now, I didn't know what I was going to do. I stepped out from behind the couch and put the rings in my pocket, then put my hands to my side.
"I wasn't trying anything really, the rings just aren't very powerful so it takes multiple to cure a headache, trust me!"
"I... I trust... no! No something feels wrong, don't come closer to me." Kelly said while still backing away.
"Ok, ok, I'll leave, I really didn't mean you any harm though, please trust me."
I watched her almost relax, but then she regained her thoughts and ran out towards the garage.
I heard the door slam, then I heard Kelly yell "who the fuck!" And then silence.
I pulled out my phone and ended my open line with Caitlin. She had been on speakerphone with me the whole time as part of our backup plans. Stepping out into the garage I saw my sweet but determined-looking Cait holding up a slumped-over Kelly. Caitlin had probably every one of her rings on her hands, and while it wasn't possible to fit them all behind Kelly's ears, they were apparently close enough. Kelly is a tiny little thing at no more than 110lbs, so Caitlin had no issues holding her up by wrapping her arms under Kelly's while standing chest to chest.
