Two Free Tickets

This story was written as a commission for someone on another site who goes by the name of Ardwin-Arache! This one features two of his characters, Ardwin and Derek, winning tickets to a hypnotist's show. What happens next? Can you guess? Probably - and here's a hint; it's pretty gay! If that's not your thing, turn back now. If it is your thing, enjoy! There should be a follow-up to this posted at some point in the next couple weeks.

******

Ardwin and Derek draped their coats over the backs of their chairs, and sat down together in the front row. The stage rose up in front of them - they were close, but it was not too high for them to see. "I didn't think that they'd be front row," Ardwin said, speaking to Derek over the low murmur of the waiting crowd.

"Well, they're not gonna put winners like me in the back," Derek said, smiling.

"It was just a radio trivia game." Ardwin rolled his eyes.

"Yeah! And they wanna make me feel good about winning, so I keep listening and calling in. And hey! Seats like these help, don't they?"

"Maybe if it was for music or something, but..."

"Hey, you came to watch too, didn't you?"

Ardwin chose to bite his tongue rather than reply to that. Truth be told, the idea of a hypnosis show didn't hold much appeal for Ardwin. He'd considered for a couple seconds on the car ride there that, hey, maybe the hypnotist would be some hot chick - but he'd abandoned the thought a few seconds later. Lecherous creep was about ten times more likely than that. But Derek had seemed pretty excited about winning the tickets, whether or not they were that exciting, and his girlfriend had suddenly been scheduled to be on-call that night, so she couldn't go. Ardwin, as it happened, was the only guy in the store he and Derek worked in that had nothing to do on that evening. He and Derek were nothing more than acquaintances, but Ardwin would still have felt bad about saying no to his invitation and sending him off to his prize alone.

He was saved from downplaying his gratitude any farther, anyhow. The seats having been filled, the lights dimmed, some cameras dipped down out of the ceiling, and a deep voice came over the speakers to silence the crowd. "Ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm welcome to... The Amazing Anthony!"

With the lights safely dimmed, Ardwin rolled his eyes. The silly name of the hypnotist only confirmed his suspicions about how fake this thing was going to be. Derek chuckled, too, but it was mostly drowned out by the audience. "Oh, this is gonna be good," he whispered to Ardwin. They had both already said that they thought that the hypnotist was going to be a fraud - Derek was just more optimistic about how entertaining of a trainwreck it would be to watch.

Ardwin just clapped along with the rest of the crowd. Given the size of the place, he figured it was a 1-in-100 chance that he got called up there. He didn't want to make any moves that might raise that chance. Watching a trainwreck was one thing - riding the train that's about to jump off the tracks, quite another.

The spotlight clicked on as the hypnotist walked out onto the stage. Ardwin was mildly surprised to see that the man didn't really fit into the image of the lecherous creep he'd been expecting to see. He was squarely in his 30s, his hair still black and long, and he clearly hit the gym enough to stand on the stage with his chest puffed out confidently. He wore a tuxedo with a bright red rose on the lapel, white gloves, and black pants - just like a real magician, Ardwin thought. Anthony waved at the crowd, smiling a winning smile at them. He didn't seem to think he was walking into a trainwreck - or, if he did, he at least thought he knew how to manage it. Maybe he'd even be capable of putting on an entertaining show.

"Good evening, everyone," the hypnotist said into the microphone he held, his voice glossed with a light trace of an implacable accent. "Are you excited for the show tonight?" The audience responded with an even louder round of applause. Derek even cheered. Ardwin's eyes went wide, but he stayed calm. Better that Derek get himself called up and Ardwin be ignored in the coming silliness.

"Well, then. Let's not waste any time in getting started! I'll begin tonight's show by hypnotizing... You!" He pointed out at the crowd, and everyone turned their heads towards where he pointed. It was at the aisle, though, and he swept his finger over the crowd. "And you, and you, and you. Everyone, in fact, if I'm really good at my job!" That got a bit of a laugh. "What I mean is that I'll be starting off by giving a verbal induction over the speakers, and I'll be keeping my eye out for people who look like particularly good subjects. So, if you don't want to come up, just stay awake! Not so hard, right?" He chuckled into the mic, and the crowd laughed along with him. Even Ardwin exhaled through his nose, though he didn't find it quite funny. The man had some natural charisma about him, he had to admit. "Now, if you're all ready, go ahead and take a nice, deep breath in... And... Could we dim that spotlight a bit?"

