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Writing Workshop / Re: Another untitled - is it going anywhere?
« Last post by softi on Today at 12:20:19 am »Let's see if this can keep up the suspension of disbelief.
She woke up sore, with her arm asleep underneath her on the hard surface. She noticed the windows were still open and that was... squirmy. Thrillingly moist and hot. She stood and looked outside. I wouldn't have guessed you were an exhibitionist! She trembled as one hand snaked down her stomach. She managed to stop and move to the bathroom. The window curtains were open, and she fought her hand sliding down again. Focusing, she started her usual morning routine.
Except, this time nude. With the curtains open. And her heat dripping down her thighs. She opened her frosted shower window and nearly lost control. She dressed in front of her uncovered window in her bedroom. Coming out of her bedroom, she managed to calm herself enough to head to her office.
On the way, she felt tired still, having slept on the cold, hard foyer tile. Her account was usually too tight for coffee, but this once, she figured, she could grab one. Maybe. She pulled up her banking app as she slid into her beater car.
That much? No way.
She flipped through the transaction history and saw a transfer from Venmo. A rather large transfer, compared to what she usually deposited. It came from...
Who?
She blinked a few times. Checked her Venmo. "Find Lindsay" from a Jacob Langston.
Who again? Why? She wasn't on a job right now. She didn't remember finding any Lindsay, any Jocob contracting her services.
This wasn't normal.
Her hand slipped between her thighs, pressing on her crotch. You will forget...
She yanked her hand away and stared at her phone. Wasn't there someone she was supposed to call for situations with an investigation? She knew there was somebody. She just couldn't bring who it was to mind.
She really needed that coffee.
With whiskey.
Or, well, not the whiskey. Her mind was already foggy.
She drove off to her favorite spot near her office. The coffee was bitter and hot and just what she needed to clear the fog.
It worked, but it didn't bring back any Jacob or Lindsay or safety valve.
She parked her car in her office lot and headed up. She went in and sat behind her desk, kicking her legs up. It always helped when she had to puzzle something out. Lifting her phone, she looked at the text that had just come in.
<code>Hey girl, you safe? You didn't check in last night</code>
Whole words? Who texts like that? Someone... the fog was back and her hand started slipping between her legs again. You will forget...
She fought the compulsion and brought her hand up to her phone. The contact said Maddie.
Maddie? She didn't know any Maddie.
She didn't know a Maddie, she didn't know a Jacob, she had the money for a Lindsay she didn't remember that she was supposed to be looking for.
Amnesia?
She didn't have a headache like she hit her head. She ran her hands around her skull and didn't feel any bumps.
Was the text phishing? She text back.
<code>do I know you?</code>
Three dots showed up, went away. Came back. what's up with you? Yes you know me, I'm your safety valve, remember?
Safety valve played around in Chandra's mind. She remembered setting one up. She knew she had. She just couldn't think of who.
<code>I dont remember</code> she sent.
<code>You hit your head?</code> came back.
Chandra stared at it for a minute. Had she? What had happened?
<code>No, I don't remember anything</code> She thought about it, trying to remember the last few days. Her hand slipped down again. This time she was so focused on remembering that it had her jeans unbuttoned and slipped down her panties before she realized it. You will forget what you need to... She nearly came hearing the voice in her head, but fought the desire and only just kept her fingers from continuing. She knew if she came, this Maddie would disappear again, and she needed to find out what had happened.
Her hand was wet as she pulled it out.
What if someone had come by, opened the door? Oh fuck, that's hot. she thought. They'd see me. Her hand nearly went back down.
Her phone buzzed. She looked, it was a call from this Maddie person. "Hello?"
"Girl, what's wrong with you? You don't remember me? You remember high school at all? After? Me helping you get over Chad? Your fucking notes for this creep you were investigating?"
"No, I'm sorry, I..." Chad she remembered. Someone had helped her get over it. Who? "You helped with Chad?" She felt tears starting. Something was very wrong.
"You really don't remember?" Maddie said quietly. "What do you remember?"
