Emily
Part 2
“Oh my god,” Emily whispered to her friend as they picked up their coats. “Did I really volunteer?” She quickly twisted her long golden hair into a simple ponytail.
“I don’t remember,” Anna said. “The whole thing’s kind of hazy. Hey, let’s go thank her!”
“What? no, Anna, no!” Emily gasped as Anna took her hand and dragged her backstage.
“Emily, I’ve just got to thank her for that show, and maybe you can ask her about volunteering,” Anna said as she hunted around the dark area behind the curtains until she found Miss Scarlett’s door. Before Emily could open her mouth, Anna had already knocked on it.
The door opened into a room full of soft lights — candlelight, Emily noticed. Miss Scarlett was standing in front of them. At 6′1″, the lovely Southerner towered over both Anna’s 5′6″ and Emily’s 5′3″. Anna’s words of thanks died on her lips as she looked up into the beautiful hypnotist’s huge dark eyes.
“What is it, ladies?” Miss Scarlett said softly. “Please, come in.” She was still wearing a silky black blouse, but had changed out of her elaborate dress into a pair of blue jeans that clung tightly around her lovely hips. She turned and walked back into the room, her long black hair swishing, catlike, around her waist. Tentatively, Anna and Emily followed her in, Anna closing the door behind her.
Scarlett daintily sat down on a red velvet stool in front of a large mirror. There were candles all around, making her dark eyes and black hair glisten in the candlelight. This is like something out of Phantom of the Opera, Emily thought. “Please, sit down,” the dark-eyed hypnotist said softly, that Southern voice seeming to float around the room.
Emily and Anna both found chairs near the door. “I wanted to thank you for the show, that was really something!” Anna said.
Emily was still absorbing the room. There were posters of old movie stars on the walls. There were full length mirrors on two walls, both of which somehow caught Scarlett’s reflection and sent it — with the lovely black hair, the soft curve of her cheek, her envious hips — spiraling down into infinity.
“You’re very welcome,” Scarlett giggled lightly. “You were really excellent volunteers. I’m glad you decided to step up — I was very lucky to have the volunteers I had tonight.”
“I sort of wanted to ask you about that,” Emily said, playing with her long blonde hair, trying to keep her hands occupied. Scarlett was so beautiful. What she wouldn’t give to have hair like that, eyes like that, breasts like that. “I don’t really remember volunteering . . .”
“That’s perfectly understandable,” Scarlett said. “You’ve never been hypnotized before?” Emily shook her head. “You’re a very good subject. You see, there are three kinds of hypnosis — light hypnosis, middle hypnosis, and deep hypnosis. The really good subjects — those capable of deep hypnosis, like you — find it very easy to go under and usually forget what happened while in trance without any prompting.”
“How long have you been doing hypnosis?” Anna asked.
“Since I was twelve,” Scarlett replied. To the girls’ stunned looks, she giggled slightly and said, “yes, believe it or not. You see, my brother was having nightmares, and he went to a dozen hypnotists, but none of them helped him at all. When he was seeing all those people I read six or seven books on hypnosis, so I offered to try it. He was at his wit’s end, so he agreed. He hasn’t had a nightmare since. I’ve been told I’m a natural.”
“You definitely are!” Anna agreed.
Emily moved to stand up, but Anna signaled her to wait. “Emily didn’t believe in hypnosis before,” Anna said.
“And what do you think now?” asked Scarlett, looking directly at Emily.
“Well, I don’t know . . .” Emily began.
There was a brief pause.
Scarlett seemed to reach a decision. “Let me show you something,” she said softly. “It’ll only take a minute.”
Anna nodded and Emily reluctantly settled herself down again.
Scarlett pulled her chair up until she was directly facing Anna.
“Actually, let me ask you something. What are your names? I think you already know mine.”
Both girls looked at the dark-haired hypnotist and said their names.
From her jeans pocket, Scarlett produced her shiny silver watch on its long chain. “Funny,” said the hypnotist, “people always say how appropriate it seems when I’m wearing this. Now, Anna, can you focus your attention on my watch?”
Anna gaped, but not knowing what else to do, she nodded slowly.
Scarlett began swinging the watch slowly in front of Anna’s face. “That’s wonderful, Anna, because hypnotists have been using pocket watches as induction points for years . . . you will notice as your eyes follow my watch how easy it is just to let everything else fade away, to just let the watch absorb all of your attention. I know how much you like listening to my voice, so just let your mind go to sleep as my voice soothes you and relaxes you, soothes you and relaxes you.”
Emily watched as Anna’s dark green eyes locked onto Scarlett’s watch and followed it as it swayed back and forth.
