Edward, average Uni Student

Despite leading, what many would say, was an extraordinarily simple life, Edward would have never categorized it as such. A simple university student, with a repetitive schedule, that he had followed to a tea everyday, had made him consider himself something greater. A man that was surely to prosper out of the unique averageness of his person.

That was, as it is the matter with all stories that go this way, the case. May it be fate, that wished to pull him out of the sheer meaninglessness Edward had put himself in, or something else. His life took a great turn, when he discovered the magic marker.

15th December

On the quite unpeculiar evening of the 15th of December Edward had left the university campus and made his way to the apartment he shared with four others, at the same time he always did. 4 PM. The evening radio, he listened to, as he walked home, whispered news of politics, sports and other grand things he in truth did not care for, into his ear. Perhaps it was the lack of entertainment that had lead Edward to look down in this moment, to see, on the floor a strange pen. Not a pencil, not a ballpoint pen, just a thin, black marker.

Usually Edward would have just ignored it, stepped over it, leaving it to someone else to pick up- But he didn’t. He crouched, grabbed the pen and removed the cap. Just a usual marker, Edward thought. Not dried up, not broken. There was no other reason that it lied there other than that it just did.

Edward didn’t think further about it and pocketed it.

As the sun set and Edward had arrived home, his clothes removed standing in the bathroom, naked, ready to wash the filth of the day off him, he looked into the mirror. Brown hair, brown eyes. A stubbled beard hiding small contours of a double chin. No matter how he had tried to lose weight, build a body and gain muscles, he had never managed so. Edward hated himself for it.

For a moment Edward looked down on his body. A small belly, thin legs and arms, no signs of muscles and his penis was rather small aswell.

Why did he have to be so ugly?, Edward thought. He sighed a heavy breath before turning to his jacket that he had discarded to the floor. He wanted to put it into the laundry machine, but he remembered the marker still in his pocket. Quickly he took it out. Would have been a mess if he had left it in there.

Edwards gaze rested on the marker for a while. He read the fine print written along the side. Write with me, Underline to make permanent, Circle text to make invisible, Cross to remove.

“Strange”, Edward ushered. He looked back into the mirror. As if a will transcending his own Edward uncapped the marker, placed the tip on his arm. He could remove the writing in the shower anyway. He wrote three letters: FIT

The ink was black, thin. Nothing spectacular. Edward sighed again. Of course he had imagined it would do something. He shook his head and turned towards the shower. It was already hot. Just before he stepped in, he took a glance into the mirror. Gone was the chubby man, in his place stood an athlete. Sick-pack, strong arms and legs and a strong neck. “What the-!”

Edward stumbled backward, his bare feet slipping on the tile as his reflection flexed unfamiliar muscles. The marker clattered to the floor, rolling toward the drain. He scrambled to pick it up, heart hammering against his ribs, except now, his ribs weren’t soft beneath a layer of fat. They were defined, hard, pressing against taut skin.

His fingers trembled as he traced the letters still visible on his forearm: FIT.

Edward looked at the marker once more. “Magic marker”, he whispered under his breath. “Of course”