Trade

by Carlos Palanca

It was a seemingly normal Saturday afternoon as Ben arrives at his friend, Justin’s house. He rang the doorbell to let him or any of his family members know that he’s at the door. A second or two later, he heard footsteps coming towards the door. He heard the door locks click and the door opens, revealing Justin’s mom, Mrs. Shepherd from the other side of it. 

Mrs. Shepherd greets Ben and he politely greets her back. He asks if Justin’s in the house. She informs Ben her son is inside but she also tells him that Justin is grounded and can’t leave the house. Ben assures her that he is just here to borrow something from Justin. She lets him in and tells him to head straight into Justin’s room and she’ll be in the kitchen if they need anything.

When Ben reaches Justin’s room, he notices that the door is closed. He knocks and says, “Justin, open up. It’s Ben.”

“It’s unlocked!” said Justin from the other side. Ben opens the door and sees Justin stripping off his clothes. “About time you got here! I thought that you weren’t going to show up!”

Icing

By Carlos Palanca

Tristan waits anxiously for his friends, Matt and Mike to arrive at his house. They called earlier and told Tristan that they want to show him something. Hours passed and Tristan kept waiting for his friends to arrive. He kept himself busy by checking his Instagram feed.

By 3pm, the doorbell rang. Tristan unlocks the door and opens it without checking who is standing on the other side of it. Tristan says, “It’s about time you guys showed--”

Tristan stopped talking as he was completely shocked that it was someone else, a stranger to be more precise. Tristan apologizes and tells the stranger that he thought that he was his friends

The stranger says “You know that you should be more careful when you open the door to someone because you never know what that person is capable of!”

Tristan apologizes again.

The stranger asks him if he is at the right address and if he is Tristan.

Tristan was shocked to hear what very muscular stranger asked.

He tells the stranger that he is Tristan and asks him, “Can I help you?”

Mornings Like This

by Carlos Palanca

It was a quiet Friday morning. The dark blue sky lightens to a lighter shade of blue as the moon sets. The sun was finally rising in the east. When it was high enough for its light to sneak in through the small opening between a gap between the shades of a window of an apartment in Manhattan, Mike began to wake up from his slumber. He positions his body to face the view away from the peeking sunlight. He slowly opens his eyes to see a beautiful girl - with long and dark hair and wearing only Mark's souvenir shirt from a Coldplay concert, coming out from the bathroom. She notices him and smiles at him. Mark smiles back at her and sweetly greets her, "Good morning!" She gracefully walks towards the bed and greets back at Mark.

The Date

By Carlos Palanca

“You’re going down, man!” exclaimed Lucas as he turned his black cap around, putting the visor behind his head.

“Oh, please!” replied Conner. “You couldn’t beat me even if your life depended on it!”

“Yeah right!” said Lucas sarcastically.

Lucas and Conner are best friends and at the same time, roommates in their apartment, which is located a block away from the university that they attend to. Just a month ago, as they were on a camping trip, they found a naked guy, lying around the woods. They though that the man was dead but it turns out that the guy was a bodysuit! They only read something about it online but they never really thought that these things exist. Now, they take turns using the suit and having fun with it. The even got a hot girlfriend for the guy, with either Lucas or Conner in control of course.

Now, Tanner, the name of the guy/bodysuit has a date with Kate, the girlfriend. The two best friends are settling who will be the one who will be wearing the suit and both of them are very eager to be the one who will wear Tanner.

Questioning

by Carlos Palanca

Justin is having his own workout session in his personal Multiple dumbbells were stacked at the side of the room. A treadmill can be found across the weights. A bench was located across the door while a large mirror was beside it. Workout music was playing loud. The floor had marks that indicate that beads of sweat dripped on it.

Justin was in that room for a couple of hours now. He took his phone near the speakers and noticed that it was already 7 o’clock in the evening. He couldn’t tell if the sun was still up since there were no windows in his gym. He wiped his face and some parts of his body with a towel and rested a bit. He left his little gym right after he took a selfie and uploaded it to his Instagram.

