The Replacement

Scarlett Herrin sat slumped in her chair, her eyes half-closed as she doodled aimlessly in her notebook. The faint hum of the fluorescent lights overhead was more interesting than whatever was happening at the front of the room.

"Scarlett," a calm but firm voice cut through the haze of her daydreams. "Are you with us?"

Scarlett looked up, blinking. Mrs. Wolf leaned on a desk at the front of the classroom, her red-framed glasses perched on the bridge of her nose. Her curly hair framed her face in soft waves, and though she was pushing fifty, her energy made her seem years younger. She wore a brown sweater vest over a crisp white dress shirt paired with black pants that matched the no-nonsense attitude she brought to her teaching. Yet she also had her sleeves rolled up casually, matching the chill vibes of her relaxed pose.

Mrs. Wolf wasn't glaring, but there was something in her friendly gaze that made Scarlett sit up a little straighter.

Mrs. Wolf adjusted her glasses and returned to the whiteboard, where she began sketching a DNA molecule's structure. "As I was saying," she continued, her voice carrying a blend of patience and passion, "the double helix structure allows DNA to replicate so efficiently. Each strand serves as a template for a new strand, which is why genetic information can be passed down so reliably."

Scarlett glanced at the board, where the familiar twisted ladder came to life in blue and red marker. Even though she barely cared for the subject, there was something in the way Ms. Wolf spoke, with that quiet certainty, that made her want to listen.

"What's captivating, though, is how little difference it takes to make something entirely new." Mrs. Wolf reached down and pulled up a banana she had brought as a prop. "For instance, the DNA sequence for a human is over 60% identical to that of a banana. And the differences between one another are even smaller. Just a few code changes can make all the distinction in the world."

Mrs. Wolf smiled at the looks of fascination on the faces of her middle school students.

---

Levi Summers

The dungeon was eerily quiet, and the echoes of the elimination had long since faded into the stone walls. The monster and her victim were gone, but the air was thick with the weight of what had transpired.

No one spoke. The silence wasn't one of relief but of exhaustion, of emotions too heavy to put into words. They remained in their circles, no longer restrained but lacking the motivation to leave.

Levi had come down the stairs but stood apart from the group. He couldn't bring himself to join them. After what Azure made him do, how he had invaded their bodies, what could he possibly say?

Soft, **** sobs had been the only thing breaking the silence. Sitting off to the side, Lauren buried her face in her hands. For the past few minutes, she had been crying quietly, trying to hold herself together, but the weight of what they'd been through was too much.

Finally, her red-rimmed eyes lifted, catching sight of Sophia across the circle. Sophia sat motionless, her expression blank, lost in her thoughts. But something in her apparent detachment was like a spark to the tinder of Lauren's raw emotions.

"What's the matter, Sophia? Aren't you happy?" Lauren's voice was thick with tears, her words sharp as they cut through the silence. "You should be celebrating! You won!"

"Lauren," Ji-Woo said in a stern warning. But the goth would not take her eyes off of Sophia.

"Everyone loves you, don't they? DON'T THEY! Why the hell were YOU picked, huh?"

"W-what?" Sophia finally stuttered.

"What did you promise him? Huh? Why does anyone like a loser like you?!" Sophia looked away, but this only enraged Lauren further. "LOOK AT ME IN THE EYE WHEN I'M TALKING TO YOU!"

"Stop it, Lauren," Elena shouted, but she barely heard her. Before anyone could react, Lauren marched over, grabbed Sophia by the hoodie, and pulled her into her face.

"If you hadn't been spared, my sister would still be here! You hear that, you little freak! MY SISTER IS GONE BECAUSE OF YOU!"

Sophia, who had just regained her composure, suddenly found herself overwhelmed again. She began pulling at her hair and whimpering.

"That's enough!" Tomoko ran up behind Lauren, tightly wrapping her arms around her, and tried to pull her back.

Lauren flailed wildly. "Get your tits off me, you whore!" Despite her resistance, Tomoko persisted in dragging her away from Sophia.