"I don't know, I don't know, I don't know..." The tears were flowing freely now.
"I'll be there in a minute." said Maddie. "Don't move." The line went dead.
Chandra dropped her phone on her desk and put her face in her hands. The sobs started wracking her body, tears flowing down her hands.
A few minutes passed and her door flew open. A woman was standing there, and Chandra looked through wet eyes to see a blurry image of someone she didn't recognize.
"Oh, hon," said Maddie. She started moving towards Chandra.
"No! Stay back!" said Chandra, holding her hands up, letting Maddie see her puffy cheeks and red eyes.
"What's wrong?" Maddie stayed where she was.
"I... I don't know you." Chandra choked out. "Are you Maddie?"
"Yeah, I'm Maddie," she replied. "What happened?"
"I'm not sure," said Chandra. "How do I know I can trust you?"
Maddie sighed as she thought. She said, "This really is a first for you. What did you get yourself into?" She shook her head. "You remember high school? The parties? Who did you go with?"
Chandra thought for a sec. "I... I went alone. I... Did I? I didn't, right? I wouldn't do that?" She nearly lost it. "I couldn't've. I wouldn't do that! I had someone with me!"
"Someone did a number on you." Maddie pulled out her phone, moved closer and started flipping through pictures. "Here, look."
Chandra watched pictures come up that she remembered being there for but her memory was of doing it all alone. She felt her mind glitch. You will forget what you need to... Her hand started moving to her crotch.
"You really don't remember, do you?" Maddie looked concerned as she considered what to do. "What're you doing?"
Chandra's hand was starting to slip under her pants. "I'm forgetting," she said in a monotone.
"What the fuck?" Maddie grabbed Chandra's hand and asked, "Chandra, what happened to you at this Amazing Mezmerist's show?"
Chandra snapped out of it, looked up at Maddie and let the tears flow. "I don't know. I don't know who that is. I don't know what happened!" She put her head in her hands, sobs wracking her body.
Maddie reached out and hugged her friend. "I'm so sorry, hun. We'll figure this out." They sat there for a few minutes, Maddie letting Chandra get it all out.
Chandra slowly recovered. Maddie brought up what Chandra had texted her about what Chandra was doing the previous night.
"I don't remember texting that," said Chandra, even though it was her name on the screen. She let her eyes run over the messages. "Amazing Mezmerist? Who the fuck...? And why?"
"Do you have your notes?" Maddie asked.
"I..." Chandra pulled out her phone and checked. "I... nothing? The last few days? Nothing at all?" She usually put in that nothing happened at the very least as a way to track the days.
"Whoever this is, they really fucked you up," Maddie said. "We need to find out what exactly they did." She flipped open her phone and searched up the Amazing Mezmerist. His site came up in the search, giving a little information, some induction videos and a subscription service that promised better, deeper and possibly more intimate trances. "Hypnotist? Really?"
"What?" said Chandra, perking up just a little.
"Hypnotist. Did he get in your head or something?" Maddie cocked her head. "I guess it would make sense, but nobody can do that, can they?"
"Hypnotist? Some guy fucked with my mind?" Chandra stopped her sobs. The words felt slippery in her mind. You will forget...
"Yeah, maybe?" Maddie looked down at her friend. "It's possible, just... weird."
Chandra's hand slipped between her legs. "What's possible?" It started rubbing through her jeans as her mind fogged over.
"Chandra! What are you doing!"
"I need to forget," came out in a monotone. Her hand kept moving and a slight moan escaped her lips.
"What the fuck?" Maddie reached down and grabbed her friend's wrist, pulling it up and away.
"No," said Chandra, fighting to move her hand back.
"Chandra!" Maddie's other hand smacked Chandra. "Snap out of it!"
The pain lanced through Chandra's trance. "What... what was I doing?"
"You were muttering about needing to forget and rubbing yourself," said Maddie. "I think we need to consider the possibility that he did fuck with you somehow."
"Fuck with me?" Chandra felt the tears starting up again. "What did he do?"
