“Why is this happening?”

I coughed feeling the fogginess lift.

“I’m not sure; I told you this was too dangerous to leave him under there.”

I opened my eyes with unclear eyes. Standing before me was Scorves and Dr. Marshall with some other man.

“This boy is ours now; we must fix him before the convention.” The man said.

Alarms in my head sounded off all over the place. They were going to show me off to others? I was theirs? What happened to me when I was elsewhere?

“This is disturbing, but he must go on.” The man finished.
My heart leapt.

“Scorves ruined him; don’t ruin him more!” Dr. Marshall exclaimed.

My eyes finally cleared completely allowing me to pick up the details. The man had red greying hair wearing expensive dark rimmed glasses. His eyes carried sorrow, but his face shown cold hard emotions. The only thing that looked friendly about him were the freckles that splashed his face.

The man had been through a rough time judging by the bags under his eyes. His clothes suggested he’d finally gotten a hold of it. His father had taught him to be that way. To not give up on his quest, sure he’d had a rough childhood but this helped him.

This would’ve helped him much more than some treehouse made with sweat and blood.

“This boy will be going to surgery in fifteen minutes and that’s final.” The man rumbled.
I swallowed down finally coming to my senses.

If they took me to surgery who knows what would happen.

“What’s going on?” I groaned.
All three of them looked at me. Scorves walked to me.

“We are going to get those thoughts out of your head.” Scorves said for the first time in the conversation.
Just as I thought. They were going to mess with my head.

“Don’t mess with my head!” I blurted.
The man walked over.

“There’s nothing to be worried about Dalton, we’re only going to take a brain scan.” He comforted me.
I felt as though he was lying. He just looked like it. Weston’s reflexes were starting to kick in.

I looked around finding myself in a normal room lying on a bed, but there was once again a window that overlooked it. They would be able to see everything I did.

The room was a lot smaller than the one I was in before as I could see where the door stood.

“An MRI?” I questioned him. He nodded slowly.
Obviously he wasn’t telling the truth but from the look of Scorves I was going either way. He sucked in air.

“You are a difficult one.” Scorves said.
I gulped. He stood in front of me with a blood chilling glare.

“You see that window?” He asked me.
I followed his finger south.

I watched as Dr. Marshall moved out of the way and a light appeared. Five security guards stood there staring down at me.

“Those guards will be on you within a second if you try anything.” He said.
It was clear he was in charge of security. The man sighed.

“Relax Scorves he just doesn’t remember me.” The man grinned.
I sat up.

“You first met me after our agent brought you to the police station.” He started.

I relaxed feeling the flashes come on. The images of a young man with dark brown hair in baggy clothes sitting on a bench. His dark green eyes glowed as tears fell from his eyes.

One Year And A Half Ago


There was no sign of my dad anywhere. After he had fled leaving me with the man, he had shoved me into a black car. The odd thing was that it was a limo. Judging by the house we had tried to rob that car was too expensive, but here I was in the police station.

I sneezed feeling the spit fly from my mouth. The man stood in front of the police desk complaining as though I had actually taken something.

I looked around getting familiar with my scenery. The policemen stood off to the side in a see through room arguing back and forth. To my surprise doughnuts sat in the middle of a long feeble table.

I turned my head to the right sensing a pair of eyes on me. A man stood next to me smiling down. How creepy he was. Judging by the smile I knew that he was looking for me. I don’t know why or how, but he was. He didn’t wear a police uniform or carry a badge, but he certainly had the demeanor to.

He stretched out his hand gesturing for a hand shake. I didn’t want to shake this man’s hand without any knowledge of him whatsoever.

“I’m Chad Maxwell.” He greeted me.
I cleared my throat. His hand still hung before me urging me to shake it.

“This is him over here.”

I turned as the man returned to me with a glare. A policeman followed behind him.

I thought he was talking about me, but they both turned to the man whom just introduced himself to me.

Was this the man my father tried to rob? Chad shook the policeman’s hand then turned to me.

“I hear that this young man has been here before.” He said.
I didn’t like where this was going.

The policeman nodded. I vaguely remembered the man as I’d only been around him a few times. His long slick black hair blew back as the door opened from outside.

“It’s been a while Dalton.” The policeman said.

“And his father is a convicted criminal.” Chad continued.
The policeman hesitated but nodded.

