In Progress Sneak Preview: Bright Water

So this is a custom story featuring Kayla (You Wouldn't Believe Me..., Repurposed, Crystalized) that I've been working on, and as you'll see from the fact it's 5k words and there's no overt sexy in it, a deeply manipulative slow burn. I think another story I've been fiddling with will be done in the next day or two, but this is just raw first draft text. I wanted you all to see it, so you can see I'm not doing nothing :D
Bright Water

A Smuthunter Story

As he sipped his champagne Landon Trent couldn’t help muttering, “I don’t know why I come to these things,” he was surprised to hear an answer.

“Looking at you, I’d say it’s obligations of class,” the woman who spoke to him held out a pale white hand with red tipped nails, “Kayla Madison.”

She was a head shorter than him, with short black hair parted to the side and deep green eyes that looked right into his. She was attractive in a plain sort of way, less effortless and more lacking effort, but unlike the debutants that made up his cohort, she was too old to be demanding attention.

“Landon Trent,” he took her hand, “I don’t claim to know everyone in these circles…”

She smiled at him, a wide bright smile that animated her features and carried a wealth of practiced charm and poise, “Oh no, I am most assuredly a tourist. I don’t even know whose party this is, I was brought along by a friend of a friend.”

At a glance she might have fooled someone else, but Landon had an eye for the trappings of his station and saw that the simple black dress she wore and the burgundy shawl wrapped around her shoulders were not someone playing at chic elegance. What really gave her away though was her jewelry; her small teardrop diamond earrings, her platinum bracelet, and the ring on her right ring finger were as exquisite as they pretended to be modest.

She must have seen the corner of his lip tilt up as he appraised her accessories, “Oh no, it’s all borrowed. The dress doesn’t actually fit properly, it’s why I’m wearing this thing.”

She tugged at her shawl, and he couldn’t help but wonder what her chest looked like under the billowing wrap of cashmere. It fell off her in such a way to inspire his imagination, but as he wasn’t a cad, Landon didn’t spend more than a passing glance thinking about it.

He didn’t believe her story, but that only made her more interesting.

“So, is it polite to ask what you do?” She looked out at their surroundings, the ballroom full of his peers and elders, the wait staff moving in and out of the side doors as others came and went to other open areas of the mansion. “Or is it assumed that everyone here knows everyone by reputation?”

He laughed and took another drink. She was sharp. She had a sharp eye, and a sharp tongue, and he didn’t believe her modesty for a second, not the least because of her composure. “I’ve worked in wealth management, but you might say I’m more the idle rich than a serious professional.”

There was no harm in a little dry, self-deprecating humor. “And you?”

She also took another drink, “I am a clinical hypnotherapist.”

She said that in a way that said she knew every question he was going to ask her, and it was pure pride and a sense of wit that demanded Landon surprise her, “So, which one of my peers has been on your couch?”

She stopped herself from taking another drink and let out a little chuckle, “Oh no, I couldn’t tell you that even if that was it. But I haven’t set up my practice out here yet. I’m actually going to be borrowing a friend’s office while I take my first few clients.”

“I like you Landon,” Kayla smiled at him and took her drink, “most everyone asks me if my career is real and viable when I tell them what to do. It’s nice to meet a gossip instead of a skeptic.”

He laughed, “Well I was going to…”

Kayla flicked the side of his glass with her fingernail, “No you weren’t, you were going to find yourself looking into my eyes, looking deep into my eyes and wondering if I could hypnotize you now, weren’t you?”

She spoke with the same wry tone and humor but her words came a little faster, and as his mind instantly started to think about the idea she presented, she flicked the side of his glass again, and again it made a little clinking sound that interrupted his thoughts.

“You could look into my eyes, but it would end up with a very deep trance that probably wouldn’t be appropriate for this,” he watched her wave her free hand out towards the party, “so let’s just let me put one simple idea in your head instead of putting you in a deep trance. You like my earrings, so just look here.”

