RPDan
Super-Earth
- Joined
- Jul 27, 2016
- Location
- Eastern USA
It was a cocktail party like most others, except for one woman who caught Dan Lawson's eye -- an exotic-looking brunette with an alluring mix of innocence and sex appeal. There was something in her eyes, Dan thought, that was special. He decided it was a kind of conflict, maybe a conflict between inhibition and a desire to be free of something. He couldn't tell.
He wandered over to her and smiled when he overheard her talking about a presentation she had to give at work in the next few days. She was terrified, he heard her say, just scared to death to talk in front of people. And the CEO of her company would be at the table. She sounded almost frantic.
"I can help you with that," he said, butting in to their conversation. "I'm Dan Lawson, I'm a psychologist and I've helped lots of clients with just the problem you have. I use hypnosis, and I've used it dozens and dozens of times to help people relax in stressful situations." He smiled at the woman and her friend. "Social anxiety is a very common affliction, and it can be very specific. For instance, you seem perfectly comfortable here, but you say you're in a panic when you need to present at work. Very common."
He took a sip of his drink.
"Lots of practitioners treat this with medicine, but I'm opposed to that. Anti-anxiety meds have lots of side effects, and I think they cause more problems than they solve. But hypnosis has no side effects, and it just brings out the inner person you really want to be. If you want to feel comfortable in social situations, I think I can help you achieve that."
Dan gave her his most winning smile. He was handsome enough, he thought, and at a fit six feet people seemed to warm to him. Both women smiled back.
"Why don't you come to my office tomorrow afternoon?" he asked. "We can chat a bit and get you started. We'll have you ready well before your presentation!"
Dan gave the woman a business card and took another look into her eyes. What he saw gave him a thought he'd never had, a terrible thought that went against his vows as a professional. Later that night it would trouble him and then consume him, but by the morning he would feel himself powerless to stop the plan that had begun to hatch in his mind.
He wandered over to her and smiled when he overheard her talking about a presentation she had to give at work in the next few days. She was terrified, he heard her say, just scared to death to talk in front of people. And the CEO of her company would be at the table. She sounded almost frantic.
"I can help you with that," he said, butting in to their conversation. "I'm Dan Lawson, I'm a psychologist and I've helped lots of clients with just the problem you have. I use hypnosis, and I've used it dozens and dozens of times to help people relax in stressful situations." He smiled at the woman and her friend. "Social anxiety is a very common affliction, and it can be very specific. For instance, you seem perfectly comfortable here, but you say you're in a panic when you need to present at work. Very common."
He took a sip of his drink.
"Lots of practitioners treat this with medicine, but I'm opposed to that. Anti-anxiety meds have lots of side effects, and I think they cause more problems than they solve. But hypnosis has no side effects, and it just brings out the inner person you really want to be. If you want to feel comfortable in social situations, I think I can help you achieve that."
Dan gave her his most winning smile. He was handsome enough, he thought, and at a fit six feet people seemed to warm to him. Both women smiled back.
"Why don't you come to my office tomorrow afternoon?" he asked. "We can chat a bit and get you started. We'll have you ready well before your presentation!"
Dan gave the woman a business card and took another look into her eyes. What he saw gave him a thought he'd never had, a terrible thought that went against his vows as a professional. Later that night it would trouble him and then consume him, but by the morning he would feel himself powerless to stop the plan that had begun to hatch in his mind.