The following is a collab between myself and the amazing @blissful23 !
Ding-Dong
The doorbell sounded and Suzie looked up from styling her long, blonde hair in the mirror. This always happens when she’s just getting ready to go out! She had readjusted the shirt she had “borrowed” from her roommate, as it was slightly too tight, checked her eyeliner was even for the 50th time, and was just finishing her lipstick with a satisfied pop.
She sighed frustratedly, stood up, and made her way to the source of the offending sound. Opening the front door, she was greeted by a man she’d never seen before. Dark hair and - oh God - a curled moustache framed a sharp featured face, adorned with a rather ostentatious top hat. Finely attired in a black suit, jacket resplendent with coattails, he gave a slight bow in greeting. It took all her willpower not to outright laugh in the face of this antiquity standing before her.
“Good day ma’am, it’s a fine afternoon, is it not?”
She stood, arms crossed in exaggerated frustration, staring back at him.
“How can I help you… Sir?”
She put the extra emphasis on that last word, wishing him to know quite pointedly that she was being interrupted. He smiled in return - whether it was sincere or strained in response to her standoffishness, she couldn’t tell.
“Well, you see my dear, I’m selling these very fine pocketwatches.”
With exaggerated flourish, he swept his coat open, revealing a dazzling array of pocketwatches hanging on the inside of it. He held it in place, and as if by magic - more likely the momentum of him opening his coat, she thought to herself - each of the pocketwatches begun swinging in unison. Probably a bit of showmanship designed to wow a potential customer, but still, it was fascinating to watch as they swung back and forth, back… and forth… back…
Suzie shook her head, dispelling a sudden onset of light-headedness, and redressed her gaze to The Salesman. He pulled his coat closed and smiled once more. A little less sure of her cold reception to him initially, she spoke again.
“Those are very lovely, but… I have no real need of a pocketwatch.” She said, gesturing to her phone.
“Ah, but my dear, you didn’t even take notice of our finest model!”
She bristled inwardly at being addressed as “my dear” again, and fixed her gaze to the pocketwatch he was now dangling in front of her face. It was silver, hooked by a long thin strap. The outer shell had some sort of pattern cut out of it to reveal the clock face behind, but with the shell popped open she couldn’t quite tell what was meant to be on the front. The spindling hands on the clock ticked away excitedly.
“Look at this gorgeous embedded crystal, and how it changes in the light! Let me swing it so you can see how it changes colour in the light…”
As he began swinging it from side to side, her jaw almost instantly fell agape at the sight of it, finding herself unable to draw her soft, blue eyes away from it.
"So many colours! Which colour do you prefer?"
It was so hard to decide. So many splendid, beautiful colours to pick from. She tried to follow them as they shifted moment to moment. It was hard to think of a favourite. So hard to think… was all Suzie’s mind could muster for the moment, her thoughts, plans for the day, all of them fading away, replaced by her fascination with the tantalising kaleidoscope dancing before her eyes.
"I, uhh.... c-colours..."
The Salesman smiled wide. It wasn’t always this easy, but they all ended up this way eventually.
"Yes, pretty colours... and as each one shines, your worries and cares fade just that little bit more..."
Not having to think and just being able to enjoy the colours did sound nice to Suzie. Joyous, even; and she allowed herself a little giggle at the suggestion. She tried to help him how wonderful that sounded, but her mind was already so devoid of thought, all she could utter was:
"Hee-hee… colours...!"
Knowing he had her right where he wanted her, The Salesman followed on with his scheme.
“Can you hear the ticking? No? Maybe you should invite me inside where it’s quieter so you can really focus in on the sound…”
Had she heard the ticking? She wasn’t sure. Probably best to listen to him. A dull, errant thought in the back of Suzie’s near-blank mind warned that this was a bad idea, but was immediately overruled by the obedient thrall she found herself in.
"Uhhh… Won't you... nghh... won't you... please come in..."
“My dear, I thought you’d never ask…”
—
As he stepped through the doorway, another voice could be heard deeper inside.
“Suzie? You haven’t seen my top, have you? The low-cut one with the ruffles - oh.”
Suzie’s roommate Miranda - a stunning redhead - entered the room. Always a favourite, those, The Salesman thought to himself. She stopped upon seeing him eyeing her.
