CHAPTER EIGHT

I awoke the next morning to here Ben and Eddie quietly conversing. I got up and got some breakfast. As I did, I woke up Stan, and as he woke up, he woke up Ben. And so on, until each of us were awake.

"So," Richie asked as he sat up and put on his glasses. "What do we do today?"

"Same thing we do every day," I said. "Try and take over the world!"

"Wha…?" Richie asked, and dismissed it as some futuristic joke.

"I say we stock up," Beverly said. "And maybe get some clean clothes?" She glanced down disgustedly at the clothes that she had been wearing for the past several days. They had many stains, blood and sweat and dirt. The shirt had a ragged tear that I could not remember where it had come from. It ran up her side and ended right next to a place where it would be indecent if it ran much further.

"R-Right," Bill said. "Stalk up t-t-today, hunt It d-down tomorrow." He turned and looked at me. "S-Sara, can y-you…?" he asked.

"If you're asking me to hypnotize each of you in turn and have you go back to each of your respective houses to get whatever it is that you need, then sure," I said, smiling.

"Yah, p-puh-pretty much."

"Do me first, please," Beverly said, and she glanced down again at her torn and stained clothing with a grimace.

"Alright," I said, amiably enough, "But could you bring me back some clothes and stuff while you're there, too?" I looked down at my own clothing, disheartened. The jeans I was wearing were still intact, but they had blood and dirt and grime on them. My t-shirt was much worse for the wear.

"Sure," she said. She looked me over, as though deciding what size I was. I figured that I was about one size up from her, nothing that would matter too much. I could probably easily fit into her clothing.

"Let's do it," she said.

So I leaned in, falling into Beverly's eyes. Behind me, Richie mumbled something about lesbians to Stan, and I said to him, in a voice that already sounded far away and unreal:

"Watch it, Richie, or when I do you, you're going to wake up thinking you're a chicken."

He said something to that, something that sounded crazy, something in one of his Voices, but I was already gone, inside Beverly's head.

The wall that all the others had put up when I first tried to enter their minds was there, and Beverly's was long and durable and solid. But, after just a moment, it swung open like a door.

Beverly, at this level, was so strong, so fiery, that I found myself very nervous as I entered the subconscious part of her mind. If she decided to lash out, then I would be helpless. Of course, she did not, but all the same, being around so much fire was terrifying.

'Go to your house,' I whispered in her mind. 'Go take anything you think you need back here.'

When I pulled back into my own mind again, Beverly was already standing up, and as I watched, she turned and left. I wondered briefly how I had gotten back into my own mind with eye contact broken, but before I could ponder this long, Eddie asked hesitantly:

"Who's next?"

"Howzabout you Eds?" Richie asked with flourish.

"Sure," Eddie replied unsteadily, nearly questioningly. "But don't call me Eds." He didn't sound nearly as light-hearted as Richie, in fact; he sounded as though he were fighting back terror. Because of this, when I started to hypnotize him, I did something I had not done for the others: held his hand. But what the gesture was intended for did not serve its purpose. Eddie freaked out and completely locked his mind down, nearly catching me partially in, as though slamming a door on my fingers. I drew back as reflexively as I would have with my physical body, and I snapped harshly back into myself. When I did, Eddie was taking a huge breath from his aspirator.

"What h-happened?" Bill asked, worried.

"He freaked and blocked me out," I explained.

"L-Like I d-did the f-f-hirst time?" he asked.

"No. It was…it was more like Stan."

Stan looked up guiltily at that, but then turned his head away. I figured he was still angry with me for lashing out at him last night, and that was something that I was going to have to talk to him about when I got a chance. But for now, I would worry about Eddie.

"Do you want to try again?" I asked him. He did not answer verbally, but instead shook his head grimly.

"I c-can g-g-get it when I'm out," Bill offered.

"Would you do that, Bill?" Eddie asked. He sounded nearly awestruck, as though he had never heard of such a thing, or expected to hear.

"S-Sure," Bill replied casually, pretending he did not notice the hero-worship tone of voice that Eddie used that was impossible to miss. "Wh-What do you nuh-need?"

The two talked quietly for a few moments. While they did, I pulled Ben over.

"You wanna go next?" I asked him.

"Sure," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "Why not?"

So I did him next, for the second time. The resistance that I had felt with all the others was not there, or was removed for my benefit. When I entered his mind, I feel the strangest sensation: I felt like I was the one being hypnotized. His mind, quick and analytical, had me under surveillance in a way so complete that I felt that I had no secrets hidden from him. This was the second time, and Ben, knowing what to expect, took full advantage of everything he could.

