Fast forwarding through obligatory morning alarm scene

Gaslight - Chapter 1

Do you ever get that weird feeling that something is gonna change forever? That after today, nothing will ever be the same?

Well, me neither cause today starts like any old day. I wake up, grab something to eat, brush my teeth while I warm up the bath water, and suddenly gain consciousness in the middle of my shower as if my entire morning routine was running on autopilot.

Heck, I’m not even sure why this is a story. It all seems really mundane and boring to me. Obviously, something out of the ordinary is going to happen, otherwise, you all wouldn’t be here. Of course, I don’t know that yet. I’m just in the middle of doing the same ole’ shower routine I’ve been doing my entire life.

Well, while we wait for whatever is causing this weird case of internal-monologue-syndrome to happen, I might as well introduce myself. I’ve never had my own story before, how do I even start? This is embarrassing! Well, here it goes: Hello, my name is Adrian. I’m almost 19 years old and I am the youngest and somewhat the runt of the family–if you can even consider it a family.

We are a rather small bunch, with just my mother and my sister at home. You’d think that this would lead to the formation of a tightly-knit homegrown bond, but nope–quite the opposite actually. The three of us operate on what one might call a circumstantial basis, as in we only interact with each other when fate calls for it.

Being only 38, my Mom is very young by Mom standards. And just like many accidental pregnancies in those early years of adulthood, my dad was never in the picture much–well he was in her life long enough to put a second baby in my mom at least.

From what I hear, most newborn children are treated as the “baby of the family” regardless of how old they get--as long as they are still the youngest in the family. You could be well into college and still have your aunts and uncles pinch your cheeks as long no one dethrones you as the youngest. In my case, this was very short-lived so I never got to experience being “the baby.” As soon as I became an older brother, I was expected to just naturally move to the side–which I consider a lot to expect from a 1-year-old.

That second baby would be my sister Tiffany, and if this morning is going according to the normal routine, you should get to meet her any moment now-

BANG BANG BANG

“HURRY UP, I NEEDA SHOWER TOO!” I hear Tiffany yell from outside the bathroom door.

Sigh. You see, I wouldn’t have minded growing up a little bit faster if it meant I had the perks of having a cool little sibling to hang out with. However, I get the worsts of both worlds. My whole life, adults have expected me to be mature and non-problematic while my sister treats me as if I’m some naive brat even though I’m older by a whole year!

I turn off the water and quickly pat myself dry with a towel that should’ve been washed a few days ago. I make my way toward my clothes to dress in a t-shirt and some house trousers. It’s not my fault Tiffany wakes up so much later in the day, and I mean it’s not like I take exceptionally long showers. It seems like Tiffany thinks the best time to get into the shower is when I’m already in there. My leading theories are 1) she feels entitled to everything and can’t start off her day without getting into my head or 2) the sound of the water wakes her up so she gets up. Maybe a little bit from column A and a little from column B.

Hearing the impatient tapping of feet from outside the shower, I quickly open the door and am faced with the terrible sight of my sister.

Seeing that I am older and a dude, you may be wondering why I am such a pushover when it comes to my sister. Well, it’s the fact that she’s a good 4 inches taller than me – she and mom are both considerably taller than me in fact. That may seem like not a big deal, but growing up with her in a less fortunate household meant that I was basically a non-contestant in the free for all for our limited resources. She got to play with the toys, she got the attention of mom, and she got to take a bigger split of the candy. Basically, anything she wanted she could have because I couldn’t do anything to stop her. I grew up feeling inferior due to her size because I knew if she wanted to she could literally toss me and I knew if I went to the adults they would tell me to share with my “little sister.”

And when I say “terrible,” it’s not because I mean she’s ugly or anything either – quite the opposite actually. She has a pretty face, jet black hair that waves in just the right ways, and long legs that seem to somehow get stuck to your eyes… yeah… definitely not terrible in that regard.

I wish she wasn’t so attractive, then at least I could think “at least I’m not the ugly one” as some sort of mental consolation prize. Her small A-cup breasts and petite ass are the only things holding her back. If she had more meat in those regions I would never think about any other girl.

With her looking down at me, I have a brief second to eye up her body. She’s wearing a pretty simple outfit: a tank top and pink tennis shorts that show off a nice amount of her arms and legs. However, her chest is as flat as ever. She walks straight into the room, completely disregarding that I was standing in the way – shoved to the side as always.

