Patreon May Exclusive - "Conditioned" - Part 5

Routine is so important, when you have small children. They take comfort in regularity, and at the same time, they will test the boundaries.

Every school day afternoon, after naps and rest time, Mom takes the kids to the park. Depending on the day of the week, there’s a food truck offering ice-creams, or churros, or shaved ice. A reward for good boys and girls, for spelled words and completed puzzles.

This is the routine, and today should be no different.

“What then?” Brooke asked back in the bedroom, picking at her pajamas with a looking of someone who’s sucking on a lemon. “We’re under her spell. I know how it feels, all the time, my brain is squashed and all I want to do is be a good  girl for Mommy.” She finished her statement by turning her whisper sweeter, higher. She squeaked like a doll that only speaks when you pull its string.

“It’s different at the park,” Steve replied. “There’s no music.” He smiled. “Don’t you feel…kinda naughtier when we’re out of the house? And Mom gets sterner too. Like, ‘Don’t make me tell you again’. Because she knows the hypnosis, the whatever-it-is, isn’t as strong outside.”

Brooke twisted her lips. “Strong enough.” Her voice got so low, Steve had to strain to hear her, combined with the crackling pillow. “You think we’re just gonna walk away? What? Wrestle her to the ground and tie her up?”

Steve took his sister’s hand. “How do you feel right now? Are you full of rainbows and unicorns? Do you love your mommy?”

Brooke’s expression turned fierce. “I wanna wring her damn neck.” She groaned. “I was about to try out for the Olympic team, Steve! And now I’m…” She pulled her hand away, covered her face. “What’s she doing this for?”

Steve shrugged. And then he said, “Remember when were were little for real, Mom would always say we were getting big too fast. She would kid around, like she wasn’t going to let us have any more birthdays. Remember?”

“Right, but…” Brook took her hands away and looks at Steve. “Parents don’t do this. This isn’t a thing. This is crazy.”

Steve sniffed. “Oh, Mom’s gone off the deep end.”

“What about Dad?”

Steve thought back to the night before, playing Legos with Daddy. “I think maybe Mom has done the same thing to him. To make him think everything’s normal. Break our trance, break his as well, I bet.”

“But how?” asked Brooke. “She’s not just gonna let us go, Stevie. She wants us to be little forever!” Her voice got louder, and Steve looked toward the bedroom door.

He put a finger to his lips, and then he put the pillow between them. “Check this out.” He felt the pillowcase material, found the disc, and clenched it between his fingers and palm.

The crackling dimmed immediately, and the siblings strained to hear it.

Steve let them both enjoy the silence, and then as he noticed a softening, so gentle but growing in his mind, telling him that everything would be just fine, because he was such a good boy, he let go of the disc and the crackling resumed.

“I take it out of the pillow,” Steve said, “and I take it to the park.” He nodded as the plan solidified in his mind. “If you get a chance to grab her phone, do it, then I pull out the disc, and there’ll be nothing she can do.”

Brooke nodded. And then she grabbed hold of the pillow case, like a real four year old with a blankie. “Mom’s so smart, Stevie. What if this doesn’t work? She’s not going to laugh it off.” She gives her brother a pained look. “There’ll be consequences.”

“Consequences? What’s she gonna do, Brooke, take your favorite doll away?”

“I don’t know, I just-“

“She’s not going to murder us, and I tell you what, she’s already done the worst thing.” He laughed. “Kinda hated second grade the first time. And you’re…” He points in the direction of the nightlight. “Time to get our lives back.”

Brooke looked down at her hands. “Can we try this tomorrow instead?” Her voice is a soft whine.

“We can’t wait. We got lucky, with the broken disc or whatever it is. If we don’t do it now, Mom will find out there’s been a fault and then it’s game over.”

Brooke didn’t reply.

“We have to do it today,” he said, his voice low. Hs chest tightened as he imagined his mother standing outside the bedroom door, eavesdropping. What an idea.  He got off the bed and tiptoed to the door, turned the handle like a thief cracking a bank safe, and eased it open.

The hallway was empty. And Steve let himself imagine just leaving right now, running away.

No. He wasn’t about to try this without Brooke. He wasn’t going to leave her behind.

Steve returned to the bed. “Okay?”

“Okay,” Brooke whispered, and in that moment she may as well have been a little girl. “I’m just scared.”

Steve put a hand on his sister’s shoulder. “I get it. Hey, Mom’s smart, but she’s not perfect.” He smiled at his sister. “We’ve got the element of surprise; she’ll never see this coming.”

To be completed...