As I sat on the train, I stared out the window, wondering what to do next. After we had found out that I had almost no chance of switching back bodies, we had talked for a bit, had lunch, and then I left. I wasn’t really in the mood to talk to anyone right now; I just wanted to be alone.

I remembered all the things I had done, all the people I had met. My first subscriber on YouTube. The countless hours I had had fun on Skype with Landon. Taking screenshots of famous YouTubers.  My eyes started welling up with tears as I thought about my old, normal life. I didn’t want any of this. Sure, I dreamed of getting even ten subscribers, but I had only dreamed of being YouTube famous. Now that I had almost five million… it was unbelievable.

My mind drifted over to other things. Why hadn’t this story been updated in a while? Sure, ShadowLykos was busy, but were they really too busy to update it just once? Maybe they were just lazy…

Darren! Please, keep the fourth wall intact!

Fine.

I took my phone out of my pocket and decided to check my special email address for contacting Adam. Two new messages!? After reading the first one, I typed a quick reply.

Sorry, but I can’t make it today. How about tomorrow?

Then I read the next one, and my heart went into my throat. Call him? Hand shaking, I clicked on the number he had sent me, and a small menu popped up. I selected ‘call’, and waited for a reply. I wasn’t sure whether I wanted him to answer or not. Then I heard an irritated, “Hello?”

Swallowing my fears, I replied. “Hello,” I said, more confidently than I felt.

“Darren!?” Adam exclaimed. “You got my message, then?”

“Yeah,” I said distantly. “What do you want to talk about?”

“Well, I was hoping we could meet up sometime. Are you busy today?”

“Yeah… but not tomorrow.”

“Great! Where do you live… well, right now?”

“I don’t actually know,” I realised. “Hold on a sec.”

Thankfully this phone was able to do two things at once, and I put it on the loudspeaker while I searched the address book for my own address. “Found it,” I said, a short while later, and read out the words before me. “Now, what’s yours?”

“Let me check,” Adam said. As I waited for him to return, I bit my nails anxiously. Why was I doing this? I wasn’t entirely sure. It wasn’t as if it would make any difference. Then Adam returned, and I noted down the address.

“Not too far,” I mused, comparing the addresses.

“At least we’re in the same state,” Adam said.

“So… see you tomorrow?” I asked.

“I’ll meet you at your house.”

“Sure. See ya.”

“Bye.”

I hung up the phone, heart beating. What would happen if met each other in real life? A part of me seemed to say that we would return to normal if that happened. Would it work? I didn’t know. Suddenly I felt a tapping on my leg. A small boy who looked about nine was staring at me. “Are you SkyDoesMinecraft?” he asked, eyes wide.

“Yes,” I smiled.

The boy’s eyes grew even wider. Then he ran off, pausing every so often to check if I was still there. “Mummy! Mummy! It’s the real SkyDoesMinecraft!” he shouted as he ran down the carriage. I shook my head, smiling. I didn’t pay him any attention. However, it seemed as if a few other people had caught onto his enthusiasm.

“Hey, bro, do you think we could, you know, like, hang out sometime?” a teenager asked me.

“Can I take a picture with you?” an excited fangirl asked.

“Mummy, I told you it was him!” the boy from earlier cried, dragging his confused mother behind him.

“Stop!” I yelled. “There’s only one of me and three of you! Teenage guy, no. Teenage girl, yes. Young boy, what the heck do you want?”

“I just want to… to…” The boy looked confused. I took the opportunity to take a picture with the fangirl, who jumped up and down happily while squealing something about ‘instagram’ and ‘famous’. The other guy had slunk off somewhere, leaving the very confused boy standing there.

“What would you like?” I asked gently.

“You’re SkyDoesMinecraft,” the boy whispered.

“I think it’s time to leave him alone now, Ryan,” his mum said to him quietly. She dragged him away, looking slightly irritated. I chuckled and realised that we had arrived at my stop. I got off the train, attracting one last look from the remaining passengers. I slowly started making my way back home.

