No Purchase Required

The shop in the mall was strange. People often talked about visiting it, then finding it had mysteriously vanished, only for someone else to find it again the very next week. With all the legends and warnings surrounding it, Bryce had his skepticism maxed out when he finally stumbled across it.

The old man behind the counter asked Bryce many questions, but he was elusive. Bryce knew what this shop did, but he couldn’t even admit to himself what he wanted. He had been the stereotypical muscle-bound jock throughout college and confessing his secret desire to be a woman was something he still couldn’t say aloud.

Despite not buying anything, Bryce was a decent man, and the old man granted his wish anyway.

Bryce didn’t even noticed the changes as they happen, only finally seeing his final reflection in a store window after they were done. This was the exact opposite of everything he once was, and he couldn’t be happier about it.

Pretty

“Are you sad that you didn’t get a prettier body as a result of the Great Shift?” Kenneth asked the woman working on him at the beauty parlor.

“Are you sad that the Great Shift didn’t turn you into any less of an asshole?” The worker replied.

“Excuse me?”

“Before the Great Shift I was a transwoman struggling to come to that realization. Finding myself inside the body of a woman that morning, well...it all finally made sense. I was happy with who I had become; I am still happy with who I am now. It’s not a competition of who has the skinniest waist or the largest bust. It’s about realizing yourself and living your truth. And that’s not only pretty; it’s beautiful. All I hear from your mouth all the time is insecurity and putting other people down. There’s no beauty in that.”

One Wish

Lucas had long wished to swap bodies with a woman, and stumbling across a genie that granted him one wish got him so giddy. He knew immediately what he’d wish for -- to swap bodies with a woman.

With little specifics, the genie knew the wish was wide open to interpretation. Once granted, Lucas wished he had been more specific.

In his head, swapping bodies with a woman meant he’d become sort of gorgeous goddess like the vision in his head. Instead, he found himself working at a salon in the body of a slightly overweight woman with crooked teeth. This wasn’t the dream he had in mind, but perhaps he could make the most of it...

It's a Wonderful Wife (Episode 4)

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...waited

The air was cold; the snow was colder. But I didn’t want to move yet. My mind was still catching up with the realization that I now had a new body; I was an entirely new person. I knew I wasn’t the only one. I could hear people screaming about in the distance. My response of inaction seemed quite out of the ordinary.

But I knew I couldn’t stay here forever. It was below freezing, and I could die from the low temperatures. It would likely be a long, slow, painful death. And even with all the chaos of the swapping, someone would probably save me before that happened.

And so I eventually got out of the snow and stood up. I looked down. I was a woman now. And that fact made me afraid. And that’s why I had just...

...waited.