Chapter 1: Unleashed

" ... three, two, one, awake!" Mark opened his eyes and stretched, allowing a profound feeling of freedom to wash over him. "How do you feel, son?" his father asked.

"Much better, now that that's over with." Mark responded. "Call me crazy, but if his memories of having studied a subject had depended on how well he learned it, Ken Jennings would have had pre-exam jitters."

"So, Crazy, what are you going to do now that the restraints are off?" his father asked.

"Escape this so-called 'party.'" Mark said, peering out through the blinds to where his mother and her husband were putting candles in a fruit cake in the back yard.

"I don't blame you, even the clown looks bored." his father agreed. "But I meant, what are you going to do with your skills now that I've removed the post-hypnotic suggestions that kept you from using them?"

"I'm going to do the best I can." Mark replied simply.

"Fair enough." his father said, handing him the keys to the new Silverado he'd arrived in. "You've got a few hours of good daylight left, and I understand some of your friends went down to the lake." Mark grabbed his swim trunks from upstairs, slipped out the front door and started the truck. As he backed out onto the road, he saw his mother chasing hell-for-high-heels after him. He drove away slowly, almost allowing her to catch up, before speeding up. He almost stopped the vehicle once he had a good lead, and allowed her to approach again before taking off again. The third time, he really floored it, kicking up dirt and gravel all over her best dress. He let out a cackle as he saw her in his rear-view mirror, shouting and cursing and mad as a wet hornet.

As he drove across town, Mark had time to indulge in a certain sense of elation. For the past five years, his father had been teaching him hypnosis. To keep him out of trouble, he'd given Mark a set of post-hypnotic suggestions that had, until now, prevented him from using them outside of his training exercises. Now, he was free to use his skills as he saw fit. An anime image he'd seen once of a bored-looking guy in old-fashioned clothes sitting on a throne and presiding over an otherwise all-female orgy while a few select women fawned at his feet came into his mind, with himself as the gentleman. Some common-sense portion of his brain revised the picture so that half of the naked, moaning women were in various stages of pregnancy.

Maybe not THAT extreme... Mark thought with amusement as he signaled a left turn. But I'd still like to have some fun with it. He turned left, onto the fork that would take him to the lake.

The urban dwellers of Mark's hometown were served by the local lignite-burning power plant, affectionately nicknamed Old Smokey. Water from the plant fed into a smallish, artificial lake, keeping it above 70 degrees year-round. Land Management stocked the lake with fish, which thrived in the warm water and provided ample food for at least one known pair of eagles, and ample sport for the local fishermen. It also provided an excellent swimming hole for those who weren't willing to drive nine hours to Corpus Cristi. With the school year so recently over, it was the perfect place to go celebrate one's newfound liberation.

Some time later, Mark was lying on the floating raft on the other side of the swimming area, allowing the sun to dry his skin while he rested after an enjoyable swim. He heard the sound of someone nearby coming up for air and climbing onto the raft.

"Hiya, Mark." said Sierra Mitchell as she sat down beside him, dripping all over his chest and stomach. He opened his eyes, always happy for the opportunity to gaze upon her supple feminine charms--especially since she was wearing a body-baring bikini. She also had a crystal necklace that served as completely gratuitous emphasis to draw attention to her rack.

"Nice necklace, Sierra." he said, after returning his gaze to her sparkling eyes.

"That's what's so great about you, Mark, you know how to take your brain out of your pants and treat a girl with respect." she said.

"I've simply learned to accept the reality that, since I'm not football captain, I'm destined to die a virgin." Mark replied.

"What if you weren't?" Sierra muttered. She blushed and turned away.

"I'm sorry?" Mark asked, hoping she'd elaborate.

"Um ... I'm sure you'll find someone." she said. Her blush was spreading down her neck to the tops of her breasts. As the sun approached the treetops in the west, many of the revelers had gone home, most of the rest were in preparations to do the same. The seeds of an idea were sprouting in Mark's mind.

"But your necklace is very nice, Sierra." he said, sitting beside her on the east side of the raft. "The way it catches the light just right, is just awesome. Let me show you."

"Okay." she said, unfastening her necklace. Mark held it up, allowing it to swing a little, so it flashed in her eyes.

"See how wonderfully it catches the light, Sierra?" he began. "How it shatters the light into a prism of beautiful color ... it's kind of relaxing, isn't it?"

"Almost hypnotic." she responded, softly. Mark couldn't have hoped for a better opening.

