✅ The Last New Start [NaNoWriMo2021]

79. Gifted

This chapter is dedicated to twilight, our resident catgirl, with thanks for all your support!

In the time between a family breakfast and opening their gifts, Tess knew that she had to speak to someone. So while Stanley was regaling the family with stories of his recent trip to Hamburg, she was keeping one eye on her phone. Spike wasn't online, but that was no big surprise. His family would be home, and that meant he was probably out jogging, trying to keep himself warm. Most of her friends would be busy with their own families. But she was surprised to see that Gabby was on XV. She had only added Tess a few days before, which Tess had assumed was a token effort to be flexible; making the point that she wanted Tess to be comfortable.

"Not busy today?" she typed out one-handed. "Thought you and Ffrances would have plans for the holidays. Doing something special and romantic."

"Later." The message appeared after only a few seconds. "F working. Volunteers for xmas sad helpline. U?"

Tess hesitated before answering. If she said she'd wet the bed again, Gabby would be right back to insisting that she wear diapers overnight when she got home, and she couldn't let that happen. The problem was over now. So she said something noncommittal, that the day was going well, and it was weird being with her family again. They talked for a few minutes, with Tess half paying attention to the conversation around her in the real world.

"Need trigger? Long time since u ask" the words appeared, and she found herself looking around the room, wondering if anyone could see how much she was blushing.

"Impatient?" her dad asked with a smile, and she couldn't think of the right response. "Want to get your gifts open? It's about as sunny as it's going to get. You can start opening them if you want." That was another tradition from childhood that didn't make too much sense now they were all practically adults; Mum and Dad wanted to take photos of them opening their presents, added to a big scrapbook of every birthday and Christmas so far.

"Yeah, sure." Tess perked up again, and turned back to her phone just for a second.

"I'm okay," she said to herself as her fingers danced over the keyboard. "Haven't needed it in more than a week, I don't have that problem anymore. Besides, you're not really here to say it. Will it work on a call?"

She'd opened the first of the brightly coloured packages under the tree before another vibration drew her attention back to her phone. Gabby pointed out that Tess was a member of the 'Information Generation', whatever that was supposed to mean. And that Ffrances usually phrased her posthypnotic suggestions in terms of being told something by someone you trust. In that case it was the message that was important rather than the words, so it would be possible for a trigger to work just as well over text on some chat app; so long as you considered that being told something.

Tess was curious; it was hard to imagine something like that working. But then, when she'd first tried hypnosis it had been hard to imagine that it would prove so effective at keeping her from wetting the bed. The curiosity grabbed her then, and she knew she had to try it even if she hadn't had the desperate need to make sure that she wouldn't be humiliated again in the morning. She asked Gabby to trigger her, playing up how much she was curious about the power of hypnosis, and hoping that her other reason wouldn't be clear. The message from Gabby came back almost immediately, and without any of the usual abbreviations and typos. She must have made an effort to get it right.

"You must not have an accident tonight."

Tess read the words twice; they felt as powerful and reassuring as ever. Somehow she knew it had worked; but in one corner of her mind she was still praying that it would work like this. She was confident, but she didn't really know for sure. She would have to go out later today, and see if she could find somewhere that was still open to buy diapers. Just in case she needed them, she told herself. And she would email a doctor as well, to make an appointment for the start of the new year.