"Stop her," Ruth said urgently, launching herself at Charlotte. Adam wasn't far behind her. It was hard, because they were fighting a battle within themselves as well as trying to restrain the struggling Charlotte. Tom had taken off his trademark super-extra-long megascarf and threw it around Charlotte, gagging her and trying to stop her struggling. But it wasn't working very well. Ruth wasn't very strong, and Adam was not the sort who generally got involved in fights. Charlotte had managed to get her mouth free and had opened it to shout when Patrick, who was still struggling to wrest control of himself from the suffocating influence, knocked into the struggling group and caught Charlotte off balance, knocking her backwards so that her head hit the wall hard. She slid down the wall to the floor, where she crumpled into a heap.
"Oh, I'm so sorry," Patrick said, crouching down next to her. "I didn't mean to hurt her."
"Is she ok?" asked Adam. Ruth shut the door, then knelt down next to Patrick, and felt for Charlotte's pulse.
"She's ok," she said. "Just stunned." She looked up. "I know it seems wrong, but we should tie her up. We don't want her screaming when she wakes up and letting everyone know what's happened."
Tom handed Ruth his scarf, and she began tying up Charlotte, firmly but not uncomfortably. Patrick still looked dazed at what he'd done. "Find some material and soak it in cold water," she said quietly to him, nodding at the sink which graced the dressing room wall. "We'll put it on her head to help the bruising."
"Won't they miss her?" Adam asked.
"Not til boredom's over," Tom said. He looked at his watch. "I think we've got about half an hour to get away."
"We can't just leave her like this," Patrick said.
"They'll find her when they come looking for us," Adam said.
"But she's hypnotised into obeying Will- they all are. We can't just leave them."
"We don't know how to break them out of it," said Tom. "I thought it was those lights, but there might have been more to it than that, it might have been anything. If we get it wrong it could be dangerous for them."
"We don't even know if we can get away," Ruth said. "Somehow I don't think we'll find the doors open, even if we can get down there."
"You mean we're trapped?" asked Adam.
"Yes. And once they find out we're not fully conditioned they'll...well, they'll try again, I suppose, and if that doesn't work..."
"We can't just sit here, we've got to do something! Tom was getting agitated.
"Just let's try to stay calm," Ruth said, standing up.
"Shh!" said Adam, suddenly. There was silence while they all looked at one another in fear. Tom opened the door a crack and looked out. "There's no one there," he reported.
"Sorry, I thought I heard something," said Adam.
There was a moment of silence again. This time the looks were of hopelessness. Then Patrick spoke.
"When they shone that light in our eyes- there was a kind of pattern in the flashes. Maybe if we can reverse the pattern, it'll reverse the conditioning?"
"Reverse the pattern...you mean flash another light in our eyes?" Tom asked. Patrick nodded.
"I've got a torch," Ruth said, reaching into her bag which, with her costume, was at the other side of the room. "You never know when you might need it during the get-out...here you are."
"But if we don't get the pattern right it might be dangerous," said Tom.
"Try it on me," said Patrick. Tom took the torch.
"Does anyone remember the pattern of the flashes?" he said. Ruth closed her eyes and tried to remember. "Umm, a few short ones, a bit of a gap, a long one, a short one, another gap, and two long ones," she said. "Something like that, at least."
"I think there were 4 short ones to start with," Tom said. He started flashing the torch. "It's hard to remember that in reverse."
"Write it down," Adam suggested. Ruth pulled a pen and paper out of her bag and scribbled.
"Nothing's happening," said Tom.
"Do you feel anything?" Ruth asked Patrick. He shook his head.
"Try just 3 short ones, rather than 4," said Ruth. Tom continued flashing the torch.
"Still nothing," Patrick said.
"Wasn't there another short one before the two long ones?" Adam said. Tom tried.
Suddenly Patrick staggered backwards. Ruth reached out and steadied him. He pushed his glasses up onto his forehead and rubbed his eyes with his hands. "Are you ok?" she asked. He looked up at her.
"It was like...like breaking up through water," he said. "It's gone! It worked!" He hugged her.
"What was the pattern?" Adam asked.
