The new chefs!

A Story by J

(Warn: some of stuff in this story is not for younger readers, don’t read you’re one of them, thanks.)

MYSTERIOUS VOICE (echoing across an empty room):

“Congratulations, Ella and Willow… You’ve both been selected as chefs in the cafeteria.”

ELLA (practically vibrating with excitement):
“Let’s go! I’ve always loved to cook! this is a dream come true!”

WILLOW (hesitant, uneasy):
“I… don’t know, Ella. Something doesn’t feel right about this…”

As the heavy metal doors creak open, the pair step inside. The cafeteria is sprawling, cavernous, unnaturally clean and filled not with people, but with sentient objects. They bustle about, chatting, eating, laughing. A chair with eyes waves at them. A soda can blinks. A pencil grins too wide.

WILLOW (staring):
“Are those… living objects?! Ella, this isn’t normal. Are you sure this is a good idea?”

ELLA (grinning nervously):
“Relax! It’s probably just some kind of… immersive experience? A themed job? Come on, it’ll be fine.”

MYSTERIOUS VOICE (closer now):
“Your uniforms are over there. Put them on.”

They approach a low table. Upon it are two costumes not aprons, not chef hats but bizarre, skin-tight suits that shimmer unnaturally. They look alive.

WILLOW (stepping back):
“These aren’t chef uniforms… these are costumes. For what?”

MYSTERIOUS VOICE:
“For your new roles.”

WILLOW (growing cold):
“I don’t like this. I quit.”

MYSTERIOUS VOICE (sharper now, distorted):
“Oh no… you don’t.”

A blast of strange, curling light bursts from the walls. The room shifts. Twists. Time bends. Air grows thick. It’s already too late.

Willow’s body jolts upright, her eyes wide as energy floods through her, electricity crawling beneath her skin like liquid spiders. She gasps, her breath sharp and thin.

WILLOW (trembling):
“W-What’s… happening to me…?!”

Her skin begins to change first color fading into a glowing canary yellow. Her arms stiffen. The bones shift but it isn’t painful, not physically. It’s wrong. It’s as if her soul is being rubbed out and overwritten.

WILLOW (quietly):
“My hands… they’re not mine anymore…”

She clutches her head, memories trickling out like a slow bleed.

WILLOW:
“I’m not… a girl… not a boy either. What am I? I feel… blank. Empty. Erased…”

ELLA (reaching out):
“Willow?! Hey- stay with me, you’re gonna be okay!”

WILLOW (shaking, confused):
“I’m… a letter. A co-host. A name I don’t remember... A- Algebralien? Agender?”

Her legs begin to shift, yellow crawling upward like paint over a canvas. The object-like glow intensifies.

A floating object materializes, a basket. Soft, glowing. Familiar.

WILLOW (staring at it):
“I… remember this… This was mine.”

She wraps it around herself. It clicks. A puzzle piece slotted into place.

WILLOW (correcting himself):
“I’m not a girl… not anymore. He/they… please.”

MYSTERIOUS VOICE:
“Willow is gone.”

X (eyes wide):
“Then who… am I?”

MYSTERIOUS VOICE (soft):
“Look.”

He stares at his reflection. A glowing yellow X stares back.

X (realizing):
“It’s me. I’m… X.”

For a moment, joy, pure and childish lights up his face.

X (bouncing, giggling):
“Hehe! I’m ready to make snacks for the object pals! Hehe!”

Then… something grabs him from behind.

TWO (snarling):
“You’re coming with me.”

X (screaming):
“No! LET GO!”

He’s yanked into a shadowy corridor. The doors slam shut behind them.

ELLA (staring at where X vanished):
“No. No, no, NO! I- I QUIT!”

MYSTERIOUS VOICE (booming):
“Nope.”

The lights in the room flicker violently. The ground beneath Ella splits with cracks of azure light. Her body convulses as if something inside is trying to crawl its way out.

ELLA (screaming):
“What’s happening to me?! It burns! it BURNS!!”

Her left arm seizes. The bones snap. Loud. Visible. Skin stretches, rips, blood pours from her fingertips like leaking ink.

ELLA:
“OH GOD! MY ARM!”

It reshapes, elongates, becomes angular, inhuman. It turns Picton blue. The transformation is not gentle. It's savage.

ELLA (choking):
“I- can’t breathe! I-!”

Her mouth opens, and she vomits something not food. Not bile. Chunks of flesh. Bits of bone. Blood that steams and sizzles.

Her right arm jerks next twisting with another sharp crack. It turns blue too. She tries to scream but instead vomits more guts raw, red, spilling from her mouth like rope.

ELLA (gargling, coughing):
“Help me…!”

A massive snap resounds her spine.

Her torso bends grotesquely, twisting, warping. It slams inward as her ribs shift and collapse, crunching into a numerical shape. She falls to her knees, heaving.

ELLA:
“I’m… human… right? Still me… right…?”

But her legs betray her. Her left leg cracks audibly. Shatters. She cries out as it reforms, turning blue. The right one follows with a gruesome pop.

She convulses violently, eyes rolling back.

ELLA (screaming):
“GRH.. STILL… NEED… MORE… EYAHHHH!!!”

Her face splits. Skin sloughs away like wax under flame. Her features flatten, eyes stretch and distort. Her blood vessels burst. Her mouth widens in an unnatural grin.

ELLA:
“I- I’m a… humanoid female? EYA… No. NO!! I’M AGENDER EYAHHH!!!”

Her whole body now Curious Blue finishes reshaping. She stands. Alien. four-shaped. Barely breathing.

MYSTERIOUS VOICE (gleeful):
“Any ideas for a name, Four?”

FOUR (giggling, twitching):
“Hm… I’d say I’m now quite the Fabulous… Original… Unforgettable… Rare being. EYAHHH!!”

MYSTERIOUS VOICE:
“F-O-U-R. Four.”

Four gasps then laughs. A sharp, unhinged laugh.

FOUR:
“EYAHHH!! Four. Yes. YES!! I LOVE IT! It’s perfect!”

She no, he looks into the mirror.

FOUR (smiling):
“I’m Four now. Four is the perfect name four me! EYAHHH!!”

MYSTERIOUS VOICE:
“That pun was awful.”

Four screeches ear-shattering. The voice is silenced.

FOUR (turning, eyes blazing):
“Wait… where’s X?”