Just A Suggestion

Chapter 1
Chapter One

“Man, what an ugly bitch.” Michael scoffed. “It’s a good thing she’s got such nice tits ?cause her face looks like she got smacked around with a two by four.”

“Totally.” Brandon snickered. “Butterface if I’ve ever seen one.”

Their laughter filled the room as they poked and jabbed at one another. They were spending their day just like they did every other - lounging on the couch with the TV blaring, having to practically shout over whatever moronic program they were watching to make sure they could hear each other’s increasingly crude comments. Even though her room was down the hall and her door was tightly shut Jill could still hear their idiocy loud and clear. With a sigh she turned on her iPod and slipped the headphones into her ears, happily returning to her work as the music drowned them out. Just a couple more months, she reminded herself. A couple more months and you never have to see either of them ever again.

When her brother Michael and his best friend Brandon went off to college together it was one of the best days of Jill’s life. For as long as she could remember, they had spent every single day doing seemingly everything in their power to make her miserable. At first it was just kid stuff, the normal pranks and mischief boys use to pester little girls. But as the three of them grew up Michael only became stronger and meaner and his sycophant Brandon was there every step of the way to ramp up the torment. At her fifth grade band recital they had coated the mouthpiece of her clarinet with hot sauce - when the girl realized what had happened she was forced to choose between taking a mouthful of fire or foregoing the concert that she had practiced months for. She chose the former - and couldn’t taste anything for a week.

When she reached high school Michael and Brandon were juniors and, if they wanted to, could have easily brought her into the popular clique that they were such proud members of. Instead, they spent the morning before the first day of school papering the halls with the most embarrassing picture of Jill they could find - the girl on Christmas morning, wearing a pink negligee that she had been forced into trying on by their mother so as to not offend the eccentric aunt that had given it to her. Nearly everyone in the school saw the pictures before they were taken down and before the day was over the poor girl had been furnished with a nickname that spread like wildfire - Baby Doll. It frustrated Jill to no end to have their mother consistently punish his cruelty with nothing more than a slap on the wrist, all too happy to dismiss Michael’s antics - even now, at the age of nineteen - as boyish mischief. It also didn’t help that their mom and Brandon’s mom had been best friends since before their boys were born and still seemed to see them as the innocent little tots they used to watch while they sipped coffee and shared gossip. Even now they were off shopping together, leaving Jill alone to deal with the nitwits by herself.

Jill shook those thoughts from her mind as she put the finishing touches on her device and proudly held it up in front of her. My ticket out, she smiled. Since Brandon had quit college after a year - ?cause he wasn’t “feeling it” anymore - their parents were now saddled with the hefty student loan that had paid for the pointless exercise. That burden, combined with the expenses of having him under their roof again, made it impossible for them to pay for Jill’s tuition. She had all but abandoned her dream of going to college - thanks in no small part to her brother’s constant harassment the girl had become shy and reserved, retreating more and more into her studies as she grew up. Now in her senior year the girl had become one of the sharpest young scientific minds in the state - not that anybody knew it. Jill’s timidity was such that she kept her genius under wraps, for fear that others would join in on the torment that Michael and Brandon had made a sport of. But with the reality of missing out on college staring her in the face Jill mustered up her courage and decided to enter the state high school science fair, knowing that the generous scholarship offered to the winner might very well be her only chance at higher education. She examined her device under the light, smiling from ear-to-ear as she turned it over in her hands. To the untrained eye it resembled a voice modulator of some sort, a small black box with a receiver jutting from its top, a button set into one side and a large speaker set into the other. But Jill knew better. What she held in her hands was nothing less than her key to a new life.

The girl cut her admiration of her work short in order to get her things together for the trip. Though the fair wouldn’t start for several hours she wanted to get there as soon as possible, unable to contain the excitement that bubbled up inside her. Once her things were all together she stood at her door and took a deep breath, frowning at the obnoxious laughter that seeped into her room. She knew that just leaving the house could very well be the most difficult part of her day - Michael and Brandon never missed a chance to give her a hard time and she knew that today would be no different. Don’t even look at them, she told herself. Just walk on by.