After checking that Sophia was unharmed, Elena ran over to the brawl. She joined the grapple right as the goth was about to break free. With her in the mix, they managed to restrain her fully.

"STOP PROTECTING HER! IT'S HER FAULT!" Lauren screamed.

"It's not!" Levi called out, finally making his presence known. "I'm the one who deserves to be blamed, not her. Not anyone else."

Lauren laughed hysterically, still struggling in vain. "Oh, so you're sorry?! Big fucking surprise! You're always fucking sorry, and it does piss all! If you wanted to make amends, you'd KILL YOURSELF and end the game!"

"Oh, shut the fuck up, Lauren!" Olivia groaned, arms crossed. "It's not his fault. And it's not Sophia's, either. If anyone is to blame, it's you.

Lauren froze. "What did you just say?!"

"You ignored the game, lost the challenge, and pushed your sister to the brink of desperation. You essentially eliminated her yourself."

"OLIVIA!" Elena gasped.

"How can you be so heartless?!" Ji-Woo asked, appalled.

Olivia shook her head. "Either she takes some responsibility or stops lashing out at everyone to make herself feel better."

Lauren saw red. "Sh... shut... SHUT UP!"

Lauren bit onto Tomoko's arm, making her yowl with pain and release her. Elena didn't have time to adjust in the confusion, and Lauren broke free, rushing straight for Olivia.

The MMA fighter adopted a defensive stance. Any thoughts of her own diminished frame were forgotten. Lauren pounced like a rabid animal, hands outstretched to strangle Olivia.

Alison's actions unfolded so quickly that nobody could follow. She teleported to the other side of the coliseum instantly, appearing next to Olivia and pushing her aside. The maid smoothly dodged Lauren, spinning around and ending up behind her. She then pressed her total weight upon the girl, tackling her to the ground. From there, she held Lauren in place with a single arm.

"Please refrain from **** against contestants. Their physical attractiveness may be reduced due to injury."

Lauren thrashed wildly, attempting to escape from the inexplicable strength of the petite maid. "I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL ALL OF YOU!" She screamed, spit flying everywhere as she flailed her head.

Alison shook her head. She reached into her apron pocket and produced a tiny steel needle. Before anyone else could react, she pressed it against Lauren's neck.

"I SWEAR I'LL KILL YOU... I'LL... I'll... I..." Lauren trailed off as her eyelids became heavy, and moments later, she was ****.

"Did you just **** Lauren?!" Ji-Woo hollered in alarm.

Alison stood up. "A minor sedative for her protection. She was reaching dangerous levels of stress and proving a threat to those around her. With Azure not present, your safety falls onto me."

"Since when?" Elena asked bitterly.

Alison tilted her head. "Pardon?"

Ji-Woo answered. "Since when have you ever kept us safe? You're Azure's stooge, aren't you?"

Alison narrowed her eyes but didn't respond. Instead, she picked Lauren up into a bridal carry, showing no effort in lifting a girl her size.

"Please follow me," she requested, going to the elevator.

Concerned for Sophia, Tomoko bent to be at eye level with the bespeckled girl and hugged her. Sophia shrieked at the sudden touch but then calmed down due to the soothing tightness of Tomoko's embrace.

"You gonna be ok?" the mother of one asked.

"Yes," Sophia lied. She attempted to stand up but stumbled due to her trembling legs. Tomoko caught her and helped Sophia put an arm around her shoulder, guiding her to the exit.

Meanwhile, Elena approached Levi, holding his hand, but he looked away, ashamed. Without a word, she moved her hand to his shoulder. After a long moment, he placed his hand on hers and nodded. Together, they left.

With everyone in place, the elevator entered darkness again. This time, the ride was silent and visionless without Azure's light source.

---

Kaitlyn Peterson

Azure materialized with Lauren-Two outside the entrances to the contestants' rooms. "I have to get back to host the next part, but I wanted to introduce you to someone since you have so much in common," Azure teased.

Lauren-Two rolled her eyes. "That's for me to decide, not you, crone."

