Sweet Giggles Grace

THE SWEETGIGGLES, CASE #1502

    “Hello there,” Grace said, looking at the young man in the white room. The pretty young Avian smiled as she entered, her dark chocolate skin glistening in the lights, her yellow wings moving in as they took the warmth. “You feeling okay?”

    “Why am I here?” Anthony Kimura asked. His bluish green eyes dimmed as he stared at the girl, and he slumped down, resting his chin into his knees. He wore a dark teal colored shirt, and long, black pants, which looked like they had buckles at the ends. The only thing missing on his was his socks and shoes, which a mute, red haired girl, with freckles along her face had instructed him to take off, before he entered.

     The room wasn’t too bad. The floor was covered in a light brown pad, like something you might see in martial arts dojos or something like that. You know the kind, soft padding so no one get’s hurt flopping on to it. Well, hurt a little, but not bone breaking kind of hurt. The walls were like, seven or eight feet, and painted a soft blue. Gentle music filled the room, and the doors had small, rectangular windows. There were even two handles on the inside, something he hadn’t seen in any mental rooms before. Not that he was nuts, or anything. Just sad almost all the time.

     The poor young man hadn’t had much of a good life so far. So much suffering, and tears. It was rare, if ever, that he even smiled. His friend, Dan, had seen enough, of the poor guy’s suffering, and had inquired amongst friends who could help him. Mental hospitals did not work, being among those who claimed to be friends, or who really were, did not help. Medicine, nope. Then, Dan had heard of the University of Universal Laughter. A Medical college of sorts that dealt with depression, and sadness of all kinds.

     It taught its students the many ways to bring laughter and joy back into they’re patients lives. And under the careful watch of the dean, even accepted allowing some patients to be brought in for special day or week, or even months care, to certain sorority houses or fraternity houses, for the students to really learn their trade.

     Grace sat next to Anthony, her tan eyes growing sad at seeing him so upset. “You’re friend thought we could help.” She blinked, hugging herself. “You know, its not so bad, those freaks, the GullFeather’s might have gotten to you.” She blinked and giggled. “Oh, by the way, my name is Grace.”

    “GullFeathers?” Anthony asked, looking at Grace. She smiled, cocking her head.

And Grace? What that just one name, like Madonna, or something? Or you have a second or last name?”

    “They practice the same kind of laughter medicine that my sorority does, except that they’re cruel in their tactics. They want zombies that do what their leader tells them to do, and think, and feel.” Anger burned at first, but then pity. Grace wasn’t one to let her emotions of negativity drown her spirit. “But we’re not like that,” she said, her spirits perking up. “And its Grace. Technically its Grace Kaitlyn Telther, but everyone just calls me Grace.

    “Medicine doesn’t work on me,” Anthony groaned, trying to stand to his feet.

     Grace smiled as bright as any girl born on Neptune could, and reached up, tickling his sides. He leapt, and opened his mouth to let a squeak come from it, but not much more. For a second he stared at her, then dropped to his knees. “I’ve read the reports, so I know that, but let me be the judge of that,” she cooed.

    “Ti… tickling is not medicine,” Anthony said, blinking.

    “Ah, no. Laughter is, and tickling is just the means to that medication,” she giggled. She noticed he was going to stand up again, and rose faster, so she was behind him now, and enveloped him in her wings. “And I’ve very good at tickling,” she laughed.

     Her feathers were softer than anything he’d encountered. They felt nice, brushing along his neck, and ears, his shoulders. He shifted, and squirmed, but found he couldn’t get up. Back and forth the feather’s stroked, and as they did, he felt himself begin to smile, but shook it away, like a dog shaking the water from its body after its bath. “St… stop,” he groaned.

     Grace frowned, and slowly stopped, drawing her wings back. “Not so good there, huh? Well, I saw you start to smile, there’s always that.” She walked around, and sat face to face with him. “Nothing wrong with smiling… or laughing. It get’s rid of the negative, like antibiotics does to venom and germs!”

