Horrifying Realizations

True to her word, your mother barged into your room promptly at 6am and turned on your lights. Startling you from sleep. For a moment you thought you were having another nightmare but the fog clears as she speaks.

"Wake up!" She says curtly, standing in her night dress. It's a black lace affair today which accentuates her generous bosom. It flows down from her chest framing her toned, sexy abs. Sheer, matching lace panties more show off than cover her pussy, leaving little to the imagination. Usually you appreciate it when you manage to catch her dressed like this but you're not in a position to admire her as you'd usually like to at the moment. "Start packing your shit up and get it downstairs. I'm going to get ready for work, get yourself some breakfast and get to work. I wanna see progress when I get back. Understand?"

"Yes." You say, blinking away sleep.

"YES MA'AM!" She shouts, startling you the rest of the way awake.

"Yes ma'am." You almost squeak, causing her to chuckle a bit before resuming her lecture.

"It's time you showed me some more respect. You've been taking me for granted, which is clear from your blatant violation of my privacy-"

"I'm sorry Mommy, I didn't mean to hurt you, I was just-"

"You were just having paranoid delusions about a man you haven't seen in half a decade?" She cuts you off sharply. You don't know what to say, part of you wants to scream that you're not paranoid, that he's doing something to both of you, but another part seems to have somehow softened to the simply insane idea that Chris has changed, which fills you with doubt. You just look down as she continues. "Don't worry about my room and office. Judging by your little stiffy yesterday, you have a hard time controlling yourself around my things." Her polite phrasing does nothing to hide the fact she's outright accusing you of being a pervert, which given the events of the past few weeks, you have to accept without much protest. "I'm going to be home a little late, so dinner better be ready when I get here. Not that it's any of your business but I've booked a second appointment with Chris. Like I said, his services are excellent and I've been looking for a trainer anyway. I'm not getting any younger." That you can't accept. You have to fight this, whatever it is.

"Mom?! NO! Please don't go! I'm not crazy! I don't know how but he's changing you, I think it's happening to me too! Please, you have to help me figure this out!"

"STOP WHINING AND DO AS I SAY!" She slams your door as she leaves you alone. You know there will be hell to pay if you don't get moving, so you unplug everything from your computer and television and begin to move them both down to the basement where you find a safe spot on a shelf to store them. After that you make a quick breakfast and survey the house. It's already very neat. Your mother and you split the tasks up usually and are pretty good about keeping clean, but she wants it perfect. You begin by picking up any errant trash and picking up. You decide to start deep cleaning in the living room. After removing all the items from one of three shelves, you begin dusting it by wiping it down with a slightly damp cloth. Your mother finally makes an appearance before leaving for work, just as you are finishing with this first shelf. "There's furniture polish in the garage." She says as she surveys your work so far. Without another word, she turns and leaves. You sigh. You didn't think it was going to be that heavy of a cleaning job. Now that your mother's gone, you sit down for a moment to think, before getting on with your work.

What am I going to do? You realize you've never really taken care of yourself. You've never even had a part time job, much less paid bills or thought of living on your own. Your mother is your whole world. You fish your phone out of your pocket. You need to talk to someone. Hopefully Molly's not doing anything right now and answers your text. You've been avoiding her and Edgar and now you wonder how they've been taking that. You feel so stupid for letting yourself become so isolated. You take a moment to work up the courage, and then send her a text.

You: 'Molly? You doing anything?'

Almost immediately she replies.

Molly: 'Quinton! How are you doing? we havent seen you in like forever I hope youre doing ok with Chris back n town and everything.'

You: 'I'm not something's wrong really wrong. I need to talk to you.'

Molly: 'damn whats up dude?'

You: 'My mom has changed somehow'

Molly: 'what do you mean?'

Me: 'shes going to work me like a ****, she told me im grounded and have to basically sterilize the house until she's satisfied. It's crazy. She said if I didn't like it, im 18 and can move out if I want'

Molly: 'woah O_O'

You: 'yeah, somehow its chris. I just know it.'

Molly: 'how could chris possibly be involved'

You: 'idk I need to find that out. It all started when she got these meditation tracks from him that time she got a session from him when we played D&D last.'

Molly: 'oh those? Those are great! I ran into your mom at the store last week, was worried about u and we talked and caught up she emailed me some of those things when I mentioned I was having sleep issues'

Your blood runs cold and you almost drop the phone. After a moment you snap out of it and begin typing wildly.

You: 'DONT LISTEN TO THEM!!! thats how he got to mom thats how hes doing it you dont understand she slapped me she called me a sissy and a pervert she was downright abusive!!!! plz listen'

Molly: 'your not making any sense dude why would she do that?'

You: 'She caught me in her office'

Molly: 'wait like... doing wut?'

You: 'I wasnt doing anything weird I was worried about her!'

Molly: 'k I believe you, but what happened?'

You: 'I went into her office to put a book away and saw her computer was open. I wasn't going to look but I saw chris had been sending her emails. I thought maybe he was harassing her so I wanted to see what they said'

Molly: 'wooooah dude, thats really serious conclusion to jump to, and you read her private email? thats not cool dude!'

You: 'look I know its not cool to snoop like that but chris is up to something I know it'

Molly: 'man cmon chris has been in jail for the past four years, when did he concoct this master genius plan to fuck with you?'

You: 'I dont know how hes doiing it or wut exactly but I know somethings not right!'

Molly: 'wait why she call you a perv?'

