Most Wanted

 

I knew I was dying but it wasn’t my time I wasn’t ready. The words on my partners lips as she held my head as I slowly and painfully slipped away from physical presence as we know it.

“You can’t go.” she screeched as she sobbed into my chest “its not time, I’m not ready to let you go.”

I was a police man, with great prospects and career opportunities. At only 21 I had an amazing life ahead of me. I was with an amazing girl, we had just got our first place together, we had a baby on the way and were planning to get married in two weeks. Everything I had planned was working out to be true. That was until this sad day when I was shot by a crazed bank robber. He decided it was my time even though I had so much ahead of me. That wasn’t fair and I couldn’t let it happen. It wasn’t my time. But he shot me any way. It was a painful experience and the gun shot hit an important artery to my heart, I had minutes, not hours, there was no time to get me to hospital. I died in the bank where my fiancé worked, in her arms

“Dead…. I cant be dead” I muttered to myself.

Days later I was in a dark place, I knew I was there but I didn’t know what there was. I no pain, no emotion, nothing. The only sense I had was sight. I couldn’t feel anything. It was a very disconcerting experience. I felt like I was floating, This is definitely not what I expected death to be like. I had assumed the pearly white gates and bright lights were the way it would be. What had gone wrong? Had I gone to hell instead? All I knew was I was laid down I tried to float further but there was something stopping me floating any higher than about 5 inches.

Suddenly, there was light, was it my time to go now? After days in the dark the light was amazingly bright, I kept still until my eyes adjusted. There I was lay in a coffin. I could now see beautiful stained glass windows on the roof of the church. Was I dead? I tried to float once again, and I found myself travelling really fast towards the ceiling. It was the glass that stopped me. Apparently I couldn’t travel through physical objects I spun myself around and glanced around the church. I saw all my family and fiancé sobbing around the coffin I had been trapped in. It upset me, if only they could see me. All of my friends were sat in the church as well, close friends, many of them fellow police officers. There were also men in white suits stood at the back of the church, which I found very strange. I recognised some of them, some of them were the doctors and shrinks that looked after all the police force as part of the benefits package.

I floated down towards my family and found that when I tried to touch someone, my hand passed through their bodies. All I wanted to do was let my fiancé know I was still around, still cared and looking out for her. I couldn’t do anything. I decided there was no harm being at my own funeral and sat next to my commanding officer. Maybe the white lights were on their way at the end of the service.

As the priest walked out, my best friend and colleague came to sit down where I was sat. Obviously he couldn’t see me. It was also too late before I saw him and he sat right on top of me before I had chance to move. Something weird happened at this point. Suddenly, I had feelings, I could smell, taste and feel. I was alive again. But I wasn’t me, I was Olly, my best mate. I couldn’t say a word to anyone. I now had all of Olly’s memories as well as my own. I knew I had to protect Olly and I couldn’t tell anyone, I just had to be him. I was made up though, Olly was also perfect in everyway and I envied him getting everything I wanted three years earlier. As the proceedings came to a close I began to leave the church and explore my new life. However, I was prevented by the men in white coats and taken into one of their vans awaiting outside.

As we arrived in the familiar clinical offices back at the police station everything was explained to me. I was told that they could see me and every move I made, Olly sitting on your lap was exactly what we wanted to happen, but it didn’t have to be Olly. The reason for the benefits package was so that the force could capture the most wanted criminals and get them out of hiding. When an officer was killed in service they were given a benefit that no one else on the earth could even comprehend. Death of your own body in service required one more years service capturing the most wanted and violent criminals by taking control of their bodies. At the end of the year, I could choose to keep my final body and begin his life without crime, or take mine own life back over with a new body. The decision would have to be made now as my fiancé would need to be made aware. A device was placed in front of Olly and attached to his nipples. His body disappeared and the roof went black, UV lights came on and I was now in my non physical form but now everyone could see me. I naturally chose to keep my own life.

There are 87 people on the most wanted list at present Lee, that’s 87 days work, assuming no one else is added, the 87^th body you take over is yours until there are more on the list. Becoming someone is easy. Hold his case file and stare at his picture. But choose carefully. Your presence will automatically travel to its location and you will enter his body, Clear his affairs for the day and return him here, or let us know your location and we will pick you up. You have twenty-four hours before your sucked back here, but during those twenty-four hours you can do as you please. It’s a difficult and emotional roller coaster for you, you literally become him, therefore we sympathise. It’s the only way to avoid suspicion and keep this program running. However you WILL return each and every person to us no matter what. At the end, you keep your final body with a clean record and an unlimited retirement fund.

My fiancé was briefed and unless something better came up, we chose my final body together. We agreed to meet every day at a certain place for chats and fun times no matter what body I was in possession of. The doctors agreed it was a good idea to keep me sane. My first body was also an easy choice also. The man that took my life… I said my goodbyes to my fiancé and grabbed his case file, stared at his picture.

I found myself floating once more, I travelled over places I had never even seen for what felt like a long distance and for a long time. I kind of expected it to be instant. I saw the man who had took my life and I was slammed into his back. He shuddered as I took possession of him and almost fell over. I was already regretting being in his body as our minds merged and I learned of his fears of prison, fears of being caught and regret for what he had done. I knew what I had to do though and I made my way to our meeting place.

“Babe, you know its Lee inside here, but I’m more him than Lee. I have his physical form as well as all of his knowledge. My name is Alex and the first thing I need to say is that I am sorry for taking Lee’s life away from you and if I could go back in time, change things, swap places with Lee, I would, I regret what I did. I did it in desperation, I was, I am failing in life, everything was going wrong, I needed help…”

She understood, I knew she did. I kissed her on the cheek and told her I would see her tomorrow. The station was around the corner and I walked there, My first experience was only for a few hours, and I knew my next one would be longer. It would be an overnight stay at the very minimum. However, the more convicts I got through the system, the longer I would get to stay in one place and spend some quality time with my fiancé. After I got 10 convicts behind bars in 4 days I was asked to slow down and I was sent into Cullum and asked to stay there for a week while they cleared the back log.

Cullum was extremely attractive and had no attachments. I instantly moved in with my fiancé and stayed with her for a week. You only need to imagine what we got up too. She loved every moment, she knew I was Lee, I acted like him and said what he normally would, It was like she was having a dirty fling with someone knew, but it was all ok because Lee was there with Cullum and knew everything..

So guys…… I need your advise to take this story further, what do you want to happen? Give me some experiences to dig into…