It was advice that she repeated to herself over and over as she opened the door and rushed towards the door. To her surprise, when she passed the couch neither of its occupants so much as looked up - but when she was almost at the door Michael suddenly sprung from his seat and blocked her path. The girl stopped in her tracks and gripped at her bag, putting on a face of irritation to try and mask the fear that she knew would shine through regardless of what she did.

“Where are you going in such a hurry?” Michael asked with the smirk she had become all too familiar with.

“I’m on my way to a friend’s.” Jill muttered. Her brother shook his head and clucked his tongue.

“C’mon now, Jill, we all know that you don’t have any friends.” Michael admonished his sister as Brandon chuckled from the couch. “Now I’ve got to punish you for lying to me.”

In a flash his hands were on her bag. Desperate to protect the device that lay within Jill fought with an intensity that surprised even her - but her resistance was cut short when Brandon came up behind her and grabbed her beneath the arms, lifting the flailing girl into the air as Michael snatched the bag away. As she struggled beneath Brandon’s grasp her brother rifled through the bag, looking for anything out of the ordinary.

“What’s this thing?” Michael frowned as he turned the device over in his hand. Jill’s eyes widened.

“Let it go!” She cried. A grin crept over her brother’s face.

“Why?” He teased. “What’s so important about this piece of junk?”

Jill winced. Michael shrugged and placed it on the ground.

“If there’s nothing important about it...” He said as he lifted his foot, “Then I guess you won’t mind if I smash it to bits.”

“No!” Jill screamed. “Don’t!”

“I can feel my foot falling...”

“It’s for a science fair!” Jill blurted out. “It’s my entry!”

“A science fair?” Michael scoffed as he picked up the device and turned it over in his hand. “It never ceases to amaze me just how much of a geek you are, Jill. What’s it do?”

Jill hesitated. Michael clenched his fist around her invention.

“What...does it...do?”

“... it’s a mind control device.” Jill muttered. “The power of suggestion is very powerful and my invention amplifies that to an extent where the user can control of the subject’s actions.”

Michael and Brandon looked at each other and burst out laughing.

“Yeah, okay.” Michael chuckled. “Tell you what, I’ll be a good big brother and humor you for a little while. How does it work?”

Jill cringed. As much as she didn’t want to tell her brother anything about her invention, there was no getting around the fact that he held her entire future in the palm of his hand. She sighed and looked at her feet.

“Hold down the button and speak the person’s name into the receiver in order to put their mind into a receptive mode.” She mumbled. “Then you just have to say what you want them to do. Once they’ve completed the command they’ll remain in the trance for a few more seconds - without further instruction they’ll break free of their own will.”

“What a load of horseshit.” Michael grunted. “You’re telling me if I press this button...”

He put his finger on the button. Jill went cold.

“...and say your name, you’ll do anything I want?”

“Please.” The girl licked her lips and held out a trembling hand. “Please give it back to me, Michael.”

Her brother smirked and lifted the receiver to his mouth.

“Jill!” He boomed in an authoritative voice that crackled through the device’s speaker. As his voice entered her ears the girl was suddenly thunderstruck, frozen in place and unable to so much as wiggle her toes. No!, her mind cried. This can’t be happening!

“I command you to...” A grin came over Michael’s face. “Give Brandon a kiss. On the lips.”

Were Jill in control of her actions she might have very well gagged at Michael’s command. With slow but fluid movements she turned around to face Brandon, who was regarding the girl with a distinct look of bemusement on his face. At one point he had been a halfway decent looking guy but years of neglect had turned his acne-dotted skin pale and greasy, a fitting backdrop for the scraggly goatee that hung from his chin and made her skin crawl. As her body trembled and her brain screamed its objections the girl stood on her toes, leaned in...and planted her lips right on Brandon’s. The burnout straightened up in surprise as Jill, having satisfied the command, pulled back and stared blankly ahead. It wasn’t until a moment later that she regained control of her faculties, falling to her knees and heaving as though Brandon had passed her some sort of flesh eating virus. Both Michael and Brandon stared at her with wide eyes and an open mouth, still processing what they had just seen.

“Holy shit.” Michael muttered as he looked at the device. “This thing actually works. Unfuckingbelievable.”

“I dunno.” Brandon murmured as he rubbed his lips. “Maybe she’s just got the hots for me.”

Michael gave him a wilting look and motioned towards his sister.