“Uh… hello. And you are?” Miranda asked, curiously, confused at the way Suzie stood there smiling blankly at her.
“He’s… He sells… pocketwatches…” Suzie answered for the strange man.
“Yes, and I’m so pleased to make your acquaintance. Would you like to take a look, my dear?”
“No, thank you. We,” Miranda looked sternly at Suzie, “are actually running late. So if you’ll excuse us…”
Suzie didn’t move, however. As Miranda went to grab her arm she simply smiled up at her.
“But… They’re so pretty…” She said, as if she struggled with every word.
The Salesman pulled out the watch. “See for yourself.”
Miranda looked at him, exacerbated, before huffing, turning back to Suzie in confusion.
“Come on. We’re leaving.”
"But they’re so pretty..." Suzie whined. “Just take a closer look. You know you want to…”
Miranda looked. She couldn’t see anything special about this pocketwatch. Though, truth be told, she was struggling to take in any of the details as she tried to follow it with her hazel eyes. If only this guy would stop swinging it in front of her… back… and forth… and…
“What, are you trying to hypnotise me into buying one or something?” She laughed. But, then, she thought…
Looking at her usually headstrong friend standing quietly with her eyes tracking the watch’s every movement, everything seemed to click into place.
“Aha… w-wait. You’re not… You’re not actually trying to… right…?”
Miranda was getting nervous, hiding it behind laughter. No. Of course he wasn’t. Hypnosis wasn’t real.
“My God, you are trying to hypnotise… me, aren’t you? And what have you done to Suzie? I’ve had enough of this, please leave.”
The Salesman frowned at this, placing his watch back inside of his jacket. She was going to be tougher. Luckily, he liked a challenge. Reaching into his jacket once more, his fingers brushed along the watches until he found… yes. Perfect.
“But my dear, you haven’t seen our Timepiece de Resistance…” He pulled out a small golden watch. Its chain was more detailed than the other, with a texture almost like woven vines. The numbers were roman numerals. Or were they? Miranda couldn’t tell.
Shit. She’d been staring at it, hadn’t she?
Miranda covered her eyes and turned away,
“We call it that because it’s the Timepiece that causes all your resistance to melt away…”
His voice was deep in her brain now. It was so… so tempting to look back at him. And Suzie’s pleasant hums of approval weren’t helping.
“No, I won’t… you’re not going to… hypno… hypnotise… me…” Miranda managed, looking up to see Suzie had walked over to her.
“Go on… just a little look… it would feel so good, Miranda…” Suzie spoke softly, almost dreamlike.
Then another thought hit her. If Suzie could sneak up on her, this guy could be anywhere! She had to check for certain if he was still between them and the door.
She looked up at him and her attention was captured by the watch once more.
“Get… get out…” Miranda said as firmly as she could manage.
“Please calm down… You don’t need to be so on edge, so angry… Maybe you didn’t get enough sleep last night…”
Her eyes started to droop. All this fighting was exhausting. The only easy thing right now was keeping her eyes on that watch.
“No, I… I don’t need to… sleep… I’m completely…” She tried to stifle a yawn “… Awake…”
“We both know that’s not true, my dear… Look at you. You’re struggling to stay awake. You can barely keep your eyes open…”
Her hands, once balled into fists, were now relaxed and hung limply by her side. Miranda found herself struggling to keep her eyes open.
“No… I’m not - yawn - sleepy…”
The man approached her, guiding her over to the couch, where Suzie had, at some point, also had found herself.
“There’s no need to fight it anymore… You want to give in to it… You want to surrender to slumber…”
“Surrender… to slumber…” Miranda felt a smile grow on her own face as she repeated after him, her weary eyelids now stuck at half-mast.
“That’s it…” He looked at his pocket watch. Another job well done.
“Well, ladies, it appears I may have lost track of time.” He chuckled, leading the girls to giggle mindlessly… although, they weren’t quite sure why they were laughing. But Master was so funny, wasn’t he?
“I’ll just leave this here.” The Salesman said as he placed a business card on the coffee table in front of them. “In case you know anyone else who might appreciate my services, hm?”
He watched as Suzies head slowly slumped onto Miranda’s shoulders, both girls blissfully asleep. He straightened his hat, closed the door behind him, and moved onto the next house.
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