“Do you want to press charges or not?” The policeman questioned Chad.
Chad squinted down at me.

“What would happen to the boy?” Chad asked him. The policeman sighed.

“Well Dalton has just turned sixteen; it’s about time he’s convicted.” He said.
Chad shook his head.

“I have the papers to collect the boy.” Chad said. The policeman looked a little eerie.

“What are you getting at?” He snapped.
He rested his hand on my shoulder.

“I won’t press charges, but I would like to teach Dalton some life lessons; I’m supposed to take the boy.” He said.

What was going on? What man in the right mind would ask a police officer for me? They knew I was a regular and that my dad was too.
Chad bit his lip.

“Look at him; he’s skin and bones!” Chad exclaimed.
I looked down at my torso. I was not!

“If you want to adopt him you’ll have to go to court.” The policeman said.
He turned his back to Chad.

“I already have; I mentioned the papers” Chad said.
The policeman turned hanging his head.

Chad pulled out some forms. The policeman grabbed them staring them down.

“Jasper signed these?” He asked Chad.
Chad nodded. What? My father signed papers! Unheard of! Something was definitely up and I wasn’t going to go with him.

I grabbed the papers. Sure enough my father’s signature was sprawled across the paper. My heart dropped. This couldn’t happen!

“Looks as though he’s yours.” The policeman said.
He was so not going by the rulebook! Shouldn’t he be checking this out?

“Give us a minute.” Chad told the policeman.
I stood up. My father was a criminal. He was heartless at times and he was an alcoholic, but he was a good parent! He would never sign those papers!

“Cheer up, Dalton I’m saving you from prison and a life of poverty.” He said.
The man that took me here stood there silent.

“I don’t believe those papers.” I said.
He looked into my eyes searching for something.

“This is why I have chosen you.” He spoke aloud.
I was so confused.

“Why have you done this?” I asked.

“You have impressed me by many occasions.” He said.
My head pounded.


I opened my eyes as my ears rung as though it were a phone. Chad sat before me. The man that was now my legal foster parent and the man that brought me here. The man that ordered Scorves to cut into my brain.

“Your name is Chad.” I said.
He nodded and stood up.

“Do you feel any urges?” He questioned me. Already?

“I just woke up.” I said.
He seemed to think about this.

“You said that I impressed you by many occasions; what did you mean?” I interrogated him. He leaned against the wall.

“Things that you won’t understand right now.” He replied.

“You dug into my brain didn’t you?” I asked.
He nodded.

“We had to get you fixed before…” He trailed off.

“The convention.” I finished.
Surprise covered his face.

“How’d you know?” He asked.
The urge to fight again rose. I guess they hadn’t fixed me.

“I heard you talking before you sent me spiraling off.” I said.
I had no idea why I was telling him all this.

“You will be shown off to buyers.” He said.
The urge raised about ten times more.

“You haven’t told me the whole thing.” I said clenching my jaw.
He took a deep breath in.

“In order to get the machine to work we had to seek out someone like you.” He explained. What?

“You are compatible Dalton; you have the parts needed to work the machine.” He said.
I stood up. The window I saw before gazed back at me. Scorves stood in front of the window looking down at me.

“What do you mean?” I questioned him.

“You have enough brain to operate the machine, if you were normal we would’ve had to have added to you.” He said.
I felt my muscles tense up.

“You are a million dollar boy.” He said.
I shook my head.

“I suppose I don’t have a choice in this.” I said.
He nodded.

“You are owned by Youknighted.” He said.
What had my former self gotten me into?

“How are you going to show me off?” I asked.
He grinned. I could just see the money falling into his palm right now.

“You will be going back into the machine.” He said.
My heart throbbed. This was terrible! I didn’t want to become Weston again!

“You can’t make me go back!” I snapped. He closed his eyes.

“The choice has already been made.” He said.
I shook my head.

“But I’m still having the urges!” I exclaimed.
He looked to the window, but Scorves was already coming.

“Weston will not control you as long as you resist him.” Scorves said. His urges were already coming. The urges to find purpose.

They plunged me into a tube filled in Jell-O like goo. The wires connected to my arms warmed my body as a moment ago I had been freezing. I couldn’t blame my body as I had been stripped down to my boxers a moment ago.