He went to the kitchen and drank a tall glass of cold water. Then, he took a look around and admired his his new penthouse which was a gift from his dad who happens to be the richest man in town. He stayed there for a while and checked his social media accounts. Suddenly, his doorbell rang. He walked towards the door but didn’t open it immediately. Beside the door was a small screen that shows the live video of the other side of the door. He was surprised to see that there was a cop! He pushed on the icon on the screen that says “Talk” without releasing his index finger. Through the microphone located below the screen (which is also beside the speaker), he said, “Good Evening Officer! How can I help you?”

“Good evening to you, too! Is Mr. Hues there?” said the officer.

“This is he.” Replied Justin.

“Mr. Hues, we received an anonymous tip that you were harboring packets of cocaine and I have a search warrant to search your residence.” Explained the officer as he showed the signed warrant.

Lucky Find!

by Carlos Palanca

For years, I have been able to get inside people and possess their bodies. I would push my shorter and more slender frame and take control of their bodies. It wasn’t easy though. I had to sneak up behind them in a secluded place while they’re distracted because if they see me, they could easily beat me up. Another downside is the fact that I couldn’t stay inside them for as long as I want, I get pushed out of their bodies after 12 hours, leaving them unconscious on the ground. It used to happen quite often until I found Matt.

I moved to my new house a few months ago and the basement was filled all sorts of junk and old furniture. Everywhere I look and turn, I see boxes filled with old books, and clothes. These must have belonged to the previous (and dead) owner. As I was scavenging the boxes of something worth selling and throwing, I found a secret door. It was locked! Luckily, I immediately and conveniently found the key on the door frame. As I opened it up, the room was filled with even more clothes, but the room was still alien compared to the rest of the basement. It was clean and white but it was filled with a lot of clothes racks. There was still room behind the racks so I moved them until there was enough room for me to pass through. There, I saw a table, with a desktop computer and some workout equipment but what really caught my attention was the fact that there was a naked man slumped against a couch! His mouth was partly opened but his eyes were open and staring blankly to the ceiling.

I rushed towards him. I reached out for his arm and check for a pulse. But as I pressed my fingers onto his wrist, his arm collapsed under the pressure exerted by my fingers like it was hallow. I did the same to the other arm and his neck and the same thing happened. For my final attempt, I pressed his chest and it collapsed like the rest of his body.

The Captain

By Carlos Palanca

Scott was sitting in the bleachers, watching his friend, Jake fight his opponent. Jake was having his last wrestling match for the semi-finals. It was a privilege for Scott to watch his friend compete for he was the one who trained him to be a better wrestler and a better athlete.

Jake's opponent was shorter than him but just as muscular. They were both having a difficult time bringing one of them down. Then, Jake suddenly made a desperate move. It was the move that Scott taught him to use on bigger opponents. With some quick maneuvering of his legs, Jake immediately brought his opponent down on the mat. The crowd cheered knowing that their school team just made it to the finals.

After the match, Scott approached Jake and told him that they need to talk. They went to a secluded corner.

"What was that? I thought I told you not to use that move on guys like him!!!" Exclaimed Scott.

Sudden Changes

by Carlos Palanca

It was another day for Dr. Dylan Pines, the school phycologist. He is the part-time guidance counselor for East Central High School. He would usually sit on his comfy chair, dealing with students who need serious attitude adjustments. The school usually calls him in whenever there are extreme and somewhat juvenile cases that needed to be taken care off immediately

It was about 2:30 in the afternoon. The day was almost done until his friend, Mr. Jacob Stone, who happens to be a teacher in the institution, entered his office while forcefully getting a student to go inside.

“Get in here, you!” ordered Mr. Stone.

“Whoa! Jacob! Mr. Stone! Is that a way to treat a student?” said Dylan.

“To this kind of student, I think yes!” He exclaimed. “Now, sit here you little troublemaker!” he ordered as he forcefully let the student sit on one of the two chairs on the other side of Dylan’s desk. “Alright Alex! I think you know Mr. Pines.”

“Sup!” said Alex.

