Zeke was meeting up with his friends for his birthday, they all love hanging out and having fun together.  Zeke was a great friend, gave off ‘Golden Retriever energy’ and even if sometimes his friends teased him, he was loved.  He has short brown hair and a beard, which had a little red in it that not even he knows where it came from.  He wears mainly video game graphic tees and shorts, he likes being comfy.

“An escape room?? Seriously?? That’s what you want to do for your birthday?” Exclaimed Brian

Brian was one of Zeke’s oldest friends, they met in middle school and have hung out since.  He also has short brown hair, but darker than Zeke’s.  He typically wears plain tees and jeans, similarly comfy like Zeke.

“Hey escape rooms are fun, we like puzzles” Zeke responded

“Yeah but you said something about it having hypnosis, W-T-F is up with that?”

“It’s uhh… probably just some gimmick, like they do some yoga meditation or something” He shifts his eyes around a bit

“Oh you looked it up a bit you know EXACTLY what it entails, I better not be trying to solve puzzles while clucking.”

“Well clucking may be an improvement over your usual attitude” chuckled a somewhat feminine voice from behind.

“Ah, Tara, surprised didn’t hear your lebiancycle pull up” Brian retorts

“I am not a lesb-“ Tara pinches her nose “Uhg anyways, heard you said ‘escape room’ and ‘hypnosis’ only one of those sounds somewhat normal.”

Tara yet another friend of Zeke’s but they met through Brian, with those two having an almost sibling-like bond and banter.  She has a tomboyish streak and only *slightly* is irked by lesbian comments, but she did sometimes border on dressing like it, with some flannel and ripped jeans.

“Hey maybe the room will put you all the way” jokes Brian

Tara slugs him in the arm

“Also your hair streak is fading”

“Yeah I’ll get it touched up soon, but let’s do… whatever it is we’re doing here”

“Maybe we should just wait for everyone else before Zeke explains it like seven hundred times”

“Thanks, I don’t wanna do that” sighs Zeke

The trio stands around a bit waiting for more of their friends to show up.  Soon a car pulls up and out pops two more of Zeke’s friends, Brad and John.  Brad could be somewhat meek at times but still always a loyal friend.  And John was a sometimes wise, sometimes just ‘blend into background’ type of person.  Brad wearing his usual striped shirt that is just a little too big, and John wearing an overcoat like some side regeneration of The Doctor.

“Hey guys are we late or ear-“ Brad tries to say

“We’re probably right on time,” John says “Oh, sorry Brad.”

They both ask why they’re there, Zeke rolling his eyes “Guys just wait oh my god for fucks sake” he somewhat chuckles

“We’re still waiting for a few more people, why aren’t we going inside yet?” Brian asks Zeke

“Oh it’s still a nice day plus it feels like it’d be easier to go in a group instead of standing around in the lobby as we trickle in, yeah know it’d be a mess”

“Oh yeah, the group is going to grow a bit more as more people-“

“OH MY GAWD GUYS HEYYYYYY” a very bubbly feminine voice calls out

“And there’s Jenny” Brian says turning to the voice

“OMGSOGLADTOSEEYOUGUYSTARAYOUREREALLYWEARINGTHAT?” Jenny bombards with

“Yup… this is what I am wearing Jenny” Tara retorts colder than she meant

“OH –ahem- Oh wait sorry Tara didn’t mean it like that I just meant… sorry” Jenny looks down at her feet a bit “Was just excited to you all after a few weeks”

“I’m just messing with you; it’s nice to see you too” Tara says trying to cover her verbal goof “I am shocked you’re here before- wait is that Kat?”

Zeke chokes on a water he was drinking “Kat?! Jenny why did Kat get out of your car?”

Kat was Zeke’s ex, amicable exes, but still shocking to see them.  Kat was an enby, a nonbinary individual, they were cute and they tried their best to be as androgynous as possible, dressed like it too, mainly loving hoodies and neutral colors.

Jenny speaks, “Well you said to bring your friends and…they were your… enbyfriend at one point.  You said you two were good, and thought it’d be fun, the more the merrier!”

Kat reaches the group “I was just amusing Jenny, I was out anyways on a walk and she saw me, and she insisted… I can catch an Uber back if you don’t want me here.”

Zeke looks at them “Naw its fine… it’s… nice to see you’re doing well at least…plus it’s been awhile, we’re adults.  But you’re even more in the dark about what is happening than the others I bet.”

“Yeah, obviously.”

“It’ll all be explained eventually… where are, ah they’re pulling up!”

