//------------------------------// // Chapter 18 // Story: Spiral Swirl's Encounter // by Juke Denton //------------------------------// “What’s taking Maddie so long?” The children’s father asked. “Joey, would you go and see what’s keeping your sister. Tell her dinner’s getting cold.” “Sure thing Dad.” The oldest sibling said as he left the dining room to head upstairs. Right as he got to the top step, he saw Maddie and Spiral in the hallway and said, “There you two are! Let’s go, everyone downstairs is waiting!” The two simply said nothing and stared blankly back at the boy. It was there that Joey noticed the spirals in his sister’s eyes. He approached the two and said, “Look, I don’t know if she asked you first, but you both can play with hypnosis after dinner is over. Now please kindly snap Maddie out of it Spiral.” The unicorn didn’t listen to a single thing the eldest sibling said and merely used her magic to grab her pocket watch. “Hey! Are you even listening to what I’m saaaaayyyyyiiiinnn...” Just like his sister, Joey slurred on his words as the spellbinding pocket watch captivated his attention. “Relax......deeper......deeper......” The unicorn’s words along with the pendulum motions of the watch had begun to shut down the boy’s mind. It wouldn’t be long until he joined his sister. “Sink deeply......sleep deeply......fall deeply......” The mare droned commands to Joey who sure enough, fell under the control of the unicorn. Spiral then went up to the older sibling and ordered, “Come......follow......” “Yes, mistress.” The boy uttered in his entranced sleep as he opened his spiraling eyes and walked in sync with his sister toward the stairs. Meanwhile, in the dining room, Stacy asked Maddie and Joey’s parents, “Can I use your bathroom?” “Sure. Just through the kitchen near the laundry room.” The mother answered pleasantly. Stacy made her to the bathroom while the children’s father said, “What is going on with Maddie and Joey? They should’ve been back here by now!” “If they aren’t back soon, they’ll have a cold dinner waiting for them. And speaking of which, look who decided to return!” The mother said seeing three figures heading towards the dining room. The three stopped right at the dining room entryway and merely stared ahead, with the swirling eyes of the children out of the parents view. “Well don’t just stand there, come sit down and eat.” The mother said in a half-joking manner. All she received though was the sound of silence and glazed looks without an ounce of emotion. “Hello! Earth to Maddie, Joey, and Spiral, dinner’s over here! With still no response from any of them, the mother decided to drop the nice demeanor and said in a firm voice, “Maddie and Joey, I suggest you make your way over to the table now!” Silence. “Children.” The father said in stern voice. “Do not ignore your mother. You do what she tells you.” The children just continued to stand by idly along with the pony. The mother had just about enough. “Maddie, Joey, this is getting ridiculous! If you don’t come over and sit yourselves at the table by the time I count to three, so help me your father and I will drag you to your seats without any dessert! 1......2......” Stacy meanwhile was finishing up her business in the bathroom and washed her hands thoroughly in the sink. After making sure her hands were completely dry, she shut off the lights and began to make her way back to the dining room. She was in the kitchen when she heard her friend’s mother say in a firm tone, “That’s it! As punishment, there will be no dessert for a week!” Stacy quickly hid behind the cutting board in fear, not wanting to get involved with whatever was happening in the other room. She heard the parents get up from their seats and walked to the opposite end of the dining room with the mother saying, “I can’t believe that you two are acting like this, especially you Maddie since you have a guest staying the night! Perhaps I should call Stacy’s mother to pick her up for your misbehavior!" ‘No...’ Stacy thought to herself and began to slowly tear up quietly without anyone hearing her. “But enough is enough! If we have to drag you two to the table, then perhaps...you...twoooooooooo......” The mother was unable to finish her train of thought as the swinging motion of Spiral’s pocket watch grabbed both parent’s attention. Stacy was confused as to the sudden slurring of the mother’s words and rubbed the tears out of her eyes quickly to take a peek behind the doorway of the kitchen. She caught a glimpse of Maddie and Joey’s parents standing in place with bits of Spiral’s pocket watch catching her attention every now and then. Despite how tempting it was, she turned away from the scene as not to get caught up in the induction. ‘Spiral must be hypnotizing them to calm them down. But what did Maddie’s mother mean by Maddie’s misbehavior. That doesn’t seem like how she normally act!’ Then she heard the sound of Spiral’s voice croak, “Watch......deeper......deeper......” ‘Why is Spiral talking like that? It doesn’t sound like her normal self.’ At the same time, the parents were struggling to stay awake. But it was all over once the unicorn said, “Relax......fall......sleep......” With that the parents went out like a light bulb and now the entire family was under Spiral’s control. ‘Something feels wrong here. Spiral is talking strange and Maddie’s mother yelling at her for misbehaving. Could it be?’ Just then, she heard the mare say, “Follow......obey......” The girl looked through the doorway again and sure enough, her worst fears were confirmed as she saw her best friend next to her brother with her eyes full of spirals. ‘They’ve all been hypnotized! Spiral must be under some sort of trance as well! I have to help them, but how?’ Stacy was running out of time until she looked at the water glasses on the table. Thinking quickly, she grabbed one that was full and shouted, “Spiral!” The unicorn turned her attention to where the girl was which truthfully made the latter afraid. But she tried to act as brave as possible and said, “You want me, then come and get me!” Spiral did nothing for a moment until she said, “Stay......sleep......”, and began to head towards the girl. Stacy went back to the kitchen still clutching the glass of water in her hand. ‘If I can splash this on her face, maybe it’ll break her free from her trance.’ She hid behind one of the counters and waited for Spiral to enter in. A few moments passed until the sound of hoofsteps beating down on the tile echoed in the room. Stacy was shaking in fear knowing she had one chance to save herself and her friend’s family from becoming mindless followers of a hypnotist, who wasn’t even aware of her actions. Luckily the unicorn hadn’t seen the girl yet, giving the human the advantage of preparing herself. Getting into position, Stacy held a firm grip on the glass cup and mentally played out how to throw the liquid at Spiral. Confident in her ability, she snuck to the side of the mare and readied herself. Just as she was about to splash the water in Spiral’s face however, Stacy’s foot slipped on a small puddle on the tile floor, causing her to lose her balance and spill the water from the glass onto the floor. The girl fell on her back with a thud and moaned in pain. Thankfully she wasn’t hurt too badly and prevented the glass cup from shattering (as she still held on to it), but her clothes had gotten wet from the impact. Stacy didn’t have long to think about her debacle though as she lifted up her head to catch Spiral staring directly at her. She was too sore to try and move around and yelled, “Spiral, please wake up! WAKE UP!” The girl’s pleading however didn’t stop the unicorn from retrieving her watch and commenced weaving her hypnotizing spell over Stacy. The human couldn’t bring herself to break eye contact from the un-resistible effects the trinket emitted. “Look......Watch......Stare......Relax......” The girl’s mind was already absorbing the mare’s words and felt herself giving in to the unicorn’s power. She was able to utter one last sentence that bubbled in her dwindling free will. “Please Spiral...don’t...” But the feeble girl’s plea was in vain as the perfect swaying motion of the pocket watch and Spiral’s commands completely overpowered her. “Sleep......sleep......sleep......” Not able to take it anymore, Stacy went down in defeat as she fell into a blissful state of trance and let go of the cup in her hand. The unicorn now had every human in the house household under her hypnotic control. “Listen......obey......stand......” Spiral ordered Stacy as the girl stood up from where she was and revealed her own set of swirling spirals. The unicorn stared blankly at her for a moment and was about to make her way back to the dining room where the others were. However, the unicorn didn’t inspect her surroundings and slipped on a puddle of water. Unable to keep her balance, Spiral fell onto the floor with her face hitting the cold, wet surface. “Uggghhh...” Spiral said shaking her head and looked around. “What happened? How am I in the kitchen?” The mare tried standing up, but the slick surface made it hard for her to stand still and ended up skidding and bumping against Stacy. “Oomph! Sorry about that Stacy.” Once the pony’s hooves found themselves on a drier surface, she finally stood up straight and got her bearings. “Looks like someone accidentally spilled their drink on the floor.” The unicorn said observing the empty glass cup in the middle of the puddle. “Do you need help cleaning it up?” The girl said nothing and just merely stood in place as the mare wondered why she wasn’t answering back. “Stacy? Are you alright?” “Yes...” The empty headed girl replied in her trancelike tone. ‘She doesn’t sound alright. She sounds like...wait a minute!’ Spiral thought to herself and began to put two and two together before saying, “Stacy if you can hear me, step away from the puddle and sit down in front of me!” The girl obeyed and moved herself onto the drier kitchen surface tile, sitting in front of the mare with her swirling eyes. “I knew it!” Spiral said out loud confirming her suspicions. She didn’t know how she ended up in the kitchen or how Stacy was under her spell, but she was sure that the two were related somehow. “Okay first things first. Stacy when I count to three you’ll wake up from your trance. 