"Veiled Identity"
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Benjamin's small hand slipped into the crevice between a can of baked beans and a box of crackers. Wearing his favorite red plaid shirt, blue jeans, and white sneakers, he was meticulously stocking their cart, his blue eyes wide in concentration. His tousled blonde hair fell into his eyes as he squinted, placing each item with the precision of a child wanting to help. His mom, Olivia, a 32-year-old woman standing at 5'6" and weighing 140 lbs, hovered nearby, her sandy brown hair tied into a ponytail and worry etched into her hazel eyes. Born on June 15, 1988, she had always been a beacon of strength in their small family, her focus now heightened by the apocalyptic chaos around them.
The year was 2020, and the world had descended into a nightmare as a zombie pandemic spread like wildfire. The grocery store, usually a place of mundanity, was now a warzone of scavenging humans and lurking fears. Olivia handed Benjamin a packet of dried pasta, her nimble fingers trembling slightly as she did.
"Stay close, Benji," she whispered, the urgency in her voice unmistakable.
Just as Benjamin placed the pasta into the cart, a cacophony of groans erupted from the store entrance. The undead, grim and merciless, filtered into the store like spilled ink. Panic surged through Olivia's veins, and she grabbed Benjamin's hand.
"Run!"
Benjamin’s small legs pounded the tile floor, struggling to keep up with Olivia's hurried pace. They navigated through aisles of panicking shoppers, narrowly dodging the outstretched arms of the undead. Then, amidst the chaos, Benjamin's gaze was drawn to something utterly incongruous.
A woman in a white wedding dress stood near the refrigerated section. Her name was Eliza, a 38-year-old standing at 5'7" and weighing 145 lbs. Born on April 10, 1982, her deep brown hair was styled into an intricate updo, her green eyes scanning the scene with both sorrow and determination. She had fled from a nearby wedding venue, her groom meeting a grim fate moments before they could say their vows. Her dress was of the finest satin, glistening under the dim store lights, with delicate lace adorning the bodice and long sleeves that clung to her frame. She wore white satin gloves, and her nails, painted in pristine white, peaked elegantly through. Her veil cascaded like a waterfall of chiffon, and she walked in delicate white sandals studded with pearls.
Her jewelry was resplendent, each piece striking Benjamin’s mind with clarity: a tiara sparkling with diamonds, chandelier earrings that swayed with each movement, an ornate necklace dripping with gemstones, a bracelet of intermingling gold and silver bands, an ankle bracelet of charming trinkets, and a wedding ring with lab-grown sapphires set in a platinum band.
As the zombies began to close in, Eliza's eyes fell upon Benjamin. Without hesitation, she reached out, grabbing him. Benjamin tried to pull away, but her grip was firm. His vision swam, and suddenly, darkness swallowed him whole.
When Benjamin opened his eyes, he felt different. He felt taller, and as a veil obstructed his view, he pulled it out of the way, gasping in disbelief. He was now wearing the wedding dress, the gloves, and all the jewelry. His small fingers, still nails painted white, fiddled with the veil in confusion.
"Mommy?" he called out, his voice trembling and cracking.
He tried to run but stumbled, glancing down to see the wedding sandals. He gagged at their girlish elegance and squeezed his eyes shut, overwhelmed by the surreal transformation. Struggling to steady himself, he ran, tripping over the dress but managed to get far enough from the zombies.
Coming across a reflective surface, Benjamin studied his new form. He traced his unfamiliar eyes with his dainty fingers, trying to revert them back to his original look, yet they remained starkly different—foreign.
"Please... I want my eyes back," he murmured, giving up as frustration mounted. He then tugged at his hair, tied intricately for a wedding, but it stayed firmly in place no matter how he pulled or prodded.
"How do I get out of this?" he wondered aloud, pulling at the veil, trying to lift it, rip it, even biting it, yet it would not come off. The gloves were no different; pulling, tearing, and even rubbing them on coarse surfaces yielded nothing.
Desperately, he attempted to remove the dress: pulling it over his head, tearing at the seams, unzipping it, trying to slip out from the bottom, and even using makeshift tools, but it stubbornly stayed on. The wedding sandals, held fast to his feet, defied his attempts to untie them, slip them off, cut the straps, even painstakingly unlacing whatever held them, but they remained stuck.