You: 'bc shes going crazy idk somethings up I just dont know what!'

Molly: 'cmon your moms not crazy why would she do that?'

You aren't certain how to answer. You must admit you've committed perverse actions over the past two weeks. But still your mother would never approach the issue in such an aggressive way before even if she had caught you. She was always kind above all else. You try to tell her enough to make sense of it and move on but avoid as much detail as possible.

You: 'I had an erection, sitting at her computer'

Molly: 'lolwut?!'

You: 'when she caught me I just happened to have an erection'

Molly: 'just so happened? You're not 14 anymore quinn what were you doing?'

You: 'nothing! I was just looking at the emails Chris sent her.'

Molly: 'the workout guides?'

You: 'yeah'

Molly: 'just texts on push ups and random chatting between Chris and your mom got you hard?'

You: 'no...'

Molly: '???'

You: 'there were videos too'

Molly: 'videos of?'

You: 'Chris like working out and demonstrating stuff'

Molly: 'OMG you got hard watching Chris workout?'

You: 'No! I dont know why I did ok somethings happening to me and mom and I think to you!'

Molly: 'Quinn its ok you can trust me, im sad you dont see that :'('

You: 'Molly! listen to me hes doing something, hes trying to get **** on us!'

Molly: 'I am listening quinn, weve known eachother since preschool you should know I wont care that youre gay. I'm sorry your mom called you a perv for that. I didn't think she was like that.'

You have no idea what to say to snap her out of it. You have no proof and don't even understand the mechanism of Chris's effect on you and your mother. You think you lost time watching the videos but your memories are vague. Did you really just get hard at the sight of Chris's bulging abs?

Molly: 'I have to go, lets get together soon, dont worry I understand if you dont want to be out right now. I wont tell anyone! It's weird, I always thought you had a thing for me, guess I was way off... talk later :*'

You throw your phone into the couch cushion and drop your head in your hands. You have no idea what to do. Chris has your mom ensorcelled and now Molly too. Her last comment hurt especially. Has she always known how you felt? She must've never felt the same way if so. You wonder if you should try Edgar, hoping maybe he's only after the women in your life as some sort of sick caveman style ****. Pushing past your heartbreak and worry over Molly you pick up your phone and call Edgar. You here is phone ring twice and then thankfully he answers.

"Yo man what's up?" He seems pleasantly surprised to hear from you, which makes since given your recent isolation. "Missed you at D&D last week, how you been?"

"Edgar! Something's wrong! Chris is brainwashing my mother and I think me too. He's also got Molly! We need to do something."

"Hahaha that's hilarious, solid bit, I love it."

"Edgar I'm being serious!"

"Whatever man, look I've been meaning to invite you, I'm hitting the gym three or four times a week and could use a buddy. Trying to get healthy and maybe a little ripped for college!"

"Edgar, first off you're not hearing me and secondly what the fuck? The only class you ever failed was PE!"

"I know dude but I'm trying to do better. Molly and I talked at D&D last time you missed and I mentioned I've been feeling sluggish and stressed out and she gave me this weird ambient shit to listen to. I don't know what it was but it was awesome dude!"

"Edgar! Don't listen to that! Delete it right now!" Your heart begins racing. Chris is after Edgar too. He wants your whole life.

"Dude chill, it rocked. It put me on this whole other level, I took a long look at myself in the mirror and decided I wanted to change. I even got Chris's number from your Mom. He set me up with a little beginner routine for the summer. Told me to start slow."

"Fuck! Edgar! He's manipulating you, molly, my mom, I don't know what he's planning and it can't be good. It's Chris!"

"Dude c'mon it was a funny bit a second ago now it's just weird. Chris is changed my man. I know he used to fuck with us but like he's passed all that. What's his sinister plan? To make us all super healthy and happier with ourselves?"

"I don't know! Please nobody believes me."

"Look dude I gotta go, Chris is cool now, you should give him a chance. I'll talk to you later man, let's hang out. See yuh."

With that he hangs up. You hear the line go dead and drop your phone. It lands with a bounce on the couch beside you. You've never felt so hopeless and alone. Chris has gotten to your best friends and your mother. It's only a matter of time before his sick plan moves forward and you have no idea what he's going to do. Is he just going to **** you by manipulating everyone around you?

You feel courage well up inside you. You're not going to take this lying down. You beat Chris before, granted by ratting him out to the cops but still. You just have to bide your time like before until you have something solid. Something irrefutable you can show people that will get him sent away for good. In the meantime, you suppose you should get to work. You don't want to think about what antagonizing your mother in her current state could lead to.

You grab the furniture polish and start removing all the items from the shelves. You work diligently until every stick of furniture in the living room gleems with a glossy shine. Then you work on the upholstery, then the carpet and baseboards. After you finish cleaning all the picture frames, pausing to look at old pictures of the good times with your mother before Chris came back, you think you're about finished with the living room. You hope between that and the cleaning you did earlier your mom will be appeased for the day. Your phone beeps and you see a text from your mother.

Mom: 'Just got done with Chris, OMW home. Better start dinner. Hope you did some work today and didn't laze about.'

You put the phone back in your pocket and sigh, supposing what you've done so far will simply have to do. You head to the kitchen and begin working on dinner. Your mother left a recipe and you retrieve the ingredients and kitchenware you need. The smell of pasta sauce fills the air as you cook. You're just about ready to plate the food when you hear the door open, signaling the arrival of your mother.