Tainted Gestalt: Going Home

Jim was stunned to say the least. He thought about catching up with Rick and question him further, but he had a feeling that he wouldn't be very forthcoming. He didn't know what had happened, but Rick wasn't the Rick he remembered.

So with that, he decided to just head home. Maybe there would be some clue there to help him figure out what was happening. On the way, he played over in his mind that weird experience he had after touching that glowing cube. He clearly remembered his own voice saying "I want Sharon to love me forever." He remembered other voices - a boy's voice, a girl's voice, and a man's voice - but he couldn't quite recall what they were saying. But he was sure that they all were stating desires of some kind.

But what did all of that have to do with this? He wasn't sure. He felt like he was missing some very important pieces to a giant puzzle. But one thing was definite - Rick was different after Jim touched that cube. So the cube definitely had something to do with this.

The cube! How come he didn't bring it with him? Cursing to himself, he turned to walk back down the street to retrieve it, but stopped when he saw that the cube was sitting on the sidewalk directly behind him. He looked down at it. With the electricity gone, it looked like just a regular glass cube. But he knew it was much more than that. "That's weird. How did it get here?"

He picked it up, then put it in his pocket, seeing that it was small enough that he could do that (a little smaller than eight cubic inches), then he continued his way home.

Jon pushed Karyn off of him. "Whoa, Karyn. What's gotten into you? We have to figure this out." Not that he didn't like the kiss. He loved it. Although, that piercing chain got a little annoying, constantly slapping into his face with every movement.

"What's to figure out? I love you, you love me. So let's fuck already, huh?" she said. She moved towards him, causing Jon to sidestep her.

"Karyn, this is serious. You've changed. You're, well, hot now. And you're a Goth. Don't you notice?"

"Of course, I notice. How could I not notice how hot I am?" she asked, bringing out a makeup compact, flipping it open and looking at herself in the mirror. She looked at herself with a mix of adoration, admiration, and desire. Okay, that was another thing that changed about her. Karyn was never normally so self-absorbed. "And Jon, you know I've been a Goth for years now. That's nothing new."

Okay, whatever was happening was changing reality, as absurd as that sounded. After all, reality couldn't normally just change like this. But surely, whatever changed it had to be something out of the ordinary, right? And the only thing that came to mind at the moment was that glowing cube he touched. He clearly remembered the voice he heard, his voice, saying "I wish Karyn looked more like Sarah McMillan." Karyn definitely had a body like Sarah's, but what about the rest of it? Why was she a Goth, why did she think she was his girlfriend (he wasn't really complaining about that one, though), and why was she so narcissistic?

Jon looked down at the cube that now looked just like a regular glass cube and picked it up. Whatever was happening had something to do with this. Maybe he could make it help him figure out what was happening. He shook it in his hand, thinking it would activate or something, but nothing happened. Shrugging, he put it in his pocket and headed home.

It took a moment for Karyn to tear her eyes away from her reflection in the mirror to notice that Jon was no longer there. She looked over and saw him down the street already. She put her compact away and rushed over to him. "Where are you headed?" she asked.

"Home."

"I'll join you then," she said, eager to stay with him.

Feeling more intimidated by his ex-wife than usual, but also wanting some answers as to what was happening, Ted complied and got into the car. Once inside, Lauren immediately stepped on the gas and they were off.

Up close, he got a good look at his ex-wife. Having a career in business, she normally wore a gray or white skirt suit with a white or pink blouse, respectively, or something along those lines. She worked for a perfume company and was one of their best employees. But the way she was dressed now ... he had a feeling that she didn't work there anymore. Right now, Lauren was dressed in a black T-shirt over a fishnet shirt, black ripped jeans, and black boots. She had full tattoo sleeves on both arms, that he could see through the fishnet shirt, and she had a black septum ring in her nose.

"So, uh, how was work?" he offered, hoping to start a conversation and get some answers.

"About the same as usual," she said, shrugging. "Mack was sick, so I had to do some tattooing."

Tattooing? What the hell? Did she work at a tattoo parlor now?

His thoughts were interrupted when she drove through a yellow light that was turning red and got honked at by another driver, causing her to stick her arm out the window and give the other driver the middle finger. If that wasn't enough, she also yelled out "Fuck you!"

Who was this woman? She may have had the body and voice of his ex-wife, but she was nothing like Lauren at all. She'd never talk like this, dress like this, or have a job at a tattoo parlor, for that matter.

Thinking back, none of this bizarre-ness happened until ... after he touched that cube. Somehow, as ridiculous as it sounded, it had changed his ex-wife. But why? He clearly remembered hearing his own voice saying "Why can't my family just get along with me?" and other voices as well, although he couldn't remember what they were saying. But what did that have to do with his ex-wife becoming like this?

He looked back and through the back window of the car, thinking about the cube he left behind on the sidewalk. If only he had it with him, he could find out ...

Ted blinked suddenly, realizing that the cube was sitting on the backseat. "What the ...?" he muttered. How did it do that?

"Did you just say you want to suck my ... pussy?" Teresa asked her mother.

"Yeah. So? Do you want to do me instead?" her mom Janice asked, in a matter-of-fact way.

Teresa was stunned. What the hell was her mother talking about? She was acting like it was completely normal to want to have sexual relations with her own daughter. Not only was **** a taboo, but she knew for a fact that her mother was overly homophobic. She'd never intentionally want to have a lesbian relationship with someone, least of all her own daughter. Something was definitely different about her mom. She looked gothic, that was one, but something happened to her mind too.

She turned back and looked at the cube that she had touched. No longer looking electrified, it sat on the floor, so innocently. But she was sure that it had something to do with the changes to her mother. But how? Magic, maybe? She knew a little about the occult, but she had never heard anything about a magic reality-changing cube. She needed to study it, see how this all happened. She needed to ...

"Come on," her mother said urgently, pulling Teresa with her, then down the hall to the master bedroom. It looked like Teresa would have to deal with the cube later. Right now, she had to deal with her mother.

After they entered the room and shut the door behind them, the cube de-materialized from Teresa's bedroom, then re-materialized on the dresser in the master bedroom. Teresa was too focused on her mother to notice that the cube was there ... for the moment anyway.

What Jim, Jon, Ted, and Teresa didn't know was that the moment they initially touched their universe's piece of the cube, their cube had bonded with them. Now, it would stay close to them wherever they went, whether they wanted it there or not. But even though it was bonded to them, that didn't mean that others couldn't use it. Someone, anyone, just needed to touch it, think a desire, and it would come true. Well, not always though. Since the original cube was separated into eight parts, the parts weren't as powerful just by themselves. They needed the other pieces to help make desires come true. One piece wasn't enough. Two might be, depending on the wish. Three or more would be a definite. But, as was just done, the desires would be mixed together and granted to all of the holders of the cube, meaning Jim, Jon, Ted, and Teresa, since they were the ones who were bonded to the cube pieces. So if someone else (for example, Rick, Karyn, Lauren, or Janice) used their cube, then it would be granted to Jim, Jon, Ted, and Teresa, as if they had used it themselves. And it would be this way forever.