Looking around I saw that I was standing in the living room of a small furnished apartment. It appeared to be extremely well organised and tidy with everything in it seemingly to have a place. The afternoon sun filtered through the lace curtains casting shadows on the neatly arranged furniture. The room was filled with dark wooden antique cabinets, displaying delicate porcelain figurines and what appeared to be family photographs.
In one corner, a rocking chair sat next to a small table with a porcelain tea set and I imagined that Agatha had spent many an evening there. The scent of freshly brewed tea made me realise that I had connected to the autonomic nervous system and the sense of smell had activated.
I inhaled deeply, enjoying the aromas that lingered in the room. Hints of a floral perfume tickled my nose, and I smiled.
‘Maybe Agatha’s signature scent?’ I thought as I visualised her applying her perfume as she started her day.
Taking a tentative step forward, I caught a glimpse of ‘my’ new reflection in a small mirror hanging from a nearby wall. Curious, I paused and studied ‘Agatha’s’ - or should I say, my new face. It was wrinkled and plump with reddened cheeks and twinkling eyes, a sign that she had a good soul. She wore glasses with thin red frames and her hair was short and the colour of snow. Her appearance matched that of my Grandma, which indicated that there was nothing out of the ordinary for the 94 year old. Her clothing looked comfortable, a mauve sweatshirt with grey tracksuit pants and I looked down to see that she was wearing slippers finishing the elderly lady ensemble.
A sharp tweak on the top of my head brought me out of my thoughts, signalling that the transition process was well under way. I rolled my eyes up and back, closing my eyelids and calming my mind once more.
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Beginning to meditate, I started to breathe slowly in and out, focusing purely on my breath itself. This small technique helped me relax and prepare for the intense pain that came as the next part of the integration was completed - as ‘Agatha’ was slowly pulled from this body and my consciousness was added. Through this part of the process I could feel threads of the host’s own experiences and memories intertwining with my own, heightening my awareness and adding more power to my own abilities.
Suddenly, there was a loud banging at the front door. Surprised, I opened my eyes. Jonty was meant to be holding the perimeter while the convergence took place. No one should be within 100 miles of here or at least no where near the apartment.
“Jonty.”…I whispered urgently. “Jonty, I’ve got a breach. Jonty?!”
With one large thud an axe head smashed through the wooden door, the glint of the blade catching the light as it tore through the wood. It was pulled out effortlessly, then a few seconds later it came smashing through again. I heard laughter and grunting coming from out in the hallway, whoever was on the other side wasn’t taking this very seriously, it sounded like they were enjoying the destruction.
I quickly looked around the apartment to see if there was anything I could use to protect myself.
“Come out, come out wherever you are…” A deep rasping voice called, its tone sent a shiver down my spine.
“Ariah, we know you’re in there!” More laughter.
Shocked, I froze. How did they know my real name? Only Jonty and my colleagues at Integration Operations, IO for short, had that information. Our missions themselves were always top secret due to the dangerous nature of the work that we did and to protect the hosts that we needed to occupy to complete our investigations.
More laughter followed, then the axe came through the door once more, this time knocking out the hinges that were attaching it to the door frame.
It fell forward and crashed to the floor, attached to the door frame no longer.