"I don't know, but we're going to figure this out." Maddie looked at the website again. "And probably not say anything you were told to forget about, since your reactions, well, I don't want to go there. Again." His next show was about an hour away. "Maybe we could catch him there." She thought for a second. "Not alone, though. If he got to you, would he get to me? Maybe we bring along a backup." She pulled up the notes that Chandra had given her and checked the phone number for whoever Jacob was.
<code>Hi! I'm Maddie, Chandra the detective's friend. Could we talk about the case and Lindsey?</code>
She thought about calling up the cops, but that would just bring with it more questions. Maybe confront him? Maybe a hypnotherapist to recover lost memories?
<code>Hi Maddie sure wheres Chandra</code>
<code>ring</code>
She called Jacob. He answered on the second ring. "Hello?"
"Hi, this is Maddie, Chandra's friend?"
"Yeah? Where is she? Why is she not calling me herself?"
"Yeah, about that. Did you send her to the Amazing Mezmerist?"
"What? The hypnotist? What happened?"
"He did something to her. She can't remember taking the case or anything," Maddie said. "We need to figure out what this guy did to her and help her get her memories back."
"What? He got to her too?"
"What do you mean?"
"I just walked out without my wife," said Jacob. "I think he did it somehow. Do you think he made her forget?"
"Yeah, I do. I'm going to call up a hypnotherapist and see, well, whatever, like if this is possible or something," said Maddie. "Can you, maybe, like look into this guy some more?"
"I already have, sending it." Maddie got a text with a bunch of links a few seconds later.
"Okay, I'll call you back when I find something out," Maddie said. "Bye."
"Let me know. Bye." He hung up.
The hypnotherapist was a bust, saying that nothing like that was possible and please quit wasting her time.
Maddie tried the cops who laughed her off the phone.
She tried piecing together as much of Chandra's memories as she could, but Chandra would start masturbating every time and chanting, "I must forget."
Looking at her friend, she finally touched on the thought that she'd been avoiding. Maybe she should just confront this idiot. It's not like hypnosis could do this to someone. Not really.
Chandra must've wanted this on some level, right? But why forget a case?
Why forget her?
She shook her head and sighed. Maybe it was the way to go. The only way, at this point.
She needed some sort of plan though, or this wasn't going to work.
Stay outside and jump him? Sneak back to his dressing room? Follow him to his hotel or whatever?
Looking at Chandra, she figured she should have a backup plan as well, or she might end up like Chandra with nobody to help. Thinking for a bit, she finally shot a text off.
<code>Chris, need a favor.</code>
The place was very red and not crowded, it being a Tuesday. She pulled Chandra along by her hands, both of which kept trying to sneak into the detective's own pants. Maddie took them to a booth in the back. She ordered two house whites for them when the waitress came by, excusing her friend who was looking pretty out of it. Chandra's eyes were glassy and half-lidded.
After a few minutes, the lights dimmed and he was announced. The tall, thin man came out in a glittering, silver jacket, white tux shirt and black pants. He again had his arm up, covering his face with his lapels, leaving just his eyes looking out around the crowd. Maddie glanced around and what few people there were were looking up at the stage.
He went through the same corny hypnotist joke and looked for marks. He stopped for a second on the two of them, long enough that Maddie noticed. "Hope he's worried," she whispered under her breath, He then started on the same beginning induction, the beach, the people with secrets and asked for hands to be raised. Maddie, who'd zoned out during the beach part, bored as hell, raised her hand, much to her suprise. Chandra also had her hand raised, though she was slumped in her chair with her eyes closed.
Maddie was looking at her hand in confusion as the Amazing Mezmerist pointed over at their table. "Look at the two ladies there, both with their hands up," he said. "Please, why don't both of you come on up here. Give them a hand, folks!"
Maddie found herself standing and heading up to the stage. She looked back at Chandra and noticed she looked... blank. Not there. At all. Maddie nearly stumbled on the raised platform as she looked at Chandra, fascinated. She managed to maintain her balance and got a close look at the Amazing Mezmerist. Even his face seemed thin. Maddie opened her mouth, ready to say something, anything. "Now, both of you, please stay quiet until I ask you a direct question, okay?" She found her intention vanished. She simply didn't want to say anything. The man moved beside her and leaned into her ear. "Whisper to me your secret," he said quietly.
