By aJonymous
“I’ll bet he’s faking it,” whispered Karen to Julie, her soon-to-be sister-in-law. Karen’s fiancé Jay had nodded off to sleep at the party, and his older sister had decided to make him a guinea pig for the evening course she was taking in hypnosis.
The sleeping Jay appeared to respond to her suggestions and now, fifteen minutes into it, seemed to be deeply under as he reclined in the armchair. Karen and the couple of other people watching were skeptical that this was genuine, and even Julie was unsure if it had worked. She decided to proceed with a test. Julie asked for suggestions from Karen, who grinned. “He won’t tell me a thing about his teenage years. I ask him whether the rumours I get about him being out of control at sixteen are true, and he always avoids the questions.”
Julie replied, “He was out of control for a while there, then he seemed to lose most of his attitude all of a sudden. It was like something had taken him down a few pegs from his status he had with that bunch of skater guys he used to hang with.” They agreed to probe in this area.
“Jay, I want you to travel back eight years to the summer when you were sixteen. You are going to remember something that changed your ways. You might have blocked the experience from your mind, it might be embarrassing and you have deliberately put it out of your conscious mind but regardless, it will now become unblocked and the memory will come rushing back to you. You are there now… and you’re experiencing it again.”
They waited a few moments and Julie was about to give further suggestions when Jay suddenly broke out in a giggle and began to speak. “Ha ha ha no… don’t, man! ah hahah ha I’m hahaha warning you dude…. hahahaha let us go… noooo ahahahahahahahah…”
Eight years earlier…
Jeb held the security guard limp in his grasp. This specimen, who had been so full of bravado when he first confronted Jeb, was now panting and gurgling unintelligible words, having just been through a two-hour tickling ordeal. Jeb was now erasing his conscious memory of the encounter before setting him free. Not long after the guard had recovered and innocently left the factory grounds, some new potential friends turned up. Three youths on skateboards had negotiated the hole in the fence and were heading for where Jeb was camouflaged.
They were around sixteen, full of energy and attitude. After riding around the pavement for a time, they congregated with one producing a bottle of spirits and another a can of spray paint. After the bottle had been passed around, Jay was handed the can of spray paint.
“OK, dude, you said you practised a tag… How ’bout 20 feet wide, along this wall,” said Jarrod. Jay appeared reluctant for a few moments until the other two accused him of being scared of doing it. Then he took the can, cheered on by his accomplices and started spraying his logo across the concrete wall. The empty whisky bottle was smashed on the pavement by the third guy who was just called ‘Tagger’.
Jarrod produced two more cans, and soon all three were spraying their logos. With the strong fumes of the paint they didn’t notice a mist that started to emerge and envelop them. Jay began to lose his nervousness under the influence of Jeb’s vapour. The three of them were soon in a near-dream state with their wall painting. When Jeb appeared close by, disguised as a frail old man, they were incapable of being startled.
Jeb got their attention. “That’s very nice work on the walls, boys. I hope you will clean it off and sweep up the glass when you’re done.”
The intoxicated boys thought it was a great joke and responded accordingly. “Oh yeah, we were gonna feed the cat and water the nature strip too, hahaha. Where the hell did you come from anyway, old dude?”
“I’m a traveller, and I get around and meet people as much as possible. My name’s Jeb.”
“Haha, what’s that, like, short for fuckin’ Jebediah? Or were your parents just off their dials when they named you, back in the 16th century?,” joked Tagger, causing his friends to double over with laughter.
“I’ll tell you some more about me – but let’s get to work cleaning up first,” replied Jeb.
“Dude, we ain’t even half finished taggin’ here, so if you could sort of go and write your will or somethin’ -“
“No, send old dude out for beer and pizza!,” interrupted Jarrod.
“I’m afraid I will have to insist that you start cleaning it now,” Jeb calmly said.
“Oh, shit – he’s insisting! The four million year-old narc dude is putting his foot down. We better do what he says, guys… or he might shake his fist at us – or hit us with the old people smell, hahaha!” Jeb remained expressionless. “Look, come back later and we’ll be ready to clean with you for sure. And bring your younger cousin, Yoda – hahaha…” The guys started spraying again –
And at the same moment, something grabbed the can from each of their hands faster than they could react. They spun around to see Jeb about four feet away, holding their cans.
“Ancient dude! What the fuck are you doin’?”
“Are you still refusing to clean up this mess?,” inquired Jeb.
“Look, we’re gonna take our cans back, and you’re gonna walk away – if you know what’s good for ya,” stated Jarrod.
“You can’t have them back, I’m afraid,” replied Jeb.