Azure opened the door to reveal, as Kaitlyn expected, Jezebel. "Oh god! What IS that thing?!" she heard herself scream. Lauren-Two was so horrified that she didn't even know how to insult the thing in front of her.

"Have fun!" Azure winked, slapping Lauren-Two on her barely skirted ass. She then vanished before Lauren-Two's retaliatory fist could punch out her teeth.

"Oh! Another hottie!" Jezebel cheered, getting off of the bed and wobbling over.

"Jesus Christ! Get away from me!" Kaitlyn saw her controlled hand slap Jezebel across the face.

John felt that Jezebel only got more aroused by this. 'Oh god! I can't take this! Please, just let me fuck something!'

'Wait, John?' Kaitlyn mentally asked in shock.

John did a mental double-take. Fighting his way through the horniness and the attempts of seduction from his parody of a body, he thought, 'Wait? Can you hear me? Who are you?'

Lauren-Two hurled a pillow at Jezebel. 'It's Kaitlyn. I got eliminated. I had no idea that you stay here when that happens.' As she protected this, she tried to keep Lauren-Two's anger from influencing her thoughts.

Jezebel took her top off, which made the schoolgirl cover her eyes, screaming. 'Thank god! Thank god I have someone else!'

Kaitlyn's annoyance briefly matched Lauren-Two's. 'Oh, happy that my damnation is convenient for you!'

Lauren-Two kicked Jezebel's face, which John tried to ignore. 'I just mean, now we can help each other! I need you!'

'You need me?' Kaitlyn repeated while her body wrapped a rolled-up sheet around Jezebel's neck, unaware that the bimbo thought of it as sexy bondage, and made her drip with excitement.

'Oh god... it's getting so wet...' John moaned. 'I mean... shit.... you... you can help me... GOD DAMN! Can you just let Jezebel fuck you!'

There was no difference between the anger Kaitlyn wanted to feel and what she did. 'EXCUSE ME!?'

'You... Jesus Christ... don't know what it's like! Days of... Ah, AHHH... edging by this nympho! How she... tortures me with her fingers and doesn't finish! I need! I need to fuck a woman!'

As Lauren-Two delivered a final punch, Kaitlyn felt totally in sync with her body. 'Jesus Christ! Fuck off!' And with that, both Lauren-Two and Kaitlyn marched out.

'No! Come back! Oh god! Pain only makes her hornier!' John called out as the half-dazed Jezebel lay on the floor. He continued begging until Kaitlyn was far enough away that their connection broke.

---

Nora Wolf

Finishing her lunch in the teachers' lounge, Mrs. Wolf felt a buzz from her flip phone. Opening it up, she saw a text from her daughter Sandra, who had finally replied.

Mom, I don't understand what you are saying. Can you retype?

Frowning, she looked back at the text she had originally sent to her daughter.

Hi BB GRL! TGIF! ICYMI I sent u new sheets. LMK if u got thm. LOL

Nora's frown deepened. She thought she used the correct terminology the millennials used in their texts. Had she gotten one of the abbreviations wrong?

As if to answer, her daughter followed up with:

Also, I don't think you're using LOL right. Do you know what it means?

Nora texted back.

Lots of Love, right?

Sandra's response game immediately, broken into three texts. Nora could feel Sandra cringing through the device.

No.

God no D:.

It means Laough out loud.

Nora chuckled.

Oops, my mistake. I'm LOLing now!

The response

OH! MY! GOD! xD

Nora grinned, mischievously.

Glad to see I can still embarrass you! Even with her girl in college, the mom must do so!

Another text

Thanks, mom :)

Nora was about to ask about their next visit, but at that moment, the phone fell to the ground as the one holding it was no longer there.

Miles away, Sandra wondered why her text message screen was open to a random number.

---

Nora Wolf

"Welcome back!" Azure cheered as the elevator returned to its original form as a stage. With the challenge over, she had changed out of her referee uniform and into her revealing showgirl attire. "It's so good to get out of that darkness and see your beautiful faces in the..."

