Sunday went by at a crawl. I’d already prepared everything before lunch, so the last few hours before I expected Fiona to arrive felt agonisingly slow.

Should I have set an earlier curfew? Should I call or message her to make sure she hadn’t forgotten? Absolutely not - this was just a casual arrangement that was convenient for both of us. Seeming too invested would definitely raise some red flags, and even if the conditioning I’d put in place on her held, her friends would definitely get suspicious.

I checked the routines and fail safes I had programmed into the equipment again, even though I’d already checked over them ten times already. I went over the living room for dust, despite it already being spotless. I thought maybe I could distract myself by cooking or playing a game or watching a show, but it all seemed so pointless when soon I’d have my test subject alone and completely isolated for me to test my improvements with.

She wouldn’t be scared. She wouldn’t even know anything was out of the ordinary, or at least not to the extent that she would think something was amiss. The beauty of the technology was that the receiver really didn’t think that the thoughts, ideas and emotions being artificially impressed upon their mind were anything other than their own, so as long as I didn’t do anything too outlandish, Fiona wouldn’t have a clue.

And I’d make it enjoyable for her, too. Not only by doing things that she would conceivably enjoy, but also by allowing my own enjoyment to bleed into her. With careful sculpting, I should be able to shape her desires so that she comes to look forward to every night with as much anticipation as I did.

And I’d come clean with her eventually. It was the only moral thing to do. Eventually. After such a time as she would be receptive to the idea, perhaps. To avoid any misunderstandings.

I felt my skin go cold with anxiety when the doorbell rang at four-fifty, and I needed to take a second to put on an air of disinterested reproach before opening the front door.

“I was worried you’d already forgotten,” I said, taking in the casual outfit and knee-high travel case.

“Sorry!” Fiona said with an apologetic smile. “I just forgot a few things at the last minute. Are we still …