The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

“Humph!” Alison’s shoulders slumped as the short, sharp, exclamation fractured her concentration. She knew what it meant, having heard it all too often over the last few months. For a moment she considered ignoring it. Given her choice she’d keep working on her assignment. But she knew that it wouldn’t be that easy. It had seemed such a good deal at the time. Two-bedroom shared university accommodation. Cheaper than a single room, more private than sharing with four or five others. You just had to take your chance on who your roommate was. Alison remembered thinking, as she hesitated in signing the agreement, pen in hand but name not on the piece of paper, that whoever her roommate would be it couldn’t be that bad. A party goer would be out a lot, a boring studious type would leave her alone. And even a total nymphomaniac who dragged her serial boyfriends home for sex every night would at least give her something to complain about.

And really, Jane wasn’t the worst person to share an apartment with. Or at least that was what Alison kept telling herself. She didn’t borrow Alison’s clothes without asking, eat her food from fridge or tell her how to live her life. And on the odd occasions that she did bring a boyfriend back they were reasonably quiet. But then a little voice reminded Alison about how Jane didn’t like cleaning up. Or doing her share of the cooking and shopping. And how Jane loved to complain.

Which brought Alison back to the sound. Which was immediately repeated. “Humph!” Jane’s favourite expression of disgruntlement. It was high-pitched, and maybe kind of cute. Until you’d heard it as many times as Alison had.

Alison sighed, lowering her text book until it lay on her desk. The words danced in front her eyes, teasing her with meaning now beyond her comprehension. She knew that sound would keep being repeated until Jane got an audience for her complaints about whatever slight, real or imagined, the world had cast her way. Alison was tempted to let her head follow the book and rest on the desk. It was rough and old and she might even get splinters in her forehead, but even the pain from those wouldn’t drown out the sound of Jane’s complaints. Resigned, the slim brunette rose and went to find out what was currently irritating her roommate.

“So,” asked Alison as she entered their living room, trying to sound sympathetic “not the best day?”

“Look at this.” Jane was standing in the middle of the room waving a piece of paper around. Possibly an essay, but it was moving so fast that Alison wasn’t sure. “A distinction. He gave me a lousy distinction. I put lots of work into that. It deserved a high distinction.” Jane threw herself down into one of their lounge chairs, the cheap piece of furniture bending dangerously even under the small girl’s weight. The blonde frowned, her pretty features twisting in obvious displeasure. Her arms were crossed, as if daring Alison to disagree with her assessment of what her work was worth. With Jane’s hands no longer flying about Alison could see that it was indeed an essay that her roommate held.

Alison could remember exactly how much time Jane had put into that particular essay. She thought that Jane was lucky to get a distinction for a day and a half’s work, but she knew better than to say anything. That would only set Jane off on another string of complaints. It wasn’t that Jane was stupid. Brains might not be the first thing most people thought when they met her. Her blonde hair and cute, almost pixieish, looks had them thinking other things. But she had a mind in there as well, when she cared to use it. It was just, thought Alison, that Jane spent more time complaining about the marks she got for her work than actually doing it.

Alison didn’t intend suggesting Jane should spend more time on her studies. She wasn’t the type to make that sort of criticism. Instead, moving a little further into the room, she ventured “Well, you could ask for a remark.”

“Humph,” Jane exclaimed, the essay starting to fly around again as she continued, “they’re all in it together.” Alison refrained from pointing out that yes, all their lecturers did actually work together, and just smiled and nodded, in what she hoped was a supportive manner. Jane’s rants could last for hours, and Alison really needed to get back to her own work.

It looked like Jane might ready to launch into one of her occasional tirades on how the world didn’t treat her as well as she deserved. Alison remembered complaining to her friend Kathy about them. Kathy had told her to just ride it out, at least until the end of the year, as it sounded as if they were pretty rare. “Yes, okay,” Alison had replied, tiredly, “rare as the pyramids and just as monumental.”

Alison was saved as Jane grimaced instead, left hand rubbing the opposite shoulder. “And now my shoulder hurts. It’s the stress. It’s soooo unfair.” Alison refrained from asking whether Jane had thrown her shoulder out from waving her essay around so hard.

Jane’s frown deepened, but then a thought seemed to cross her mind and she looked pleadingly at Alison. “Hey, you don’t know anything about massage or that stuff do you? My shoulder really hurts.” As Alison didn’t immediately respond, Jane continued, wide eyed and a hurt look on her face, “please?”

