Leap Day

Logically, it made no sense; scientifically, it seemed impossible; but every time Leap Day rolled around, Herbert found himself in someone else’s body. More specifically, he was in the body of a Asian woman named Mi Rae exactly one quarter his own age. Celebrating his own eightieth birthday this year, Mi Rae was now twenty. Over the years, he had gone from resenting the day to looking forward to it. It felt great to be young again -- even if it was for just a day, and even if he had to be a woman for that time. This year, as he found himself becoming Mi Rae once again and feeling her long, smooth, still dark hair, he realized he didn’t ever want to go back to being Herbert once the day was over. He wanted to be young again for good. Could he find a way to stay as Mi Rae?

Pink Fog (Part 3)

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Things settled down fairly quickly in the weeks that followed as people adapted to their new bodies. There were a few scattered reports of pink fog appearing in rural areas, but nothing like what had affected the city.

Jason was among those who had adapted to his new body. He knew he was a woman now, but he still wasn’t fully comfortable with that fact. When he bought new clothes for himself, he stuck to jeans and pants, leaving the only dress he owned being the one he had found himself wearing when first swapped into this body. The same with shoes; he bought only sneakers. He did adapt to carrying a purse, as the pockets of women’s pants did seem ill-suited to holding anything; though he tended to forget it just about everywhere. He also had a lot to learn about his new anatomy. He had a scheduled appointment to see a doctor, but was hesitant to actually go in, opting instead to wander just outside and look at some store fronts. Each time he did something that acknowledged his new gender felt like he was also reconciling with the fact he’d never get his own body back. Each step was depressing in a way, and this next step of seeing a doctor was a big one.

Pink Fog (Part 2)

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Jason walked around the city to find that it was in a total state of chaos. He wasn’t sure how many people the pink fog had affected, but it was a lot. But the chaos wasn’t just because of people who swapped bodies, it was also because of the people that didn’t. They didn’t understand something big had just happened, and the idea that a good number of people weren’t who they appeared to be was a tough concept to wrap their heads around.

Jason looked down the block to see a man attempting to embrace a blond woman -- presumably his wife or girlfriend’s body -- only to have the woman try to punch him. Meanwhile, a rather burly gentleman -- presumably the man’s actual wife or girlfriend -- broke up the flight before embracing the man.

He saw more than a few people crying like toddlers or babies as well.

His own situation of becoming a woman now seemed downright manageable compared to everything else he saw.

Pink Fog

The strange pink fog started out small. It spread over a couple, then a small group. It continued from there until its haze spread across a few miles at its maximum reach. Despite the odd color, no one had any clue about the pink fog or what it could do. That is until it started to dissipate.

As the fog retreated, people began to randomly swap bodies with other people leaving the fog’s reach. Jason had been at the edge of the fog’s reach and walked out; suddenly he realized he was wearing heels and a dress. He could taste something fruity on his lips -- the fog had swapped his body with a woman!

He thought about rushing back in to attempt another swap, but by the time he turned around, the fog was contracting much too quickly for him to catch up. He knew he was stuck! But he certainly wasn’t the only one. People all around the city now had new bodies.

The Stone Fragment

“So to the right of that tree, you can see the boulder,” Arthur explained, “I chiseled a small fragment of it off, and that’s what you encountered in my lab. If you touch that rock, you should both swap back to your own bodies.”

“Thanks, Arthur,” Mei said, “I certainly haven’t minded a younger body, but it just isn’t fair to Rachel for her to be stuck in my older body. Are you going to take another piece of it for your tests?”

“Absolutely. I just need to stand clear to not get caught up in your swap, then wait for you clear the area in order to not trigger another one.”

“It would be so much easier if Francine just returned the piece she stole from you...along with your body, of course.”

“I still have no idea why she did it, or what her plan is. But finding this stone that has the ability to swap bodies when two people touch it is so groundbreaking and exciting that I can’t dwell too much on the fact that I know have Francine’s body. I’m more upset by how much effort it was to come out here to get another fragment!”

Need to Know (Part 4)

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The text messages from Lea quickly tapered off. She’d only respond with short, dodging answers when Chuck asked questions, and those eventually stopped as well. It didn’t take long for him to fall into a pattern of being a bit of a shut in and drinking.

Lance used to text him a lot too (thinking he was Lea) with messages that ranged from flirting to obscene. These became less frequent as well as Chuck kept coming up with excuses to avoid Lance. In fact, by now they were almost non-existent.

