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"Hello my love, I'm glad you came back."
A hollow, rusty voice pulls me out of unconsciousness and back to reality. But as soon as Isabella opens her eyes, I realize that something is not right.
"You were teasing me, weren't you? You tried to hide." Isabella's head turns around, examining our surroundings.
I can see that she is tied to a metal chair, positioned inside a big glass tube. Wires are hanging from the ceiling, their ends are connected to her body with suction cups.
"Did you miss me as well?"
The voice is coming from outside the tube and through the glass we look into the face of an older man, probably in his 60s. His grey hair is gelled neatly and a pair of thin-rimmed glasses is sitting on his nose. He watches Isabella as she tries to get up but the cable ties around her ankles and hands won't allow any move.
'What is going on?'
She huffs. "He is that lead designer who built this machine. We're inside his secret laboratory where he mutilated me last time."
She turns to him. "What are you doing? We were supposed to be brought to the IT department!"
The man tilts his head, smiling. "I heard you were coming so I made sure to get my hands on you first. I told them it was probably a mistake on our end and they didn't question it. But my love, aren't you excited to see me? Do you want to know what I have planned?"
He turns around and walks towards an object hidden beneath a white sheet.
'Maybe scream for help?' She shakes her head and whispers: "Tried that last time. Didn't work."
"Isabella, the day I first saw you, I fell in love. So I created a token of affection that will unite us forever." He grabs the fabric.
"I hope it's my body."
The man grins. "Much better."
With more drama than needed, he pulls the sheet away to reveal something that I did not expect.
It is Isabella. But she looks different.
The designer wraps a strand of blonde hair around his finger and looks at fake Isabella lovingly. "I created a new, more improved shell for you. Look, I even made her a bit younger. Isn't she just breathtaking?"
Her anger is growing, the breathing is getting sharp and shaky.
"What is that thing?"
He turns fake Isabella so we can look at her from all sides.
"This, my dearest, is a robot, very similar to the one you are inside right now. There is just one tiny difference."
"And what is that?" Her voice is poisonous and full of disgust. I've never seen her this angry before.
Finally the man turns around to us again and starts walking towards the tube. The smile on his lips is sweet but his eyes are dead.
"I will control you."
"Excuse me?"
"Right now you have full control over your body but once you are inside the optimized version, I will be able to turn off your own will via a remote control whenever I feel like it. You will be the perfect wife."
Suddenly, Isabella's voice is quiet.
"You can't do that."
"Oh, I can." The man walks over to a control panel right next to the tube.
"All I have to do is push this button…" He pushes the button. "And the machine will begin to split your souls to then extract them."
A second later I can feel how Isabella starts to vibrate. She closes her eyes and presses them together, her whole body tenses up trying to stay still.
"S-stop-p."
"Oh, but if I stop now, I won't be able to get your soul into your new body. Don't worry, my love. It won't hurt."
The vibration intensifies and I can feel my own spirit shaking. It is hard to finish any logical thought as I slowly gain form and mass.
Like cotton candy I am being pushed into one corner of the body.
But this also means that I can move again.
I try to get to the other side and find an escape but I immediately bump into something.
Isabella.
The machine has solidified her soul as well which means that she no longer has control over the body.
"Can you hear m-" but before I can finish that sentence, the vibration stops and is being replaced by a loud overbearing noise, close to a vacuum cleaner that is about to explode. I can feel myself shrinking while heating up and before I know it, I'm being sucked out of the body and thrown against the glass of the tube.
Because of my solid state I fall down onto the ground. But at least I can see again.
Only a meter away a greyish cluster is twitching on the floor and I can only assume that it's my friend, trying to move.
"Well, that worked perfectly. Next I'm going to put you into your new body and sublimate your soul again."
The man opens one side of the tube and kneels down next to the chair. He cuts the cable ties with a pair of scissors before he grabs the lifeless shell and throws it over his shoulder.
The opening isn't too far away from me and I try to somehow crawl closer but my inanimate form makes it impossible to escape. I am basically glued to the ground.
Sedated, just waiting for my death.
The man drops the lifeless robot in a corner to then lift up the new Isabella and carry her inside the tube. He puts her onto the chair and ties her up, just like he had done previously.
I look back at Isabella's soul and to my surprise she seems to have figured out how to move and is aiming for the exit.
It is a slow process and I realize that she needs time.
"Hey, you psycho! What about me? What are your plans? Are you just gonna leave me in here?"
