Chapter 1 - The Beginning

A Chapter by Olivia Reed

It's a story about a special girl who can exchange bodies with anyone and take control of another person. In her pursuit to discover her origins, she is hunted by an ancient group.

Chapter 1

At the age of five, I already knew I was different. Sometimes I imagine that I was from an alien planet. Wouldn’t that explain why I could do strange things?

Everything around me felt unreal. I was living in a dream world waiting to wake up. But don’t get me wrong, I still love the same things any eighteen-year old girl loved. Movies, clothes, boys, all of the above. I might think that I was an alien but I could love like a human.

I discovered my power when I turned eight in a not so pleasant circumstance. In fact, it was a nightmare. I never knew his name. To me he was always The Scary Man with Weird Eyes. He was always around our school staring at us girls, and licking his lips when we stared at him back. We all felt like we were meat on a buffet table and he was taking his pick on who to eat first. He looked greasy with long stringy flat hair, black piercing eyes and a skulking build.

A few parents had complained about him and soon he stopped coming around but it was not the last time I would ever see him. The next time I saw him was a week later when I woke in a dingy, dark and musty basement. There were no windows, no sunlight so it must have been a basement. I did not remember how I got there. I was walking home and then something grabbed me. It got dark and here I was.

I was awake for a few hours in this smelly room, in the dark. I was alone, hungry and scared as any little girl would be. I had no idea he was the one who had taken me. If I could see better, I thought maybe I could figure things out. I was free to move around but when I kept bumping on sharp things, I stayed at my corner hugging my knees. I cried myself to sleep wishing my mom was here to tell me that everything would be alright.

Sometime later, a sliver of light entered the room as a door creaked open. Someone was coming. It was him wearing the same crazy smile as he stared at me and licked his thin lips.

He came close and knelt before me. I didn’t move. I was so afraid. He touched my face and I peed in my pants. His fingers travelled to my throat and he squeezed my throat gently. I gasped and tried to pry his hands away. He was hurting me. His smile never left his face as he kissed my head.

My precious little girl, he whispered as he tightened his grip. You are all mine to play with. We will have a wonderful time. His voice was like nails scratching on a floorboard.

My fear exploded right there and then as I looked into his eyes and caught a glimpse of what he wanted to do to me. That’s when it happened. That moment our eyes met, my fear turned into something else. I was curious. Who is this man? Then I no longer see him. I was looking at myself.

I was holding my own neck and I was breathing my scent. What just happened? My own eyes were looking back at me in confusion and fear. I let go of my neck and stumbled back. My body felt heavy and huge. I looked down at myself and saw big dirty hands. I touched my face and touched a man’s face. Then I realized that I was him. I was in him and he was in me. The little blond girl in front of me scowled and lunged towards me.

Easily I deflected her and she fell back against the wall. I struck her face and she fell unconscious on the floor. I hope that will not leave a bruise.

For a while, I stood there and stared at my body. My head was swirling with his memories. Images of little bodies naked and cut up into pieces flashed in my mind. There were no bodies buried, all had been dissolved in acid. Over thirty girls before me. I gagged. This man was a demon. A hungry, disgusting demon who preyed on little girls like me. And was I stuck in him forever to live in his sins?

No, I would not accept this fate. If I could get in him, I could get out. Somehow, I knew this. First, I must save myself. I could not let him back in without making sure that my body was in a safe place. Swiftly I carried my body out of the basement and out of the house. My little self was still unconscious.

Once out of the house, I recognized the street. It was not far from the school. I ran towards the school. I knew the house of one of the teachers as once she had taken care of me there when my mother was late. I ran all the way as fast as I could. Once I reached her house, I gently laid me down on her porch. She was home, her lights were on and I could not risk her opening the door and seeing me with myself. The last thing I wanted was to end up stuck in jail and not be able to get back to my body.

The next thing was the crucial part. How do I get back? When we changed places we were looking at each others’ eyes and we made a connection. Do we have to stare at each others’ eyes again? Noises were coming from inside the house. I feared I was running out of time. I held up my little body and shook it. Come on, wake up and look at me but I was out cold. Laughter from inside the house grew louder. Someone was coming. I had no more time. I dropped my body on the floor and ran. I ran and hid behind the trees as Mrs Hurley came out with the garbage. Her eyes widened when she saw me on her porch.

She screamed for her family to come and immediately carried me inside. I slumped against the tree sobbing. I could not possibly be stuck in this killer’s body. And he was in my body. What mischief could he conjure up in that innocent façade? I hurried away before the cops arrived.

A few blocks away, I felt dizzy and had to sit down. My mind was swirling and everything was changing shape. The world spun uncontrollably and I fell on the ground. Then the world changed for me. When I opened my eyes, I was looking at my mother’s face and she brought me close to her as she cried and kissed my cheeks. I smiled as I held on to my mother tightly.

So that was how I discovered how I could push myself into another and control them. I did not have to look into their eyes again to return, it just wore off after a certain time. I would experiment more as I grew up mostly with animals and I found that after I left them, a little piece of them stayed in my soul. It was nothing physical but at times a small ability. For example after exchanging souls with a cat, I had suddenly developed a keen sense of smell and an extreme dislike for dogs.

As for the Scary Man with Weird Eyes, I never saw him again and I hope that I never will. However, sometimes I would look over my shoulders feeling his eyes on me once more. Nevertheless, there was no one there. It was all just my imagination.

Then the day came when I turned eighteen. That’s when the real nightmares begin.