Title: The Unseen Transformation
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The fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, dimming occasionally as the temperature regulated inside Happy Mart, the largest grocery store in town. Amidst the tense ambiance, shoppers hurriedly grabbed supplies, their faces veiled with makeshift masks. The shelves were half-empty, signaling the ravages of a world turned upside down.
Seven-year-old Ben stood by his mom, tugging on the sleeves of his oversized blue jacket, which hung loosely around his small frame. The cuffs were frayed from too much play, and his faded jeans, which were once his favorite, were now too short, revealing his mismatched socks. Ben was a white kid with a mop of messy brown hair and inquisitive blue eyes that peered curiously at everything around him.
Ben’s mom, Karen, navigated the aisles with a weary determination. She was 35 years old, stood at 5'7", and weighed around 140 pounds. Her birthday was on May 10th, 1985. Her flowing blonde hair was tied in a haphazard bun, and her green eyes scanned the shelves relentlessly. She wore a pale pink hoodie, yoga pants, and scuffed sneakers in size 6.5 – the kind of practical footwear any mom would wear for a quick store run during a zombie pandemic.
“Mommy,” Ben started in his high-pitched voice, stumbling over his words slightly, “Why aw yer feet so smawl? Will mine be dis tiny when I gew up?”
Karen chuckled, a light sound amidst the dread. “No, sweetheart. Since you’re a boy and not a girl, your feet should grow very big. I bet you’ll be wearing size 10 shoes by the time you’re older.” She ruffled his hair affectionately, trying to smile through her exhaustion.
As they reached for a last can of beans, the store’s emergency alarms blared. People screamed as a horde of zombies began pouring into the store, their rotting flesh and guttural growls filling the air. Karen grabbed Ben’s hand and started running, her sneakers slapping against the cold tiles as Ben hurried to keep up.
Caught in the chaos, five Korean women appeared, forming a barrier between the zombies and a dwindling number of survivors. The women were all wearing vibrant blouses and skirts, perhaps remnants of a more normal, everyday life. Their clothes clung to them as bizarrely pristine memories in an otherwise apocalyptic setting.
Mrs. Lee, the oldest among them at 60, wore a crisp white blouse and a navy pencil skirt, her platform sandals a contrasting rich plum. Her hair was salt and pepper, styled short, and practical. She was from Seoul but had moved to the U.S. decades ago.
Next to her stood Mi-young, 45, with jet-black hair styled in a chic, bob cut. She wore a lavender blouse, a matching full skirt, and cream-colored platform shoes. Chung-hee, 50, had short auburn hair and a light blue blouse paired with a grey skirt. Her black platform sandals clacked authoritatively as she moved. Sun-hee, the youngest at 42, matched her coffee-colored hair with a green blouse and tan skirt, her brown platform sandals making her petite frame seem slightly taller. Lastly, there was Ji-woo, 47, her chestnut hair styled in soft waves. She wore a pink ruffled blouse and a floral skirt, her silver platform shoes shining. Their brightly painted nails – each woman’s a different color: red, blue, pink, green, and purple – flashed as they fought to protect the remaining shoppers.
Amidst the carnage, one of the women, Sun-hee, caught sight of Ben. She reached out, saying something in Korean, but Ben tried to avoid her grasp. She caught hold of him, and the world seemed to spin. His vision went black.
When he came to, Ben felt different. Taller. His new fingers traced over the blouse and knee-length skirt he now wore – the same consistent colors from moments before. The platform sandals pinched his feet, and his fingernails painting the same bright green caught the light. His skin was different, a subtle tan instead of his previous pale.
"Mommy!" Ben cried, his voice now a distinctly female tone, broken with fear. "Mommy! Ware are yu?" What he tried to say was: "Mommy, where are you?" but his voice stumbled over the new tongue.
He tried to run, but the platform sandals made every step precarious. He tripped repeatedly, his new body awkward and unfamiliar. Finally, he reached a reflective surface and gasped, tracing his almond-shaped eyes with his hands, desperately trying to make them widen like his own. They stubbornly remained the same.
"I wanna go howme! I want Mommy!" he sobbed, his voice breaking. What he meant to shout was: "I want to go home! I want Mommy!"
