Familial Relations
Chapter 2
At breakfast the next morning Dan was tired. He’d had a restless night of fantasizing and scheming. Miranda looked sullen as always. Alexis had her nose in another book. However, there was a noticeable change in April and Avery. April was smiling and laughing, she seemed to be in a much better mood than usual. Avery was positively gushing about Dan’s hypnotherapy.
“It’s amazing! I feel so much better today! I didn’t even realize how much stress I had been carrying around. I’m telling you, you two have to try it. Am I right Mom?” Avery asked.
April nodded. “I’ll admit I was pretty reluctant to try. It just didn’t sound like my thing. And I must have been pretty hard to put down. I remember being awake for a long time before you used that spiral thing. But in the end I have to say I feel pretty amazing today. Thanks Dan.”
“No problem Mom.” Dan beamed.
“You two should really try it.” April said to Alexis and Miranda.
Miranda snorted. “I can’t believe it. Dan has got you both brainwashed.”
“Miranda, why do you always have to be such a contrarian?” Alexis asked as she looked up from her book. “I’d be happy to give it a try. Honestly with midterms coming up I could use some stress relief.”
Dan nodded. “Well that makes three out of four. Are you sure you want to be the odd duck out Miranda?”
“I just think it’s weird. I’ve never heard of someone using hypnosis outside of a stage show. I don’t want you messing with my head.” Miranda replied.
“People use it for therapy all the time.” Dan said.
“If anyone could benefit from it, it’s you Miranda.” Avery said as she got up to bring her plate to the sink. “But I’m sure that no one will be forcing you to get hypnotized.”
As Avery walked past Miranda, Miranda’s eyes bugged out. “Avery! What are you doing? Mom did you see this? Avery is barefoot in the house!” Miranda practically shouted.
Dan’s heart stopped in his chest and he watched his Mother closely. Leave it to Miranda to be so confrontational when he had only made his first steps. He knew he would have to hypnotize the whole family as soon as possible if he wanted to move ahead with his plan.
April seemed to freeze for an awkward amount of time. Avery stopped in place and looked at April to see what she would say. Then April snapped out of it and took a deep breath. “What? She’s barefoot. It’s fine.” April finally said.
“What do you mean it’s fine? You’ve always been a foot nazi.” Miranda insisted.
April sighed again. “I said it’s fine. It’s fine! If Avery insists on being barefoot in the house I guess it’s fine.” April said.
“Wow what a seachange. What, are you going barefoot next?” Miranda asked April.
April looked disgusted. “No! Of course not.”
They moved on and Miranda started talking about how she would need to leave next week to resume her internship. Dan breathed a sigh of relief. He was pleased Miranda hadn’t connected the dots between the barefeet and hypnosis. He wished April had been a little more open to being barefoot. He was also glad that his suggestions had held up. April had clearly shifted her position on feet a little bit. She was stubborn but he was starting to think that with some more sessions he might soon be living out fantasies he had only dreamt of before.
That night everything was in place. Well, nearly everything. Miranda had stubbornly refused to join the rest of the family. That was okay. Avery and Alexis were lying on the floor and April was once again on the couch. Avery had been barefoot all day and Dan had definitely enjoyed sneaking peeks at her feet whenever he got the chance. Dan started to play the droning hypnotic track and dimmed the lights. He had been trained in the seminar on how to actively resist the effects of the track or otherwise he too would have ended up asleep on the floor. Avery and Alexis went under quickly.
April looked over at Dan. “It’s not working hon, you’ll have to use the spiral again.”
“Oh sure just a minute.” Dan was partly impressed and partly dismayed. Even after programming his mother to be more susceptible to hypnosis, she was still struggling to be induced. That was definitely something they would have to work on. Luckily, like last time the spiral app did the trick and a little quicker than before April drifted off into a deep trance. Dan was just about to get started when he heard a loud thump from upstairs. Curious he went up to see what had fallen.