Alison thought about denying everything and try to escape to her room. But that wasn’t the truth and it was obvious that if Alison didn’t help her roommate then she’d never hear the end of how she’d made Jane suffer. Alison did know a little bit about massage. Saying yes would probably be the quickest way to escape. Even with everything she did like Jane, her roommate could be good company, but not when she was in a mood like this.

“Um, okay.” If I’m going to do this I’d better do it right. “Sit in that chair over there so I can get at it properly,” Alison said, indicating one of the cheap wooden chairs in the area that served as their kitchen. They were sturdy, but a mismatched set and none would ever win any awards for attractiveness of design. “Just let me get some stuff.”

A quick trip to her bedroom saw Alison return, with a bottle of massage oil and a white candle.

“Just sit there, said Alison, indicating one of the chairs, white paint flaking off the wood.

“What’s the candle for?” asked Jane.

“Something for you to concentrate on. If your shoulder’s really bad.” That is, if there’s anything wrong with it at all, thought Alison. Then mentally scolded herself. She had no idea whether Jane’s shoulder hurt or not. She should leave it until she knew how bad it was before criticising her roommate. “It’ll help you to relax if you look at it.”

“Okay. You want me to take my shirt off?” When Jane wasn’t complaining about how the world treated her she could be very agreeable. And, Alison reminded herself, Jane didn’t complain all that often. But when the mood caught her Alison’s roommate could carry on for hours.

“Uh huh. Now let me get this lit, and you just keep looking at it.” Alison fumbled in one of their kitchen drawers, found a lighter, and placed the lit candle in the middle of the table.

While Alison had been looking for the lighter Jane had slipped off her top. The blonde now sat at the table, her breasts covered only by her red bra. Alison wasn’t fazed, the two roommates had seen each other in their underwear many times before. Neither of them had any interest in girls, not that way anyway. Bet some of the boys would pay for this view though, Alison thought smugly as she began rubbing the oil into her roommate’s shoulders.

“Now, the most important thing is for you to relax,” the brunette began, trying to put on her best soothing voice. “If your muscles have all tightened up I can help, but only if you help too. So long slow breaths and keep looking at the candle, Okay?”

“Okay,” Jane replied, happily settling herself a bit more comfortably into the chair.

“Remember just keep looking at the candle. Relax. Let your muscles go loose.” Wow thought Alison as she gently prodded her roommate’s shoulder, she actually does have a nasty knot here. It must really hurt. Alison could almost excuse her roommate’s earlier complaints. Almost. Memories of other harangues stopped her brushing it off that easily. “This could take a while, it’s really tight”.

“I know,” Jane replied irritably, “I can feel it.”

“Hey no grumpy vibes—you need to relax, okay?” soothed Alison, working the oil across her roommate’s bare, pale, skin.

“Just relax.”

“Watch the candle.”

“Let me work it out.”

“Don’t worry if you feel a bit sleepy. Go with it and it’ll help your muscles loosen up.”

Alison didn’t expect Jane to actually go to sleep, but she’d found the patter sometimes helped the people she was massaging to relax, making it easier to fix their bunched and sore muscles.

“That’s it, just keep relaxing,” Alison murmured, working the muscles under her roommate’s skin, rolling them over and over, using her fingers, the palms of her hands, slowly making progress on the stubborn knot.

“Watch the candle. See how it glows and burns. Feel it filling you up so you forget about the pain and the stress.”

“Just relax.” Alison could feel the tension flowing out of Jane, saw her roommate’s shoulders slump slightly as her breathing slowed.

“If you feel sleepy that’s okay, just go deeper into relaxation and let Alison sort it all out.” The brunette smiled and shook her head, a bit embarrassed at referring to herself in the third person.

Alison lost track of time, the words continuing to tumble out. Wow, she thought, Jane really has got this shoulder into a mess. Her roommate didn’t seem to be objecting to how long the massage was taking, so Alison just kept at it, working at the knots, all the time continuing her soothing commentary.

“That’s it, just relax, keep relaxing more and more.”

Whew, Alison thought at last, I think that’s as good as it’s going to get. “Okay, that’s all I can do tonight.” Jane didn’t move.

“Jane?” Still no response.

“Come on, what’s going on?” Starting to get irritated, Alison walked around to the other side of the table, to see her roommate staring wide eyed at the candle, now appreciatively shorter than it had been, rivulets of wax spreading from its base and across the table. Jane didn’t blink, the candle’s flame reflecting in her eyes.

“Jane!” Alison called, sharply. A thought started to form in the brunette’s mind. Oh no, she couldn’t be? Could she? She looks it. But she must be fooling. I don’t know how to do that to someone. So I couldn’t? Could I? Alison leant over the table, peering at her roommate.