She brought her hand to her ear and tapped her earing, “You’re going to want to close your eyes as you focus right here and hear my words, but you’ll find that every time you blink now, blink now,” the speed and force of her voice made his eyelids flutter for a second, “you’ll realize you just need to focus on the little diamond more and more.”

She paused and softly flicked her earing three times and as it danced from her fingertip and caught the light he blinked, not from its minute cascade of sparkles, but from the sharp sense of compulsive awareness he now had about his eyelids and his need to blink.

“That’s right, you’re feeling it happening, and as you blink now,” she flicked his glass again with her finger and, “blink now, you’re feeling your eyes becoming locked on my earing. You’re feeling them drawn to its compelling shape, and as you stare now you’re discovering little secrets and mysteries in its facets. Little compelling sparkles of light that make you want to keep staring, and that’s why you’re going to try and look away now and see what happens.”

Landon blinked and found her earing growing in his eyes. He found himself focused on its colors and its shape, and he did try to look at her and look into her eyes, but then she tapped his glass again and he couldn’t seem to break focus from that little diamond teardrop.

“You can look away, but you can’t look away because I put the idea in your head that you don’t want to, so you don’t. It’s a trick, and it’s the power of suggestions. If I hadn’t told you I was a hypnotist it wouldn’t have worked as well. Now close your eyes, and when you open them you’ll be back to normal.”

Landon blinked and found himself looking deep into her dark green eyes, “I want you to think about this experience. I want you to consider this little experience, this little thing I put inside your mind, and I want you to think about hypnosis. I really think it would be good for you, you’re very receptive and that’s a skill, and I want you to think about it until you decide you want to make an appointment with me.”

He was still staring deep into her eyes when she put her business card in his hand. “I have to go see to my friend, but call me on Monday.”

She was gone…

But what she’d done to him lingered.

* *

“I trust you found this place okay?”

Kayla was waiting for him in the lobby of a bare bones office in a strip-mall/office park in the suburbs. Her chin length black hair was parted and swept back over her left ear, and he noticed the little gold studs in ears before he took in her dark red, sleeveless dress with a black belt, and black, knee high leather boots. They were flat soles so she even shorter now than she was at the gala, but there was something more striking about her.

“Ms. Madison,” she smiled at him and took his hand when he offered it to her, “Kayla, it’s good to see you.” He’d felt odd addressing her by her last name, and he noticed that her makeup was just as immaculately done, but more strikingly modest for effect.

“Landon, it was so wonderful to hear from you this morning, I’m very proud of you for deciding to do this.” The skirt of her dress brushed her knees, and while it revealed nothing, not even a hint of cleavage, it flattered her in a way to make her chest impossible to ignore.

“Well, it was so interesting the other night,” the morning after the part it felt like she’d drilled the thought of being hypnotized right through his forehead and into his soft squishy brain but he wasn’t going to admit that, “that I couldn’t exactly say no to you.”

“Oh, I know,” she kept hold of his hand, “here let’s go into the office. I know.” He laughed as she led him down the short hallway into a sparsely furnished and decorated office with a desk, an office chair, and a recliner.

“You didn’t say it on the phone, but I knew you were responding to our chat. Here, sit down and relax.” There was laughter and boundless confidence in her voice and he sat down without any more urging. “In stage hypnosis there are tricks that reveal if people will be good for a show, and that little demonstration is something I developed to see if certain kinds of, let’s say, ‘Type A’ personalities would benefit from a disposition towards what hypnosis offers.”

“Are you sure you didn’t hypnotize me into wanting to be hypnotized? I mean, with your rate and only taking cash it wouldn’t be a bad racket.” ON the phone she’d said that she wasn’t set up for insurance and that cash would be much more preferable, so he’d obliged her. It was a respectable hourly rate, one she sounded very comfortable quoting, and one that told him she was as successful as she’d pretended not to be when they first met.

“Would it make you more comfortable if I said yes?” She pulled the office chair over and sat down in front of him. “Look into my eyes and relax. Take a deep breath, and just focus on my deep green eyes.”

