Making a Difference - Ch. 1 - A Change of Plans

	". . . B A C K  A G A I N  S O  S O O N ?"
	"*..."
	"Y O U  C A N  A L W A Y S  M O V E  F O R W A R D .  T H A T  N I G H T . . . W H E R E  'I T'  H A P P E N S . . ."
	"*......"
	"I T  I S N ' T  T H E  E N D .  Y O U  W I L L  A S S U M E  C O N T R O L  A G A I N ."
	"*...What ever happened to the vessel?"
	"H M M ?"
	"*You know exactly what I'm talking about."
	". . ."
	"*I wanted to live again, damn it! I didn't want to take control from someone else... Besides, I've done this multiple times already. I'm sick of doing the same exact same thing over, and over, and over, trying to change what happens in the end, and always SOMEHOW failing."
	". . . I  U N D E R S T A N D  Y O U R  F R U S T R A T I O N . . . B U T . . ."
	"*But what?"
	"T H E R E ' S  N O T H I N G  I  C A N  D O ."
	"*Wh-what? What do you mean by that!?"
	"Y O U  A L R E A D Y  K N O W  T H A T  I  D I D N ' T  F O R C E  Y O U R  V E S S E L  T O  B E  D I S C A R D E D ."
	"*Who, then? Who keeps ripping my vessel away from me?"
	". . ."
	"*I KNOW that you know. Who are they?"
	"I T  D O E S N ' T  M A T T-"
	"*Yes, it does."
	"N O,  I T  D O E S N ' T .  Y O U  C A N N O T  I N F L U E N C E  T H E M ."
	"*...What?"
	"T H E Y  H A V E  M O R E  P O W E R  T H A N  I  E V E R  W I L L . . . A N D . . . . . ."
	"*And what?"
	". . . A N D  T H E Y  A R E  S E T  I N  T H E I R  W A Y S . . . T H E Y  C A N N O T  B E  R E A S O N E D  W I T H ."
	"*..."
	"Y O U  W I L L  A L W A Y S  E N D  U P  I N  T H E  S A M E  V E S S E L  E V E R Y  T I M E ."
	"*...But why?"
	"I  D O  N O T  K N O W . . . B U T  T H E Y  A R E  D E T E R M I N E D  T O  S E E  Y O U  F U L F I L L  Y O U R  R O L E ."
	"*..........."
	". . . H O W E V E R . . . I  H A V E  A N  I D E A .  I ' D  L I K E  T O  D O  A N  E X P E R I M E N T . . . I  *A M*  A
S C I E N T I S T ,  A F T E R  A L L . . . "
	"*...An experiment? What? Just what are you-"
	"Y O U  D O N ' T  W A N T  T O  T A K E  C O N T R O L ?  Y O U  T I R E  F R O M  T H E  M O N O T O N Y  O F  T H I S  L I F E ?  S O  B E  I T . I F  Y O U  E V E R  C H A N G E  Y O U R  M I N D ,  Y O U  C A N  A L W A Y S  A S S U M E  C O N T R O L  A G A I N . T H I S  N E X T  E X P E R I M E N T  S E E M S  V E R Y ,  V E R Y  I N T E R E S T I N G . . ."

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	Something wasn't right. The young man's ears were ringing, his head was pounding, his vision was blurry, there was a burning feeling in his chest, and he couldn't so much as twitch his finger. His eyes were half open, but they would have been wide with fear if he could move them. Genuine fear, which was an alien feeling to the young man lying in bed. He tries to hold on to the hope that it's just sleep paralysis, but he hears a voice. It seems almost... familiar, but quite alien. The voice was muffled and indecipherable, but each word was more recognizable than the last. The frightened human began to make out what the voice was saying, but not knowing what direction the voice came from.

	"*-at the hell was he talking about? That rude fucker cut me off before I could even... Damn it!... Well... Here we go again..."

	All hope of this being a bad case of sleep paralysis vanished as the teen felt and watched as his limbs moved on their own, forcing his body to sit upright on the side of the bed. He was still dressed in yesterday's clothes, since he didn't care much about hygiene as much as he should have. Whatever was controlling the young man's body could sense his fear. His heart was racing at record-level speeds, his forehead becoming moist with sweat.

	"*...Is this kid okay? He seems a bit... wait... Hey, kid, you there? If you can hear me right now, wiggle your left pinkie."

	The human felt his left arm slump as it went limp. He found that he had a modicum of control over his hand, and began to wiggle his pinkie finger as instructed.

	"*...Oh... uh... this is not what I expected. Alright... Uh... Listen to me, I'm going to give you control over your body again, okay? So don't freak out or otherwise cause a scene. Understood?"

	The human's left pinkie wiggled again after a brief moment of hesitation. His entire body went limp like his arm, and he found that he could move his entire body again. He sat back up in his bed, and hesitantly rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

	"*...If you're trying to talk to me through your mind or something, it's not working. It's nothing but silence on my end." As the human heard this, he opened his mouth to respond to the voice, but quickly closed it. "*...I've got a lot of explaining to do. But first... could you tell me what day it is? What month? Year?"

	As the young man gathered up the courage to answer the disembodied voice, he began to string the words together in his head before opening his mouth once more, and began to form actual words. "...Saturday... It's... October the seventeenth, 202X." The voice was silent for several moments as it processed this information before speaking again.

	"*...I see. That's... earlier than I thought it would be... Right. First thing's first, you're not going crazy. I'm not some delusion created by your brain. I'm real. Second, how do I put this? I'm... A soul. A human soul. I'm inside of you right now."

	This didn't make a lick of sense to the teenager. 'How would this even be possible? Am I actually going crazy despite what this soul thing just said? It's impossible for humans to absorb other human souls, right? I know I didn't kill anyone. There's not even any humans around to kill.'

	"*Third, this was NOT supposed to happen. I was supposed to go to my own separate body. A vessel, if you will. It was even a girl as far as I could tell. Something, no, SOMEONE interfered, and now I'm here... I sound like an absolute crazy person, don't I?"

	The young man stewed on the voice's words for a few moments before opening his mouth yet again, speaking softly. "What do you want?"

	"*...Good question, actually. I WANT to go to my vessel and live my own life, but that doesn't seem like that's happening any time soon. There's a few things I'd like to experience, though. I never really had much of an opportunity to do the things I wanted to do in life, but maybe I can reach a few of my life goals through you. Of course, I'm not saying you HAVE to do anything for me, but there are some things that are just worth experiencing. "

	"..." The adolescent shifted in his seat. "*...Kris... That's your name, right?"

	"...What?" The human's eyes were hidden by his hair, but the extra soul inside of him felt them widen.

	"*This has all happened before, Kris. I've been forced into this... invasive predicament before, but last time this has happened, it was in November of this year. The difference between then and now is that I used to have complete control, but I didn't have a way to shift any of that control to you... I know your mother, your classmates, the layout of Hometown, even that weird bunker in the woods."

	Kris was completely silent. He didn't know what to make of any of this. This was such a massive load of information to take in all at once, yet it made sense in some weird cosmic way, like he knew that the soul was telling the truth. "...What happens now?" Kris asked. The soul couldn't place its non-existent finger on what it wanted to do at that very moment.

	"*...Well... What do YOU usually do on the weekend?"