Preferred Partners - Part Four

Slowly but sure I find myself staring across the room as the sound of foots steps pace around the room beyond my sight.

With my gaze forced to stare straight ahead I slowly find an image forming in the mirror, a pain croak escaping my lips as I find myself staring at a ghostly pale bespectacled blue and black haired woman in her early twenties dressed in an over-sized black shirt.

Preferred Partners - Part Three

"Are you here for..." comes the faint voice of the receptionist, her words dropping to an inaudible whisper as the second machine begins to whir to life beside me.

"Speak of the devil" Dr. Jacobs coos, wiping another bout of sweat from her face as she preemptively begins to get the second machine ready.

I stare ahead of me, unable to move as my gaze fixates on the doorway leading into the tiny room I was trapped inside. Despite the blurring of my vision I watch as someone paces through the doorway, a gasp escaping their lips as they spot me.

Slowly but surely they approach me, the image of their face slowly coming into view. Before long, I find myself staring up at the visage of my older cousin's wife He-Yoon.

Preferred Partners - Part Two

I had been a member of the staying quiet camp, the 'Future Subs' as the Swap Clinic fan forums called them. I had put in for a life swap months ago, only a few weeks into my now frustratingly long drought of unemployment. I had only selected for it to be Partnered in the hopes of speeding up the process, the thought of having someone I know join me on the journey never really crossing my mind.

Butterflies fill my stomach as I glance between my car in the distance and the phone in my hand, my thumb slowly scrolling through the email as I spot the words that made my heart skip a beat only a day ago.

You and your Partner have been assessed, you're new partnership will be:

Partners - Boyfriend & Girlfriend

Preferred Partners - Part One

Walking down to the garage at the bottom of my apartment building I fiddle with my keys, rolling the worn metal and aging plastic in my hand. I can feel the sweat clinging to my palms wipe away with each fidgeting motion, the dented and peeling plastic feeling grosser by the second as I trudge out of the stairwell and into the dimly lit concrete basement.

Clicking at the button on my keys over and over I eventually am met with the sound of a discordant beeping echoing out from deeper inside the complex, my shoulder sagging as I realize it would still be a bit of a walk before I'd be able to hit the road.

Weaving in and out of the cars parked in the basement, the positioning lacking any real rhyme or reason beyond simply seeking to delay me, I pull my phone from my pocket. Opening up my GPS I begin to type in my address before freezing as I get writing out the destination.

"Shit..." I huff, reaching into my pocket once again in search for my phone. "Where was it again?"

As I pull my phone out, quickly unlocking it, I'm forced to shield my eyes as I navigate the bright screen through to my emails. Scrolling through my various folders I quickly reach the one labelled 'Swap Clinic', my heart fluttering as I open it and the most recent message.

'Congratulation, You and Another have been selected for the Preferred Partners Program'