   “I’m just not a laughing, smiley guy, okay?” he snapped. His eyes dimmed as he saw her recoil, and he looked away. “Sorry, didn’t mean it. But could you just turn of the magnetism or gravity, so I can stand up?”

    “We don’t use those things here, in this sorority house. Nina invented the room. It reads the true thoughts of the person, and reacts to them. If you can’t get up, its because really, deep down, you don’t want too. Deep down,” she gently put her finger to his chest and heart, “you want to be happy.” She smiled, letting her words sink in, and then cupped her hands around his sides, and wiggled her fingers with a medium pressure into his ribs.

    “N…no… not there, plehehehse,” he gasped, wiggling in her grasp, his voice tiny as a new born kitten’s.

    “Ah, a strong spot,” Grace teased, her voice soft and comforting. “I’ll put that in the report. And… was that a laugh I heard?” She smiled, her eyes twinkling, as her hands went up and down his sides, his ribs. She varied her strength, tickling soft, then a little harder, back down to slow and soft, to hard and quick.

     Anthony shook his head, closing his eyes. A strange sensation was burning at his body. He’d laughed before, but still he was never used to it. He shifted his weight to the left, and Grace giggling, copied it, so there was no escape for his right ribs. Then he did the same and went right, and Grace, with those pretty and tender eyes followed suite, as if she had become glued to her. “Stop, I mean it,” he managed to bark out. “I… I aha, I don’t want tohoho, laugh! Aha, I’m not meant to lahahaugh!” A few chuckles were blurting out, and Anthony was blushing, wondering why. He had such good control, and the shadows always swallowed up the light in his life.

    “Hey there, you’ve got a cute laugh,” Grace said with a smile. “Shame on you for keeping it to yourself!” She giggled, and tickled a few seconds more, but then stopped. One, of course to let him breathe… she’d been tickling for five minutes. The other reason was, and to her this was more important, he’d asked her to stop. To the Sweet Giggles, that was so very important. The lee should be listened to, otherwise there could be no treatment. No helping the patient.

     Anthony was resting on his hands, leaning backwards. He gasped, but not hard… as he hadn’t been laughing that hard to begin with. “I hate laughing,” he barked out. “Its all a lie.”

    “Laughing is a lie?” Grace asked, frowning.

    “Happiness is,” he muttered. “No one is really, truly happy. Its just a mask they put on for show.” He saw hurt in her eyes, and lowered his gaze. “Of course, that’s what I’ve experienced.”

    “Poor baby,” Grace sighed, stroking his cheek. “So hurt, so betrayed. I can’t imagine the horrors you went through.

    “No,” he muttered. “You can’t.” He tried to stand up, but again could not. Was what she said true? Was he, himself keeping himself bonded in this room? Mentally he ran through some scenarios. I want to get up. I want to walk to the door. He sighed, counted to three, and found his body obeying his whims. He stood, and walked to the door, then turned and looked at the young nineteen year old, Neptunian Avian.

    “You’re choice,” she said, still sitting on the floor. “We’re not like the Gull Feathers. No one is coming to snatch you by the arms and force you back in the room, to be made to laugh against your will.”

     I want to open the doors, and leave. Anthony turned and tried to open the doors, but found his arms would not let him. “I thought you said,” he began.

    “You can leave, if you want,” Grace said. She was looking at her knees. “But the truth is, even if you think something, its so very easy to lie to yourself. The thing is, deep down, no matter what the outer layers believe, the true you knows it’s a lie, or the truth.”

     The young man looked at the doors, and back at the girl, and then walked back to her. “I believe, you’re not keeping me here, against my will, but … but the thing you are asking of me, it’s not meant for me. At least, I don’t thihihihihink SOHOHOHOHOHO, WHAT ARE YOU DOHOHOHOHOHOING, AHAHA!” he laughed, as she began running her wings under his arms.