Miranda lay in a heap on the floor. Even though she was a whole level above them, she had apparently heard enough of the hypnotic drone to enter a trance. This was the best news Dan could have asked for. Now he could hypnotize the whole family at once. Now the only trouble would be getting her downstairs. Dan tried to grab her by the shoulders and lift her up. He struggled to get her even part way up.
“Oh duh she’s hypnotized. I can just ask her to go downstairs. Miranda, listen to me. In this state you will obey my commands. I command you to walk downstairs and lay down on the floor in the living room next to Alexis and Avery. Do you understand?”
“Yes I understand.” Miranda answered robotically. She stood up and walked downstairs like a zombie.
When all three girls were lined up and entranced, Dan looked them over. “Well let’s start with the basics shall we? Listen, all of you are in a deep trance. In this state I am speaking directly to your subconscious mind. You will listen and obey my words. Repeat after me ‘I listen and obey.’”
In unison all three sisters and April repeated “I listen and obey.”
“When you wake up you will not remember what happened during this session. You will only remember that it was pleasant. When you think about me or about being hypnotized you will feel good. Repeat after me: it feels good to be hypnotized.”
“It feels good to be hypnotized.”
“I love to be hypnotized.”
“I love to be hypnotized.”
“I want Dan to hypnotize me again.”
“I want Dan to hypnotize me again.”
“Very good. When you try to remember this session I want you to repeat those words in your mind. Oh and Miranda, when you wake up you will forget that you didn’t ask to be hypnotized. Instead what you will remember is that Alexis convinced you to give it a try. Do you understand and obey?” Dan asked.
“I do.” Miranda replied.
Dan rubbed his hands together. It was time for the fun part. “Avery, do you like being barefoot?”
“Yes.”
“Alexis, do you like being barefoot?”
A slight pause. “Yes.”
“Good. Alexis whenever you are in the house you will remove your footwear. Being barefoot makes you feel good. Whenever you notice that you are barefoot or question why you are barefoot you will repeat the mantra ‘barefoot is beautiful’ to yourself and you will feel good. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Miranda, do you like being barefoot?” Dan asked
“No.” Was her robotic response.
“Well that’s going to change. From now when you are in this house you will prefer to be barefoot. You will feel good when you are barefoot. Like Alexis, if you question why you want to be barefoot you will repeat the mantra ‘barefoot is beautiful’ to yourself and you will feel good. Understand?”
“Yes.”
“Will you obey these commands?”
“Yes.”
Dan was pleasantly surprised. No resistance at all. Now time to take Avery and April a step further. “Avery and Alexis. When you are around the house I want you to try to please me, your brother Dan. Do you understand and obey?”
“I understand and obey.” They repeated in unison.
“Miranda, did you hear the command I gave to Avery and Alexis?”
“Yes.”
“Will you obey that command as well?”
“Yes.”
Dan was surprised that stubborn Miranda accepted this command so easily. He approached his slumbering mother. He gazed over her supine form. He ogled her sock-clad feet. He was so close. So close to getting what he had always wanted.
“April, have you been repeating your mantra?”
“Yes.”
“How do you feel about feet, be honest?”
“I detest them.”
Hmm not a promising sign. “Will you allow the girls to go barefoot in the house?”
“Yes.”
“April I command you to go barefoot when you are in the house. Will you follow this command?”
“No.”
Drats. She really was stubborn. Dan knew that he could be stubborn too, but he would also have to be patient. He did have a plan B.
“April when you wake up from this trance you’re going to feel better than you’ve ever felt. When you think about being hypnotized you’re going to feel better. More than anything you’re going to want to be hypnotized more often. You’re going to ask to be hypnotized twice a day. You appreciate what Dan has done for you. As a thank you, you’re going to try to please Dan and make Dan happy. If you make Dan happy maybe he will hypnotize you more, and if he hypnotizes you more you will feel better. Will you obey these commands?”
April appeared to be processing all of these suggestions but she still answered promptly. “Yes, I obey.”
A few days later and Dan’s plan was going smoothly. He was coming back home after taking a trip to the movies and as soon as he opened the door his sisters were waiting and they practically pounced on him.
