It'd been a few weeks since Emily and Rick had found the camera of change. Rick still remembered how weird it had been to be transformed like that. The sudden fear of the confusion, the realization of your new body. It felt scary, but also weirdly thrilling. That night that they found it ended in a silent drive back to Emily's house where they hid it under her bed.
The next day they both decided it would be in everyone's best interest to see what the device was capable of. They began to experiment with the camera ever so carefully as to not accidentally screw themselves. Rick used it on Emily and turned her into a guy. Emily loved the experience but Rick was just freaked out.
Both were amazed as the camera didn't just change people, but also the whole world. Emily's room transformed into what it would have looked like if Emily had always been a boy. No makeup, dirtier in every way, and even all the pictures were different. Rick found himself laughing at the one for prom as apparently "Emile" had gone with Emily's best friend Sarah while he had gone with their mutual friend Brook.
Dinner was also interesting as none of Emily's family noticed anything amiss. To them, they always had a son named Emile. Rick also had to keep quietly reminding Emily not to touch her dick as Emily kept getting awkward boners thought their meal. By the end of dinner Emily had had enough and the two "bros" rushed back upstairs and took a picture with the reverse function.
Emily was back and relieved to be so. They had hidden it again and didn't test it out for a few more days when they decided to use it again. This time, however, Emily convinced Rick to try a different change on himself. He reluctantly agreed, pressed the button, and found himself suddenly sitting on the floor.
Emily couldn't help but laugh as her boyfriend had transformed into a baby boy no older than a year. Rick remembered feeling humiliated as her seemingly giant girlfriend gave him a raspberry on his tummy. He tried to tell her to turn him back and she understood but she still had a little bit of fun with him for a few minutes before she did.
The next few days after that were filled with lots of changes. One day Emily was a dog, the next day Rick was a little girl, and the next Emily was a 40 year old man. The craziest function was the "random change" option which appeared to be the default. Two days ago was the day before Emily was leaving for a weekend get a way so they were gonna make this change a different one. Emily aimed the camera at him and Rick suddenly found himself stiff.
He couldn't move anything. He tried to move his arm but couldn't feel it move, he couldn't't even feel it there! He tried to call out to Emily but nothing happened. He could only see upwards as he appeared to be looking up while on the floor. Suddenly Emily's face came into view and she had looked terrified. Rick still remembered how creeped out he felt as Emily lifted him up and placed him in front of the mirror.
He was a hairbrush. He only saw a wooden hairbrush that's handle was painted a tan color similar to Rick's skin. The bristles were red and almost looked like his hair, and a writing on the side of his wooden body read "Rick's brushes." Rick quietly panicked for a few minutes as Emily had stood fascinated at the brush that had been human.
Finally, Emily decided to change him back and Rick found himself back to normal in a flash of light. He took a few panicked breaths then he sighed in relief. After that Rick went home but he couldn't stop thinking about all the experimenting they had been doing, the images stuck in his mind like they were made of glue.
That's why he hopped out of bed the next morning to take the camera out for a very specific purpose. After explaining to Emily's mother Olivia that he forgot something her went up, snatched the camera, and then went downstairs.
He did this because...