Sonja used to be cute and somewhat nerdy, petite, and sort of... basic, and not especially talented. In school she was shy around other people, and she never got much attention from boys. She preferred to stay home playing games and listening to music rather than partying late with her peers. She had a very low sex drive, and if she had considered her sexuality at all, she would have considered herself asexual.
Eventually she grew tired of her antisocial lifestyle, and decided to take her social shortcomings head on, and looked up a hypnotist to help change her way of thinking. Sonja knew she needed to careful about this sort of thing, so she picked a female hypnotist in town, just a few years older than her.
For her first visit, Sonja wore simple clothing; cotton underclothes and a pair of denim jeans, with a long sleeved shirt covered by a hooded sweatshirt. She typically wore no makeup, and this day was no exception. When she walked into the office, and when she got to the receptionist's desk, she blushed red. The guy on the other side of the desk was hot. He had a handsome face, a chiselled jaw, broad shoulders, and she couldn't tell while he was sitting, but she thought he was quite a bit taller than her, too. Her jaw went slack for a second as she checked him out, and when she realized he was looking back at her, she fumbled and couldn't think of what to say.
"Hi there," he said after an awkward silence. His voice was deep and brassy. "Do you have an appointment?"
"Oh! Yes," replied Sonja, nodding her head. "With Dr. Victoria Dotz. 3PM appointment. I'm Sonja."
He looked her over in a way that made her feel subconscious, as if she was being measured. There was nothing overtly lecherous about the look, and she didn't say anything, though her face grew red again. Finally he nodded, and gestured towards a wall lined with several comfortable looking chairs, each a different color. "Have a seat, it will be just a few minutes."
Sonja squeaked out a quick, "Thanks!" and stepped to the wall of chairs. There were seven; green, blue, red, pink, black, yellow, and brown, as she looked at them from left to right. She chose the brown chair on the far right and sat down. It was a comfortable seat, and it helped her relax for the few minutes until the receptionist said, "She's ready for you, Sonja. Right this way."
She stood and followed him through one door and down a small hallway to another. This one he opened but did not enter, beckoning Sonja to go in alone. He held her gaze for a second, then winked and smiled. "Have a good appointment." She smiled nervously and nodded back. Her face was turning red again, and her eyes went to the floor as she stepped quickly past him.
The door clicked closed behind her, and Sonja looked up to examine the room. It was not a huge office, but still somewhat bigger than she had expected. There were two comfy looking couches facing each other, one black and one red, and several cozy looking chairs of different styles dotted the room. On the far side, behind a large, solidly built desk, sat Dr. Dotz. Sonja saw her, and when the doctor stood up to greet her, Sonja thought she might blush yet again. She wasn't sure what she had expected, but this doctor was gorgeous. She was a few inches shorter than Sonja, but she had an air of self-confidence that struck Sonja immediately.
"Hello!" Dr. Dotz said sweetly. Her bright lipstick framed the word perfectly. The doctor stepped from behind the desk and walked toward Sonja, raising her hand to shake. "You must be Sonja, is that right?"
Sonja nodded, and raised her hand to shake the doctor's. "That's me! Thanks for seeing me on such short notice. I thought there would be a waiting list or something."
Dr. Dotz smiled wide at that, "Well you called us at the perfect time, we had just gotten a new permanent vacancy in our schedule. The client finished their course of treatment and saw great success, and now they're living their life stress-free." She gestured to a comfy looking chair on the client side of the desk and sat back down on her own side. "Please, have a seat. Why don't you tell me a bit about yourself? What brings you here? On the phone you specifically mentioned anxiety in group settings and the pressure to succeed at work."
Sonja sat down in the offered chair, noting how soft and comfortable it felt, and nodded at Dr. Dotz's words as she pondered the questions. "I feel like that really gets to the heart of it. I've been feeling lonely lately but the idea of meeting new people scares me a little, and when I'm in groups of other people I get flustered when the attention falls on me, so I feel stuck."
As Sonja spoke, Dr. Dotz pulled a notepad towards herself and began jotting down notes. When Sonja fell silent, Dr. Dotz motioned for her to continue.
"Work has been frustrating too. It feels like such a relentless grind, but I don't feel like I'm getting anything out of it but basic sustenance. I just feel unfulfilled."
