New Year's Eve (Part 2)

View New Year's Eve (Part 1) here.

Tyler was pretty amused as he watched the crowded of people freaking out about their new bodies. It was even better as the police started to open up the barricades and usher people to go back home. Soon enough, the massive number of swapped people were overcome by people who weren’t swapped just trying to get out of there.

His amusement only lasted so long before he realized just how cold he was now without a coat on. He began to walk and seemed to be able to go where he wanted without being stopped by police or anyone else.

Finally, a man with a clipboard approached him. “Thank goodness, Miss Chen, we’ve been looking for you. We need you to introduce the next band.”

“Uh, no problem,” Tyler said, “Can I get my coat? Who am I introducing?”

“Come with me,” The man with the clipboard said.

And so Tyler followed, quite sure that he was going to have a very interesting life from here on out.

New Year's Eve (Part 1)

Tyler looked at the small device in his hand. It was pretty hard to believe, but the guy who gave it to him told that once he activated it, it would swap the bodies of everyone in a 15 meter radius -- but that he should also be careful, because it would only work once. Part of Tyler didn’t quite believe this little thing could actually do that, but another part of him was excited about the humor and chaos it would cause if it DID work. He had to try it, and he had to do it in the most crowded place he could think of -- Times Square in New York City on New Year’s Eve!

He was rounded into a some barricades with a bunch of tourists and just after midnight, he pressed the button. Much to his surprised, he was swapped along with a good chunk of the crowd. For some reason he thought that if he was the one holding the device, he would somehow be exempt, even though that was obviously not true.

He wondered who he was now. He tried to assess quickly. He was clearly a woman in a sparkly red dress. He wasn’t wearing a coat despite the cold, and he wasn’t stuck in one of the barricaded areas. He wondered if he was some sort of celebrity?

Reporting Live

“...And I’m Lori Graves, I guess, reporting live from midtown. Back to you in the studio.” David paused, and it felt like forever before he heard the next words.

“Cut,” The cameraman finally said, “You did great. Thanks for filling in for Miss Graves.”

David sighed, “I guess I’m not just filling in for her. I AM her now. At least that’s what they were saying in the studio, right? This Great Shift thing; they say it’s going to be permanent.”

“How could they possibly know that yet? It’s been like an hour since everyone swapped bodies. And you did a great job reporting on the scene, by the way; I’m sure they’ll keep you on even if you aren’t the real Lori Graves.”

“I think her body must have some sort of innate ability or muscle memory or something. I’ve never been good at any sort of public speaking! I’m a construction worker for God’s sake! Or I was at least. Don’t think I can do that anymore. If I do have Lori’s abilities, I guess I might as well pick this up again. Are we going live again soon?”

Get a Real Job

It was a common argument in their household. Deborah would yell at her husband Patrick to get a real job, and Patrick would retort that being a content creator and influencer IS a real job. It would go back and forth for hours, but neither could have anticipated a shock from one of their appliances to end up swapping their bodies.

Patrick hated being in Deborah’s body. He hated getting up early, getting dressed in nice clothes, and fighting through traffic. Then once he got there, it seems all anyone did was should stupid buzzwords like “synergy” and “scaling.” No one seemed to actually DO anything though! He kept his mouth shut and was praised as a genius.

When he got back home, he scoffed when his wife suggested they try to find a way back to normal. Why should he? As a content creator, he had to produce a lot of stuff and do a lot of work, but as Deborah? He just sat around all day and did nothing...and got paid well for it! Her so-called “real job” didn’t seem to be any work whatsoever!

Funeral Prayer

All of my friends and I were in disbelief when Luke died. He had been my college roommate, and we stayed close after school. He ended up getting cancer and passed at the age of 35. Cancer sucks. That’s for sure.

I went to the funeral home to pay my respects. I knelt down in front of his coffin and began to sort of pray -- I wasn’t all that religious, so it was more just like thinking a few thoughts in my head. An old man knelt down next to me, and a young woman soon knelt down on his other side.