The men had forced me to do so as today was the day. Today was the day everyone waited for. I was to be presented to everyone. All the buyers would be coming today. Chad had isolated me in the room focusing on my urges from Weston. The urges had gotten more and more frequent, but with going in and out of the machine, they called the Viewsion, I got better at it.


The tank I was in was see through so they could plug me into the machine through the tank. The breathing tubes up my nose cleared the room and need for air. I looked out the tank. Scorves and Chad stood in front ordering men and women all over the place.

Dr. Marshall stood behind me connecting the wires. I assumed that the machine sat behind me. The one I had been in before was just a very basic machine, but this one was made for display. They had made this one much more expensive and more comfortable.

I stared down at the goo. It hardened around me, but yet still felt comfortable. This reminded me of the cornstarch and water physics experiment. I don’t remember how I knew this, but there it was.

“We are going to plug you in now Dalton.” Dr. Marshall warned. I bore down into his eyes. This terrified me and he knew it.

“You will find yourself wandering this world as your corpus callosum processes the information and creates it.” He continued.

I remembered something about the corpus callosum. The part of the brain that helps create creativity. Without it I’m sure this machine would’ve never been created.

Scorves leaned against the wall waving goodbye and then just like that I was gone.


It almost felt like passing out. You feel nothingness. You feel the darkness looming over you, but you can’t do a thing. Not a single thing. It’s not like a dream when you sleep peacefulness. It’s just black and it’s not pleasant. It almost felt like I was going to stay there forever struggling to run from the black above me and then I felt a rush. A rush that pulled me out of the black quicksand and landed me on cement. Into a new mind.

Kai Wilkins
My thoughts were jumbled at first as I couldn’t remember what I was doing then my mind got the memo. Above my head bright green letters told me the answer. Processing. I was still processing the information required to do my job.

I looked around the streets. Women and men alike rushed back and forth from building to building. The sun shined streaks of yellow and orange above and the cars flew past. I sat down at a bench that appeared in front of me and an old woman after me. She smiled.

“Hello Kai, you’ve been gone awhile.”

It was gran. Gran that took care of me as a child. Her life had been rough until she’d decided to keep the baby her father despised. Everyone had called the baby wretched, that it didn’t deserve to live. She didn’t think so. No matter who her baby daddy was she loved the baby all the same.

That night tied in the back of the truck had gotten her this baby. The baby that had no father. The baby that was hers.

After raising this baby the baby had turned into a fine young man that had a family of his own. Bringing Gran me. After the accident that took my parents Gran had raised me teaching her ways of wisdom. I’d heard the story thousands of times.

“I know Gran I’m sorry.” I said grabbing her hand.

“I’ve missed you so, Kai.” She said.
I grabbed my suitcase and looked back out at the limo sitting behind me.

“Let’s go.” I said pulling her along.
We stepped into the limo grinning each other down. This was going to be great.

“Go to Wilkins mansion.” I ordered.
The driver turned around slowly.

“I’m sorry sir; they made me.” He said. Anger spread over my face.

“What are you talking about?” I questioned him.

The door flung open and men in masks covered the way out. They were dressed in all black carrying guns.

The adrenaline kicked in and I looked over at Gran whom seemed to have peed herself.

“Get out of here!” I yelled at her.
She snapped into action having done this before. People could never let me rest with my day job.

“Kai you won’t cheat death today!” One of the men yelled.
I threw my suitcase at the guy’s stomach shoving him out of the way. I wasn’t going down today. I punched the guy nearest to him and soon guns were being fired.

Kai Wilkins was no coward. I coughed feeling the force of a leg plunge into my stomach. I took a deep breath. This wouldn’t bring me down. I leapt up off of the ground kicking.

With that there was only one man left. I scanned the area for Gran.

“Kai!”

My Gran’s voice shrilled with fright. A gun shot sounded off. Panic settled in.

“Gran!” I screamed.
I whipped around finding my Gran flying back a few feet behind me. One of the men stood over her.

Fury melded over me and I shot towards the man. No matter how much fear the man had on his face. I would get to him and he would die.

Before I got to him I had to stop. Searing pain came over me then suddenly I was floating away with images flashing in front of me. My heart stopped leaving the scene and disappearing elsewhere.

The man stopped and the scenery dissipated taking me back to the nothingness.