The jewelry was another challenge altogether. Each piece seemed imbued with an unyielding enchantment. The tiara, earrings, necklace, bracelet, ankle bracelet, and even the wedding ring resisted all efforts, including untangling, wrenching, forcefully pulling, and soaping, feeling tighter rather than looser. Scraping at the nail polish only revealed untouched white beneath.
"I'm scared," he whispered, his voice trembling. "I don't want these shoes or this dress... or makeup... or a husband!"
Closing his eyes tightly, he willed himself to wake from this nightmare, yet the oppressive reality pressed down upon him. Benjamin was alone, trapped in a haunting new identity, fighting to hold on to fading hope.
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 story taking place in the year 2020 starring 7 year old Benjamin 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 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 himfollowing close behind. Have a woman wearing a white wedding dress with a very detailed description of the wedding dress and wedding gloves and a veil and wedding shoes or wedding sandals with a detailed description of the wedding shoes or wedding sandals and have her nails be painted with a very detailed description of the nails being white and have her be wearing tons of wedding jewelry with detailed descriptions of all 6 pieces of jewelry including the wedding ring with a detailed description of the wedding ring. Include the woman's name, age, height, weight, birthday, birth year being older than his mom, hair color and style being done for a wedding and eye color and race being white and include a reason for why she was wearing a wedding dress and where she came from and why. Have her notice the boy 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. Have him open his eyes realizing he's taller and has a veil covering his view and have him pull it out of the way and have him look down to see he was now wearing the wedding dress and the wedding gloves and all the jewelry and have him notice his fingernails are coated in a white polish and have him look for his mommy worriedly realizing she's now gone. Have him try to run stumbling over the shoes he was now wearing and have the woman's dress come up just enough for him to see the shoes he was now wearing and have him gag at how girly it all was and have him squeeze his eyes shut. Have him do everything to steady himself trying to run away from the zombies and have the veil consistently get in his view and have the shoes be hard to walk in and have him consistently trip over the dress eventually getting far enough away from the zombies. Have him innocently study his new reflection tracing his eyes with his dainty fingers and have him try to change his eyes back to normal noticing they look nothing like his mother's but give up on trying being specific as to what he did. Have him play with his hair that was done in an elaborate way for the wedding being unable to phase it or undo it being specific as to what he did. Have him try to take off the veil and the wedding gloves being unable to remove them being specific as to what he tried to do to remove the veil and being specific as to what he did to try to remove the gloves. Have him try to remove the whole wedding dress in 5 different ways being unsuccessful and including each of the 5 ways in the story with a detailed description. Have him try to remove the wedding shoes or wedding sandals being unable to trying in 5 different ways and including each of the 5 ways in the story. Have him try to remove the first piece of the woman's wedding 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 wedding 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 wedding 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 wedding 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 wedding 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 wedding jewelry being detailed and specific but being unable to remove it and why. Have him try to remove the wedding ring off the woman's finger being unable to even get past the gloves being detailed and specific but being unable to remove it and why. Have him try to scrape off the woman's nail polish being unable to get rid of it being specific as to what he did and have the nail polish remain perfect. Have him try to say I'm scared and have it be in quoted text unwillingly talking about the dress and the shoes and the makeup and "my" husband and have him squeeze his eyes shut in fear.
