The Soul of the Wasted Body #2

Chapter 12
While Paul Freeman’s physical body, under the control of Garland Daniels, answered the door in the real world, Paul Freeman’s virtual self, still controlled by him, scratched his head and looked around the digital environment that existed only in the artificial world known as Cybersona.
The phrase “incomprehensible” kept swirling around in Paul’s mind. Along with the words “disconnected,” though “disconnected” might not fully capture the situation. What in the world is going on? Just a minute ago, he was gearing up to engage in an online battle with someone named Garland, and the next thing he knew, he was actually inside the game Cybersona, or at least it seemed that way. But how could this be? How could his mind be separated from his body? Or had it already been separated?
“Can someone please tell me what’s happening?” Virtual Paul pleaded. “Is the game over? Garland? Can you hear me?”

He turned to the virtual Garland character, which still appeared to be asleep.
“Decided to quit, huh? What should I do now? Play by myself? Let me tell you, this is not funny at all. Listen, if you don’t want to play, just say so. Are you still there?”
He moved closer to the virtual Garland and examined it for a moment. It was still lying where Paul had pushed it down, not moving.
“This is crazy,” Virtual Paul said. “I’m talking to myself. Is there a game manager or someone I can talk to? The site owner, maybe? I think something’s broken here. What was the last thing he said? Something about entering. That’s right. Entering. He entered something and… now I… I have no idea what’s going on!”
Virtual Paul stepped forward and pushed Garland’s avatar. “Hey. Do you like that?”
But instead of responding, Garland’s avatar began to disintegrate. Tiny pixels broke apart and started to float. Then those pixels began to swirl like a funnel-shaped cloud, floating around in Cybersona, until they disappeared into something resembling a “black hole” in the virtual space.
“Wait. No. Don’t go. Stop!” Virtual Paul shouted.
Meanwhile, in Kingsville, Texas, Paul Freeman’s physical body walked toward the front door.
“I’m coming,” Paul Freeman’s body, under Garland’s control, responded.
Paul/Garland opened the door and smiled at Dr. Rathbone, the principal who had fired Paul.
Paul/Garland immediately used his ability to read the guest’s thoughts to determine who he was and his connection to the body Garland was controlling. Mind-reading was one of the abilities Garland had added and carried over from the game Cybersona.
“Well, that’s a surprise,” Paul/Garland said after finding the appropriate response for the situation.
“Hello, Paul,” Dr. Rathbone said, looking somewhat uncomfortable. “I hope I’m not disturbing you.”
“Not at all,” Paul/Garland replied.
“I just stopped by to give you your last paycheck and see how you’re doing.”
“Oh, how thoughtful of you,” Paul/Garland said. “I’m doing just fine right now. Why don’t you come in and sit down for a bit?”
“Uh, are you sure?” Dr. Rathbone asked, a bit confused.
“Of course,” Paul/Garland said. “I’ll make some tea.”
“Maybe just for a few minutes,” Dr. Rathbone said. “I think I smell something burning?” he asked as he stepped into the living room.
Paul/Garland glanced out the door and down both sides of the street before closing the door behind him.
“Burning?” Paul/Garland said, with a wicked smile. “Oh, that? Just a little carelessness in the bathroom. You know, smoking in the restroom. Accidentally set the shower curtain on fire. Not a big deal. But what can you do, right? Bad habit. And dangerous, too.”

Chapter 13
In the Virtual Space, Virtual Paul stood before the black hole, staring intently into the abyss of nothingness.
“Now I get how Alice must have felt,” he said absentmindedly, as if he were the only one here. No, that’s not quite right—maybe some entity of sorts. “What do you call a soul fragment that’s not whole?”
His Cybersona avatar looked down at the black hole, the pixels swirling.
“Are you trying to convince me to step into that thing?” he asked. “I hate this.”
Virtual Paul took a deep breath and stepped into the black hole.
I’m going to die, he thought, as he began to fall and spin, tumbling, falling… falling deeper.
If I throw up, what will it even look like? Virtual Paul wondered as he drifted into a dreamlike state. He closed his eyes, then opened them again.
The darkness disappeared, and he found himself lying in a white room. He looked around and saw the walls and ceiling pulsating, as if they were living entities.
A deep male voice echoed. “You have just entered the special application area of Cybersona. Would you like to add, remove, or modify any of your specific applications, Daniels?”
Virtual Paul jerked up and stood.
“Huh… Daniels? I’m not Daniels.”
The male voice continued. “Would you like to change your name?”
“Uh, no. There must be some mistake here,” Virtual Paul said, looking around for the source of the voice.
“Listen, I already have a registered name. Paul Freeman. I logged in under the name Paul Freeman. But I was playing with…”
“Paul Freeman is no longer logged in,” the voice interrupted.
“No. This can’t be happening,” Virtual Paul said. “Something really strange is going on. I was about to play Cybersona with someone named Garland, and he must have done something. Maybe his last name is Daniels. He didn’t say. Anyway, he’s up to something. Entering. Right. He entered me. That’s when things went wrong. There must be a virus or something. Because I am Paul Freeman, understand? And… what did you just say this place is?”
The male voice responded, “Special application area. Would you like to add, remove, or modify any specific features, Daniels?”
“Now listen here. You keep mixing me up with that Daniels guy,” Virtual Paul said. “I am Paul Freeman.”
“Your virtual self may be Paul Freeman, but you logged in under the name Garland Daniels. And you have entered the special application area. Would you like to add, remove, or modify any specific features?”
Virtual Paul lowered his head. There must be some way to escape this place. I fell into it, didn’t I? An idea formed in his mind as he headed toward the white wall.
“Yes,” he said. “I want to add entering.”
“You already have this feature,” the voice replied. “Would you like to activate it?”
“Yes, activate it.”
“Sorry. This feature is currently unavailable.”
“It should be. It was just activated for me,” Virtual Paul scratched his head. “Exactly what is this entering feature?”
“Entering,” the male voice replied, “is a special superpower feature created by Garland Daniels. This feature allows the player to take control of the opponent’s mind. According to the law of universal gravitation, two objects or forces cannot occupy the same space at the same time, so the mind that loses its place is pushed into the avatar of the person controlling it.”