He was struck by how immediate she was, and how focused and deliberate her tone was. She was very good, and the other night wasn’t a fluke or the liquor. “Hypnosis is a permission structure, and going into trance, feeling the ability to engage with the suggestible part of yourself appealed to you. You felt the brief release of tension I gave you… yes that’s right, breathe all the way in and then all the way out… So you can say that I did it to you, but I just gave you a chance to feel something naturally appealing to you. I know your type, I almost exclusively work with a certain kind of mindset, because I have it too, so you can relax with me. I understand you, and I think you’re staring to understand me.”

Landon felt his shoulders sink as he looked into those eyes, those deep, dark, green eyes, and he remembered what she’d said about her eyes being able to put him into a deep trance. Then he realized she probably wanted him to remember that, and appreciated her foresight and intuition. It really did make him wonder if she had played him into this position.

“We haven’t even…”

She waved her hand down in front of his face and said, “Sleep.”

He was going to say talked about what we’re going to do, but that one motion and that one word paused everything.

“Just relax. We’re going to probe your mind to see what you need and what I can give you. So just open your eyes, look deep into my eyes, and feel yourself just naturally keep on breathing deep and relaxing until your eyelids close again on their own.”

Landon felt Kayla’s voice reaching into him and gently making everything feel simple and easy. He felt himself open his eyes, grateful to just go along. It wasn’t a feeling he was expecting, but when he looked deep into her eyes he wondered if maybe this was what guys into bondage felt like when they were bossed around.

“I want you to just keep listening and as you look into my eyes, let them become a mirror for you. Let yourself look deeper into my eyes and look deeper into your, just finding something inside that you want to say, or feel, something strong that you want to touch and feel, or maybe something you’ve always wanted to say but feel you never could. Just look deeper and deeper into my eyes until you find it.”

He stared into the deep, dark green of her eyes and then into the pitch black of her pupils until he saw himself staring back. His eyelids were getting heavy and he felt a tingling in his fingers. His felt warm and started to feel like he was growing distant from his own body. His chin dipped as his eyes closed and he started to breathe more softly.

Then he remembered what she had told him to do, and he realized he was… was he falling asleep… things were…

“Sometimes we can just answer a question with our selves, and our bodies become our voices. It’s okay Landon, look deep into my eyes, deeper and deeper into my eyes, look right into my pupils, deep into my pupils and stare into the black. You answered my question, you found what you needed, and you can find it again as you stare deeper and deeper, that’s right, look deep into my people, there’s so black, so empty and black, like deep sleep now. Empty and…”

The sound of her voice whispered around him, flowing like silk, drifting and covering everything like mist, and he was gone down into a deep and dreamless sleep.

“Now I want you to open your eyes, open your eyes and open yourself up to everything I’m saying. The need to let go is perfectly natural. You just needed a break, we all need breaks sometimes, and sometimes some people simply cannot mentally discount or recharge the way they need to. It’s very hard for smart people like ourselves, it’s especially hard when you’ve gone through your entire life living with a demand to be smart, strong, attentive, and capable, which you so obviously are. Just accept that part of yourself and sink into that confidence now.”

Landon felt good.

The world was far away, simple, and slow, and it was easy to keep looking into her eyes. They were so deep and dark, and truly fascinating. Landon felt himself blinking, and every blink lasted longer than the one before, but he needed to see those eyes.

“I want you to know that you’re doing the right thing for yourself now, learning to let go, letting yourself trust me to help you disconnect from everything that’s informed your adult life. It’s not just the last few years, the years that have really made you a man, it’s every expectation before these newest ones, and you never learned to let them go.”

He wasn’t even thirty yet, but Landon felt like his life had been a cartoon snowball rolling down a hill, getting bigger and bigger, getting ready to crush him. He joked about being a member of the idle rich, but his family obligations demanded that he be more than the beneficiary of wealth. Every business connection, every friend in high places led to anther obligation and anther expectation, and Landon’s entire life had felt normal is not prescribed in concrete.