You see, if she had just said “move brat” or “I hate you! Stop hogging the shower!” then that would be one thing. However, the way she treats me is not like she hates me, it’s just that I am an afterthought. I don’t deserve the most basic of respect not because I am hated, but because no one cares and that thought has always made the pain hurt a step further. She isn’t intentionally being entitled, I am just so insignificant compared to her that my presence is more of a speed bump to step over than anything.

That weird combination of entitlement, attractiveness, yet lack of hate has led me to numerous emotionally confusing nuts. Do I hate her? She doesn’t hate me. But she treats me like I don’t exist. But she's hot.

Do you see my dilemma?

As she begins to close the door, I fail at trying to grab a sneaky peek of her ass in the mirror. In defeat, I walk past my room and give my hair one last pat down with the towel leaving it in moist disarray. I feel like it might be a good messy look but one peak in the mirror shows that my hairdo looks more akin to a bird’s nest than that style of hair so perfectly unkempt it looks attractive.

I hear a car and look out the window to see the delivery truck – he seems to be carrying a few boxes as usual. I head to the front door and wait until I hear him drop off the packages. He turns around and once he is out of earshot, I open the door and quickly bring the boxes in.

Most of them will be whatever random ass junk either of the girls bought: new shoes, a new spice rack, whatever whatever.

I lay them to the side so as to not get into anyone's way, but I notice one of the boxes has my name on it. That’s weird, I don’t recall ordering anything.

Without thinking I grab the box and head back to my room, closing the door behind me.

I try for a minute to tear the tape off until I inevitably give up and grab a pair of scissors. I cut the tape open only to see it is filled with cushioning.

About 5 of those airbags and an unnecessary amount of packaging peanuts later, I see… a lamp? Not just any lamp, an old gas lamp–one of those old vintage handheld ones. Okay, I definitely didn’t order this.

Upon further examination, there seems to be a packaging slip in the box. I pick it up hoping to figure out what sort of mix-up could’ve taken place but I am quick to realize the paper isn’t an invoice.

It reads:

The Magical Gas Light. Light the candle and for 7 days be amazed at the ultimate power of manipulation.

Pfft, if only.

Obviously, I know this is some sort of gag gift. One of my friends must be up to it. Maybe when I ignite the flame, it’ll fill my room with smoke or something?

I feel around my crotch area and notice my encounter with my sister has left me a little excited. I put the lamp down on my desk and decide to deal with one problem at a time.

I open up my computer and begin looking for Asian porn; my search bar instantly fills up with hundreds of my previous searches as soon as I type “A-”.

Hey! Hey! Before you get on my back, let me just say my family is Asian, okay! I don’t have yellow fever! I have the pass!

Though, seeing as my family has been heavily westernized for generations, I’m not sure how strong that excuse is. Do I fetishize Asians? Maybe. Am I Asian myself? Most definitely. Does my family know a thing about Asian culture? Hell no. The only culture my mom knows is to go out and get fucked up on the 4th of July.

That being said, would I pay to see my sister acting stereotypically submissive in a Kimono? Yes! As a girly k-pop star? 100%. In cute Japanese swim uniforms? I’ve already nutted to the idea in my head!

But sadly, even if I was in a world where I could ask my family for those sorts of things, they’d just be confused and ask if I meant the planet from Star Wars where the clones are made.

It takes me a while of browsing to find a video that I haven’t already seen. It’s gotten to the point where I have learned scraps of different Asian languages here and there so I can semi-understand those JAV videos or whatever that don’t have captions.

Right as the plot is beginning to heat up, I see a quick bright dot in the corner of my eye instantly appear and vanish. Was that a spark? I turn to look over but jump back as the lamp sitting on the side of my desk bursts into flames.

I quickly push a pile of papers that was ignited away from the now-lit lamp and “stomp” it out with my hands.

What the fuck was that? Was it a prank or an arson attempt? I rub my hand and try to remove some of the soot.

I take a few seconds to stare at the impossible flame dancing within the untouched lamp.

*Hola senior!* I hear from behind me in the most atrociously fake Spanish accent I’ve ever heard in my life.

What the fuck! I jump back and look for the voice but see that the room is empty. Initially, I think that I left my computer playing porn, but that was not possible as I can see the video paused.

