Search The Pile

You put the glass aside, making sure to wash it to not leave any evidence. You wash your face before quickly rushing back to the bedroom. The two skins were still there, thankfully, but your eye is drawn to the rather ordinary pile of dirty clothes in the corner of the room. To any unsuspecting eye it would look like just some dirty laundry, but you knew better.

You approach the pile and pick up George's jeans from its top. And as expected, in its right pocket was a very familiar device. It was another one of those pens, a twin of the former, with just the slightest of differences. For one, the second pen was brown, compared to the other. And the button on it was a bit larger, as well as its tip. Unsure what this pen does, you carefully aim it at the deflated skin of George and press the button. But instead of shooting a beam right at it like the black pen, you are shocked to find a glow envelop the pen. You drop it to the floor, but it's too late. The glow wraps around your hands, and soon your entire body. You are terrified that you might end up like the man and woman laid before you on the bed, but instead you are left confused.

Suddenly, your mind is filled with thoughts, memories, all your own. Memories of your childhood rush to the front of your mind, your mannerisms, behavior, the whole package. For a a moment is like you have a second, identical mind within your brain, but it soon fades away, and you fall back on the bed. God, you felt dizzy. What was that? The brown pen, it... it filled your mind with your own memories?

It takes you a second to realize what that was. Body... and mind! The black pen gives you the appearance of a person, and rhe brown gives you their mind! That's why you reexperienced your own mind at that moment. And that's what George tried to do! He wanted to copy the neighbor's mind, so he can impersonate her perfectly.... But... why didn't it work when you tried it on him?

Maybe it has to be worn? That's must be why George first put the skin on before copying her mind, and why it didn't work on him.

You glance at the skin. It looked extremely odd, especially since it was bare naked, unlike the neighbor. You had covered him with a blanket when you took him out of the former, but it was still still unsettling to see the emptied skin of a middle aged man before you.

You wanted to test the brown pen, but you were hesitant. The idea of wearing someone else's skin.... it was unnerving, to say the least. You really didn't want to do it, but your curiosity was too great. Part of you wanted again to try the neighbor, but another thought rose in your mind. What if George was lying to you? You had no way to confirm his story, at least until this revelation. The brown pen could tell you everything you needed to know about George, and your neighbor. And most importantly, you could discover if the story George told you was true...

But something about becoming George scared you. Maybe it was better to test it on the woman? Or someone else entirely?