I coughed opening my eyes. Chad looked at me with wide eyes then to Dr. Marshall. I looked around. Dozens of people stood around the tank watching me. I looked around my arms finding them still encased in the goo. I yanked up not achieving any progress.

A television was on in front of me cutting out. I looked over at Chad whom seemed to get back to selling the machine.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the Viewsion!” He exclaimed.
They clapped staring at me in awe.

With my mind finally getting back to itself I could see the details. Everyone wore high class apparel. Only a few wore military outfits. From the looks of it he had everyone that was important here.

I scanned the area for Dr. Marshall wanting to desperately get out of here.

“Any questions?” Chad asked.
One of the military men raised his hand.

“Mr. Maxwell, if what you say is true then sell it to me.” He said.
Chad seemed to think about it.

“This machine delves into the minds of others, mysteries are solved, no wars are needed and hands the kids more stuff to do.” He said.
I looked around finding that everyone was so very interested. That is, until they find out about the surgery the clients would have to go through. I wonder how they would explain that.
I could just see that. Oh, by the way, we have to cut into your brain. Sounds fun!
“What about this young lad over here?” The military man asked.
The more I heard from this man the more I liked him. He walked a few feet away from me smiling up at me. His face was very friendly. His eyes were the friendliest about him as they grinned at me. His head was bald and he wore a hat. A scar ran down his jaw and stubble began to grow.
He was obviously the general as I could tell by his uniform and his hat. From the badge he wore he was a marine whom seemed to have made it big.
He was truly a hero. He was thinking about me and that was it for me.
“How is he affected with this?” He questioned Chad.
Chad seemed to be getting nervous.
“Well he’s….” Chad started.
“Why don’t you let him out so we can ask him?” The military man asked.
Chad looked to Scorves whom seemed to be in love with my eyes as he hadn’t moved them since I’d awoken.
I felt as though Chad was beginning to hate this man.
“It would give us more information.” A woman in the crowd agreed.
If I could have talked I would have. I wanted to so badly get out of there as I was beginning to feel claustrophobic. I was also starting to inherit Kai’s thoughts and urges. As if I couldn’t concentrate on being myself already! Weston and Kai would certainly have to fight it out.
“Give us a moment.” Chad said urging Dr. Marshall to pull me out.
Soon I felt breathing air surge through me and make me feel weak. Once Dr. Marshall and Scorves dug me out I stumbled over into the military man. He grabbed my arm and steadied me pulling me in.
“You may be their property, but I can get you out of this.” He said.
I looked at him with newfound interest. He knew something other than just the project. He knew about me. Who was he?
He let go of me letting Scorves pull me away, but before he did so I held onto his shirt.
“Thank you.” I whispered.
He nodded with a smile.

“If we deny them they’ll lose interest.” Scorves argued.
“They’re too close and Dalton here isn’t too stable!” Dr. Marshall exclaimed.
I guess the table changed. Scorves and Dr. Marshall flip-flopped.
Chad paced back and forth obviously nervous. Scorves looked out toward the crowd waiting for us to make our way back out.
“Weston isn’t the only one in my head.” I announced.
Everyone turned to me as if they just realized I was there.
“And how did you stop the showing?” Chad questioned me.
He looked at me with such anger. Anger that burned my heart. It wasn’t like this was my fault! I didn’t even remember who I was!
“I don’t know; there was just a flash.” I muttered.
He shook his head.
“That’s not good enough!” He hissed.
“There’s nothing else I can do!” I snapped.
Scorves sighed.
“They’re getting bored; we’ve got to make a decision!” He exclaimed.
Chad stopped in front of me.
“You will talk to them and will tell nothing of the side effects!” He snapped.
He grabbed onto the shirt I was forced into a moment ago.
I swallowed down hard. If it kept going at this rate, I would let Kai come out.
“I will tell whatever comes up!” I snapped back.
He glared me down with such intensity.
“We’ve got to go!” Scorves exclaimed again.
“Let’s go.” Chad replied.
I looked at Dr. Marshall for some help. He didn’t hold any as he shrugged. I was going to go out there against my will.
When we walked out the military man stood up straight looking at me for assurance. Who was this man?
The crowd roared to life bringing with them engagement. They were ready to hear from me.
“Dalton will speak with anyone who has questions.” Chad announced.
The crowd immediately dispersed heading for me. I guess I was engaging.
I scanned the room. Chad’s eyes bore through my skull as everyone encircled me. Oh how I loved this.
The military man was the first to pull me aside from the crowd. He knew what he wanted when he came here and now he got it.
He scanned the room searching for any listening ears then moved further away.
“Dalton Shaw; you’re quite hard to find.” He murmured.
Hmm. So that was my last name, but how did this man know me? And why was he looking for me?
“If you don’t mind me asking sir, who are you?” I questioned him. He looked around the room again. Chad looked like he was about ready to pry us apart.
He seemed to sense this too.
“In time you’ll know, but I must know are you in any trouble?” He whispered.
“Nod slowly for yes, nod normally for no.” He said. I nodded slowly thinking of the consequences.
“I will find you again, don’t worry.” He said turning to meet our invader. Scorves grinned.
“I think it’s time for Dalton to talk to the others.” He said.
The military man nodded.
“That was some interesting information you told me.” He told me.
“It was a pleasure.” I forced a smile.
“I hope to meet you again sometime in the future.” I said.
Scorves grabbed my arm. I glanced down at it with anger boiling. Weston. I wonder how many people I would become.
“Let’s go Dalton.” He said. I took a deep breath turning from the man.