“Hi Dan! How was the movie? Glad you’re back. Can we do another session tonight? I think it’ll be just what I need to get re-centered.” Said Avery.
“Dan, I need another session to help me study for the big test coming up. Do you want anything? Snacks or soda?” Alexis asked him.
“Dan I’m about to leave for the next two weeks. Can I have a quick session before I go? I’ll pay you, whatever you would charge a regular customer, I’ll tip too!” Miranda said eagerly.
All three girls were pressed close to Dan and he had to hold out his arms to separate them enough for him to walk over the threshold. “Woah ok sure. Everyone calm down and give me some space. I’ll do a joint session with all of you. First I have to check on Mom. Her solo session should be almost done.”
It had been a sweet few days. After a lifetime of being overlooked by his family Dan was now the center of attention. Getting them all hooked on his hypnosis sessions had been easy. He had found that his sisters were more mentally pliable than April. He had decided to take things slow. It seemed like he got better results when he was incrementally increasing his hold on their minds. He had also observed that they would follow a command more readily if they had to do it every day. The repetition seemed to make a command easier to accept.
“It looks like lovely weather today.” Dan said.
“We live to serve Dan and obey.” His sisters repeated robotically. Dan smiled. That was one of a few triggers he had placed on his sisters. It was amusing but not his favorite.
“Inspection time.” He said.
Alexis, Avery, and Miranda all lined up and laid down on the ground. Each one of them lifted their bare feet for Dan to admire. The bevy of feet on display in the house had been the best part of the week. Avery and Alexis seemed to take to the command right away. Miranda had been a little more reticent but had eventually obeyed the orders that Dan had given her.
Seeing his hot sisters walking around the house barefoot had been driving Dan wild. Alexis and Avery had slender shapely soles with a high arch. Miranda had more of a wide foot with meaty soles that wrinkled deliciously when she scrunched her toes. Just last night he had implanted this new trigger for them to display their feet to Dan when he said the phrase “inspection time.” Being able to admire their feet at his leisure was great but what Dan really wanted was for his sisters to tease him with their feet when they were conscious, not just entranced. He traced Avery’s arch with his finger. Her foot trembled slightly. He didn’t dare do any more and risk breaking the trance.
“Repeat your mantras. I’ll be back for your session soon.” Dan commanded.
The three sisters repeated the same phrases, robotically and in unison.
“We live to serve Dan and obey. We love to be hypnotized. We need to be hypnotized. Barefoot is beautiful. We love our feet. We must keep Dan happy. Making Dan happy makes us happy. Being barefoot makes us happy. We live to serve Dan...” They kept their feet raised in the air the whole time.
As appealing as the view was downstairs, Dan was more excited to check in on April. He went up and before he opened the door to his mother’s bedroom he checked over his shoulder just to make sure that his sisters hadn’t snapped out of their trance and followed him. As soon as he had started these special solo sessions with April, he had programmed the others to never enter her bedroom unannounced. With good reason. He was sure that seeing April’s training in progress would clue them in that something underhanded was going on and jeopardize his entire scheme.
Confident that he was alone, Dan opened the door. The shades were drawn so the only light was coming from the glow of a TV screen. April was sitting in bed and staring into the glow. She was dressed in her robe and slippers. Her eyes looked distant. A small drop of drool leaked out the corner of her mouth. Playing on the TV was a looped compilation. It was a mashup of feet footage. Closeup video of feet, feet being massaged, candid videos of bare feet at a park, even some foot porn, feet being licked, toes being sucked, feet being smelled, feet being fondled. While watching the video April was repeating “Feet are beautiful. I love my feet. I love feet. My feet are beautiful. I love my feet…”
This kind of brainwashing went way beyond anything Dan had learned at his seminar. He’d just had the idea of this extreme exposure to try to overcome April’s resistances. So far it seemed to be yielding positive results.
“Okay that’s about two hours I think that’s enough for one day. April, Graduation Speech.” Dan said.
