Total Control

(Author's note: Fair warning, this one's gonna get fucked up! Proceed at your own risk.)

Danny didn't sleep well anymore, he could barely remember when he had. His life seemed to blur into itself when he did, with memories fading in and out, becoming indistinct. Danny was thinking about this after barely getting any sleep the previous night when his alarm started ringing. He groaned and turned it off. He couldn't miss another day of work this month. Danny sat up, yawned and stretched as he walked around his tiny apartment preparing himself for work. He showered, shaved, ate breakfast and got into his car, cursing when he saw the time. He pulled into the parking lot of the supermarket he worked at five minutes late, knowing his boss would chew him out. He tried to ignore her as she did when he got in, promising he would stop showing up late as he waited for her to shut up so he could begin his shift.

World was as bad as it usually was. Customers asking him obvious questions or getting mad at him when he didn't know what aisle allen wrenches were on off the top of his head. He ate his lunch, waited for four more hours so the day could finally be over and went home, exhausted after a long day. He managed to almost fall asleep in his chair before the woman next door woke him up, screaming at her boyfriend about something or other. Danny sighed.

"Wouldn't it great if you could make her shut up?" The thought came out of nowhere, pressing itself into the forefront of Danny's mind. "All she does is bitch and whine and argue, it wouldn't be so bad if she would shut up every once in a while would it?" Danny opened his eyes. He didn't know what was going on, it was like his subconscious had gained the ability to speak to him. He wasn't the one thinking these thoughts, and yet they occured, he sat up in his chair.

"Who are you? What's going on?" He said it aloud. He could here a slight chuckle in his mind.

"Let's not worry about that yet alright? Why don't we focus on getting that bitch to shut up huh?" Danny stared at the wall. He was in over his head here, maybe he was going crazy; he had never talked to himself before, other than the occasional word of encouragement and all that. Was he losing his grip? "Come on big boy, just walk over to their door and we can shut them up." Danny paused, why should he listen? If he was going crazy then what was the point of all this? Was his **** mind lashing out after everything he'd had to go through? "Listen, just try it, I promise you'll be glad you did." Danny stood up, almost automatically. He was tired of everyone treating him like shit, he did want it all to change. He might as well give this a try right? He could feel himself walking to the door, opening it and knocking on the door of the apartment next to his. After a moment a pudgy woman with dyed black hair and too much makeup on, opened the door, her eyeliner clearly running from her tears.

"What the fuck do you want Danny?" Danny sighed and took a breath.

"Could you two please quiet down? I'm trying to sleep." Danny heard her boyfriend walk to the door, stumbling a bit as the liquor bottle he held sloshed from the motion.

"Hey we're a little fuckin busy right now Danny, why don't you fuck off?" The man's grin was arrogant as he said it before he took a long gulp from his bottle, Danny realized he wasn't wearing a shirt.

"Are you going to let them talk to you like that Danny?" He heard the voice in his head even clearer now, as anger began to roil in his gut.

"Hey assholes, it's past ten. How about both of you keep it the fuck down okay?" Danny expected a quick response, probably a shouted one, but instead both of them simply nodded staring blankly at him as they did, before they closed the door.

What had happened? Danny blinked and stared at the closed door in disbelief. His neighbors had never been that easy to deal with, it was like they were under a spell.

"It's not quite a spell but that's not a bad way to think about it." Danny wondered if he was actually going crazy. Because if not... Danny looked down at his hands, the voice speaking again, it's quiet tone sounding like the speaker was pressed against his ear. "Imagine doing this to anyone, imagine getting that slut next door to strip naked for you and let you violate her in any way you wanted. The sky's the limit Danny. What do you want first?" Danny stood for a moment and thought, eventually walking over to his bed and lying down. Right now he wanted to sleep, but tomorrow he would see what this new gift was capable of.