Here it comes, Ardwin thought - he'd read off some phony script, pick some people he'd tapped to be volunteers before they'd even got to their seats, and they'd put the rehearsed show on from there. Boring. At least if they were paid assistants, maybe they'd be capable of putting on an entertaining show, Ardwin supposed.

"And out." Ardwin exhaled. Derek beside him exhaled. All around them, the audience breathed out one big sigh, and it was, admittedly, an interesting enough sensation to hear so many people relax at once that Ardwin found it a bit infectious. His next breath came in deeper - "And back in... And back out..." - and it came out of his mouth as a sigh. A few more guided breaths later, and Derek actually yawned a little. A yawn of his own bubbled up in Ardwin's throat in response, but he suppressed it. It seemed to Ardwin that the crowd was doing a better job of relaxing him than the hypnotist was.

"Now, just continue breathing, just like that - you don't need to try so much at it, now, your body is primed for relaxation, and it will want to do it all on its own, with time - and I want you to focus your eyes on a convenient point for them. If you're in the back, you may want to pick a spot on the ceiling, perhaps a corner of the room. If you're in the front, you might focus on the rose on my shirt. Whatever your eyes drift to, just let them drift, and land where they want. Let them rest a while, while you yourself let the weight slide off your shoulders."

Despite himself, Ardwin found his eyes wandering to the flower on the hypnotist's chest. There wasn't much going on to watch, he reasoned. Plus, he needed to look like he was playing along, lest the hypnotist pick on him in revenge. "That's it. Just let your eyes land where they want, and watch what they want, and it's all okay, because I'm going to tell you a story. It's a story for the visual part of your mind, and you can listen or not, it does not matter. Your subconscious will pick up on it and see it anyhow."

On the off chance the hypnosis was real, Ardwin thought he spied the trap there. You just start thinking about other things, and while you're not listening, he slips some secret message into your ear, and when you start listening again, you find you can't do anything but cluck like a chicken. He chose to listen.

"There is a place," the hypnotist said, "deep in the forest. It is a magic place. It's marked with a round stone temple, but it does not need to be, because as you approach the magical spot, all the leaves you see get greener. The trunks of the trees get more solid, somehow. You don't understand how - perhaps they are just thicker, darker, more real - but you know that the forest leads you there. All the springy moss grows on the side of trees facing it, and the dirt paths, though they twist and wind and split apart, are all smoothest when they are leading you towards the magical place."

Ardwin's eyes stayed on the rose. Anthony had been right, in a way. He couldn't seem to keep his brain from thinking about what Anthony said. It had to be a subconscious part, because his conscious brain was only aware of how boring this was. If he was at risk of anything, it was falling asleep, not being hypnotized.

"... And those flowers twist as the golden sun travels overhead, over the dark green leaves overhead..." Wait, flowers? He must have zoned out - which was exactly what he was trying to avoid. If he zoned out, he'd keep relaxing, and he'd still be listening, even though he wasn't really listening, and if that happened and it was real, then he'd be hypnotized. Relaxing was nice, but he didn't want to be...

"...That great white bird takes off for one last time, and one feather twirls to the ground, and it seems like it's twirling down slower than it should, around and around on a current of air..." Okay, Ardwin thought. He was losing the plot at an alarming place. Except he wasn't alarmed, he was relaxed. It wasn't the story that was relaxing him. It was the world around him. The crunch of the dirt beneath his feet, the soft flowers that pointed deeper into the forest, towards that magical place inside, the feather twirling on air as he followed it, followed the feather and the bird and the green springy moss... Lifted his hand to reach out and touch the feather...

"...Two... One... That's good. Very good, everyone!" The hypnotist's voice was more lively again. It had grown monotonous, towards the end of it, Ardwin remembered. Well, he had managed to make it through the whole thing, and he hadn't been hypnotized. His hand dropped back onto the seat of the chair. He looked at Derek beside him. Derek was blinking and had a strange, dilated look to his eyes. Had Derek been hypnotized? Ardwin wasn't sure whether he hoped so or not. On the one hand, it would be pretty funny to watch his coworker put under. On the other hand, that would mean that hypnosis really worked, and that thought scared Ardwin a bit. It was a silly fear, though, he thought.

Anthony pointed at someone near one of the aisles. "You," Anthony said, "bald guy with the green shirt. Come up here for a minute, please!" The man he was obviously referring to looked side to side sheepishly, then stood up and walked towards the stage. It was interesting to see a guy that looked like a particularly muscular bouncer or a bodyguard look so cowed. "Thank you, thank you! A round of applause for him, please!" The audience clapped as he walked up the stairs. "What is your name, sir?"

