Snap
Dave laid down the book and looked at his girlfriend.
“Joan?”
“*snap* Yes *snap* Dave?”
“It’s…”
*snap*
“been…”
*snap*
“three…”
*snap*
“months..
*snap*
“already.”
.*snap*
“When…”
*snap*
“are…”
*snap*
“you…”
*snap*
“going…”
*snap*
“to…”
*snap*
“hypnotize…”
*snap*
“me?”
“*snap* When *snap* indeed?” She chuckled as she watched him strip every time she snapped her fingers.
This is a true story. As I was walking to work today, I saw a woman in her early twenties wearing headphones and apparently enjoying some kind of electronic beat. I couldn’t hear the music very well, just a few hints of sound every now and then, but I could hear her snaps. Yes, she was keeping the beat by finger snapping all the time and it was quite the show. Suddenly, I received a call and when I answered it, my words and her snaps became somewhat intertwined. I had to stop on my tracks so she could be on her way. Eventually, the sound waned and I could hear everything again.
Anyway, that’s when this idea came to me. Just like my words seemed to be punctuated by her snaps so are Dave’s in the flow of this tale. It’s not the same scenario obviously but the baseline came from this experience which just goes to prove once more inspiration really is indeed everywhere if one pays enough attention.
I’m not going to snap my fingers otherwise you’ll get naked.
No Place to Hide
Jason discovered the first camera by accident when a stray reflection hit his eyes. After that, unearthing the other devices proved to be a cinch. That had to be the work of his crazy ex-girlfriend Daisy but why?
When all twelve flashed simultaneously enveloping his mind in a blinding, hypnotic light, the truth became clear.
Besides the little black book I carry with me all the time, I have other instruments for recording stray thoughts and ideas. One of them is a file on my laptop that’s just entitled “random”. One of the entries there up until today read like this:
man discovers hidden cameras in his house that are used to hypnotize him.
Today, I looked at it and wrote this on the fly. Cameras capture images, why not thoughts as well?
Tender and Sweet
“Love me tender, love me sweet…”
Charles did. He loved his enchantress.
“Never let me go…”
Of course not! Preposterous!
“You have made my life complete
And I love you so.”
So true, He loved to hear her sing and lose his mind.
Too bad he realized far too late she was also a cannibal.
I bet you never thought of love me tender, love me sweet this way, right?
Well, neither did I until I woke up with the song on my lips after a dream. The thing is I was dreaming of a sumptuous dinner which involved tender and sweet meats. Before that, I had a dream about a portable bathroom but I doubt I’ll use that in a future piece but one never knows…
Anyhow, I mentioned in the past how I love the idea of music as a mind control instrument and Love me Tender is quite the song. I have no doubt a skillful hypnotist could use it to great effect to instill feelings of love and devotion to her for instance as evidenced by the portion of the lyrics I used above. Naturally, the cannibalism part was just for laughs but if you look closely at the image I chose to represent this piece, doesn’t it look like she’s ready to gobble the microphone before going for the next best thing which is you?
Mindfuck
“What’s up, Tim?”
“I think I’ve been mindfucked, John.”
“By whom?”
“I don’t know.”
“When?”
“I don’t know.”
“How?”
“I don’t know, okay?”
“If you don’t know anything, how do you know you’ve been mindfucked?”
“Well…”
“You weren’t.”
“Huh?”
“You were never mindfucked.”
“Never?”
“Never. You’re just imagining things. Now thank me.”
“Thank you, Johanna.”
Doubt and confusion are powerful brainwashing weapons. They’re used to keep the subject’s mind in a state of flux, primed for suggestions, programming, new behavioral routines. When one can’t distinguish what’s real and what’s not, eventually the brain feels the need to latch on to something and when it does, a shift has happened. I wrote this little snippet evoking that sense of helplessness one can experience.
And yes, the two different names thing is intentional, Was “John” ever real?