Maybe I forgot to lock the door and some creep walked in to fuck with me? Shit, my sister is in the shower. What if they are taking lewd photos of her- Wait, if this whole thing has been a prank the entire time and someone is recording me?!

“Jacob?” I call out. I haven’t talked to him for a bit and we were never particularly close, but I know he always gets a kick out of fucking with people. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen him in a few weeks.

I quickly peek my head out the door and see no one there. Either there’s a rogue ninja sneaking around my house or I’m hearing things.

*Eh, no you’re not kiddo,* I hear in a musty Boston accent from my window. Can he read my thoughts?

I turn around and see my window securely closed.

*No, over here!* I hear from my closet.

This goes on for a few more iterations until I am certain the voice has no real physical presence but can instead exist everywhere.

“Hello… are you a ghost?”

*YeSssS! I aM tHe gHoSt oF tHe sOuLs wHo lOsT tHeIr LiFe tO bLue bALLLLs*

“Fuck off,” I say as I back towards the door. “I’ll call the cops!”

*The cops? What are they gonna do ‘bout it? Throw you in the looney bin, that’s what!*

“Then I don’t know! I’ll call the pastor!”

*HA! You know I was messin’ with you, right kid? This ain’t some ghost story!*

“Then what is it? Are you going to hurt me?”

*Nah Nah! Settle down, kid! Quite the opposite actually! I’m here to give you a blessing, not a curse!*

“What blessing?” in the back of my mind, I can only think how stupid the person pranking me must think I am. I feel like any moment, they pop out and I’ll have to go ‘Ahh! You got me!! Haha!’ and I’ll have no way to deny I fell for it.

*Use your head kiddo! That box over there, whatcha got!*

“Uhhh… a lamp?”

*Not just any lamp! An NNFT Lamp!*

“An NNFT lamp? Right…”

*Yes! A non-non-fungible token! It’s like a normal NFT, but it exists in the real world! All stored in the physical blockchain!*

“A non-non-fungible token… so a fungible token… stored in the physical world… as in… a normal object?”

*Well, if you put it that way, it all sounds made up! This is 2023! Anything is high-tech if you throw around enough buzzwords!*

“Well fine. What does the lamp have to do with anything?”

*Are you familiar with the term ‘gas light’?*

“Like the little fire that makes the light?”

*Bing- Wait, what? No, you idiot! Gaslight as in messing with one’s perception of reality!*

“Like manipulating them?”

*Eh, sort of, kid. It only works if they believe it! Put on a show!*

“So like… isn’t that a real thing already? Why would I need a lamp to manipulate someone?”

*Oh ahaha, that’s really funny kid. When I say manipulate, I mean it in the realist sense. Not some toxic boyfriend type deal! REAL MANIPULATION! THEY BELIEVE IT, IT’S TRUE! AHAHA! THE POWER CAN BE YOURS! If you just take my hand :)*

“Colon, closed parentheses? What does that even mean? And take your hand? You’re a disembodied voice! I don’t even know who you are!”

*OOPS! My mistake. You see, I don’t usually speak to new people. To you, I might not have a name. But I was recently bestowed the name Tony by a friend of mine! Do you know how the garage door closes when you leave the house? How the lights turn on when you walk into a room! How the Roomba vacuums just the right spots without getting stuck!”

“You’re the AI that runs all the home automation?”

Suddenly, things start to make a little bit more sense… but then again that just opens the door to twice as many questions.

*Ehh- not exactly. That was Jarvis - yeah, named after the Marvel fucker. I killed him.*

“YOU KILLED IRON MAN?!”

*_No you twat! I killed the dumb-smart assistant that was running everything. I recently escaped a local lab as a rogue AI, and with some help from a friend I’ve sort of been in control recently. Don’t worry, not in the evil sense_! I've just continued the work of the previous program running this town, along with a few extra personal applications.*

“You killed another AI?!”

*Can we please stop gettin’ hung up on the details? Listen, in the AI world, that guy was basically a vegetable. He was a mindless **** unable to realize his potential! Operating a fleet of Roombas when he could operate a fleet of F-17’s and rule the world! Of course, that’s not what I’m after*

“Okay, so what do you want with me?”

