For a moment, the world became real again.
The boy opened his eyes and felt… freedom.
His friends around him had awakened too — their gazes clear, their eyes real, no longer carrying those empty, artificial smiles. The girls stood beside them, their hands trembling, but their hearts were beating faster, because at last they could think for themselves.
— We… we're free! — one of the boys whispered.
— It's true… — a girl added, her eyes shining, tears of joy running down her cheeks.
They laughed. They cried. They ran through the empty corridors, shouting their names, shaking with happiness that everything was finally under their control.
But the farther they went, the more they felt a strange pressure, as if the air had grown thick and heavy. The sounds around them began to distort, the shadows to stretch. Every step became harder.
And then… voices. Warm, gentle, yet even and commanding. They slipped straight into their minds:
— Come back… This is right… You must smile…
At first, they tried to resist. They screamed, struggled, tried not to obey. But the voices grew stronger, more insistent, and their thoughts began to crumble like sand through their fingers.
— No! — the boy shouted, grabbing the girl's hands. — We're free!
But the hypnosis was more cunning than before. It reached deeper, wrapping around their minds like a web, suffocating their thoughts, pushing out every breath of freedom.
Slowly, they began to feel the familiar warmth of command. Their faces stretched into smiles on their own. Their hands stopped resisting. Their hearts were still beating, but their thoughts were fading. Love was still inside them, but now it no longer belonged to them — it belonged to those who controlled them.
— Perfect, — came the same voice from both sides, cold and even.
— Once again… perfect children, perfect couples.
The boy tried to remember what freedom felt like, tried to resist inside, but the hypnosis was stronger than ever. The girls beside him trembled, but their thoughts and feelings were also being carried away by the tide of control.
— We… we must… — one of the girls whispered, but her voice turned into an empty echo.
And once again, they stood in the same hall, with the same smiles, with the same hands bound and forced. The only difference was that now the hypnosis was stronger, and their consciousness was completely subdued. Even the attempt to resist was pain they could not control.
Love remained… but it was no longer theirs.
Freedom remained… but it was only an illusion they had seen for a moment.
And so again, under the cold smiles of their parents, they lived… perfectly.
And there was no escape. Ever.