"Uh, what just happened?"

"What do you mean?"

"It's 11:30. But, like, just a second ago it was 9:00."

"Was it? Hm. Weird."

"Yeah! Weird! So what happened?"

"No idea."

"You don't seem upset about it."

"No, not really."

"You don't even seem curious."

"Oh, well, sure, I guess I'm curious."

"That's curious? From the girl who will dismantle a computer to find out how hard drives work and overturn a sofa to find a missing sock? No, that's closer to sedated than curious."

"Good point. So, no, I guess I'm not curious."

"How aren't you curious? And how aren't you upset? We're missing two and a half hours of our lives!"

"Are we though? I mean, yeah, we lost track of time. It happens. We probably fell asleep or something. It's not the mystery of the century. Besides, we're okay. We're fine. So, relax. Try not to have a heart attack at 23."

"I think you're wrong."

"Maybe I am. Maybe I'm not. Whatever."

"Look at your feet."

"What?"

"Please, just look at them."

"Okay. There they are, below my ankles as usual."

"They're bare. Where are your slippers? You were wearing slippers a minute ago when I looked at you...well, that is, two and half hours ago when I looked at you."

"You're getting really worked up. Maybe you should take a breath. Get a drink. A stiff drink."

"Look at my feet, too. I didn't even realize. I was wearing socks. Now, I'm not. We're both barefoot."

"Hello, officer, I'd like to report an incident. Two strikingly beautiful female roommates seem to have mysteriously shed their footwear. Yes, ma'am, they are barefoot. Yes, in the safety and comfort of their home. You're right! You should drop everything and start investigating it immediately! Otherwise, they might remain barefoot indefinitely...or at least until they put on footwear again."

"You're a laugh riot."

"And you're wound way too tight. Take a pill. Or, like I said, a stiff drink."

"Something is up."

"No, nothing is up."

"Something happened to us."

"No, nothing happened to us."

"Yes, it did."

"You're totally serious. Wow. I'm worried now."

"You should be worried."

"I'm worried about you."

"Were we drugged? Knocked out? What was done to us?"

"Oh, jeez."

"I need to find out."

"Where are you going? Ah, you're rummaging. I have no idea what you're looking for, and neither do you. Now you're on your hands and knees, looking under the furniture. You won't see anything under the sofa, unless you flip it. Trust me, I know. I've found three individual socks under there. Hey! Don't flip the sofa! You need to calm down. You are all kinds of worked up. Here, stand up. Now sit down next to me. Breathe slowly and deeply."

"Don't patronize me."

"I'm just trying to calm you down. You're having an episode or something."

"You need to believe me. Something happened to us. Someone did something to us."

"I'm sorry, but that doesn't make any sense. We fell asleep. Maybe you had a bad dream. Maybe it seemed real, too real. Now, you're disoriented. You just need to relax so you can shake it off."

"Leave me alone, I'll figure it out."

"You're scaring me. Please, just chill for a bit. Just..."

"Just what?"

"I don't know. I thought I saw something."

"What? Where?"

"Look at me. Uh, yeah, there it is..."

"What?"

"Your eyes..."

"What about them?"

"They're all...swirly."

"Swirly? What do you mean? Wait! So are yours! That's it! I was right! They did something to us!"

"I don't understand."

"Our eyes are swirly. That's a sure sign of mind control."

"Mind control?"

"Yeah! We were probably hypnotized. They hypnotized us and had us under their control for the last two and half hours."

"They? Who's they? And how do you know they hypnotized us?"

"That's what the swirliness indicates."

"Since when?"

"Since, I don't know, always. That's what it means."

"It means we were hypnotized?"

"Probably. But definitely mind controlled."

"When will the swirling stop?"

"Good question. It should have already if...we weren't being controlled any more. But it hasn't, which means...we must still be under."

"Under hypnosis?"

"Yeah. Probably. But definitely under their control, one way or another."

"I'm so confused. It doesn't feel like we're being controlled. I mean, we're not saying, 'yes, master,' or, 'I obey,' or doing anything roboty or slavey."

"The control might be subtle. They could be influencing our behavior or altering our perceptions. They may have made us forget things and think things are normal when they're not."

"This is all very strange."

"We need to figure out who did this to us and why."

"But can we figure it out? From what you're saying, we can't trust our memories, our perceptions, or anything we say or do."

"True, but we need to try. Let's focus on what we know. First of all, our eyes are swirly. So, we are definitely mind controlled, probably through hypnosis."

"Sure."

"Next, we lost two and a half hours of time."

"Yeah."

"What else?"

"We're barefoot."

"Yes! We're barefoot! I forgot about that--probably because they made me forget!"

"So, does that mean we were hypnotized by foot fetishists?"

"It might. It just might."

"You know what? I can't deal with this. It's too bizarre, and it doesn't make any sense. I'm going to bed."

"No, wait! They want you to go to bed. They're making you go to bed. Resist them! Stay up!"

"Hard no on that. If my eyes are still swirly in the morning, I'm going to talk with my doctor. You should, too. But right now, you should get some sleep.  Good night."

"She must be too deeply hypnotized to resist them. Which means, I'm on my own. That's not ideal, but I can manage. I just need to think. Think, think, think. What do I know? What have I forgotten? Remember. Remember, remember, remember. Ugh! It's no use! I must be too deeply hypnotized, just like her. But that would mean...I have no choice. I have to do whatever they want. I can't resist them. We can't resist them. I need to go get her. We need to do what they want us to do...Hey. Hey, wake up."

"I'm up, I'm up. Not for lack of trying. But I had a feeling you weren't going to let me sleep."

"I'm sorry. But I don't have a choice. Neither of us has a choice."

"Right, right, because we're hypnotized and mind controlled and all that."

"Yes, that's it exactly."

"So, what are we supposed to do?"

"Well, earlier you mentioned foot fetishists."

"Yeah?"

"If that's who hypnotized us, well, here we are, two attractive women with our feet bare."

"Yeah?"

"So, they want us to do, you know, foot fetishy stuff."

"Like what?"

"Like, I don't know, rub each other's feet, tickle them, worship them, and, well, whatever other stuff you do with feet."

"That's what they want us to do? That's why they hypnotized us?"

"Maybe. I think so. It makes sense."

"No, it really doesn't make sense. But, neither does having swirls in my eyes. So, if it means you'll let me get some sleep afterwards, then fine, I'll do foot fetishy stuff with you."

"But it's not me. It's them. They'd be the ones to let you sleep after they get what they want from us."

"Sure. Fine. Whatever. Here are my feet. Give me yours."

"Here you go."

"I can't believe we're doing this. What a world."

"Just remember: We don't have a choice. We're being mind controlled."

"Right, right, we've been hypnotized by foot fetishists. Got it. Hey, easy there, that tickles."

"It's supposed to tickle. I mean, that's probably what they want. Mm. That feels good."

"Hee-hee-hee. Stop that. You don't have to use your fingernails."

"Yeah, I think I do."

"Ugh. I just hope tomorrow night you're hypnotized by a clean-dishes fetishist, and I'm hypnotized by a finished-project fetishist. Ooh. That feels better. Yeah, that's nice. Keep doing that. And I'll keep fantasizing about your swirly eyed self having no choice but to do the dishes...."