“Anna, look at my watch . . . focus on it . . . let everything else fade away. See how it swings, backwards and forwards . . . " As the silver watch moved from side to side, Anna’s eyes moved with it, like they’d been magnetized. “Keep focused on my voice . . . listen to my voice . . . your eyelids are getting heavy . . . they are getting heavier . . . eyelids so heavy, like leaden weights dragging them down . . .”
Emily gazed at Anna’s face, pale in contrast to her dark red hair. Her eyelids were fluttering.
“So sleepy . . . so droopy . . . falling so deeply . . . deeply into relaxation . . . falling under my spell . . . now sleep.” Scarlett snapped her fingers. Anna’s eyes closed, and she slumped over into her chair.
Emily gasped. “You just . . .”
Scarlett turned to face Emily. “Yes, hypnotized her. Anna must have really wanted to be hypnotized tonight.” Turning back to Anna, Scarlett whispered, “Do you have any plans for the rest of the evening, Anna?”
“No,” Anna said, her voice low.
Scarlett arose and placed a “Do not disturb” sign on the outside of the door. Emily didn’t know what else to do but watch.
“Have you been hypnotized before, Anna?” Scarlett asked when she had once again settled on her stool.
“Yes,” Anna said.
“Can you tell me by whom?”
“Brandon,” Anna said. Emily started.
“Tell me about Brandon.”
“Brandon was my ex-boyfriend . . . we both were into vampire movies and after we watched one together he asked if he could hypnotize me . . . I said yes and so he did . . . afterwards we had sex . . . he made it feel so good . . . being hypnotized felt great.” Emily gasped. Oh goodness, Emily thought, no wonder Anna’d liked Brandon so much.
“I see,” Scarlett said. “Anna, until you hear me tell you to wake up, you will let go of everything . . . you will hear nothing, be aware of nothing . . . nothing you hear is important . . . nothing affects you at all. Until I wake you up, you will sleep. Sleep.”
Anna seemed to sink deeper into her chair.
“Emily,” Scarlett asked as she turned her attention back to the other girl, “had you ever been hypnotized before tonight?”
“N-no,” said Emily.
“Are you nervous?”
“A little,” Emily stammered.
“Let me help you relax,” Scarlett said as she turned the full focus of her attention on Emily. The dark-eyed hypnotist sat directly in front of her and looked directly into Emily’s sky-blue eyes. Emily stared confusedly back as Scarlett just gazed right at her. She felt like Scarlett was staring right down into her soul, as if the hypnotist were a cat and Emily a bird. Emily blinked a few times. Scarlett’s deep brown eyes were so beautiful, no wonder she was a hypnotist. Emily would love to have eyes like that, so brown they were almost black, with such wonderful long dark lashes.
Finally Scarlett spoke. “Look into my eyes, Emily.”
Emily nodded dumbly as her blue eyes locked onto Scarlett’s dark pools.
“Look deeper into my eyes,” Scarlett whispered in that melodious, musical Southern voice.
Deeper?
“Look deeper . . . deeper . . . let yourself fall into my eyes.”
Emily thought she could easily get lost in that pair of brown-black eyes. She could drown. Miss Scarlett’s long black lashes curled outward from her eyelids in just the right angle to draw Emily’s stare straight into the hypnotist’s dark eyes.
“Fall deeper, deeper, into my eyes. You are falling under my spell, Emily. As my voice relaxes you and my eyes hypnotize you, you feel yourself surrendering, letting go. Look into my eyes . . . my eyes are holding you . . . drawing you in . . . deeper and deeper . . . feel yourself falling into my eyes . . . falling . . . deeper and deeper . . . ”
“Deeper,” whispered Emily, captivated by Scarlett’s deep dark eyes.
“You are falling deeper under my spell, even deeper now. You can’t help it . . . you don’t want to resist . . . even if you try to resist you only find yourself falling deeper under my spell. You know you trust me . . . all your anxieties just fade away.”
Slowly, without Emily even realizing, Scarlett began to sway back and forth. Emily didn’t even realize that she herself had begun to sway, exactly in motion with Scarlett.
‘You cannot fight the relaxation, you need to give into it. It’s so easy to let go, Emily . . . my voice is all you want to hear . . . you’re so relaxed . . . so easy just to let go.”
This feeling is wonderful, Emily thought. “Relaxed . . .” she heard herself whispering.
“My voice soothes you so much . . .” Scarlett whispered. “You are letting go . . . you trust me completely . . . you are falling under my spell . . . surrendering . . .”
Soothing . . . soothing . . . falling . . . spell . . . deeper . . . trust . . . letting go . . .
“Your eyelids are getting heavy . . .” Emily felt her eyelids weighing her down, pulling her head forward.
“You are so sleepy . . .” Scarlett coaxed. Emily needed to close her eyes and just let go . . .
She was barely aware of Scarlett snapping her fingers as she surrendered to the relaxation the hypnotist was giving her.