Dr. Dotz continued writing for a few seconds, then looked up at Sonja again. "What kind of work do you do, Sonja?"
"I'm a first year paralegal at a legal firm, Van Black and Sons."
"Ohh," said Dr. Dotz knowingly, "I've heard of them. They're good. I can't imagine how stressful those working conditions must be, I bet they demand perfection."
Sonja nodded. "It can be really stressful. And the hours are long, especially for someone at the bottom of the food chain, like me. And the culture is... hard. They just pile on more and more and expect me to just handle it, and if I make so much as a comment about the workload they all jump down my throat about my abilities and my work ethic. It just really hurts my feelings and-" She had felt herself spiraling into anxiety, and would have been consumed by it, but Dr. Dotz had sensed it as well and raised her well-manicured hand sharply and suddenly, startling Sonja into silence and snapping her out of her anxious spiral.
"Easy now, Sonja. Take a deep breath." She held Sonja's gaze, not saying anything else until Sonja finally obeyed the command. Sonja instantly felt a little better, but only slightly. She wondered if the breath was what was keeping her calm, or the steady eye contact with the doctor.
When she was satisfied, the doctor continued what she had to say. "I think I have enough to get started. We can explore more as we progress." Dr. Dotz stood from her seat behind the desk and this time gestured to one of the two couches in the room. "Let's get a little more comfortable." Sonja stood and moved to the couch while the doctor moved to sit on the opposite one. They sat facing each other, and Sonja found herself admiring the other woman's easy grace and confident posture.
"I want to run you through a course of hypnosis therapy that could take a few months to completely finish. I know for a fact that we accept the health insurance that Van Black and Sons offers their employees, so you won't have to worry about the cost. We would meet once a week for two-hour sessions, and as we progress might increase that to twice a week. I would be conducting the hypnosis myself, so you'll be completely safe."
Sonja thought about it for a moment, and all the while her gaze had been held by Dr. Dotz. She couldn't deny how pleasant it felt to be lost in them, even just for the moment. "Okay," she finally said. "Yeah, let's do it. Where do I sign?"
The doctor grinned wide, "Excellent! I have the paperwork right here. Just initial here and here, and then sign down here." She procured a clipboard and pen and handed them to Sonja. Attached to the clipboard was a document, a standard liability release and agreement of service. Her best judgement told her to read the documents thoroughly, but wasn't she here to fight that kind of anxiety? She forced her eyes away from the words on the page and signed her initials and name in the spaces specified, and handed the clipboard back to Dr. Dotz.
"Perfect!" The doctor's smile was as wide as ever as she set the documents on the couch next to her, and her eyes glanced up to the clock on the wall behind Sonja. "We still have about 45 minutes left, if you're ready to get started?"
Sonja nodded vigorously, "Yeah, let's do it!" She was excited, and she could feel butterflies in her stomach. She tore her eyes away from the doctor's long enough to watch Dr. Dotz pull a device that looked like a pocket watch on a thin chain from around her neck. "I want you to look into this, Sonja," and she held it up level with her chest. When Sonja glanced at it, Dr. Dotz gave a small button on the side of the device two satisfying clicks and the face popped open, revealing a black and white spiral that was already rotating at a slow but steady speed.
"Look into the spiral, Sonja. Good, that's exactly perfect. You're exactly perfect. Keep looking into the spiral. I am going to say a command word, Sonja, as you keep looking into the spiral. Whenever I say this command word, you are going to feel heavier, Sonja. Keep looking into the spiral, Sonja, and when I say the command word, your eyes will feel heavier. Your body will become like lead, Sonja, and as you look into the spiral your consciousness will become lead. Let it sink, Sonja, when I say the command word. And when I say the command word you will sink deeper and deeper and heavier and heavier."
Sonja was staring deeply into the spiral, and she could already feel... something happening... her muscles relaxing as she listened to the doctor. She nodded slowly, lazily, acknowledging the doctor's words.
"You're doing very well, Sonja. Perfect. Keep looking into the spiral Sonja, and focus on the sound of my voice. Remember, every time I say the command word, you will feel heavier, you will go deeper, you will shed your conscious self. Lose yourself in the spiral, Sonja, good girl. The command word is "Drop!"
And Sonja felt her eyelids grow heavier. The spirals went round and round. And she could hear the doctor's voice.