Alison hesitantly considered the pixieish blonde, trying to summon up her courage. Jane simply sat there unmoving unresponsive. Okay, the bunette thought eventually, if this is a game girl, let’s see how long you want to play. “Jane, can you hear me?”

“Yes,” it was Jane’s voice, but flat, emotionless. As empty as the expression on her face, blank as her eyes. Oh wow. Alison’s head pulled back, her eyes going wide.

“Um, are you relaxed Jane?”

“Yes.” That same lack of expression, a single, flat, tone. Alison had to admit her roommate looked out of it, sitting there in just her bra, her eyes wide but somehow empty, her chest slowly rising and falling. If it’s a game, thought Alison, she’s playing damn well..

And if she really isn’t playing? What do I do? Oh hell, why not. What do hypnotists do? Umm.

“You want to be more relaxed, right Jane?”

“Yes.”

“Uh, ok, let’s go deeper.” Alison desperately tried to remember the stage hypnotist show she’d gone to a few months ago. “Umm, start counting down, from 100, and with every number you get deeper and deeper and more relaxed. You tell me when you get to 1.”

The room was quiet for a couple of minutes, but it felt like hours to Alison.

“There.” Alison almost jumped as the pronouncement issued from Jane’s mouth, her features umarred by any expression.

“Err, you’re so relaxed, right Jane?”

“Yes.”

“And you love being this relaxed don’t you?” Hell, thought Alison, if I don’t do anything I’ll never know, but if she’s playing and I try something stupid I’ll never live it down.

“Yes.” Jane’s eyes were blank and wide as she stared at the candle.

“My massage has made you relaxed, right?” It’s just questions, Alison tried to reassure herself. Questions that she could explain away if she had to.

“Yes.”

“And my massages, which make you so relaxed, are so good, you’d like more of them wouldn’t you?”

“Yes.”

What do I do now? Alison thought desperately. Trigger phrases. That’s it. Hypnotists use trigger phrases. Don’t they?

“And when you want to relax you want to get there as quickly as possible.” Alison thought she was on safe ground here—Jane never liked waiting for anything.

Her roommate didn’t reply, just sat there wide-eyed and blank, and that worried Alison for a moment, but then she realised she hadn’t actually asked Jane a question.

“Okay, when I say ‘Massage Time Janey’,” that was a test, Alison knew Jane hated being called Janey, “you’ll come back to being this relaxed and deep won’t you?”

“Yes.”

Oh, thought Alison, no reaction to being called Janey? Okay then. “And when you do, you’ll count down from 100 to 1 again, going even deeper and more relaxed with each number you count, going deeper each time you count from 100 to 1.”

No question, no response, just empty eyes in an empty face.

“And tomorrow, you’ll clean up the kitchen, right Jane?” Jane had been avoiding her turn at that for way too long. Alison felt her toes curl a little as she pushed what she knew was a moral boundary, guilt tensing her muscles.

“Y-yes.” Deep in Jane’s eyes Alison could see a momentary spark. Perhaps it was only a reflection from the candle, or perhaps, the brunette worried, it might be a hint of resistance from her roommate. Swallowing nervously and trying to ignore her conscience, Alison repeated the command

“You’ll clean up the kitchen, yes Jane?”

“Yes.” No hesitation this time.

“And you won’t consciously remember any of this, will you Jane?” Alison was sure the hypnotist had said something like that.

“No.”

“But it’ll all be there, deep inside, in your subconscious. Now wake up Jane.”

Like a switch had been thrown Jane shook herself, light coming back to her eyes. “Wow,” she said, with real feeling “that’s so much better. Thanks. I owe you for that.”

Alison felt more than a twinge of guilt as she blew out the candle and gathered it and the bottle of massage oil from the table. What she’d done wasn’t exactly ethical. Well, not ethical at all. Hypnotising someone into doing something without asking them, well, it was, wrong. But so was taking advantage of someone to get out of your share of the chores. And Jane had being doing that ever since they moved in together. But two wrongs don’t make a right, Alison tried telling herself. Even if she believed it, what was she going to do?

I can’t tell her. But it’s not like it was anything big. It shouldn’t really matter. Right? Right? the brunette thought plaintively.

Jane had been oblivious to her roommate’s internal debate. As she buttoned up her shirt she looked around and saw the clock. “Wow,” she said, “is that the time? How bad was my shoulder?”