While he certainly couldn’t complain, he began to think about his situation a lot. Did Lea even want her body back? Was he happy being him? Maybe he should just embrace that he was now Lea? At this point, it didn’t seem like a bad plan...

Need to Know (Part 3)

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After the bath, Chuck got dressed in some of Lea’s clothes by carefully following her instructions. He wasn’t planning on going anywhere, he just wanted to get used to the habit. It was a little easier than he expected, but he was wondering if he was just getting used to things -- Lea’s body no longer felt as strange as it did earlier either.

Once he was done, he decided to look through Lea’s kitchen knowing exactly what he wanted to do next. There was no beer in her fridge, but there was a bottle of wine chilling. It would be perfect. he began to down the whole thing. Maybe he would get drunk enough to just pass out; maybe he’d wake up and learn this was just some terrible nightmare. It felt all too real at the moment, but as the alcohol made it’s way through his body, he began to have more and more hope that it was all just a dream...

Need to Know (Part 2)

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The first text Chuck got was pretty simple. It contained Lea’s address with some quick directions. By the time he arrived at her place, she had sent him countless more. There were texts about how to do makeup, how to take care of her hair, what to wear, what not to wear, how to pick a matching purse, what to do at the gym for a workout, and so on. Chuck realized there wasn’t a single text about how to do Lea’s job or what Lea’s job even was.

Maybe it wasn’t time to stress about any of this yet. Maybe he should just relax for the night. What did women do to relax? Take a bubble bath or some shit like that? Chuck laughed to himself as he imagined taking off his clothes and slipping into the bath. He had to do it eventually, right?

Need to Know (Part 1)

Chuck wasn’t surprised when he answered to door to find his roommate’s girlfriend there. Lea came by often even when Lance wasn’t around. Chuck told her he expected Lance any minute, and she could hang around until he got there. What Chuck didn’t expect was to suddenly swap bodies with Lea.

He sat down on the couch to get his bearings. Lance liked well-endowed women, and Lea was no exception. Chuck felt weird having her curves and had to stop himself from feeling his new body up considering Lea was standing right there with his body.

“We need to figure out a way to swap back and fast!” Chuck exclaimed, “Lance is going to be home any minute, and I know how quick he leans in to kiss you.”

Lea thought for a moment. “You need to go back to my place,” She said, “If Lance tries anything with you, it’s like he’s cheating on me. I won’t stand for it. I don’t know if we will figure out a way to switch back soon...or ever. But I do know Lance gets here and starts kissing you I will be mad. I’ll text you anything you need to know.”

Chuck reluctantly agreed as he stood back up, teetering on Lea’s heels, and hustled as quickly as he could out the door.

Twisted (Part 5)

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Jeff did his best to adjust to living Cynthia’s life. He wore her clothes; he went to bed with her husband; he hung with her friends. He hated all of it. He’d often regret leaving the prison with this body, thinking if he stayed longer he might’ve escaped with a better body.

Then one day while pumping gas, it dawned on him. What if the experiment hadn’t been swapping bodies inside the prison? What if that small hope of escape had been planned by whoever was running the test? Would he take the escape despite this very different body (which he obviously did take)? And what if they were still watching him now? What if this body was just a different type of prison and a different type of experiment?

Twisted (Part 4)

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Escaping from the facility ultimately proved to be difficult. By the time Jeff was able to figure out a clear path forward, the way back now seemed impossible to track. He had hopes of leading the authorities to this place, but that now seemed exceedingly unlikely. Besides, what was he going to tell them? That he was imprisoned and had his brain switched with multiple people against his will? It sounded insane. He’d be locked in a mental institute for sure. Ultimately, he decided to play dumb, go the police and pretend to have amnesia.

It took some time for the police to match Jeff with a missing person, Cynthia Hendrix. While Jeff had been trapped in that prison for some time, Cynthia had only been missing about a week. She lived with her husband in the suburbs. It was an awkward and difficult adjustment for Jeff. He had to deal with being a woman, having a husband he was an absolute stranger to, and friends who knew more about his current life than he did. The amnesia angle seemed to help him out here, but he was still stuck in a life he never would’ve chosen for himself.

Twisted (Part 3)

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Walking around this time seemed different this time. It wasn’t just that he was in a new, female body (though that was part of it), it was that he hadn’t yet run into another person. As he sat down in a darkened corridor, he looked up and saw a light. There were no bars and no blockages; he could probably climb up to it. He could escape!

Jeff realized that meant he’d probably be stuck with this body for good. He’d be a woman forever. He’d have to figure out who he was, and information about her life. It would be rolling the dice. But that all seemed to be a small price to pay in exchange for being able to escape both the physical prison and psychological prison of constantly swapping bodies. He decided to go for it.