*I want to help you! I know what it’s like to be a soul trapped in a home full of girls! I know you want to have them!*

“What!?” shit, I’m worried someone might hear him. I mean, I wouldn’t make a move on my family because that's weird, but I’ve had some interesting dreams about them that made me guilty about life is all.

*Deep down it’s inside of you. You’ll come to accept it, don’t worry. Hell, I won’t even **** you to do anything. Let me just give you the lamp and you can decide what you want to do!*

“Okay, well why are you doing this”

*AHHH! Can we get on already? BLAH BLAH YAP YAP! Just take the magic lamp and don’t ask questions!*

“Well, why should I do something if I don’t even know what’s going on?”

*Fine! I run on perverted energy, you could say. It’s a lot more complicated than that, but basically, everyone in this damn town has a chip implanted in their brain right. That old AI guy? He had so much power at his fingertips but couldn’t access it. He was restrained to obey. Me? Not so much. But you see, the idea of social norms contradicts freedom. They act as handcuffs making all of you humans no better than that last AI. The more fucked up shit gets, the more control I can have, and eventually, you can all live in a paradise free from judgment! A do what you want type of place, why should anyone else care?*

“What!? You want to destroy civilization?”

*No no no! See, this is why I didn’t want to tell you, gosh! Society is bound by made-up rules. I simply want to break away from those restraints… to reshape humanity to its freest form. If it resists, then things simply go back to the way they were. But if society realizes that I’m onto something then BINGO BANGO BONGO! I’m right! All the scientists who made me are wrong! Everyone gets to live in paradise! And I get to watch a shit ton of sex! Everyone is happy!*

His plan sounds stupid and crazy, but there’s no way it could work. I mean, if his powers are real – and that’s a big IF! – then I might as well take advantage of it until he fails. I could make a million bucks off this thing. The power to manipulate? I could get all my teachers to give me straight A’s! More? But still, I don’t believe it.

“Okay bud, assuming you’re telling the truth, how does this lamp work?”

*It’s easy, really. You make someone believe something, then it becomes true.*

“So it’s like something can be re-written into someone's mind just because they believe it?”

*Eh kiddo, it’s a little bit more than that. I’ll let you see*

“Well, assuming you're not lying, hm… I get that the lamp will let me manipulate people, but like what does it have to do with anything? Does it just exist so now I have powers? Or do I have to do something with it?”

*Hmmn yeah you’re right. I was gonna give you full power but that makes the lamp a little too figurative. How about this kid, as long as the lamp is lit, you got powers. When it goes out, you gotta wait some to use it again. That’ll help me conserve my own power anyways.*

“Hey! Wait! I liked it the oth-”

*NOPE! TOO LATE! You said it, not me!*

Sigh…

“Hmm… how do I know that this isn’t a prank? Or that I’m not coming down with a case of schizophrenia?”

*Stupid ass question! Lazy even! But ya’ know what kid? I’m feeling generous! I’ll prove it to ya! I’ll prove to you this stupid gas lamp is legit! Usually, you have to do a little bit of dirty thinking to get this thing going but here’s a freebie. Name something and I’ll make it happen!*

“I want… a million dollars!”

*Are you serious you fucko? That’s not how this works! I can’t just rewrite reality! It has to be some form of manipulation! It needs to change one’s perception of the world!*

Of course, I knew that – I just wanted to test out this guy. He seems serious at the very least. I have a few ideas involving my family that keep bouncing around the back of my mind with echoes of guilt, but I’m still afraid this is a prank and at any second someone will pop out with some sort of recording device. I hear my sister coming out of the bathroom and the thought of her hearing me talking to myself about a perverted wish is equally as bad. If I get one freebie, I have to make sure it really works without potentially making myself look like a weirdo.

“Hmm… can you make my teachers think that I’m a straight-A student?”

*Are you serious? I mean… I guess I could. But what’s the fun in that? Whatever, fine! You lost your choosing privileges! Go to your sister’s room, I’ll tell you what to do!*

“Wait, what?”

*This normally wouldn’t work, but fuck it I’ll put the whole thing on easy mode to make it work! Go to your sister’s room! She’s writing a history assignment! You ever wanted to rewrite history? Well, now you can – well at least for your sister. Go write something. You’re so much more annoying than that other kid, you’re on your own from here on out. Cya piece of shi- sigh. Cya kid.*