Azure stopped when she noticed Alison holding the **** Lauren. She cleared her throat. "Alison, dear, why is Lauren asleep?"

Alison responded in her usual blunt manner. "She was hysterical, so I **** her. But surely you knew that. You were watching the camera feed to your own show, weren't you?"

'Mother fucker! Who the hell gave you permission?!' Azure fumed. The host knew she could remove the chemicals from Lauren's body with a single wave gesture, but that would confirm to the audience that Alison acted alone. The last thing she wanted was for her viewers to think she wasn't in control.

Having no other choice, she smiled wider. "Of course! Well done, Alison!"

Olivia, Tomoko, and Ji-Woo smirked, seeing Alison getting to her.

Azure waved her hand, causing all the contestants to return to their seats and Levi to his throne as she tried to regain control of the situation. While walking, Ji-Woo noticed her discarded towel in the courtyard. She almost asked Azure if she could get it but stopped herself, knowing it would only lead to further embarrassment.

Azure went over to Levi and leaned in and forward so he could look down her cleavage. "So, master, are you ready for your new honeypot?" she asked, looking forward to his usual flustered denial.

To her surprise, he just rolled his eyes. "Just get on with it."

Azure bit her lip. "As you wish, sir." She turned to the contestants. "As I explained before, the replacement is someone important to the eliminated contestant. However, we are in luck, as she also hurt Levi, keeping the payback theme alive!"

She jumped up and down, jiggling her chest as she clapped. "Isn't that so lucky! It's like the stars aligned!"

Again, no one reacted, not even their usual look of fear or disgust. Everyone just looked so tired. 'Damn it, why are you all being so boring?' Azure wondered.

Brushing it off, she materialized a microphone. "Let's give our guest a warm Harem Hotel welcome!"

Music blared as a trap door opened, and Nora Wolf was elevated onto the stage, utterly dumbfounded.

"Mrs. Wolf?" Levi and Elena cried out in unison.

"Wait, what's she doing here?" Tomoko asked, apparently familiar with her.

Even more surprisingly, Olivia did as well. "What the FUCK?! Why would you bring my old science teacher into this?!"

"Azure nodded, thrilled that she was finally getting a reaction. "Yes, Mrs. Wolf has been teaching at Greenbay Middle School for over twenty years and has had the privilege of educating over half of the wonderful minds on our show." She added mockingly, "Though Elena was only in her presence for a month before abandoning her, just like she did to her friend."

"Elena?" Nora asked and looked over to the princess. "Elena Mendez?"

"You remember me?" Elena asked, flattered.

"Of course. Seeing you go was such a shame," Nora smiled. "And that must make you Levi Summers, right?" she asked, turning to him.

"That's right," he nodded.

Tomoko pointed to herself, excited. "Hey, do you recognize me?"

"Of course... you're... uh..." Nora began before trailing off. Try as she might, she couldn't name the voluptuous woman in front of her. "Actually, I apologize. Could you remind me?"

Tomoko brushed it off. "Oh yeah, I dyed my hair since. It's me, Tomoko. Nakaya."

"Oh. You certainly grew up," Nora said in surprise, Tomoko looking nothing like the sweater-and-braces-wearing tween she remembered. 'Puberty was kind to you, I see.'

"Jesus CHRIST!" Olivia yelled. "Why are you treating this like a fun reunion?! Don't you realize she's trapped in this shitshow now?!"

Nora Wolf did not recognize this swearing woman, so she said nothing to her. Instead, she addressed the group as a whole. "So, pardon me for asking, but what is this? I don't remember coming here, and I'm a bit confused."

Before anyone could explain, Azure placed a microphone in front of Nora's face, like she had done with every other contestant upon their introduction. Azure restated her question from the opening ceremony. "Tell me who you are, your hobbies, how you know Levi, and your last sexual experience."

Nora was going to tell her off for being rude, but her mouth began speaking on its own. "My name is Nora Wolf. I'm 49 and have been a teacher at Greenbay for twenty-two years, teaching science for eighteen of them. Though I took half a year off in '98 when my husband died."

