A Reality Check

 

Lukas had been brought up in one of the most affluent and swankiest areas of London, his father was a multi-millionaire, and Lukas never had to want for anything, He went to the best schools, drove around in a top of the range sports car and would have access to a trust fund on his twenty-first birthday, which would enable him to never work a day in his life if he so wished. Because of this he was an arrogant and obnoxiously little shit, well in private at least, to the outside world he was a charming and affable guy. At home he had distain for all the ‘help’ as they were not of the same social class, and he regularly let them know how much better than them he was, he made sure they never looked directly at him, and regularly chastised them for even the minutest of indiscretions such as his coffee being a degree too cold, or sometimes if he just felt like it.

After appearing in one the latest reality television series, he became hot property and all manner of companies clambered to get him to endorse there products. This often required , as far as he was concerned tedious meetings with some boring marketing executive wanting Lukas to push some piece of crap he’d never use in a million years  by saying how much he loves it and how it will change your life. His poor agent was getting frazzled, with Lukas either shooting things down before even going to the meeting, or yawning incessantly throughout the presentation. His agent said, the next time you get a request please go, don’t be bored, and at least tell them you will consider the deal, even if it is not true, you are getting a bad reputation and offers will soon dry up, and your personal image will suffer.

About a week later, Lukas got a request from EV corp. to drop bye to discuss him endorsing their new shades. Lukas felt he had no real choice, and shades weren’t exactly the worst thing he could endorse, this may work he thought.  Arriving at the office block in the docklands, his first thought was that it was a rather fancy place for a company that made a product like this to be based in, yet here it was in buildings that housed huge financial and legal institutions. He was met in the building's main reception by Jennie, who introduced herself as the Marketing Director. Lukas immediately perked up a bit, he could never resist an attractive woman, and as far as he was concerned Jennie ticked all the boxes, blonde, slim, leggy.  Jennie led Lukas to the lifts, and went up to the 6^th floor to where the presentation suites were. It took all of his might not to ogle her as they made their way up. Lukas didn’t hear most of what Jennie said during the presentation. His mind was preoccupied with mentally undressing her and thought if endorsing this product meant he could get to know her better than he would.

The shades themselves were nothing new really, just a pair of bug eye wraparounds, which allowed the wearer to take pictures by tapping a button on the frames. Jennie put the pair on Lukas and proceeded to show him how they worked. Rather than pay attention to what she was saying Lukas couldn’t help being captivated by Jennie’s perfume, it was the brand he preferred women wearing, and having Jennie’s fingers lightly brushing up against his head was turning him on. She showed him  how to properly put them on and off so as not to damage them, how the camera worked by lightly tapping the side, which gave a quick electric flashand then finally she moved them so they came resting on the top of his head, like most celebs liked them do. In doing so Lukas got a full up view of Jennie’s chest.

At the end of the presentation Jennie asked Lukas if he had any questions, and pre-empting what she knew he would say, added questions in relation to the product. Lukas replied he hadn’t but could he get her number so that he could call her after he tried out the product for a few days, and let her know what he thought of them. She handed him a business card and said don’t let your agent know I gave you this.

Lukas called his driver to pick him up, and berated him when he arrived two minutes late.  When he got home he tossed the shades on a dresser, he had no intention of using them for the week, but he would call and say he had, and ask to meet Jennie again to go through the contract. Around a week later he tried calling the number on her card, but all he got was a recording saying that the number was not in service. So he called down to the office, but when he went into building reception he was told that there was not now, or ever had been a company by that name there.

This royally pissed Lukas off, and when he got home, he took it out on the help. However this time he went too far and his father decided that his son needed a lesson in humility.  First up his trust fund would be locked until he was 30 and should his father die before that point so too would his inheritance. Second, he would have to work to pay his way, and with that in mind he had arranged with one of his friends that Lukas be part of their house keeping staff for six months but rising to a year or more should he not have learnt his lesson in that time. Thirdly as of that moment he no longer had the right to live under his roof, until he proved he had changed, and if he didn’t leave he would get arrested for trespass.