"I'm here to find out what you did to Chandra," she said. "Get you to fix her."
"Ah, you must be Maddie." She nodded. "Perfect." He loudly said, "Well, it turns out our volunteer Maddie here has a big crush, and you'll never guess who it is!" With a flourish he swung both hands to point at Chandra. "Let's get the happy couple together." He slipped over to Chandra and whispered in her ear. Maddie couldn't hear anything, but what little light there had been in Chandra's eyes left. Maddie tried to move, tried to scream, tried to plead, but nothing happened. He came back over and whispered in her ear. "I really need to clean up better. Sleep." She felt her mind shift, then drop.
Maddie returned to herself as she slid back into her seat. Looking around, she glanced up at the stage. "Goodnight, folks!" The smattering of applause around the place was enthusiastic, it just lacked enough people to make it truly loud. She noticed surreptitious glances in their direction, smiles all around. Was I up on stage?
Chandra sat across from her. "That was intense, wasn't it?" She looked more awake than she had in a while.
Maddie leaned forward on her elbows. "We were up there, right? I don't remember, really."
"Me too," Chandra said. "I remember a little, though. Didn't know you were into me." She smiled coyly.
I'm straight? Maddie's mouth dropped open. Aren't I? A little heat sizzled up from her core as the two looked into each other's eyes.
Chandra leaned forward on her elbows as well, bringing their faces close together. "I think I'm into you too." She moved in for the kiss.
Maddie didn't object. It was passionately soft and reserved with the audience. When it broke, Maddie sighed and shivered with the butterflies in her chest. "We're not here for this," she said. "We need to get your memories back." She shook her head. "Do you remember anything from before now?"
Chandra looked pained. "No, not really." She sighed. "Not, not really." She looked away.
"What do you remember?"
"I was here before, I think. I... I know, him." She looked back at Maddie. "Somehow."
She woke up sore, with her arm asleep underneath her on the hard surface. She noticed the windows were still open and that was... squirmy. Thrillingly moist and hot. She stood and looked outside. I wouldn't have guessed you were an exhibitionist! She trembled as one hand snaked down her stomach. She managed to stop and move to the bathroom. The window curtains were open, and she fought her hand sliding down again. Focusing, she started her usual morning routine.
Except, this time nude. With the curtains open. And her heat dripping down her thighs. She opened her frosted shower window and nearly lost control. She dressed in front of her uncovered window in her bedroom. Coming out of her bedroom, she managed to calm herself enough to head to her office.
On the way, she felt tired still, having slept on the cold, hard foyer tile. Her account was usually too tight for coffee, but this once, she figured, she could grab one. Maybe. She pulled up her banking app as she slid into her beater car.
That much? No way.
She flipped through the transaction history and saw a transfer from Venmo. A rather large transfer, compared to what she usually deposited. It came from...
Who?
She blinked a few times. Checked her Venmo. "Find Lindsay" from a Jacob Langston.
Who again? Why? She wasn't on a job right now. She didn't remember finding any Lindsay, any Jocob contracting her services.
This wasn't normal.
Her hand slipped between her thighs, pressing on her crotch. You will forget...
She yanked her hand away and stared at her phone. Wasn't there someone she was supposed to call for situations with an investigation? She knew there was somebody. She just couldn't bring who it was to mind.
She really needed that coffee.
With whiskey.
Or, well, not the whiskey. Her mind was already foggy.
She drove off to her favorite spot near her office. The coffee was bitter and hot and just what she needed to clear the fog.
It worked, but it didn't bring back any Jacob or Lindsay or safety valve.
She parked her car in her office lot and headed up. She went in and sat behind her desk, kicking her legs up. It always helped when she had to puzzle something out. Lifting her phone, she looked at the text that had just come in.