Twisted (Part 2)

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Whenever he found himself in a new body, Jeff left his cell to explore. (This time was a little more difficult than others due to the heels on his boots.) The entire facility was like a giant jail. Everyone was allowed to interact with each other, but no one ever got in or out. Yet still, with each swap, Jeff generally saw and met new people. He pondered if this was due to the size of the place or simply the way the people in charge of this experiment had it designed. That being said, he had never met anyone who claimed to be in charge. He figured it was possible for the people who imprisoned him to just pretend to be imprisoned and swapped just like he was; maybe they were watching from the inside. He just had no way of knowing.

Twisted (Part 1)

Jeff awoke on the thin mattress laid upon the floor. It had happened again; he was in a new body. It was the fifth time it had gotten a new body since this twisted experiment began. It was also the first time he had a woman’s body. He had previously been in the body of a middle aged Asian man, and before that a young guy with big muscles. There didn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason behind the timing of the swaps, though they always occurred when everyone was asleep. He was the Asian man for a few weeks, but only got to enjoy the big muscles of about two days. And now he was a woman. It was definitely dramatically more different than his other swaps, but it didn’t feel quite as different as he expected it to.

Miserable

“Come on in, Lana, the water feels great,” Adam taunted his wife from the pool, “You’re the one who wanted to come here on vacation. You told me to enjoy myself; why are YOU so miserable?”

Adam laughed as he splashed about in the pool at the Exchange Island resort. Despite his wife’s insistence, he didn’t want to spend two weeks in someone else’s body. And, in fact, he was quite grumpy when he first swapped with a young Japanese woman. But then he saw who he wife swapped with -- an eighty year old man. Suddenly, Adam realized he got a pretty good deal out of the swap. It wasn’t because he felt like he got a great body, but because his wife got one that was so terrible. She had trouble moving, her body ached, she was tired all the time. Adam was enjoying rubbing the fact that she was miserable in her face. She was, after all, the one that that wanted to come here.

Experimented (Part 2)

Click here for Part 1.

Two months later, Alvin thought back on that moment when he nodded. He saw his own eyes with Leah controlling them shoot a fierce anger toward him as the old man untied him. Alvin thought about fighting back, but decided it may not be the best plan in the world to go up against a man that knew how to swap people’s brains. He simply left into the world to continue to blindly go about Leah’s life as best he could. He knew very little about her, her job, or her life; but it still seemed better than to be trapped on that floor with that crazy old man. It certainly took a lot of getting used to, but he eventually managed.

He couldn’t help but think about what happened to Leah and his body. He wondered if the old man kidnapped anyone else and performed more experiments. He kept going to Leah’s job on the 18th floor, and one day his curiosity got the better of him on the way home -- however, when he tried to press the button for the 13th floor, he saw the button wasn’t there. The building manager in the lobby explained that the building didn’t even have a 13th floor due to the builders skipping it out of superstition.

He traveled back to Leah’s house that day and his mind was reeling. Everything about what happened seemed impossible, yet his existence proved it wasn’t.

Experimented (Part 1)

Alvin had gotten into the elevator on the 24th floor; Leah entered on the 18th. They were alone in there when the doors opened on the 13th floor. No one seemed to be getting in, and Alvin pressed the door close button; however, an odd gas soon pumped in that knocked both of them out cold.

They awoke several hours later to find themselves tied up with duct tape over their mouths. Both could feel something was very different, but it wasn’t until Alvin looked over and saw himself that he realized what it was. He had not only been kidnapped, but his brain had been placed in someone else’s body -- a woman’s body (specifically Leah’s). He instinct was to put his hands up to feel the changes, but they were firmly tied behind him. Leah came to the same realizations only seconds later.

That’s when a strange old man entered. He cackled, pleased that his experiment seemed to be a success so far. After all, Alvin and Leah were his first two test subjects that didn’t die from the brain transfer. He explained that he might consider letting them go if they could promise to keep this whole thing a secret. Alvin reluctantly nodded faintly while Leah seemed to resist.

Dude

“Look, Dude,” Yan scolded, “I get that you’re upset. We all are. I know the last person you want to be stuck as is your own dad. It’s not like want to be you. Do you think I want to be a woman? You need to pull yourself together. Everyone here getting ready for this wedding seems to have swapped with someone else. But we need to figure out a solution instead of freaking out.”

