Paying someone a visit.

Ali was struggling with her house key when it happened.

It had been a good day overall. Her boss at the cafe had been in an unusually good mood and her tips had been better than average. With no particularly rude or abrasive customers, her shift went by fast. Busy enough so she wasn't bored, but not stressful - the perfect shift, really. Now, though, she was trying with some frustration to open her door. The key had been sticking lately, but today it was really refusing to turn.

As she was alternating between jiggling the key and trying to turn it, something changed. She blinked and let out a deep sigh, her shoulders slumping slightly. Suddenly the lock didn't matter, nothing really mattered. She turned around to face a tall, thin man with a severe but attractive face.

"Hello," she said pleasantly to this stranger. She didn't know why, but she liked him.

"Hello, Ali," he replied. How did he know her name? "Shall we step inside?"

It seemed like a good idea, but there was a problem. "I can't get the door open."

He laughed, and it made her laugh. She didn't know what was funny but it was nice to laugh. He opened the door and gestured for her to enter.

As she walked into her house followed by the stranger, she asked him how he opened her door for her.

"I just removed the lockedness," he said as if it made sense. She shrugged and accepted it, then went to sit on her easy chair. He sat across from her on the couch. He seemed to be waiting for her to speak.

"So, what can I do for you?" She asked cheerfully. It struck her that she was behaving very strangely, but that didn't really bother her.

He smiled warmly. "Well, Ali, I need a few things from you. You might have noticed that you're not feeling quite yourself. That's a little cocktail I made for situations like these. I've given you a heavy dose of relaxation, docility, and euphoria with a dash of submissiveness. It's helpful when establishing contact. Now give me a second."

She felt an odd twinge when he closed his eyes and concentrated for a few moments.

"Ok," he said. "I've taken away your dishonesty and disobedience. So you can't lie, and you have to do everything I say. Fortunately, I also took away your worry and stress, so it shouldn't bother you."

"It doesn't," she replied. "I don't really care. I don't know how you're doing these things but I don't really care. In fact, I don't even know your name."

"I'm Jonathan Drake, and I'm here to get some memories from you." He opened his bag and pulled out a photo of a handsome man in his mid-forties. "Do you recognize this man?"

"That's Adam!" she replied with some excitement. "I haven't seen him in years! How's he been?"

Jonathan chuckled. "He's doing very, very well. Of course, his name isn't Adam, but that doesn't really matter. It's my understanding that you two used to be rather close?"

"He fucked me. A lot. In a lot of different ways." She seemed a little surprised by herself. "I guess I really am being honest today. It was great. His dick wasn't the biggest, but the things he could do with his tongue..."

Jonathan put away the photo and held up a hand to stop her. "I don't need the details. I simply need to reach in here-" he tapped her forehead, "-and clean up any memories you have of him. A man in his position shouldn't have any skeletons in his closet."

"Now, I understand that these may be pleasant memories that you want to keep, but unfortunately this needs to happen."

She shrugged. "I don't really care. Is that because of what you did to me?"

"Yes, it is. The high dose of docility and euphoria should keep you from getting too emotional about all of this."

"And of course, before you go, you'll remove my memory of this encounter?"

He nodded. "Correct. Now, please relax. This should only take a minute."

Ali sighed and leaned back in her chair as the stranger began to root through her most private memories. She stared lazily up at the ceiling and thought about Adam. She thought she could feel the memories fading, but she wasn't sure. After a second, Jonathan gave an annoyed grunt. She looked at him with raised eyebrows.

"You have a really good memory, you know? It's taking forever to find what I need."

She smiled. "Thanks. Sorry about that." It didn't bother her that she was apologizing for how hard her mind was to manipulate.

"We need to get a little more... involved," he said ominously.