Lukas reluctantly left, and moved into the servants quarters of his father’s friend’s mansion. He struggled to remember his new place and to refer to his master’s by their proper title, and not the name he used to call them. He still felt he was better than the rest of the staff and let them know it, even though he ranked lower than them. One particular maid, Honora warned him not to be so rude to her again or there would be ‘consequences’. But of course a leopard cannot change his spots, and try as he might a month later he was back to being rude to her again. I warned you Honora said, now you’ll pay the price. You’ve already lost your home, your money, your dignity and it has not effect, so let’s see how losing your manhood affects you. With that she clasped a hand over his mouth, and grabbed him by the balls and squeezed. 

Minutes later Lukas looked down, his manhood had gone, but to his relief that is all that had happened. However over the course of the following month, his hair started to grow out faster darker and straighter than before, his body also started ‘developing’, until he resembled and sounded more like a Lucia than a Lukas. 

Lukas or rather Lucia was only half way through the initial six month period, but her master had no use for an extra female member of staff at that time, but agreed to keep her on till the 6 month’s was up. Lucia struggled to come to terms with what had happened, and relied on Honora to help her out. Her work ethic improved, and her attitude towards people also changed. However once the six months were up, and Lucia had proved she had changed enough, her father’s friend had no more responsibility for her, but when she went ‘home’ her father who had cut all contact 6 months earlier, refused to believe she was or had been Lukas, and an argument ensued resulting in her father suffering a heart attack and ending up in intensive care.

Now with no home, no job, and little money, Lucia was in a predicament what was she going to do, where could she go. That night with little other choice she slept on the streets up against the door of a fancy high end retail store Lukas would have spent hundreds of pounds in without batting an eyelid, and the events of the past couple of months of how her life had turned to shit flashed through her mind, she thought if only she could turn back time to when she first walked into EV corp. who the hell were they really. If she hadn't gone to that meeting then she wouldn't have set in motion all of this. A year formed in her eye as she thought of the life she had lost, and wished she hadn't been so mean and obnoxious to everyone.

It was then Lucia saw a strange electric flicker across her eyes, she shook her head, and saw it again, then she felt a set of soft hands against the side of her head, and they removed a set of glasses from her eyes, a faint smell of perfume and a sweet voice saying sorry, there must be a glitch in the VR element of the shades, they deire they had fixed it, I’ll get onto tech about it, and well get a new pair for you to test before you make a decision to endorse. Immediately a realisation swept over Lukas as he looked around, he was still in the presentation suite at EV corp., the past few months must have been just a VR simulation, he wasn’t homeless or broke, his father was ok, and more importantly he was Lukas not Lucia. The relief was overwhelming.

That is until his mind kicked back in fully and he felt weird and looked down, and saw two mounds on his chest, and felt long hair against the back of his neck. How long had he been here, and how the hell did this happen without him knowing. Did the changes he felt in the VR reality reflect what was actually happening to him, or was it a coincidence.

What the hell ?, he / she said, this company will be so screwed, don’t you know who my father is, he will sue you and your little company for every penny you have.

Jennie replied, who do you think arranged all this. there is no product to endorse, your father set up the meeting disguised as a product meeting,  he even gave me tips on how I could best charm you and draw you into the trap. Your father is a personal friend of our parent company, Hyde Inc’s CEO, and she has personally overseen everything, in fact she is probably watching from the penthouse right now on cctv, give Evie a little wave. Hyde Inc, use technology as a means to transform individuals, who are disrespectful like you are. This new VR product tricks the user into thinking their live is continuing as normal, or as in your case can be programmed to think their life is falling apart, all the while their body is being pumped full of chemicals to transform them.

Good luck Lucia with your new life, your driver is waiting downstairs for you.

With that Lucia got up, and staggered across the floor, while she found her feet, so many questions, did her father really do this, and more importantly what would she do now. She left the building and got into the waiting car.  

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Across town, posters hung on walls and news reports continued to lead with the mysterious disappearance of Lukas, the reality TV star and son of the philanthropist multi-millionaire, who was offering a substantial reward for any information about his son’s whereabouts.