I woke up on the living room rug the next morning, and realised that I must have blacked out. I couldn’t remember anything after Tim and Ed had left.

I saw that Ed had left his shirt on the floor. I instantly reached for it, crumpled it up, and smothered it over my face, inhaling deeply and desperately for one final whiff of his god-like essence. Then I suddenly realised what I was doing, came to my senses, and dropped the shirt like a rag.

Now I felt incredibly hurt, and furious. They had manipulated me! They had forced me into sexual acts against my will! I scrambled for my phone and was about to call the police, but then stopped in my tracks. No. It wouldn’t work. They could use their powers to manipulate anyone, even the police. There was only one thing in the world that had the power to make them pay, and it was in the kitchen drawer.

I stormed into the kitchen, thrust the draw open, and then slammed the old dishcloth containing the coin onto the kitchen table. I took a deep breath before unwrapping the cloth, revealing the alluring unearthly glint of the Apollo coin once again.

No, this is what they want! This is exactly what they want! came a voice from a resistant part of my mind. Perhaps I was still under their power in a way, and just trying to convince myself otherwise. It didn’t matter. Either way, I now felt certain that this was the only solution.

In what felt like slow motion, I moved my hand towards the coin, and then I gently pressed the tip of my index finger against Apollo’s glistening face.

The instant I touched the coin, my entire body was engulfed by a sudden wave of...allure. I felt a rush of euphoria as if I had just discovered Aladdin’s cave, or the hidden treasures of a forgotten pharaoh. Now, I gripped the coin between my fingers, not wanting to let go, never wanting to let go again. It was as if I was holding on to a secret too precious to allow anyone else to have.

And so, just like Tim and Ed before me, I started to continuously rub the coin between my fingers, taking it with me wherever I went; from classes to the convenience store. I even gripped it tightly in bed at night, my unconscious mind never letting go, even while I slept. I never thought too hard about why, I just knew I had to hold it.

Somehow over time, my obsession with holding it distracted me from how angry I was with Tim and Ed. It started to make me forget about them altogether. Meanwhile, as the days and weeks passed, I started to get on with my life, and I began to look for new housemates. Two nice young guys, Gavin and John, who were already friends with each other, came to look at the house. However, they glared at me in an awkward and uneasy way as I showed them around. Maybe they were put off by the fact that I was a weird ugly nerd who was constantly rubbing a golden coin between his fingers! They left quickly and quietly.

That night, I lay on my back in bed, and stared obsessively at the glistening coin as I rubbed it between my fingers.

“When?” I whispered. “When will you give me my reward?”

I wasn’t even really sure what that meant, but the words came out of my mouth anyway. Then, as if in response, I heard a deep male voice echoing between my ears.

“When you decide who you want to be,” said the voice simply.

Who I wanted to be? I didn’t understand. I still wanted to be me, didn’t I? Didn’t I? As I thought more about it, I started to drift off to sleep. Then, I began to have the most lucid, clear, and intense dream of my life. The dream showed me the same events of the day I had just lived, but now everything was slightly different. I was different.

In the dream, there was a knock on the front door, and I opened it to find Gavin and John having arrived outside once again to view the house. As soon as they saw me, their eyes lit up, and I could sense instant burning lust from them both.

Gavin faltered. “Wow, um, I mean, hi,” he said.

“Hi guys,” I smiled with confidence, “why don’t you come in, and I’ll show you around.”

I showed them into the living room, but instead of all the usual nerdy paraphernalia, the walls and units were now covered in sports posters and fitness charts.

“So, what sports do you play?” asked John as he looked around the room.

“Most of them,” I chuckled. “How about you guys?”

They exchanged a slightly nervous glance. “Um, we play table tennis some times,” said John.

I wanted to laugh but didn’t. They clearly spent most of their time playing computer games and watching TV, but were trying to impress me. I looked at them, and they seemed so small and skinny to me now. However, they were good looking, pretty guys, and they were obviously into me – really into me. Gavin even seemed to be developing some noticeable saliva in the corner of his mouth as he stared uncontrollably in my direction.

“Come on, why don’t I show you the bedrooms,” I said with a wink.

The two young men eagerly followed me up the stairs to one of the spare rooms, which was filled with weights and gym equipment. I picked up one of the dumbbells and started to confidently curl right in front of them, repeatedly flexing my large bicep, proud to show off my size and strength.

“Yeah, you like that don’t you,” I said.

Gavin and John stood, seemingly frozen, staring with open mouths as I continued to flex my powerful muscles before them. I smiled, as I saw their lustful expressions, and dropped the dumbbell on the bed, before flexing my arm again and erotically licking my own gorgeous thick bicep right in front of them.

“Now you,” I said, beckoning to Gavin.

I saw Gavin take an eager step forward before the dream suddenly ended, and I woke in a cold sweat.

I stumbled out of bed and headed straight for the full length mirror. I was immediately disappointed to see that I was still my old, scrawny, geeky self.

Why was I so disappointed about not being some arrogant muscle jock? I thought back on the dream and remembered what it had felt like to be so confident, so muscular, so sexually powerful, and knew that I had to feel that way again. That was who I wanted to be.