A Bizarre Explanation
The Never Ending Quest - Episode 115160
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"You are not assimilating nearly as well as we'd hoped," the man went on. Fred was silent. She couldn't speak comfortably anyway, and in fact could barely produce sound at all. The man seemed young, with short black hair and grey eyes, and was dressed in the clothes of the world Fred had found herself in. "And since you've put Lizzie in quite a pickle," he continued, "we thought we'd better go ahead and explain. You are currently inhabiting her body, or at least her heretofore ordinary life. That room you found yourself in, with the buttons, was directly connected to her. At least, it was at the time you entered it. Now it's some other girl, but that's nothing to do with you. She was connected to it because she, in fact, died recently. She once found herself in another room of ours and ended up in this deal where if her body was destroyed, we'd make another into her image and put her spirit back inside, it's all very complicated. She didn't understand any better than you did what was happening. As for you, your room placed you into the period of her life that would best suit the request connected to the button you pressed—'Romance.' She and Josh were about to become engaged. You've rather ruined that chance, certainly put it off for some time. I briefly took Josh's form to visit you in the hospital and bring Lizzie back to the surface. You see, when you first entered her body, we put her to sleep, to give you the enjoyment due to you for pressing the button. But then you ruined everything by immediately running off, and we had to intervene. Because you made the request, we owe you some romance, but you've made enough trouble for Lizzie that we are contractually obligated to reimburse her somewhat. So this is the system we've set up. She gets to continue her life, but so do you. You'll take turns. It all comes out even, but it's also not entirely predictable. Every several hours or so, you switch. You don't remember what she does, she doesn't remember what you do. But you have to coexist in that body. Make sense?" It didn't, not at all. Fred had about a million questions, and one simple demand. But when she tried to speak, it felt like somebody was sliding a knife down her throat, and a pained, scratchy rasp was the only thing that came out. "Since you so clearly had no idea what was happening, I've scrubbed Lizzie and Josh's memories to give you a fresh start. They will remember what led to this tragedy—Lizzie got mugged, by the way, she's been lying here for an hour or so—and it will all make sense. Be careful about what you do from now on. I've called you an ambulance too," the man said. "That's an extra favor from me personally. Name's Carac, by the way. But if you do something this stupid again, you're on your own." He shook his head. "Poor Lizzie." Fred blinked, and all at once the man—Carac—was gone. Presently she slipped into blackness. The next time Fred came to, she was in the hospital, of course, covered in bandages. Josh was beside her, and immediately when she groaned in pain he rushed forward to hold her hand. She was still there the next time Fred blacked out, and Lizzie, apparently, took over. But when Fred came to again, she found that she was lying in his arms on the couch in their home. He was fast asleep. His arms were large and strong, as Fred's had once been. She wanted to disentangle herself from them, but she couldn't. So she lay stiff, going over her bizarre situation in her mind. If only she could summon Carac to explain that it was all a huge misunderstanding, that whatever outrageous system he was running, she wanted no part of it! Perhaps she could. Obviously he had some way of watching her. If only she could get away from Josh, just for a little while... Soon enough, she felt him shifting, and his breath ruffled her hair. She gulped. "Liz," he murmured, "you awake?" She froze, at a loss as to what to say. Well, apparently she was pretending to be asleep. Presently he got up, arranging her gently and quietly on the couch, and tiptoed off to parts unknown.
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