Appointment with Coach (hypno)
by irrcapt
Spinning through the air at 55 MPH, Corey's perfect pass ended in the waiting arms of Hobbes, one of the team's best receivers. The problem with that was, quite simply, that Hobbes was playing defense this practice, and the “perfect” pass was an interception. As the coach's whistle blew, Hobbes shook his head ruefully.
Corey shook his head as Coach Minot yelled into his headset, “Ya blind out there kid? Or'd you forget defense was wearing the whites this time?”
“Sorry, coach, I think I'm just a little light headed, maybe just tired?”
The coach angrily swept his mike away from his mouth and yelled into the megaphone. “TIME'S UP! EVERY ONE GET OVER HERE AND TAKE A KNEE!” Sensing that the coach was angry about something, the team quickly moved into formation and knelt. “So Lametti tells me that the reason why we just had a textbook pass is that he was tired. Well, let me be the first to apologize to you, the entitled talents getting a free ride to this college. Apparently, the scholarship people never mentioned that you might actually have to show some STAMINA! I've half a mind right now to make you all run every play in the book, just so we're sure you know them when it's the 4th quarter and you're dead dog tired!”
No one on the team moved for a long 10 seconds, until a hand reached up, “Coach Minot?”
Minot retorted back angrily. “Yes, King, I know half the team needs to get to the tutoring sessions. Count yourself lucky that they're mandatory or this would be hour one of hell. As it is, practice on Saturday just got 2 hours tacked on it. Hit the showers.”
As Corey Lametti walked back to the locker room, he ignored the glares of his teammates. He was one of the best players the college had seen in recent years, and something minor like setting off the Coach's temper at the end of a day wasn't going to affect him much. Besides he was preoccupied by what had just happened. He could have sworn he was lining up with the far receiver. Everything looked perfect. And then right after the ball was out of his hands he went dizzy and saw the pass going straight for a defender with no one in sight.
He mulled over it as he slowly took off his gear and showered, trying to remember who it was he'd seen out by Hobbes. But the more he thought about the person he'd seen, the less information he could say for sure. The dizziness also worried him. Not only had he had one after the pass, but shortly before the snap as well. Maybe he'd had a bad hit or something. He needed to talk to coach fast.
Corey was surprised for a moment that the showers were empty when he rapidly turned to get out of the shower room. I must have been thinking about this so hard I lost track of time. He rushed to his locker and started putting on the first thing that came to hand. It wasn't until he had cinched the last strap that he'd just put on his spare under padding. At that point, he panicked, leaving behind his clothes as he turned, running toward the connecting door between the lockers and the coaches offices. As he hit the door, he suddenly remembered that Coach had said something over the play calling frequency both time he had gotten so lightheaded. What was it? It was... was... “Mesmer play, QB.”
Suddenly, the dizziness was back, and Corey slowed his pace, as his mind tried to process all the suggestions that that one trigger unleashed. He suddenly remembered all the words that Coach had said, the instructions to blow the pass, to wait till everyone had left and then to come to his office. To not consciously remember any of it. But why? Corey blearily though as his pace sowed even further to a walk. And then, in his minds eye, a red and yellow spiral bloomed in his mind, and he could remember it all. He'd been lost in that spiral when first he'd seen it, and Coach had rescued his mind from drowning. Which meant that his mind was the Coach's to do with as he pleased. He could not disobey the Mesmer play. It meant he must obey his Coach, his master. He had no free will unless the master released him back to his life, and then only until the Mesmer play began again. This would make him the best player he could be, which would please his master.
Fully in trance, Corey walked into Coach Minot's office, a black, abstracted look on his face. “Reporting as ordered, master.”
Minot looked up from his papers and jolted, realizing his puppet Quarterback had shown up pretty much naked. “Well, I think I'll have to start being a little more specific with instructions with you. Good thing no one saw you.“ He smiled wickedly for a moment and stood up, drawing the blinds behind him as he did. “Still, it does save a little time. We'll do your mandatory refresher course and then... heh... work on that stamina...”
END