Rent-A-Life

The Dream

I opened my eyes slowly. The room was familiar, I knew it like the back of my hand. How? It was my own room. Like clockwork, I got out of bed and made it before brushing my teeth and putting on a fresh set of clothes. Cassie was already sitting on the sofa, waiting for Mason, her boyfriend, to pick her up. Evelyn was in her room, going through her notes one more time before she had to head off to school for her exam. Mum and dad had already gone to work. Same old, same old.

Avoiding eye contact with Cassie, I hastily left the house. Instead of taking the bus to school, I got into the car waiting outside. Strange. There was already a driver inside. Without a word, he sped off towards the city.

10 minutes later, we stopped outside a towering building. I'd been there many times as a child. Despite being well off, mum and dad refused to hire a babysitter. Instead, mum would herd the three of us to her office to keep an eye on us.

I took the elevator up to the 19th floor. While inside, I noticed something about the levels. They'd been labelled. 'Lives' was stamped in regal gold letters beside '19'. I'd never been to the 19th floor before. That set off warning bells ringing in my head but I wanted to know where I was going so I ignored them. I stopped at a door labelled... "rental"? I pushed the door open and was greeted by bright sunlight streaming into a waiting room. A woman, hardly older than me, walked up to me. Her name-tag read 'Kimberly' and wow, she was gorgeous.

Kimberly had a dazzling smile plastered on her face. Her tanned skin glowed and her brown, almond eyes shimmered in the light. Her cheekbones were cutting. Her brown hair, highlighted with streaks of blonde, was pulled into a sleek ponytail. Like everyone who worked there, she wore the black company blazer, and a pencil skirt.

"Hi! We've been expecting you. Dr. Kambre will see you in the third room on the left," Kimberly said in a polished and smooth voice.

Wow, imagine being that perfect, I thought to myself. Yes, I was jealous.

I walked to the door aforementioned and knocked before entering. It was a pristine office, with an oak desk in the middle. The walls were adorned with dozens of certificates and achievements. Behind the desk was a large metal cabinet, locked and barred.

Dr. Kambre was dressed unlike any of the other workers here. She wore a pale yellow power suit and she had bold, yellow eyeliner. She gave me a bright smile while gesturing for me to take a seat.

"Now, Lara! It's great to meet you. I'm Andrea Kambre, and I'm in charge of all the rentals here."

I stared at her blankly. What was I here to rent? She seemed to have noticed my confusion, for she hurriedly continued on.

"Right, this office deals with rentals of lives. How many of us have hated our lives and wanted a change, to get away from everything? Well, with Rent-A-Life, clients get to choose a new life to experience for a period of time, a few days to months. They have to go back to their own lives after that, of course."

"Wait...so I can get a new life? And leave my life now?"

"Well, what we offer is an experience. If you choose to live your rented life permanently, it would be as if you never existed in your original life. You'd have to live out your days as your chosen life, and cease to exist in the memories of those you knew."

"So...can I rent a life?"

"Of course! Just fill up this form first."

Dr. Kambre passed me a sheet of paper to fill in.

Full name: Lara Arden Nicholson
Age: 17
Country of birth: United States of America
Country of residence: United States of America
First language: English