The Big Replacement
By Sasha Steele

It has to be the weirdest feeling in the world, attending your own funeral. Of course Alexandra Stantford was no longer that women for whom the service was being held. And what a poor service it was, attended only by the few who are paid for such endeavors. The cremated body wasn't hers, of course; it was Alexandra Stantford's. Confused yet?

It is simple, really. Until a few days ago Alexandra was not Alexandra; she was Jamie Laurel, to the world the now deceased Jamie Laurel, whose insignificant little funeral service Alexandra was now attending. How and why Jamie took Alexandra Stantford's identity is complicated, however, so I'll do my best to explain.

Alexandra Stantford, the real Alexandra Stantford, had a number of characteristics which led to her demise. She was rich and a bitch - it goes with the territory, sometimes. She was beautiful, a conceited, contemptuous blond with a perfect body. She was an alcoholic and a coke addict. The biggest flaw in her already cracked persona, however, was the fact that she mistreated people, particularly her own personal staff - of which Jamie Laurel was once a member.

Bitch that she was, it is not unconceivable that it was an offhanded remark by Alexandra that started the chain of events that would lead to her death: at one of her parties, an innocent remark by a male guest observing that Jamie who was serving drinks at the time looked very much alike to Alexandra. "My God you could be sisters," the man had said.

That innocent remark evoked a triad of insults hurled upon poor Jamie. "How dare you insult me like that?" Alexandra blasted. "That fat cow looks nothing like me at all; my God she must weigh three hundred pounds."

Jamie was hurt and embarrassed; her eyes filled with tears; she hurried away to the safety of the kitchen and cried. Jamie was overweight, no doubt about that. She simply loved to eat and hadn't considered her weight until just recently. Edging ever so close to three hundred pounds - a line which Jamie was a bit reluctant to cross - she had begun to cut down on her eating, for the first time in her life actually losing a few pounds. Jamie had been fighting with her ravenous appetite and the remark cut her to the quick. In the kitchen, she broke down and binged until she couldn't possibly eat another morsel.

That wasn't the end of it. In the ensuing weeks Alexandra kept at Jamie; the more she degraded her with insults of fat and ugly, the more Jamie binged until finally she couldn't take it anymore. Instead of quitting her job, the now way past three hundred pound Jamie decided to get even. Her plan was simple; Alexandra was so given to addictions, drugs, alcohol, cigarettes - that one more wouldn't even be noticed.

When Jamie first started slipping appetite stimulants to Alexandria, there was no apparent result. She redoubled her efforts and soon Alexandra was hooked. She would suffer withdrawal symptoms if Jamie cut her supply back, and she was beginning to eat in order to satisfy the hunger pangs that had begun to plague her. Jamie became a person obsessed; she grit her teeth, going on a strict diet, and began to lose weight as Alexandra continued to put it on. Nearing two hundred pounds from either side, the two women really did look like they were sisters.

Jamie reveled in her revenge, but not for long - something always goes wrong. The few friends that Alexandra did have were not all that close to begin with and separated themselves even further as her weight went up and her temper flared. They blamed Alexandra's gain on the death of her husband which was when her drinking and drug problems also began. But Alexandra blamed Jamie; she didn't know how but was absolutely sure that Jamie was the cause, and so Alexandra fired her.

In the beginning, Jamie only wanted to make Alexandra as fat as she herself was. But losing weight herself as Alexandra grew fatter, Jamie saw that they in fact did look very much alike, so much so that Jamie decided to pursue the idea. Alexandra was such a lush that it wasn't difficult to come and go as she pleased, copy keys, and signatures. Once fired from her job, Jamie changed her hair and makeup, began to dress like Alexandra and use her mannerisms, even posing as her once and getting away with it.

It escalated as things often do until Jamie was entering Alexandra's house freely, stealing things, switching purses and IDs. Alexandra blamed her new staff and was having difficulty retaining people, sometimes going weeks on end without help. She would sit alone in the huge empty mansion and drink or get stoned and eat, bemoaning her plight.