The man prayed quietly, but loud enough for me to hear on my right side. “Dear Lord, it should be me in that box,” He said, “I should be in there! I’m old! Not him. Swap our places! Take me instead! Please!”

I know you’re supposed to pray with your eyes open, but I had been peaking (again, not religious), so I saw a weird light dance around where we were knealing. I could swear that I could literally touch and feel it.

“Holy shit!” The old man said, but his voice now seemed to be coming from my left side, “I’m alive? Oh, my, God, I’m alive! How is this possible?”

It would seem that someone or something had, in fact, did answer the old man’s prayers, who turned out to be Luke’s grandfather. Luke was now in the body of his own grandpa. I guess the woman and I had been too close to all of this. The weird light that swapped Luke and his grandfather also swapped the woman (it turns out her name was Simone) and me. I couldn’t believe I was now a woman! We tried praying again! We tried wishing. We tried whatever, but we both appeared to be stuck. We were glad Luke was alive, but we were more than concerned about its effect on us!

The Experiment Begins (Part 2)

View Part 1 of The Experiment Begins.

Ted found his way home and knocked on his door. His wife answered, surprised by the strange woman standing there.

“Oh, thank God, Rebecca, I’m home!” He said.

She just looked at him for a moment before asking, “Who are you?”

“It’s me! It’s Ted! I was kidnapped, but I escaped.”

Rebecca began to tear up. From her perspective, a strange woman arrived at her door talking about her long-missing husband. “You bitch!” She shouted, “What did you do to him?” She started swatting at him, and Tim tried to explain. Ultimately, he decided he would have to try again later and left.

He couldn’t imagine why Rebecca acted like that. Then the chip in his brain switched. Suddenly, he was keenly aware of his new body. Rebecca’s reaction now made a lot more sense. But how did they do this to him? What sort of experiments did they do that caused this? He thought about going back to demand to be returned to his body, but another effect of the chip seemed to be that he could no longer remember how he had gotten back home from the lab.

A Walk in the Park (Part 1)

It was gorgeous day out, so Jake decided to take his dog for a walk at the nearby park. He walked by the playground, and there was one kid playing with this weird plastic raygun that looked like it was some vintage 1960s sci-fi prop. He didn’t think anything of it when the kid aimed it at him, but the next thing he know, he was knocked out cold.

When he awoke his head was pounding. He pushed himself up so he could sit against a tree. People seemed to be in an outright panic. They were screaming and running. Once Jake was able to look down at his own body, he realized why. He now had dark skin, he was wearing a pink top with two clear breasts pushing it outward. It was very obvious he now had a body that wasn’t his own, and (to be more specific), he had the body of a woman! He told himself he wasn’t going to panic like others seemed to be doing. He just wanted to find his dog and get out of there.

Still Playing Santa

Barney had been dressing up as Santa for the local kids for many years. Unfortunately, thanks to the Great Shift earlier this year, Barney now had a new body, and he wasn’t sure he could convince anyone that he was Santa now. After all, instead of his older, portly body, he was now young, skinny, and female. Nevertheless, he had his Santa suit refitted, and put it on, ready to entertain.

It turns out the kids didn’t really care. However, now that many of the kids were in the bodies of adults, having them sit on his lap was often out of the question. Still, he realized he had to make an exception from time to time. One toung kid, now in the body of a rather burly man, burst out in tears when Barney asked him not to sit on his lap. He eventually relented. It was so painful, and he was sure his body would break. But he managed to go through the routine, and it opened the floodgate. Now ALL the kids in adult bodies wanted to do the same. It was going to be a long day.

Present

On Christmas Eve just before going to bed, Miles saw a rare shooting star out his window. He made the wish he always made, to be a woman. He knew it was silly, and he had come to accept it would never come true. Imagine his surprise when he woke up the next morning on an unfamilar couch, and sure enough, his wish had come true. He assessed his body. It looked pretty good; maybe about ten years older than he had been, but he couldn’t complain in the slighest! He looked at the presens under th tree for Maddie and Alyssa, he wondered which one he was!