The short hair framed his face, and he toyed with it, hopelessly trying to make it boyish but failing. His hands, now delicate with polished nails, felt foreign.
Desperately, he tugged at the blouse and skirt, trying to remove them in every possible way: pulling the hem, tearing at the seams, twisting it awkwardly, but nothing worked. The garments seemed determined to stay.
He bent over, trying to remove the platform sandals, but they wouldn’t budge. Ben tried pulling them off, unstrapping them, wiggling his feet free, even kicking them off, but they remained stubbornly in place.
Looking down, he noted how small his now feminine feet were in comparison to his mom's.
"I'mma gunna have gurl feet an' talk like a funny ladee forver!" he whimpered, trying to say: "I'm going to have girl feet and talk like the funny lady forever!"
He tried to remove the jewelry piece by piece: the necklace, the bracelets, the rings, but each piece seemed to resist his efforts, almost as if cursed to remain.
Finally, overwhelmed, he cried, “I’m scared…” but it came out fractured: "I'm skwared."
The four other women found him, grabbed his hands, and began guiding him somewhere.
Soo-jin admonished, "You shouldn’t have wandhered off, Sun-hee!” emphasizing the name of the woman Ben now inhabited, her English broken.
Another chimed in, "At your age, Sun-hee, should know better, kia!" she scolded with a frown.
Ben, now Sun-hee, heard them speaking in Korean, words and phrases blending into an incomprehensible blur. He struggled in the platform sandals as they dragged him out to an empty parking lot swarming with zombies. His heart raced as terror settled in.
This story was generated by user manemansteve with assistance by one of OpenAI’s large-scale language-generation model; prompts used to help generate the story are shown below.
Images were generated with OpenAI's AI system, DALL·E 2, or uploaded by the user.
AI Prompts
Prompt: A long and thorough and detailed story taking place in the year 2020 starring 7 year old Ben with a description of what he's wearing and his race being white and have him be shopping with his mom in the middle of a zombie pandemic. Include his mom's name, age, height, weight, birthday, birth year, hair color and style and eye color, and her shoe size mentioned. Have Ben make a comment about his mom's feet being small for a grown up and have it be in quoted text asking if his feet were gonna be that tiny when he grew up in an innocent voice and spell words wrong showing what he wanted to say versus what he said in his little kid voice. Have his mom laugh and say no and have it be in quoted text saying since he's a boy and not a girl his feet should grow very big and have her guess what size his feet will be when he's older. Have them be wearily grabbing food and supplies putting it in the cart when zombies started pouring in to the grocery store. Have his mom start running with him following close behind. Have 5 Korean women appear wearing blouses and skirts with detailed descriptions of the colors and types of blouses and skirts and have all be wearing platform sandals and platform shoes with detailed descriptions of the colors of the platform sandals and platform shoes and have all of them have painted nails and include the colors. Include all 5 Korean women's names, ages all being older than his mom, heights all being shorter than his mom, weights, birthdays, birth years all being older than his mom with one of the 5 women being much older than the other 4 women, hair colors and styles all being short Korean styles and where they were from in the US or if they were from South Korea and their shoe sizes. Have one of the women notice the boy saying something to him in Korean and reaching out to grab him and have him try to avoid her still being grabbed by the woman getting dizzy and have his vision go black. Reveal which woman grabbed him and include her information a second time including her name, age, birthday, birth year, height, weight, hair color and style and eye color and where she was from and her shoe size being much smaller than his moms and mention her blouse type and color being the same as it was earlier and her skirt type and color being the same as it was earlier and her platform sandals color and type being the same as it was earlier and the color of her nail polish being the same as it was earlier.. Have all of the women be salon stylists and include them all being salon stylists in the story and how long each of them had been one for. Have him open his eyes realizing he's taller and feels different looking down and noticing the blouse and knee length skirt he was now wearing being the same consistent color they were earlier in the story and his different skin tone and the platform sandals being the same they were earlier in the story and the polished nails being the same color they were earlier in the story and have him look for his mommy worriedly realizing she's now gone. Have him yell for mommy and have it be in quoted text unwillingly in broken English spelling words wrong and show the quote the way he