As Benjamin got off the plane, returning home, he felt a level of guilt for what he had done. The guilt didn’t last long however because the more he thought about it, he decided it was the right thing to do. It was only when he didn’t think about it that the guilt and sadness returned. So he kept thinking about what he had done, so the guilt would go away.

That seemed to be like a lot of things in Benjamin’s life for the past year. The story about Nicholas didn’t feel right, but when he thought about it, he was responsible for what had happened. He didn’t like the name Benjamin, but when he thought about it, that was him. He didn’t like his new job, until he thought about it and it was perfect for him. He missed his old home, until he thought about it, then he was happy where he lived now.

A deep part of Benjamin knew he was being manipulated but there was no way to break free. The only way to do so would be not to think and he couldn’t do that. Besides there was one thing he found good with it, is he felt that Lauren was gone for good, so he thought about it and he knew she’d be alright.

Benjamin thought about seeking professional help with his condition, and decided not to. No one would understand him anyway and he’d probably be locked away. Like what he had just done to Ben/Lauren. He wasn’t even sure who that was, it was a ghost of himself living in the corpse of his wife. She was the Pretender.

The thoughts Benjamin had about the Pretender was that she had to be locked up for Lauren’s sake. He wasn’t sure how Lauren would handle the news about her former body still being alive. The Pretender was a huge liability to Lauren’s mental stability, which might be fragile enough when she wakes up as a Doll. Besides it wasn’t like the Pretender didn’t belong where Benjamin had sent her. She did think she was a guy in someone else’s body after all.

When Benjamin got home from the airport, he went straight to the one room he had set up; the gym. He was tired from the flight and mentally exhausted from his interactions with the Pretender. He knew if he slept, his mind would shut off and all those awful feelings would return. That’s why he chose the gym, it was the only task he could let his mind wander not have those feelings return.

While Benjamin laid back and lifted the weights over his head, he began to think about the future. He knew that it was a possibility that he wouldn’t reunite with Lauren when he got to the hospital and had been planning for that outcome. He had already decided that was the case, he’d ask Raymond to put his mind inside a Doll, so he could be with the real Lauren. Though he didn’t know what would become of this body.

In the end Benjamin decided he didn’t care what happened to this body. Euthenasia was legal here and he could save lives by donating organs. Though if the Doll movement took off, that too would become a thing of the past. Though for now there were still laws holding it back. Due to her accident, Lauren’s Doll had special permission to have the mind uploaded. Raymond had also negotiated to allow others to voluntarily sign up. Politicians loved the idea of being immortal after all.

As far as Benjamin knew, only Tamara had signed up. As he recalled Tamara’s change in personality over the past year he got the feeling that she was being controlled, but as he thought about it, he realized people change, he did. She was extremely loyal to Raymond and would do anything for him, which is why she had signed up. Benjamin was just as loyal so would also sign up first thing in the morning.

Benjamin got no sleep as he kept his mind busy all night. In the morning he was extremely tired, but that was something caffeine could solve. Still he took it safe and caught a rideshare to the office. After he went through security he took the elevator all the way to the top floor.

When he arrived at Raymond’s office, he was surprised to see that Tamara wasn’t there. Tamara was always in the office, even when Raymond wasn’t. She even had an apartment on this floor so she was available at any time.

“Hello?” Benjamin called out as he saw the door to Raymond’s office was open. “Raymond, are you there?”

“Come in, Benjamin.” He heard Raymond reply.

Benjamin had a bad feeling about this, but then he thought about it and he remembered Raymond was a kind man.

“Sorry, I didn’t think you were in, Tamara isn’t here.” Benjamin came in and took a seat. Raymond seemed to be expecting him.

“Don’t worry about it,” Raymond gave Benjamin a smile. Benjamin relaxed. “I take it this is about Lauren, you want to volunteer to be a Doll.” Raymond slid over the paperwork, already filled out, all that was missing was Benjamin’s signature.

“How.. how did you know?” Benjamin’s feeling of dread returned.

“Don’t worry about it,” Raymond said as he took a sip from his mug.

Benjamin reached for the pen without a second thought and signed the paper.

“Oh…” Raymond picked up the form and read the document. “This is the second form… I guess I forgot to print out the first one. I’m rather useless without Tamara.”

“Second form?” Benjamin tilted his head, there was something about the look on Raymond’s face. He looked like a lion that was ready to pounce.

“That one was the one where you agreed to have your mind wiped and your body belong to me… It was meant to be signed after the agreement to become a Doll.” Raymond grinned as he took another sip of his coffee.

“Oh, but can’t I just sign the first document?” Benjamin was confused as his heart began to race.

“I’m sorry but technically I can’t allow you to do that as you already signed that body over to me, it’s no longer yours,” Raymond put the coffee down. “If you were to sign the first form now, that would technically be me signing it, which wouldn’t be right.”

“That can’t be legal…” Benjamin was trying to think about what was going on.

“Of course it isn’t legal,” Raymond chuckled. Benjamin gave a nervous laugh at the twisted joke. “But I like people signing their life away before I take them anyway.”

“I don’t understand…” Benjamin was frozen on the chair.

“Of course you don’t. But you won’t need to worry about that for much longer,” Raymond got up off his chair. “No.. no, you stay there,” he told Benjamin. “I’m going to be honest with you Benjamin. I’m not a people person, to me they’re just tools to be used. You and Lauren have been exceptional tools. All three of you are a part of Project Phoenix. Lauren’s Body is to see if a mind can handle being in a body that’s not its own. I even made sure it was more drastic going from male to female. Lauren’s mind is to see how someone can go living as a Doll.”

Benjamin wanted to get up off the chair and kill Raymond. Though his body was fighting him and he just stayed sitting there.

“You’re probably wondering where you fit in all this,” Raymond asked as he put his hands on Benjamin’s shoulders. “I had honestly thought about having you killed, but I’ve been too rash with that in the past. So I decided you would be the second phase of Project Phoenix, that’s why I had you change yourself in a more desirable way. Why you’ve climbed the corporate ladder so quickly. I need a living successor if the Doll thing doesn’t work out.”

Raymond walked back around the desk to let Benjamin process the information. He sat back down and looked at the man. He wasn’t perfect but he wasn’t bad for a first choice.

“Now why don’t you do me one last favor and head down to the labs so they can erase your mind for me?”

“Yes, sir.” Benjamin stood up off the chair and left the office. He tried to scream, to tell his body to fight back and ignore the command, but it was ingrained in him. He would do anything for Raymond Jones. As Benjamin entered the elevator, he thought about it, and this was for the best.