The Interview 5

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The Tattoo Parlour

Eddie couldn’t believe how well this hypnosis stuff worked. As he continued working on his customer, or should I say patient, he wondered how this guy had ended up like this. This guy was way younger than he appeared. It looked like someone was trying to make him appear older. But why did this guy Louie want him to have the pierced ears? It didn’t go with the whole look. And what was with the wig and fake moustache? There was no way they were coming off; he’d already tried. The kid seemed to have the looks and the body. Was this Louie trying to get back at this Eddie for some wrong doings?

Eddie Faulkner, the tattooist was 42, overweight and alone. He’d done the bar scene till he was bored silly and had always held out for someone to share his life with. He was kind of old fashioned like that. His preference was younger guys but none he met were interested in setting up house with him. The world today was too focused on youth and looks; two things he no longer processed.
Now looking at Edward he wondered wether he could influence this hunk to join him in his new business. It was worth a try; besides - what did he have to loose? Just loneliness he guessed.
As Eddie worked away on Edwards earlobes he noticed the growing erection in the kid’s crotch.
“Yeah Edward! You’re getting off on this piercing. You are going to keep loving it and wanting more.
Louie wants you to have more metal. He wants you to look just like your new friend, Eddie Faulkner. He wants you to trust Eddie, just like you trust Louie.” Then Eddie stopped for a moment before going on.

Edward! This is Eddie Faulkner. You hear my voice don’t you?”
“Yes Eddie.” Edward murmured.
“Louie wants you to listen to me. He wants you to trust me. Will you do as I say?”
“Yes Eddie.” Edward repeated.


Louie found no sign of Eddie. He decided to try his apartment. He let himself in with his key and decided the best thing would be to wait for him. He was just starting to drift off in a large armchair, when he heard a key in the door. As Eddie entered the room, Louie’s mouth dropped. The kid was puffing away on a pipe with large, gold rings dangling from each ear. It certainly changed his whole look, especially with the toupee’s colour bleached lighter by the day’s strong sun - and of course the hair-lightening gel he’d previously put through the toupee.
Eddie smiled as he saw Louie, not the least worried by his appearance in his apartment. “Hey Louie!
What a great surprise,” he said as he took the pipe from his mouth.
“Where the hell have you been?” Louie said gruffly getting up get a closer look at Eddie.
“What do you think?” Eddie asked moving his head from side to side.
Louie couldn’t believe the size of the ear rings. For starters they were big. Bigger than Louie’s. They must have hurt. Then he noticed the familiar outline on Eddie’s shirt. Shit the kid had large nipple rings too.
“I did just as you said. I got these great hoops done and I liked them so much I decided for a matching pair.” And with that, Eddie pulled off his shirt. Sure enough there were two heavy gauge gold rings stretching his nipples away from his chest..
Louie couldn’t believe Eddie had asked for these huge rings. Someone influenced him. They had to have. Could someone have found out about Eddie’s ability to be hypnotised?
Suddenly, Louie was disturbed by his mobile ringing. “Hello?”
“Where have you been?” came the voice of his brother Daniel.
“What’s so urgent?” Louie said, annoyed by his brothers interruption.
“Pops had a severe stroke. His been rushed to Mercy Hospital.”

Planting his foot to the floor he sped away from Eddie’s apartment. Louie had been close to his father and at the moment his worries over who did this to Eddie had seen would have to wait.

Kevin found a place to park his car a half block from his friend Eddie’s apartment. He hadn’t had any of his messages returned so he decided to see if everything was alright. He was getting worried about his friend and was starting to wonder if sending him to Louie had been the right decision, judging by the changes in Eddie’s appearance.
He was surprised to see Louie’s car speed past him just as he was locking the car door. Why was he here?
Knocking at his friend’s door he was confronted with a stranger. Sure he looked like Eddie, but the pipe and earrings, the obvious badly matched toupee; how could this be the friend he’d grown up with?
“Shit! Eddie? What the hell happened to you?” Kevin started to splutter in absolute disbelief.
“Kev I’d prefer it if you called me Edward from now on.” Eddie said calmly, still puffing on the briar held firmly in his mouth.
“Whatever man! Who did this to you? And what’s with the pipe?” Kevin said trying to avoid the smoke that filled the air around him.
“I should have tried this years ago. Eddie said it suited me.”
Confused at the Eddie reference, Kev started to move inside the apartment to find out what had happened since he’d last seen ’Edward’.
“Why was Louie just here? Has he something to do with these changes?” Kev asked staring at the exposed chest displaying the newly installed jewellery. He couldn’t help noticing Eddie’s stomach.
He had put on flab where a perfect six-pack had been up until now.