He mood turned a little sour when two young girls calling him “mom.” A man, who he guessed was this woman’s husband, soon followed. While he was excited to be a woman, he wasn’t sure he wanted to be tied down to a family, at least not yet -- particularly with a man he had never chosen nor met! He feigned excitement but was secretly plotting an escape plan in his head.

Demonic

I woke up in the middle of the night with my room lit in an odd red tint. A beautiful woman with horns stood above my bed.

Before I could ask, she spoke, “Do not fear me, human. I am only here to grant you a wish.”

“Okay, but looking like that...there’s gotta be a catch, right?” I asked.

“Clever,” she laughed, “Oh, I’m almost completely guaranteed to twist whatever you say. I am a demon, as you can plainly see. But you also can’t refuse to wish.”

“And you can do anything as a demon?”

“Pretty much. As long as it is wished. Thre are some rules, but not many.”

“I guess,then...”I thought for a moment, “I wish I had your powers, but without any restrictions and without any negative stuff.”

She smiled. I could tell she was thinking of a way to twist my wish. It didn’t take her long. In an instant, I was now the one standing over the bed looking down at my own body.

“You swapped our bodies!” I shouted, “You made me a demon!”

“Being a demon is the only way to access demonic powers.”

“And I’m you! I’m a woman!”

“Now, there’s nothing negative about being a woman, is there?”

A Difficult Apology

I was at the mall with my girlfriend as she tried on dresses, and she began complaining about how she needed a size up. I made some comment about how Asians like her are never fat, and told her she must be doing something wrong. The minute I saw her face, I knew how badly I screwed up.

In the next instant, I found myself in a different part of the mall. I should’ve probably mentioned my girlfriend is a bit of a witch and she used her magic to swap me into someone else’s body. Clearly in response to my comments, I was now in the body of an Asian woman who was clearly on the heavier side. It wasn’t the first time I had screwed up, and I was sure a swift apology would get her to use her magic to turn me back to normal. I just needed to get to her.

I tried to get to the store where we had been, but she had already left. I had to go search from store to store. All the while, I had to hear people make comments on my weight (from side whispers to rather rude shouts) and a few racist taunts. I was sure that was part of her spell, but it certainly hurt. After some time, I realized she had probably left the mall, and I’d have to go meet her back at home. I groaned as I realized that meant going cross town on the bus looking like this...ugh, what a day!

The Yoga Class (Part 1)

Ming had joined the early morning outdoor yoga class to help support her friend Keysha. Keysha had been trying to lose weight and tried all sorts of workouts to do so. Ming had been nothing but encouraging, even when Keysha was quite down on herself.

They had been to a dozen or so classes so far, with little to no results for Keysha. She was feeling quite defeatist, but Ming told her it took time. So just like every Wednesday for the past few months, they met outside for some yoga.

About halfway through, a flash of light overcame the field where the class took place. In an instant, every member of the class found themself in the body of a different member of the class.

Ming tried to keep a calm appearance. She could feel the added weight on her body, the fat moving in ways she had never felt before. She was in Keysa’s body, and she was honestly freaking out about it. But the last thing she wanted to do was let Keysha know how disgusted she felt, so she put on the bravest face she could...

Mandatory Happy Hour

It had been a terrible day at work. Nearly everyone in the entire building ended up swapping bodies with someone else in the building due to an experiment gone wrong. Roland found himself in the body of Julie Wong, a woman in the sales department who often gave people like him in creative a hard time. Now that he had her body until the company found a way to fix this, he was sure her nagging would only get worse.

He wanted nothing more than to go home and hide, but HR decided the best way to “boost morale” was to implement a mandatory happy hour after work. Roland was only on his second drink when his vision started to blur and things felt dreamy. He was used to drinking a lot more, but he supposed Julie didn’t drink much at all, if it was affecting him this much. He began to vocally complain aloud to another person from work, who (as it turned out) was actually Julie in the body she had been swapped into. Somehow, after another drink in and several more inhibitions gone, Roland ended up making out with Julie.