<code>Hey girl, you safe? You didn't check in last night</code>
Whole words? Who texts like that? Someone... the fog was back and her hand started slipping between her legs again. You will forget...
She fought the compulsion and brought her hand up to her phone. The contact said Maddie.
Maddie? She didn't know any Maddie.
She didn't know a Maddie, she didn't know a Jacob, she had the money for a Lindsay she didn't remember that she was supposed to be looking for.
Amnesia?
She didn't have a headache like she hit her head. She ran her hands around her skull and didn't feel any bumps.
Was the text phishing? She text back.
<code>do I know you?</code>
Three dots showed up, went away. Came back. what's up with you? Yes you know me, I'm your safety valve, remember?
Safety valve played around in Chandra's mind. She remembered setting one up. She knew she had. She just couldn't think of who.
<code>I dont remember</code> she sent.
<code>You hit your head?</code> came back.
Chandra stared at it for a minute. Had she? What had happened?
<code>No, I don't remember anything</code> She thought about it, trying to remember the last few days. Her hand slipped down again. This time she was so focused on remembering that it had her jeans unbuttoned and slipped down her panties before she realized it. You will forget what you need to... She nearly came hearing the voice in her head, but fought the desire and only just kept her fingers from continuing. She knew if she came, this Maddie would disappear again, and she needed to find out what had happened.
Her hand was wet as she pulled it out.
What if someone had come by, opened the door? Oh fuck, that's hot. she thought. They'd see me. Her hand nearly went back down.
Her phone buzzed. She looked, it was a call from this Maddie person. "Hello?"
"Girl, what's wrong with you? You don't remember me? You remember high school at all? After? Me helping you get over Chad? Your fucking notes for this creep you were investigating?"
"No, I'm sorry, I..." Chad she remembered. Someone had helped her get over it. Who? "You helped with Chad?" She felt tears starting. Something was very wrong.
"You really don't remember?" Maddie said quietly. "What do you remember?"
"I don't know, I don't know, I don't know..." The tears were flowing freely now.
"I'll be there in a minute." said Maddie. "Don't move." The line went dead.
Chandra dropped her phone on her desk and put her face in her hands. The sobs started wracking her body, tears flowing down her hands.
A few minutes passed and her door flew open. A woman was standing there, and Chandra looked through wet eyes to see a blurry image of someone she didn't recognize.
"Oh, hon," said Maddie. She started moving towards Chandra.
"No! Stay back!" said Chandra, holding her hands up, letting Maddie see her puffy cheeks and red eyes.
"What's wrong?" Maddie stayed where she was.
"I... I don't know you." Chandra choked out. "Are you Maddie?"
"Yeah, I'm Maddie," she replied. "What happened?"
"I'm not sure," said Chandra. "How do I know I can trust you?"
Maddie sighed as she thought. She said, "This really is a first for you. What did you get yourself into?" She shook her head. "You remember high school? The parties? Who did you go with?"
Chandra thought for a sec. "I... I went alone. I... Did I? I didn't, right? I wouldn't do that?" She nearly lost it. "I couldn't've. I wouldn't do that! I had someone with me!"
"Someone did a number on you." Maddie pulled out her phone, moved closer and started flipping through pictures. "Here, look."
Chandra watched pictures come up that she remembered being there for but her memory was of doing it all alone. She felt her mind glitch. You will forget what you need to... Her hand started moving to her crotch.
"You really don't remember, do you?" Maddie looked concerned as she considered what to do. "What're you doing?"
Chandra's hand was starting to slip under her pants. "I'm forgetting," she said in a monotone.
"What the fuck?" Maddie grabbed Chandra's hand and asked, "Chandra, what happened to you at this Amazing Mezmerist's show?"
Chandra snapped out of it, looked up at Maddie and let the tears flow. "I don't know. I don't know who that is. I don't know what happened!" She put her head in her hands, sobs wracking her body.
Maddie reached out and hugged her friend. "I'm so sorry, hun. We'll figure this out." They sat there for a few minutes, Maddie letting Chandra get it all out.
