Forcing his hand.

“Hello there.”

George flinched violently at the interruption, nearly falling over in his chair as the voice came in clearly over his headphones. It was a deep voice, but not natural, sounding more like someone used a voice synthesizer that was specifically designed to sound as creepy as possible.

George took off his headphones and took a deep breath, only for the voice to continue speaking, loud and clear, as if someone was standing right next to him.

“I am the developer of the Type Transition app you have recently obtained. No, don’t bother trying to turn your phone off,” the voice said, seemingly reading his mind, “ It won’t do anything, I am not speaking to you through it. I tore a hole through the very fabric of reality to speak to you. It was very difficult by the way, so you should be thankful I even bothered.”

A long silence followed that proclamation. George looked around his room, but there was no one else there, and the voice didn’t seem to be coming from his phone. It had been difficult to tell, but it sounded like the voice was coming from directly above him.

George looked up at the ceiling. There was nothing there either, and George let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding in.

Thankful, George thought. Thankful! This app was a curse, why should he be thankful the developer had decided to bother him about it instead of just letting him reverse his changes and move on with his life!

“Oh good, you are listening,” the voice said a few moments later, “Human mortals have such short attention spans, sometimes I can’t even tell if they’re really able to understand me. Now, young man, you are trouble, let me tell you that!”

“Trouble?” George whispered, “I just did what the app told me to do, hell what it **** me to do. You’re supposed to be the developer, you should be the one in trouble here!”

“No,” the voice said, slightly quieter, with a mix of frustration and pride, “You misunderstand, it must be that short attention span humans have. The trouble is not what you have done, but rather what you have not been doing. Using the app.”

“You had so much potential. You’re smart and inquisitive, and have just enough morals left to not get completely distracted by that insatiable lust humans tend to have. You would be the ideal QA tester, if only you would use the damn app!”

“I don’t want to,” George said, his voice still barely above a whisper, “Changing people on a whim like that is harmful, if not downright evil. I won’t do it.”

“I know you believe that. You are wrong, but I doubt I can convince you with words. So instead, I will **** you to use the app, and maybe seeing it in action will show you the error in your beliefs.”

“**** me? How-”

“Silence child!” The voice said, then George found his mouth sealed shut, forcing him to breath through his nose. “I won’t literally **** you, I can’t affect your free will. But I do have other ways.”

There was another pause, likely for dramatic effect, before the voice continued loudly, “From now on, you will have to do at least one Stereotype Action each day, and complete every quest on time. If you fail to do so, I will give this app, with no restrictions, to whichever person you least want to have it.”

“Yep, whichever slimeball you’re thinking of, do you want him to have it? Or would you rather be the lesser evil and use the app yourself? The choice is yours, though there is only a half hour left until midnight, so you’d better choose fast.”

The voice went silent, and George felt a weight lift off of his shoulders that he hadn’t even known was there. The developer was gone, and his promise was real. George knew that in his gut, as surely as he knew his own name.

Who would get the app if he didn’t use it? That asshole Alex from sales? His father???

It didn’t matter. If someone was going to use it, George would make sure it was himself. He would do the least damage with it.

Only a half hour, George remembered with a start. He only had a half hour to find someone whose name he knew.

George threw open his window and looked out over the courtyard pool area below, hoping there was someone down there he would recognize.

It was deserted though. George almost closed the window and left, about to start knocking on his neighbor’s door, when he saw a lone figure come into view.