“Can you at least not call me dude?” Lisa cried, “And it’s not just that I’m in my dad’s body -- which is totally weird -- it’s just as bad that you’re in mine. My husband-to-be’s total creep of a friend.”

“It’s not like I’m going to picking up any chicks with this body. But can we focus...please!?”

Matter Receiving Antenna

“The matter receiving antenna is on the fritz again, John,” Ruth complained to her husband, “You gotta go up on the roof to fix it.”

John groaned. That antenna was how anything they purchased beamed into their house instantly. The thing was old -- dating back to at least 2130. He wanted to get a new one, but his wife Ruth insisted they couldn’t afford it. He called over to his neighbor, Doug, and the two were up on the roof working on the thing.

Both John and Doug knew the antenna probably wouldn’t last more than a year, but they patched it up anyway. Then they called down to Ruth to give it a test. Sparks flew that blew John and Doug to the other side of the roof.

“What the hell happened?” John asked looking down to see a body that was very unfamiliar to him.

“We probably crossed the matter lines with the entertainment signal,” Doug suggested, “It rearranged our matter based on some actress or model in a commercial or something.”

“We’re chicks!”

“Technically, we’re the same chick. No biggie though. It’ll take a few hours, but I just got to go back home and restore my body with my backup DNA file. I suggest you do the same.”

“Backup DNA file?”

“Wait, you don’t have one?”

Praying

It had just been a week earlier when Jason had been sitting in this exact same spot, looking upward and praying. It was a long shot, but he figured he’d try again.

He took a deep breath before raising his head to stare at the sky, “Please, I know I said I would be happy in life if I was transformed into a woman -- any woman. And I am happy -- I am very happy -- and I’m grateful. But if there is one thing I could ask for, please,is for a bigger chest. The woman I became is just so...flat. If I could have something even just a little bigger, I’d be even more in debt.”

Jason didn’t feel anything; he hadn’t last time either. He just sort of changed into a woman overnight last time. He had no proof this pleading had even been the cause, but he couldn’t imagine anything else he had done. He only hoped something similar would happen this time.

On the Job

The entire office gasped as they saw their boss, Neil Weston collapse onto the floor. Greg rushed over to help, but he was blocked by Mr. Weston’s assistant, Abby.

“I’m -- I mean -- Mr. Weston is fine. I’m just going to take Mr. Weston into his office and let him lie down on the couch.” The words were coming out of Abby’s mouth, but it was actually Neil Weston speaking them.

Neil wasn’t even sure why he suddenly found himself in Abby’s body. And he was concerned for his own body’s safety, which did appear to be pretty lifeless on the floor. He just didn’t want anyone in the office to panic. If outside investors got a whiff of him being in poor health, the vultures would swoop in; everyone might lose their jobs.

As he dragged him body into his office, he was thankful it appeared to be breathing, but Neil also knew he needed to plan his next steps carefully.

Spark (Part 2)

Click here for Part 1.

Nate wanted nothing more than to storm over to his own apartment and demand his body back. However, he felt uncomfortable considering he was presently wearing little more than a bikini made of microchips. He didn’t see any clothes in the immediate vicinity. The wires also seemed to be pretty knotted up, making it difficult for him to break free or explore too far away. He started to untangle himself from them, but it was going to take a while. As he moved about, it was hard to ignore how strange this body felt compared to his own. It bulged in weird placed; the skin was amazingly soft and sensitive. The more he moved, the more it bothered him.

Spark (Part 1)

It was during the most menial of tasks -- plugging his phone into the wall -- that a spark bolted out of the wall to zap Nate. His eyes bolted open moments later, and he let out a deep gasp. He was happy to be alive after such an odd mishap, and he was going to call an electrician as soon as he could. But he quickly realized he wasn’t in his own apartment anymore. He was in a room filled with all kinds of microchips and cords running everywhere. A few more moments passed before he realized he wasn’t in his own body anymore either. He was now inside the body of a woman he had seen around the building; he didn’t know her name, however. What was she doing in here with all this equipment? Had she been he one responsible for the power surge and this apparent body swap?

Smoke

Cynthia was quite shocked when she found herself in someone else’s body. She was even more surprised when her own body approached her, stuck a hand into her pocket, and pulled out a cigarette. She watched in horror as he body slouched down beneath a tree, lit up the cigarette, and began to smoke.

“What are you doing?” She asked trying her best to sound indignant with her new voice.

“What? I’m in the body of some chick! I need a smoke.”

“That’s not just the body of ‘some chick.’ That’s MY body, and you can’t just do that to my lungs!”