A car parks and out steps the next set of friends, the couple of Nik and Sarah.  Nik was a dirty blond, pretty average looks while Sarah was a slightly less dirty dirty blonde who had above average looks.  Oddly Sarah could also pass as Tara’s sister if they tried.  Sarah was actually more Zeke’s friend, Nik was tagging along, but not unwelcome.

“Ah there’s my favorite couple currently,” Zeke smiles

“Surprised it’s not you and your hand,” Sarah fires back, catching some of the others off guard

“Holy, right for the jugular”

“She had that in the chamber”

“Was that even necessary? Damn.”

Zeke shakes it off and says, “alright finally, just two more… usually they’re at places before even I am, and I’m always showing up way too early” he chuckles

“Yeah,” Kat says “you showed up at my house an hour early that one time when we were just planning on staying in”

“An hour? Wow that is-“ Brad attempts to get out before Zeke’s phone rings

“Hello? Oh hey Sam, we’re just waiting for…really? Ah of course you two are already inside waiting for us… is the lobby small? Ah I knew it, alright can y’all come outside for a sec? Just to get the rundown instead of filling the place, thanks”

Out the door steps the last two friends, Sam and Blue, Sam liked her band tees (her friends sometimes thinking she’s trying too hard to look ‘tough’ because she was the shortest of the group) and Blue enjoyed wearing button ups despite his friends saying he always looked bit dorky in them, the two were close roommates.

“Alright why are we even outside?” Sam says as she gets to the group

“And why are we actually here so early ahead of your birthday? It’s still couple weeks away” asked Blue

“Oh when I was doing bit of research they did say for parties like ours to come before for…the like hypnosis to have time to take hold or something” Zeke replies

“Plus we’ve at least seen some clips of those stage shows, their suggestions wear off soon after so I guess having lot of prep time makes it stick”

“Makes sense I guess” says John

Brian loudly mumbles “What do you mean ‘we’?” he snickers “Anyways, continue.”

“Thanks for that…” Zeke continues “Alright so… should we go in?”

“Hang on, we should do our own research or whatever” Sarah says

Some of them check their phones to look up the place

“They have a One Star review out of tons of Five Stars… isn’t that like, suspicious?” Jenny asked

“Oh come on… one out of hundreds? What do you think everyone else was hypnotized to give good reviews?” Zeke asked

“Yes! Exactly!,” remarked Jenny “Let me read the review ‘One Star, they didn’t let me turn my roommate gay for me and they kept my $20 I slipped the operator!’ oh… nevermind… that… is…ick” she shuddered “I hope this ‘RadioactiveSausage’ guy is not still around here…god what a creep.” nods of agreement from everyone, mainly the other ladies

“Operator? What?” Brad asks, but was ignored

“So the only negative review is some asshat that… I don’t even wanna think what he had planned, fine any positive one’s that stand out?” Zeke asks

Jenny scrolls for a bit before “Oh! ‘Five Stars, this saved my relationship and it was really fun to rediscover why I fell in love with my girlfriend, from Jinzo’ See that one’s super cute and like, kinda normal”

“And another! ‘Half the fun was the puzzles the other half was the tricks they played on my mind, the actors were bit more into character than I thought possible, was immersive.  Just wish it was bit less physical activity and more mental.  Four Stars, from Atom Runner’ Okay so we could be getting physical, fun!”

“Isn’t Jinzo from Yugioh?” Brad tries to bring up, slightly missing the point

“Why aren’t they real names though?” Blue asks

“Yeah that’s little odd” Sam adds

“Hey it’s a hypnotic escape room, could be a bit more niche than people wanna share” Zeke replies

“Fair enough”

Zeke just turns to the group “We should just head in, I don’t wanna spend all day out in the parking lot”

“Wait first; what even is an escape room?” Kat asks

“Oh, well you essentially get locked in a room and have to solve puzzles to get out.”

“Wow that seems kind of boring?”

“You’re typically timed so you can’t lollygag”

“Ah that makes it more interesting…anyways yeah lets go in”

They walk into the building and it looks fairly standard for some kind of entertainment establishment (not like that).  There is a main desk, a waiting area with some benches, an area with tables for signing things, along with some pens.  Behind the main desk is surprisingly a manager of the place.  The manager had fiery red hair and an aura of maturity beyond her actual age.  She was around group’s age range.  On her nametag it read ‘Tammie’.

“Hey we saw a One Star-“

“He is banned and we have a restraining order on him” Tammie coldly said

“Oh damn you knew exactly who-“

“He’s the only One Star, there are Two Stars but none were as serious of an actual crime as he was”

“So why is the review still up?”