One such night Jamie entered to change purses. Alexandra was passed out in the parlor; the house was dark and otherwise empty. Jamie had not been able to bring her weight to below two hundred and twenty pounds and was beginning to put it back on again. Alexandra had passed two hundred and was beginning to lose. Jamie still couldn't fit into many of her outfits, but there were a few, like the expensive lavender two-piece suit that she had on right now. She was admiring her full figure in the mirror when suddenly and unexpectedly she was interrupted.

Jamie had always been large; even when young she was bigger than the other girls. She was bigger than Alexandra was right now too, but she had also always been a bit of a wimp and a weakling. Not so Alexandra: as stoned as she was, Jamie was no match for her. Striking from behind, it was over in seconds and Jamie lay unconscious on the bedroom floor.

Coming around to a sharp kick in her soft stomach, Jamie saw that she was gagged and bound hand and foot. "I knew it was you, you fat bitch, I just knew it," Alexandra scowled, kicking her again. "Now you're going to pay." Jamie trembled with fear when she saw the knife and began to cry, but all Alexandra did was cut the ropes binding Jamie's feet. "Get up," she ordered leading her by knifepoint to Jamie's car.

"Get in, fat bitch," Alexandra snapped, throwing Jamie's purse in on top of her in the passenger seat. As Alexandra got in the driver's seat, Jamie relaxed a bit, thinking, "She's taking me to the police station." Jamie had thought that Alexandra was going to kill her, and as she was about to find out, it was a correct assumption.

Alexandra drove to the edge of a cliff and stopped, getting out and coming around to Jamie's side to force her out. Her intent was to have Jamie drive off the edge in an unfortunate accident, but there were too many holes in the plan. For one thing, she had to cut Jamie loose and then get her into the driver's seat. She had injected her with a large dose of cocaine to help matters but wasn't expecting it when Jamie suddenly rushed her two hundred and forty pounds into her, driving Alexandra into the driver's seat of the car. Falling backwards, Alexandra accidentally knocked the gear lever; the car lurched forward and Alexandra was sent to her death at the bottom of the cliff.

Jamie had never been stoned before; she was confused and didn't know what to do. It wasn't until the following day that she recovered to find that Alexandra had inadvertently taken Jamie's purse, her ID, her car. It was Jamie who the police report had down as a motor vehicle accident fatality (due to the use of drugs). Not knowing what else to do, Jamie stayed at the mansion, and two days later in the guise of Alexandra Stantford attended her own funeral.

After that Jamie - now Alexandra - moved cautiously. She slowly but surely took over every aspect of Alexandra's existence. Financial matters were brought under her control. To avoid suspicion Alexandra waited for a period of time before pulling up stakes and moving to a location where she wasn't known. A stress eater, her weight began to skyrocket past her former size, so she had to do so soon, deciding on Italy.

It had been six months since Alexandra had taken up residence in the south of Italy. She was well known, almost beloved by the locals, especially the men who simply adore large women. Among the affluent in this rich upper class region, Alexandra was becoming an icon, a beautiful upper class rich woman who was not afraid to eat what she wants and actually liked her four hundred and twenty pound body. Alexandra's eating binges were the talk of the town, and she had never been so happy.

Everything has its downside, though. With Alexandra's exuberant life style, it was the constant fear of being found out and along with that the lack of a committed lover.

It all came to a head one day with the arrival of Thomas Grey, who had purposely sought her out. Alexandra didn't recognize Thomas at first, but he did her. Thomas Grey was the guest whose comment about Jamie and Alexandra's likeness had started this whole affair. Thomas had known Alexandra for most of her life, and he knew her well. "I didn't mean to kill her," Jamie confessed with tears running over her fat cheeks. "She was trying to send me over the cliff; it was an accident."

"I believe you," Thomas said, placing his hands on Jamie/Alexandra's massive upper arms.

"What are you going to do?" she asked, sobbing.

"Why I'm going to ask you out for supper, Alexandra," Thomas said, leaning in and kissing her. "Then perhaps another date or two so that you can see I am not only trustworthy enough to keep your secret but that I also believe you to be the most beautiful woman I have ever met."

They kissed again and Alexandra knew that Thomas was telling the truth.