The man looks down at my feeble self and smiles.
"Not at all. I will take care of you later." He bends down and picks me up. I'm hardly as big as his hand.
"Let me give you a nice spot so you can watch the show." He puts me down on a small table. It is close to the door but too far away from the machine.
"There you go. First row seats." He walks back to the tube and my imaginary heart drops when I see that Isabella still hasn't made it to the exit.
"Oh, is someone trying to escape? No, my love. You'll have to stay inside."
He closes the tube and heads towards his control panel.
Finally, Isabella speaks up.
"Please. Don't do this to me."
"But darling, we are going to be so happy together! I am giving you a new life, don't be ungrateful."
He pushes another button.
"Please! Don't!" The mortal fear in her voice breaks my heart and I close my eyes so I won't have to look at her.
"Make it stop!"
But the man just laughs. "You don't realize how lucky you are. You will thank me, my love."
I can hear how everything starts vibrating again and I wish I could do something to help.
Anything.
Suddenly, the door bursts open and a woman comes running in.
A woman I know very well.
It's Karen.
Behind her follows a man. Long dark hair is tied together in a ponytail and just like the lead designer, he is wearing a keycard around his neck.
Karen screeches. "Just what do you think you are doing, Lucas? Step away from the machine!"
Lucas, the lead designer, shoots around and lifts up his arms. He seems puzzled for a second but then he goes right back to grinning.
"Now what? How are you going to stop me?"
Karen flips her shoulder length blonde hair. "I have already spoken to management, they'll be here in a second. Right now I'm going to free this poor woman."
She quickly walks over to the tube and tries to find the opening but Lucas is already behind her.
He grabs her head and smashes it against the glass. She slumps and falls onto the ground.
"SHIT! What you think you is doin'?" The man rushes over to her and kneels down but Karen isn't responding.
"You psycho bitch, you gone completely bananas now?"
Wait a second. I recognize that voice.
Could it be…?
"Clark?"
The man jumps up and turns around to me, looking for the person behind the voice but not seeing anyone. "Who dis?"
"Look at the table! It's me, Parker, from that ouija board party. Remember? I accidentally summoned you!"
"Bro!" He hurries over to me and stares at my misery. Then he lifts an eyebrow.
"The f*ck is this?"
"That, my friend, is a solidified soul. Fascinating, isn't it?"
Lucas has crossed his arms behind his back. He smiles.
"My experiment proves that on the inside...we are all hideous. Anyway, I assume you found out about my plans and only waited for proof so you could destroy me?"
Clark turns around to Lucas. His eyes are narrowed. "You is right. I saw what you done did to that lady. I done managed to take her body and hide it in the preservation freezer. You so messy, you didn't even try to look for it."
Lucas laughs.
"Messy? Me? Who cares about that human? My friend, I am pushing science. I am the progress humanity needs. This is only the beginning. If we know how to solidify souls and transfer them, imagine what else we can do! We could eliminate death, make everyone immortal! We could cure diseases simply by taking the souls of the sick and giving them a healthy shell! This...is the future."
Lucas opens his arms and slowly steps back, smiling at me and Clark. I guess he is expecting applause.
"Now excuse me while I return to my wife and te-"
A laptop smashes on Lucas' head and with an 'oomph' he falls to the ground.
"Your wife? Or did you mean sex doll?"
Isabella is standing there. She flips her hair and looks down at him. Then she spits in his unconscious face.
"How did you-"
"A robot can't feel pain. You should know that, Parker."
I look at her wrists and ankles. Bloody weals show her fight against the cable ties.
She drops the laptop and turns to Clark. "You said you had my body? Would you mind showing me the way?"
"Yeah, course!" He carefully grabs me. "I'll bring you two to IT so they can take care of you both. Management should be here any second and handle those two." He points at Lucas and Karen.
As I look at our villain one last time, we start moving.
"What's going to happen to him?"
Clark shrugs. "They'll prolly send him to Hell. Working at Afterlife don't save you from karma."
Right. I wonder how many KP one loses for 'morally questionable experiments on human beings'.
Isabella sighs. "All I care about is being alive again. First thing I'll do when I have my body back is eat cake."
"Ay, I hear ya. Once dis is done, I'll invite you two to our cafeteria. They got vegan muffins there."
Vegan muffins? If I could, I would throw up right now.
Yes, I've become a better person and yadi yadi ya.
But this crosses a line.
I chuckle as I let my eyes wander. "Maybe Hell isn't so bad afterall."