“You’re kidding. That bastard jumped into my head? Why would he do that? Wait. So by entering my mind, he pushed my consciousness into here. What’s the point of that? Does it mean he controls my body? Why would he want my body? How do I get it back? Is there a defensive move?”
“As far as we know, there is no defense against entering,” the male voice replied.
“What do I do then? Can I enter back? I want my body back. This is crazy. Why would he want to control my body? Do I need to control him? Why can’t I enter his mind and body?”
“To use the entering feature, at least two players must be involved. Right now, you are the only player, Daniels.”
“What happened to Paul Freeman?”
“Paul Freeman has logged out.”
“That bastard. So you’re telling me I’m stuck here until someone else logs in?”
“Would you like to end the game?”
“No! Don’t. Please. Don’t end anything. I need to think for a moment. This is too complicated. This is a popular game, right? Someone must be logging in soon. How do I know when someone logs in?”
“We can notify you. Would you like to be notified when a new player logs in, Daniels?”
“Yes. Notify me. Immediately.”
Do I even know what I’m doing? Virtual Paul wondered. According to Cybersona, I’m still Garland Daniels. He glanced at the pulsating white wall.
“Now, let me get this straight. As soon as someone logs in, I’ll be able to use ‘enter’ right away, right?”
“We can arrange for automatic access, if you wish. Now that this application has been tested, we can waive the ‘permission required’ rule,” the male voice said.
“Automatic. Right. Do it.”
Virtual Paul began pacing in the white room. “It might work,” he thought. “Kind of. I need to enter someone else’s body. At least I need to escape from here. Then I just need to… what? That person will know what to do, right? They’re good at it. So, I’ll do that. I’ll enter someone else’s body. Borrow it for a while. Go find my body, and then… what if he controls it and takes it somewhere? What if I can’t find him?”
Suddenly, the room darkened, and the walls began to shake.
“Someone has just logged in to play, Daniels,” the deep voice announced.
“Great,” Virtual Paul said. “And I have this enter ability now.”
“Yes. Would you like me to display the background information of this new player? It will only take a few minutes.”
“I don’t have a few minutes,” Virtual Paul said. “Just, you know, let me enter. Let me use the enter ability. Wait. Hold on. What do I need to do? I’ve never ‘entered’ before. How does it work? What do I do?”
“Just give the command, and we will execute it for you.”
“Give the command?”
“Yes.”
“Then do it.”
“Do what?”
“Enter! Enter!”
“Done.”
Millions of colors exploded in the white room, then disappeared as quickly as they had appeared.
“Oh my God!”
The white room transformed into a bedroom—a small bedroom, with a tiny bed and a bunch of posters of rap stars and wrestlers on the walls. Paul immediately felt the difference, mostly because he could actually feel things, something he couldn’t do in Cybersona. He looked down at the computer in front of him. It was a Pentium 4 desktop with Windows XP. He looked closer at the screen and saw something that made him shiver.
Standing in the middle of the white room was a boy, and next to him was a picture of Virtual Paul. Only, Virtual Paul seemed to be sleeping, just like Virtual Garland had before he disappeared.
“Oh my God! Wait. This isn’t my voice.”
Paul stood up from the desk and looked down at his body.
“Oh, no.”
He looked around the bedroom and spotted a mirror on the bathroom door. Slowly, he walked over to the mirror. The reflection of a boy glanced back at him; his mouth was wide open, and his eyes were as wide as possible.

Chapter 14
“What did I just do?” Paul Freeman said as he looked at the world through the eyes of a little boy.
“Kevin. What are you doing?” a female voice asked.
Paul turned the body he had just inhabited toward the voice and saw one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen standing in the doorway of the bedroom. She had that movie-star beauty, with sun-kissed golden skin and a perfect figure. Paul estimated she was in her early twenties, and for a moment, he wondered if she might be a Cybersona character he created. Then he realized the complexity of his current situation. How could he convince this woman—someone he didn’t know—that he had just entered her son’s body? How could you explain the impossible? He was a science teacher and part-time researcher, his life dedicated to disproving the impossible, or at least separating what’s impossible from what’s possible with experiments and scientific tests.
Now, he wished he had taken more psychology courses. Paul didn’t believe in things like the collective unconscious or simultaneous occurrences. Whatever the hell that was. All he remembered was that they had something to do with consciousness, and within that, there were functions that didn’t necessarily have to be confined to a single body. I guess it’s best to just go with it, he told himself.
“Hi, Mom,” the boy said to the woman at the door.
“Mom?”
“Uh… Sister?” the boy tried again.
“Alright. What’s going on?” the stunning woman asked as she walked into the room and started looking around. She saw the computer on and looked closely at the screen before turning to the boy.
“You’re in there,” she said. “Who’s the man with you?”
“Uh, his name is Paul Freeman,” the boy said.
“What’s he doing in there with you?”
“Nothing. We’re just playing.”
“Playing? What kind of website is this?”
“It’s a really cool website. You just have to get into it… it’s a long story.”
“Yeah, I’m sure. It’s nine o’clock. I promised Mom you’d be in bed by now. Let’s go. Shower, sleep, and then good night.”
“Uh, ha. So, I guess you’re my babysitter?”
The woman gave him a confused look before staring at him, peering into his eyes.
“Kevin, I’m about to ask you something, and I want you to answer me honestly.”
“Huh?”
“Did you drink anything?”
“Drink what?”
“You know, like some kind of medicine, or lick some acid-coated paper?”
“Acid? No.”
“Then why are you acting like this?”
“Uh, I guess I just got really into the game and forgot everything else.”
“What kind of game is that?”
“Oh, it’s an addictive one.”
“Uh-huh. Anyway, it’s shower time. Go before the water gets cold.”

Chapter 15
Most of the lights at Kingsville High School were off, except for the lights in the school’s science lab.
In the lab, Paul Freeman’s body, under the control of Garland Daniels, walked along the tables, lighting up several alcohol lamps and turning the flames up high.