    “Trying to make you understand, that you can be happy, that everything the outer layers have let you believe, is the true lie.” Her face held no emotion, save for hope. Her eyes begged him to believe her, as her wings, their feathers a medium touch now, sawed back and forth under his arms, getting past the defense of his sleeves.

    “Hey, that does, tickle, a bit,” he giggled, and for the first time, blushed. A flash of brightness came across his eyes, and then she was smiling again.

    “Only a bit? Let’s see if we can’t help to make it a lot!” She giggled, and grasped his shirt, yanking upward and slipped it off. Now her wings were dancing along bare skin, and making him jump in his spot.

    “NU, nu, no! AHAHAHAHA!” She held his arms and tossed them up, letting him slip to the ground, as she tickled. “OH MY GAWD, AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Anthony’s eyes clamped shut, to stop the flow of water threatening to trickle his cheeks. The feathers danced, and pranced around in his hallows, pulling up and down, like tiny fairies dancing ballet there. Anthony giggled, and wiggled on his back, inching away from them, and heard Grace’s giggle for the first time.

    “Hey now, come back here!” she laughed. Break through at last. Of course this was temporary. She could see that in how he was reacting. It was just the physical right now, and shadows would quickly munch on him to bits of she declared victory. She followed him, her wings tapping his armpits, and drawing on them, following his muscles and veins, almost as if they were cars following roads.

    “STOP, STAHAHAHAHOP! PLEHEHEHEHSE! OH GAWD!” His face was beat red now, and sweat was pouring down his cheeks.

     With a blink, her wings pulled away, and she sat on the floor, Indian style. “Now that wasn’t so bad, was it?” she smiled.

    “How,” he gasped. “How long did that…,” he panted.

    “Four minutes,” she said. Grace smiled at his shock. “You’re very ticklish, Mr. Kimura, she explained. “Get that kind of ticklishness in a person, have the right spot, at the right moment, and a few seconds can feel like an hour!” She smiled, her eyes closed tight in happiness. Then she opened them and she cocked her head, “Wasn’t too much, was it?”

     Anthony swallowed, and picked himself off the ground. “I … I guess not,” he admitted.

    “No pain, or suffering?” she continued to inquire. “Would you like to leave or anything?” Her face was so sweet. So innocent.

    “You really are concerned about me?” he asked. “I mean, it really wasn’t like hours, and you’re bored right?”

     Grace shook her head. “I just love helping people. One patient I had was nearly laughing for half a day, and wanted to stay for the weekend. Another couldn’t take it for more than two minutes, and felt a lot better when he left.”

    “So, like … you don’t get off on doing that to people?” he asked.

    “Didn’t know helping people could be thought like that,” Grace said. “As for tickling, I enjoy it, I love everything about it. Can’t say its much of a fetish for me, just a heck of a lot of fun!” She smiled again, and did that now, cute cock of her head, her blonde hair spilling over her face. “Oh, and you don’t have to beg me to make me stop, just ask. If I’m certain you mean it, which I am ninety five percent of the time, I’ll stop.”

    “No begging,” his mind rolled. “Wow.”

    “I really, really don’t like people who make people beg them to stop tickling, before they will. Its just so mean. I mean, Ursa will do that some times, but only because she’s having fun, and she knows her patient is finding it fun to do too. But sadistic folks, like those Gull Feathers,” she shuddered.

    “Again with the Gull Feathers,” he muttered.

    “They’re really mean. You could beg until your face turned blue, and they still wouldn’t let you go. You’d pee yourself, and they’d tease you about it, and ‘punish’ you for being a ‘bad boy’.”

    “Whoa,” he mumbled, his eyes growing wide. He was definitely glad he wasn’t with that group.

    “Hmmm, you’re feet look kind of cold,” she said, inching toward him, and taking his foot in her hands. She began to squeeze, and massage his soles, letting him relax, and drop onto his back again. “I’m a pretty good massager too,” she smiled. With a playful grin, she took her pointer as he began falling asleep, and raked it up his left foot.

