Jonny has an idea.

Katie’s levity broke the silence. “Put on a bit of weight, big guy?” she asked with a chuckle, motioning to Jonny’s vessel’s swollen belly. Jonny said nothing, and he pondered more. “I have an idea,” Jonny said flatly, and his possessed vessel disappeared in a puff of smoke. Vanessa and Katie just stood and looked at each other. Vanessa rubbed her throat as if to sooth the pain of being lifted into the air and nearly choked ****.

Johnny puffed back into existence at Lisa’s house. He appeared in the living room and looked about. He figured this might be the place Selina would go upon escape only because it was the last place she really remembered being before Jonny possessed her. Jonny walked Angela’s body through the house and came to the kitchen. There he found Lisa standing by the dinner table. She wore the same low-cut blouse and jeans she had been wearing when Jonny last saw her. Jonny slowly approached Lisa as she stood blank-faced and started into nothing.

“What are you doing?” Jonny asked Lisa as he came and stood before her. “You instructed this one to come home, so I did. This one is waiting for more orders, Mistress,” she said, her voice as empty as her eyes were. Jonny looked at her, and she looked right through him, or at least through the meat suit he had borrowed. Jonny stood there a few minutes, staring into Lisa’s eyes. The two were silent.

Suddenly, Jonny heard the front door fly open. It was Selina! Jonny shuffled his plumped-up body off to a corner out of sight just in time to look back and see Selina run frantically into the kitchen and up to Lisa. “Lisa Lisa you’re never going to believe what happened. I remember being here, and Jonny, that cute kid—he went to the dinner with me and to the gala, and there was this horrible shooting and I came back ‘cause I lost him,” she explained frantically, tears welling up in her eyes. “Then I came to your house to look for the kid, and there was this pudgy fat guy and we sat on the porch and that’s all I remember . . . I . . . . I . . . I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” she sobbed as she sank, seemingly defeated, into the chair. After sobbing for a few seconds, she looked up at Lisa, who simply stared straight forward.

“For the love of god, hon, say something, please!” Selina begged. Nothing. Jonny stood in the darkened corner, tucked away snuggly inside the body of Angela Donovan. He had an idea. His eyes glowed red, and he concentrated. Suddenly, his plump, voluptuous body began to shift. Angela’s legs and meaty thighs lost their girth, and her belly deflated, each feature being replaced by a slim, even wiry counterpart. Her mil-filled breasts retreated into her chest, and her arms slimmed out and became much skinnier. Her facial features hardened a bit, but her whole body grew younger until it looked like that of a boy at about age 18 or so, a boy with dark hair and glasses. A formal evening suit appeared on the boy’s body, and a big sloppy red spot appeared on his white shirt. Jonny stepped from the corner clad in a body that was familiar to him. “Hey Selina,” he said pleasantly. She suddenly turned, and her jaw dropped. “Oh my God!” she exclaimed as she threw herself into Jonny’s arms and hugged him, as he wore the same young male body he had been inside when he went to the gala. “Oh my God Jonny I thought I lost you!” she said as she stepped back. “Good to see you again,” Jonny said with a smile.

Selina stepped back. “My god . . . what—what happened to you?” she said as she gestured at the giant spot of blood on Jonny’s shirt. “Hit in the belly by a stray bullet when you took me to dinner that night,” he said, “Guess you didn’t watch me close enough huh?” he said. Selina stepped back and began to cry again. “I . . . I would never have let anything happen to you!” she said. “Bull shit; you did, and now I’m dead. I wasn’t even old enough to drink, and you’re old enough to be my mom. You were supposed to take care of me that night!” he screamed. Selina sobbed again. “I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m so so so sorry!” she exclaimed, “I want to go back to my apartment and spend time with you but I lost you!” Jonny cut in, “Yeah, I wanted to fuck you that night too, but now that I’m dead I suppose that’s unlikely,” Jonny said with an obvious edge. “I didn’t mean for this to happen,” she cried, with her head in her hands.

Jonny concentrated again while Selina looked away. His body shifted again. He stayed about the same height, but rapidly aged a few decades. His suit had to resize itself as his entire body inflated. His belly surged forward so that it was barely contained even by the larger dress shirt and pants he now wore. Thick dark glasses appeared on his face, as did a jiggly double chin. An overcoat adorned the rotund male form that Jonny now wore, and a small hole appeared in his new body’s head. Blood seemed to seep out. “I’m afraid that’s quite irrelevant,” Jonny declared from a new body. Selina looked up, amazed again. “You—you’re the guy from—“ she began. “That’s right,” Jonny said, “I’m Arthur Fineburg, and I got this nasty whole in my head a few minutes after I met you,” he said as he gestured to his wound.

Selina cried more. “I don’t even remember—“ Selina began. “I DO!” the plump accountant screamed. Of course, Jonny left out that he had possessed Selina’s body in order to shoot the fat man. “You know I notice a theme here—Jonny met you, and he’s dead. I met you, and I’m dead. Wanna take a guess about what exactly is the fucking common denominator here?!” he shouted. Selina could not stop crying.