“She’s practically vomiting, dude. I don’t think she’s into you.” He stepped to Brandon’s side and put an arm around his shoulder, grinning from ear to ear. “But forget about that. Do you realize what we can do with this thing in our hands?”

“...we can make people do stuff?”

Michael rolled his eyes. “Not just that. We can do whatever we want. We can get free food, clothes, video games...all we gotta do is use this thing to take control of the moron behind the counter. And if anybody tries to stop us...well, we’ll just take control of them too.”

Brandon frowned. “What if Jill’s faking it to try and make us look stupid? We should test it on somebody else before we try and get free stuff.”

Michael raised his eyebrows and waggled a finger in his friend’s direction.

“Now you’re thinking.” He looked out the window and grinned. “Those brats next door are out in their front yard. Whattya say we go play with them?”

“No...don’t...”

Michael looked over to see his sister rise to her feet on trembling legs. With her chest heaving the girl looked up and stared directly into her brother’s eyes, her gaze burning with desperate intensity. Michael lifted his hands and shrugged.

“Sorry about your luck, kiddo.” He smirked. “Looks like you’ll have to whip up another one of these in the next couple hours if you wanna win your dork competition. Me and Brandon have a world to conquer. And just to make sure you don’t try and stop us...”

Jill grabbed at the device but Michael simply pulled it back, holding her at arm’s length as he brought the receiver to his smirking lips.

“Jill.” The girl stiffened. “The French maid costume mom wore for Halloween last year is stashed in the attic. Go put it on and then come back here.”

Though every fiber of her being fought in resistance the girl found herself staggering in the direction of the attic, leaving Michael and Brandon alone in the living room.

“That’s kinda gross, dude.” Brandon smirked as he jabbed Michael in the ribs. “You like seeing your sister in a sexy maid outfit, huh?”

“Shut up, moron.” Michael grinned as he slugged Brandon in the arm. “This is all about making things as embarrassing as possible, that’s all.”

True to his word, Jill was clearly mortified when she re-entered the room, bedecked in the stereotypical low-cut dress complete with frilly lace hem and matching tiara. A beat passed before Michael burst out laughing, doubled over as his derisive cackling filled the room. Brandon, for his part, was staring at Jill with undisguised lust, eyeing the humiliated girl’s bust with a stupid grin on his face. After a few moments Michael managed to get a hold of himself and took notice of his friend’s ogling.

“If you’re done perving out...” Michael said as he slapped his friend upside the head. Brandon snapped back to reality and offered him a sheepish smile. Michael rolled his eyes and returned his attention to Jill.

“Well, Jill, we’ve got a full afternoon ahead of us. Why don’t you make yourself useful and clean the place up a little bit?” Michael suggested, motioning at the mess he and Brandon had made over the course of the morning. “We’ve got a world to conquer.”

With that, he turned and headed out the door, device in hand. Brandon was right on his heels, making sure to turn and blow Jill a kiss on his way out. The girl shuddered as her body set about completing the task charged to it, picking up the discarded soda cans and chip bags Michael and Brandon had left behind. Though her body was no longer under her control her mind had already begun to formulate a plan, one she swore she would carry out the instant she broke free...while her idiot brother and his equally moronic friend made a beeline to their next victims.

---

“Hey, dweebs!”

The boys looked up from their game of catch and simultaneously slouched in annoyance to see Michael and Brandon bearing down on them. Having lived next door to Michael all of their lives - for Nick, fourteen years, and for his little brother Cory, twelve - they had been the victims of his and Brandon’s cruelty more than once. Thankfully, their mother was well aware of what a jackass he was and usually swooped in before Michael could so much as speak to them.

“How’s it going, fellas?” Michael called out, clutching the device in one hand as he offered a friendly wave with the other. The boys looked at one another, seemingly unsure as to how to react to the greeting.

“What do you want, Michael?” Nick asked, his voice sharp and his hands on his hips.

“Yeah, what do you want?” Corey echoed as he stood next to his brother and crossed his arms. Michael whistled and raised his eyebrows.

“Whoa, looks like these guys are big strong men all of a sudden.” Michael grinned and poked Brandon in the ribs. “Aren’t you going to call your mommy to come get rid of us?”

