Not Without a Fight

Gregory collapsed to the ground at the supermarket. Abigail was trying to escape again, to regain control of her own body, but Gregory fought her off like he had so many times before.

But he could feel she was getting stronger. He had done so much to possess her body, take control, and turn her into the perfect tradwife. He thought that would weaken Abigail’s spirit, but it seemed to only make her want to fight back harder.

Gregory didn’t want to give up being Abigail. But he wasn’t sure how long it would be until she forced him out.

Mommy Dearest

Ulterior Motives

The past few weeks I spent dating Riko were better than I could’ve possibly imagined. She was a fun woman, full of life. I hated that I actually had ulterior motives.

But it’s not what you think. I was dating her just so I could sleep with her or anything. I just had an agreement to maintain. All I had to do was keep Riko happy and occupied. This wasn’t hard. She was the type of woman who just loved life and brought joy everywhere she went -- which only meant knowing what would happen would only be that much worse.

I saw him approaching behind her. If I screamed or warned her, it wouldn’t have made a difference; it only would have filled her last few moments with fear and panic instead of the joy she deserved. Then he approached closer until the possession finally started. Riko’s smile faded; replaced by his frown. He spoke with her voice, telling me my debt had been paid. I still couldn’t believe I had allowed that to happen to Riko, but it was to save my own soul...

Complete Control

Angie wasn’t sure exactly when it first started. It began as like an itch in the back of her brain, compulsions telling her to do things she didn’t want to do. They slowly took the form of sounds -- an then a voice. The voice was deep and masculine. It spoke not only commands that she would tryto ignore, but it also talked about a plan to overtake her body completely.

She tried to fight it, but it kept growing stronger. For short periods, it would take complete control of her entire body, forcing her to do things she didn’t want to do. She told herself always every day that she would win in the end -- despite the evidence that she was actually growing weaker to its influence.

When she finally collapsed coughing one day, she thought it was a purge; that she’d finally be rid of the voice in her head. Instead, it was her own soul pushed out in the form of a pink cloud of smoke, leaving only the man’s thoughts left in Angie’s head. He was satisfied with his slow possession; he had finally won.

The Host

He had been switching from host body to host body for as long as he could remember. Though his last switch was the first time he had stolen the body of a woman. It was almost a shame her internal organs were eating themselves on the inside from his presence in her form; he knew he’d have to move on very soon.

But as he scoped out the gathering for another host, he was very deliberate in what he sought this time. He wasn’t going to settle for a male body; his new host must be female. He had standards now. The new body must be as good as this one, if not better -- though he had to imagine that could be difficult. If things truly got down to the wire, he supposed it could be slightly worse. But being female? That was still a must!

Personal Demons

It was Luna’s thirteenth sold out concert in a row. Packed stadiums of adoring fans came for miles to see her, and each night he bounced up and down on stage as she sang all of her hit songs. It was a pretty good life.

She had been doing vocal warmups when she found herself unvoluntarily dropping to her knees, pulled down by a chain that appears on her neck, and she felt the warmth come up from the floor. It couldn’t be time already, could it?

Her eyes turned red and a voice inside her head said, “Collection is due.”

“It can’t be yet! Not yet!” She said back aloud.

“Three years of unbridled success, and now I need what’s mine.”

“But I can be useful. I can get others. I can bring them to you.”

“Oh, do you think I’d let your body go to waste? Hardly! I have big plans for it, but now it’s time for me to take your soul.”

Luna’s body went limp for a moment before a masculine laugh escaped her lips. “This wouldn’t have been my first choice for an assignment,” The voice escaping her lips was clearly masculine before she cleared her throat to get it back to its usual perky tone, “But I’m really not complaining. I hope Luna enjoys life in hell.”

There's No Such Thing as Ghosts

I watched with my hidden cameras outside the mansion as the woman told her friends that there was no such thing as ghosts before she bravely entered my abode alone.

She was right, of course. Ghost stories are complete hogwash, but that didn’t mean there weren’t dangers involved with coming into my home. I was a crazed hermit who had let my house crumble and my beard grow out as I ate nothing but canned food and worked on my machine. I didn’t take kindly to unwanted guests. So I fired up my machine and used it to possess her body. I suppose it was a very “ghost” like thing to do in hindsight, but I wasn’t dead! My body was still very much alive in the machine; I was just taking a ride.

The thing they don’t tell you about possessing someone is how much of their personality you keep. As long as I was in her body, I wasn’t a reclusive man, I was a brave woman. I felt confident! I felt stylish! I knew what had drawn her and her friends to this house, and I knew what kept me here; but now it was the last place I wanted to be. So I opened back up the front doors to greet her friends and to live her life. I don’t know how long my machine would hold out, but I could certainly hope for forever.

