Story Time: Sebastian Abroad

French study-abroad student Sebastian arrived at Pfatter U with two full suitcases and no idea what to expect. He had told his advisor back in France he wanted a school where he could keeping playing football, or what the Americans called soccer, and where they served food as delicious as what his mother made. The advisor, somewhat new at his job, saw the high reviews for Pfatter University’s dining hall and figured it would be a good fit. A month later, Sebastian was on a plane, bound for a university he hadn’t bothered to learn much about.

When he got to his dorm room it was late at night, and through the darkness he saw that something - or wait, someone - was under the covers of one of the beds. His gigantic roommate was snoring loudly and coughing intermittently. A fat foot with even fatter toes at the end of a massively swollen calf peeked out from under the sheets. He must be the biggest human Sebastian had ever seen! He knew America had an obesity problem but wow, he didn’t expect a young college student to be so rotund. The gigantic mass sneezed, shaking the frame of the bed.

Exhausted, Sebastian collapsed on his own bed, figuring he’d meet his rotund roommate in the morning. He was asleep in mere minutes.

The next morning, he opened his eyes to a loud knocking. Instinctively, he shot up and made for the door, clad only in his underwear. He noticed his roommate’s bed was empty.

Two men wearing surgical masks and lab coats stood in the doorway; one began to address him. While Sebastian’s English wasn’t great just yet, he heard his name, and something about his roommate being sick, maybe with the flu? They needed to take him somewhere and apparently it was urgent, as both men grabbed one of his arms and whisked him away, into a van and across the campus to what looked like an infirmary.

They placed him on a bed in a large white room. It was actually quite comfortable, and Sebastian chose to try to stay calm as they hooked him up to some monitoring machine. The men left the room quickly, and he called after them in French, “So, now what?” These crazy Americans. As he tried to get cozy and wait for further instructions, he felt an itch in his nose as he suddenly sneezed.

A warmth spread throughout his body, radiating from deep inside and out into his limbs. It was actually quite a pleasant feeling, and he lay back with his hands behind his head and closed his eyes, enjoying the sensation. It was hard to explain but it felt like his body was both incredibly heavy and incredibly light at the same time, stretching to fill every corner of the room. His skin began to feel tight, and then loose again, as it seemingly adapted to whatever changes were occurring.

He opened his eyes to catch the last glimpses of the transformation as his once taut midsection expanded outward and sagged toward his knees, which themselves were dimpled and folded as his thighs and calves grew larger than any he’d ever seen. His arms were as soft and wide as the pillow he rested his head on, and his once strong-featured face was now soft and jowled.

He tried to lift himself up to see what had happened, which proved to be difficult. He was now even more rotund than his roommate had been! He couldn’t believe his eyes. All this in a matter of seconds! He thought of his beloved soccer, how there was no way he could glide down the field with the ball anymore, handling it with his signature deft footwork. They’d have to put him in goal, where no ball would get past because his obese body would be blocking the entire opening.

As he looked around to see if the masked men were coming to help him, his nose crinkled up as he prepared for another sneeze. Panicking, he tried to hold it back but - ACHOO! - and the warm, tingly sensation washed over his body once more …