“You know, I’ve never liked chemistry,” he said as he continued, opening the gas valve with a hissing sound. “Physics, math, computer science. Those are my passions. I mean, with chemistry, you mix two chemicals and boom! Total mess.”
“What do you want?” Dr. Rathbone asked, who was tied to a chair suspended from the ceiling pipe, hanging above the lab table and directly above the alcohol lamps. He seemed more angry than frightened.
“What do I want?” Paul/Garland said. “Let’s see… oh, right. My first choice might be to turn back time a month or two. But that’s too hard. If I could, I would have already figured it out. But, well, shouldn’t dwell too much on past failures.”
“If you think doing that will get you your job back, you’re crazy,” Dr. Rathbone said.
“Get my job back? I want my life back,” Paul/Garland said.
“The only teaching job you’ll be getting after this is teaching science to prisoners,” Rathbone continued.
“Do you know what the one thing the virtual world can’t give you?” Paul/Garland asked. “The delicious smell of grilled meat.”
“Virtual world? What are you talking about?” Dr. Rathbone asked as he glanced down at Paul Freeman, cranking up the flames under the table.
“No!” Dr. Rathbone pleaded. “Wait. Paul. Come on. We can sort this out. Paul, please, you don’t want to do this.”
Meanwhile, Paul Freeman, in the body of the boy named Kevin, found himself walking toward the bathroom, his eyes following the boy’s shorts and open-collared shirt, exposing a bit of his stomach.
Suddenly, Paul realized she wanted him to undress and step into the shower while this stunningly attractive woman stood right in front of him. He had to do something to stop this. He had to tell her the truth. They walked into the bathroom, and she turned to face him.
“Hurry up. Take your clothes off.”
“Wait,” the boy named Kevin said.
“What now?”
“I need to tell you something,” Paul said in the boy’s voice.
“Okay. What is it?”
“I’m not… the person you’re seeing.”
The woman smiled, then burst into laughter. “You’re something else. Alright. I’ll play along. If you’re not Kevin, then who are you?”
“My name is Paul Freeman. I’m a high school science teacher.”
“Uh-huh. Is this some kind of trick to get me to let you skip your shower? Because if so, your plan has failed.”
“Do you know the game I’m playing, on the computer? It’s an internet game called Cybersona. I’m using the game to, well, sort of switch places with Kevin.”
“Switch places. I get it now. So if you’re here, then where’s Kevin?”
“He’s in here, in the game. Come on. I’ll show you.” He turned back to the bedroom with the woman following behind, shaking his head.
Kevin/Paul stood in front of the screen and pointed at it. “See, he’s in there.”
The woman looked at the screen and saw Kevin’s image, looking scared and lost. Virtual Kevin walked up to Paul’s image and tried to wake him up. But as soon as he touched Virtual Paul, Paul’s image shattered and disappeared, just like Garland’s had before.
“What just happened?” Jessica asked.
“Well, since I’m no longer in there, my avatar doesn’t exist anymore. That’s why it disappeared when Kevin touched it. The same thing happened when I touched Garland.”
“Who’s Garland?”
“The guy who started this whole body-switching thing. That’s why I took over Kevin’s body. To find Garland and get my body back. He took my body.”
“Wait. You said Kevin’s in here, so who are you then?”
“My name is Paul Freeman. I’m a science teacher, 40 years old, from Kingsville, Texas. Now, if you don’t mind, could you tell me who you are?”
The woman shook her head in disbelief.
“You’ve got quite the imagination, kid.”
“You don’t believe me,” Paul said through Kevin.
She grabbed the towel and the boy’s wrist.
“Let’s go. It’s shower time.”
Before they left the room, something caught Paul’s eye. Or to be more precise, Kevin’s eyes, with Paul’s consciousness perceiving what it saw.
“Wait!” he shouted.
Pulling his hand away, Paul, in Kevin’s body, ran to the end of the room and turned on the TV, switching to CNN.
A news segment had interrupted the regular programming.
On the screen was a picture of Paul Freeman.
“It’s me,” Kevin/Paul said.
The woman rubbed her temples. “This is starting to give me a headache.”
“Why am I on TV?” he asked out loud as he turned up the volume.
Rolling her eyes, the woman followed with the towel.
The background image was Kingsville High School, surrounded by police cars and news crews. The word “live” appeared in the lower left corner of the screen.
“It looks like a recently fired teacher, identified as Paul Freeman, is holding the principal hostage in the school’s laboratory,” the reporter narrated on screen.
The woman stared at the screen with her mouth wide open.
“What’s he doing?” Kevin/Paul asked.
“Alright. This is starting to scare me now. What’s going on?”
“We need to stop him,” Kevin/Paul said.
“Right. Stop who? You want me to stop playing with you and go take a shower?”
“What do I need to do to convince you that what I’m saying is the truth?” Kevin/Paul asked.
“Oh, that’s going to be tough, don’t you think? Or maybe… Let me make it clear,” Jessica said. “You want me to believe that the person” – she pointed at Paul’s image on the TV – “that someone is holding the principal hostage in… where?”
“Kingsville, Texas,” Kevin/Paul said.
“Someone in Kingsville, Texas is controlling the body of a ten-year-old boy in Los Angeles?”
“That’s the situation.”
“This is starting to get ridiculous.”
“Why?” he asked.
“Why? This is impossible! That’s why!” she yelled. “What you just said can’t happen.”
“Alright. Let me try again,” Kevin/Paul said. “Just go take a shower. If you’re uncomfortable, then forget it. Just go get smelly and go to bed.”
“Okay. Look at the person on the TV. That’s me, but not me. I mean, that’s my body, just like this is Kevin’s body. But someone named Garland is controlling my body just like I’m controlling Kevin’s body.”
“Garland?”
“Garland and I were playing Cybersona together, and he took over my body. Now he’s holding my old boss hostage.”
The woman kept staring at Kevin/Paul, then glanced back at the TV, where a car was parked next to a police car. A woman stepped out. Kevin/Paul thought she looked familiar, so he moved closer to the screen.
“Denise?”
“Who’s Denise?”