Who Is With Me?

In the ancient past before nations existed, tribes roamed the land, often fighting with each other. The latest battle for Berthun’s tribe was brutal. He was sure he was one of the few who survived, and likely the only one to escape. When he arrived back at his village, he was met with skeptiism and confusion.

“I report bad news,” He announced as people began to gather, “I may not appear it, but I am Berthun. The enemy used some sort of magic. We all became women almost instantly. I quickly realized this body was just as strong, just as quick, and just as able as my male one had been. This was not a realization many of my fellow warrior were able to come to. I tried to explain we could still succeed, but the pantic of being a new gender in the midst of battle was too great. Many were killed; many more were captured. I suspect they will arrive here in three days time. Man or woman, it does not matter; we all defend our home. With their magic, man or woman probably doesn’t matter anyway. But we can prepare. If we do not let their magic confuse or distract us, we are sure to defeat them. Who is with me?”

Third Test

View First Test here.
View Second Test here.

It didn’t take long before students were talking about Dr. Wong’s experiment as well. Though the lab may have been restricted, students were resourceful. One frat even decided to declare a unique test for their pledges. The pledges had to sneak into the lab and select one of them to swap. They could be selected by voting, force, or whatever. The pledges were surprised when one of them volunteered, Derek. The swapper (in this case, Derek) would then be hooked up to the machine in order to trade bodies with a pledge at a sorority forced to go through a similar challenge. The final step was to return Derek (now in the body of a sorority pledge) to the frat, where the brothers would now do to his now female body whatever they wanted.

Derek had other plans.

He had plotted with Madison (the sorority pledge he swapped with). They had a plan to fight back right after the swap. As Derek removed the helmet from his now blonde head, he ran. The frat pledges gave chace. While they did catch Derek, and they even began to drag him to the frat house -- a well-timed call in advance meant public safety and the police were waiting. Derek screamed for help, and the boys had to let him go. Derek knew it was a risk to pretend to want to join the frat and risk his safety, but he had to see if the rumors about Dr. Wong’s lab were true (of course they were), and he couldn’t see anyway in on his own. Madison had a similiar longing to be a guy, and the two began dating.

Reform

The process was painless. Dexter had simply stood in one pod while someone outside flipped a switch. In a blink, he founf himself in a nearly identical pod, except now he was in Clara’s body. Now all he needed to do was wait for the doors to open. He began to nervously fiddle with his fingers in anticipation, a anxious habit Clara had when she had this body that he now subconsciously picked up. He’d have to put on a good show when it opened; he needed to act upset or pretend to be angry. After all, being in Clara’s body was supposed to be “punishment,” but the only reason he ever got in broke the law was because he had rumors about the pods, about criminals being swapped into the bodies of braindead women in the hopes that they would reform as a result. For Dexter, it was all just an act. He saw this as an opportunity to become a woman, and he was going to take it. He had succeeded! He was Clara now! As the doors opened, he did his best turn his huge smile into a scowl.

Final Hop

Charles had discovered he was a body hopper in college. For a few hours, he would hop into someone else’s body and experience their life. It was a lot of fun, and he was often able to do many wild or crazy things he wouldn’t otherwise do, or participate in events his own body wouldn’t be able to achieve. He often laughed about the time he swapped into the body of the school’s quarterback and got sacked multiple times.

After getting a terrible car accident at age 35, he felt like he was too young to die. He tried fighting it, but his injuries were just too much. He knew it was the end, and he was resigned to that. His body hopper instincts kicked in, however. In the moment before dying, he hopped into the body of a nurse. He turned back to look at his now former body, to see the EKG flatlining. He tried to hop back to his original body, but it was now no use. It was dead, and this nurse was who he was now.