Kevin left the new “Eddie” still none the wiser as to what had happened to his friend. Eddie was different! Kevin knew Louie had to be behind it. But why? He decided to confront him at the Barbershop. When he found the shop in darkness he decided to try Louie’s cell phone.

FRIDAY - the interview

Eddie wasn’t off to a good start with his interview. He arrived 30 minutes late and arrived at the reception desk puffing on his pipe.
“I’m sorry sir,” the young blonde receptionist said sarcastically. “You can’t smoke here.”
“Oh! Sorry about that!” Eddie answered as he took the pipe from his lips.
Despite his new found confidence he wondered if this job was really for him.
“Mr Allison will see you now.” the receptionist said.
“Well! Wish me luck.” Eddie said as he went towards the bosses door.
He was sure he heard her say “you’ll need it!”

LATER
Kevin hadn’t been able to speak to Louie. He wasn’t answering his phone and he hadn’t been at home. He decided to try the Barbershop first thing Friday morning and was relieved to find it opened.
He was glad to find the shop empty. “What gives with you and Eddie? What have you done to him?“ Kevin let go with his tirade.
Louie was unusually quiet, and seemed to be off in a far away place. He’d been up with his father all night. Unfortunately his father had died earlier that morning. He wasn’t even sure why he’d opened the shop, he wasn’t in the mood for small talk with customers. Earlier, when he’d returned home from the hospital, he’d been unable to sleep, so he came to open the shop, completely forgetting about Eddie.
“Damm it Louie! Answer me!“ Kevin screamed.
“Look Kev! Now is not a good time.” Louie finally answered.
“How in the hell is Eddie going to get that job the way he’s looking?” Kevin demanded.
“Look! I didn’t mean for it to get like this, I’m not sure what’s happened to Eddie but…..” Louie was interrupted by the phonic sound of Madonna‘s ‘like a virgin’ coming from Kevin’s pocket. Taking his cell out he was surprised to see it was Eddie calling. “It’s Eddie. Now are you going to tell him why he didn’t get the job or do you want me to?”
“Hi Eddie!” Kevin spoke into the phone.
“It’s Edward Kev, remember?” his friends voice said.

As he pushed the end button on his phone, Kevin looked lost for words. “He got the job! He got the fucking job!”
Louie sat down on his lone pedestal chair.
When Kevin told him Eddie had been successful, he couldn’t believe it. His plan to mess up Eddie’s life didn’t seem to be going according to plan. What had gone wrong?
His depression over the last 24 hours was building. First his father and now his newly acquired slave. It couldn’t get any worse - or could it?

He could hear Kevin’s high pitched squeal as he hit him across the mouth. He was sick of the abuse he was getting. The last straw was when Kevin said he was going to the cops. Depression met anger and Louie rose from the chair and struck him a second time, much harder. He watched the unprepared kid fall to the floor. As Kevin writhed in agony Louie picked him up and pushed him back into the barber’s chair. Without wasting any time he found some restraints he’d keep on hand for ‘special’ customers and secured Kevin to the chair. Just as Kevin started to come to, he felt something stab at his upper arm. “What the fuck?……get me out of this chair now. You are in so much trou…ble… what did you …….inject…..” slowly Kevin’s words trailed off as the sedative quickly took control.
“Sorry Kevin, but this is the only way.” Louie said then added with a sinister tone, “maybe you’ll be a better employee than Eddie for my shop. You certainly have great hair.” Louie started to run his fingers over the thick blonde hair.
Louie knew he wasn’t thinking straight but he couldn’t afford to let Kevin go blabbing whatever he knew to the authorities.

