It's Only Temporary (Chav FTF) - Part Three
Tim pulled out a large cord from the box and walked behind Tabitha, he plugged it in to the back of device and then dragged the wire over to his computer, slotting in the other end. “Sorry about that!” He then pressed enter again and Tabitha felt a sharp pain in her body causing her body to seize up for a second as if she had been shocked. “Calibration complete” read the monitor. She was scared, this device wasn’t just for show, she felt it was actually doing something to her.
“Now, let’s see here, where to begin.” Tim scrolled through her work profile. “Ah yes, you’re not from around here, are you? I think it’s best we make you a local girl.” He deleted her old hometown of Guildford, Surrey and entered the new one, Oldham, Greater Manchester, pressing enter sent another shock through Tabitha’s body but this time she felt a more severe pain in her head, “Ah, wot the fuck! Huh- my voice!”
“How’re you liking the new accent, told you we were making you a local girl. Oldham born and bred.”
Her accent was now much more northern and “common”, losing any hint of the distinguished southern that once occupied her tongue, she no longer sounded educated. “You’re just playing some kinda trick on me, no way this is real like.” It felt strange to talk in this new voice, it was like she had a stranger living inside of her.
“Oh, I assure you this is very real, let’s get on with some more changes, shall we?” Tabitha stayed silent. “So, in your soon to be old life you recently moved here after living with your parents all your life, not counting your stay at university, of course. And in quite a nice area too. The village of Shamley Green is very nice, very homely, horses, pony clubs, genteel. Yep, that’s gotta go.”
Tabitha was getting upset, with a few presses of a keyboard the man was making drastic changes to her life and he was only just beginning, “why are you doing this?!”
“Because we don’t need free thinkers here, just someone to take orders and flip burgers, I want staff that are loyal to our company, love our burgers and never want to leave the MacRonald’s family. And I happen to think that a bubble brain like you is the perfect candidate.”
‘Bubble brain’, that struck Tabitha as odd, she was intelligent, well educated, she loved to read and was always enthusiastic about learning new things. Was he going to alter her mind?
Tim looked back at his screen, there was a page filled with sliders, each with a different characteristic next to them. “I’m just going to make a few tweaks to your personality to make you the ideal employee. Don’t worry, it isn’t going to hurt…. much. You’ll barely notice it. You’ve already seen that I’ve made you a little more curvy and very compact.” He pointed at her new figure.
She looked down at her body, it felt wrong, unfamiliar, she was always tall and skinny, a figure perfect for Netball which she played every Summer. She had a local team back home that she played with, or at least she did, Oldham wasn’t particularly known for its sports facilities.
“How are you liking being 5ft tall, with big boobs and a bubble butt? You really fill that uniform out now, like you were poured into it, which is really good, it attracts the lads in the area to come and get their burgers here. It makes you look sexier; you aren’t fat but I bet you need to watch your weight now. You certainly look more aligned with the younger members of the team, less domineering and even less of an adult.”
The memories of being stared at by customers suddenly made sense to her.
“Ok”, he cracked his fingers and flexed his hands and started moving the sliders on the laptop screen. “Let's do this.”
He moved the slider on educational attainment removing her degree and making it so that she left school at 16 with next to no GCSEs. “No, wot are you doin?!” Tabitha cried out.
“Degrees mean nothing here; your job is simple so YOU are simple. Any academic achievement is seen as unnecessary baggage, we wouldn’t want you thinking you’re too good for us now, would we? But don’t worry, I made sure that you still got an E in Art.” Tim chuckled to himself. “Congratulations by the way, I bet you drew a very pretty picture, you must be so proud.” Tim pressed enter and Tabitha felt another shock hit her brain causing her body to seize up.
When the device stopped, she didn’t feel that different, her old memories were still there, albeit pushed to the side to make way for the new ones. She thought back to results day, going on her own because she worried, she might’ve failed a couple, of course, she got perfect grades all around. However, sat next to this memory was another. Going with her friends (girls she didn’t recognise) to pick up their grades, she opened up her letter to find that she had failed all but one subject, Art, the old Tabitha would be distraught but the new her actually felt proud, she now had one more GCSE than her mother.
“Let’s fill in some more details, shall we? How about you were brought up on a council estate by a single mother, her and your father split when you were very young, he was a local criminal, now serving a jail sentence of ten years, but don’t worry, every few weeks you get to visit him, you’re a real daddy’s girl now.”
“Leave my family alone! They haven’t done anything!”
“Don’t worry though, your Mum raised you in her image, she’s not some drug dealer or morbidly obese unemployed slob like most of the residents of these kind of estates. She is pretty, in a trashy sort of way, a hair dresser and a bit younger than you recall her being in your old life. She’s not 55 now, let's make her 39, silicone boobs, lip filler, permatan, nice rose tattoo on her breast, definite MILF territory.”
The woman he described was nothing like the mother Tabitha knew. She was no means bad looking but she certainly didn’t make it a priority. She held both her family and her career in high regard. She was a doctor and always made it her mission to inspire her daughters and encourage them to use their minds.
“Now, onto your older sister Melanie. 28 years old, lives alone, single and a teacher? From this estate? Nah, I don’t think so. Not possible. She is Melodee now, 23, works in a tanning salon nearby and has two kids (7 and 4), her boyfriend works in construction and is a wannabe boxer. She’s a real popular party girl, out every weekend, leaving the kids with Nan (your Mum), trying to live that influencer life she can barely afford.
You idolise her and always have done. See I am not cruel, you got so much support from Melanie with your studies and so I’m keeping much of that, the support she gave you is staying, only thing now is, it's all focused on hair, makeup and beauty tips.”
Tim presses enter and Tabitha feels a shock through her entire body, she was about to undergo some major changes...