As Harper looked down in horror at the latex bodysuit she held in her hands, she couldn't move a muscle. She couldn't think. She couldn't even breath. Everything froze, and her mind raced uselessly as she tried and failed to grapple with the immense implications of what she'd discovered. It didn't feel real. It couldn't be real. Could it? Harper wished she could pinch herself and wake up, like it was just a bad dream. Maybe it was. Maybe there was some other totally innocent explanation. Maybe it was a bad joke. It had to be. It had to be anything except what it was. That hopelessly naive belief was the only thing keeping her from the edge.
Then time started moving again, and her heart started beating again, and all Harper felt was rage. The latex bodysuit could only mean one thing. Someone had done something to her, or was planning on doing it. Probably, the same thing they'd done to Lori. How dare they? Harper had never felt so violated. She found herself clenching the latex in a violently tight grip. They would pay. Whoever it was, they would pay. Harper would make sure of that. There was no way she was going to let them get away with this. Maybe if she got to them in time, she could stop them getting in to her head. That was what she needed to be afraid of, she knew. But what if they were already in her head? How long had the bodysuit been there, under her bed?
Harper had no idea. For all she knew, she'd already been dronified and just wasn't aware of it. The possibility was terrifying. It explained why the spiral she'd seen with Lori might have had such an effect on her. Perhaps her mind had already been conditioned to be susceptible. Maybe that was why she'd succumbed to temptation so easily, just a few minutes before. Harper cursed herself for being so weak. But if that was the case, wasn't her situation already hopeless? No, it couldn't be. Harper refused to give in despair. There had to be something she could do. There had to be. She could throw out the bodysuit. She could cut it to shreds. She could burn it. What else? Maybe she could figure out a way to de-program herself. If all else failed, she could run. Get away from this insane nightmare she and Lori had found themselves in. Anything, to keep herself safe.
But, Harper asked herself, was there really any point? There was no use pretending her mind was still fully her own. It wasn't like the bodysuit had made its way under her bed on its own. Sure, maybe someone had broken in and hid it there, but it seemed far more likely that someone had already been messing with Harper's head. And if that was the case, how could she possibly hope to escape from it? Whatever she tried, there could be some piece of brainwashing that stopped her doing it. Whatever she was thinking could be thoughts implanted by someone else. Maybe if she tried to run or fight or hide, something inside her would trigger and make sure it didn't work.
Harper wanted to cry. She couldn't even trust her own brain. Between the evidence of the bodysuit and what had happened to her with the spiral earlier, she no longer had any doubt about that. It was so unfair. All the adrenaline-fueled energy that had filled her mere moments ago was draining away, and was being replaced by a sense of utter vulnerability and hopelessness. In an act of petty protest, Harper threw the latex bodysuit she'd found as far across the room as she could. Then, when she looked up at it, crumpled in a heap on the floor, tears started to well up in her eyes.
"Harper?"
Harper abruptly looked up towards the door of her bedroom to see that it was open, and her roommate Lori was standing in the doorway. "H-hey Lori," she replied shakily.
"Oh!" Lori paled slightly. She looked embarrassed to have walked in on Harper like that. "I... I'm sorry, I should have knocked, I was just, um... I was gonna ask if you wanted to get food."
From the look on Lori's face, Harper figured she must look like a complete mess. That wasn't a surprise. She normally would have felt embarrassed to let Lori see her like that, but she was too overwhelmed to care. She did, though, feel a sudden need to hide what she'd discovered. She knew she should probably show Lori, but somehow she felt like doing that would make it real. Showing Lori would also probably mean admitting that she'd used Lori's computer to look at a brainwashing spiral. Harper certainly didn't relish that prospect. She'd been hoping she'd be through with everything before Lori returned home, although in retrospect she wondered if she'd just been fooling herself. The previous evening, Lori had gone to visit a friend of hers, Sally, and had ended up sleeping over. Harper hadn't been expecting her back until later, although she really had no idea how long she'd spent kneeling on the ground staring in disbelief at her horrifying discovery. She hadn't even heard Lori opening the front door, like she normally did. Harper had no idea if that was because she'd been hypnotized, or if it was because of the way finding the latex bodysuit had made her heart pound so hard she'd been unable to hear anything else.
"Um..." Lori moved a little way into the room. "Harper, are you OK?"
Harper swallowed her pride. "I... found something."
The look of concern on Lori's face deepened. "Yeah?"
"It's... uh..." Harper realized she couldn't bring herself to say it, so instead she just raised one hand and pointed at the latex bodysuit, still lying on the floor on the far side of the room.
"Huh?" Lori said, spotting it. "Why do you have my-" Her voice cut off suddenly and her eyes widened as she saw the small box, half-pulled out from under Harper's bed, and all the pieces snapped into place. Her hand went to her mouth. "Oh my god."
"Yeah," Harper said, after a long pause.
"B-but how?" Lori seemed equal parts bewildered and panicked. "Harper, how did you find this?"
"I... it's a long story." Harper couldn't quite bring herself to confess everything straight away.
"So, do you know... I mean... does this mean... do you think?" Lori stammered.
"What else could it mean?" Harper replied flatly.
"Oh my god," Lori repeated breathlessly. Then, to Harper's surprise, she rushed to her side, knelt on the floor, and threw her arms around her shoulders. Harper stiffened for a moment, before relaxing into the hug. "I'm so sorry, you must be terrified."
After a long pause, Harper nodded. "Little bit," she admitted.
"I get it," Lori soothed. "Probably no-one else in the whole world does, but I do."
Harper said nothing. She was shocked at how easy it was to lean in to Lori's embrace, and at how comforting her roommate's presence was. Earlier, when she'd been freaking out, she realized she'd forgotten something important: she wasn't alone. Lori holding her was the perfect reminder of that. It didn't come naturally to her, but Harper allowed herself to be held for a little while.
"It's going to be OK," Lori whispered.
"I just... I don't know how this could have happened," Harper said eventually.