Morning Jog

Every morning when Brad went on his morning jogs, he’d go hard. He’d push himself to his limits, always trying to beat his previous time on a set path. He’d be so focused that he’d often find himself back at home and realize he’d been running with a sprain or other injury for quite some time.

Today, an odd thing happened when he realized he was suddenly running the wrong way. A little frustrated, he turned himself around and cursed how much time it would add. A little bit longer on his jog, and he couldn’t help but stop. His pecs were feeling strange, like they were puffy or something. Taking a rare breather, he quickly discovered his blue top was now purple. In fact, it wasn’t his top at all. And his pecs weren’t puffy, that wasn’t even his chest! It was the chest of a woman! On his body! As he looked around the park and the mass confusion that seemed to have overtaken everyone, he soon figured out he wasn’t alone in suddenly being in a new body...even if it took him just a little bit longer than most to realize it.

The Merge (Part 1)

Senior year was always an exciting time at the local high school. The kids were becoming adults, creating plans for college, and enjoying their accomplishments. But with a month left in the school year, an unexplained explosion would shock everyone. Technically, no one was hurt, but pairs of students wound up merging into a single individual.

People suspected Melvin of causing the whole thing, but no one had any proof. They just thought he was smart enough to pull it off, and he also won the lottery when it came to who he merged with: Jody, the hottest girl in school. The merger between the two (who insisted on being called “Melody”) wasn’t quite as pretty as the original Jody, as she now had some of Melvin’s nerdy features, but still extremely beautiful. She was just as smart as Melvin, and enjoyed things like Doctor Who and comic books. But she was also still athletic and kept up with cheerleading as Jody had with similar interest in things like fashion and boys. She had some struggles with body issues, as Jody had been known to make fun of Melvin in the past and that had now been internalized.

Experiment Subject #42B

“Excuse me, Dr. Lopez,” Dr. Grant Matheson asked, “Our benefactor is requesting an update on Experiment Subject #42B.”

“There is nothing special to report. Experiment Subject #42B has had a successful transfer with no incident. He is understanbly upset with it, but his vitals are fine.” Jeffrey lied to Dr. Matheson.

Of course, Jeffrey could’t tell the truth because he WAS Experiment Subject #42B. The test had gone wrong and instead of his brain ending up in the mind of a chimp, it ended up in the body of Dr. Lopez. He wasn’t happy about being older or a woman, but both were way better than being an animal! And, of course, he figured with her body he could escape this madhouse testing facility.

But to that, of course, he had to get out of the building. With Dr. Lopez being the one now stuck in the chimp, he was sure the only thing that would stop him was if he slipped up with one of her colleagues. But they all had seemed quite satisfied with his answers, so far, and he could see the exit just behind Dr. Matheson’s shoulder; he was so close to being free.

True Form

The last thing William remembered was a hospital. Doctors and nurses were in a panic, machines were beeping. They were faint figures and the memories were blurred. He remembered driving before as well, and the two sort of juxtaposed together. But he was now in a void, a vast nothingless surrounded him. He felt cold. He had no clothes on, and he also seemed to have a body he didn’t recognize; it was a woman’s body. Time felt like it had no meaning, but time clearly passed.

Eventally, a shadowy figure appeared, sort of like a black blur. It answered the questions William spoke aloud without saying a word.

“Where am I?” He asked before responding with his own answer after looking at the figure, “I’m dead, huh? This is where I await my next life. And what about this body? Whose is it? Mine. My true form. Who I really am. That makes sense, I suppose. My body back on Earth never felt right. Is my next life even on Earth again? If I want it to be. I think I do. I think I’d like a body like this next time. I’d like a body that matches my true form. How many times have I been back and forth? This is only my second time here. People generally take much longer to accept their true form, it seems. Please send me back. I am ready.”