He took a step towards his victims and threw out a head fake. Both boys leapt backwards, staring daggers at Michael as he and Brandon laughed and jabbed at one another.

“Just like I thought.” Michael snickered. “Still scared little boys after all these years. You shouldn’t be acting like grown-ups if you piss your pants every time somebody looks at you funny.”

A grin crept across his face as though he had been struck by an idea, widening from ear to ear as he raised the device’s receiver to his lips.

“Nick. Corey.” He announced. The instant they heard their names both boys stiffened up, motionless save for the panicked darting of their eyes inside their sockets. “I want the two of you to piss yourselves like the wimpy little boys you are.”

Michael and Brandon looked on with bated breath, waiting for the command to take effect...and then howled with laughter when dark spots appeared and rapidly expanded on the crotches of both boys’ jeans. Without any control of their actions it seemed as though the brothers wouldn’t stop until their bladders were completely empty, the fronts of their jeans now completely soaked as the trail began to creep down their pant legs.

“Wow.” Michael wiped his eyes and struggled to compose himself. “Even little boys don’t piss themselves that badly. You guys must actually be a couple of babies. And you know what babies do, don’t you?”

Both boys were still in the device-induced trance, too busy trembling in fear to answer Michael’s question.

“Well, since you guys are acting like a couple of babies...” Michael said, his voice’s sinister tone clear even through the crackling of the device. “I want you to make it official - by crapping your pants.”

With no visual indicator Michael and Brandon’s couldn’t tell whether the last command had taken hold...until about thirty seconds later, when the smell hit their nostrils. They nearly choked on their laughter, having to hold on to one another in order to keep from falling over. At first Michael and Brandon couldn’t tell when the boys had regained control - overwhelmed by what had happened to them, for the first few seconds all the brothers did was blink in shock as they burned in shame from their toes to their ears.

“H-how did you do that?” Nick asked in a tiny voice. Michael laughed and ruffled the boy’s hair, which only made his blush deepen.

“Oh, don’t worry your silly little head about that.” He chuckled. “I know you and your brother must be embarrassed that me and Brandon found out how immature you guys really are. Tell you what - I’ll make things easier on you.”

“Please.” Corey sniffled. “Please...just leave us alone.”

“Aww, don’t cry, buddy.” Michael put on a mock pout. “I just want you to do one more eentsy little thing and then I’ll go, okay? Now - Nick, Corey...”

The boys shuddered at the mention of their names before stiffening up once more.

“From this day forward, the two of you are going to act like the little babies you are. Nick, you’re not fourteen, and Corey, you’re not twelve - the two of you are a couple of thumb-sucking, diaper-filling one-year-olds.”

One could almost hear the screaming in the boys’ eyes...before they each blinked and glazed over with the unfocused gaze of an infant. As their mouths hung open both Nick and Corey waved their arms in static, jerky motions, trying to stay on their suddenly wobbly legs. Neither was successful. At once they lost their balance and fell onto their messy bottoms with an audible squish. Neither boy cried, or even whined - instead, they simply giggled, stuck their thumbs in their mouths, and wiggled in the warm messes they had made for themselves, lost in the simple pleasures of infancy.

“Holy shit.” Michael muttered, shaking his head in disbelief as Brandon doubled over in laughter beside him. “This thing is amazing.”

“Hey, you know what we should do?” Brandon panted in between laughs. “We should go and mess with Russell.”

Michael’s face brightened. He and Brandon were in the same class with Russell, who had been an outstanding three-sport athlete and one of the most beloved kids in school. Despite his popularity Russell made it a point to never degrade those lower on the social ladder than he, and even went so far as to scold those that did so. More than once Michael and Brandon had received severe tongue lashings from him for their behavior - though they burned with anger and frustration after each one they knew that revenge, while satisfying, would have the side effect of destroying their own popularity. To this day they had to deal with his supposed superiority - while Michael and Brandon left town for college Russell stayed at home, going to college on a baseball scholarship and making use of his parents’ house, which sat just two streets away. The thought of bringing him down a peg filled Michael with so much glee that his body began to tremble in anticipation. Without a word he took off in the direction of Russell’s house, Brandon following right behind him, as their new baby neighbors began to whimper and squirm in their increasingly uncomfortable clothing.

 

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