Bliss
The lecture seemed long and boring as Jennifer floated in luxury and comfort. She knew on the outside she appeared so attentive and she absorbed every detail, but on the inside, all she could think about was peaceful bliss, knowing she was fulfilling Vince's wishes. A vague memory swept over her and she shivered at the thought.
A memory of her sitting in the library, the third hour in a mad study marathon, when she heard the thud of books beside her, momentarily distracting her. She didn't think too much of him as he sat there and seemed to stare at her. She looked up and saw his smirk, wondering what was wrong with him.
"Want to see a neat card trick?" Vince asked, a deck suddenly appearing in his hands.
"I'm studying," she said, a little annoyed.
"I know, but I need you to take a second and see this. The break will do you good." He shuffled the deck and then fanned it out, face down. "Take one."
She looked down at her book, trying to ignore him.
"Come on, take one," he commanded again.
Exasperated, she grabbed one. "Ok," she said, looking at it quickly. "But I always figure these things out."
"We'll see about that. Don't show it to me, but remember what it is. Got it?"
She nodded your head. "Yeah, yeah."
"Good, now put it back in... anywhere... there you go... good girl." He shuffled the deck again and then arranged it in his hand. "Your card is..." he said, tapping the top one and turning it over. "The queen of hearts."
"No, it's the three of spades nimrod," she shook her head, obviously upset by his lame trick.
He stared at the deck as if wondering what happened. "Oh, my bad, check on your seat." He indicated the hard chair she was sitting on. "Sometimes these things get away from me." She lifted one leg up and saw a card lying there, face up... the three of spades. Her interest piqued.
"How did you...?"
"I thought you figured these things out," he smirked. "I guess you don't pay that much attention. How about we try that again," he suggested, fanning out the deck in front of her. "Pick another one."
She had more interest this time and reached forward more enthusiastically. "Yeah... I'm paying attention."
He smiled, seeing her eyes focus more intently and dilate a little more. In her hazy state, her mind yelled NO to the image... she knew that's what he wanted. She knew that's how he ensnared her.
She heard him, almost as if he was mumbling, thinking it's part of how he distracted her. She tried to tune it out, tried to pay attention to what he was doing and where his hands were going. She heard him, but didn't pay attention to what he was saying.
"Put it here, anywhere you want." She placed it into the deck and he shuffled it again. Then he broke it into halves holding them in front of her. "Pick a half." She indicated the one on her right. He lay the other half aside, then cut the indicated one in half again, allowing her to choose once more. On the third time, he had six cards in his hand and fanned them out in front of her, face down.
"Pick your card," he said.
She went to pull one and then at the last second changed her mind and pulled another. She looked at it and her eyes opened wide, her face beamed. "How in the hell did you do that?" she asked.
"It's magic," he said, smiling. "It's all about distracting you... one hand goes here... another goes there," he said, moving his hands slowly, catching her eyes. "Then this one, then that one...." Her eyes were moving side to side, slowly.
"But I see you're getting sleepy. Good girl. You need to rest for a bit, you've been studying hard. I'll just show you one more trick, ok?"
She nodded her head slowly, her eyes half closed. His mumbling was starting to drone in her ears, making her try to focus harder, making her more tired.
He pulled a card from the deck and raised it up in front of her eyes, facing away from her. He moved it to the right and turned it towards her. It was the king of clubs. "Look at this card. It's going to change, and you have to tell me how." He moved it back to the center and faced it towards himself, then to the left and when it faced her, it was showing the queen of hearts.
"Are you paying attention? I mean REALLY paying attention. I'm still distracting you, you know, making it so you don't see how I'm doing this. You'll have to watch VERY carefully to see how I'm doing it."