'Just relax.'
The voice belonged to Melinda's neighbour-across-the-hall, Patrick, though he was not in the room with her. He was probably, she thought, in his own bed, asleep. His voice came from a little digital recorder which was sat beside her bed. Mel had been having trouble sleeping and Pat had told her that he could help, if she was willing. At two in the morning, with another sleepless night looking her in the face, she had decided to give Pat's hypnosis recording a go.
'Let your body settle naturally onto the bed,' Pat's voice instructed, and Mel did her best to follow the instruction. She let herself relax as best she could against the mattress. She was failing to sleep, as usual, in a camisole and boy shorts; sleeping naked, even in the warm, July weather in New York, was just not in her nature.
'Remember, Mel, that this is not deep hypnosis. You're just going to enter a light trance which will make you more relaxed. You just need to listen to the sound of my voice and allow yourself to relax. Just relax. You are quite safe. Safe and sound. Just relax and allow my voice to wash over you.' Pat had explained that this was not exactly hypnosis, more like a mild form of altered state. When she had mentioned stage hypnotists and post-hypnotic suggestions he had laughed and told her that she need not worry; unlike what you heard in the popular press, hypnosis could never make you do anything you were not inclined to do anyway. All Pat was going to do was encourage Mel to be inclined to fall asleep.
'Get comfortable, Mel. Let my voice flow over you like warm water. I want you to concentrate on your body, on how your body feels. Feel your body become more relaxed. Feel your head and neck relaxing against the pillow. Let that feeling of relaxation wash down through your neck into your shoulders. Allow your shoulders and back to relax into the mattress. Feel that relaxation spreading upward into your stomach and chest.'
Something about the situation made her nipples perk. There she was, lying in bed, listening to Pat's voice. Pat had lived across the hall from her for over a year and they had been friends for almost all of that time. Not tight friends or best friends, but close enough that they spent the occasional evening watching a movie. But that was the limit of their relationship; Pat was attractive, smart, tall, and way outside Mel's league. Mel was short, too heavy, her boobs were way too big for her frame, her face was too fat, her nose was too small. She had good hair, maybe, blonde and full and shoulder length. People said she had good hair, which was obviously just a way of saying something nice about her...
'Just relax and let the feeling spread down through your hips and into your thighs. Let it flow out and into your arms. Feel your arms and legs growing heavy as they become more and more relaxed.' She let herself drift back into Pat's voice, putting aside the imperfections of her body. It was like having Pat in the room with her. Though if he had been, she would have been mortified and hiding under the sheets. 'Let that feeling of relaxation wash down to your fingers and toes. Feel it rebound and as it does so, it grows deeper. Feel your toes and fingers, and hands and feet, grow heavier, more relaxed. More relaxed than you have ever felt.'
It was kind of weird. Nice weird, not scary weird, but kind of weird. Mel felt like her hands and heels were now pressing into the mattress. She doubted she could have moved them, even if she had wanted to, and she did not really want to. Her body felt heavy. Pat had said he thought she would make a good subject. He had said that imagination was important and Mel had that in spades. 'Feel the wave washing back up your legs and arms,' Pat's voice said, and she could. 'Feel it bring with you a warm, relaxing feeling.' Yes, she did feel warm and relaxed. 'Feel it pouring into you torso and chest, feel yourself filling up with relaxing warmth.' Mel almost let out a gasp as her body seemed to suddenly sag into the bed. Almost, but not quite; gasping would have been so much effort.
'Feel the relaxing waves washing through your neck. Feel them filling your head, making you relax, making you feel so good.' She did feel good. Her head felt filled with cotton wool. She felt warm, wrapped in wool, relaxed. So relaxed. 'Just relax,' Pat's voice said. 'Relax and let yourself float. Feel yourself float and relax and feel so good. Remember how you feel. Remember how good it feels to be floating here, relaxed. In a few seconds, I'm going to let you come back up. When you do, you're going to keep this feeling of wellbeing, of feeling so good and so relaxed. When you try to sleep, you're going to allow yourself to float back into this relaxed state where you feel so good. You can do it whenever you wish. Coming up now. On the count of three you will no longer be in a trance, but you will be relaxed.'
'One. Starting to rise.' The wash of relaxed feeling seemed to drain out of her, slowly at first.
'Two. Coming closer to the surface.' Mel's eyes flickered and her right hand shifted as she came up.
'Three. And awake. You're feeling good, relaxed.' Mel opened her eyes and let out a sigh. She was expecting the recording to end there, but Pat had one last message for her. 'Goodnight, Mel. Just relax and go to sleep.'
And Mel turned over and slept.
***
'How are you sleeping?' Pat asked as they met on Friday morning, both of them leaving their apartments at the same time.
'Much better,' Mel replied. Four nights of listening to Pat's voice had resulted in four nights of deep, relaxing sleep. It was amazing, except... 'Though, I've had to play the recording every night before I could get to sleep. It works, but it's not like I'm learning to sleep better.'
Pat looked at her for a second, as though coming to a decision. 'Have you time to grab the recorder before you go out? I'll make you something new. It'll mean going a little deeper, but I think it'll let you drift off much more easily.'
'Deeper?' She sounded uncertain.
'Nothing to worry about. Just relax. A slightly deeper trance will just let you absorb the lessons better.'
Mel nodded and her hand was turning the key to let herself back into the room before she had consciously decided to do it. 'Okay, I'll be right back.'
***
'Just relax.'
After four days, just those words made Mel's limbs began to feel leaden and her mind sink into a comfortable fug. She suspected she was wearing a stupid grin. 'Relax and listen to the sound of my voice. Relax and feel warm and comfortable. Relax and feel safe, feel good.'