As I reached my home, I suddenly realised something. I had made it all the way back without even having to look at a map. How? I didn’t really know. All I knew was that I had to get back to being Darren before even more of Sky’s memories started showing up in my brain.

Having located my room, I flung the door open. “Dakota, do you wanna–”

Dakota wasn’t there. His desk was completely empty, except for a single note taped to it. I rushed over to it and silently read the surprisingly elegant handwriting.

Hey Adam,

I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you, but I just received a call telling me that the band liked my letter, and they want me to audition for them! If I win, then I’ll be gone for good. Although I probably won’t win, I still might be gone for a good few days. I know I didn’t say a proper goodbye, but I know our paths will cross again. Hopefully they’ll choose me!

See you again,

~Dakota

“Dakota…” I whispered. “If only you knew.” It shouldn’t be me Dakota was saying goodbye to. I was just another fan, just another boy. Adam should be here. He was the one who knew how to deal with his best friend leaving. I didn’t know what to do. Sighing, I decided to see if Olivia was online. She was. I skyped her and she picked up the call. “Hello,” I said.

“Hello!” she said happily, “Want to play?”

“Sure,” I shrugged. A few minigames sorted that out. Within minutes I was laughing again. “You’ve really cheered me up, Olivia,” I smiled, as she tried to run from a seeker in the minigame Hide and Seek.

“Great – dammit!” she yelled, as the seeker finally killed her. “Now look at what you’ve done!”

I couldn’t help it. I burst out laughing. Olivia was a great girl. We kept on playing, and in the end, Olivia managed to find me at the last second. We didn’t stop there. Hopping from server to server and getting greeted by hordes of excited fans, we played many rounds of different minigames. When we finally stopped, we weren’t sure who won. We had been having too much fun to care.

“You’re going already?” I gasped, when Olivia told me she had to go.

“Well… I need to have dinner,” she said. “Sorry.”

“Is it already that late?” I said, startled. I checked my computer, and it was indeed already nearly seven o’clock.

“Bye then,” Olivia said wistfully, before hanging up the call. I sighed.

“I need to sort out my life,” I said, before punching in the numbers for Domino’s Pizza. Despite all the things I had been through, I was still a fourteen-year-old boy who still found it hard to make toast. Without Dakota, I was hopeless. All my happiness had vanished.

The pizza arrived. I took it up to my room and saw the receipt. The delivery man’s name was Dakota. I couldn’t hold it in anymore, and burst into tears. Crying and eating pizza, I sat in my room, unable to enjoy the meat-laden pizza I had ordered, but letting the unwanted tastes fill my mouth anyway. What a sad, sad life I led. Why did this have to happen to me? I didn’t ask for any of this. It was just a wish. Wishes were just the stuff of dreams and fairy tales. But this wasn’t a dream. It was a nightmare.

Would it be so bad, though? The question always bothered me. Sure, I’d miss my friends and family, but would it really affect me? I hated to say it, but I wouldn’t even mind leaving it behind. Although I’d spent most of my life hanging about with them, I was still introverted at heart, a lone wolf unattached to the rest of the pack. This life wasn’t mine, and I knew that – but it was amazing. After finding out all that stuff about animium, it felt like there wasn’t even any point continuing my meagre efforts to swap back. It was time to give up.

No! This book had only ten chapters. It couldn’t end yet!

Darren…

I mean, no! I knew we could do it. There had to be something we could do. I had many other great YouTubers on my side, and I was sure that they would all support my plight. Ty and Jason were just two of them. Switching on the computer after enjoying the rest of the pizza, I decided to browse Sky’s contact list and see who else I could ask for help. Jordan, Quentin, Brice, Martin… the list went on and on. Surely one of these people could do something. A slow smile crept across my face as I started typing.

Hello! It’s me, Sky. But I have something to tell you. I’m not actually the real Sky. My name is Darren. I’m a fourteen-year-old boy who has somehow ended up in Sky’s body.