But now, looking deep into Kayla’s eyes, everything felt tedious, and exhausting. Everything felt loud and abrasive, crowded in the back of his mind, tugging at him, and she was right, he didn’t know how to let any of it go, not really. It was who he was, and it was a moment of profound insight.

“I’m going to help you, because I know that feeling and I know how hard it can be to just be. Just be in this moment, just feel your eyelids closing, and just keep your focus on my pupils, look past the green, past color and shape, and into the dark, until my eyes swallow your eyes, and black becomes black and sleep becomes sleep now.”

Landon’s eyelids fluttered once, then twice, and as they closed he heard her voice, softer than before warmer than before, “Let everything just fade into the darkness now, fade away and sink for me as your mind becomes empty and black as a starless night.”

He went down, down under that place of insight and personal reflection, down under that echoing resonance of her insight and understanding. He went down, “And as you take a deep breath in, feel your eyes open, and feel yourself drawn back into my eyes now Landon.”

His eyes opened, but he wasn’t fully within himself. He felt halved, separated from the weight of the past, oblivious to his inner voice, and transfixed by her deep, dark green eyes.

“Whenever I say the words empty and black as a starless night…”

He was falling again, “that’s right, you will remember how to sink, and how easy it is to let go, but come back up, back up into my eyes again.”

More than last time there was even less of him.

“So I can watch the lights begin to fade in your eyes as my eyes swallow your eyes when the world becomes empty and…”

He didn’t last through the last few words, but then he was quiet, and he felt small, and safe, looking up at her as she smiled and stared down at him.

“Bright water refreshes you and washes away all of your tension and all of your stress. Bright water invigorates you like a shower of light and love, washed in warm crystals of liquid light, energizing you and cleaning out all of the mess and dirt and grim in your mind and inner life.”

Landon stared at her crystal green eyes, dark and flawless and perfectly compelling. He stared so deeply into her eyes that the green of her irises and the black of her pupils swirled around him.

“Bright water.”

He felt an amazing rush of care and compassion in her voice, and he felt warmth wash over his body like a hot shower on a cold morning.

“Bright water is peace. Bright water clarity. Bright water is the relief you need.”

He smiled and his eyes closed. He could hear her saying “That’s right, empty and…”

But the water had washed everything away and the darkness swallowed him up before he could consciously hear her words.

“Bright water gives me peace. Bright water gives me clarity. Bright water is the relief I need.” Saying those words out loud made Landon feel wonderful, and ten times lighter than he’d ever felt before. It was better than being drunk or high, it was better than sex, and it was real. It was real, and such a relief.

“Good, now as you say those words again let yourself wake from trance, waking from our time together, and let yourself let go of any doubts so you can just feel how good what we’ve done together makes you feel.”

The world came into warm focus, and Kayla’s eyes seemed to guide him up to the surface, back up from some invisible depth, and he laughed.

“So,” she handed him an unopened bottle of water, “does this time work for you next week?”

He smiled, “That’s a hard sell if ever I’ve heard one.”

“Of course it is,” she took a step back so he could stand up, “why do you think I’m asking you to make a commitment when you’re feeling the immediate benefits of my skill. It would be stupid for me to wait, wouldn’t it?”

There was something in her voice, something so undeniably confident, and something so charming in her eyes that he couldn’t imagine doubting her. Landon laughed again, and he booked another session after he paid her.

As he drove home, he realized he had no idea where most of their hour together had gone.

“Hello Landon, how are you?” He hadn’t really thought about not answering the phone when he saw who was calling. It was the middle of the day in the middle of the week, and it had not been a slow day.

“I’m well, off to a meeting in a few minutes and…”

“Bright water.”

He closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh. The tension melted from his shoulders and his mind cleared, washed free of any doubt and tension hidden even in the deepest parts of his mind.

“How about now?” She laughed as she asked him, and with the kind of confidence he already felt he expected from her, she didn’t wait for him to respond. “I’m just confirming you for our next appointment, and to let you know that if you’re free this weekend that might be more agreeable.”