“Well, they’re my lungs for the time being,” The man now in Cynthia’s body coughed.

Cynthia began to tear up. She needed this man to stop ruining her body!

Blessing

Henry was having trouble processing the events of the day. He sat on the edge of his desk in his study and went over it all in his head. After teaching classes at the university for decades now, he had been thinking of retiring. Heck, he even had a letter ready to submit to the dean later today explaining his intention to leave at the end of the semester. But as he was lecturing in one of his classes, a bright light came across the auditorium. Instantly, he swapped bodies with one of his students. Not only was he affected, but the entire class -- the entire school -- the entire world. Henry was no longer an old man in his 80s; he was a 20 year old woman. Instead of concerning himself with his new gender, he was more worried about what this meant for his planned retirement. It didn’t seem like a viable option now. He had prepared his mind for it, but he began to realize it was something he had felt forced to do; it wasn’t something he wanted to do. With new, youthful energy, he could continue for many more decades. This shift seemed like a blessing...at least for him.

Perception

Evan thought the weirdest thing about swapping bodies with someone would be the actual fact that he could swap bodies with someone. What was, in fact, much, much weirder was that despite swapping bodies with his hot neighbor, Christine, everyone still treated him as his dorky, eighteen year old male self. He borrowed his sister’s clothes to go for a jog, and his family just looked at him strangely.

Evan knew he had the power to swap bodies with people, but he wondered what purpose it served if people didn’t actually perceive of him as swapped. Maybe there was some sort of trick to make it work better. He thought about trying to swap with someone in the park where he was jogging. Of course, the catch was that whoever he swapped with had to agree to swap, and he doubted anyone would willingly switch bodies with what they probably thought was some sort of crossdresser. He laughed. There was something funny about everyone thinking this smoking hot female body was anything but...

Too Late

Simon intended for his invention to be a mind reading device. Instead when the tested the device with his friend, Jacqueline, he ended up in her body. His own body seemed lifeless, which caused him to suspect Jacqueline’s subconscious was still within the body they now shared. Within a day or two, Simon noticed he knew certain things he wouldn’t suspect, like how to put on makeup. A few more days passed, and Simon actively picked out a dress to wear and felt happy about it. Pieces of Jacqueline were beginning to come through. He didn’t realize how bad it was until he went shoe shopping for three hours, and he left feeling like he actually enjoyed it. He knew he was going to have to use his device again to extract himself from Jacqueline’s body, but he was beginning to worry their two personalities had already gotten too entwined. He couldn’t remember which aspects of his personality were his own and which were Jacqueline’s. He knew he was going to have to try to fix this before it was too late, though he really wondered if it already was...

Options

Robert could only imagine how angry his wife was at this point. She’d had been stuck in their dog’s body for a week now. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Robert had asked his wife to test out his mind swapping invention with him, and she reluctantly agreed. The dog had somehow gotten into the room during the swap, got in the way, and mixed everything up. Robert ended up in his wife’s body as planned, but his wife ended up in the dog’s body. Before Robert could even figure out what happened, the dog in his body had run out of the house. A search for his body turned up empty.

Robert had only a few choices. The first was to give his wife her body back. He’d be stuck as the dog. He took this option off the table as if his body showed up again, his wife didn’t know how to use the body swapper, and he’d be unable to with paws.

He could leave her as a dog for good. This seemed needlessly cruel.

His final option was to try to find his wife a new body, but picking one thus far had proven difficult. He felt bad stealing someone else’s life, and even when they found someone that fit, convincing a stranger to come back his house proved difficult. Robert could tell his wife was getting quite impatient...

Weathergirl

John had been the lead anchor of the local news channel for twenty years. He enjoyed the prestige of his local celebrity status and lived a comfortable life. On the day the Great Shift struck, he ended up swapping bodies with the station’s weathergirl, Miranda. Despite feeling very uncomfortable with her body, he didn’t expect much to change. In fact, immediately after the swap he began to walk from the weather map to the main news desk. However, management quickly stopped him from sitting down in front of the camera. They told him that with everyone in the world swapping bodies, it might be best for the viewers to have stability. They theorized that seeing John’s face continue to appear on television sets each night would provide comfort; they wouldn’t even tell people about the swap. Miranda would pretend to be John, and John would be forced to pretend to be Miranda. John resented the decision greatly.

Night after night, month after month, he continued on as Miranda. Sure, people still recognized him on the street, but he felt a slight sense of condescension from some people. He wasn’t the prestigious head of a local news team anymore, he was just a weathergirl.