Chandra slowly recovered. Maddie brought up what Chandra had texted her about what Chandra was doing the previous night.
"I don't remember texting that," said Chandra, even though it was her name on the screen. She let her eyes run over the messages. "Amazing Mezmerist? Who the fuck...? And why?"
"Do you have your notes?" Maddie asked.
"I..." Chandra pulled out her phone and checked. "I... nothing? The last few days? Nothing at all?" She usually put in that nothing happened at the very least as a way to track the days.
"Whoever this is, they really fucked you up," Maddie said. "We need to find out what exactly they did." She flipped open her phone and searched up the Amazing Mezmerist. His site came up in the search, giving a little information, some induction videos and a subscription service that promised better, deeper and possibly more intimate trances. "Hypnotist? Really?"
"What?" said Chandra, perking up just a little.
"Hypnotist. Did he get in your head or something?" Maddie cocked her head. "I guess it would make sense, but nobody can do that, can they?"
"Hypnotist? Some guy fucked with my mind?" Chandra stopped her sobs. The words felt slippery in her mind. You will forget...
"Yeah, maybe?" Maddie looked down at her friend. "It's possible, just... weird."
Chandra's hand slipped between her legs. "What's possible?" It started rubbing through her jeans as her mind fogged over.
"Chandra! What are you doing!"
"I need to forget," came out in a monotone. Her hand kept moving and a slight moan escaped her lips.
"What the fuck?" Maddie reached down and grabbed her friend's wrist, pulling it up and away.
"No," said Chandra, fighting to move her hand back.
"Chandra!" Maddie's other hand smacked Chandra. "Snap out of it!"
The pain lanced through Chandra's trance. "What... what was I doing?"
"You were muttering about needing to forget and rubbing yourself," said Maddie. "I think we need to consider the possibility that he did fuck with you somehow."
"Fuck with me?" Chandra felt the tears starting up again. "What did he do?"
"I don't know, but we're going to figure this out." Maddie looked at the website again. "And probably not say anything you were told to forget about, since your reactions, well, I don't want to go there. Again." His next show was about an hour away. "Maybe we could catch him there." She thought for a second. "Not alone, though. If he got to you, would he get to me? Maybe we bring along a backup." She pulled up the notes that Chandra had given her and checked the phone number for whoever Jacob was.
<code>Hi! I'm Maddie, Chandra the detective's friend. Could we talk about the case and Lindsey?</code>
She thought about calling up the cops, but that would just bring with it more questions. Maybe confront him? Maybe a hypnotherapist to recover lost memories?
<code>Hi Maddie sure wheres Chandra</code>
<code>ring</code>
She called Jacob. He answered on the second ring. "Hello?"
"Hi, this is Maddie, Chandra's friend?"
"Yeah? Where is she? Why is she not calling me herself?"
"Yeah, about that. Did you send her to the Amazing Mezmerist?"
"What? The hypnotist? What happened?"
"He did something to her. She can't remember taking the case or anything," Maddie said. "We need to figure out what this guy did to her and help her get her memories back."
"What? He got to her too?"
"What do you mean?"
"I just walked out without my wife," said Jacob. "I think he did it somehow. Do you think he made her forget?"
"Yeah, I do. I'm going to call up a hypnotherapist and see, well, whatever, like if this is possible or something," said Maddie. "Can you, maybe, like look into this guy some more?"
"I already have, sending it." Maddie got a text with a bunch of links a few seconds later.
"Okay, I'll call you back when I find something out," Maddie said. "Bye."
"Let me know. Bye." He hung up.
The hypnotherapist was a bust, saying that nothing like that was possible and please quit wasting her time.
Maddie tried the cops who laughed her off the phone.
She tried piecing together as much of Chandra's memories as she could, but Chandra would start masturbating every time and chanting, "I must forget."
Looking at her friend, she finally touched on the thought that she'd been avoiding. Maybe she should just confront this idiot. It's not like hypnosis could do this to someone. Not really.
Chandra must've wanted this on some level, right? But why forget a case?
Why forget her?
