Supernatural | Mini Series | Ep. 7

The One You Let In

Jay suspect he knows who’s hypnotising the children and formulates a plan to catch the culprit

Jay was scouring the library, but where best to look for more answers? Ahead was the ‘global culture’ section, from which a book had fallen on the floor. He picked it up. “Greek Mythology” its cover declared, in raised gold script. He opened the book and flicked through the pages, registering as he did so, how many legends had been plundered and used for modern game design.

He turned to the pages relating to the quest carried out by Perseus, his memory circling the story as if it had something significant to impart. He could remember the Gorgons with hair of writhing serpents, the one which Perseus kills was named Medusa. As pieces clicked together in his mind they brought a revelation as to this story’s usefulness: Perseus had used his shield like a mirror, to avoid looking directly at Medusa, which enabled him to get close enough to behead her and her enchanted gaze couldn’t turn him to stone.

At last they were getting somewhere - J checked out the book and stuffed it into his backpack, before hurrying back to afternoon class.

That night J went round to study at Alex’s house. Studying was just a front, they needed to discuss his findings and plot what action to take. In Alex’s slightly messy bedroom, they played music to disguise their conversation.

Being a gamer, Alex was familiar with Perseus’ quest. He thought a reflective object to look into would provide a great defense if Danny used his eyes or a swinging/ spinning object to induce a hypnotic state in his victims. Alex suggestion was to carry a hand mirror at all times, in preparation for duelling with Danny. J’s suggestion was using the ‘camera’ function on their phones. Its electronic ‘eye’ would be in no danger from hypnosis.

However, the hitch would be if Danny was using auto-suggestion. It would be much harder to prevent themselves from hearing his words — using the phone probably wouldn’t help. Alex came up with the idea to wear headphones to block their ears with music. This might, admittedly, be harder to achieve in a hurry.

As a precaution they would both wear their airpods around school to make it easier to quickly start playing music.

With those practicalities sorted, the next step was to plan where and when, and of course how, to tackle Danny. Alex had team practice after school the next day, and was adamant that J shouldn’t confront Danny alone, that he should be there to provide back-up. J resisted, arguing they couldn’t waste any more time. He was heart-sick about his sister Lulu, who remained pale and frail; not waking properly or eating. Jay’s parents were taking her to a specialist as soon as they received a letter of referral from the GP.

J wanted to confront Danny with their suspicions, to threaten him with exposure. He hoped that would persuade Danny to cease his serial hypnotism of children, to release his current victims from their coma-like state. J worried that, if the older boy became enraged, he could try hypnotising him or Alex in retaliation. He hoped that their phone cameras would act as filter, thus offering them protection.

Alex suggested they could even play the footage back to Danny to hypnotise him with his own technique — what a neat way that would end his wicked behaviour. Every option was risky, and J’s preference was to have Alex there as wingman.

With their plans set for tomorrow, and having consumed a tube of Pringles washed down with a large bottle of Pepsi, J set off home with his heart racing. He was keyed up about what he must do tomorrow. He’d take care to charge his phone overnight; he’d need a full battery to use the camera or play music to drown out Danny’s hypnotic words.

J let himself in, and found his parents huddled together talking. His mother’s eyes were red rimmed from crying, but they tried to act normally and wished him goodnight.

J was jolted awake at 2:58 am, filled with the familiar feeling of dread and chill, his stomach could have been crammed with blocks of ice. He trod silently, but with speed, down the staircase and let himself out of the front door. This time he didn’t intend to be late, he wanted to get there before any hypnotism could occur, so he hustled along as fast as his bare feet could manage over loose gravel and tarmac.

Bushes scraped him as he passed, but he barely noticed. He trusted his instinct to lead him to the right location, as it had done previously. Up ahead a house used green up-lighters to create a feature of the spiky plants in its front garden. Near the corner of the house was the tall dark form of a creeping man.

J’s cold clammy feelings ramped up several notches and he experienced an underlying buzz, now he was close to the threat.

Despite having no plan of what he might do, J darted forward, reaching the door ahead of the broad-shouldered person in black. Too late he realised he didn’t have his phone with him, or his earbuds, this was a dream for goodness sake. How would he protect himself from being compelled by Danny?

He stood his ground, blocking the looming figure.

“What d’you think you’re doing?” he said in a low but aggressive voice.

The figure halted abruptly, the porch light illuminated his face. Despite having the hood of his black sweatshirt pulled over his head, J recognised Danny’s face. Danny looked puzzled, J seemed to have the advantage.

“Who the hell are you?” Danny’s expression was both shocked and angry.

“This ends now.” J stood his ground, although his heart was beating fast.

With adrenaline pumping, his legs felt as if they were primed to leap over the hedge — gazelle-like. It made him hyper-aware of everything; a plan began forming in his mind.

“Not one more kid will fall under your influence, Danny!”

Danny’s shadowy face looked briefly startled, then twisted in a sneer. “How exactly do you intend to stop me?”

“I think the headmaster would be interested to hear you’ve been abusing rehearsal time and school resources. I’m surprised you can keep up with your studies, the number of kids' parties you’ve performed at recently.”

Even as he said it, J realised this was not the kind of threatening talk used in gangster movies. He was winging it, badly.

Danny laughed dismissively, and disgust squeezed J’s heart. How could that monster treat this so lightly, children were literally fading away for his personal gain? Here’s where another puzzle piece fell into place. Danny was draining power and strength from his younger victims. J would bet his grades had improved, meaning his victims’ losses were Danny’s gain.

White hot fury ran through J’s veins - his sister shouldn’t waste away simply so Danny would get good grades

“You don’t know what you're talking about!” Danny blustered. “Plus you’ve got no proof. You’ll sound like a nut job if you blab to the Head.”

As he protested, Danny’s face became hard and ugly, projecting a menacing sensation. J knew he’d been unwise to pull a tiger by the tail.

J took a step back, he wanted some air between them in case Danny tried his mind manipulation on him. In fact J wanted to put lots of space between their bodies. He should take their argument somewhere more private … Suddenly J thought of a place that gave him an advantage.

“I’ve got proof alright! You were caught on camera. A little girl called Lulu snapped out of her trance today, and she’s told her parent’s some pretty disturbing facts about the clown at her party. ” J bluffed wildly. ” I expect the police will be at your house any minute now.”

J was backing away as he spoke. Now he turned and broke into a run. He fervently hoped his ‘baiting’ plan worked and that Danny would follow him.

[To be continued — the finale]

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