“It’s a conversation starter, plus it shows we take the consent of our customers seriously.”

“Consent?” They turn to Zeke “You said this wasn’t a sex thing!”

Tammie interjects “It’s not, for most people anyways, but consent is still needed.”

“Is it for y-“ Brad gets ignored

“Consent is important,” Tammie said “so everyone being comfortable and safe is more important than some quota or whatever.”

“Yeah,” a man says appearing from around a corner, “We want repeat customers willingly, but also we’re just here to entertain, not for escapism… per se.  Oh sorry let me introduce myself, I’m Luke, another of the main managers here.”

Tammie pipes in, “Luke has reigned us in from time to time, more than once he’s had to kick someone out who was coming here suspiciously too much, turns out they were shirking school just to be entranced here… and despite that being fun…he was wasting his life here and that isn’t a way to run a business, especially one that is for fun.”

“Also, no we don’t hypnotize people to leave good reviews, as I said, we want customers willingly” Luke says, both managers seeming to know exactly the questions about to be asked

“How’d you know we were about to ask about that?” Brian asks

“One, we’ve done this long enough and two, I saw you lot standing outside on your phones, could tell,” Tammie says

“Anyways, you all can fill in the waivers and consent forms all at same time”

“W-waivers? Why do we need those?” Asks Brad

“Just standard stuff like us not being liable if you have an adverse reaction, stuff like that, covering our butts mostly.” Replies Tammie

“That makes sense I guess,” Says John “I’d want to avoid as much legal trouble as I could with a place like this.”

Before they all walk away Tammie speaks again “Oh! Someone said it was for a birthday? Who is the birthday bo- being” she chuckles

“Well I am” Zeke responds

“Did you want the ha- actually looking at you you’re all friends and there are many of you I will just assume instead the… multi-room experience, for the most bang for your buck”

Brad whispers “Was she about to say har-“

“Don’t.” Tara whispers as they jab him

“I apologize, I will admit we do have some more… adult activities, nothing that makes black lights sad at least” Tammie chuckles “But that is if you pay extra, and with a *small* enough group… we are not a brothel I can assure you that.”

“Anyways I should hand you off to who will actually be handling the details of your party, I need to get back to work” Tammie says as another woman walks out from a side room “Blaire here will answer any questions you may have”

Blaire looked like a very kind and approachable woman.  She had some features that were rough around the edges but she was working them with a feminine flair.

“She looks kinda huggable like a care bear” Zeke thought

“Alright first, yes I am trans, second if you have a problem with that, get out, and third, I hope you have a great time and I hope I can help you all” that last part was said very sweetly like she reeled herself in

“Why would we have an iss-“ Brad begins to ask

“Oh sorry, I accidentally dropped my sandwich in old soup in the break room” Blair apologizes

She continues “Let’s get back on track, do any of you have experience with being hypnotized?”

“Wait so we’ll actually be hypnotized?” Kat inquires “Just don’t make me into a-“

“Already made the chicken joke earlier” Brian says

“No a CAT that’d be a bit too on the nose”

Blaire chimes in “We’ll nail all those type of details down AFTER all the prerequisite forms are filled”

“Why do you need our sizes?” Sarah asks

“Yeah, what’s with that?” the other ladies, and some of the guys, add

“Oh,” replies Blaire “that’s for our records, if you are in let’s say an astronaut themed room we’d want to immerse you with the correct sizes of clothes”

“Wait I thought the actors wore the costumes” Zeke questions

“Well... actors are mostly for smaller groups who may not have the manpower to get through a room, so they’re tossed in for immersion and maybe some clues”

John pipes up, “Makes sense to me”

“So for immersion we have costumes but what about the clues? How do we get those?” Zeke inquires

“Well like a normal escape room you may just be given a clue if you need it, or you unlock the clue somehow” Blaire answers

“By unlock, like a note in a locked drawer or something?”

“Or something,” Blaire says bit coyly “Any other questions?”

“How long do we have once we’re in there?”

“Oh you actually have as long as you need”

“Wait what? Why?”

“The triggers and suggestions may trip you up more than you think, so timing someone when someone else could interpret it different would throw off the times, so you are just free to take your time.”

Kat chimes in “So it’d be boring since there is no lose condition”

Blaire smirks “No one has complained yet”

“Solikewhatishypnosisanywaysandwhydowehavetodoitandwhendowestart” Jenny inundates Blaire with her questions

“Sorry for Jenny she gets excited sometimes” Brian says

“It’s no problem I will answer your questions” Blaire replies “First hypnosis is just… a state of mind…mostly…second, why? For the immersion in the rooms, and for extra fun over other escape rooms, and when do you start? First fill out the forms and we make sure everything is in order, and then we bring you all in a room to get started.”

