Do What he Wants

This branch was originally conceived in 2023 as part of Mind Infection by calleman20 (https://chyoa.com/chapter/Introduction.1308898). After working on it for a bit, I was unable to make it fit in with the concept of that story (invasive sexual hive mind collective) and eventually forgot about it. I came across my old drafts recently and decided I wanted to do something with them without hijacking calleman20's story.

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"God damn it!" John whisper-yelled to himself as he got back to his room, resisting the urge to slam the door behind him, hair drying from his morning shower.

Nothing was going his way. He wanted to be a math major, but his parents would only pay for college if he did something "practical" like accounting. He wanted to go away to college, but ended up only getting into the community school right by his house. He wanted to live in the dorms, or frankly anywhere but at home, but there was only a only 5 minute walking difference between his house and the dorms, so he was stuck at home. He had wanted to stay together with Sandra, his girlfriend from high school, but she ended up studying abroad and didn't want to do long distance. He had hooked up with Emily after a few months at college, but she didn't want to have sex until marriage (and they both knew they weren't destined for that).

He couldn't even win on the smalled stuff. He wanted to get a game console, but 'if you have money, you can pay your mother and I back for you tuition' is what his father had said. The shitty job at the campus bookstore had been all he could get; none of the interviewers at other jobs had liked him. He couldn't even take a shower in peace without his mom pestering him to do things around the house through the door.

"I wish people would just do what I want!" John cried. "Maybe then my life wouldn't suck so much," he continued, as he pulled on his clothes angrily. He pulled his t-shirt on, and the next instant he suddenly felt an intense spike of pain in his head, greater than anything he had felt before in his entire life. He fell to his knees with a thump, screaming in agony. Then, just as suddenly as it had come on, the pain vanished, leaving him panting on his hands and knees.

"What the fuck was that?" John said to himself.

"John? John, are you ok?" came a distant voice. John heard the rapid smack of slippers on wood flooring as his mother ran up the stairs. "John, can you hear me? What's wrong?" his mother yelled as she ran. "John, can you hear me? JOHN!" she yelled frantically as she pounded on his door. "Say something!"

Before he could answers, the door flew open with a bang, and his nightgown-robed mother ran to him, kneeling down before him, not caring as her robe fell slightly open. "Can you hear me? Are you ok?" she continued, a hand on his forehead. "You don't feel hot."

"I'm ok," John said awkwardly turning his head to look at her. "I don't know what that was. For like one second my head hurt so much..."

"John, what's..." she began, and trailed off as their eyes met. John felt... something. Like a click, an action, an event he couldn't describe happening. And at the instant, she stopped talking, freezing up. And then the instant passed, the feeling was gone, and she knelt there, motionless, unblinking.