Cleansing

“It’s supposed to be cleansing,” Austin said extremely loudly after he lit the bowl of incense. He wasn’t sure if Brianna could even hear him; if she was still inside this body in any meaningful sense. But she was the one who was into all this mystic stuff anyway.

It was her fault this had even happened at all. That weird spell she cast had turned him into some sort of ghost or something. With his own body gone, he wasn’t sure where else to go; there was no one else around; so he entered Brianna’s body.

It was obviously a mistake for a thousand reasons. The most obvious was that he had zero interest in being a woman, and yet that exactly what he was now. And, of course, it was Brianna that knew about all this weird stuff; what was he even really supposed to do? He only lucked out when he found the incense and it was labeled “cleansing,” but it did little to remove his spirit from her body.

Gimcrack (Part 2)

View Part 1 of Gimcrack.

As Hester and Elias left the mansion and walked through the streeets of town, taking in the modern world was a little overwhelming. On top of it all, Elias hated his new body, but Hester wasn’t much happier.

“You should’ve let me possess that one,” Hester eventually complained. “You know nothing about being a pretty woman. I was a pretty woman.”

“I didn’t exactly have any control over it.” Elias said confused, “It just was the closest one to me. And even if I could’ve, I don’t think I would’ve picked...uh...yours.”

“Are you saying I’m ugly now? Is that what you’re saying, Elias? You’re a total clodpole. I don’t know why I ever married you.”

“Uh...it was an arranged marriage.That’s why. I know we’ve been stuck together in corporeal forms for about a hundred years, but I almost thought our animosity for each other was mutual.”

“Oh, it is Elias. It is.”

Gimcrack (Part 1)

Pheobe had dragged her friend Sandy into the abandoned mansion on the side of town. She said it would be the perfect place to snap a few pictures for her Instagram and needed Sandy’s help to take the pics.

It started out normal enough until Pheobe was surroounded by a strange haze. Of course, Sandy didn’t have much time to react, as a haze began to swirl around her as well.

“What’s the odd gimcrack?” Sandy’s voice asked as the spirit possessing her looked at the phone in her hand, “It’s like a mirror that reflects what it’s seeing.”

“Speaking of odd,” Pheobe’s voice moaned with a different spirit possessing her as well, “It’s been so long since we’ve been humans. It feels so odd.”

“That’s ‘cause you look to be a bit of a trollop.” Hester laughed from inside of Sandy’s body.

“Oh, damn,” Elias muttered realizing he was now inside of Phoebe.

True Heist

Officer Garcia was filling out the paperwork for the man they arrested robbing a store. The scene was quite weird. The robber was the one who called it in, waited peacefully for the officers to arrive, and came along with absolutely no fuss. He clearly wanted to get caught but why?

As she described the whole incident in the report, she started feeling strange. She had no way of knowing that the robber was a body hopper taking possession of her body.

This, of course, was the robber’s true heist. The store was simply a ruse. Whereas the police evidence locker contained millions of dollars of cash and valuables that could be looted. Officer Garcia was certainly a good pick, as she had a key to the locker hanging in her office, which he spied when being brought in. He certainly didn’t expect to be swapping with a female when he came up with this plan, but he didn’t really object to it either...

Realty

For years, no realtor in the city wanted to touch the house where the murders took place. When Kelly finally got her license, she was young and ambitious. What no one else wanted to touch, she saw as her golden opportunity.

She was the first person to go in the place since the police investigation. She didn’t know any of the gory details of the man who killed the house’s residents before taking his own life. All she saw was a large house, which was completely furnished, that she could sell for a bargain to make a big commission. She flicked the light switch, but the electricity had been turned off ages ago; she made a mental note to call the utilities the next day. Yet a strange blue light from one of the room drew her in.

Before she could even get a good look of the strange glowing blue fog, it seemed to surround her before entering her body through her mouth. She coughed a few times as she inhaled it before she fell into a daze. She no longer seemed to be in control of her own body as it stretched out it’s arms.

Then Kelly found herself speaking. “A woman?” She said, “I’m a woman? Not exactly my first choice, but I guess beggars can’t be choosers.”

Kelly found herself stumbling down the hall, kicking off her heels complaining about “damn women’s shoes.” She went into the kitchen and reached for a knife. She licked it and smiled before whispering, “Time to continue where I left off.”