She stared at her maw, railing facts off in a monotone. "I have a daughter in college who plans to become a nurse. My hobbies include acoustic guitars, water coloring, and gardening. I also grow my own weed for personal use, but don't tell anyone that."

Tomoko couldn't help but squeal in delight at the last revelation. Her old teacher was even cooler than she thought.

"As for sex, it's been about two years. My daughter encouraged me to date, but it just never felt right. I don't think anyone can replace my husband, Kyle."

Azure pretended to wipe tears from her eyes. "Oh, that's so sad. But worry not because I have your ideal man right here." She gestured to Levi.

Nora, recovering control of her mouth, was too shocked by her sudden loss of control to pay attention to anything Azure said. "What was that?! How did you do that?!" She threw up her arms in exasperation. "What the HELL is this?!"

"It's Harem Hotel: Payback Edition!" Azure declared, doing a little spin in place. The show's logo appeared on the jumbotron.

"Wait, that's right, payback!" Levi stated. "You said you picked Mrs. Wolf as Kaitlyn's replacement because she hurt me. But she never did! She was always great to me! To everyone!"

"Kaitlyn? Replacement?" Nora repeated, utterly lost.

Azure waved her hands. "Yes, yes. Allow me to explain. Starting with why she was important to the former contestant."

A video of a young Kaitlyn appeared on the screen, sitting at a desk with about twenty other classmates. In front of the class was a barely changed Mrs. Wolf, drawing the same DNA diagram she had done earlier that day.

"You see, when Kaitlyn was young, she..."

Nora interrupted her. "Why do you have that footage?" she roared. "Are you spying on my students?! I'll report you to the authorities!"

"DON'T INTERRUPT MY EXPOSITORY MONOLOGE!" Azure screamed, even more enraged.

Nora tried to retort, but no sound came out.

Azure instantly returned to her smiling stage persona. "You see when Kaitlyn was young, she always had a deep interest in how our universe works. She would be sure to record every episode of Bill Nye and play them on repeat. So Mrs. Wolf's classes were Kaitlyn's favorite. Unlike her other stuffy teachers, Nora's passion for the field made learning even more fun!"

The footage changed to the inside of a very fancy house. A young blonde girl in a pink dress, who was undoubtedly Lauren, yelled at poor Kaitlyn. "Kaitlyn seemed to have too much fun for Lauren's liking. Lauren said that she was turning into a nerd and how it was destroying her social life." Azure added with a bitter chuckle, "Though maybe she was just pissed that her sister was getting A's while her dumb butt was barely scraping by with a C."

"Anyway, Kaitlyn promised her sister she would be less active in science. But Lauren didn't realize the special deal that had been made."

Azure looked over at the **** Lauren, pissed that she wasn't watching this, totally unaware that Kaitlyn had told it herself mere hours ago. "Mr. Peterson, who has an unethically large influence at Greedbay Middle School, set up private tutoring for Kaitlyn with Mrs. Wolf. The two of them continued their sessions, even into high school. And Lauren never knew about them."

Azure winked. "As an aside, you gotta hand it to Mr. Moneybags. Rather than intervene in Lauren's treatment of her sister, he found paying for covert science classes was much easier. Why bother being a parent when you can pay someone else to deal with it?"

Nora clenched her fist in annoyance. This red-headed woman spun simple after-school tutoring into a grand tale of conspiracy.

Meanwhile, Sophia was the only one to notice how strange it was that Azure wasn't even trying to hide Kaitlyn's identity. She had been far more secretive about John from Olivia. 'What is she up to?'

"Regardless, you also wanted to know how she hurt Levi?" Azure asked. "Well, in two ways."

Footage of a young Lauren berating Levi was projected, followed by a montage of other kids. "First, Nora is guilty in the same way Kaitlyn was. She knew Levi was bullied but did nothing to stop it. Her inaction caused him so much suffering."

At this, a clip of several kids insulting Levi was shown in full view of Mrs. Wolf. Nora on-screen shook her head disapprovingly but said nothing.

