Tina's Therapy
by kiwibat
Tina was laying in bed, staring up at the ceiling when she heard a noise. It was the sound of her mom having sex.
Not again...
She pressed her hands up against her ears, trying to block out the noise but her mother's screams of joy echoed throughout the house.
"I can't take this," she groaned and grabbed her headphones. She put them on and started to play music, but she couldn't get the image out of her head
Tina ran down the hall to her sister's room and knocked. Emily opened the door.
"They're at it again," Tina said.
Yeah, I know." She said, rubbing her sleepy eyes. "It's getting worse."
Tina sat with her arms around her knees. "It's like now she's a whole other person. Like he's turning her into some kind of..." She stopped.
"I know,..." Emily said. "We gotta fix this somehow."
"How? He's always so careful."
Emily squeezed her fist. "I don't care. We're getting Mom back. No matter what."
Tina looked over at her sister and felt a bit of hope. Emily always knew what to do, if anyone could find a way to stop this, it's her.
***
It started with an ad for a spare room for rent.
$700 a month. For Women Only. No pets allowed.
At the time, it didn't seem like a big deal. It'd been a few months since her mom had lost her job and the bills were piling up.
Dr. Cooper wasn't what they had expected. He wasn't much older than their mom, with sharp features, a calm smile, and a voice that seemed to fill the room. He said he was new in town and needed a place to stay while they finished renovating his new house. The ad had specified women only, so Tina was surprised when he moved into the guest room above the garage.
Emily didn't trust him from the start. There was something strange about the way he talked. Like every word was carefully chosen. But their mom defended him. "He's a therapist," she told them. "You can always trust therapists."
Things were fine in the beginning. He was polite and quiet, and kept to himself. Then they started doing therapy together.
He offered to help Anna "regain her confidence." It'd been a couple months since she lost her job and she was starting to feel kinda depressed.
Then things started to spiral out of control.
Tina didn't notice much at first. She was too busy with school and the changes had been subtle. First it was her clothes. She used to dress pretty normal. Business professional for work. Sweaters, jeans, and other boring mom stuff for home. Then it became low necklines, tight skirts, high heels. She started becoming addicted to the attention.
Next was her personality. She started acting kinda...weird. Spacey and forgetful. Always seemed distracted. She'd laugh at things that weren't funny and shrugged off all of her usual concerns. She started to become more and more dependent on Dr. Cooper's suggestions. Letting him make her decisions for her: what to wear, what to eat, when to relax. She became obsessed with doing whatever he wanted.
And then, they started having sex.
By that point, her mom wasn't just taking advice from Dr. Cooper anymore. She was doing everything he wanted.
And the worst part was, she loved it.
***
"We can't keep letting this happen," Emily said, pacing the room.
Tina nodded. "But what are we supposed to do?"
"We need proof. He's doing something to her, hypnosis or brainwashing, we just need to prove it. We need to record one of his "sessions".
"How? He'd never let us go anywhere near there."
Emily stopped pacing. "You'll have to do it."
"What?"
"It's the only way. We'll hide a mic on you and record everything. Something we can use to prove what he's been doing to Mom."
"What if he tries messing with my head too?"
"It took weeks for her to start changing," Emily said. "It didn't happen overnight. It'll just be this one time."
Tina considered the idea. The thought of being alone with Dr. Cooper made her skin crawl. She didn't even like being in the same house as him. But Emily was right. They needed to do something.
Emily placed her hand on her sister's shoulder. "I won't let anything happen to you. I promise."
Tina sighed. "Alright, fine. I'll do it."
***
Tina was standing outside Dr. Cooper's office. It once was her mom's home office, but like everything else he'd taken that away from her too. For a brief moment, she considered turning back. But she remembered what Emily had said.
We have to figure out how he's doing this. We need to save Mom.
Tina took a deep breath and knocked on the door. Her hand was shaking. Moments later, the door opened and there he was: Dr. Cooper. His smile was cold and his stare made her shiver.
"Tina, come in. It's so good to see you. I'm so glad you decided to accept my offer."
"Yeah well, I could use someone to talk to right now."
There was a large recliner chair set up in the middle of the room. Everything was perfectly aranged. This was where he was brainwashing her Mom.
Dr. Cooper took a seat. "Relax. Theres no need to be so nervous."
His eyes were intense. It was like he could see right through her. It was almost like he could see the microphone she had hidden underneath her baggy sweatshirt, that was silently recording everything.
Stay calm
, she told herself.
It'll be ok...
*****
"So tell me, what's been bothering you?"
Tina hesitated. She didn't know where to start. Should she bring up her mom? Talk about school? Or maybe just make something up?
"I guess I've just been feeling really stressed out lately." It was the truth.
"That's perfectly understandable," Dr. Cooper replied. "Change is difficult. Especially when we feel like we've lost control. But you don't have to deal with it all on your own. I can help you."
"I don't know..." she said, trying to sound uncertain. She needed to lure him into saying something they could use. "What exactly would you be doing to help me?"
Dr. Cooper smiled. "Therapy is about changing how you see things. Sometimes we just need to
embrace
a new way of thinking."
A strange feeling washed over Tina, and her thoughts began to slow. His voice seemed to wrap around her mind.
"All you need to do is
focus
on my voice."
Tina blinked, trying her best to shake off the strange feeling.
"Just
relax
."
Tina's breathing slowed as Dr. Cooper's relaxing voice entered her thoughts. Each word was like a wave, washing over her. Her heavy eyelids started to close. Though her mind was still resisting, her body was giving in.
"You're doing so well, Tina," Dr. Cooper said. His voice was warm and comforting. "You feel relaxed now, don't you?"
Tina was struggling to focus. She kept reminding herself why she was here.
I have to stay strong. Im here to help Mom.
But his voiced continued, calming her anxious mind.
"It feels good to doesn't it? To not think. To not worry. To just
relax
."
Tina blinked. Her head dipped lower as she sank into the chair. There was something about his voice that made it feel so easy to...
relax
.
"No more worries. Just my voice, guiding you."
Tina's muscles relaxed. Her hands were resting in her lap. Her mind felt far away as Dr. Cooper's words made their way into her thoughts like a thick fog. It was getting so very hard to think.
"
Good girl
."
The word hit her hard, overwhelming her. A rush of warmth spread through her chest. The phrase echoed in her mind, growing louder and louder.
Good girl...
Something about being called a "good girl" made her feel...safe. She didn't question it.