Kelly inside wanted to scream. Who was this crazy person controlling her body!? Why was she stuck as a mere observer in her own life!? And what the hell was with the knife and talking about “continuing?”

Trip

I discovered my power one day while at the mall. I know malls used to be cool, but these days they are the lame last resort for when you can’t wait for two-day shipping. I just wanted to get in and out when the woman in front of me just wouldn’t move. When I tried to get around her on the left, she moved left; and when I tried on the right, she moved right. I just decided to dart quickly and ended up running into her. It wasn’t a major collision, more like a minor brush. But it was enough for me to realize a part of my body was actually going through her as if I were a ghost. Thing escalated from there.

I want to see how far I could take it. I tried to make my entire body ethereal and attempt to pass straight through her. It didn’t go so well. I made it about halfway when I got stuck inside and found myself possessing her.

The idea of becoming someone else was actually sort of cool. But if I had actually known I could do that, I probably wouldn’t have picked a 40 year old woman. I walked awkwardly in her heels, I was certainly holding her purse all wrong, and who knows if I advertantly flashed someone due to the fact that I was completely unfamiliar with wearing a dress. And I was stuck in her body for three days untill her balding fat husband came back from a business trip. Suggesting a trip to the bedroom was enough to make me want to throw up, which seemed to eject my corporeal form when I got the bathroom to gag. I got out as fast as I could, leaving the woman to explain to the husband why a young man was there running out of the house.

Possessed

It started as a voice in his head; Bernard was wondering if he was going crazy when he heard it. The woman’s voice laughed while saying something about taking over. Bernard did his best to ignore it as she continued to speak in his brain, explaining her story as an ancient Asian princess, her curse, and her ability to possess people. She got quite annoyed at his indifference while muttering something about showing off her power.

Bernard felt briefly uncomfortable, but once again tried to put it out of his mind until he saw his reflection in a store window. She screamed when he saw a woman staring back instead of his usual face. The voice confidently stated she would not be pushed aside, and that this was just the start. She had control to transform his body and would soon have control over his mind!

Yet Bernard wasn’t even paying any attention to the voice; he was too worried about what had just happened to his body! As it bit of unintentional luck, the fact that he just wasn’t paying any mind to the voice was what was keeping him in control and preventing her from possessing him. She had hoped the transformation would make him put his guard down for a moment, but he didn’t. And she was getting ready to move on, to try to possess another -- and it might just be fun to leave Bernard stuck with this transformed body as she did.

Inheritance

Allen walked into the mansion with his sister, Hayley. They had inherited it a few weeks ago when their grandmother died although neither even knew she had owned such a grand property.

There were no records of permits or maintenance work, yet the outside looked pristine. The entryway showed no signs of even the slightest amount of dust. Hayley stepped cautiously inside first and felt suddenly cold. Her eyes became lifeless.Allen took note. “Hayley, what’s wrong?” He asked.

“Hayley’s not here,” Hayley’s body said with a haunting echo to it, “My name is...Winston. I have been trapped in this house a long time.”

“Come on, Sis. This isn’t funny.”

“This isn’t a joke. Your sister’s body provides...a means to escape. I can finally leave this place.” Allen noted that Winston’s pauses were awkward.

“And then what happens to her?”

“I cannot answer that. I do not know.”

“Well, then take me. Possess me instead and let her go.”

“I would have preferred it. Being a woman is...unfamiliar to me. But alas I cannot. Now please, let me be. I wish to see the outside of these walls for the first time in a long time...”

Vacancy

Kiara had been doing yoga in the park and the cooldown always involved a brief period of meditation. As she closed her eyes to focus, she was genuinely surprised by the pure bliss she felt; it soon seemed like she was floating above her own body. However, she couldn’t seem to end the experience. She was like a spirit, and something was preventing her from returning to her own body. Then she watched as her own body stand up and put on her coat.

“What the hell is going on here?” Kiara shouted.

“You should be more careful leaving your belongings unattended,” Her body replied.

“What are you talking about? I was doing yoga.”

“No, you were having an out-of-body experience, essentially your body had a vacancy for any passing spirits.”

“Give it back!”

“Sorry, but finders keepers. It’s not like you often find a spare unused body just lying about without a soul all that often. Being a woman should be interesting, too! It’s not like I would’ve picked changing genders, but -- like I said -- I couldn’t be picky.”

“Well, since you can hear me in this weird spirit form, I’ll just follow you and annoy you until you give it back!”

“Oh, that’s temporary. I can hear you now because of the recent connection, but soon you’ll fade and then you’ll be the one spending decade floating around trying to find someone else dumb enough to separate their soul from their body. Good luck!”