1...2...3...awaken!” Stacy’s eyes returned to normal and her mind raced back to life as she saw Spiral staring at her. She immediately backed up against a cabinet door in fear and said, “Spiral! Please don’t, I beg you!” “Woah, woah, woah, calm down Stacy. Calm down. What’s wrong?” The doctor asked as she couldn’t help but think why Stacy was afraid of her. Hearing Spiral speak in her normal tone of voice helped to melt away some of Stacy’s fear, but the human still had a bit of suspicion that it was pretend. Wanting to make sure, she slowly inched her way towards the teal unicorn and asked, “Spiral? Is it really you? Are you awake?” “Yes it is. Though I don’t know what you mean by being awake, but yes I am.” Hearing those words, the girl immediately threw her arms around the pony and hugged her tightly, not wanting to let go and cried. The quadruped returned the hug and said, “Shh...it’s okay.” “No it isn’t! I thought I couldn’t save you!” The mare’s eyes widened at what the little girl said, “Save me? What are you talking about?” Stacy only tightened the hug saying, “It was like you were hypnotized and wouldn’t respond to anything anyone said! I tried to help wake you, but I slipped and fell and then you...you......” “You don’t need to say another word. I’m here and that’s all that matters.” The unicorn said soothingly and gently patting a hoof on the child’s back to help calm her down. “Oh Spiral...” Stacy said choking up. A minute passed until Spiral asked, “Stacy, I don’t know what’s going on, but I need you to tell me everything that’s happened.” Stacy wiped the tears from her eyes and cheeks before breaking the hug and saying, “As I said, it looked like were in a trance and wouldn’t respond to me or anyone else. You had already put everyone else under your control before y-“ “Wait!” The mare said interrupting the child. “You mean I’ve hypnotized Maddie, Joey, and their parents?!? Where are they?” When Stacy replied with, “Out in the dining room”, the two made their way there and just as Stacy has said, the whole family was standing in place, sleeping, and waiting for Spiral’s voice to command them. “Did I really do this?” Spiral asked staring at what she had unintentionally done. “Mmhmm.” Stacy said nodding her head. The mare studied the family in stern horror as a question consistently bounced through her head. ‘What could’ve possessed me to do this?’ Spiral took in a deep breath and let it out slowly before saying, “I don’t know what’s going on, but the first thing to do is to wake them.” “Spiral, wait!” Stacy blurred out, before the pony could utter a command to the family. “What is it Stacy?” Spiral asked, looking at the girl as if something was wrong. “Before you wake them...well...would you make it so the parents don’t remember what happened in the past fifteen minutes?” The unicorn raised an eyebrow at the girl’s request and could only ask, “Why?” “Well...before you used your watch on the parents...Maddie’s mother had shouted at her and Joey while also stating how my mother should pick me up early because of how Maddie was behaving...and it wasn’t even her fault!” The child was on the verge of crying again, but Spiral comforted her once again and said, “I understand, completely Stacy. But before I do that…” The hypnotist directed her attention to the spellbound children and said, “Maddie. Joey. On the count of three, you will break free from your trance and remember everything that happened. 1...2...3...Awaken!” When the two siblings had fully woken up, Joey was the first to ask, “Spiral? What is going on?” “I was hoping you two might be able to answer that for me. Because truthfully...I have no idea myself.” The unicorn answered the boy with concern in her voice. “And why are your clothes all soaked Stacy?” Maddie asked pointing at her friend. Stacy felt slightly embarrassed about her friend seeing her with wet clothes and asked, “Would it be alright if I went and got changed into my pajamas?” “Sure. You can change upstairs while we talk to Spiral.” Said Maddie, earning a thank you from her friend before the brother and sister were left with the teal pony (and their still hypnotic bound parents). “I know this is completely awkward for all of us, but I need to know exactly what happened here.” Spiral listened to both the siblings stories about how she weaved her hypnosis on each one individually (minus the parents), while apparently under some form of hypnotic trance of her own. She processed the scenario described to her and reached an unsatisfied conclusion. “I have a hunch that this whole incident started when I went to take a rest earlier. And I bet the aching I was feeling in my head prior had something to do with how I ended up in that stupor state. Unfortunately, how the pain started and why it’s affecting me is beyond me.” “What are you going to do about it?” Joey asked truly unsure how to help his friend out. “Well, for the time being, the best thing to do is to snap your parents out of it, make them forget what happened and try to make the best of the evening.” “Are you sure that it’s a good idea to try and sweep all of this under the rug like it never happened? What if you try it again the next time you sleep?” The oldest child asked worried for the unicorn. “If it does come down to that…” The mare paused for a moment before she let out a regretful sigh and finished her sentence. “…then perhaps I should leave.”