“My wife. Or I should say, my ex-wife.”
“According to the police hostage negotiator, Denise Freeman, the estranged wife of the man holding Dr. Rathbone hostage, has arrived at the scene.”
Jessica dropped the towel she had been holding and leaned forward toward Kevin/Paul, who was now walking toward the screen, reaching out to touch the image of Denise, who was now talking to the police.

Chapter 16
Kevin/Paul stood in front of the TV screen, watching as Denise turned toward the camera and wiped away a tear.
“Nice acting, Denise. People are going to think you actually care.”
Jessica sat down on the bed, letting out a long sigh. She shook her head, trying to process what she had just seen. Suddenly, she jumped up.
“Oh my God!” she exclaimed.
“What’s wrong?” Kevin/Paul asked.
“I’m really starting to believe you.”
“Good. We have to go to the police station,” Kevin/Paul said.
Jessica looked up.
“Police? For what?”
“To tell them what’s going on.”
“This needs to be looked at carefully.”
“We have to do something.”
“Yeah, I guess so. But there’s a logistical issue here. According to the TV, the hostage situation is in Kingsville, Texas.”
“So?”
“We’re in Los Angeles.”
“Doesn’t matter. We can still go. They can pass the message to the police in Kingsville, Texas.”
“Kevin. I’m not taking you to the police station.”
“Give me the keys. I’ll drive.”
“No. No. This is completely ridiculous. Maybe you’re losing track here. I have to tell you how I know that woman’s name. That would be impressive. You almost had me fooled. Really. You’re good at this. Oh my God! What a story. You should write a book about it. Really. You’ve got this imagination that just won’t quit. I almost believed you.”
“How old do you think I am?” Kevin/Paul asked.
“You’re ten, soon to be thirty. You’re done now. You can’t say anything to make me believe that what you just said is real. Nothing.”
“What kind of student is Kevin? I mean, does he even go to school? What about science? Does he study science?”
“I don’t know. I just see him playing games all the time.”
“Okay. He’s ten, right? Too young to study specialized anatomy. Let’s try this. A doctor’s definition of pain. Pain includes three stages. First, the impulses from the nerve endings sent as a response to a stimulus. For example, a finger touching a hot stove sends a message to the brain, and the pain is essentially the response to pull the finger away. Second, the brain processes the emotional responses as impulses. Fear responses might be triggered. And third, the interpretation based on experience. We recognize where the pain is coming from and remember it. In this case, we know that touching a hot stove will hurt. Like I said, I teach science at a high school.”
Jessica gaped at Kevin/Paul, wide-eyed.
“I just finished my homework.”
“Oh my God!” Kevin/Paul shouted. “What do I do now? Alright. I know what to do. Come here.”
Kevin/Paul led Jessica to the computer. He typed a few words on the screen. Kevin’s virtual avatar looked around and then said, “Hey. Get me out of here!”
Jessica’s eyes widened. “Kevin! Kevin, can you hear me?”
“You have to type what you want to say.”
Jessica typed the question: “Kevin, is it really you in there?”
“Jessica. It’s you, right?”
Jessica typed, “Yes, it’s me.”
“Jessica. You have to help me. I don’t know what’s happening anymore,” Kevin’s virtual avatar said. “I don’t know. I was playing Cybersona in my bedroom, and suddenly, I’m here—though I don’t even know where here is.”
Kevin/Paul moved closer to the screen and typed.
Kevin’s virtual eyes widened, and his mouth dropped open. “Did you do this! Get me out of here!”
Kevin/Paul typed more.
“Try your best? Just do this. You pushed me into here, now get me out.”
Kevin/Paul looked at Jessica and saw her eyes filled with tears.
“Do you believe me now?”
Jessica’s driving made Paul, who was just getting used to being inside Kevin’s body, a little nervous. She couldn’t stop staring at him, which meant she wasn’t paying much attention to where she was going. When she nearly rear-ended a car stopped at a red light, Paul, in Kevin’s voice, decided to speak up.
“Please. You have to stop looking at me while driving or we’ll never get to the police station,” he pleaded.
“Sorry,” Jessica said, gripping the steering wheel. “I just… I’m having a little trouble here, okay? I mean, if what you’re saying is true… Oh my God.”
“I know. I’m having a hard time accepting it too, and I’m really in this situation,” Kevin/Paul said. “How do you think I feel, living in someone else’s body?”
“It’s like a kind of kidnapping,” Jessica said.
“Huh?”
“You just took over a little boy’s body. What kind of person does that? How am I supposed to get the police to believe me?”
“Wait. Stop the story right there. I’m a victim too, you know. This is…”
“We’ll let the police sort everything out.”
“Stop the car!”
“No.”
“Stop the car or I’ll open the door and jump out. I don’t think Kevin will like it if he gets his body back and it’s all bruised because you, his babysitter, threw him out of a moving car.”
Jessica slammed the steering wheel, but then slowed down and pulled over to the side of the road.
“Alright. Now listen to me, young lady. I’m going to say this once. We don’t have much time to figure all of this out. But now we’re here. Someone stole my body, my life, my identity, and he’s using it to commit crimes. Who knows what he’s going to do with Dr. Rathbone? I swear to God, I want to kill that bastard. But what if Garland does exactly what I’m imagining? What if he really does it while controlling my body? For the whole world, I’ll be a murderer. Do you understand the life-or-death situation here? I never wanted to take over Kevin’s body. Believe me, do you think I chose the body of a ten-year-old boy to go after him? But that’s what happened. I acted too hastily. I didn’t think about what I was doing in Cybersona. But now I’m here, and I have to make do with what I’ve got. You can help me, and that would be great because no one’s going to listen to a ten-year-old boy, but if I tell you what to say, they might actually believe you.”
“Yeah, right,” Jessica said skeptically. She sighed deeply and then looked at Kevin, her eyes brimming with tears, her lips tight. At first, she sniffled slowly, then broke down completely.
Kevin’s body, under Paul’s control, moved closer and comforted her. He placed his small hand on her shoulder and tried to hug her for comfort. She began to accept it and moved closer, but then suddenly stopped and looked at him with cautious eyes. She pushed him away, swallowed her tears, and wiped them away.