"It's, uh, it's Rick." He glanced out towards the audience, his face red under the spotlight.

"Good, Rick. Rick, I want you to stand right here," Anthony says, clapping him by the arm and guiding him a few steps towards one of the chairs on the stage. "Okay, Rick, I just want to shake your hand for a moment, just look right here at my forehead between my eyes-" Anthony already has the man's hand in his and is pumping it up and down. "...Staring and staring and, close your eyes please, yes, eyelids fluttering and..." Anthony takes the mic away from his face, still talking to the man on stage for a moment. Then, he pulls the man's arm and gives him a gentle shove, and Rick collapses onto the chair he'd been taken towards. His body slides limp onto one of the neighboring chairs.

The crowd, sensing they should be impressed but not sure how loud to be about it, applauded lightly. Anthony held up a gloved hand to silence them. "Rick," he said gently. "When I ask you a question, you can nod your head or shake your head. You don't have to work your heavy, tired tongue to speak. Now, Rick, the woman you were sitting with, is that your wife, Rick?"

Rick nodded his head. "Excellent, Rick. Now, I'm going to ask you to do something for me, Rick. I want you to go around the audience and pick out the four loveliest ladies you see out there. And, of course, that includes your wife, Rick," he adds, and the audience chuckles. "Just point them out for me, Rick, in three, two, one..." Anthony snaps his fingers, and Rick struggles upright in his chair. "Go!"

The man does as he was told, getting down off the stage and picking out four young women from the audience. Each one he points to, he looks up to the hypnotist for approval. The first one, a woman dressed in purple, Anthony nods at with approval. "Come up to the stage, miss, you've been chosen!" The second one goes much the same. All smiles, they eagerly head up. Ardwin thinks it's a bit strange that they'd seem so eager to be embarrassed - but then, he was forgetting that they were paid off, wasn't he? The third woman, Anthony shakes his head at. "Pick another, please. Sorry, miss, but I do not think you will do so well with the hypnosis." Rick moves on and picks a third and then a fourth, and they're approved to make the trip up to the stage.

"Okay, thank you, sir! Come back up to the stage, please." He does so, not looking half so embarrassed this time around. He looks rather convincingly blank, in fact. Anthony extends a hand again, and Rick takes it. Anthony pumps once, and says, audible to the microphone. "Aaaand sleep." Rick certainly seems to - the hypnotist is able to pull Rick's large, limp body to lean against his own.

"Very good, sir. Now, I want you to start forgetting. You're going to find this easy to do, aren't you, Rick? Start nodding your head. You agree with what I say, so you nod your head. You must agree with what I'm saying because you're nodding your head, yes? Good. Now, I'm sorry to say that you are not going to be able to remember anything for a little while. Your name, your wife, who brought you here... You've stopped nodding, but you agree with me, so you should be nodding, still. Good, good. That's good. You agree because you want to forget all this. Just for a while, now. You're empty. There's nothing there, and that's good, because you can listen and be the things I tell you to be. You're still nodding. Good."

Man, Ardwin thought, this guy sure was taking his time with this scam. Maybe he just wasn't creative enough to actually have the actors on stage act, and filled the air with this nonsense. Derek nudged Ardwin with his elbow, and when Ardwin looked, Derek raised his eyebrows. Ardwin made a quick face with a knowing, exasperated expression, but secretly hoped he had wiped it off before it had been noticed.

His attention was snapped back to the hypnotist when he heard the instructions take something of an odd turn. "And you've always found men attractive. There's no shame in knowing that a man's attractive. Knowing that you're attracted to a man. Still nodding, still agreeing, good." People were laughing - even the guy's wife, which seemed to be a bit of a relief to the hypnotist. "Now, you're going to go out to the audience again and, this time, you're going to bring me back some men you're attracted to, and I'm going to bring them up on stage. Go on, Rick. Show us what your type of guy is. Three, two, one." His fingers snapped. "Go fetch!"

Rick looked positively dazed as he stumbled down the stairs of the stage. The audience loved it when he found some guys he liked and pointed at them, enthusiastically jabbing his fingers towards them and looking back up to Anthony for approval, looking something like a puppy. Everyone applauded and cheered his choices. Everyone found it positively hilarious - everyone except for Ardwin, apparently. Ardwin and Derek were the men being pointed at.