He felt good, he felt clear headed and everything was wide open to him, “I think…”

“I’m sorry,” she cut him off,  “you said you have a meeting. Call me if you want to see me sooner, we’ll talk later.”

The rest of his day was easy, it felt like his brain had been a hammer his entire life and he was just now finally able to bring it down on his problems like they were nails. The meeting was easy, and he was faster, sharper, and more capable than anyone else.

He left a message for her that night saying that the weekend would work for him and that he was excited to continue working with her. When she called him back with a time he was in a meeting, and he almost had to step out to answer the call after covertly looking at his phone.

“So,” they were back in the mostly empty office out in the suburbs and she was wearing another high-necked red dress and the same black boots. This dress had a longer skirt, short sleeves, and was more… boxy. At least it was boxy around her chest, but as Landon was truly beginning to notice, there was a lot there to be contained. “Have you thought about what you would like to work on this session?”

“You know, that little call of yours was a wonderful sales trick. I’m beginning to think you’re…”

Her hair was back behind a black headband and she was wearing small gold hoop earrings. She looked deep into his eyes as he spoke, and he noticed their deep, dark, green depths and his voice trailed off.

He laughed as he realized what he’d done, what she’d done. “You’re… You’re very pushy aren’t you?”

Kayla smirked at him. She was older, not quite twice he age, but maybe close, maybe not so much, he didn’t know, and she was a little heavier,  maybe even classically curvy. “You’re my first client here, I wouldn’t be responsible to my business and my practice if I let you go. Have a seat.”

She waved him to the recliner, “You’d be surprised how many people stop at one session, and the kind of work it takes to establish the kind of clientele you want. I could put up listings for weight loss and smoking cessation, or even past life exploration and spiritual healing, but…”

She pulled the office chair up and sat down across from him, “But those are markets where you have to be willing to offer discounted rates, new client specials, and honestly, opening yourself up to work you don’t want to do ensures that it’s the work you’ll do the most of. And to be perfectly honest, I’m too good at what I do for these nickel and dime rates, and these unhappy housewives looking for spiritual fulfillment.”

There was a subtle shift to her tone as she spoke, a softening around the edges of her words and a lyrical cadence. It felt familiar, and it pulled his focus into her, into her eyes. He felt himself settling into the recliner and relaxing. “What kind of work to you actually prefer then?”

“Close your eyes,” he did, and she continued. “I prefer working in stress management and goal oriented performance training. It’s one of the reasons I cannot wait to get out of this office, it doesn’t say what I want it to say, does it?”

Her voice was getting heavier, it felt like every word was pressing down on him like a soothing blanket or one of those anxiety shirts for anxious pets. It felt nice. “No, I suppose not. It’s nice your friend is letting you use this space though. It looks like… they’re not really using it though.”

“No,” the word was soft and there was a pause and the silence went on longer than he expected. He sat there with his eyes closed and it was nice. He was drifting and when she started to speak again, her voice was even softer and heavier. “No they’re not. Tell me what you remember about our last session, and tell me how you felt.”

“I felt…” it was hard to reach back into those feelings and not sink all the way in. I felt… calm and relaxed, and I remember you saying empty and black as a starless night, and…”

“Say it again Landon.”

“Empty and black…: he was falling asleep and it was hard to… he mumbled something, maybe the words, maybe not.

“Open your eyes and look deep into my eyes now.”

The strength, the imperative in her voice was woven up in softness and he opened his eyes. He was awake, he thought, and he was staring deep into her eyes, deep into the black pupils and the green irises and he… was…

“Bright water washes away all your doubts and all your tensions doesn’t it?”

He took a deep cleansing breath and he felt wonderful, he felt alive. He was wide awake and invigorated. He was…

“Empty and black as a starless night.”

Gone.

“Open your eyes Landon, open your eyes and wake up, feeling bright water splashing over, clearing your mind and sharpening your senses now.”