“Oh God,” she said. “I don’t know what to do.”
“Jessica,” Kevin/Paul said. “You have to calm down. We need to go to the police and tell them what happened.”
“And you think I can do that how?” she snapped.
“They have computers. I’ll show them Cybersona. I’ll show them what happened.”
Jessica pulled out a handkerchief and blew her nose.
“You think it’ll be that simple? What if they won’t even let us use the computers?”
“We have to try,” Kevin/Paul pleaded. “A life is at risk. Actually, two—mine and the one who fired me. Things could get really bad. We need to hurry.”

Chapter 17
They drove in silence the rest of the way to the nearest police station. Jessica pulled into a public parking spot in front of the one-story building, with a line of police cars parked out front.
Inside, there was a reception desk with an exhausted officer sitting behind it, reading a book. He looked up as Jessica and Kevin/Paul approached the desk.
“How can I help you?” the officer asked.
“We hope you can,” Jessica said. “But to explain the situation, we need access to a computer here.”
“What? Has someone hacked into our system?”
“Not exactly.”
“We’re not trained to handle complaints like this,” the officer said.
“It’s a bit more complicated than that. It’s related to something going on in Kingsville, Texas.”
“What’s going on in Kingsville, Texas?” the officer asked.
“A hostage situation. We might be able to help.”
The officer looked at Jessica and Kevin/Paul. “Wait here a moment.” He stood up from his chair and walked toward the back door.
Kevin/Paul looked around the waiting area. There were a few plastic chairs, but no TV. A security camera was mounted in a corner near the ceiling, aimed directly at Kevin/Paul and Jessica. A red light was glowing beneath the lens.
“You’re doing great,” Kevin/Paul said.
“Let’s see,” Jessica replied.
The officer returned with a man in a blue shirt and tie. “This is Detective Peterson. He’ll take your statement.”
“Please follow me,” Detective Peterson said, holding the door open for Jessica and Kevin/Paul. Detective Peterson was the kind of person who never looked you directly in the eye. His face always angled sideways when he spoke, and he had a secretive look, as if he knew something you didn’t, but whatever he knew, it certainly had some effect on you.
They followed him into a room full of desks and other officers, some in suits, others in uniforms.
“We’re here,” he said, stopping at a desk with a computer. He pulled up an extra chair so both of them could sit at the desk.
“Alright,” he continued, looking up at the computer screen, “do you have any information about the hostage situation in Kingsville, Texas? First, give me your name and address. Do you have a driver’s license? That should be fine.”
Jessica took out her license and handed it to him. He began jotting something down in a notebook.
“How’s the situation in Kingsville, Texas?” Kevin/Paul asked.
The detective looked up from his notebook and stared at the boy in front of him. He smiled, shook his head, and continued writing. Once he finished, he placed his pen down and turned to Jessica.
“Hey. How did you first hear about the Kingsville situation?”
“On CNN,” Kevin/Paul said.
“Right,” Jessica added.
The detective looked at Kevin/Paul, then turned to Jessica. “This boy watches CNN? Alright, so you know what’s going on. We don’t watch CNN here, but I checked the internal police website to verify that there is, indeed, a hostage situation in Kingsville, Texas. Are you related to the victim or what? Do you have any information?”
“This is a little complicated,” Kevin/Paul said. “But I can explain it to you if you let me use the computer for a moment.”
“Is this some kind of joke?” the detective asked. “Did Rollins send you to mess with me…”
“No,” Kevin/Paul said. “But if you let me log in to this website, I think I can show you something.”
“Go ahead,” Detective Peterson said, moving out of the way to let Kevin/Paul use the computer.
The detective smiled at Jessica. “The kid’s smart, huh?”
“You have no idea,” Jessica replied.
Kevin/Paul typed a few keys and turned to Jessica and the detective.
“We can’t get in,” he said.
“What website are you trying to access?” the detective asked.
“It’s a game called Cybersona.”
“We can’t play online games from this computer.”
“Can’t access porn sites either,” another detective added, smiling at Jessica, who suddenly wished she were wearing something other than a T-shirt and shorts.
“The captain blocked all that stuff,” Detective Peterson said. “A lot of LAPD officers abuse the connection. So, I think you’ll have to do it the old-fashioned way.”
“What’s that?” Kevin/Paul asked.
“Tell me. Tell me what you know.”
Kevin/Paul and Jessica exchanged a look.
“It’s related to the game,” Kevin/Paul said. “If we can’t get in, then everything I’ve been saying doesn’t matter.”
“Try me.”
“The person holding the principal hostage isn’t who the police think it is.”
“Ah, I see,” Detective Peterson said. “So who is it?”
“This is the hardest part to explain.”
“Go ahead.”
“He, uh, took over someone else’s body.”
“Say that again?”
“The person holding the hostage took over Paul Freeman’s body. Paul Freeman is the person the police think is holding Dr. Rathbone hostage. Maybe because Rathbone fired him a few weeks ago, that’s his motive. But Paul Freeman isn’t in control of his own body.”
Detective Peterson tried his best to maintain a serious expression before bursting into laughter.
“Oh, that’s rich. You’re really good, kid. You really are.”
“He’s also, uh, telling you the truth,” Jessica said.
Peterson looked at Jessica and laughed even harder. “Oh, sure.”
“Alright, Kevin, let’s go,” Jessica said, standing up and grabbing Kevin’s hand to pull him along, but he pulled back.
“No!” Kevin/Paul shouted, turning to Detective Peterson. “We’re not joking. This is serious. Someone has taken over my body through an online game called Cybersona. I don’t know how he did it, but he did. And now I’m stuck in this kid’s body. But, Officer, I’m not a little kid. I’m ten years older than him, and if you don’t believe me, just call the Kingsville police and ask them to send someone to my house. 411 Elm Street. It’s a split-level three-bedroom farmhouse with a garage next to it. If they come through the front door, they’ll see a coat closet to the left. But they won’t be able to hang anything up because it’s full of boxes of science tests and assignments I’ve graded over sixteen years of teaching at Kingsville High School.”
