"It was surprise. I didn't know either."
He turned his attention back to the crowd. "Have we ever met before tonight?" he yelled out to the audience.
"Nope," I replied loudly.
"Now let's begin!" The audience clapped and I started to get nervous. I had no idea what I was getting myself into.
Jacob waved his hands around my face, "Abigail, I want you to close your eyes." I shut my eyes tight. "Now think about a relaxing place, somewhere that puts you at ease."
I thought about it for a moment and then a beach with rolling waves popped into my head.
"Did you find a place?" Jacob asked. I nodded silently.
"Take a deep breath in and then out." I sucked in as much air as I could through my nose and then let it go through my mouth.
"You're doing great, Abigail. Now I want you to focus hard on your relaxing place. Think about the sights and smells."
I thought harder about the beach and I could hear the seagulls overhead and I could smell the saltwater. I was getting extremely relaxed and I felt like I could fall asleep at any moment.
"Okay Abigail, when I snap my fingers, you will fall into a deep sleep. Then you will do whatever I command. Do you understand?"
I was still focusing on the beach and I could barely hear what Jacob was saying anymore. I nodded my head and he continued, "I'm going to count to three. One. Two. Three. SNAP!"
Jacob snapped his fingers and I fell asleep. I dreamed about flying through the clouds. I felt totally weightless as I soared through the sky. I was abruptly taken out of my dream by another "SNAP!"
I opened my eyes and it felt like I had slept hours. Everyone was staring at me and laughing. I wasn't sitting in the chair anymore. I was on my knees in front of Jacob. I had totally blacked out and had no idea what happened.
"Lets give a big round of applause to our volunteer, Abigail." People stood up and cheered for me as I left the stage and went back to my seat. My friends were all red in the face and tears in their eyes like they had been laughing for a long time. I sat back down and Jacob resumed his magic show.
I leaned in to Julie. "What happened?" I asked.
She turned towards me with a shocked look. "You mean you weren't just following along?"
"No, I fell asleep. I don't know what I did up there."
"Wow he really did hypnotize you," Julie said. "I'll tell you what happened afterwards."
I waited through the rest of the boring magic show and then when we got back into the limo I burst out, "What the hell did I do up there?"
All the girls laughed. "We can't believe you were actually hypnotized," Julie chuckled.
"Yes, now tell me what I did up there," I pleaded.
"Well, your stepdad asked you to bark like a dog and you did."
A sense of relief came over me. "Oh that was it?"
Julie scrunched her face. "Actually there's more. Then he asked you to walk on all fours like a dog. You acted like you were a real dog, sniffing around. He ended it by having you get on your hind legs and beg." That explained why I ended up on my knees.
A rush of red flooded my cheeks. "Oh my god that's so embarrassing." Why would my stepdad do that to me?
"Well it was hilarious! But there's nothing to be embarrassed about. It was all in good fun."
"Yeah I guess." Anger was boiling in my stomach.
"Let's just get back to the hotel and we can relax," Julie proposed.
"That sounds great to me," I replied with my fists clenched. I just wanted to punch my stepdad in the face.
We got to our hotel room and we all plopped down on the beds. We didn't even get out of our dresses before we passed out.
Everyone was still sound asleep but I couldn't even close my eyes.. My mind was wired and I had the sudden urge to leave. I quietly crept out of the hotel room. My stepdad had a lot to answer for...
I took the elevator down to the parking garage and got in my car. I put the key in the ignition and brought the car to life. I looked up Jacob's house where he stayed while he did his shows in Vegas.
I pulled onto a street filled with houses and parked next to a big one at the end. I felt steam coming out of my ears. I wanted Jacob to pay for what he did to me. I turned off the car and made my way up to the front door. I stood there staring at the white door until my body took over and knocked twice.
I waited there until the door opened and there was Jacob the Mystical. Seeing him brought me back to reality and I suddenly realized what he was doing. "Why did you do that to me?"
"It's late Abigail, why don't you come inside."