Fairy Tale

There once was a teenager named Luke. He lived with his parents and his little sister in a suburban home. He was a popular teenager with lots of friends.

Unfortunately, Luke was sick and constantly in pain. No doctor could identify his illness, and he tried many therapies to no avail.

One day, Luke’s aunt discovered a website for Dr. Johnston, who promised to cure all illnesses with a new therapy. Luke’s parents were tired of trying to find a treatment for him, so Luke decided to call Dr. Johnston himself. Dr. Johnston invited Luke to his mansion.

When Luke arrived at the mansion, Dr. Johnston took him to his exam room. “Swallow this pill, and you will be cured of your illness,” Dr. Johnston said. “It has nanobots in it. Nanobots are tiny, smart artificial organisms used to locate the health problem, fix it, and cure the patient of his illness,” he explained.

Luke swallowed the pill. “I will see you tomorrow,” Dr. Johnston said.

The following day, Luke felt better, and the pain was gone. Luke returned to the mansion, and he and Dr. Johnston went to the exam room.

“It's good to see that your illness is gone. Now, imagine that you are a cat,” Dr. Johnston said. Luke did that, and he morphed into a cat!

“Excellent!” Dr. Johnston exclaimed, and he typed something into his computer.

“Now, imagine that you are yourself,” Dr. Johnston said.

Luke pictured himself in his own body and morphed back into a human. Suddenly, Luke morphed into a tablet computer. A minute later, he morphed into himself.

“Luke, did you just visualize yourself as a tablet computer?” Dr. Johnston asked.

“No, I didn’t,” Luke said.

“The morphing can also happen randomly. Now, excuse me while I go to the bathroom,” Dr. Johnston said to Luke. Then, he left the room and his laptop unattended.

Curious, Luke approached the laptop and saw an open document titled “Nanobots in the treatment of disease and morphing side effects.” Reading this, Luke understood that Dr. Johnston was studying him. It seemed to Luke that Dr. Johnston was conducting some experiments.

Luke minimized the document and saw a window with files. One file caught his attention. It was named “Passwords.” Luke opened the file and began reading: “In the exam room, there is a painting of a woman. Behind this painting is a safe that contains the nanobot neutralizer. The password is 960458.”

Luke closed the file and reopened the nanobot research document just as Dr. Johnston returned to the room. “I will see you in a week,” Dr. Johnston told him. Luke left.

For the next couple of days, Luke randomly morphed into various forms. He soon realized he was in trouble, so he decided to break into the mansion and steal the neutralizer. The gates surrounding the garden and the estate were secured with chains and a lock. Luke visualized his hand as liquid metal, and his hand morphed as he inserted it into the lock. Then, he imagined his finger as a key, and his finger morphed into a key perfectly shaped to fit the lock.

Luke opened the lock and entered the garden. Suddenly, angry guard dogs approached him and barked. He thought they wanted to bite him, so he visualized himself as Dr. Johnston. Once Luke morphed into Dr. Johnston, the dogs let him pass.

Finally, Luke was at the door. Like before, he created a key with his finger and opened the door. He went to the exam room and removed the painting from the wall to reveal an electronic safe. He entered the password, and the safe opened. Inside, he found a vial of liquid. Luke drank the juice from the vial and left the mansion.

The random morphing episodes stopped a couple of hours later, but Luke’s illness did not return. Luke was happy with how things turned out—even though he could not morph into anything at will anymore; he did not care because he was finally healthy and pain-free.

The End.