"Perfect choices! Are you two here together?" Anthony asked, waving the mic towards the two guys.

"Yeah!" Derek's reply was surprisingly enthusiastic. Ardwin just silently wished that a black hole would open up between their seats and swallow them whole. He looked at Derek with wide eyes. "What, you scared of being hypnotized or something?" Quieter, he added, "C'mon, dude, it's fake as fuck! It'll be funny to watch it firsthand." Ardwin felt the eyes of the room burning on him, and he saw no way out.

"Fine. Fine, I'll go," he whispered. "What's the worst that can happen, I guess?" He and Derek both stood up, and they left their jackets behind at their seats with the audience cheering them on as they made their way up to the stage.

"Ah, I love good sports! Thank you, gentlemen," Anthony said, as the two walked up the stairs. When they got up, he put the mic between them. "Your names?" He tipped it towards Derek.

"Derek!"

The mic tipped. "A-Ardwin, sir."

Back to Anthony. "And you're here alone? Any wives, girlfriends? Or are you together, hmm?"

Ardwin shook his head, and Derek responded. "What? No, ha, my girlfriend just couldn't make it." Derek chuckled. "We're not gay or anything."

"Well, that's alright. It's great! Great, great. Now, how about a bit of..." He paused for a moment before continuing. "We'll call it friendly competition, sirs. How about I try to hypnotize you both, and we see which one of you two guys can hold out longer? To the winner will go the gloating rights!"

Derek cheekily replied, "And what if we don't get hypnotized?"

Anthony turned his palms up and shrugged. "Double bragging rights! Though I don't think there will be a problem with that."

Derek rolled his eyes, then looks at Ardwin. "Fine with you?"

"Yeah, sure. Fine with me." Ardwin wasn't the least bit excited about this. He was just eager to get off the stage.

Anthony seemed very excited. "Fantastic! I'll be the impartial judge. Now, I won't take you down so fast as I did the first guy, so go ahead and take a seat over here and we'll get started. You here, and you here, yes, very good." He sat Derek to the right of Ardwin. The spotlight was blinding enough that Ardwin can hardly see the audience, and Ardwin wasn't sure whether that was a blessing or a curse. Either way, it was a welcome sight when the hypnotist stepped into view, blocking his view of both the light and the people watching him for the most part.

Even more welcome was the sight of the pocketwatch that the hypnotist dropped between the two. Ardwin sighed his relief. He had got to thinking that this whole thing might actually have had some chance of being real - but a pocketwatch? Really? It started to swing left to right. "I believe you two know exactly what to do. Just watch."

Derek piped up - "And what if I just close my eyes?"

"Well, that's what I want you to do, of course. Because once your eyes close, there'll be nothing for you to focus on but my words, and then you'll be back in the forest again. You remember the forest, yes?" Ardwin did - he remembered everything. He remembered the green leaves and the floating feather and the flowers and trees and the dirt on the soles of his shoes. By the time he was done remembering, he noticed that his eyes were following the pocketwatch all on their own.

"Oh, you're back? Well, we'll call that first slipup a tie. I think both of you would have slept if I had told you to. Just try not to slip up any more. Or slip under. That's how it feels, doesn't it? It can feel just so..."

Ardwin was pretty peeved. He hadn't been hypnotized! This guy was just talking things up for the audience. He wanted to turn and see if Derek had been hypnotized yet, but that would have meant he had to stop watching the pocketwatch. Anthony had already told him that he'd be hypnotized if he stopped watching, so he had to keep his eyes on it. Because if he stopped watching, he'd have to listen, and if he had to listen, he'd slip... Under? But he wouldn't, he couldn't, because the watch was swinging left and right and he was listening, he had to listen, and...

Ardwin blinked, and Anthony stopped speaking for a moment, surprised. "You've snapped out of it, Ardwin? I'm surprised." Ardwin didn't have the presence of mind to realize that the mic had been switched off. He started to move, but the watch didn't stop swinging. "No, no, don't stand up. Your friend Derek is so nice and relaxed, and we don't want to disturb him." A thought crossed Ardwin's mind - he needed to look away. He needed to not look at the watch. It was impossible, irrational, and yet he knew that if he kept watching it, he would slip under. "Are you trying to look away, Ardwin? Do you want to see your friend?" Ardwin's eyes, with a great effort, managed to roll themselves to the side, away from the watch and onto Derek. Derek's eyes were half shut. His lips were parted, and he was breathing softly through them in time with the swinging of the watch.