Art Gallery

Ever since he was a young man, Howard enjoyed walking the halls of musueums. They reminded him of his wife, who had passed two years ago. They used to go on many dates seeing the new exhibits and revisiting some great art. He had headed to the museum today because he missed her dearly. Despite having been here countless times, he ended up in a hallway he couldn’t ever remember seeing before. The paintings were tightly crammed on the walls with a sculpture at one end. He didn’t recognize any of the work, and they all seemed to lack name plates. He paused briefly at the sculpture before continuing back to more familiar halls. He didn’t notice the weird glow of the sculpture as he turned to leave.

A few moments later, he found himself back in front of the sculpture. Something about it had changed, but he couldn’t quite place his finger on it. Of course, something about Howard had changed as well. The sculpture’s magic had swapped him into the body of another art patron. No longer the old man he once was, he was now in the body of a young woman. He had an entire second lifetime to explore museums and find love. He’d be doing it from the other side of the gender divide this time, once he realized all this that is...

At the Gym (Part 2)

View Part 1 of At the Gym here.

Chad and Kelly looked for weeks to try to find a way to swap back to their own bodies, but both soon accepted they would be stuck as the other. Kelly gave Chad more instructions about her job, how to put on makeup, and even how to deal with her monthly visitor. She asked if he was still going to the gym; he nodded.

But after those initial weeks, they began to grow apart again, remaining friends but no longer planning sessions about swapping back to normal. In fact, several years would pass before they ran into each other again, coincidentally one again at the gym.

Kelly almost didn’t recognize her own body at first. She was floored and demanded to know what Chad had done to her. She cut him off as he started by talking about how he stopped dying his hair. She wanted to know about the muscles.

He told her he just continued his workout routine, the same one he had always been doing.

Kelly realized she should’ve been much more specific with her instructions. Chad had always been a bit of a musclehead, and he had been treating her body in the same way, resulting in her former bulking up like never would’ve thought possible!

Girls' Night Out

“Come on, Rhea,” Whispered Paul, “I can’t do this. I can’t be you.”

“Yeah, but thanks to that weird machine, you ARE me, and I had a night with my gal pals scheduled, so tha obligation now falls on you,” Rhea insisted.

“They’re never going to believe I’m you. They’re gonna know something’s up.”

“They’re probably already drunk, and have you looked in the mirror? They aren’t going to know anything is up, because we swapped bodies and people trust what they see. Right now, you look like me; they’re never going to see through that. Now go out there, and shake your ass. Make it look like I’m having fun.”

Paul groaned as he met up with Rhea’s friends. They squealed with delight when they saw him, understandably thinking he was Rhea. They handed him a drink and soon he started to dance. He hated to admit it, but he began to have a good time.Rhea’s body moved so much more smoothly than his own. But by the end of the night, he just wanted to find Rhea and figure out swapping back. However, he couldn’t seem to find her anywhere...

Bundled

Alex and Ellen had been dating for three years and had been living together for two of those. And every time fall rolled around, Ellen would bundle up that felt much too earl for Alex. He’d often tease her about being cold, and he also refused to turn the heat up in the apartment when she asked.

And finally she had enough. She loved Alex, so she wasn’t going to leave him; she just wished he understood. Searching the internet, she found a body swap spell that claimed to do just what she hoped. She was skeptical, but she decided to try it out.

“Okay, okay, I get it,” Alex complained after spending a week in Ellen’s body, “Can you please reverse the spell now and swap us back into our own bodies?”

Ellen avoided eye contact, “Well, I can’t. The spell is on a timer. We’re stuck in each other’s bodies until spring. But if it makes you feel any better,” She looked back at Alex, thinking about how cute it was that he was in her body and all bundled up, “I’ll be kind and turn the heat up for you, unlike some people I know!”

Do You Want Fries with That?

For three weeks after the Great Shift swapped the bodies of 90% of the people on the planet, Mike tried to listen to Jenna about how to take care of her body now that it was his. The meant specific instructions on exercise and what to eat. But, quite frankly, after a while he just gave up. He was sick of eating brussel sprouts and kale for dinner. He wanted a damn burger or a steak or even just some french fries! Oh, how he missed them! He just broke down at a fast food place and ordered a bunch. Leading scientists had reported the chances of anyone ever going back to their old body were close to zero. For Mike, that meant Jenna’s body was now his, and he was no longer going to let her rules about how to live affect him the way they had. If he wanted to skip exercising, he was allowed now. And if he wantred some damned french fries, well, nothing was going to stop him!