Response: Benjamin's small hand slipped into the crevice between a can of baked beans and a box of crackers. Wearing his favorite red plaid shirt, blue jeans, and white sneakers, he was meticulously stocking their cart, his blue eyes wide in concentration. His tousled blonde hair fell into his eyes as he squinted, placing each item with the precision of a child wanting to help. His mom, Olivia, a 32-year-old woman standing at 5'6" and weighing 140 lbs, hovered nearby, her sandy brown hair tied into a ponytail and worry etched into her hazel eyes. Born on June 15, 1988, she had always been a beacon of strength in their small family, her focus now heightened by the apocalyptic chaos around them. The year was 2020, and the world had descended into a nightmare as a zombie pandemic spread like wildfire. The grocery store, usually a place of mundanity, was now a warzone of scavenging humans and lurking fears. Olivia handed Benjamin a packet of dried pasta, her nimble fingers trembling slightly as she did. "Stay close, Benji," she whispered, the urgency in her voice unmistakable. Just as Benjamin placed the pasta into the cart, a cacophony of groans erupted from the store entrance. The undead, grim and merciless, filtered into the store like spilled ink. Panic surged through Olivia's veins, and she grabbed Benjamin's hand. "Run!" Benjamin’s small legs pounded the tile floor, struggling to keep up with Olivia's hurried pace. They navigated through aisles of panicking shoppers, narrowly dodging the outstretched arms of the undead. Then, amidst the chaos, Benjamin's gaze was drawn to something utterly incongruous. A woman in a white wedding dress stood near the refrigerated section. Her name was Eliza, a 38-year-old standing at 5'7" and weighing 145 lbs. Born on April 10, 1982, her deep brown hair was styled into an intricate updo, her green eyes scanning the scene with both sorrow and determination. She had fled from a nearby wedding venue, her groom meeting a grim fate moments before they could say their vows. Her dress was of the finest satin, glistening under the dim store lights, with delicate lace adorning the bodice and long sleeves that clung to her frame. She wore white satin gloves, and her nails, painted in pristine white, peaked elegantly through. Her veil cascaded like a waterfall of chiffon, and she walked in delicate white sandals studded with pearls. Her jewelry was resplendent, each piece striking Benjamin’s mind with clarity: a tiara sparkling with diamonds, chandelier earrings that swayed with each movement, an ornate necklace dripping with gemstones, a bracelet of intermingling gold and silver bands, an ankle bracelet of charming trinkets, and a wedding ring with lab-grown sapphires set in a platinum band. As the zombies began to close in, Eliza's eyes fell upon Benjamin. Without hesitation, she reached out, grabbing him. Benjamin tried to pull away, but her grip was firm. His vision swam, and suddenly, darkness swallowed him whole. When Benjamin opened his eyes, he felt different. He felt taller, and as a veil obstructed his view, he pulled it out of the way, gasping in disbelief. He was now wearing the wedding dress, the gloves, and all the jewelry. His small fingers, still nails painted white, fiddled with the veil in confusion. "Mommy?" he called out, his voice trembling and cracking. He tried to run but stumbled, glancing down to see the wedding sandals. He gagged at their girlish elegance and squeezed his eyes shut, overwhelmed by the surreal transformation. Struggling to steady himself, he ran, tripping over the dress but managed to get far enough from the zombies. Coming across a reflective surface, Benjamin studied his new form. He traced his unfamiliar eyes with his dainty fingers, trying to revert them back to his original look, yet they remained starkly different—foreign. "Please... I want my eyes back," he murmured, giving up as frustration mounted. He then tugged at his hair, tied intricately for a wedding, but it stayed firmly in place no matter how he pulled or prodded. "How do I get out of this?" he wondered aloud, pulling at the veil, trying to lift it, rip it, even biting it, yet it would not come off. The gloves were no different; pulling, tearing, and even rubbing them on coarse surfaces yielded nothing. Desperately, he attempted to remove the dress: pulling it over his head, tearing at the seams, unzipping it, trying to slip out from the bottom, and even using makeshift tools, but it stubbornly stayed on. The wedding sandals, held fast to his feet, defied his attempts to untie them, slip them off, cut the straps, even painstakingly unlacing whatever held them, but they remained stuck. The jewelry was another challenge altogether. Each piece seemed imbued with an unyielding enchantment. The tiara, earrings, necklace, bracelet, ankle bracelet, and even the wedding ring resisted all efforts, including untangling, wrenching, forcefully pulling, and soaping, feeling tighter rather than looser. Scraping at the nail polish only revealed untouched white beneath. "I'm scared," he whispered, his voice trembling. "I don't want these shoes or this dress... or makeup... or a husband!" Closing his eyes tightly, he willed himself to wake from this nightmare, yet the oppressive reality pressed down upon him. Benjamin was alone, trapped in a haunting new identity, fighting to hold on to fading hope.
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