Dear Diary... My name is Issac

DAY 1 – THURSDAY NIGHT

Dear diary… What makes us human?

Some say it's memories. 

Yet an old man with dementia is still seen as more human than I am.

I’m a skinwalker. I take over bodies. Unlike most of my kind, I retain the memories of my hosts.

I don’t just wear their skin… I live their lives.

You could argue that makes me human. Or at least something close to it.

My newest body belongs to a teenage boy named Issac. Dead parents and no real friends. The perfect host.

As him, I can finally live the ordinary life I’ve always dreamed of.

However, there's one tiny problem standing between me and that dream.

—

DAY 1 – EARLIER TODAY

The school bell rang, breaking me from deep thought. 

Then, as if on cue, the “tiny problem” came running straight to me.

"Hey Issac~!"

Julia.

Not a friend. Not really a girlfriend either. She's being forced to date Issac for a month as punishment for skipping a major game for her baseball club.

"Hello, Julia," I said as deadpan as possible.

Issac found out about the punishment a week into dating her, the same day I found him.

She was the first person he opened up to after his parents died. Honestly, I feel bad for him. Or… me, I guess?

"What's with that tone? You're not happy to see me, hmm?"

This is why she's my biggest problem right now. She knew Issac before I took over, so she knows how he usually acts.

Even with all his memories, I don’t know how he looked or felt in each moment.

It’s like watching a movie on mute; I get the gist, but not the full emotion behind each scene.

“Sorry, I was just having a rough day. I’m glad you’re here to make it better now, though.”

Julia looked surprised at that comment, blushing slightly. I think I'm doing too much.

I could try breaking up with her, but making an enemy out of a popular girl like Julia might crush Issac’s already crippling reputation.

For now, I’ll play along. Maybe I’ll also earn some sympathy points as the kid who got played.

“Oh? When did you become such a smooth talker~? Now hurry up, we agreed to go to the movies today, remember?”

No, I did NOT remember. Y'know, the whole movie on mute thing.

“Of course I do! How could I forget a day out with you!”

We headed out of the class and to the movie theatre.

We saw some trashy romance movie. Well, more like I saw it.

Julia was on her phone texting her friends for most of it.

I'm surprised Issac didn't realise how little this relationship meant to her. I guess love really is blind.

I'm just glad the movie is over now.

“Alright, I think I'm going to head home now, Julia. Thanks, today was fun!”

Julia looked at me like I'd just said something insane.

I just wanted to go home to plan how Issac would meet his first few friends and also to write down my first day as Issac in this diary.

“Oh… Alright then…”

“Bye-Bye!”

I waved goodbye and started to head home.

Julia just stared at me, looking confused, before getting distracted by her phone's notifications.

And now I'm back home.

Overall, I'm just happy I wasn't found out on my first day, that would really suck.

Now, I think I'll get an early night's sleep, to try and break Issac's long history of poor sleeping habits.

Goodnight.

—

DAY 2 – FRIDAY MORNING

Dear diary… I'm having a great morning

I woke up pretty early, so I'm going to write a bit whilst waiting for school to start.

I'd like to answer some questions in case some human ever reads this, maybe it will be like “The biography of a skinwalker”.

First question,

“Are you evil?”

Evil’s subjective, you know? I’m not hurting anyone. Most of my past hosts actually enjoyed the whole thing. So… I don't think so?

“What are you?”

Well, I don't have a real name, I'm either Issac or a skinwalker. But to be more specific, I'm just a parasite that's trying to live.

“If skinwalkers are real, what else is?”

Most “myths” are based on facts.

The chupacabra was just a hairless wolf.

The sasquatch was just a tall orangutan.

And vampires… are completely real.

(And way more horrifying than you'd think)

Alright, I'm going to go prepare for school, then I'll write my day down again once I'm back home.

—

DAY 2 – FRIDAY AFTERNOON

Ok, this is bad, I'm writing this in the middle of class so they hopefully won't notice me.

I didn't notice yesterday since I was deep in thought, but one of my classmates is my previous host, Marine.

Now, this isn't the end of the world, like I said most of my previous hosts enjoyed their time with me, so I'm not worried about that.

The real issue is that past hosts seem to have a gut feeling whenever they see me in another body.

If she finds out about me and can't keep her mouth shut, my perfect life as Issac is finished!

I'll have to leave Issac's body and wander around till I can find a new host, maybe even die trying.

The best course of action is to try to keep my head down and make friends on the other side of the classroom.

I'll write again later, hopefully.

—

DAY 2 – FRIDAY NIGHT

This is the worst!

As soon as I stopped writing, the teacher called me up to the front of the class to answer some questions!

I felt Marine staring at me the whole time, I was so nervous that she would just stand up and shout my secret out to everyone.

Once lunch began, I ran out of class, but Marine easily caught up with me.

Issac's body wasn't built for running, more for lying in his bed and crying.

“Hey, Mr. Skinwalker~ You happy to see me?”

“Y–Yeah of course I would be, but you know, I have a girlfriend right? So you should probably stay further back.”

Looking back on it I should've lied but I was way too exhausted to think straight.

“Nuh-Uh-Uh!”

Marine poked my chest and stepped in closer.

“Issac has a girlfriend. You're just a creepy skinwalker.”

That's pretty rude for someone who was also a skinwalker a week ago. 

I was way too scared to actually say that though.

“What are you doing!”

Julia! My saviour!

“I'm gonna kill you!”

Wait–is she talking about me?! But I didn't even do anything!

“W–Wait, I swear this isn't my fault!”

While trying to explain, Julia walked right past me and started pulling Marine’s ear, shouting at her.

“What the hell are you doing? Flirting with my boyfriend!?”

You have no idea how relieved I was. Skinwalkers are notoriously hard to kill, but I was fearing for my life back there.

“Wow, so protective. Are you starting to enjoy this punishment?”

Marine tried to whisper but it seems subtlety isn't her strong point, I already knew about the punishment anyway.

Julia's cheeks became red, if that's from embarrassment or anger, I'm not sure. 

“You are so annoying you know that! And you!”

Julia stared daggers at me, like she was looking into my soul.

“If she or any other girl tries to talk to you, you either run away or call for me. You got that!”

It's not like I'm being robbed? But I would do anything to get out of this situation.

“Yes, Ma'am!”

“Good. Now run along while I have a little chat with my friend here.”

She didn't have to ask me twice! I was outta there!

In summary, today was terrible…

Marine knows my secret. My fake girlfriend is terrifying. And worst of all it's only day 2!

This guy was supposed to be the perfect host! Am I really that unlucky?!

Whatever, tomorrow starts the weekend, the time where human interaction is required for a healthy relationship.

I wonder how that's going to turn out…