Mangling Malfunction - Part Three

My eyes dart about in a panic, hastily assessing the sight of the short eighteen-year-old with glasses and pimples dressed in an anime shirt and baggy jeans.

My voice crackles out in a pained croaking gasp, my new vocal cords aching and stinging as the harsh ragged breaths rush against them. Nasal squeaking slips out of me, my mind racing to assess just what the hell had happened to me.

I'm barely five-foot-three, at least according to the anti-theft measurements in the door frame of the storefront, the ratty dirty sneakers likely adding just a little bit to my height. My hair hangs down past my slender narrow shoulders, thick light brown curls drenched by the rain and coated in layers of grease and grime clinging to my neck and face in a disgusting manner.

Mangling Malfunction - Part Two

I don't have much time to really let the disjointed words sink in, my stomach sinking as the needle is soon retracted to allow my shirt to be pulled over my head.

The sound of hatches opening around me fills the room, the noise only getting worse as various saws and suction devices come to life in preparation for the forced surgery that was about to commence. A screen flickers to life on the far wall, the monitor showing water dribbling down behind the display. Lines of text flicker on the screen, an intelligible scrawl flashing up as the machine attempts to explain that it was about to give me the full body of someone else trapped somewhere inside the machine.

Mangling Malfunction - Part One

Wandering down the street, short bursts of rain spitting down in the night air, I try to pull my leather jacket over my head for some semblance of cover. Clouds blot out the stars and the moon, the faint glow emanating from the sky doing little to illuminate the footpath.

A few scant street lights help guide the way, the warm glow also catching the rain as it threatens to come down heavier by the second. It was the calm before the storm, the pitter patter of sharp cold droplets and the rumbling of thunder in the distance tell me it was a race against time to find some sort of cover.

I hadn't intended to stay out so late, just a few drinks before heading to my waiting bed. However, seeing me drinking alone the bar had been 'kind enough to ply me with cheap liquor all night. I'd normally just call a cab or Uber home, though with the extra time spent out I'd unfortunately killed the battery in my phone. My head hangs forward, my stance listing from side to side as I try to keep balance on the wet and slippery path.

Suddenly, a flash of light fills the sky only to be followed by a near immediate rumbling boom of thunder. The heavens open above me, the gentle spitting of rain rapidly devolving into an intense deluge that threatens to sweep me off my feet.