wanted to say it versus how he said it. Have him try to run stumbling over the platform sandals he was now wearing and have the woman's outfit be very uncomfortable and have him trip over something hearing his female voice and have him gag at how girly it all was and have him squeeze his eyes shut. Have him do everything to pace himself trying to run away from the zombies and and have the platform sandals be hard to run in and have him consistently trip over the platform sandals eventually getting far enough away from the zombies. Have him innocently study his new reflection tracing his almond shaped eyes with his new hands and have him try to change his eyes back to the normal wide eyes noticing they look nothing like his mother's but give up on trying being specific as to what he did. Have him say i want to go home i want mommy and have it be in quoted text unwillingly speaking in broken English and saying some words wrong and show the quoted text how he wanted to say it versus how he said it. Have him start crying at the sound of his voice. Have him play with his short female hair and what he did with it noticing his polished nails on his female hands as he played with it but being unable to change it back to his boyish hair. Have him try to remove the blouse and skirt in different ways being unsuccessful and including each of the ways in the story with a detailed description. Have him try to remove the platform sandals being unable to trying in 5 different ways and including each of the 5 ways in the story but the platform sandals aren't glued to her feet they just won't come off. Have him notice his female feet actually look smaller than his mom's feet and have him say something and have it be in quoted text in very broken English about how he's gonna have girl feet and talk like the funny lady he now is for the rest of his life and show the quote he wanted to say it versus how he said it in very broken English. Have him try to remove the first piece of the woman's jewelry being detailed and specific but being unable to remove it and why. Have him try to remove the second piece of the woman's jewelry being detailed and specific but being unable to remove it and why. Have him try to remove the third piece of the woman's jewelry being detailed and specific but being unable to remove it and why. Have him try to remove the fourth piece of the woman's jewelry being detailed and specific but being unable to remove it and why. Have him try to remove the fifth piece of the woman's jewelry being detailed and specific but being unable to remove it and why. Have him try to remove the sixth piece of the woman's jewelry being detailed and specific but being unable to remove it and why. Have him try to say I'm scared and have it be in quoted text unwillingly speaking in broken English spelling words wrong and show the quote how he wanted to say it versus how he said it and have him squeeze his eyes shut in fear. Have the woman's 4 other friends find her and grab her by the hands guiding her somewhere. Have one of the other woman criticize her for wandering off and have it be in quoted text in broken English calling the boy by their friend's name who had grabbed him earlier and who he was in the body of and spell the words wrong in the quoted text and have them tighten parts of her outfit and platform sandals. Have another one of the other women criticize her reminding her her age and have it be in quoted text in broken English calling the boy by their friend's name who had grabbed him earlier and who he was in the body of spelling certain words wrong and have her end her quote with a Korean saying. Have the boy in the woman's body hear the Korean woman speaking to him thinking he's her friend unable to understand it at all. Have him struggle to run out in the platform sandals as the women drag him and have him make it out to the parking lot and have the parking lot be empty but full of zombies. Have him be terrified.
Response: The fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, dimming occasionally as the temperature regulated inside Happy Mart, the largest grocery store in town. Amidst the tense ambiance, shoppers hurriedly grabbed supplies, their faces veiled with makeshift masks. The shelves were half-empty, signaling the ravages of a world turned upside down. Seven-year-old Ben stood by his mom, tugging on the sleeves of his oversized blue jacket, which hung loosely around his small frame. The cuffs were frayed from too much play, and his faded jeans, which were once his favorite, were now too short, revealing his mismatched socks. Ben was a white kid with a mop of messy brown hair and inquisitive blue eyes that peered curiously at everything around him. Ben’s mom, Karen, navigated the aisles with a weary determination. She was 35 years old, stood at 5'7", and weighed around 140 pounds. Her birthday was on May 10th, 1985. Her flowing blonde hair was tied in a haphazard bun, and her green eyes scanned the shelves relentlessly. She wore a pale pink hoodie, yoga pants, and scuffed sneakers in size 6.5 – the kind of