Scanning over what I had written so far, I could understand Ty’s reaction earlier. It was quite a far-fetched story, and Sky’s friends would probably think the same. I kept on typing.

I know it sounds ridiculous, but it’s all true. Please, I beg you, believe me. I need all the help I can get.

I paused again. Now I sounded really desperate. Well, there wasn’t really much I could do about it. That would have to do. After a quick Google search, I found the site describing the properties of animium, and linked it in the post. Perhaps that would help back up my ridiculous earlier claims.

Read this, and you’ll understand what’s happened. If you can help, please let me know right away! Thank you so much!

~Darren

I copied the whole thing, and pasted it into the first contact on my list. I hit ‘send’, and the message whizzed off into cyberspace. There. But I wasn’t going to stop there. Clicking on the second contact, I pasted the message again. And again. And again.

Finally I came to the last contact on my list. As I sent the message, I was in high spirits again. I was almost certain that someone would be able to help. Suddenly, the doorbell rang, and I walked downstairs to see who it was. I opened the door and an unfamiliar person looked at me, almost as happy as I was.

“Adam! Great to see you again!” the guy said, grinning. In one hand he held a large bag, and the other patted me on the shoulder.

“W-wha?” I said, confused. The guy simply laughed.

“I know, it’s crazy! But I’m finally here. And I bought your favourite drink to celebrate, like you asked!” the stranger said with a wink

“G-great,” I said with a hesitant smile. I was still feeling happy, though.

“Let’s go up to your room,” the visitor said, and we walked upstairs. “I brought some glasses too!”

“Hold on, I need the bathroom,” I said quickly, getting up. I leaned on the corridor wall, wondering who on earth this guy was. I had been watching Sky’s videos for almost a year now, and I had never seen this guy’s face pop up anywhere. So who was he? A real life friend? I guessed so. Opening the door, I walked back in the room, and I was greeted by the mystery visitor holding two glasses filled with a bubbling drink.

“Here you go,” my supposed friend smiled, passing me a glass. “Cheers.”

We raised our glasses, and drank. I resisted the urge to gag as the bitter liquid poured down my throat. What was this stuff? It was apparently Sky’s favourite drink, but why? I took another sip, and the burning feeling was slightly milder this time. Maybe it was because I hadn’t drunk anything since lunch. The drink actually tasted quite nice now.

“So, how’s your YouTube channel going?” the stranger asked.

“Great. I recently hit seven… I mean four million subscribers,” I said, enjoying the drink. I could see why Sky liked this now. It was the best drink I had ever tasted. “How are you doing?”

The guy laughed. “It’s not that exciting in the navy, actually. All you do is do drills every day. I was pretty relieved when I got told that I could return home for a couple of weeks.”

I took another sip of my drink, but only a drop fell out. “More!” I said, handing my friend the glass.

“Whatever you say, Sergeant,” he laughed, and lifted a bottle. My eyes widened as I read the writing on the bottle’s label.

“Champagne!?” I exclaimed. The guy raised his eyebrows as he handed me the glass.

“Yeah… that’s what you asked me to get, remember?”

I was only fourteen! I wasn’t even allowed to drink yet! But, even as the thoughts faintly wandered through my mind, I was eagerly gulping down the contents of the glass…

So I finally uploaded a new chapter. Hopefully you don't hate me too much for the two week hiatus I was on... but who cares, right? I wasn't lazy! I was on holiday for half of it, and I was busy sorting out the contest prizes and stream for the other half! At least it was better than the two month hiatus I took on LaaMM. Anyway, onto less annoying matters! Remember Sky's contact list? Well... who's on that contact list? It's your choice! Simply post a comment down below telling me which YouTuber you would like to appear. Bonus points if you can tell me who Jordan, Quentin, Brice and Martin are, who Darren's visitor is (there's a picture of him on the side of this chapter!), or the song reference I hid in this chapter.

#fireresistantbabies