Research

Diego lay in his bed staring at the ceiling. His mother was clearly being mind controlled, hypnotized, ****. He didn't know where to start helping her. He did know that he couldn't let her go back to his bully's house. Clearly Chase had a hold over her. A frightening, evil hold.

He got up heavily and walked to his laptop. For the umpteenth time, he searched the internet for "behavior change", "mind control", "hypnosis". The only hits he found that really went anywhere were for hypnosis. YouTube was full of videos which claimed that you could control others with just some simple methods for putting someone in a trance but, when he read the more scholarly articles about hypnosis, they always claimed that people could not be **** to act against their nature. Given his mother's bizarre changes of personality, it seemed like either the articles were wrong and YouTube was right or there was something else going on here.

He'd been researching for days now and thought he understood the techniques involved. He'd watched countless videos where people were dropped into trances. It couldn't be real. Could it? Was his mother being controlled?

That night, he redoubled his efforts, trying to learn as much as he could. He'd watched video after video, read discord, consulted with ChatGPT, tried and failed to figure out how to access "the dark web". He'd finally fallen asleep in his chair, while watching a video from someone whose username was Jester69. He woke upon hearing his mother moving around in the next room.

Diego stood in his mother's bedroom door watching. She was getting ready for work in a distracted fashion. Her normal meticulous attire was just slightly off. Her usual tight bun was showing strands of loose hair. The buttons on her blouse where misaligned. She was mumbling to herself. "I need to confront him. He needs to tell me what's happening"

"Confront who, Mom?" Diego asked

His mother turned and looked at him dully. "Good morning, Diego. Did you sleep well?"

Diego, met her eyes and **** himself to answer "No, not really. I was worried about you. You've been acting strangely. I think we need to talk"

His mother nodded absently "That's nice dear. I need to go. I have things to do. I need to check in with... somebody before I go to work"

Diego froze. "Did you hear what I said? We need to talk Mom. You're not yourself. Maybe you should stay here today. I can call your work. We can..."

"No!" his mother shouted. "I need to go. I need to see him."

"See whom, Mom? Are you going to see Chase again?"

His mother looked surprised. "How did you... Yes. That's right. I'm instructing him. He needs my guidance"

"What about me, Mom? I could use some guidance right now myself. We've barely talked in days!"

"That's not true Diego. Is it? Well, I guess I have been so busy, with Chase, with the hospital and with..." Valeria had a brief flash of her other activities, her time as Val and Valerie. She shook her head, confused. "What's happening to me, Diego?"

"It's Chase, mom. I think he's doing something to you. He's drugging you or hypnotizing you or something. You can't go see him. We need to figure out what's going on"

"Chase?" She looked confused "I'm helping Chase. He isn't doing... He's my..." Again there were flashes. She was Val. Chase was her friend, her partner in crime. She was Valerie. Chase was her pimp.

"My god" She breathed. "I have to confront him. He's why I've been feeling so off. I have to end this" She pushed by Diego, heading for the door

"No, no. Wait. You can't go back there" Diego grabbed her arm.

"Let me go, Diego. I need to see Chase. Chase has the answers. I'll make him tell me." She struggled in Diego's strong grip.

"That is the last thing you need to do. You need to stay here with me. We need to see someone who can help you. I don't know. A psychologist, maybe... a hypnotherapist or something"

"Diego, LET ME GO!" She pulled away from him, pushing him down and heading for the door.

Diego, laid there, stunned. He could not let his mother leave. He had to stop her. His mind replayed everything he'd learned on the net. The instructions on that last YouTube video were vivid in his mind. So, as his mother reached for the front door handle, he tackled her from behind, knocking her against the wall. Her eyes were unfocused but determined. She opened her mouth to speak but Diego did the last thing she could expect. He kissed her. Hard. Her body tensed and she froze. Then Diego, pulled away and stared into her shocked eyes.

"SLEEP!" He said forcefully.

Valeria immediately slumped, her body becoming limp in his arms.