"Okay, start!" Ally said, snapping her fingers. With a disconcerting, almost mechanical precision, Kyle's hand moved to grasp the coin from her fingers. He held it by the golden chain and began to swing it back and forth in front of Ally's eyes, the spiral on its face a dizzying blur.
Ally closed her eyes for just a moment and took a deep breath. It was time to test her plan. She held up her phone, pressed play on the recording and placed it close to Kyle’s ear so he could hear it loud and clear. As she listened she kept a careful eye on him to see if he was reacting to her instructions. She noticed his pupils slightly dilate when he heard her say, 'when you hear that Ally' and then he just stood there still swinging the coin as he should without any hesitation.
When the recording reached the ‘start’ part, she stopped the phone and spoke the last words of her recording out loud, almost without making a pause between it: "... so waking up at one… two…” She saw Kyle's eyes dart towards the coin in his hand and with that followed the motion that he was supposed to grab the coin as to stop it.
“...three!” Ally said loudly and snapped her fingers again. Kyle blinked a few times and looked around, the glazed over look in his eyes was gone. A bewildered expression replaced it and he looked at his hand as if it didn't belong to him.
“What... what happened? Did I fall asleep or something?” he asked, looking genuinely confused.
Ally grinned. It had worked! All his triggers were gone. He wouldn't be able to use his hypnotic tricks on her any more.
“You were just spacing out. I was about to ask if you were okay.” Ally said sweetly, feigning concern. Inside though, she was practically jumping for joy.
“Oh, okay.” Kyle said, still a little dazed, “I’m going to get a drink, you want something?”
“No, I’m good, thanks.” Ally replied, watching as Kyle headed towards the kitchen. This was the perfect opportunity. Now that she had rid herself of his control, she had to make him pay for all the things he had done to her.
Ally picked up the coin and examined it closely. The tiny wind-up mechanism was so delicate she could hardly believe it was responsible for so much power. She wound up the spiral and watched it spin for a moment, a slow smile spreading across her face. This was going to be fun.
She headed into the kitchen where Kyle was now drinking at the counter.
"Hey Kyle, so I was thinking," Ally said, casually leaning against the door frame, "That coin is actually kinda cool. Mind if I try it out?” She held it up, her eyes sparkling with mischief.
Kyle shrugged and said “Sure, whatever. But don’t expect to actually hypnotize me with it. It’s just a stupid toy.”
Ally winked at him and held up the coin in front of his face, letting the hypnotizing spiral do its work. This time, she knew exactly what she was doing. She focused on his eyes, letting the patterned circle spin and began speaking, her voice soft and hypnotic.
“Kyle, you are feeling very relaxed. Your eyelids are getting heavy. You are growing very sleepy. You will listen to my words without hesitation. You want to obey me.”
Kyle’s gaze became glazed over again, and he slowly dropped his glass on the counter not bothered about the water that spilled.
Ally continued, “You will now be unable to resist the urge to sing the most embarrassing song you can think of, and you’ll do it with all your heart.” She paused, to let her instructions seep in. “And you will not be aware that it is me who is making you do these things but it will feel like it’s all your own idea.”
Kyle's lips began to quiver, then they let out a low, off-key rendition of a popular children's song, complete with hand gestures. He sang loud and proud, completely unashamed and oblivious to the sheer ridiculousness of his actions. Ally tried her best to not start laughing but she couldn’t hold it in once she heard his very off tone voice.
Ally let him sing the song three times before she decided he had had enough. She smirked and said in a low voice "Okay, time out." Kyle's singing stopped but his expression remained dazed.
“Now Kyle, you will think it’s the most natural thing in the world, to do all my chores for a week straight. You will actually enjoy doing them so much and when you are finished with all of them you will happily ask me for more. You will think it’s all your idea and mine also. And you will not be aware that you are being hypnotized but you will believe that I came up with an idea that made absolute sense to us both. For the purpose of making sure to never tease me again.”
Ally paused so that Kyle could process all of her instructions, then she snapped her fingers and said “Wake up!”
Kyle shook his head and blinked again. “What was I doing?” he asked, a confused frown on his face.
Ally did her best to keep a straight face. “Dude, you were just... singing. You got really into it.”
A slow blush crept up Kyle’s neck. “Singing? I don't sing! It must have been a weird dream.” He thought for a moment, “Anyway, you know, we should really get our chores done like mom says. I could do them now if you want?" he said, beaming as if he had come up with the greatest idea of all time.
Ally grinned. The revenge was just beginning. “That’s a great idea! You should start right away. And maybe… you could do mine too? I’m feeling a bit tired.”
Kyle nodded enthusiastically. “Sure, no problem. You just rest.”
Ally watched him as he happily started gathering cleaning supplies and she could not be more satisfied. She knew it was not exactly an equal revenge, but it was just the beginning. She knew that Kyle was not exactly a bad person and surely, he would one day learn his lessons. What is more, she could now use this coin to play with him in many other ways.
And while she leaned against the door frame, observing how he started cleaning the kitchen, she had a hard time not to laugh. Today was a good day.