She shook her head and sighed. Maybe it was the way to go. The only way, at this point.
She needed some sort of plan though, or this wasn't going to work.
Stay outside and jump him? Sneak back to his dressing room? Follow him to his hotel or whatever?
Looking at Chandra, she figured she should have a backup plan as well, or she might end up like Chandra with nobody to help. Thinking for a bit, she finally shot a text off.
<code>Chris, need a favor.</code>
The place was very red and not crowded, it being a Tuesday. She pulled Chandra along by her hands, both of which kept trying to sneak into the detective's own pants. Maddie took them to a booth in the back. She ordered two house whites for them when the waitress came by, excusing her friend who was looking pretty out of it. Chandra's eyes were glassy and half-lidded.
After a few minutes, the lights dimmed and he was announced. The tall, thin man came out in a glittering, silver jacket, white tux shirt and black pants. He again had his arm up, covering his face with his lapels, leaving just his eyes looking out around the crowd. Maddie glanced around and what few people there were were looking up at the stage.
He went through the same corny hypnotist joke and looked for marks. He stopped for a second on the two of them, long enough that Maddie noticed. "Hope he's worried," she whispered under her breath, He then started on the same beginning induction, the beach, the people with secrets and asked for hands to be raised. Maddie, who'd zoned out during the beach part, bored as hell, raised her hand, much to her suprise. Chandra also had her hand raised, though she was slumped in her chair with her eyes closed.
Maddie was looking at her hand in confusion as the Amazing Mezmerist pointed over at their table. "Look at the two ladies there, both with their hands up," he said. "Please, why don't both of you come on up here. Give them a hand, folks!"
Maddie found herself standing and heading up to the stage. She looked back at Chandra and noticed she looked... blank. Not there. At all. Maddie nearly stumbled on the raised platform as she looked at Chandra, fascinated. She managed to maintain her balance and got a close look at the Amazing Mezmerist. Even his face seemed thin. Maddie opened her mouth, ready to say something, anything. "Now, both of you, please stay quiet until I ask you a direct question, okay?" She found her intention vanished. She simply didn't want to say anything. The man moved beside her and leaned into her ear. "Whisper to me your secret," he said quietly.
"I'm here to find out what you did to Chandra," she said. "Get you to fix her."
"Ah, you must be Maddie." She nodded. "Perfect." He loudly said, "Well, it turns out our volunteer Maddie here has a big crush, and you'll never guess who it is!" With a flourish he swung both hands to point at Chandra. "Let's get the happy couple together." He slipped over to Chandra and whispered in her ear. Maddie couldn't hear anything, but what little light there had been in Chandra's eyes left. Maddie tried to move, tried to scream, tried to plead, but nothing happened. He came back over and whispered in her ear. "I really need to clean up better. Sleep." She felt her mind shift, then drop.
Maddie returned to herself as she slid back into her seat. Looking around, she glanced up at the stage. "Goodnight, folks!" The smattering of applause around the place was enthusiastic, it just lacked enough people to make it truly loud. She noticed surreptitious glances in their direction, smiles all around. Was I up on stage?
Chandra sat across from her. "That was intense, wasn't it?" She looked more awake than she had in a while.
Maddie leaned forward on her elbows. "We were up there, right? I don't remember, really."
"Me too," Chandra said. "I remember a little, though. Didn't know you were into me." She smiled coyly.
I'm straight? Maddie's mouth dropped open. Aren't I? A little heat sizzled up from her core as the two looked into each other's eyes.
Chandra leaned forward on her elbows as well, bringing their faces close together. "I think I'm into you too." She moved in for the kiss.
Maddie didn't object. It was passionately soft and reserved with the audience. When it broke, Maddie sighed and shivered with the butterflies in her chest. "We're not here for this," she said. "We need to get your memories back." She shook her head. "Do you remember anything from before now?"
Chandra looked pained. "No, not really." She sighed. "Not, not really." She looked away.
"What do you remember?"
"I was here before, I think. I... I know, him." She looked back at Maddie. "Somehow."

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