Your vision adjusted, and like a jarring cut in a movie between two distinct scenes, you were suddenly staring up at the ceiling like you had been after signing the contract. You sat up and looked around, finding the room empty once more.
"Where did he?" you asked.
You looked yourself up and down and found nothing amiss, same sweater and jeans you had arrived in. Checking your watch revealed that over two hours had passed since you arrived! Did you black out? While you wondered, Alfred returned to the dressing room.
"Ah, there you are! Wonderful show, eh?" he asked.
The show was over already? And you didn't remember anything? Could he have... No! Hypnosis is fake! You probably just blacked out... but didn't Alfred say something before you woke up on the couch? Why couldn't you remember?
"Alex?" Alfred asked. "Are you all right?"
"Of course, I am!" you replied.
Can't let him know about the doubts you have. This entire exercise is to prove him a fraud!
"So you agree it was a great show?"
"Yeah, it was great. I had a lot of fun."
"And are you any closer to proving your theory?"
"If I told you, that'd be cheating."
Alfred simply smiled and went back to packing up the dressing room.
"Our next show is in two days. I'll give you the check for this performance then."
"I get paid?"
"Of course, you did read the contract before signing, right?"
"Yeah, I'm not stupid." you said, even if you didn't exactly remember reading it, but you must've.
As you walked back to your car, you pondered that new information. You didn't necessarily need the money, you did pretty steady freelance web design work, but if he was paying you as you undermined his act, it seemed a pretty one-sided agreement in your favor, so the contract must've been fair.
Arriving at home, you stripped out of your clothes, only to find a worrying sight. All of your body hair, below the neck, had fallen out! Or shaved, the circumstances of the loss, you weren't clear on. What you were clear on, was that the loss happened during the seeming blackout time. What could that mean?
"Am I getting sick?" you wondered aloud. "Or did the hypnosis do this?"
You smacked yourself for even considering that hypnosis was real. You'd have to check on it, see how or if it grows back, and if it gets worrisome, have a doctor check it out. For now, you wanted to sleep, your feet were killing you!
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