The darkness of the room was chased away by a bright image that seemed to float in front of my eyes, a window into another world opening up to peek inside. It was Katie, standing alone against a white background, her face expressionless. She wore only a plain white bra-and-panties set, her arms hanging limply at her sides. Her blond hair fell over her shoulders in those long curls, brown eyes staring blankly at me.
“See?” Laura whispered, and I nodded.
Katie nodded in front of me.
“This is you, Katie. So young and pretty. So sexy and fun.”
I nodded again and Katie did, too. I tried to raise my arm, and managed to lift it an inch or two above the armrest. On the floating screen, Katie’s arm raised a little, too.
“You control Katie because you are Katie,” Laura said in the soft monotone, a voice of encouragement and warmth. “Katie is you. You are Katie.”
I wiggled my fingers, slowly and with effort, as if I were submerged in a thick pool. Katie did the same on the screen before me.
“See? Every move Katie makes is the move you make. Katie is you. You are Katie.”
My body slumped with the effort of these minute gestures, exhausted. I could only watch and listen as Laura whispered to me, telling me I was Katie and Katie was me.
“Look, Katie,” she droned on, “see how pretty you are. You know you are pretty. Boys love you because of how pretty you are. See how you dress, Katie.”
The image shifted, and now Katie stood against the field of white, no longer in only her underwear. She was wearing very tight white shorts, her tan legs exposed, white ankle socks and tennis shoes covering her feet, a pale blue tee covering her torso, stretched out by her healthy breasts. Her face was made up, I could tell she was wearing blue eyeshadow, lightly applied, and her lips were a glossy red, almost glistening.
“Katie dresses casual most days, but she likes to look sexy, too.”
The image shifted again, Katie now in a slinky black dress and tall black heels. The plunging neck of the dress showed her generous cleavage. The black stockings she wore were artfully torn to suggest a hint of rebellion, and lacy black fingerless gloves wrapped around her hands.
“Sexy and rebellious, just like Katie. Just like you, Katie. Fun and flirty, sexy and sarcastic. That’s you, Katie. Too young to know better sometimes,” Laura continued, “and always up for fun. That’s you, Katie. See how your long legs look so nice in heels, Katie? You love to see people looking at you when you go out dancing, Katie. You love to dance, Katie. It will be so nice to be done with your treatment so you can go out again, maybe even meet some cute boys. Won’t it, Katie?”
Katie liked to have fun, sure, and seeing a few boys staring, well, that could be fun, too. Maybe even make out with some lucky guy after a few drinks, but I hated when they assumed that meant I was going to just give it up to them.
“You love having your own place where no one can tell you what to do, Katie. You just need to find a job, Katie. You have to support yourself, and that can be hard in this world, Katie. You are an independent young woman, Katie, and no one looks after you better than you do. Isn’t that right, Katie?”
I nodded. Katie nodded in her ripped stockings and hip-hugging black dress.
“Good girl, Katie. I bet you hate when people call you a girl. You’re a woman, now, but still so young. Not even twenty, yet. Soon, though. Your body developed so young, it made you look and feel older, but you’re not even out of your teens, yet, Katie. So hard to be taken seriously as a young woman, especially as such a sexy young woman, and sometimes you do stupid things, like all young women do, but that’s okay, Katie, because you have so much time ahead of you. Time to be young and free and have fun, isn’t that right, Katie?”
I nodded. Katie nodded.
“So good to feel nice and relaxed with me, now. Your treatments start soon and then you can go home, as long as you don’t fight it, Katie. You won’t fight it, will you Katie?”
Katie shook her head. I could feel my breath slow and deep, the pum-pum-pum of my heartbeat in my ears, slow and steady. It was getting harder to keep my eyes open, but I couldn’t look away.
“You will behave while you are here, because we are here to help you. You’ve had so much struggle, and now we’re going to make everything easier. Just trust us, Katie, and you’ll be happy and home soon.”
She was still talking as I fell down into oblivion, chased by the image of Katie holding me tight. It was as though I could feel her skin melt into mine, and no matter how I struggled, I couldn’t pull myself free of her. She sank into my skin, filling me up, and I could feel her thoughts alongside my own, her worries and fears and hopes and dreams running parallel to mine until they met, like branches of a stream meeting and flowing together.
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