"That's... that's no reason," Levi countered. "I mean, I had lots of teachers who didn't either. Wait, that's not what I meant. Look, a lot of kids get bullied. You can't expect the teachers to stop ALL of it."

Azure put her hand to her heart. "Levi is always so forgiving. However, Mrs. Wolf had an ulterior motive that made her especially complacent. She was getting a fat check from the Peterson family, after all. She was scared that would dry up if she made a fuss to the family princess?"

Again, Nora wanted to scream at the narrative Azure was building.

"That's still... It's not her fault!" Levi argued.

Azure sighed in annoyance. "My goodness, you are stubborn in blaming no one except yourself, huh?" she asked, briefly breaking character.

She took a deep breath and was back in the swing of it. "Fine, but you won't be able to deny the main thing she did to you. Do you remember how you had to repeat the eighth grade?"

"What about it?"

"And how you were endlessly mocked and ridiculed for it. How it eventually led to John Booker noticing you?"

Olivia's ears perked up. "Wait, was my brother picking on you? That little shit. If I get home, I'm kicking his ass."

Azure slowly stepped towards Levi, a face of pure sympathy etched upon her face. "All that suffering could have been avoided had it not been for Mrs. Wolf."

"Bullshit!" Levi yelled, taking everyone aback. Elena and Olivia nodded in approval while Tomoko gave him a thumbs up. Even he appeared surprised, but Azure's blatant falsehood had been too much for him.

"I repeated the eighth grade because I missed half of it," he explained. "She had nothing to do with it."

Azure shook her head condescendingly. "Oh dear. You never knew. How unfortunate."

"Knew what?"

"Don't you remember? You didn't just stay home and do nothing during that missed year. You still tried to keep up with your studies for the first few weeks. Most of your teachers even gave you the materials to keep up."

Levi vaguely recalled this but didn't understand what that had to do with anything.

"However, there was one less accommodating teacher. Nora Wolf was against the entire concept from the beginning. She did not like the idea of anyone learning from sources other than herself. When your mom approached her to discuss this, Mrs. Wolf used her cunning manipulation to persuade your mother into giving up the idea of learning from home altogether."

Azure pointed to the screen, showing Levi's history of bullying throughout middle and high school. "Thus, an alternative option, which could have saved you so much from so much suffering, was snatched away from you."

"That was never my intention!" Nora shouted, finally able to speak. "I believe that education is about more than just acquiring knowledge. Being in the company of peers is a valuable experience. I simply expressed concern that by skipping school, he would miss out on an essential part of his childhood."

"Of course, he had a fantastic childhood," Azure snapped sarcastically. "With everyone constantly calling him an idiot and doing everything they could to tear him down. All of this could have been avoided if you had just done your job and not let your personal beliefs interfere with what Levi needed."

"That... well..." Levi said, unsure how to react. He then shook his head. "That doesn't matter. I probably would have been bullied regardless. You don't know what would have happened even if I hadn't had to repeat the eighth grade."

Azure made a motion with her hand. A DVD case appeared in her hand. "Actually, we do. We extensively researched you before you arrived, Levi, in this timeline and alternate ones. And right here, I have a recording of that happier life. The one you could have had if Mrs. Wolf hadn't intervened."

"Don't listen to her, Levi!" Elena shouted.

"Anything made by her is bullshit!" Olivia agreed.

Azure shrugged. "It's up to him if he believes it or not. But I'll send it to your tower if he is interested."

Levi opened his mouth to respond, but Nora finally snapped. "For god's sake! I have no stinking idea what's going on! Will someone explain where the hell I am?"

Azure dramatically groaned. "Going through the whole show tutorial again would be boring for the contestants and the audience. Just sit tight for now, and I will give you a private debriefing afterward. All you need to know is that you're on a dating show for Levi Summer's hand."

"Wait?! What?" Nora stammered, more confused than ever.

"With that, let's get to what everyone is excited for!" Azure cheered. "Transformations"

"WHAT?!"

---

Bonus Image