"Maybe it is, Sierra. Hypnotic. You have such wonderful taste in jewelry, Sierra, you deserve to relax, just watch the relaxing, hypnotic display that your necklace puts on for you. Don't worry, you can trust me, you know I'd never hurt you."

"Never ... hurt..." she said, swaying in time to the swinging of the crystal. "Trust ... You..." Mark softly guided her into a deep hypnotic sleep. He talked constantly of trust, and relaxation, and sleep. When her eyes closed, he told her that she could still see the necklace in her mind's eye. She relaxed against him, as her body slowly gave in, until she was as limp as a rag doll.

"When I count to three," he said, "you're going to open your eyes and act normally, but you will not remember the number six. It will not exist in your mind. You will come back to this wonderful, relaxed sleep when I tell you to, and you will fall ten times as deep as you are now. One, two, three." Sierra opened her eyes slowly. "Sierra, look at your fingers for a moment." She did. "Count them for me, Sierra." he said. She smiled, humoring him, and curled each finger as she counted it off.

"One, two, three, four, five, seven, eight, nine, ten ... eleven." she said, the last number causing her confusion. "Wait ... that can't be right. One, two, three, four, five, seven, eight, nine, ten ... eleven."

"Sleep." he said, as he touched her forehead, and she collapsed. "Deeper, deeper, Sierra, so wonderful to sink so deeply into my hypnotic sleep."

"Hyp..." she started, but relaxed further as Mark droned on. "The number six has returned to your mind, Sierra. Open your eyes and count them, and when you have counted them correctly, you will sink ten times as deep into hypnosis as you are now."

"One, two ... three ... four ... five ... s ... six ... sev ... en ... eight ... niiiiine ... ten." she said, relaxing more with each number, and then dropping off again.

"Sleep deeply, Sierra, deeply sleeping, deeper, deeper and deeper, sleepy deeper sleeping deeply, deeply down deeper and down, deeper and down, sleep softly, sleep deeply, you hear only my voice." He gently caressed her face, while his eyes moved down her bikini-clad body. Her breasts weren't too big, but she wasn't bone-thin either. She had a little belly, not dumpy, but not anorexic either. He liked a little meat on a girl's bones. Her smooth legs were like heaven, all the way to her painted toes. He brushed a strand of her red hair out of her face. "Very good, Sierra, you're such a good subject. Now, you're deep, deep in hypnosis, Sierra. It's such a wonderful feeling, you'd like to come back again, wouldn't you?"

"Yes." she said. "Wonderful. Come back."

"That's no problem, Sierra, you know the way. Most importantly, your subconscious mind knows the way. You will be able to return to this state of wonderful relaxation when you hear me say the words 'Sierra Mystified.'" As soon as he said it, it sounded lame, but as she softly repeated her new trigger phrase, he had the strangest feeling that she liked it. Well, then Sierra Mystified it would be. "You must always be honest with me, Sierra, a hypnotized person is always honest with the hypnotist. How do you feel about me?"

"I ... I feel attracted to you." she said.

"Did you feel this way before I hypnotized you?"

"Yes."

"Then why didn't you tell me until now?"

"I was afraid of what my friends would say."

"Sierra, I want you to take this fear, imagine it as something tangible. Can you do that?"

"Yes." she said. "It looks like a chain."

"That's a very good visualization, Sierra." he said, with a gentle facial caress. "I want you to imagine a box, now. A small, metal box just big enough to put the chain in. Can you see the box?"

"Yes."

"Good, now I want you to put the chain in the box. Once it's in, I want you to slam it good and tight. Let me know when you've slammed it, Sierra."

"It's in the box." she said. "I've slammed it shut."

"Good girl. Now, the box is pretty heavy, especially with that chain inside. You won't be able to carry it around with you. You'll have to push it along the carpet. Push it now, Sierra, toward a big hole in the floor. Don't fall in, now. It's a big, deep hole. You can't even see the bottom. It's the perfect place to put something you don't want. Are you ready to push it in? Are you ready to be rid of your fear of what your friends will say?"

"Yes."

"Okay, I'm going to count to three, and then you push it in. One. Two. Three." Her muscles tensed for only a moment as she mimed shoving something "forward" (actually, up, since she was lying on her back). Then she relaxed again. "There, now, all gone. How do you feel?"

"Mmm, better." she said.

"It feels good to be free of that social anxiety, doesn't it?"

"Yes." she said, smiling.

"Now, I'm going to snap my fingers, and you will open your eyes and act normally, but remain deeply asleep and obey everything I tell you." He smiled, caressing her face again before he snapped his fingers. She stretched and sat up. "How do you feel."