The air smelled of maple syrup. The sweet crisp smell woke me from a daze that seemed to come after the guests left. It all seemed to go well as everyone kept saying they would come back in time to buy the Viewsion as they were very impressed. The military man was one of them. I don’t know what it was with him and me, but I seemed to trust him. He was different from the rest and came there for me not Viewsion.
I just wanted to get out of here. This place creeped me out and they liked to dehumanize me.
“You are very surprising.” Dr. Marshall marveled.
I pulled my arm away. He had grabbed my arm and was checking up on me for I guess you would say a physical. He had begun to study every detail of my body and now it was staring to become strange.
My arm ached for some odd reason and my head felt as though someone had jumbled my brains.
“I told you guys I don’t remember how I did it!” I snapped.
Dr. Marshall held his arms up.
“I know.” He replied simply.
I ripped the wires off my chest and stood up.
“Tell me of my life.” I blurted.
He looked at me questionably.
“What’s brought this up?” He interrogated me.
I sucked in air. The fact was I didn’t know for sure. It just came out.
“Well first of all I don’t even know who I am.” I answered.
He took a deep breath.
“That doesn’t matter anymore Dalton.” He said.
I shook my head.
“It does; if I’m going to become others I need to know who I am!” I yelled.
He sat down.
“I suppose you would.” He said.
I nodded.
“If you guys want me to hold onto myself then I need to know who that is.” I clarified.
“You are Dalton Shaw; a seventeen year old boy.” He said.
Like I didn’t already figure that out. He said I was sixteen when they first found me. That was a year and a half ago.
“Tell me about how I was, not my name!” I snapped.
He cleared his throat.
“You were a little…ignorant to the world around you; you believed that the world could be changed.” He said.
Sounds like something I would do. I think anyway.
“You never listened until we let you have your first run in the Viewsion.” He said.
The flashes returned.
Have you ever fainted before? You know when you start to feel dizzy, lose all concentration then drift off to nothingness. This is what it felt like every time those flashes came over me. It was like I was there drifting off for however long it took. It felt like fainting, but then I would drift off to a dreamlike state. It was quite weird.

