"Dude, check out this new drink," said Mike, sliding up to me. His breath reeked of liquor and he was holding an ornate bottle with a pure blue liquid in it.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Some dude outside gave it to me," said Mike, "Said it's fire. Jack, you gotta try it, you haven't had anything all night. They say nobody's ever tried it before."
"If I have some can we leave?" I asked. Mike was my best friend, but he was always more of a risk-taker than me. He'd recently acquired some fake IDs for us and we were at a club. Mike had been trying to pick up girls all night, but I just wanted to go home.
He nodded drunkenly. I took the bottle and opened it, and glugged some of it down. It was surprisingly good, since I'd never really had any alcohol I liked. It made me feel weightless, and also gave me a weird tingling sensation that went through my body but then disappeared.
"Give it here," said Mike. He grabbed the bottle, but then dropped it and it shattered.
"Oh, shit!" Mike exclaimed, "Those guys told me not to use all of it... We're in some serious shit right now. Let's get out of here!"
We got out of the club and I drove Mike home. I then went home to a dark house. My family was asleep. I was surprised to find out it was almost 3 in the morning. I fell into bed and immediately fell asleep.
I woke up and got out of bed. And then I stayed hovering in the air.
"What the hell?" I said, but no sound came out. I could hear it, in my mind. Then I noticed my body was still sleeping in bed.
"So I guess you had the drink, then?" said a wispy female voice. I shouted and turned around to see a colorless girl also floating.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"My name is Annie," she said, "Welcome to the astral world."
"The *what* world?" I asked.
She sighed. "The astral world. It means you're, I guess what you would call a ghost, except your body isn't dead. Just asleep."
"How do I get back into my body?" I asked, examining my sleeping body and the girl.
"You can't," she said matter-of-factly. "You can, however, possess other people's bodies."
"So I can become someone else but not myself?"
"Yes," said Annie, "I'm just here to help you. I've been in the astral world for a few years now... my parents think I'm just in a coma. When you're astral, you can't talk to physicals."
"What if I possess someone?" I asked.
"Then you are become a physical. You can talk and interact with the physical world, but not with astrals. And you can die."
"Wow, this is insane," I said, trying to take in everything.
"I know, it's a lot to take in," said Annie, "But you can always possess somebody and live a normal life. Live any life."
Now THAT sounded pretty cool, I had to admit. Become someone rich or famous, live life as anybody else... I just had to find a place to start.