The three gave each other a knowing nod. Jeb’s gas was wearing off, but they were not the least bit intimidated by him anyway. They pounced on Jeb, knocking him down. After a brief struggle, they regained their cans and pulled away. Tagger sprayed paint down Jeb’s leg for good measure. They went to get their skateboards –
Suddenly, the hard ground became the consistency of bubble gum and adhered to their feet. They stumbled over, dropping the cans – and soon their hands were also stuck.
Jeb had now taken on his true form… as he dragged them closer. They struggled like insects in a spider web. “What’s going on?! Shit, it’s the blob!!!”
“I’m not going to eat you… or even hurt you,” said Jeb, as he read their thoughts to decipher what “the blob” actually was. “I’m just going to earn your respect… which will be hard, I know, since I’m so old.”
They were now drawn right up to the alien ball. Jeb pulled them tight against him, so that their faces became buried in his flesh. They each began to inhale the intoxicating vapour – and fell unconscious.
Jay woke, unaware how long he had been unconscious. He was unable to move at all. His body was held upright and fully outstretched, and his clothes were gone. As his eyes grew used to the light, he saw that he was inside some sort of cylindrical chamber. It felt soft and organic, but well beyond his strength to pull free from its grip. Then he realised that Jarrod and Tagger were held just like him around the inside of the chamber. They were starting to wake up also. Jay went to call out, but realised he was gagged… and so were his friends.
After taking it all in for a few seconds, he stopped to think about what he was feeling. It certainly wasn’t discomfort or pain. The fear he had experienced as the creature had trapped them was now absent. Yet he still felt some type of intense vulnerability… Something strangely familiar, like a childhood memory. He couldn’t pinpoint the feeling.
Jeb spoke: “I am going to let one of you act as spokesperson before we start. I think Jarrod and Bernard – oh, sorry, ‘Tagger’, as you like to be called – you two have spoken quite enough already. How about Jay? Yes, I think so.”
Jay felt the gag removed from his mouth. “What are you -“
“I’m a traveller, like I told you. I meet people and I have fun with them. Sometimes, like this time, I try to influence their behaviour and show them the error of their ways. This behaviour and attitude are unnecessary, it seems to me. You are just being wayward for the sake of it, not in reaction to any real difficulties in life.”
Jay didn’t know what to ask or say. “How’re you gonna influence our behaviour?”
“Well… right at the moment the three of you are experiencing a strange sensation in your bodies. Aren’t you?” The boys attempted to nod. “You can’t quite place what the feeling is, but you know it from somewhere. Think back to your childhood. Jarrod, think of that night your cousin Paul babysat you when you were seven. Tagger, what was your initiation game at camp the year before last? And Jay, how did your big sister Julie get you to tell her where you hid her diary a few years ago?”
As it dawned on the boys what they were feeling, each of them attempted to struggle against their bonds.
“Oh, no way – you can’t be serious, dude!,” Jay blurted out.
“Actually Jay, it will be you who ‘can’t be serious’, once I start tickling you. How long do you think you will last before I have you all begging and promising to do everything I say?”
Jay was already fighting hard not to giggle just from the exposed and helpless nature of his predicament and the sensitivity of his body, thanks to Jeb’s mental tampering. “You don’t have to do this, man – we’ll clean the paint off the wall, I swear -“
“I know you will. But you were going to end up doing that anyway,” replied Jeb. “I think we should start.”
With that, a legion of hands formed along the guys’ sides – and closed in on every sensitive bit of skin available.
“Ha ha ha no don’t man! Ah hahah ha I’m hahaha warning you dude… hahahaha let us go.. noooo ahahahahahahahah…” The gags disappeared from the other guy’s mouths, just as the dozens of fingers descended onto their bare torsos.
The boys let out screams, followed with howls of laughter. “Aaaaaahhhhahahahahaaaaaaa… pleeeeease hahahahahaha… stop…..” It was almost begging in unison. Their bodies were now covered in a film of perspiration and their hearts were racing. Through tear-filled eyes, Jay stared across to the tortured face of Tagger, who was laughing so hard it was soundless. They struggled to no avail, begged, screamed out for help… but mostly just laughed hysterically as the tickling hands moved around their sides, ribs and stomachs and totally overwhelmed them.
A good while later, Jeb let them regain a degree of composure. “Bernard, I want you to tell us why you felt moved to make so many jokes about me when you saw me as an old man,” Jeb said.
Tagger was at a loss for words… so Jeb gave his sides a tickle to prompt him. “Ahahaha no wait hahaha ok… um it’s just like… you know, sort of having a joke, man… I only do it if I really like someone, you know…”
“You forget that I can read human minds, Bernard. I’m going to give you one more chance to tell us why you said those things. Otherwise, you’ll be saying it between fits of laughter.”