Unknown to Louie at that very moment, Eddie Faulkner was outside the shop, witnessing everything that had just happened. It was easy finding Louie’s shop after he’d grilled Edward while he was still hypnotised. What he didn’t expect was to see the events unfolding in front of him. He was careful to hide below the window of the shop where he could hear the conversation erupting in the Barbers.
As he heard the lock in the shop’s door turn along with the sound of the blinds being lowered, he knew he had to get a different vantage point. He went around to the back alley and found there was a rear entrance to the shop. Gamely he tried the handle. He smiled as the door started to open. He was looking into a small back room. He could hear the gruff voice of the Barber, and decided not to push his luck as the back door was only hidden by a curtain between the shop and the small room.
He stayed with the door just slightly ajar listening to everything Louie was saying. He couldn’t
believe the Barber had trussed up the young customer in the chair. It was obvious that they were talking about Eddie or rather, the new Edward.

Eddie the beefy tattooist couldn’t believe his luck. As he listened at the back door of the shop he realised Louie was hypnotising the kid whose name he found out was Kevin.

“You will hear my voice and feel relaxed and at ease. You will want to do everything I ask of you. You will forget about Eddie. You’re no longer friends…..you never met.” Louie was heard to say calmly and in an even voice. “When you hear the phrase, ‘have you visited Louie’s Barbershop today?’ you will be under my complete control. You will do everything I say and have no control of your own. You will want to please me…..”

‘So that’s how the guy did it’ Eddie whispered to himself as he heard what Louie was saying.
This could be the break that Eddie had been looking for.

Eddie was surprised to hear the high-pitched sound of edging clippers being switched on.
He heard Louie say something about ‘needing a haircut.’ He wished he could see what was happening and with his eagerness moved towards the part in the curtain that lead into the Barbers. Sure enough, Louie was giving the guy a haircut. The guy was only young, probably early twenties, blonde and very easy on the eye.
His hair was worn in a tight flattop, and Eddie wondered why Louie was cutting it. It seemed to suit the guy.

Slowly, Louie worked the edger’s over the sides of Kevin’s head, removing the stubble.
“Now you’re my haircut slave, now is as good a time as any for your first haircut.” Louie said as he finished removing the hair at the back moving the trimming blade further up into the fade.
“Nothing too different boy. Just something I’ve always visualised for you.” Louie said starting to forget about his father’s death.
As Eddie watched with fascination he saw Louie change clippers. As the teeth of the blades bit into the thicker hair he heard the change in sound as the resistance made the motor work harder. Louie kept moving the clippers further up the back of Kevin’s head. He took them straight up to the crown and kept going, white skin remaining in it’s wake. Eddie watched hardly believing how turned on by all this.
Louie changed back to the smaller trimmers and started to go over some of the same area he’s already cut. He knew the kid liked radical haircuts; well now was the time to give him one.
Louie went for another set of serious looking clippers and ploughed them through the hair he hadn’t touched. He was reducing the flattop length down to what appeared almost stubble. To Eddie it seemed the kid was going to end up bald. With his blonde colouring most of his head looked bald. Eddie thought how great a shaped head the guy called Kev had. No funny bumps, just smooth virgin skin.
What Eddie didn’t know was that Louie was giving Kevin a short, horseshoe flattop, one of his favourite styles. When he’d finished with the clippers, ha spread thick, white lather around the sides and back, leaving a narrow ring of hair, untouched. Taking his straight razor he started removing the lather and along with it any remaining hair. With deft movements, Louie tightened the line between the bald areas and the hair growth. As the Barber wiped the remaining hair away, he was more than happy with the results.
With the fake tan on Kevin’s face the newly shaved skin looked odd. Louie took a tube from his counter and started to apply it over the shaved areas.
Eddie saw the white skin on the kid’s head start to match the face. It must have been a deep bronzer the Barber was using.
When Louie finished , he stood back to admire his work. Kevin’s horseshoe of hair was barely an inch in width. It ran around from the front to the back where a six inch landing strip interrupted it’s path.
Everywhere else was shaved clean.
“Now to bring you back round Kev.”

To be continued

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