I realized how hypocritical I was being, though. Here they were, each of them opening up their minds to me in turn, and here I was, hiding everything from them. I tried to push the 'watched' feeling aside, and tried to concentrate only on hypnotizing Ben so I could get out of his head. Still, the feeling was hard to shake, and I did the work I had come in for as quickly as I could, and I left. When I was out, I looked once at Ben, and mentally chided myself for being so afraid of him. But as I did so, I looked at his eyes, and even that quick glance brought full to life what had just happened. It had not seemed so much like I was entering his mind as he was drawing me in. It was strange, because none of the others (except for Stan, the second time around) had that much control over my actions.

He turned and left, and Mike asked to go next. I glanced up at Bill, but he was still talking with Eddie, whether about what Bill was to get or not, I could not tell. However, as long as Bill was tied up…

"Sure," I said. My head was throbbing slightly, but there was no pain, at least not yet. I felt proud that my abilities, that had once tied up and damaged my life, were now so strong and manageable. They had been no trouble to me since I had learned how to use them.

When I hypnotized Mike again, it was amazingly easy. I had already done him once, and that time was easy enough, and the second time, it was over and done with in seconds. I slid back into my mind, and he left. Easy.

Richie and Stan were left. Bill was still talking, and at this point I was almost positive that he was not staying on track. But I would talk to him after I had sent these two off. I looked at Richie, then at Stan.

"Ooh! Pick me!" Richie shouted, waving his hand furiously in the air, as though an enthusiastic child in a school, one who knew the answer and desperately wanted to give it. "Pick me! I want to go next! Over here!"

Stan and I shared a look, and we both smiled simultaneously at Richie's antics. I was relieved, because I knew at that moment that all was forgiven between us.

"I still think you should just make him think he's a chicken," Stan said. "Maybe he'd be a little quieter then."

"That hurts, man," Richie said, wiping away imaginary tears. "That hurts a lot."

"Suck it up," I said, trying on a Voice of my own, one that was a lot tougher then I was.

"Are you going to do this, or what?" Stan asked.

Beverly, then, climbed in through the door, carrying a suitcase and a backpack, and wearing new clothes. She sat down and stared blankly ahead.

"Think I'm going to pull Bev out, first," I said, surprised at her sudden appearance. It had only been about ten minutes ago that I had sent her off. I walked across the clubhouse, and as I leaned in for better eye contact, I heard Richie again, quietly saying something to Stan. It was about us, I could tell by his tone of voice. I filed that information away so that I could focus on Beverly, and decided to try something…devious when I was hypnotizing Richie.

Beverly came out quietly.

"That was strange," she said. She looked down, saw her new clothes, then glanced left and right, and saw her backpack and suitcase. "These aren't mine," she continued. "The suitcase or the clothes," she said as she pawed through the suitcase.

"They're store stuff," I said, noticing the tags on them. "Are they going to fit?"

"Yes," she said slowly, taking out a blouse, holding it up in front of her. "It looks like it."

"Then don't worry about it," I advised. Beverly continued to root through the stuff she had brought, just to see exactly what she had brought. As she did so, I walked back to Richie and Stan.

"C'mere, you," Richie said, pulling me right up close, right to where I had pulled everyone else to. Richie gazed into my eyes, but I turned that around by gazing into his. There was no particular barrier that I had to pass to gain entrance to his mind, but there seemed to be many along the way. I was cautious, though, and I maneuvered around each one. And when I implanted the idea for him to go and get his stuff from his room, I added something, mostly to see how much control I really had. To find out, really, what I could do.

'Get the stuff you need,' I told him. 'Bring it here. And when you hear "beep-beep Richie" from any of us …' I thought for a moment. 'Throw yourself on the ground. Land flat on your stomach or back.' I paused and thought for another moment. 'Don't hurt yourself. Don't hit anything or anyone.' I thought again. Was that all? This was a prank; I didn't want for anyone to get hurt. I decided that I had covered all the basics, and left his mind for my own.

Okay, maybe not the best that I could do, considering what power I had, but it was the first thing my mind thought up. Besides, it just seemed right somehow.

Richie stood up and left in a way I had never seen him before: quietly. At this point, I had a minor headache, but maybe I still had enough juice left in me to get Stan and Bill out of here.

"You going?" I asked Stan.

"No," he said. "Richie's getting my stuff."

I smiled a little and nodded, then turned to face Bill.

"Bill, you going" I asked him.

"Yah," he said. He walked over to me, and, like Richie, it was he who caught eye contact with me. Entering his mind for a third time was incredibly easy. He seemed to know what to do, and I hardly had to do anything at all before he was hypnotized through and through. I slid easily back into my own mind, and Bill walked out.

There was silence then. I was thoroughly drained, and I lay back against the wall. I was not looking forward to having to pull them all out again.

"By the way, these are for you," Beverly said as she handed me the backpack. I thanked her and quietly looked through it. The clothes were suitable for running and jumping what God knew what else I might have to do in them, but I was again struck by how old-fashioned they were, like how long the shorts were, and how plain the jeans were.