The trigger phrase took effect. April got out of bed, turned off the video, opened the shades and then returned to the bed. She closed her eyes and laid still for a moment and then opened her eyes again.
“Wow, is it time up already?” She asked Dan. It was interesting to him, observing the change from drooling zombie to alert and chatty. She stretched and then got out of bed.
“Thank you so much Dan. I don’t know what I would do without these sessions. I feel so much better. I have so much more energy. I should have paid more attention to your career. I didn’t know what I had been missing all these years.” She tweaked his ear playfully then leaned in for a hug.
Dan returned the hug. His hands rested low on her back. “Don’t mention it Mom. It seems like Miranda and the A’s are getting something out of it too. I’m just happy to help.”
April stroked Dan’s shoulder. “Well if there’s anyway I can repay you just let me know. I owe you big, mister.”
Her tone was still playful but Dan definitely detected some frisky, flirtatious subtext in her words. She had been more handsy lately. Dan had been pushing his Mother to want to please him. It seemed like that message was being interpreted as he had hoped. At first they had all been offering him favors like cleaning his room or buying him food. As time went on and their conditioning had been reinforced, Dan had started to flirt a little bit. Not in obvious ways. He might tell Avery that she was looking good. Or compliment April on her spring dress. Subtle cues to get them subconsciously trying to please him the way they might try to please any other man.
“Well you could start by wearing that robe more. I really like the way it looks on you.” Dan said.
April looked momentarily taken aback but then she smiled. “Really? This old thing?” She did a short curtsy. It was just a bathrobe and even this simple movement was quite revealing. Dan got a good look at April’s creamy white legs. They looked smooth and inviting.
“Yes it really pleases me.” He said. Dan watched her face for a reaction. She seemed to swoon for just a split second. That was the specific wording of the conditioning. These girls were looking to please him. When they knew that they had, they got a burst of pleasure.
“Do you want to join the girls for a second session tonight? It should be a real doozy.” Dan asked
“Yes. Of course. Um, Dan do you mind running downstairs. I need a moment to freshen up.” April looked flushed. It was Dan’s turn to smile.
“Of course, I’ll see you later.” Dan turned to go. After he had closed the bedroom door he listened in. Just as he expected he soon heard the sounds of April moaning with delight.
The session that night was a big one. Dan asked the girls if they wouldn’t mind going under before dinner. Of course they were all quick to agree. He had something in mind. It was time to test how effective all the conditioning had been. In April’s case he was hoping that after nearly a week of trying to brainwash her her deeply ingrained foot-phobia could be overruled. Then he wanted to see if they had been so conditioned to please him that he could control them even if they weren’t in a trance.
Dan played the hypnotic drone track and guided his family into a dreamy trance. His sisters went out almost immediately now. Even after dozens of sessions he still had to give April some special attention to get her there. Eventually they were all down and Dan began with the most pressing business.
“April, do you hear and obey?”
“I hear and obey” she repeated.
“April, how do you feel about feet?”
“Feet are… good.”
Dan pumped his fist in the air.
“How do you feel about your own feet.”
“My feet are good.”
“From now on you will have a strong compulsion to go barefoot in the house. Whenever you are inside these walls you will be uncomfortable unless your feet are completely bare. Do you accept this command?”
“Yes.”
Dan wanted to cheer and run around doing cartwheels but he kept his composure. “Well then what are you waiting for?”
Still in a trance, April sat up and pulled off her socks one by one. Then she laid back down. Dan couldn’t help himself. He immediately went over to the couch and took a look at his mother’s feet. They were pale from a lifetime of being locked away. Her nails were bare. Despite their natural state she had really dynamite feet. Perfect shape, perfect size, unblemished, a strong arch and ten perfect toes. Dan wished, not for the first time, that he could bury his face between his Mother’s feet and worship them. He drew a breath. He had waited this long. He could wait longer. He stood up.
“Alright, repeat your mantras.”
“We live to serve and obey. Bare feet are beautiful. We live to please Dan....”