“Umm,” replied Alison, dragging herself away from her thoughts, “pretty bad. Does it feel any better now?”

“Yeah, lots, thanks.” Jane cautiously moved her arm back and forth.

“Hey, be careful,” Alison warned her friend, “Don’t overdo it or it’ll just go back to where it was.”

“Okay,” said Jane, letting her arm drop to her side. “Hey, could you do it again if I need it?”

Right, thought Alison, now I’m your private masseuse. “Umm, I suppose. But you’re better off not letting it get like that.”

“Yeah, fair enough.” Jane picked up her essay and bag from where she’d let them drop. “Man, I’m hungry. What’s for dinner?”

Alison rolled her eyes. “Tuesday. Your turn for dinner, right?”

“Oh.” The blonde visibly deflated. “Umm, how about I order pizza?” She’ll do anything, thought Alison resignedly, to get out of housework.

Hours later Alison was staring at the screen of her laptop. She hadn’t done anywhere near as much work as she’d planned. Apart from the time lost to fixing Jane’s shoulder Alison’s guilt about what she had done to her roommate kept nagging at her. Yes, Jane didn’t do her fair share around their apartment. She hardly does any housework at all if she can get away with it, Alison thought ruefully. But that didn’t give Alison the right to, well, to brainwash Jane, if she was going to be honest.

Alison’s reflection stared back at her from the screen, a frown creasing her forehead. She could feel the tightness in her own shoulders. She sighed, and tried to make herself relax. A finger on her right hand tapped the top of her desk as she thought about what to do. She didn’t know much about hypnotism, she admitted. Sure, she’d been to that show a few months back, but so what? The hypnotist had known what he was doing. At least Alison hoped he had. And everyone he’d hypnotised had volunteered. What if she’d caused Jane some permanent damage? Think, she told herself, think. If I don’t know about something, then I should look it up. Lips pursing with resolve the brunette minimised the windows she’d had open to work on her essay and started looking around the web for information on hypnotism.

Hours later Alison shook her head in disbelief. The amount of information available amazed her. So much she’d only had a chance to skim through most of it. She wasn’t sure how much of it she could trust. Some she couldn’t understand. Some flatly contradicted other information. There were techniques, induction scripts, first-hand accounts, theories, websites, discussion groups, academic papers. Instructions on how to hypnotise people using watches, candles, clocks, even using computer programs. It went on and on. She’d jotted down the titles of a couple of psychology books from the university library to borrow tomorrow.

Alison had to leave early the next morning for her first lecture of the day. Her roommate was still asleep when she left, Jane no fan of early mornings. Alison was distracted the whole day, barely paying attention in class, startled and stuttering when the tutor asked her a question, face shining in embarrassment as she fudged her way through the answer. She wondered what she would find when she got home. Curiosity warred with guilt as she thought about what she had done to Jane the previous night and what Jane might be doing to their kitchen. Much as she wanted to go home Alison forced herself to stay to the end of her last class. She didn’t want to alert Jane to anything by acting strange. And Jane would be sure to notice if Alison missed a class.

Alison didn’t know what to think when she got home. The kitchen was, tidy. Tidier than she could remember seeing it. The benchtop was bare. The brunette couldn’t believe it. She had to open all the cupboards, stare in wonderment at their hodge-podge collection of crockery, all clean and put away, the smaller blue and white pieces on top of the plain cream.

It was obvious someone—it had to be Jane—had been working in the kitchen. It wasn’t a bad job. But it wasn’t as if the benches had been scrubbed. Still, it was better than Jane usually did, on the rare occasions she bothered to do anything. Much better. Better even than Alison herself usually managed, the brunette admitted to herself. And Alison had only told Jane to ‘clean up’. Not very precise, she reminded herself.

Jane was lazing in one of their lounge chairs reading something on her laptop.

“Uh, the kitchen looks good,” ventured Alison.

“Yeah, I thought I’d give it a go,” shrugged Jane, “’bout my turn I suppose.”

Alison felt her mouth opening and closing as she floundered for words. “Yeah, um, thanks,” she managed, before fleeing to her bedroom, clutching her bag with the psychology books that she’d borrowed from the library. She could hardly stop herself shaking as she leant against the door after closing it. Jane had done it. While Alison had been in class, Jane had cleaned the kitchen. As Alison had told her do. While she was hypnotised. Alison stepped away from the door, turned around. She stood, shaking, in centre of her room, trying to picture what Jane would have looked like, working in the kitchen. It was wrong. It was scary. And just a little bit arousing. A thought which Alison quickly pushed away. She wasn’t into girls.