After about twenty minutes, Ben came back. I felt more rested by the time he did, but still, the idea of going back into his mind didn't thrill me. For one crazy moment, I considered just running off now, leaving him this way. Maybe it was just some crazy, spur-of-the-moment thought, or maybe it was the next thought, chasing close behind, that convinced me to stay.

'If you leave now, then you abandon Bill, too.'

My original intentions of running off seemed unreal the second I abandoned them. I went in and brought Ben's mind back with no fuss and no hassle. The helpless feeling, the one of being trapped, or of being closely observed under a microscope, was not there, maybe because what I was afraid of was pushed aside.

Afterwards, I was exhausted. I felt strange, alien thoughts swarming around me; things that my mind had copied from the others. The headache that had seemed inevitable did not surface, but I was drained, through and through. I fell asleep waiting for Richie and Bill to return. Beverly woke me up when Richie came back.

I was not too far into sleep, so I woke up with relative ease. Besides, I was now very curious if my post-hypnotic suggestion would take effect.

I pulled him out, and when he was, he looked down at the two suitcases he had in his hand.

"Yowza!" he exclaimed, dropping them both. "Whatta trip! Like bein' high!"

"Beep-beep, Richie," Eddie said, completely innocent of what would happen next. Richie's eyes, which I was watching closely, glazed over, and Richie threw himself down and covered his head. He woke up a half-second later.

"What the hell?" he asked, completely bewildered, uncovering his head and looking up. I was doubled over laughing.

"I can't believe that worked!" I said, and then resumed laughing. The other's looks of shock were slowly replaced by smiles as the pieced together what had happened.

"Did you…?" Beverly asked me, her face drawn back in a grin.

"You can do that?" Ben asked. He then broke out into laughter. I would have answered him, but I was still doubled over, gasping for air.

"Yah, yah, laugh it up," Richie said, standing up, dusting himself off. "She probably did the same tah you."

"No, no," I said, tears rolling down my cheek. "Just…just you…" I started laughing uncontrollably again.

"Damn you," he said, but he took it as a joke. He knew we wouldn't abuse this…too much. "Now get rid of it."

"No," I said. "This is too good."

Bill entered then, carrying a couple of suitcases. I looked at him as he did, and was surprised to see that he did not look hypnotized. Although he was, even from across the clubhouse, I could see deep into his eyes, and I could tell that he was.

But suddenly, as though I had been inches from his eyes, I was inside his mind. He was waiting for me, and I did not have to drag him out of his hypnosis, but pulled him up, as though he had tripped, and I was a helping hand. I believed that Bill could have, if he'd tried hard enough, pulled himself out. Maybe, in a way, he was learning to do this himself.

"H-How'd you do th-th-that?" he asked.

"I think that was mostly you," I replied.

"Bill!" Richie said loudly. "Glad tah have you back! We missed you!"

"Beep-beep, Ruh-Richie," Bill said. He stared in bewilderment as Richie, again, threw himself to the ground.

"W-What?" he asked, totally confused, as the rest of us burst out laughing again.

"I swear I had nothing to do with it," I said innocently.

"S-Sara, what d-d-did you have t-to do with it?" he asked knowingly.

"I really wish you guys would stop doing that," Richie said, picking himself up again.

"Post-hypnotic suggestion," I said. "Basically, every time someone says-"

"Don't say it!" Richie cut in sharply.

"Okay, every time someone says what you just said, he throws himself on the floor."

"And she wont get rid of it!" Richie complained to Bill.

"She finally got a way to get Richie to shut up," Eddie said gleefully.

"I say we keep it," Stan said.

"You guys suck," Richie said good-naturedly.

"If I were you," I said as ominously as I could while trying not to laugh, "I would start being a whole lot nicer to us."

It was still morning, but nearing noon. We took the day off, and stayed inside. Each of us wished that we could leave; that we could go outside and play instead of sitting in this small, cramped clubhouse that still smelled of smoke. The others seemed open to me in a way that they had not before I had hypnotized each of them. The only connection I felt to Eddie, however, was one of normal proportions. He was still, for the most part, cut off from me. For lunch, I hypnotized myself so I could get food for us. When I came back to myself, I had a large sack of food that I had probably raided from some store…and in my other hand was a monopoly game on top of the game Risk. There was no plastic wrap over it, so it was not from a store. When we opened it up, we found a deck of cards tucked inside.

"Where do you think that came from?" Ben asked, smiling.

"Damn," I said, "I have no idea where I went."

The day dragged on. We played card games and board games. And finally, it was getting dark out, and we knocked off a few of out last hours before we would to sleep just…talking. Just joking around. I reflected, as I had many times before, that just a week ago, I would have never felt so comfortable around anyone, and in a group, I would become practically mute. But here I was, talking and laughing with kids that I had only known for a couple of days. I felt like I had known them for a whole lot longer then that. Maybe, amidst the fear and terror, it was.

So we had a 'dinner' of junk food, and fell asleep. More dreams, not the fake dreams, but contact, haunted my night.