"Two long, one short, gap, short, long, gap, three short," Tom said. Patrick took the torch from him and quickly flashed the pattern into Tom's eyes. As Patrick had done, Tom staggered back as he awoke. Then they freed Ruth and Adam. Ruth thought Patrick's description was a good one, it did feel like suddenly coming up from under water, or walking out of a dark room into bright sunlight. Suddenly she had control of herself without effort, the battle in her mind was over, her headache disappeared. She smiled at the others. "Now what?" Tom asked.
Before anyone could speak there was a groan from the muffled heap that was Charlotte, tied up in Tom's scarf. Ruth knelt down again. "She's coming round," she said. Charlotte's eyes opened, and she looked up blearily, her eyes still slightly out of focus. Ruth had lain her on her side, and as she struggled to sit up she felt the scarf round her, restricting her movements. Her expression changed to one of puzzlement, then to something else. "Give me the bin," Ruth said suddenly, and Patrick passed it to her just in time, as Charlotte was sick. Ruth held the bin out and supported her as she retched into it. "It often happens with people who've been knocked unconscious," Ruth said.
Charlotte blinked up at them. "What- oh." She remembered what had happened as the conditioning began to reassert itself.
"Quick, the torch," Tom said. He leant over Charlotte with the torch. She shut her eyes and turned away.
"Just look at the torch," said Ruth gently. "It won't hurt." Charlotte's eyes opened slightly and Tom quickly flashed the code.
The change this time was more spectacular. Charlotte's body convulsed, as if flash of pain had passed through her, then she was still.
"What...what just happened?" she asked slowly.
"You were under a kind of hypnosis," Ruth said, beginning to unwind the scarf binding Charlotte. "We broke it. Someone was using you, controlling what you did for their own ends."
"I remember- someone hit me, knocked me against the wall and I was stunned..."
"It was me," said Patrick. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you, I just wanted to stop you from telling Will we weren't under his control-"
"I remember," said Charlotte. "It was Will, he got me and Emily in a room and started fiddling with the light switch, and then...it's funny, I remember everything, but it's like I was kind of doing things without being able to see, without quite knowing why I was doing things- it was like being drunk."
"That's it, that's exactly what it felt like," said Tom.
"That'll be why no one noticed," said Ruth sardonically. "How would they tell the difference from normal?"
"We're not that bad," Patrick said. Ruth raised her eyebrows.
"Hmm," she replied.
"Anyway, what are we going to do now?" Tom asked quickly.
"We should free the others," Adam said.
"But what about Will?" Tom asked. "There's still more of them under his control than us."
"You were on sentry duty," Ruth said to Charlotte. "Where is everyone?"
"Most people are in the auditorium," Charlotte said, "But Marie, Laura, Karen and Helen are in the green room, and Ben and Natalie are in the dressing room next door. And they can't have moved, because it's boredom time. Boredom time- what a stupid idea. Why didn't anyone see that?"
"Because of the hypnosis," Ruth said. She looked up at the others. "We should free them," she said. "If we can free the people in the green room, then they can help us with everyone else. Does anyone else have a torch?"
"I do," said Charlotte. "I brought it for walking home across the stray. It's in that bag over there."
"I've got one too, but it's in my bag in the dressing room on the other side of the green room," Tom said. "We can't get it without going through there."
"Well, we've got two," Ruth said. "I suggest we try to free Ben and Natalie, then we can all take on the girls in the green room." The others nodded. Charlotte tried to stand up, but was a bit wobbly.
"I think you should stay here," Tom said. She nodded and sat down again.
"I really am sorry," Patrick began.
"Oh stop it," Charlotte said. "Don't worry about it. Watch out for Emily," she continued, "she'll be on patrol somewhere around. Probably guarding the doors."
"Ok," said Tom. "Everybody ready?" He and Patrick had the torches.
"If possible, we'll try to do it without violence," Ruth said, "But if not, Adam and I can grab them and you two flash the pattern as quickly as possible- I won't be able to hold Natalie for long."
"Take the scarf," said Adam. She picked it up.
"Right, let's go."
The story continues...
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