There stood a tall dark toned man. His physique impaled me with fear as he pulled me along. Chad stood in front of me waiting for us to catch up. He was clearly in a hurry and since we weren’t providing him the rush he glared at us. I don’t remember when we got to the building as I had been trying to zone all of this out. It was all just so… intense. My father never came leaving me with these strange people.
Chad had forced me out of the police station right away instantly ambushing me with the dark toned man. The man had grabbed my arm right away squeezing it to the point I felt my muscle was going to break.
Apparently, Chad had expected a fight from me even before he met me. As soon as I had actually started to struggle due to the grip I was shoved into the long slick black car again. What these men wanted with me I had no idea, but it definitely wasn’t good. I looked around the car as Chad sat on one side of me and the dark toned man on the other.
The man that took me here sat in the front nodding at Chad. This couldn’t have been worse and right after I had warned Dad about this. About the consequences of getting caught but, It wasn’t my dad this time, it was me and I suffered for his mistake.
I shook my head. What was I thinking? My dad had done everything for me. This guy was getting into my head. I didn’t really believe the guy about my dad, did I?
I glared over at the freckled man. He sat with stupendous posture also staring at me.
“You’re a liar.” I said
He sighed and slid over closer to me.
“You can’t prove that.” He said.
This just confirmed that.
“I know you are, don’t try to cover it up.” I snarled.
He looked taken aback.
He turned to the dark toned man and nodded. The man grabbed my arm pulling me closer to him and Chad looked forward.
“You’ll learn soon enough about how we work.” He said and stared out the window.
“Whatever.” I said glaring to the front.
Thinking about this just made the dark toned man pull me harder. I guess zoning out was making it harder on him. Good. They all deserved it. Chad turned back to me.
“Making it harder on him won’t save you from us.” He sighed pointing to the dark toned man.
“If it frustrates you it’s enough for me.” I said.
“You’re just all daisies and sunshine, aren’t you?” He groaned.
“I am if you take me from my home!” I replied.
The dark toned man walked through a door shoving me into a seat. Chad stood in front of the chair glaring down.
“Are you sure this is the kid?” Chad asked the man.
The man nodded with confidence. Chad scowled at me.
“Looks like you’re stuck with us, and we have our hands full.” He mumbled.
“Scorves, I think it’s time to make this kid aware.” Chad told the dark toned man.
Scorves sighed gazing at me. I stood up ready to run for it.
“I wouldn’t try to run out of here, you’d be intercepted within a second.” Scorves said.
I frowned. Why couldn’t I just be left alone?
“What would you say if I could give you a new life, a life that you get to lead without consequences?” Scorves questioned me.
Hmm…
“What do you mean?” I cautioned.
Scorves looked to Chad.
“Are you sure I should be the one to tell him?” He asked.
Chad nodded watching me.
I scanned his face for any reaction. Nothing.

“You will be going into a machine, a machine that places you into a new body where you can mess around and discover new things.” He informed me.

This didn’t sound too good. I knew there was always another part to someone’s intentions.

“What’s in it for you?” I questioned.

Scorves smiled thinly nodding his head.

“We need someone to test this machine out, you fit the profile perfectly.” He admitted.

“You mean that I’m a teenager so I will act reckless and won’t question anything.” I Proclaimed.

Chad giggled, but Scorves didn’t find this so amusing.

“You are different than other teenagers, that is why we have picked you.” He groaned.

He wasn’t telling the whole truth. I’m guessing it was due to an unfaithful father. He stood like a man and acted like man so his father had been a big part of his life. Due to the lying part and that he hadn’t shown an ounce of emotion his father had been split from his mother which meant that he had been unfaithful. His father had made him very strong so he hadn’t cared although he missed his mother from time to time.

“I know you’re not telling me the whole truth, if you were then I wouldn’t see that fake grin that spreads across your face when you lie because you think you have fooled them.” I announced.

The smile disappeared from his face. I had made an impression on him. I didn’t think it was a good one and that was fine. It was all the same, as I knew they would put me into the machine either way. It didn’t sound too bad anyway.

“He’s a smart one I’ll tell you that, Scorves.” Chad laughed.

I turned to him raising my brow. I could say something about him too.

“You’re not much better, with your father always leaving you alone to go to the bar; you found ways to hide his money so he wouldn’t leave.” I declared.

He stopped laughing scowling at me. I grinned. I liked messing with idiots like those two. Of course I had no idea to know for sure, but with the most common scenarios I was mostly right when it decided to show off.

“I refuse to go into the machine as it is still experimental; you guys don’t trust it yourselves, which is why you have found someone like me, if something goes wrong you don’t have to worry about the paper work.” I said turning to Scorves.

Both men looked shocked. Just the way I liked it.

“How could you know that?” Scorves interrogated me.

I cracked my knuckles clearing my throat. They didn’t need to know.

“I get around.” I clarified.

Both of them stood with their lying jaws hanging out.

“You can take me back home now.” I said.

I knew I hadn’t shown them any ounce of brains when I was out and about and that’s what made them so shocked. This was always my favorite part of meeting new people. No one ever expects to hear any of that from me.