Kinda Stupid

Kenneth had always considered things like yoga and meditation to be “kinda stupid,” but he seemed to have more than a natural ability at it. In fact, after attending a single session he was able to manage astral projection, which he previously would’ve scoffed at. Yet his experience was quite undeniable. It also seemed as he approached a body other than his own, they would fall asleep. He began to wonder why.

As he approached his girlfriend’s body, she too fell asleep. And then he got a little too close and began to be sucked in. Her body began to awaken, but it was Kenneth’s spirit not inside. He wished he hadn’t gotten so close! He didn’t want to be a woman! He tried to get back into his astral state, but he was having trouble concentrating. Had it just been beginner’s luck the first time?

Meanwhile, his own body lay lifeless and the rest of the yoga class was getting concerned. The instructor stopped the class and called an ambulance. Kenneth was now extremely worried. If he wasn’t getting guidance from the instructor, how could he ever hope to achieve that same higher state? He’d never get back to astral form, and he’d be stuck in his girlfriend’s body for good!

Pick It Up

As she walked the final stretch of her morning commute from the train to the office, Tara noticed a few coins along the way. She though they might have been gold or at least valuable, so she reached down to pick one up. A spark of lightning shot from the coin. She wanted to drop it, but she didn’t seem to be able to; in fact, her entire body was no longer responding. But it was still moving, stretching as if he hadn’t moved for a long time.

“Well, this is unexpected. I never would’ve guessed I would become a chick,” Tara’s body said, no matter how much she was trying to stop it, “You have no idea how long I was stuck in that damned coin. You can only still perceive the world, because I’m still holding it. Once I drop it, you’ll be stuck in there until someone picks you up. I can almost promise you it won’t be as good as this one. Maybe it willbe like my old one -- fat, bald, male.”

Tara was horrified, but there was nothing she could do.

The man in her body continued, “Once I put you down someplace safe, I might try to come back up here with a few of your friends, convince them to pick up my buddies who are still in that pile over there. Maybe I gotta practice acting like you -- you know, walking in heels, maybe swinging my hips like women do? Eh, heck, I have no idea, and it’s not like you would help me even if you could...”

The Suspect

Officer Brian Sully has chased the suspect from the scene of the crime to an apartment. After he saw the suspect escape inside, he was sure apprehension was imminent. He was able to walk right inside -- the suspect hadn’t even had time to lock the door. But Brian was shocked to find an older woman inside the apartment, sitting at a kitchen table.

“Heavens,” The woman said, “Is everything okay, Officer? Don’t you usually knock first? Is everything okay?”

“Ma’am, does anyone live here with you? A grandson? A son? Even a nephew, perhaps?”

“I haven’t lived with anyone since my husband passed. We never had kids,” The woman began to sob a little.

“Did you see anyone enter your apartment just now?”

“I think I would have noticed, just as I noticed you just now.”

“Well, I hope you don’t mind if I have a look around?”

“Of course not, Officer.”

As Brian walked around the small apartment, Craig couldn’t believe this was all working out. He had robbed the bank, stashed the loot, and now this dumb cop had no idea how he slipped away. Of course, how could he? As Craig had run up the stairs of this apartment building, he recited a spell to become ethereal. He completed just after picking the lock and entering, then it was simple to possess this old broad’s body. An old, innocent lady was the perfect disguise to throw this cop off. He wouldn’t find any evidence or criminal here, because there literally wasn’t any! Then once the officer moved on, Craig would find a different body to possess. He thought about possessing Brian, but there was no way he was going to be a cop. Besides, even though this current body was sort of old and achy, he thought it could be fun to possess another woman, maybe a younger one...

Rainforest

The research team had been in the rainforest for several weeks when Dr. Albert Pierce fell from a ledge. While the team spent some time looking for him, they eventually had no choice but to presume he had died. A few days later, a woman arrived at their camp, explining that she was, in fact, Dr. Albert Pierce.

Albert began to tell his story about falling from the ledge and landing in a strange lake that seemed to almost sparkle. He swallowed large amounts of the water; he possibly even died. Whatever exactly happened, the water allowed his form to be corporeal. His spirit was able to float around as he pleased, until he floated into a nearby town. Through sheer accident, he ended up possessing the body of this woman. He wasn’t the group’s translator, so he didn’t speak the local language. He was eventually able to find someone who spoke english, which allowed him to ask to be guided back here.

The other researchers found the story absurd, but perhaps if they could find this water, they could confirm it all. Albery said he’d be happy to show them.