Dan sat at the dinner table with Miranda, Alexis, and Avery. Alexis and Avery were looking at something together on Avery’s phone and giggling. Miranda had just started eating. April walked in wearing just her robe. Avery and Alexis were still distracted but Miranda watched her wide-eyed.
“Mom! What are you doing?” Miranda demanded.
“What? What are you talking about?” April shot back.
“Did you just come from the bath? Are you?” Miranda’s eyes narrowed. “I can’t believe it. Are you really barefoot?”
Avery and Alexis looked up. Dan’s food caught in his throat. Even with the level of control he now exercised over his family he feared that too much scrutiny after he had only just broken through could be detrimental.
“Yes I’m barefoot. Why’s that such a big deal? You and the A’s are always running around barefoot like it’s a hippy commune.” April replied.
“Sure but I’ve never ever seen you barefoot. Like ever.” Miranda said.
“Well get used to it. I’m sick of hiding my feet away.” April turned her back on Miranda and went to get some food.
“Good for you Mom.” Avery piped in.
“There are many health benefits to going barefoot.” Alexis added.
“There, see Miranda? Get off my back. Besides, you’re barefoot too! Why do you always have to raise a stink?” April said.
“It’s because of her stinky feet.” Avery joked.
“My feet don’t stink! They’re very clean” Miranda grumbled.
Dan was so dazzled by all this foot talk that he almost forgot his mission for this dinner. Not wanting to miss his chance he blurted out what it was he wanted to say.
“I love feet!”
The kitchen grew quiet. Alexis, Avery, Miranda, and April all stopped and stared at Dan.
“What did you say Dan?” Alexis asked.
Dan started to blush. He was hoping that it would feel different discussing his fetish when the girls had all been doped up on weeks of hypnosis. Instead it felt more like a nightmare.
“I… I said I love feet. I really do. It pleases me to see them, to touch them. I think feet are really sexy. Nothing pleases me more than seeing bare feet.” Dan managed to get through the lines he had planned on saying. He was full of regret.
“Why didn’t I make this a subconscious command?” He thought to himself. The room still felt tense.
“Oh is that why you’re so into reflexology and massage?” Avery asked.
“Uh yes.” Dan answered.
Just then there was a very loud crash. April had dropped a plate.
“Oh goodness. I’m sorry everybody. No harm done. Nothing broke.”
That cut the tension. Avery and April went back to watching a video and April and Miranda started arguing about whose turn it was to pay for gas. Dan was grateful that the family had moved on from his announcement but his mind was still going a mile a minute. He was trying to figure out the best way to conduct damage control. He was concerned that his announcement might disrupt the hypnotic conditioning he had started. While he was obsessively trying to figure a way out of this problem he noticed something strange.
It started with Avery. While she was eating she pushed her chair back and propped her feet up on the table. Her feet were bare of course and she crossed her legs at the ankle, her soles pointed right at Dan. Then it was Miranda’s turn.
“Dan do you mind if I rest my feet in your lap? My legs are tired.” She asked nonchalantly.
“Oh sure.” Dan said.
Alexis finished eating and stood up. “My legs are tired too. Must be something going around.” She lifted up her leg onto the table and made it look like she was stretching her hamstring but Dan couldn’t help but notice Alexis was angling her foot toward him as well.
Then April stood up. “Wow Alexis I never noticed before but do you have bigger feet than me? Let’s compare.” April propped her foot up next to Alexis.’ In her robe it was a pretty scandalous position. She used one hand to steady herself on the table and the other to cover her crotch with the loose robe.
“Hmm they look about the same size to me Mom.” Alexis said.
“What do you think Dan?” April asked calmly.
Dan could barely speak. He tried to say something but his voice died in his throat and came out as a choked moan. He cleared his throat and tried again.
“Uh I think you’re slightly bigger Mom.” He finally managed.
“Hm fancy that.” April said. She took her foot off the table and walked out of the room like nothing had happened. Dan couldn’t believe it. It had worked better than he had dared hope.