Detective Peterson stood there with his mouth hanging open for nearly twenty seconds before closing it again.
“I don’t know what kind of game you two are playing, but it’s over,” Peterson said. “Someone get these troublemakers out of here.”
A female officer in uniform nodded and gestured for Kevin/Paul and Jessica to follow her.
“But…” Kevin/Paul tried to protest.
“I know this sounds crazy,” Jessica defended. “But at least you could check? He knows things that only Paul Freeman would know.”
“Sure. By now, what this kid’s telling me, you could probably see it on CNN too. I know. If I called Kingsville about something this insane, I’d be laughed out of the department. Now get out of here before I charge you both for obstructing an investigation.”
Outside, Jessica felt sorry for Kevin as she opened the car door and sat in the driver’s seat. She opened the passenger door, and Kevin/Paul climbed in beside her.
“I’ll admit, this is a bit awkward,” Jessica said.
“It might be, but it’s the truth,” Kevin/Paul said.
“Yeah, well, listen. We tried. But I’m telling you, I still don’t get it. How do you get into someone else’s head like that, really? Isn’t that illegal? How did the company that made this game allow something like this to happen?”
“I’m not sure if they anticipated it,” Kevin/Paul said. “This is something Garland created using AI in Cybersona. How he did it, I don’t know. He probably reprogrammed some special applications in there. I don’t know. I just know I’m here.”
“And Kevin is still stuck in the game. Maybe we should go back and talk to the kid for a bit,” Jessica said. “He probably isn’t too happy being stuck in there.”
“I just had an idea. Kevin could be the key.”
“The key to what?”
“To figuring out who Garland Daniels is.”
“How can Kevin help?”
“I’m not sure. But we have to go back home, open the computer, and talk to the kid.”
In the virtual space, Kevin’s avatar was furious. Who created this world? This wasn’t the world he had programmed. Kevin had recently watched a DVD of Fantastic Voyage and had been recreating the adventurous journey inside the human body when he got stuck in this virtual world for some absurd reason.
“Who’s the administrator here?” Virtual Kevin shouted. “I’m in the wrong place.”
Virtual Kevin scanned the surroundings, which included burned-out buildings and rubble. The scene looked like a post-war zone, or someone’s nightmare. Whatever this was or wherever it was, it sent a chill down Kevin’s spine.
Kevin had just finished studying anatomy in school and had been fascinated by it. He even imagined himself as a doctor, wanting to experience that feeling in his most recent Cybersona playthrough. But something had gone wrong. As soon as he logged in, he found himself in someone else’s game.

Chapter 18
Dr. Rathbone couldn’t stop crying. Even though he hated himself for it. An adult shouldn’t cry, no matter how threatened his life was. Even if he was tied to a chair, suspended above a table full of alcohol lamps. Paul Freeman had crossed the line. And Paul had once been the calmest, most composed man he had ever known. Wasn’t he the one who always stayed quiet, even though now he was shouting and losing his mind? What would he do? Stay calm. That’s the best option, Dr. Rathbone thought. Now he just needed to stop sniffling. There had to be a way out of this. What did he want? His old job. I’ll offer to let him come back. And I’ll even give him a raise. He deserves a raise.
Down below, he could see Paul fiddling with the alcohol lamps, adjusting the flames. He touched one that had been burning for a while.
“Ow, it’s too hot,” Paul/Garland exclaimed.
He looked up and saw Dr. Rathbone staring down at him, his eyes filled with tears.
“It hurts, doesn’t it?” Paul/Garland said. “You know, I really don’t need these lamps. They’re too hot, and you can’t control them. I prefer this. Watch.”
Paul/Garland stared at the table at the far end of the lab and kept looking until it burst into flames.
“Is this better?” Paul/Garland asked.
Dr. Rathbone started sobbing again, even louder than before.
“Please,” he begged. “You can have your old job back.”
Paul/Garland looked up at the principal and frowned.
“Alright. No more whining,” Paul/Garland said. “I’m just getting used to this.”
Dr. Rathbone wondered what kind of sick person he was dealing with.
“I’ll give you a raise,” Dr. Rathbone said. “How about that?”
“I get it. If I let you down, you’ll give Paul Freeman his old job back, right?”
Now Dr. Rathbone was even more confused. Why was he referring to himself in the third person? I guess I’ll just play along, the principal thought. Anything to stay alive.
“Uh… yes. That’s right. You can have whatever you want,” Rathbone answered.
The smoke from the burning table finally reached the ceiling, triggering the school’s sprinkler system. Water began pouring down, and the fire alarm went off.
“Saved by the bell,” Paul/Garland said. “We’d better run.”
“No. You can’t leave me like this,” Dr. Rathbone shouted when he saw Paul actually starting to leave. He yelled, “Let me down! Wait! Okay. No raise, no job. Just get me out of here!”
Paul/Garland stopped at the doorway and looked around. “You’ll be fine. I hear the fire trucks coming. I have to run. There’s a lot more to do. A lot more people to hurt.”
Paul/Garland took a deep breath and exhaled. “Well, I’m afraid I need your help.”
“Right. What?”
“I think I’m surrounded. The police. Live TV broadcast. Is there a secret exit so I won’t get caught?”
“I don’t know of any exits,” Dr. Rathbone said.
“Too bad,” Paul/Garland said. “Guess I’ll have to improvise.” With that, he set fire to three of the four corners, filling the laboratory with smoke.
Outside, the fire truck had stopped blaring, and the firefighters rushed into the burning laboratory. Inside, Garland waited until the last of the four firefighters entered the smoke-filled area, then grabbed the uniformed firefighter from behind and knocked him unconscious. He moved quickly in the smoke, donning the firefighter’s mask, coat, and helmet before disappearing into the night.
Meanwhile, back in Kevin’s bedroom, Kevin/Paul sat in front of the laptop, with Jessica looking over his shoulder.
“Poor Kevin,” Jessica said. “He must be so scared being in there.”
“Yeah. I know because I was once in the same situation, and he’s only ten.”
