Called Upon (Patreon)

Paul's smile fell as he began to understand what the voice on the other end of the call was telling him. The woman's tone was polite and friendly but there was no escaping that she was delivering bad news - news that Paul had never truly expected to receive. It had been eight full months since he signed his agreement with TBA and he hadn't heard so much as a whisper from them since then. No emails, no texts, nothing. 

The only reason Paul had even signed the agreement in the first place was because of the impressive down payment they were offering - five thousand dollars simply for signing up and a further thousand dollars every month afterwards. It had sounded too good to be true but the pretty blonde girl who had pitched the whole thing to him was able to sweet talk him into signing on the dotted line and the next thing he knew his bank balance was taking a much-needed bump.

Eventually Paul had all but forgotten about the agreement he'd made when he signed up - after all, how could he 'loan out his body' anyway? At first he had guessed that he would simply be used as a tour guide and maybe get the chance to flirt or even hook up with some of the cute chicks that came to the city on vacation, before he stopped thinking about the deal altogether. As far as he was concerned, it was simply a quick way to earn some bonus bucks without actually having to do anything.

As the full details were revealed to him throughout the phone call, Paul's heart began to beat faster in his chest. On Friday morning a man named Vernon McAllister would be arriving in the city and coming straight to Paul's apartment to switch bodies with him for the following two weeks! Paul was given a full description of Vernon - sixty-two, bald and obese - and was informed that he'd be sent pictures via email so he would know what to expect. 

"We've equipped Vernon with everything he'll need to make the exchange," the TBA worker explained in her pleasant voice, as if she hadn't just delivered crushing news to Paul. "I can understand if you're having uneasy thoughts, it is your first time, after all! I would like to advise you against running though. The punishment for that... well, in the long run, your body would be re-purposed permanently."

Re-purposed permanently? That wasn't something Paul wanted to dwell on any longer than he had to, but the temptation to run remained strong. Could he really survive two weeks in the body of a complete stranger and one with Vernon's description at that? 

Perhaps the worst news came when Paul managed to fish out his copy of the contract he had signed with TBA and scanned through it to find out when the agreement would expire. Written in bold text near the end of the contract was written a small and simple statement that made his heart and hopes plummet - this contract remains active until you reach the age of sixty. The rest of Paul's youth could very well be spent with different elderly men in control of his body and there was nothing he could do to change that...