Dylan only showed a fake smile to the student as he forced himself to stay in a positive manner. “Okay. So, Alex. I want you to sit right here for a few minutes while I talk to Mr. Stone outside. Okay?”

The Ride Home

by Carlos Palanca

Friday afternoon, I was riding on the monorail on my way home from work. It was crowded as usual since most of the people was already on their way home from school or work. If not, they were on their way somewhere to spend their Friday night.
The train just stopped on a station that was third to the last station. Most of the people get off this station since the street below this station is road going outside of the city and into the suburbs area. As the area got more spacious as a large crowd exited, a man in a green hoodie, sweatpants and with two large bags entered the train. He was huge. You could see his bulging muscles wanting to burst out of his clothes. I don’t know whether I was intimidated by his size or just curious of where he was going with those bags. Suddenly, he noticed me looking at his bags. I looked away. Even though, I was looking at different direction, I could still see his reflection at the pole in front of me. He was eyeing me like he was angry with me for looking at his bag. Then his eyes focused on my backpack. He picked up his bags and approached me. I was nervous and scared at the same time like I had the feeling that he was going to beat me up or argue with me in front of the old lady and her cat beside me.
“Hey man!” he said.
“Hi” I said nervously.
“I know that you have been looking at my stuff” Oh no! Here we go! He’s probably going to punch me right now. I thought to myself. “Dude, relax. I just want to talk.”
“Okay. So you’re not mad at me for looking?” I replied.

Caught, Part 2

By Carlos Palanca – part two to the story "Caught"

It has been a couple of days now since Tony found out about the Kane suit. It still bothers me and makes me a bit paranoid. How did he find out about it? Did I carelessly do something that made him learn about it? These questions keep circling my head and it’s giving me a headache.
My phone’s alarm went off. It indicated me that it’s time to go to Kane’s date with Emma. I pulled on the Kane suit, pushing every bit of my body inside it through the mouth. I got ready and went to Kane’s date. I went to Emma’s house and watched a couple of spy movie because she liked watching movies like that especially if she thinks the actors were hot. Then I saw the clip or the part were the characters were putting on disguises as a part of their mission. There, I got an idea on how I will get my revenge on Tony.
After Kane’s or rather our date with Emma, I went home around 9 am. I picked up my phone to call Patrick, who is wearing Kane’s friend, Luke. He also hired Tony to be his pool boy and he was also the one who suggested that I should hire Tony.
“Hello?” asked Patrick with Luke’s voice.
“Hi Pat! It’s Will, I need to talk to you.” I said using Kane’s voice.
“How am I sure you’re really Will wearing Kane’s skin?”
“Dude it’s me! To prove it to you, I’ll tell you about the time when you got drunk and pissed off this biker dude and…”
“Just stop right there! Okay! You have proven your point that you are who you say you are, Will!” He said embarrassedly. I laughed. He said, “So what’s up? Anything interesting?”
“Tony found out about the suit!”
“Dude! What happened? How did it happen?”
“I just went home and caught him wearing it. I don’t know exactly how he found out about it.”
“So what now?” asked Patrick.
“Tony knows too much. I was thinking of turning him into a suit and use him to turn some of his clients into suits.”
“Okay. So how are you going to do that?”
“Yeah…. About that…. Can I borrow Luke or rather the Luke suit for the night?”
“Sure! I got nothing planned for tonight. Can I be Kane for the night though?”
“Fine.”
“Yes!” exclaimed Patrick. “It’s a deal then!”
“Great! I’m coming over!” I went over to Luke’s house to meet Patrick. I got there in just five minutes. I rang the doorbell and Patrick, wearing Luke’s skin, opened the door. “Looking good man!” I greeted him.

“Yeah you too!” said Patrick. “Come in! Make yourself at home!” He closed the door and locked it. He closed the windows and pulled down the shades. Without hesitations, we got undressed and pulled out of the suits. I didn’t want to put on the Luke suit so I just put on the clothes Luke wore earlier. Patrick however was very excited to be Kane for the night so he immediately pulled on the suit. Soon his head was on top of Kane’s body. He said to me, “See ‘you’ tomorrow Will!”