Kevin/Paul typed a message: “Kevin. Stay in there. We’re working on getting you out. But first, we need to locate Garland Daniels’ body.”
“A body?” Virtual Kevin asked.
Kevin/Paul typed, “Its current location. In the meantime, you need to find the ‘enter’ application in Cybersona.”
“How do I do that?”
Kevin/Paul typed, “It’s located in the special applications section. You’ll find it. But don’t do anything with it until I return, okay?”
“Alright.”
Kevin/Paul typed again: “I have to leave Cybersona now, but we’ll be back soon. Hang in there, Kevin.”
The screen switched from Cybersona to a Google™ search page.
“How do you think he’s doing this?” Jessica asked.
“Who? Garland? I don’t know. I’m about to use Google™ to search for Garland Daniels,” Kevin/Paul said. “Let’s see what I find.”
As he started searching, Kevin/Paul felt a knock inside his head.
“What’s going on?” Jessica asked. “Your face looked strange just now.”
“I don’t know,” Kevin/Paul said. “Wait. I think he’s trying to contact me.”
“Who?”
“Garland.”
“Really? Oh my God. How is he doing that?”
“He took over my body, right? Who knows what else he can do?”
Suddenly, Kevin/Paul felt weak. This can’t be happening, he thought. No. This isn’t fair. He looked at Jessica but quickly looked away.
“Alright, now you’re starting to freak me out. What’s going on? What’s happening?”
Kevin/Paul looked up at her. “I’m so sorry.”
“Sorry? You’re sorry? What does that mean, exactly?”
Kevin/Paul sighed deeply and rubbed his face. “He sent me a message.”
“On the computer?”
“No.”
“No? Then how?”
“Telepathy.”
“Telepathy… what? What did he say?”
“If we don’t find a way to stop him, he’ll kill us.”
Jessica’s eyes were filled with fear. “Us? He said ‘us’? You and me? How does he know about me?”
“I think he can read my thoughts,” Kevin/Paul said.
“You think so? How does that work?”
“I don’t know. He’s in my body. Now he’s in my head. Damn it. That’s definitely it. How else could he control my body? There must be a link between me and him.”
“A link. So does that mean you can read his thoughts too?” Jessica asked.
“Unfortunately, no,” Kevin/Paul said.
“That’s not fair,” Jessica said. “Who is this guy?”

Chapter 19
Jessica watched as Kevin typed into Google™ first. His small hands tapped in the name Garland Daniels, and the amazing search tool returned over a thousand results—mainly because he forgot to put the name in quotation marks, which would have narrowed the search to pages containing both the words “Garland” and “Daniels.” Instead, the results were full of everything related to “Garland” (meaning garland, as in wreath), with many of them about flowers, and “Daniels,” which included everything from whiskey to a news anchor named Faith.
As he scrolled down the results page, Jessica struggled to accept the concept that inside the body and mind of a ten-year-old boy was an adult science teacher. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t accept the childlike face and the voice that hadn’t even cracked yet.
The cursor stopped on a page that seemed to be an article about Garland Daniels.
Kevin/Paul clicked on the link and entered an article from the San Francisco Chronicle about a gang shootout in Chinatown that left one innocent bystander, Garland Daniels, in critical condition. Daniels had been quickly taken to San Francisco Memorial Hospital with a gunshot wound to the back of his head.

“A victim of a shootout?” Jessica asked, reading over his shoulder.
“Let’s find a few more articles,” Kevin/Paul said.
He clicked on another link, which was another article from the same paper, published three days later. The headline read, “Gangland Shootout Could Have Been Prevented.” The article stated that an undercover DEA agent had been present at the scene and could have warned Daniels or somehow revealed his identity to prevent the shooting altogether. The article also mentioned that the bullet that struck Daniels appeared to have come from the agent’s gun.
The DEA had no comment.
The third article recounted a complex surgery performed to remove the bullet from Garland Daniels’ brain, a surgery that had left him paralyzed from the neck down.
“My God!” Kevin/Paul exclaimed.
“He’s in the hospital?”
“Check the directory. I want you to call the hospital and verify if Garland Daniels is still a patient there. If so, try to contact his room.”
“But, if it’s really him, uh, do you remember what he said? His warning?”
“Do you have another idea?”
“No.”
“Then do it.”
He looked at Jessica, who was trembling.
“Alright. Give me the phone. I’ll call.”
“No. Wait. Let’s discuss this first,” Jessica pleaded.
“Listen,” Kevin/Paul said as he stepped closer, placing a hand on her shoulder. “I know this is scaring you. But we have to do something, and before we do anything, we need to understand what we’re dealing with.”
“But he warned you he’d kill us if we tried to stop him.”
“I know. But that doesn’t mean he’ll do it. Besides, if we start this and I get another warning, it will point us to the person we’re chasing.”
Jessica exhaled through her mouth, reached into her purse, and pulled out her cellphone. She handed it to him.
Kevin/Paul called the directory. “San Francisco Memorial Hospital. In San Francisco, California. Thank you.” He waited a moment. “Please, connect me. Yes. Hello. I want to reach Garland Daniels. I believe he’s a patient here. Uh-huh. When? A few hours ago? No. Thank you.”
Kevin/Paul hung up and handed the phone back to Jessica.
“What did they say?” she asked.
“Garland Daniels fell into a coma at 7:30 p.m. Pacific time.”
“He’s in a coma?”
“It must have happened when he entered my body,” Kevin/Paul said. “That was around 8:30 p.m. in Kingsville, Texas.”
“Wait. You’re saying when Garland entered your body, no one started controlling his body?”
“Maybe that’s right,” Kevin/Paul said, looking at Jessica and beginning to pace around the room.
“What?” Jessica asked.
“What do you mean?” Kevin/Paul said.
“Has he contacted you again?”
“Not yet.”
“Then it could be someone else.”
“Wait,” Kevin/Paul said, his face showing confusion. He walked over to the TV and turned it back on.
“What’s going on?” Jessica asked.
“He just told me to turn on the TV.”
