Later that night, Jon sat in his apartment, wondering what could be done, wondering what luck he had to be targeted by Sabrina like that. The knock on his door he expected and feared came around 8pm. Watching her through the peephole, he stood patiently, as she did the same. He thought about telling her to go away, for whatever good that could do him. For five minutes, both stood, both waiting to see who would flinch. Jon thought he'd won as he she sighed, hoping that was the first sign of his victory. Instead of walking away though, reached into her purse and pulled out her cellphone. Seconds later the cellphone in his sweatpants was going off.
"How did she..." he asked without thinking. Then realizing how he'd gotten her on the phone earlier, he muttered "touché" under his breath. He pressed the call button, but left silence on his end.
"As much fun as it would be to make you open this door, why don't you just be the gentleman I know you are?"
He opened the door to Sabrina, disdain written all over his face, and Sabrina paid it no mind, brushing past him into his apartment.
"Can you be a gentleman and insane at the same time?"
"Riveting question, but the only insanity I see is trying to fight this. I know you're a fighter by nature, but it seems a little ridiculous by now, doesn't it? You know it's not dangerous, it's actually enriching the way I use it. Nothing in your life will drastically change, except for the brief moments where you'll see things my way."
"How big is your harem, or stable or whatever?"
"I used to have something close to one when I was younger, but I find myself gravitating toward fewer submissives, and it's hard to think of anyone else when I have you in my sights."
She almost laughed at how unconvinced he looked in response to her last sentence.
"Even if you don't believe me, there really is something about you. Something besides the strict, innocent, good-boyish charm about you. It makes me excited to delve deeper into you."
Jon folded his arms and conveyed the posture of a wall, resistant and strong. "I don't like to be manipulated."
Sabrina shrugged her shoulders, unconvinced by Jon's words as she strode up to Jon as if the wall was no obstacle. "I like to manipulate."
She stood in front of Jon, less than a foot away from his face. Their faces stood apart and Sabrina raised her arm to begin swinging an oval-shaped blue crystal at their eye level, filling the space between them. Both looked to each other's eyes and silently acknowledged their contest was on again.
The red-headed hypnotist carefully swung the crystal from its chain, guiding the motion. A slow back-and-forth tempo, followed by a longer one. Sometimes she moved it below or above his eye-sight, testing his concentration. His eyes followed the crystal for mere seconds instead of being totally fixated as she changed tactics, but she wasn't deterred. Several minutes filled with nothing but soft breathing ended when she finally spoke.
"Do you like my crystal Jonathan? Since I was a little girl, it's been a dream of mine to use something shiny and beautiful to entrance people with. I'd always imagined how it would look, its color, the weight, how it would feel around my neck or hanging from my hand, how many could be affected by it at once, and how quickly. An aunt of mine knew I liked jewelry like that, so she got me this for my 16th birthday. From the moment I saw it, I felt entranced myself, as if my wish had come true. I let the color shine in my eyes, and fascinate me as I followed it inside the crystal, deep into it. It wasn't long before I'd forgotten that I entered it, and then I didn't mind how I'd lost myself. I would stare at it and love how it was destined to do what it's doing now, what it's done so many times before this - hypnotize. Doesn't it feel hypnotic to you Jonathan, knowing that it's right in front of you now? You can see for yourself if my words are true, if it effects you the same way. I know you're trying to look forward, to not follow the swinging. There's no shame if you did; it would be more of a shame to deny yourself such a beautiful sight."
His eyes kept the swinging in his peripheral vision, avoiding it as best he could, which didn't make it easy for him. His only savior was the blue of her eyes, and his mind remembered the effect from looking into those.
"I'm curious, between my crystal and my eyes, which is the deeper shade of blue Jonathan?"
Sabrina's smile turning wicked went unnoticed as she raised it to swing in a path that covered her eyes.
"I know you're trying to figure out where to put your attention now. For some reason you still feel like fighting me, despite how hard it's getting to even try." She left the double-meaning hanging in the air for a few seconds for effect. "For all the fighting you've done so far, how much has it worn on you? But I'm willing to extend a little bit of mercy, to make it somewhat easy for you. But first you need to answer my question, which is bluer Jonathan, or the prettier blue - the pendant or my eyes? You've seen the depths of my blue eyes already, and you've caught at least one good glance at my pendant, more than enough to see how deep you could fall into it, but I want you to compare them, to look at each and see the distinction for yourself. I once tried place the pendant over a closed eyelid while I compared the two in a mirror. I bet if you concentrate enough, you could see the same. Even as it swings, you can imagine the pendant slowing down, slowing to a crawl, and then a complete stop, like a photo being taken. This photo is of the crystal covering one eye or the other. Does it cover my right or my left? As you look at my eye and the crystal, can you tell the difference? When you look into each, which one takes you deeper, farther than the other, faster than the other?"
Jon's eyes still as he played the picture she described in his mind.
"If you want to be thorough, you can take another picture in your mind. The pendant still swings before your eyes as it always has, but now your mind prepares to capture the other way. If the crystal covered my left, now it's covering my right. Or if it started with the right, now it's left. You're left with two possibilities, but both seem so right. No detail should be left behind, that's right Jonathan. Observe and figure out which is the bluer hue. Look deeply into each, and find which one it is."
Sabrina guessed what was going on in his mind, as she'd tasked his mind and eyes with two different focal points. Her plan to divide and conquer seemed to be going well until Jon blinked a few times, righting himself and giving a hard stare to her eyes. Her own smile softened, but didn't fade. Neither was looking to give up the fight or give up and ground. She widened her eyes a little and stared right back into his.
"You know what I like about you Jonathan? You have a strength to you that I rarely see in people. It's reflected in your character, in your body," red fingernails of her free hand began trailing up and down his arm, as if studying the contours of his muscles. "In the way you're trying to fight me. It's admirable, and a thrill for me. I can't remember the last time someone like you has made me put in so much effort. Anyone else by now would easily be my willing plaything."
"Sorry, I won't be easy for you," he muttered.