Costume Change

by Carlos Palanca

I was walking on the beach in front of the hotel I was staying in where I saw a beach party. I thought to myself, “I’m sure they won’t mind if I grab a drink from their party.” I went to towards the crowd and found the refreshment table and grabbed a cup of mixed drinks.
I was minding my own business, drinking my drink. I was suddenly pulled from behind until my butt touches something. It was a drunken guy wearing a Captain America costume. Then, a guy in a Red Ranger costume arrives. I don’t know their names so I called them Cap and Red for now.

Cap pushed me down so that my face is in line with Red’s crotch. They laughed and made fun of me as Cap pushes me with his dick so that my face will touch Red’s dick. I managed to break free and ran. They followed me towards the parking lot
Red caught up with me when I got there but Cap tripped on the way because he was too drunk to do so. Red grabbed a hold of me and placed a hand on my mouth. I tried to break free but kept failing. He told me, “Dude, chill! Relax! I’m not going to mess with you. I only followed you to talk to you! Just keep your mouth shut!”
I took his hand of my mouth and said, “If you only wanted to talk to me, you didn’t have to do that thing to me a while ago.”
“Yeah, sorry about that. It as the alcohol. Oh, I’m Dave by the way” We shook hands and I told him that my name is Chase. “I just want you to know first that I know what you can do.” Said Dave.

Costume adventure

by Carlos Palanca


I have been Chris for a year and a half now. I had lived his life the way he usually does: hanged out with his friends, took care of his pet dog, and dated his girlfriend. I learned to love his life but it still was not the one I had in mind because I wanted something that was a mixture of a jock and a comic book geek. I don’t know why but I sort of want something just like one like that.
I went to the gym where Chris works. This is also the opportunity for me to find a potential person for me to be for the next couple of years. I greeted some of his co-workers and they greeted me back enthusiastically especially Nate. He was one of the new part-time employees who was in-charge of lifting the new dumbbells being delivered. He was also a college student. I thought to myself, “Hey maybe him! I might find someone in his university that has the life that I want.”
Nate went to gym’s basement to find some of the new dumbbells. I followed him. Without hesitation, I pushed him to a room which looks like an old shower room that hasn’t been used for a decade or so. Chris was a lot bigger. I used Chris’ strength to knock him out and he went limp on Chris’ arms. I placed him on the floor. I looked at Chris’ body and flexed it a bit since I have the thought of being him for the last time. Chris’ body fell on the ground next to Nate. Chris’ back started to swell as I pulled out of him. I got up and saw a mirror. I went there and checked my reflection and took a selfie using Chris’ phone. I sent a copy to my email and deleted the one on the phone. I noticed my clothes and said to myself, “I can’t believe that I have been wearing this thing for more than a year now! I doesn’t matter. It’s not like anyone is going to notice it when I’m inside someone” I laughed as I walked back to where Chris and Nate were lying.

Ride for Life, Part Two

by Carlos Palanca

I can’t believe that my friends would double cross me like that and now John is living his new life as Jeff! Five days later I have thought of plan but I need to use my friends’ bodies to do it. First, I called Peter. I asked him if I could go to his house. I told him that I want to talk to him face to face. He agreed. It took me fifteen minutes to get into his house. I knocked on his door and he let me in. We sat on his sofa in the living room
“So dude, what do you want to talk about?” asked Peter.
“It’s about Craig and John or as Jeff since he hijacked his body from me.” I said
“Look Tony, listen. I know it’s kinda hard to feel that some of your friends betrayed you and yes, I know it’s hard but you got to let it go and move on.” He explained.
I paused for a while, looking down on the floor. I looked up to him and said with a grin, “Not without a payback prank!”
“Haha. I knew you would say that!” He said laughing. “So what do you have in mind?”
“I was thinking that I would try to get “Jeff’s” new address and go there as Craig. Then I would knock him out and pull John from Jeff’s body and take it back from him.” I explained.
“Okay but how are you planning to get the address?”
“That’s where you come in.”