“Want to watch a movie?” her blonde roommate called out.

Alison hesitated before answering. Maybe being near Jane right now wasn’t a good idea. Or maybe acting naturally would be the best idea. “S-Sure, what you got in mind?” Alison didn’t have so much homework that she needed to do it now.

“Oh, just some rom-com.”

It sounded like a good idea to Alison. A bit of romance with a hunky lead actor might get rid of any silly ideas she had floating around her head about Jane cleaning their kitchen, maybe looking as glassy eyed as she’d been last night. Alison shook her head. She certainly needed something to clear her mind.

The lead actor was every bit as attractive as Alison hoped, but the movie wasn’t really all that good. Jane’s commentary was far more amusing. To be honest, Alison reflected, Jane was good company most of the time. Even her rare torrents of complaint were bearable when set against how much fun she could be. If only she did her fair share around the flat. Still the images and the memories wouldn’t quite disappear from Alison’s head and she couldn’t help stealing a few glances at Jane, wondering what she’d done to her roommate.

Over the following days Alison read as much as she could about hypnotism. By Friday she’d convinced herself that the post-hypnotic suggestion she’d given Jane to clean up the kitchen wouldn’t have had any lasting effects. The trigger phrase was another matter. Alison wasn’t sure it would work again, and even if it did its effect would probably wear off with time. But everything she’d read convinced her that it was still in Jane’s head, lurking there waiting for Alison to use, a little flaw in the foundations of Jane’s consciousness. Fascination warred with her conscience. Alison convinced herself she’d never use it, just let its effects fade away.

After classes finished on Friday Alison rushed home to get ready for Cassie’s housewarming party. She only knew the girl vaguely, and had been surprised at the invitation, but from what she’d heard from her friends it looked like being a big party, invitations distributed like confetti. Alison was conscientious about her study, but she liked a party as much as the next university student. Jane had offered to drive. Alison didn’t have a car and while she was reluctant to ask Jane for lifts, not wanting to take advantage, the other girl often offered. Really, Alison reminded herself, she wasn’t that bad a roommate.

Alison had almost finished getting ready when she heard Jane calling her. Sticking her head into Jane’s room Alison could see her blonde roommate sitting down, looking at herself in her mirror as she rubbed her shoulder. Jane was obviously in the middle of dressing, she had on a skirt but above that only her bra.

“Still giving you some more trouble?” Alison asked.

“Yeah, not as bad as it was, but it hurts a bit. Could you give it another go? Please?” Jane gave Alison one of her pleading looks.

Alison sighed. “Well, it was pretty bad. No surprise it might flare up again. Let me have a look.” She started to gently probe Jane’s shoulder. It wasn’t too bad, nowhere near as bad as the other night, but Alison wasn’t surprised that it was still causing Jane some pain.

“Ok, just let me get the candle and the oil.”

“Don’t take too long, it’s getting cold sitting here like this.”

“Hey,” said Alison, “I’m doing you a favour.”

“Yeah, sorry,” Jane sounded genuinely contrite, “but we want to get to the party don’t we?”

Alison placed the candle in front of Jane and started to rub the oil into her roommate’s shoulder. Unlike the other night she refrained from her usual massage patter. She didn’t want to hypnotise Jane again.

They talked for a while about the party, who might be there, whether they’d find any cute boys. Jane did most of the talking, nothing unusual in that, she was the more outgoing of the two roommates. Alison found herself laughing with Jane at the blonde’s sharp insights into their mutual acquaintances. It was far from the first time, Jane had that way about her. Alison found a small but hard knot in her roommate’s shoulder and started to work on it as Jane squirmed.

“Hey, sit still. If you want me to do this right I can’t have you leaping out of the chair.”

Jane poked her tongue out at their images in the mirror, but then her features fell in surrender. “Okay, okay.” Alison could see the frown on the reflection of Jane’s face. “Sheesh, if it didn’t hurt I wouldn’t have asked you to do this. And, uh, I need to ask you something else.”

“Hmm?” replied Jane, only half-concentrating on what the other girl was saying, her hands slowly probing the other girl’s shoulder, gently working on the knot.

“I know it’s my turn to do the shopping this weekend, but Beth has asked me to go see a film with her tomorrow afternoon and I don’t have any other time. Could I swap with you?”

Alison had to struggle to stop her fingers digging into her roommate’s shoulder. Like we’ve ‘swapped’ the last three times it was your turn?, she thought. Meaning, she continued to herself, I do your turn and you never do mine.

“Massage time Janey.”

(To be continued)