Sleep!

I woke up this morning, groggy and disoriented, with an unmistakable hardness stirring beneath the sheets and a strange, lingering smell in my room. It was familiar, but I couldn’t place it—like a memory just out of reach. My head throbbed as I tried to piece together the night before. Wait… what the hell happened?

My heart skipped a beat. Wasn’t I in the middle of hypnotizing Ellie last night? That damn hypnosis book I’d been messing with—it was supposed to be a game, a quirky experiment. But now my pulse was racing, hammering at 180, and that odd smell in the air was throwing me off. If it weren’t for that scent, I might’ve brushed it off and gone about my day. But this? This was different. The book was one thing, but a total blackout of last night’s events? That’s another level of weird. I tried to recall anything—saying goodbye to Ellie, what we talked about, how it ended—but it was like grasping at smoke. Nothing. Not even a flicker of her leaving. Was she okay? Panic crept in, and I grabbed my phone to text her.

Me: Hey, you up? Thinking about what indie movie to watch next. Got any recs?

I waited. But she responsed very quickly. Good girl she was apperantly so in to me that she doesn't play games.

Ellie: Yo, morning! I’m craving something weird and artsy. Maybe Midsommar? It’s creepy but so pretty. You seen it?

Me: Nah, not yet. Heard it’s wild. You into that cult vibe?

Ellie: Oh yeah, it’s unhinged but gorgeous. The visuals stick with you. What’s your pick?

Me: Maybe Hereditary? I’m in the mood for something dark. You cool with that?

Ellie: Dude, Hereditary messed me up. I’m down to rewatch if you want company. Hit me up!

Relief washed over me. She was alive, acting normal, and didn’t seem to suspect anything weird about last night. Her casual tone was a lifeline—she probably didn’t remember what we’d done during the hypnosis session. Or maybe nothing happened? I couldn’t risk asking her directly; it felt too dangerous, like poking a sleeping bear. For now, I’d take the win and move on. But what now?

Then it hit me like a freight train: I had a date with Beth in thirty minutes. No time to dwell on the memory gap or that unsettling smell. I scrambled to get ready, my mind racing with possibilities. As I threw on a shirt, three explanations for the blackout clawed at my thoughts, each more unnerving than the last:

1. The hypnosis book had tapped into some arcane power, and last night’s session came with a cost I hadn’t anticipated. (God, I hoped it wasn’t that.)

2. Ellie somehow turned the tables and hypnotized me. (Unlikely—she’s sharp, but that sharp? And how and why?)

3. The worst one, the one that made my skin crawl: Someone else was in the room last night. Someone who hypnotized me to forget them, to not see them, and was now pulling strings in my head.

Please, please, let it not be the third one.