I licked my lips waiting for any kind of action.

“Well, Scorves, you picked the only kid in America that can jeopardize our project.” Chad declared.

I giggled. These people had no idea what they were getting into.

“He’s going to have to be the one.” Scorves said.

“He is the one, the only one.” Chad argued.

I yawned. Well, this could take a while.

“You’re not going anywhere, kid.” Scorves said.

I sighed. I knew this would happen.

“Fine, what is this machine?” I asked.

Scorves looked to Chad who just shrugged.
He figured the less they had to deal with the better.

“It’s called the Viewsion, you will be put into the machine to test it out, if it goes okay we will keep you in there for a long period of time, if we like the results we’ll see about getting you back home.” Chad responded.

I thought of the other outcomes. They could either take me back or they could force me into the machine. It was a 50/50 shot. I’d say the deal was fair enough for the probable outcomes.

“Okay deal, but what are you shooting for with this machine?” I asked.

Chad sighed pushing back the hair that always seemed to slip out from behind his ear.

“We are planning to sell this for the money, really.” He said.

Scorves eyes grew wide as Chad said this.

“What, we can’t hide it from the kid anyway.” He said.

He was so wrong, but I wouldn’t let them know that.

“So you tell me that I’m going to be placed into someone else’s body; I presume that it’s like a videogame otherwise you wouldn’t have asked a teenager.” I assumed.

“Precisely.” Chad responded.

I thought as much.

“I guess I’ll go in, what do you want this machine to do for others?” I asked.

“I believe this could end wars, give people the views of people in different classes, end fights...” he trailed off.

That sounded perfect. No wars or fights. People would understand each other and we could live in peace. There would be no more stealing for Dad and I. This thought filled my head. If only that would be possible.

“Let’s go.” I urged them.

Chad looked to Scorves with a smile.

“Ya heard him, take him to Marshall.” He replied.

I stared off into space awaiting the tour to Marshall. The only thought in mind was the Viewsion.


By gazing around the room Dr. Marshall had left me to figure out whom I was. He had known I would pass out and took his leave. At least I wasn’t strapped into any machine to wake up to him creepily stare at me.

The room didn’t look much bigger than the rooms I had been in already, but it was an improvement. I actually had a light this time. Maybe they realized I wasn’t going to snoop around this evil corporation.

I sat up pushing back the strand of wavy hair that had fallen into my eyes. My hair had grown longer than I had seen it throughout my memories. I guess they didn’t have the annual, cut your hair, day. That was all right. The military man would be back any day now.

I thought back to the last memory I had pieced together. That was a perfect metaphor. My mind was a puzzle to piece together.

I had been a smart, wisecracking teenager. I hungered for that feeling again. I needed that feeling again to feel myself again.

I looked around the room studying every detail. The old Dalton had studied every detail that came to him. I could already feel the wisecracker inside of me coming out. I wouldn’t be able to be messed with so much.

My adrenaline boiled my blood. Weston was trying to resurface again. Or possibly Kai, but Kai seemed more relaxed than Weston did.

“Do you remember who you used to be?”

I thought of a wise crack desperately then found one excited.

“I’d say that you know the question to that or you wouldn’t be standing here asking me that, you haven’t gotten any smarter in a year and a half, Chad.” I commented.

Chad faked a smile probably due to the loss of some dumb sap.

“You truly have come back, I knew as soon as Marshall sent your dumbed down self spiraling, that you would come back, here you are.” He admitted.

I thought so. The old Dalton was taking over. I knew that I wasn’t all back, but all of the information and memories started pouring in. I had lost a few things due to the lack of knowledge over a year and a half. I was happy to get out of that trance state I had been in.

“If I hadn’t gotten out of that idiotic mind I would’ve gone insane!” I exclaimed.

Chad snickered holding back the gleam in his eyes.

“The kid was a little ignorant, but he was a lot easier to handle than you and better company too.” He added.

Fair enough. I’m sure I gave him enough hassle for a few years. I scanned the area for Scorves. No doubt, he would be waiting my arrival. Sure enough, I spotted movement from up above in the transparent glass.

“It’d be easier to hear the conversation from down here, Scorves.” I hollered.

A minute later, the gaze from Scorves stood next to me with frustration. I’m sure I was a lot easier on them back then.