Zeke pipes up “All of us at once? As a group?”

“As a group yes, easier to keep the parties together if they’re all under together.”

Blaire calls Tammie over “Tammie can you tell them why we put them under as a group?” she giggles a bit

Tammie blushes a little “When we first opened we DID have each person separate best we could but then we did a bit of an oopsie with some bridal parties and one bridesmaid from one got accidentally looped into another party and it was a mess because by then the amnesia made her not even realize she knew no one and…”

“Amnesia?!” Brad nervously asks

“Oh yes, a bit of amnesia sometimes, make you not even realize your own suggestions and sometimes for teambuilding, you bond a lot when you think it’s strangers locked together, you do get your memory back afterwards…anyways yes so one bridesmaid went through a whole experience and because of it the other party was down a bridesmaid because she was now kind of the new maid of honor for a bride she didn’t originally know because they gelled so well… so moral of the story, we put groups together.”

Tammie walks away like that was mostly normal workplace goof story

“Well that’s slightly terrifying,” Blue says “wouldn’t want to forget you guys, but if I got along with someone else maybe I could make it work” he laughs at his own joke before getting some daggers from Sam

“Hey so the form has some weird ‘dos and don’ts’ on it, what does it mean ‘sensory issues’ and ‘phobia play’?” Sam asks

“Oh ‘sensory issues’ is you have things such as ‘the tism’ where you don’t want certain touches or textures and ‘phobia play’ is wanting or not wanting to have a phobia you may or may not have be played with, such as arachnophobia or acrophobia or agoraphobia” answers Blaire

Various members of the group make notes to not have certain things

“Wait so you sometimes PUT a phobia in? Why?!”

“If a room has a faux cliff, it adds a challenge if one member can’t cross easily without their team’s help”

Questions get asked and answered, fears are quelled (mostly) and the group is somewhat relaxing and starting to warm up to the idea.

The whole time Blaire seems to be studying the group.

“Hey why are you eying us up?” questions Nik

“Oh just making some mental notes to fill in any…gaps any of you may not put on the forms but are still needed”

“Well we better not wind up on the payroll”

“Oh no no no, if you worked here it’d be fully your choice with your mind fully uninhibited, I can assure you that…I assume Tammie told you about the whole liability thing.  It’d be very shady if our staff was made of previous customers, it’d be pretty obvious to outside observers yada yada yada.”

“Now that the forms are filled out and you are all happy, shall we go to the next room and get things more prepared?”  Blaire says, reminding some of them why they are there

The group gets up and heads into the next room, it looks somewhat like a salon with many recliners but with hair dryers attached, with more than enough chairs for everyone

Blaire checks through the forms quickly “Okay good, no one has claustrophobia, makes it much easier, please have a seat everyone”

The group sits

“So, what happens now? We gonna wake up in a room and start solving?” Zeke ponders

“Zeke you’re the one who did research, you said they have to have it stick or whatever” Brian reminds him

“Correct” Blaire says “You will be conditioned and it will take time, this time will be much of the basic things but over the next few weeks when you come back for more sessions we’ll have the more custom programming ready”

“Weeks?!” Cries Brad “Didn’t think we signed up for that, what if we have lives and plans during those weeks?”

“Oh we’ll coordinate it all, you’ll barely notice an interruption in your routines, and most of you will hopefully be able to come in on your own, you may not even realize it at some points.  Now pull down the…’dryer’ and we’ll get started” She watches them all gently pull the dome down and then walks over to a panel

Zeke pulls his down and as he notices Blaire hitting a button, his vison gets swallowed by a spiral and things go blank.

Couple Weeks Later

Zeke pulls up to the building, and notices all his friends are also pulling up at same time.

“Wow we’re all right on time? No one was early? Freaky.”

Brian speaks, “Wait yeah usually at least one of us would naturally just get here before everyone else…”

“I say let’s not worry about that and head in” John says

“Hey Tara you didn’t retouch your streak?” Zeke asks

“Oh, yeah, just didn’t get around to it, and you shaved?” Tara responds

“Oh…just felt like it”

As they head in Zeke notices everyone is dressed lot more casual and looser than usual, he chalks it up to they all knowing the game could be bit physical so didn’t put on restrictive clothing this morning.

“Ah welcome, you all are punctual, perfect” Blaire greets them “Who’s ready to get started?”

As the group puts their phones and other stuff away and step into the “salon” something flashes on the ceiling and-