INFLUENCE [discontinued]

5. Consciousness is an Illusion

Part I. Lewis, Andrew

Lewis smiled as he paced circles around his son, Andrew was not quite in trance. He could tell by the way Andrew was repetitively tapping his fingers against the cup in sporadic movements. Pinkie, thumb, thumb, index, middle, index, ring. He was trying not to fall into a pattern, but as people always do with these things, they can't help it, can they?

Thumb, index middle,
Thumb, index middle,
Thumb, try ring, correct to index, middle,
Thumb, index middle,

Repeating over and over again. Lewis found it, the way to get right through Andrew. The way to get him under, to obey, to do all the thing he needed him to do.

"You always fall into patterns without realising it, Andrew. Ever since you were four, when I'd teach you to play Tetris and the pieces would just... fall gently and delicately. And you wanted them just the right way- watching me move them left, or right..."

Like a vulture, or hyena, Lewis tightened the circle around him and his target. Target used lightly, Andrew was still Lewis's son, whether either liked to think of their relationship or not. Andrew nwouldn't get the same treatment as the other subjects.

Other victims.

Other people who've lost their life since 1990

"Dad..." Andrew mumbled in some shitty way to keep himself conscious, hesitating every so often on the index turn, trying to tap the ring finger for two... maybe three... cycles before forgetting and going back to thumb, index, middle.

Lewis wondered if he even knew where he was right now. No, he had to have some grasp on reality still. Lewis knew his son, Andrew had always been a hard hypnosis subject- even harder when it came to direct suggestion. Hence, he was doing his best to induce a trance indirectly.

"Watching as I put the patterns together until you were good enough to do it yourself. Eyes moving up... and down the screen. Left to right. Do you remember those days you'd spend hours before the TV playing after school? Hours you didn't even realise were passing until I called you for dinner?"

The circle Lewis had spun around them growing tighter still, eventually Lewis took a seat beside Andrew, watching the coffee drops spill from the cup, similar to how the tears would fall, which were now threatening to escape his eyes.

"Topping out and watching the pieces fly away... trying your best to remember what order you put that 7 bag of pieces but not... quite remembering."

There was a brief pause where Andrew spoke.

"Dad why? Why do you need power, why do you need Maxwell and me to get it? Why can't you be a normal dad and just.... care for us? A way a dad should do. A way that you don't."
.
...
Fuck the indirect bullshit, Andrew had a talent of being awkward at the worst of times. Two options now- shock induction or straight to mind control.
Mind control would be the simple, quick, solution. Just get him to look at you, problem solved. But could Andrew be Mind controlled? Lewis had never tried- he had never been that desperate to put Andrew in trance.

The problem here was almost certainly how willing Andrew was- a problem of resistance. Unlike Max, who (probably until now) idolised Lewis. Andrew saw through it at 12, so no wonder why he doesn't trust his father to put him under.

He knew well what Lewis wanted from a young age.

"Well, Andrew. I'm being honest, I don't have long left on the throne. And you're next whether you like it or not- government's words not mine-" He left out the bit where he practically ruled the government and made them agree with him.