The EveryMan Vial

"Is this my original body?" The man looks away from the wad of cash he was counting to throw you a mocking glance." He taps his cigarette on the small, glass ashtray sitting next to a pile of paperwork he brought out for you to fill out. You'd been given this man's number by a friend of yours. You'd told your friend that you felt trapped in your life but couldn't see a way out, and she'd told you that this man could you give you a new start. You assumed he was some sort of drug-dealer, or a passport falsifier, but after reaching out to him you learned that his services were a lot more unusual than what you had imagined. "Of course not! I'm in the business of switching bodies, why would I stay in my original body? You look the man up and down. He's of average stature, grossly overweight, and had deep wrinkles etched into his face. "Heh, don't give me that look, kid. Different bodies come with different skills, y'know? Differen...

The divorce had been hard on my dad.  Really hard; like, "cashed out all his vacation and sick days at work to wallow in sadness inside his new studio apartment for the next two months" hard. To be honest, I don’t understand why he was so dedicated to Mom, that woman is a huge bitch. I know I sound harsh, but she's just not a good person. The divorce could have been really good for Dad if he could just move on from her; but like I said, it didn’t look like that was going to happen anytime soon. Dad was a good guy, and he really tried hard to put on a brave face on weekends when I slept at his place, but he was such a mess that there was no hiding it. I hated seeing him like that. Late one Saturday, as we were getting back from grabbing takeout for dinner, he said he needed to talk to me. I thought, 'Oh good, you're finally ready to talk about the divorce!' and got some words of support ready for my old man. Instead, he told me some insane story about a homeles...

 "It sucks that I still have to ride my bike everywhere despite being in Grandpa's body." 18-year-old Jason Clarkson is another victim of the recent rash of unexplained phenomena: people waking up in the wrong bodies. When Jason woke up in the morning of April 17th, he was not expecting to find his chest covered in hairs and his grandfather's calloused hands in front of him. Six weeks have passed since this incident and the Clarkson family has had to make major adjustments. Like other teenagers in similar situations, Jason has been excused from attending a public school and permitted to complete his degree through at-home lessons. 62-year old Phillip Clarkson is Jason's paternal grandfather and lived at home with his son and his family and has been retired for 6 years. Philip has been invited to come out of retirement and offered a position as head foreman of the factory that employed him for 50 years. At the time of writing Mr. Philip Clarkson was not available f...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jeremy had recently been a subject (though, he'd say victim if you asked him) in one of his father's experiments. As both an incoming freshman and the son of a tenured physics professor, Jeremy felt completely oppressed at Jefferson University. He'd begged and argued with his parents for the opportunity to go to an out-of-state school, or at least one in another city. Unfortunately for him, Jefferson U offered the children of high-prestige staff a generous scholarship, which made the tuition his parents would have cover a considerably lighter load. They did concede one thing though: they allowed Jeremy to pursue his art degree- on the condition that he double-major in something... "reasonable and reliable," had been their exact words. Jeremy's resentment towards his father reached a boiling point and he stopped talking to his father, in his own house, as much as he could. It wasn't that the double-major workload was too much, Jeremy was a smart guy, and sc...

Your mother was a beyond excellent cook, so every year you looked forward to her Thanksgiving dinner. Normally you'd dream about the perfectly juicy turkey, the creamy mashed potatoes, and the exquisitely balanced cranberry sauce all November, but this year was different. After having gained some serious quarantine pounds, you'd finally gotten serious about your fitness. And you'd done an amazing job! For more than a year you've been working out regularly, eating right, and most importantly: watched your portions. Last year you let yourself "cheat" for Thanksgiving and sorely regretted. Your body was now a finely-tuned fitness machine, and gorging yourself on your mother's cooking had thrown a massive wrench into that machine. Never before had you felt so bloated and groggy. It took a full week and then some to finally get back on track. No way you wanted a repeat of that fiasco this year, but you also definitely did not want to miss out on the feast. The ...

My buddy Eric and I had been friends our whole lives. We grew up together, and after graduating high school we even got into the same college as business majors. Eric's dad was the owner of his own company, so we pretty much had careers guaranteed after graduation. Our first year so far had been a blast. Eric and I got to dorm in the same building, so when we weren't out partying, we were hosting kick-backs at either his room or mine. Don't get me wrong, we still went to classes and actually did the work, we just weren't as stressed out about it as other students were. It was just before winter break when we heard that the school was piloting a "career preparedness" program in the spring. Apparently, they'd match you with someone who was already working in your field and they'd have you intern with them, or shadow them, or something for a semester. They said it was all expenses paid, they'd get you a hotel to stay at during the program, and the bes...

Woah, I can't believe it actually worked! Oh wow... look at all this fur, and this beard! Ha! I've never been able to grow a beard this full, this bushy! Let's see these arms... ooh! There's some nice muscle under this fat, and speaking of fat... I know Fred mentioned he was a bit "portly," but it's still a surprise seeing so much gut attached to me. Hm, it's got a nice a jiggle to it. Right, let's get out of bed and- woah! Well, isn't this a nice surprise, I wonder if Fred normally sleeps nude or if he wanted to leave me a little surprise when I woke up. Hm, he's cut. I guess that's not too surprising, but it'll take some getting used to. God, this body just feels amazing! Oh! The phone... "Hello? Fred? Yeah! You were right, it worked!"

I always get too excited about finding a new mark and end up possessing them way too early. Take Thomas Alton, for example, I'd knew his office must've been somewhere in the building I worked at since I saw him pretty regularly. And I'd started developing something of a crush on him. Sure, he wasn't the most conventionally attractive man, but he was tall, and walked with a certainty that gave him a certain, irresistible gravitas. I couldn't help but stare whenever he walked past me on his way to the elevators, his leather loafers clicking on the linoleum floors. I might've been somewhat obsessed with the man. So when I happened to bump into him in the bathroom I saw my chance and I took it. I quickly formed a plan, and once his back was to me as he leaned over the sink to wash his hands, I tackled him and pressed my body against his. Thomas cried out startled, and started struggling, asking what the hell I was doing, but it was only a few seconds until his flesh...

It had been a few weeks now since James Samuels and I had switched bodies. I'd been on a road trip down to the coast when my car broke down in the middle of nowhere. Thankfully I was able to get it towed to the nearest town with a garage. James was one of the mechanics there, he was tall, with a weight to his frame that made him seem solid, a sweet guy and a middle-aged bachelor. He offered me to crash at his place until my car was fixed. And so, trying not blush, I accepted. James lived in what I could only describe as half of a duplex. His house was tall and narrow. Its paint faded and its wood beams chipped. It sat at the end of a long, unpaved driveway, surrounded by tall, spindly trees which provided the property shade and an air of privacy. It didn't take long for the strange to occur. After a surprisingly delicious dinner prepared by my guest, I settled comfortably on the couch while James retired to his bedroom upstairs. The next morning I groggily awakened, feeling str...

When I performed the body swap spell, I knew where my soul landed would be unpredictable; but I still couldn't believe I landed in the middle of some family reunion. I seemed to be in possession of the body of one of the family men. I'm trying to gather information about my situation without arousing suspicion. Judging from the conversations around me, I've landed halfway across the country, somewhere in the Midwest. People ask me about "my" 56th birthday party last week. (I manage to please people with vague statements of, "Oh it was great! Should've been there;" spoken in a warm and gritty voice.) Problem was, I felt extremely horny. I thought my new body was so attractive, and the way I could feel the weight of my gut, the coarseness of a mature man's hands, and the strength of my tall, thick legs... it was more than I could take. I kept escaping to the bathroom just to stare at my reflection. I couldn't have enough of just drinking myself...