Once upon a time, there was a disaffected young man named Cliff, who did not know what to do with his life. Living a dead-end life of mindless consumption and boring office work, he resigned himself to living a terrifying life of mediocrity.
Then Suddenly one day, CLiff received a flyer for a seminar for a new company that offered the unprecedented chance to live life in someone else’s body. Through an almost-magical network of social media and virtual reality applications, customers are given the ability to take over someone’s body for a fixed period of time and live life as that other person. Cliff eagerly takes this offer and becomes a regular customer, spending hour after hour in someone else’s body, the thrill of taking on new experiences, having new bodies, seeing new people becomes immensely exciting and addictive for him.
But there was one thing that he did not anticipate – falling in love. While in one host body, Cliff finds himself falling for the body’s wife, who does not know he is someone else. He chooses to continue living this lie, using his body to explore this new and fulfilling life with her, without his own body. In the end, however, the real husband finds out, borrows time in Cliff’s body, and kills himself while in it. This leaves our hero in the body of the host, choosing to confess his love to the wife and reveal his true identity. He then sets out on the open road to enjoy life as much as he can before his own unsustainable consciousness deteriorates within the body of the man who killed him.
Dialogue Project:
ME: So what drew you to the body-switching company in the first place?
CLIFF: Well, I simply didn’t like the person I had become. When I grew up, I thought I would have this wonderful life full of excitement and adventure. Instead, I just ended up in a boring office job, getting in and out of loveless relationships, the list goes on. I saw the company as having a chance to live my life in someone else’s shoes for a change.
ME: What about the people whose bodies you’re switching into? Don’t they have a say in what you’re doing to them?
CLIFF: Of course! They sign waivers and everything, and agree to the switching time period. They themselves are switching into another body, usually mine, and living as me for a bit. It’s led to some pretty weird nights, heh. But nothing that we don’t already negotiate beforehand, and there are safe words and rules set in place at all times.
ME: Sounds pretty lonely to me. And sad.
CLIFF: Hey, I don’t see you congratulating yourself on your fantastic life! At least I know I want some variety in my life. I’m tired of the same old day in, day out. So many other people have such fascinating lives, and I want to taste that, just for a second. Falling in love with someone you’ve never met, or giving someone who is in a wheelchair the chance to walk with an able-bodied person’s legsthose kinds of experiences you just can’t replicate any other way. So judge me all you want, but I am perfectly fine with my choices here.