“Well… shit, I don’t know why, man – we just do it but I don’t mean nothin bad by it, I just… no, wait… don’t… fuc-“
A new pair of hands leapt into Tagger’s armpits, and danced at amazing speed across the skin.
“Hahahahahaha… OK… hahahah… stop… hahaha… alright!! Hahaha I slam people hahahahaha to impress my buddies hahahahahaha…”
“That’s right,” said Jeb as he worked over Tagger’s pits, producing hysterics, “And now I’m going to tickle you all again until I can detect that you have thought more deeply about it.”
Jarrod and Jay felt fingers pounce upon their armpits – and at once helpless laughter was escaping their mouths.
Every few minutes one of them would manage to call out that they were sorry, or had learned their lesson… and Jeb would reply that he still detected some residual attitude to overcome.
A while later, they were given a few moments to recover. It took a couple of minutes for their involuntary giggling to subside. Their faces were stained with tears, and they were visibly weak from their tickling ordeal.
This time Jeb elected Jarrod to speak on behalf of his friends. “Oh shit, I don’t know why we tag walls, dude… We just get, like, an urge to bend the rules sometimes and leave our mark. I know you can read my mind – that’s how come. I’m not bullshitting you. But I seriously CAN’T take any more tickling, you’re making me crazy…” Jarrod accompanied this with a sort of pleading ‘puppy’ facial expression that the two others had never seen him use before.
Jeb considered Jarrod’s response. He could see something in the bending of rules and ‘leaving your mark’ reasoning – after all, that was what he did on his excursions from his dull home planet. “Not a bad excuse, young Jarrod”, he said. “Perhaps I need not continue to punish you”. The three felt a wave of relief at that comment –
“No. Punishment is over. Now I’m just going to tickle you for fun.”
Jarrod barely had time to say, “What? no!!,” before hundreds of pulsating miniature fingers made contact with his feet, bringing him back into full animation and screams of laughter interspersed with frantic begging such as, “Please hahahaha not my feet! Ahahahahaha…” The other two could only watch, in dread that they would be up for this very soon.
“Jarrod, I hear your pleas for mercy… but at this stage there is only one way to get relief from my tickling,” Jeb announced some time later. “You need to tell me which one of your friends, there, deserves to be tickled instead of you. The one you choose will be tickled on the feet for twice as long as you were”.
Through his tears and fits of laughter, Jarrod looked at his two gagged friends – and dreaded having to pass sentence on one of them. But he HAD to be free of this insane tickling. He was suffering… and the choice just added to the torture. “Hahahah… No! Please, just stop, hahahaha…”
“Jarrod, you have five seconds to give me a name… or I’ll tickle your feet for the next hour.”
Jarrod couldn’t think straight. “Hahahaha… tickle them both, hahaha…”
“No. You must single one of them out. And you have only a couple of seconds left.”
“Haha… jjj-ttttggg-Jay hahahah!!! Tickle Jay, I’m fuckin… hahaha, sorry man – hahahahaaaa…”
Jay felt the gag disappear from his mouth. He couldn’t really begrudge Jarrod. He just wished it had been Tagger who got chosen –
Jarrod’s laughter was just subsiding as the torture of Jay’s feet commenced, and his face erupted with frantic laughter.
One eternity passed as Jay hollered endless laughter… and begged, to no avail.
Two eternities later that his turn ended… and Tagger exploded with a shriek of laughter and the plea, “NO!!!! Anywhere but there hahahahahahaaa…”
Not much later, the all-out assault commenced. Fingers were everywhere on them, and their whole bodies became one amalgamated buzz of ticklish overload.
Jeb tickled them into a delirious state… then he projected his own sophisticated moral reasoning concepts into their minds.
Jay was only aware of the overwhelming ticklishness engulfing his body… and the messages entering his mind from somewhere. In this almost hallucinogenic state, he embraced the messages and suddenly knew he would find other creative outlets in place of vandalism…
The tickling slowed, and ceased. Jay slowly regained his composure. He looked across to see that the other two were still in their ticklish purgatory. Jarrod was even dribbling… “If only those 8th graders he hassles could see him now,” Jay thought. Jarrod’s torture was the next to end, as Jeb detected a response to his conditioning.
Tagger laughed on for a couple more minutes… until Jeb detected he had absorbed the messages thoroughly. He was also getting the worst punishment, anyway, for his earlier put-downs. Then the vapours were puffed into their mouths, and they lost consciousness.
Jeb wiped their memories, but not their revelations, and sent them on their way. Then he cleaned up the wall and the broken glass – the least he could do, he thought to himself.