When the screen lit up, they saw a reporter facing the camera. In the background, Dr. Rathbone, the principal, looked disheveled and terrified as he was escorted to an ambulance.
“We’ve received reports that the principal has been released,” the reporter said. “No comments yet on the motive behind Paul Freeman’s hostage situation.”
Someone gestured, and the reporter turned around to see Dr. Rathbone behind him. The reporter rushed over to the principal, pulling a cameraman along. As soon as he reached Dr. Rathbone, he shoved the microphone in his face.
“Dr. Rathbone. Why did Paul Freeman take you hostage?”
“Paul Freeman is possessed!” Dr. Rathbone yelled, snatching the microphone from the reporter’s hand. “Possessed, I tell you!”
The reporter struggled to reclaim the microphone.
“What do you mean by that?”
The reporter pointed the microphone back at Dr. Rathbone.
“He can move objects,” the principal said. “I mean, you just have to look at them. And fire. He can start fires.”
The reporter laughed mockingly, rolling his eyes in disbelief. “Right. Very Stephen King. Why did he release you?”
“He said he didn’t want to waste his powers on unnecessary targets.”
“You mean you weren’t his real target. We assumed he was angry about you firing him.”
“At first, I thought so,” Dr. Rathbone said. “But he acts like he doesn’t even know who I am. In fact, he said I was just a practice run.”
“Practice run? Practice for what?”
“I don’t know. I can only tell you that this is not the Paul Freeman I knew. Something has made him go crazy. The person who did this to me is a monster.”
“But then he let you go,” the reporter said. “Did he say where he was going?”
“No. I just hope it’s far from here.”
Kevin/Paul turned away from the TV and walked back to the computer. He read the article on the screen. “He’s in San Francisco.”
“How? He’s in Kingsville, Texas,” Jessica said. “How could he manage to get to San Francisco? Thank God the cable news has shown his face across the nation.”
“Actually, it’s my face on nationwide television,” Kevin/Paul said. “I still feel like he’ll find a way to get there.”
“Alright. Why San Francisco?”
“Revenge,” Kevin/Paul answered as Jessica looked at the screen over his shoulder, now showing another article titled: “Computer Genius Paralyzed in Gang Shootout.”

Chapter 20
At the Hangar at Kingsville Airport, a private plane was preparing for takeoff. The fuel truck had finished refueling, and the baggage handlers had closed the cargo hold and locked it.
In the cockpit, the pilot and co-pilot had completed their pre-flight checks and were waiting for the plane’s owner, a Texas oil tycoon, to arrive.
“If he doesn’t get here soon, we’ll probably have to file another flight schedule,” the pilot said.
“You know Crenshaw. He thinks the world will wait for him, no matter how late he is,” the co-pilot said. They felt the plane shake as someone stepped on board. “Finally, he’s here.”
The cockpit door opened, and a stranger walked in.
“Who the hell are you?” the pilot snapped.
“My name’s Garland. You guys can take the night off,” the intruder said.
Paul/Garland held a chloroform-soaked handkerchief in each hand. Standing between the pilot and the co-pilot, he covered each of their faces with a cloth and held it tightly until both of them passed out. Then he dragged them out of their seats, pulled them to the back of the plane, and returned to the cockpit, locking the plane door behind him as he followed the takeoff instructions. He had enough time to accelerate on the runway, ensuring the flight schedule stayed on track with the control tower.
Once airborne and at altitude, he radioed in to report a change in the plan, requesting a new flight path and landing location at either San Francisco International Airport or Oakland Airport, whichever was more convenient.
When the plane reached its new location and switched to autopilot, Paul/Garland returned to the pilot and co-pilot. He quickly bound and gagged both of them in case they woke up mid-flight, then settled in for a quiet and uneventful journey to his home in the Bay Area. Home and revenge.
Back at Kevin’s bedroom, Kevin/Paul sat in front of the laptop while Jessica looked over his shoulder.
“I need to know more about what we’re dealing with,” Kevin/Paul said. “Dr. Rathbone said he has some superpowers. He must have built them into Cybersona. Apparently, he gave me some surefire abilities. Mind control, reading minds, moving objects remotely.”
“You mean he can use his mind to set things on fire and stuff like that?”
“Yeah.”
“Wow. And you, you know, do you have any superpowers?”
“My powers are a little different.”
“Different? How?”
“Can I set things on fire with my mind?”
“Sure, but not with my mind.”
“Oh. So, what can you do?”
Kevin/Paul became a bit awkward. “I can explain the principles of nuclear fusion. I can also come up with a few good icebreakers.”
“Icebreakers?”
“Listen. Clearly, he’s better than me at things like that. I don’t even know if he can create things like mind control or entering others’ bodies.”
“Interesting,” she said, struggling.
“I have a plan,” Kevin/Paul said.
“You have a plan?”
“I’m working on one.”
“What is it?”
“Kevin.”
“Kevin is your plan?”
“I’m thinking so. Garland took over my body.”
“Paul Freeman’s body,” Jessica said.
“Yes. And I, Paul Freeman, I took over Kevin’s body.”
“The one who, according to you, is lost somewhere in the virtual world.”
“Not exactly lost,” Kevin/Paul said. “He’s still in Cybersona.”
“And how is this going to work?” Jessica asked.
“The boy’s avatar, the one he created in Cybersona, exists inside the game, just like mine and Garland’s avatars.”
“So why can’t I see the boy anymore?”
“I’m not sure. Wait. There he is. He’s hiding.”
Kevin/Paul typed, “Kevin. I’m back.”
“Poor kid.”
“I hope that poor kid can help us.”
“How?”
“By entering Garland Daniels’ body.”
“Will it work?”
“I don’t know. I don’t even know if the kid can track him down.”
“Besides, he’s paralyzed, remember? Even if he enters his body, what can he do?” Jessica asked.
“This is a plan still forming.”
“You mean you haven’t fully mapped out this plan yet?”
“Right. I think we need to go to San Francisco.”
“What are we going to do there?”
“I don’t know. I’ll figure it out when we get there. But if that’s where Garland took over my body, then that’s where I want to go.”

Return to part 1 – To be continued…