Help! Chapter Five (Patreon)

“N.n.n.n.no?”

She chuckled. “Aww, darling. You’ll feel different in time. Close your eyes for me.”

Jeremy couldn’t help but follow her direction.

“Now think about me. Sylvia Manchester, your teacher. Relax, breathe deeply, and just focus inward a bit.”

He did as she instructed.

“Perfect. Such a good boy, you are, yes, Jeremy?”

“Yes.”

“Now, keeping your eyes closed, open your third eye. It’s in the middle of your forehead. It might take a minute for it to happen, but once it does, you’ll be able to open it at any time.”

Confused, Jeremy tried to do as instructed.

“Calm yourself, Jeremy. You can’t force it open. Relax and envision your third eye on your forehead. Imagine how it would feel to open it.”

Jeremy pictured the third eye in his forehead. He could see it there, closed, but just barely. With a release somehow, it flicked open. He gasped.

“There you go, dear boy. Now, what do you see?”

It was like he couldn’t see the actual object of anyone, or anything, just the outline, like the border of the space it took up in the world. He could see the o outlines of the furniture in grey, and Bethany standing next to him as a beautiful green/blue outline with a shining yellow heart. He could see Mrs. Manchester too, outlined in crimson and black with a heard of deep gold. There was a string from her heart, flowing over to him, a thread infinitely thin, but connecting them together.

“I see you, and Beth...and a...string.”

“Mmm, yes.” Manchester said. “You see how the thread connects us?”

“Yes.”

“Now watch what happens when I do this...” she raised her hand slightly and murmured “Eyes.”

He felt the tingles again, of another change. The thread sprang to life, glowing with an intensity like a fire had been lit from within. The tingles flooded through him, and he knew he had her eyes now, blue green, just like hers, but only the outline. His eyes were still there, just masked somehow by hers.”

“Now you can see, how the illusion works, yes?”

“Yes.”

“Perfect, so you can safely tell the difference between illusion and reality, now, yes?”

“Yes, Mrs. Manchester.”

“Which leads me to your friend. Miss Bethany.”

“Please don’t hurt her...” Jeremy said.

“Well, she can’t reveal our little game to anyone, can she?”

“I’m sure now that she knows, she won’t.”

“Hmm, I wonder about that. I really do. Because she has nothing to lose, does she? By revealing our game?”

“No one would believe her.” Jeremy looked at Bethany. Her eyes rolled in terror.

“Describe how Bethany appears to you with your third eye, dear?”

Jeremy squinted a bit, looking at her. Orange outline. I can see her heart, bright yellow...”

“Yes, that’s her life force.”

“I can see like...static, lightning where her head is.”

“Yes, that’s her intellect. All the neurons and synapsis firing in their little electric dance of consciousness.”

Manchester walked over to a floor lamp. She pulled it out into the center of the room. “And how does this appear, darling?”

Jeremy squinted. The light was on, and he could see the electrical current flooding up the wire and into the filament of the bulb. The outline of the lamp was there, but unlike a living creature, it was grey, inert.

“I can see the electricity going up the cord and into the bulb.”

Jeremy saw waves of dark energy flow out of Manchester as she whispered something in a deep guttural language. Another lamp materialized, exactly like the first, but centered over Bethany.

As he watched, Bethany’s body faded, morphing, passing into the lamp, Until two nearly identical lamps stood there, one had a blue outline to it, and he could see the electrical static of her brain and the shine of her heart if he peered in close.

“Now, you can see Miss Bethany in her new state, yes?”

“W.w.why did you do that!?” Jeremy said.

“You can see this is not illusion magic, yes, Jeremy?”

“Y.y.yes! Change her back!”

“Open your eyes, dear, and close your third eye.”

Jeremy did as instructed. He could see the two lamps, identical, though he knew the one closest was Bethany.

“Fear not, she is safe and unharmed. She is also aware of her surroundings and can interpret the vibrations and sounds in the air to sight and sound.”

“But she’s a lamp!”

“Indeed, and she’ll remain as such until the end of our little experiment. If you’re a good boy, I’ll allow you to speak to her tomorrow, would you like that?”

“Let her go!”

“Tut tut, darling. Why don’t you place her over by the window so she can at least observe the world? Oh, and plug in her power cord, darling, it will ensure her brain and heart stay fresh, young, and vital.”

As Jeremy complied, carefully plugging in the lamp’s power cord, he murmured softly. “I’m so sorry. I’ll get you out of this soon, I promise.”

“Perfect. And for one last adjustment...” With a shimmer, Manchester became Bethany again.

“Test Miss Bethany’s power, darling, we wouldn’t want a custodian to discard her for not functioning appropriately, would we?”

Jeremy sighed and leaned in to flick the power switch under Bethany’s light bulb. She sprang to life perfectly.

“Does it hurt her?”

“No, darling. In fact, I imagine she finds it quite stimulating, but you can ask her tomorrow.”

“Alright. So now what? Why are you in her body?”

“It’s just an illusion, darling. And you need to take me home to Miss Bethany’s. I have not, as of yet, rewritten reality, so if Miss Bethany were not to be brought home by you as agreed, her parents could become difficult.”

“I see.”

“So take my arm, darling, and escort me to your car, just as you would Miss Bethany. I’m tired...unless you prefer to have a re-enactment of my mouth on your—”

“Let’s go,” Jeremy said, shivering. He was not going to allow that to happen again.

As they made their way out to Jeremy’s car, Bethany held his hand. “Have to keep up appearances.”

“Yeah.”

“Aw, come on, darling. Where’s your sense of adventure? I promise Miss Bethany is safe and secure, and out of the way.”

“She’s a lamp!”

“But an enchanted one, I assure you!” she giggled.

When they arrived at Bethany’s, Jeremy escorted her to the door. He turned to leave—

“Don’t I deserve a kiss?”

“Don’t push your luck.”

“What did I say about behaving, Jeremy?”

He sighed and leaned in to give her a soft kiss on the mouth.

“Before you leave, I want to make one more change for the night, and you can pick it!”

Rolling his eyes, he held out his hands. “What are my choices?”

“Hmmm, she tapped her nail on her cheek. “Stature, gender, face, or skin.”

“At this point, I don’t care.”

“Nevertheless, you must choose.”

He thought about the options. He definitely didn’t want his gender changed, or to look into the mirror and see Manchester’s face. So that left skin or stature...

“Stature,” he said.

“Stature,” Manchester whispered, and immediately, Jeremy felt the tingles again.

He shrank, feeling like he was a deflating balloon. His clothes became much too large for him and when it was over, he was actually a few inches shorter than faux-Bethany.

“Aww, damn,” he said, and his voice sounded like it did when he was in eighth grade. “This make you happy?”

Faux-Bethany smiled and draped her arms over him. “Indeed it does, Jeremy. You are such a good boy.”

That made him squirm in his oversized suit. “Well, goodnight. Who can I expect tomorrow, you to be Bethany? Or will you be Mrs. Manchester?”

She glanced down at her arms. “I quite like the illusion of this form, but alas, I do have classes in the morning and young minds to shape.”

“So I don’t need to come pick you up?”

“I’ll make my own arrangements, but thank you, Jeremy. I will see you in class tomorrow?”

“Ah...yes.” Jeremy lied. He knew his mother was going to take him to a guru that hopefully might break this hold on him.

“Until tomorrow, then.”

Jeremy nodded and left.