Demonstration

You've been chosen as a demonstration at a group event, and it's odd, how quickly you stop noticing everyone else.

* * *

The room was silent, except for their voice. You were aware of all the eyes on you, as the demonstration. You felt their hand gently brush your arm, and quickly looked at them. Into their eyes. They smiled. “That’s right. Focus on me. Focus on my voice.”

And you did. You focused on their soft, sweet voice. On their eyes. You felt their hand run down your arm again, and felt your mind slip, just a bit. “Good job, that’s it.” You felt your eyelids fluttering. “Keep on following my voice down, and down.” It felt so good.

“So easy to follow my voice, keep your eyes open, for as long as you can. Let yourself focus on my eyes. Focus on the feeling of my hand-” Their hand brushed down your arm, sending another wave of relaxation through your body. “Wiping away all that energy.”

They continued, your mind was going still, quiet. Your body felt like lead, unable to move. All that existed was their eyes. Their voice. You didn’t notice anything else in the room. But it was getting harder, and harder to keep your eyes open.

With each brush of their hand, you felt sleepier. More relaxed. “And soon, you’ll find yourself unable to keep your eyes open. Soon, they’ll just be too heavy, and they’ll need to close.” You felt your eyelids sagging, drooping, dropping. “Just let them close down for me now. That’s it.”

And now, there was just their voice, and their hand, still brushing down your arm. Each brush was still taking you deeper, you could feel your body relaxing into the chair. Relaxing into the peaceful mindlessness. Their voice felt like the only thing anchoring you to reality.

“Just taking some time to enjoy this state. To enjoy being so relaxed.” Their hand stopped brushing down your arm. “But now, it’s time to come back up.” Their hand started brushing up your arm. You felt your energy returning. Thoughts coming back, piece by piece.

“Coming back up a little more, with each brush of my hand. Back to the waking world, into your body, into your own control.” You opened your eyes. You were back up. It took you a second to notice everyone’s eyes, looking at the two of you. And then the applause started.