✅🎊✂️ Hypnosis Won't Take Me There!! [alternative cut]

[Flashback Chapter 355: Finding Myself a Safe Space]

Adelaide held her bag tight to her chest as they walked down the steps from the plane. This place didn't have a fancy terminal building with an enclosed bridge connected to the plane, just a big set of stairs with wheels on the bottom. She looked back and wondered what kept it from rolling away, but it seemed happy enough to stay in one place while they walked down. Then they were shepherded onto a bus, which carried them across a wide space towards the airport buildings. There were more desks to pass through, and more important-looking papers to sign without reading them.

Adi started to get impatient, but she did her best to be a good girl and not bother anyone. She bounced from one foot to the other, or paced in tiny circles while she waited. She wanted to move, but she also didn't want to move away from Dean when he was trying so hard to sort out everything so she didn't need to think. Finally he provided one last signature on a tablet screen, and a smiling old man gave him a car key with a bright-coloured key fob. There was a company name on it, which brought a frown to Adi's face when she realised she couldn't make out the letters.

The car turned out to be a black 4×4 with chunky tyres that looked like they were designed for real cross-country use. Adi stared at it for a second, wondering if they were going somewhere it might really be needed. She couldn't imagine Dean picking big wheels and a big engine just to show off. So maybe there would be extra mud on the road. Ans she was still feeling young enough to make that something to be excited about. She hardly paid attention while Dean threw their bags in, but once he'd lifted Adi up to the passenger side there was something else to worry about.

"There's no room for Mommy!" she said, pointing to the luggage crammed into the back.

"Don't worry, Adelaide. You can trust me, can't you? Toni will be coming later. You'll just have to put up with my cooking until she arrives. Will that be okay for a few days?"

Adi nodded. All she needed to do was be good, and then Mommy could join them. Maybe her Mom too, and then they could have a proper family vacation. It was going to be so much fun, and she really didn't want to spoil it for everyone.

"Okay!" she said after a few seconds. "I'm gonna be a good girl! You can do all the grown-up stuff, so I don't got to think."

The scenery outside her windows was amazing. Adi didn't know where they were going, but she didn't think she'd ever seen landscapes like this before. In the distance she could see a city, like a load of white building blocks scattered in a rough sprawl. There was a river coming towards them, wide and clear like a mirror, and a huge expanse of green fields criss-crossed with belts of trees stretching all the way to the horizon. The first road they rolled along was wide and level, looking almost new. But as the highway reduced from four lanes to two, the surface started to show cracks and the markings were faded.

Half an hour later, the city was out of sight and they were driving along a rutted dirt track. Adi hadn't seen if the road got steadily narrower while they followed it away from civilisation, or if they had turned off at some intersection without her noticing. But it was clear to see that they were off the beaten track when trees reared up on both sides of the track, and they plunged into a dark green tunnel with branches leaping out to glance off the windscreen.

Adi's head darted from side to side, squealing in surprise when the encroaching foliage scraped against the outside of the car. She knew it was just trees, but it was still exciting every time. She could imagine that there were monsters outside, trying to stop them getting to where they were going. She wasn't afraid, she knew that monsters would all be scared of Mommy when she came, but it was still thrilling to be driving down a road like this, like they were going right into the middle of a magical forest. There were occasional tracks to either side, battered wooden posts that might once have been mailboxes, and stained wooden gates hanging limply across overgrown paths. A few of them had names on, but Adi couldn't make out even a single letter. In some places there were tracks to show that another car had come that way recently, but they got rarer the deeper they went into the woods.

And then they were at a gate that had been recently painted, a deep red-brown that might have matched the trees, if they weren't so hidden in shadows. There was a clearing beyond the gate, and a fairytale cottage in its centre. It was a timber-framed building that looked like it had been enlarged over a century with each visitor adding a tiny extension. It looked like a house had chosen to grow and evolve, not like there was any kind of plan behind it. The thatch was a handful of different colours, maybe replaced at different times, and the walls were a patchwork between mismatched wooden beams.

Dean fought his way past the undergrowth and opened the gate, which didn't look to have any kind of a lock on it. He treated Adi to a smile, and drove the car inside. He closed the gate, opened the house's door, carried all of their luggage inside, and finally helped Adi out of her seat and into a slightly musty hallway.

"Wow," she whispered, as she looked up at the complex knot of narrow staircases spreading inside the building. "It's like a witch's cottage! Is it haunted? Who lives here?"

Finally, Dean turned to look at her properly and gave a big smile.

"We do."

This chapter is dedicated to Jennie, with thanks for all your support on Patreon as well as the help editing this story. As I've not had a reply from most people yet, each person will be getting a dedicated chapter in both this book and in Hypnosis Won't Change me Like That!!. Next month, any people who haven't told me which book they'd like to support will be divided between them at random.