practical footwear any mom would wear for a quick store run during a zombie pandemic. “Mommy,” Ben started in his high-pitched voice, stumbling over his words slightly, “Why aw yer feet so smawl? Will mine be dis tiny when I gew up?” Karen chuckled, a light sound amidst the dread. “No, sweetheart. Since you’re a boy and not a girl, your feet should grow very big. I bet you’ll be wearing size 10 shoes by the time you’re older.” She ruffled his hair affectionately, trying to smile through her exhaustion. As they reached for a last can of beans, the store’s emergency alarms blared. People screamed as a horde of zombies began pouring into the store, their rotting flesh and guttural growls filling the air. Karen grabbed Ben’s hand and started running, her sneakers slapping against the cold tiles as Ben hurried to keep up. Caught in the chaos, five Korean women appeared, forming a barrier between the zombies and a dwindling number of survivors. The women were all wearing vibrant blouses and skirts, perhaps remnants of a more normal, everyday life. Their clothes clung to them as bizarrely pristine memories in an otherwise apocalyptic setting. Mrs. Lee, the oldest among them at 60, wore a crisp white blouse and a navy pencil skirt, her platform sandals a contrasting rich plum. Her hair was salt and pepper, styled short, and practical. She was from Seoul but had moved to the U.S. decades ago. Next to her stood Mi-young, 45, with jet-black hair styled in a chic, bob cut. She wore a lavender blouse, a matching full skirt, and cream-colored platform shoes. Chung-hee, 50, had short auburn hair and a light blue blouse paired with a grey skirt. Her black platform sandals clacked authoritatively as she moved. Sun-hee, the youngest at 42, matched her coffee-colored hair with a green blouse and tan skirt, her brown platform sandals making her petite frame seem slightly taller. Lastly, there was Ji-woo, 47, her chestnut hair styled in soft waves. She wore a pink ruffled blouse and a floral skirt, her silver platform shoes shining. Their brightly painted nails – each woman’s a different color: red, blue, pink, green, and purple – flashed as they fought to protect the remaining shoppers. Amidst the carnage, one of the women, Sun-hee, caught sight of Ben. She reached out, saying something in Korean, but Ben tried to avoid her grasp. She caught hold of him, and the world seemed to spin. His vision went black. When he came to, Ben felt different. Taller. His new fingers traced over the blouse and knee-length skirt he now wore – the same consistent colors from moments before. The platform sandals pinched his feet, and his fingernails painting the same bright green caught the light. His skin was different, a subtle tan instead of his previous pale. "Mommy!" Ben cried, his voice now a distinctly female tone, broken with fear. "Mommy! Ware are yu?" What he tried to say was: "Mommy, where are you?" but his voice stumbled over the new tongue. He tried to run, but the platform sandals made every step precarious. He tripped repeatedly, his new body awkward and unfamiliar. Finally, he reached a reflective surface and gasped, tracing his almond-shaped eyes with his hands, desperately trying to make them widen like his own. They stubbornly remained the same. "I wanna go howme! I want Mommy!" he sobbed, his voice breaking. What he meant to shout was: "I want to go home! I want Mommy!" The short hair framed his face, and he toyed with it, hopelessly trying to make it boyish but failing. His hands, now delicate with polished nails, felt foreign. Desperately, he tugged at the blouse and skirt, trying to remove them in every possible way: pulling the hem, tearing at the seams, twisting it awkwardly, but nothing worked. The garments seemed determined to stay. He bent over, trying to remove the platform sandals, but they wouldn’t budge. Ben tried pulling them off, unstrapping them, wiggling his feet free, even kicking them off, but they remained stubbornly in place. Looking down, he noted how small his now feminine feet were in comparison to his mom's. "I'mma gunna have gurl feet an' talk like a funny ladee forver!" he whimpered, trying to say: "I'm going to have girl feet and talk like the funny lady forever!" He tried to remove the jewelry piece by piece: the necklace, the bracelets, the rings, but each piece seemed to resist his efforts, almost as if cursed to remain. Finally, overwhelmed, he cried, “I’m scared…” but it came out fractured: "I'm skwared." The four other women found him, grabbed his hands, and began guiding him somewhere. Soo-jin admonished, "You shouldn’t have wandhered off, Sun-hee!” emphasizing the name of the woman Ben now inhabited, her English broken. Another chimed in, "At your age, Sun-hee, should know better, kia!" she scolded with a frown. Ben, now Sun-hee, heard them speaking in Korean, words and phrases blending into an incomprehensible blur. He struggled in the platform sandals as they dragged him out to an empty parking lot swarming with zombies. His heart raced as terror settled in.
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