Growing up, Liam Albright always was unable to relate to his fellow classmates. From his incredible intelligence to his homosexuality, he never seemed to fully fit into anywhere in school. This also applied to his appearance. His dark brown eyes, brown hair, and thin body often left his almost untraceable when he walked through the halls. With a thin 130 pound body at 5’5”, even the bump in the shoulder could send him crashing to the floor as if he was a 14 year old, not an 18 year old. As high school graduation neared and college drew closer, he dreamed about the possibilities of living in New York City, which seemed endless to a Midwestern kid like himself. When he got his acceptance letter to NYU, he was ecstatic about leaving his homophobic family, finally becoming his own person, and pursuing his dream career of directing. When moving day came along, his parents opted not to join as they said they preferred to just pay for college and not be associated with his “gay agenda”. Although Liam was upset about his parents, he knew that there was nothing he could do to change them. But as Liam often told himself, he knew that if college was the perfect place to find his true self and not have to worry about those opinions of people who opposed his lifestyle, New York City was the perfect place to find himself.
As Liam walked around the campus during orientations, he was astonished with how many gay kids there were. From being the only gay in the school to being one of hundreds, he knew he would fit right in. “Hey there, are you a freshman?” Liam turned around to see an amazing sight. As the sun shone around him, Liam could just make out the most god-like man he could ever see. The man’s face was stern but also inviting as Liam registered the man’s image. With a perfect nose, tanned skin, well-groomed hair, nice chiseled body, and white teeth, this man was the first guy Liam had ever come across that made him happy to be gay. “Wh-Why hello there! Yeah, I’m a freshman”. The man smiled and handed him a flyer “Awesome bro, I’d love to invite you to a new event my friends and I are having with the freshman class”. As Liam read the flyer over, which read “Life Seminar: Find Out What the New York Life Has In Store For You”, he could not stop blushing and looking up at the man standing over him. “Will you be attending?” the man asked. “Sure, I’d love to. When is it?” “11 PM Saturday evening, I’ll have someone hook you up the rest of the details by Friday”. Liam, smitten with the man, asked if he would be attending in which the man replied with “I suppose so , as long as it means that you attend”, following with a sly wink. “Well alright, I’ll see you there man!” The man uttered a hearty chuckle and walked away. As Liam stared at his first crush on campus, he wondered what was in store for him on Saturday…
Although it was only Wednesday, the wait until Saturday was long and almost unbearable. When Friday rolled around, Liam returned from his studies to a note on his bed relaying the location of the event the next evening. After asking his roommate when he received the note, his friend lazily replied “I don’t know man, it was here when I came back from Psych”. After questioning it for a while, he just shook it off and assumed one of his friends stopped by and dropped it off when he was home earlier.
Saturday evening came around and Liam awkwardly waited around the location and no one seemed to come. As Liam walked in, he saw the man who gave him the flyer and quickly moved over to him. “Expecting a bigger turnout?” Liam asked as the man turned and noticed him. “I suppose so, we invited 5, but at least you showed up!” the man said smiling. The man motioned for Liam to sit down in the chair as music began to play, signaling the start of the event. As he sat, he began to fiddle with his lanky, but styled brown hair, quickly treading his thin fingers through his hair to make sure it was still styled correctly. Although he was nervous about the event, he also wanted to try and impress the man as much as he could. Just as Liam was finished preparing himself to impress his crush, the curtain rose as the man quickly went up on stage and sat near the podium positioned up front. After a short silence, the man quickly rose up as a woman in her late 30s walked up the stairs and stood up on the podium. “Hello there, my name is Evelyn and thank you for attending tonight’s event. I can assume you met Jeremy here?” as she motioned to the man. Liam quickly nodded as he stared at the woman. Liam noticed how delicate and refined she was, from her thin figure, her plump red lips, and perfectly styled ensemble. “Great, now it’s time to get onto tonight’s festivities. You were specifically picked by my team to be a part of a new program specifically for college students. This program will give you the opportunity to “test” out the life of fellow New Yorker, where you will be able to take over their life completely. Liam stood back in disbelief and looked to Jeremy, who quickly nodded at Liam’s confusion. Evelyn saw Liam and Jeremy’s silent conversation and quickly motioned, “Shall we proceed?”
As Evelyn moved off stage, Liam sprinted up to Jeremy, “What the fuck is going on Jeremy? I thought this was just a life seminar about not abusing drugs and staying on task in college.” “You could say it is a life seminar though Liam. It’s the perfect chance to let you find out what life has in store for you and take advantage of those possibilities. Will you just stay for 10 more minutes? If you don’t want to stay, I’ll gladly take you home” Jeremy said with a sly grin. “Alright, I’ll stay, but it better be worth it.” “Oh it will be Liam, it most definitely will be.”
Evelyn soon reappeared with a laptop, which she set up on her podium as she kept eye contact on Liam to make sure he remained in the room. “Alright, so are you ready to begin Liam?” “Sure, let’s do this” Liam humorously quipped back. Evelyn smiled as she began to fiddle with the buttons on her computer, setting up his transformation into his new body.
Liam began pacing to the door as his nerves began to set in as he pondered how to get out of this situation if this so called experiment began to go awry. For all he knew, these people could drug him and kidnap him and no one would know a thing about his disappearance. Just as he was about to sprint out of the door, he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks as he was unable to move. “WHAT’S GOING ON?!? WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?” Liam cried out as he struggled to move. “Not to worry darling, it’s just a safety precaution to make sure you don’t move beyond the point of transformation. It will all be over soon, just stand there and enjoy your change!”, Evelyn said gleefully. Liam began to feel a weird feeling as the transformation began.
As Liam changes, Evelyn announces that he is going to inhabit the life of...