The Test Subject (Patreon)

This is a darker story that includes reference to kidnapping and experimentation, although not to a graphic extent. Still, caution is advised!

I watched my own body writhe around on the video screen with absolute fascination. The video was a live feed to the padded cell I had been kept in for the past twelve months, trapped in a straightjacket and muffled by a gag. Both of those things were still in place; it was my consciousness that had been removed from the situation and placed in the body of the man who had kept me prisoner for a year, while he was forced to assume my position as the test subject.

Let me take things back to the beginning. I was an ordinary guy just like you: fresh out of college, hopelessly single and just looking for my big break. I was working three jobs just to try and pay my rent but had all my hopes pinned on an upcoming job interview. The details of the position itself were sparse, just that it would be as a research assistant to one “Dr Quill” and that it paid more than double the minimum wage per hour. That was the kind of money I desperately needed so I sent in an application and received an invitation almost immediately. I had no way of knowing that putting that application in would be the biggest mistake of my life.

When I arrived at Dr Quill’s laboratory I was instructed by a receptionist to sit in a small waiting room and I once again failed to notice the warning signs: there was only one chair, no windows, and strange holes in the walls at various points. I’d been sat in the chair for all of ten seconds when I heard a click at the door and suddenly a sweet-smelling gas began to enter the room through those holes I’d brushed off as a strange design choice. My brain understandably jumped right to a state of panic and I lunged out of the chair and towards the door, but the explosive movement made me feel suddenly weak. My legs gave out from underneath me and I dropped to the floor, inhaling the gas in a vain attempt to steady my uneasy breathing, before everything sunk into blackness…

The next thing I knew, I was strapped down onto a gurney and there was a strange contraption attached to my head. There was a sharp pain at the base of my skull that I faintly identified as some sort of needle puncture. My body was impossibly weak and all I could do was stare silently up at the smiling face of a handsome man in a white lab coat. He appeared to be in his late thirties and had perfectly symmetrical features, with a dusting of grey among his otherwise brown hair. He introduced himself as Dr Aidan Quill and thanked me for volunteering to assist with his research, and assured me that if I was to survive his experiments then I would be paid in full - whenever that may be.

Time was little more than an illusion after that. I was moved between the experimentation room with the strange device that the doctor had identified as his “Cognitive Tinkerer” and a padded cell by two massive orderlies who easily overpowered me in my weakened state. It was in the padded cell where I spent most of my time, being watched at all times by a single camera at the top of the circular room. That sensation of eyes on me at all times ate away at me, but when I used what little energy I had to thrash around and scream, the straightjacket and muffler were introduced. Over time I became numb as all hope left me and my body continued to feel weaker and weaker until merely standing up for a full minute felt like a mammoth task.

From the research now available to me, it seemed as if Dr Quill was pumping various chemicals into my brain in the hope of prompting a genetic mutation that would reveal psychokinetic powers rumored to exist deep within the human psyche. From various scans I could see that my brain makeup had changed dramatically and it seemed as if the experiment had indeed been a success, although likely not how the doctor had intended it to be. During those long months of captivity, the only feeling that had continued to manifest itself within me was a bubbling rage directed towards Dr Quill; I wanted so badly to inflict pain on him like he had done to me. I could never have imagined that the intensity of that desire would trigger a complete exchange of our brainwaves, effectively swapping our bodies!

Seeing him trapped in that cell, forced to endure the circumstances he had placed upon me, I felt genuine happiness for the first time in a long time. Indeed, I finally felt alive once again - my whole body hummed with excitement and I had to wipe tears of joy from my eyes, mighty glad that I had found myself alone in his office. A quick investigation of his desk had not only led to the discovery of his experiment research and the scans of my mutated brain, but also a wallet with a driver’s license that gave me Dr Quill’s home address, as well as a photo of him and another handsome man in a close embrace: a boyfriend? A husband? I couldn’t wait to find out!

Patting down the torso I now occupied revealed a firm physique and the tightness of the slacks I wore suggested that there was a lot to enjoy below the waistband too. I caught sight of my reflection on a dark screen and was nothing short of amazed by what I saw. The doctor really was a gorgeous man, he had just been tainted by the ugliest of personalities. Now, in my mistreated and malnourished body, he finally had an exterior that matched his rotten soul.

A gentle knock at the door pulled my attention momentarily away from the video screen and I glanced up just as the receptionist who had greeted me all those months previously appeared in the doorway. “I’ll be going home now, Dr Quill,” she said in a friendly voice accompanied by a sweet smile, “Don’t work too late. The test subject will still be there tomorrow!”

The remark prompted a smile to pull on the corners of my lips. “That he will,” I agreed, hearing my new voice for the first time, as my eyes drifted back to where the test subject rolled around on the floor of the cell. “That he most certainly will…” Tomorrow was a brand new day and I was going to have some fun making sure that the former doctor experienced every bit of suffering he deserved!