“Wow,” he was wide awake again, sharp, focused and alive. “I… I don’t remember everything we did last time, but I guess, that’s it? You gave me those…”

Kayla smiled, and it felt like she was willing him back into her eyes, “Triggers, or post hypnotic suggestions to feel a certain way or do a certain thing when you hear a series of words, or experience a feeling, or an action. You’re such a good subject that we didn’t need to do more than help you build your connection with deep trance, and then give you a shortcut to cleansing yourself of the things you don’t want to feel. That’s what bright water is.”

There was no change in her inflection, no meaningful pivot from her matter of fact explanation. Those two words sent another invigorating wave through him. As she was speaking he’d felt a heaviness start to creep over him, like falling back asleep when you wake up suddenly but aren’t ready to rise, but those two words reinvigorated him once more.

“Does this mean you could put me in a trance whenever you want just by saying that other thing?” Landon sat up a little bit straighter in the chair and leaned forward towards her just a little bit.

“Yes and now. We both know I can hypnotize you whenever I want based on our first meeting and how good of a subject you are, but our minds protect us, so you’d still want to, or need to drop down into hypnosis for me when I say empty and black as a starless night.”

This time Landon heard every word of the trigger and sat there staring into he eyes in silence… until his eyes closed and his chin dipped towards his chest. Landon had tried not to succumb, to see what it would feel like to have the suggestion register but to not take hold. It had felt pointless, like there was no reason not to simply go along with the intention of those words.

He’d stared into her eyes, saw them sparkle and smile back at him, confident, knowing, and certain of what would happen next, and then he was back in the darkness.

“Everybody needs what they need for success and happiness. I need a better office, and you need to separate yourself from your well trained, brilliant, attentive,, vigilant mind. You need to experience a slower, more peaceful mental existence, because even when you sleep your dreams are style hyper engaged. You live a life of expectations, you told me last time that you grew up understanding the demands your family put on you, and you’ve internalized them, but you cannot turn them off. Remember, that’s what you told me.”

Unlike before, he wasn’t gone in the emptiness, he was just below the surface. Her confident, compassionate voice was so agreeable, and he assumed that’s what he must have said because that’s how he felt. She told him in his own words what had always been inside him.

“There are ways we can explore even deeper trance states for you, ways you can truly immerse yourself in hypnosis with me, but they require practice and we should wait, especially because they involve more trust and different tools.  But I’m sure once you’re more comfortable in deep trance, which will be soon, and once I’m more set up to practice these more powerful methods that demand more privacy and time, we can explore the depths of your strongest needs. Until then, in this session, just let yourself sink down, deeper down until you’re soaking in bright water while your own inner voice goes silent, empty and black as a starless night.”

A torrent of warmth, focus, and clarity washed over Landon right before the lights went out. He found himself flowing out of himself in a swirling, twisting dream.

“Can you hear me Landon?”

“You’re doing so well.”

“You need this.”

“You’ve always needed this.”

“It’s good for you to come here.”

“It’s good for you to let go and lose yourself here.”

“When you lose yourself you find yourself, and when you find yourself, you find happiness.”

“Lose yourself and find yourself.”

“Give yourself over to hypnotic release, and take the pleasure of deep trance deeper inside you.”

“Hypnosis feels good, and the better you feel the deeper you sink.”

“The deeper you sink, the better you feel.”

“The better you feel, the more you give in.”

“The more you give yourself, the more of my voice you can take inside you.”

“This is what you need.”

“Need.”

Need.

Kayla’s voice stopped swirling through him and he started to wake from a sleep as empty and black as a starless night. But if everything was gone, how could he remember and hear her? He did remember what she was saying, and he felt it. He felt like he’d gone further, and he felt better. And bright water washed his confusion away like it always did, and his trance was gone, the details were gone, and he was awake and focused and staring deep into Kayla’s eyes, her deep, dark, green eyes.

“Is… is it over already? I…” Landon took the bottle of water she handed him, and as he drank it, he felt refreshed and focused. “I really don’t know what to make of not remembering what happens.”

She stood next to him and put a hand on his arm, “It’s natural, and you feel good about the experience.”

Landon heard it as a question, and not a statement, “I do.”