:: Suggest The Towering Dark. {"position":"150,4490"}
"Since you're asking, I've been really wanting to see //The Towering Dark//," [[you|You]] say.

[[Emily]] blinks at you owlishly through her spectacles and then turns her eyes back to the road.  You think you've surprised her.  "Well, all right," she says.  "I guess I can give it a shot."  She checks her phone for a bit.  "It's playing at Marbleton," she says.  "We'll be there a bit early.  It starts later."

The two of you drive to a movie theater in Marbleton and get there fifteen minutes before the movie starts.  You buy some popcorn and your tickets and sit down in the theater, waiting for the previews to start.  

"So, Parker," Emily says.  "I hope you don't hate me for this, but while you were hypnotized, I had you tell me everything that has happened to you since you've been in Rosestead.  I didn't mean to be nosy or anything, but I was just really fascinated.  Plus, you were an incredibly good subject for hypnotism, unbelievably so really.  So I thought there might be a possibility that you were being manipulated by somebody in Rosestead."

"So, was I?" you ask, fascinated and forgetting to even be annoyed by this invasion of your privacy.

"Not as far as I could find out.  If anyone is, you're not aware of it even subconsciously.  I assume your susceptibility to hypnosis has something to do with the Process, but it could be unique to you.  Anyway, what I want to say is that I was really impressed by your fidelity and loyalty to me.  I know I haven't been the best girlfriend in the world and I'm sorry about that.  Maybe I shouldn't have started dating you so soon after I broke up with Jacob.  And, of course, I know I haven't been that forthcoming...."  She trails off and looks away, embarrassed.

"With what?" you say.

"You know."  Her voice drops to a whisper.  "Sexually.  To be honest, I wouldn't have blamed you if you did have sex with ... what was her name - Belinda?"

You nod.  "What I want to say is I'm really glad you didn't and I'm going to try to be a better girlfriend for you."  You gape at her in astonishment.  You'd always had the impression she didn't like you that much.  She giggles.  "Don't get too excited.  I'm not ready for anything really serious.  At least not yet."  She takes your hand in hers and squeezes it.

She continues, "I also wanted to tell you that I talked to my father.  I didn't tell him any details, but I asked him for some advice about hypnosis techniques.  He gave me some great tips and I really want to try them out.  We'll have to get some privacy so I can try after the movie is over."

Just then the previews start and the two of you watch the previews and then the movie.  The movie is fantastic, everything you were hoping for with surprisingly high production values.  The Towering Dark itself is very well realized, a spire of darkness thrusting into the heavens.  The heroine of the movie is the standard horror movie heroine, blonde and bubbly.  You are pleased to see that Emily seems to be enjoying it too and, in one particularly scary scene, she grabs your hand and holds on tight.  Then she puts your arm around her shoulder and snuggles into you.

You're actually quite disappointed when it ends, not because the ending is bad, but because there's no more to watch.  The Towering Dark is broken and defeated (but leaving room for a sequel) and the blonde heroine is battered and bloodied, but triumphant.

As you leave the theater, Emily says, "Wow!  That was really good!  I wasn't expecting it to be so good.  Thanks for suggesting it, Parker.  Do you think your room at that mansion would be a good place to try the hypnosis?"

"I don't see why not," you say.  "Belinda can sometimes have a problem with boundaries..."

Emily snorts.  "I'll say."

"...but the door has a lock on it," you finish.

"All right," Emily says.  "Let's go there."

[[Go back to Rosestead.]]