"Uuuugh, this homework is just so frustrating," Abby moaned, collapsing face first into her pillow, red hair flying in all directions.
"What's the problem this time?" Leah asked from her own bed as she began delicately putting a fresh coat of polish on her toenails.
"It's for Professor Locke, I need to go through this therapy script and identify which parts of the script are realistic and which parts would never work unless it was a cheesy movie. It's boring and I just keep losing my place... do you mind if i read out loud? I used to all the time in high school, I just didn't want to annoy you, but I'm drowning here," Abby pleaded.
"Yeah, no skin off my back," Leah said, shrugging as she pulled one of her lovely long legs closer to her chest so she could reach the pinky toe. Abby nodded gratefully and began reading aloud.
"Fact vs. Fiction; Realistic Hypnotic Inductions," Abby began, before quickly being interrupted by a smirking Leah.
"Still on a hypnosis kick, huh? If I didn't know any better I'd think that demonstration a couple weeks ago gave our dear hunky professor a few ideas about that susceptible brain of yours." Abby blushed, looking down at her paper.
"He's the one who hands out the assignments not me, it's not my fault you got stuck with 'Surfs Up; Analyzing Brainwaves'." Leah chuckled, but her brow furrowed. "Just be careful is all, I know he's a doll, but even a man with the options he has might not be able to resist filling his pretty little student's head with ideas."
"You have no idea," Abby thought to herself before reading on.
"Read the following passage and determine whether or not this is a realistic hypnotic induction, then give three reasons why or why not," Abby began, feeling her pulse quicken in excitement at the thought of more hypnosis.
"For the next few minutes just keep an open mind and let yourself relax. Remain focused on my voice, how gentle it feels in your ears, how easy it is to follow, how it's so soft and soothing that you could easily find yourself lost in it," Abby said in a soft, low voice. Leah smiled.
"You have a nice voice for this, very soft and pretty," she said then blew on her nails to dry them.
"Thank you," Abby said a little embarrassed, but pleased with the compliment.
"As you focus on my voice, you let yourself relax. You know everything is fine and you can feel safe and peaceful here. You find your breathing may slow, growing deeper, more measured, but that just helps you feel even more relaxed and at peace."
Leah exhaled and released some tension she hadn't realized she'd been holding in her shoulders and leaned back a little on the mountain of pillows on her bed, admiring the nail job she had finished.
"You find it's easy to just pick a spot to focus on as you let my voice wash over you, simply picking an object to hold your gaze. Stare at the shiny part of that object. Fix your eyes on it, admire the way it catches he light."
Leah smiled as she looked over her toes, checking the paint for any missed spots or tiny blobs. It was a lovely silver color with shining specks of glitter through out, it was very pretty the way it caught the light, so pretty and captivating as she kept looking side to side, from toe to toe...
"Take a few deep breaths as you gaze. Breathing deeply as you listen to the sound of my voice. You will find that your eyelids have a tendency to get heavier the longer you gaze and the longer I speak," Abby continued as Leah yawned, staring intently at her pretty nails.
"It's as though they have a heavy weight is attached to them, and the longer you gaze at that shinny, pretty spot, the heavier your eyelids grow, and the heavier they are the more you blink."
Leah sighed heavily, still staring. Her pretty green eyes, usually bright and full of laughter, were now dull and glassy. They grew heavier with every blink, becoming harder and harder to open again.
"You can imagine those weights are pulling them down, as if they wanted to close on their own, making you drowsier, sleepier, heavier. They want to close, so heavy and sleepy now," Abby continued, oblivious to Leah's head wobbling back and forth as her muscled grew loose and limp, staring blankly through eyes that were barely half open now.
"And you can feel how close they are to closing, getting drowsier and more tired. You know how wonderful it would feel to close them, how blissfully at peace you'll feel when they finally do close, how good you'll feel. So hard to stare, so hard to think, it's like your eyes are begging your mind to shut off and finally enter that beautiful, restful peace."
Leah moaned longingly, eyes practically rolling into the back of her head, but Abby was too wrapped up in the material to notice.
"So drowsy, heavy, pulling down, down, dooooooown, slowly closing, letting them close now and sleeeep..."
Leah collapsed backwards on her pillows, not an ounce stress in her body or a thought in her mind. Abby remained unaware of the state of her resting roomie and kept reading.
"Just let yourself drift and enjoy this comfy, sleepy state. It's so wonderful just let yourself float away in an easy, calm, relaxing trance, completely at peace..." Abby finally finished softly. Her cheeks were flushed and her nipples pressed hard against her shirt. She was grateful she was face down as she read so Leah couldn't see. She pondered the assigned question for a moment, then began to formulate her answer.
"I'd say this was an effective induction. Reason one, the script used realistic wording, no comical "look into my eyes" silliness, just great leading and descriptors to make people feel so heavy and warm and tired that they just give in to the feelings."
"Give in...to feelings..." Leah mumbled, dreamily, eyes twitching below her lids as she absorbed all of Abby's words.
"Exactly," Abby responded, "Reason two; the pacing is great, The subject would rapidly go from focusing on the words, to the shiny object, to their own eyes so fast their mind wouldn't have time to comprehend how real the changes were, how they were doing exactly what they were told."
"Do as told..." Leah repeated, nodding slightly.
"And reason three, hmmm... I would say that people would be more open to this suggestion based on how appealing it sounds. Lots of focusing on feeling warm and happy and pleasurable," Abby typed away, while Leah smiled sweetly and shifted on the bed.
"Mmm, pleasurable," she sighed.
"Right?" Abby asked, excitedly, face flushed. "It's so lovely, the visuals, the feelings of bliss and happiness, anyone would be more than happy to sink into a deep, deep, trance."
"Transssss..." Leah practically moaned.
Abby blushed and turned to look at Leah.
"Yeah, honestly it sounds kind of ho- oh my god, Leah, are you ok?"
Abby was shocked to see her normally vibrant and bubbly roommate sprawled out on her bed, motionless. She jumped out of her own seat so fast she knocked her laptop to the floor. Upon further inspection Leah's eyes were barely open, just a hint of white under two heavy lids, and she wore a smile so dazed and relaxed that Abby got up and searched around Leah's bed expecting to find a smoldering bong.
"Leah, are you alright?" Abby asked, nervous. Leah nodded her head weakly.
"Mhm..."