    “Holy crap!” he shouted, his eyes bugging out. Anthony bit his lips and tried to pull his foot away, but like anything else, it wouldn’t go. His right foot slipped away from her with ease. “Aw, now come on, I’ve smiled, I’ve laughed. I’m in a good mood for the moment, you can let me go, right?”

    “I can, but that’s up to you, remember?” Grace smiled. There was a moment’s hesitation, and she smiled even more. “A moment’s happiness is like a new born flame. Doesn’t take much to snuff it out.”

     He held his breath, and grunted, as all her fingers danced against the skin of his foot. He did his best not to laugh, not to kick her… she was just trying to help. And… and maybe she was right. He closed his eyes, and tried his best not to laugh, but she was so good! And now she was using her wings between her toes, the feathers sharper than he remembered. “OH GOOD LOHOHOHOHOHORD AHAHAHAHAHAHA, HEHEHEHE, AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” He kicked, but to no avail. She dodged it, her fingers and feathers playing havoc with his nerve endings. She’d stop for a few seconds, letting him breathe, but tickled like an avenging angel once more afterwards. It was like she was on a quest to exorcise the demons of his darkness, to bring the light forward.

     Soon afterward, she managed to pull his free foot toward her, and pinned his ankles, raking both soles as he thrashed. Her wings darted between his toes, and his stomach. Sometimes they’d dart into his belly button, and swirl in it, before slowly dragging away. Anthony was a giggling fool, and though it was driving him nuts, he was having a blast. Especially when Grace giggly blew on his soles, giving him foot raspberries.

    “NAHAHAHOT FAHAHAHAHAIR!” he croaked.

    “Yeah, huh!” she teased, and raspberried his feet over and over and over for five minutes. Over all, she tickled his feet for nearly half an hour. And all the time, never once did he cry uncle, or ask for it to stop. He was having too much fun. Occasionally he’d pull himself upward, and tickle her ribs and sides. And then he found her shoulder blades.

    “NOHOHOW THAHAHAHAT’S NO FAHAHAHAHAHAHAIR!” she shrieked.

    “Yeah, huh” he teased, tickling her weak spot, for ten minutes, as she worked on his feet. The two tickled each other everywhere, each one’s grip dissolving as the other found a new spot to exploit and tickle.

     Finally, two hours later, exhausted, the two laid next to each other, and gasped for air, still laughing occasionally. Now he knew what it meant to be happy, and now he knew what it meant for his friends to care for him. He had always assumed they wanted something, and would leave, but somehow in the tickling, that lie died out. And now he had a new friend to thank for that.

    “You’re pretty good at tickling,” Grace said with a bright smile, a little bit later.

    “You’re a good teacher,” Anthony said with a smile.

    “So, you finally saw the light, finally got all those nasty cobwebs out of your souls.” She smiled.

     “Maybe not completely, no. But they’re not as thick as a forest in China anymore.” He blinked, and shook his head. Had he just did a joke? Him? Mister Dark Walking Cloud?! Grace laughed without tickling, so he must have. “I’m … I’m not quite ready to leave, if that’s okay though.” He looked up at her in alarm. “Not that I’m ready for the next round today! But… but maybe tomorrow you could come back?”

     She smiled and nodded, cocking her cute head. “I don’t see why not. Only against the rules if you’re here against your will, or to keep you here for the whole school year.” She got up and yawned. “We have an apartment just down the path, connected to the sorority house, where our patients can stay. I’ll do the work, and get you admitted for tonight.”

    “That will be great, thanks!” he said with a bright smile. And then she wrapped her arms and wings around him, and hugged him with the firmest, sweetest hug he’d ever felt. He blinked for a moment, and then smiled, it was wonderful… and it felt so much nicer than her playful tickling. He’d now known the actual, true feeling of each time a real friend had indeed hugged him. The warmth, the love! It was great… and the only thing he could think of to do, was hug back. His new life had finally began to grow, and he was determined not to let it slip through his fingers.