Unremarkable (Part 1)

Neil had always been a pretty unremarkable guy. He didn’t exactly stand out in a crowd. But an odd thing happened to him in his sophomore year at college during the fall semester. He discovered that he could make his hands glow. He kept it quiet for a few weeks, opting not to show anyone.

His silence ended as he talked to his friend Melissa. They had known each other for about a year and were pretty good friends. She was as unremarkable as he was, yet he realized he was developing a bit of a crush. Surely, he could show her his weird ability and impress her?

As he showed her, the light didn’t just stay limited to his hands; they spread to her. There was a quick flash, and Melissa shouted out from Neil’s body, “Oh, my God! You have the ability to swap people’s bodies? This is so weird! Do you have to be involved or can you swap two completely different people!? We have to have some fun with this!”

While Melissa seemed excited, Neil was a little more shocked. His hands didn’t just glow -- they could, in fact, swap the bodies of two people! Melissa ran out to the quad, and Neil followed. Melissa pointed at two people, and Neil began to focus, causing his hands to glow. Despite the fact that he was now in Melissa’s body, he still seemed to have his power. Now he just had to get this right...

366th

The day I got into that taxi was a bad one. I had just been fired from my relatively new job at the firm right after the recession hit. They told me they had to let the “new boy” go first. I felt humiliated and frustrated. I flagged the cab, got in, and noted the smell almost immediately. I was glad to get out of the cab, but the guy did something and we ended up swapping bodies.

I freaked out until I somehow managed to navigate to the driver’s home. That where I found a notebook explaining the magic taxi, the body swapping, and everything. It seemed like a golden opportunity. I could become the richest guy on Wall Street with practically no effort! According to the book, people spent a few days in this driver’s body.

I ended up spending over a year.

It was coincidence, but not one of my fares ended up spending quite long enough to trigger the swap. Being in that smelly body was getting to me. After a few weeks, I abandoned my plan and just picked up anyone in hopes of getting out of the cabbie’s body. I breathed a sigh of relief on the 366th day (I was counting) when the fare was high enough by being just a single cent over. She lived in a poor area of Chinatown and spoke broken English. I knew that life would now be mine, but it was still better than spending another minute in this cab. She got out and I initiated the swap. I probably looked just as scared when I first swapped into the driver’s body. I didn’t care. Now that I was in this woman’s body, I just ran. I wanted to get out of there. I never wanted to see that cab again.

Strange Storm

It was strange because there wasn’t a single drop of rain that day; there hadn’t been a weather report that predicted anything other than sun. Yet the storm that day changed so many lines, mine included. I was on an evening jog when it happened. My wife had been encouraging me to get more exercise since I started gaining weight after turning 40. I figured it was just my male body getting older, but seeing me get in shape made my wife happy, so I did it. I was resting on a bench when it happened. People who saw it said it was like a lighting bolt coming out of nowhere hitting me in the head. And these bolts didn’t just hit me. Estimates ranged from 10 to 15 percent of the population was struck. And after being struck, we all ended up somewhere else, inside a body of someone else who had been struck. I ended up about a mile away, inside the body of a 25-year-old woman I’d learn was named Danielle. I chuckled thinking my wife would probably be happy now that I was no longer overweight, but that she might be less happy about the fact that I was now female. Still, we tried to make it work as best we could.

Scientists could never quite figure out how it worked. They classified it as a “weather phenomenon” and theorized the electrical current was centralized in the atmosphere and never lost that central connection even when multiple bolts his simultaneously. These bolts essentially fried our brains and transmitted the signals up to the central current before being sent back down to a different location. I was never sure if that was even plausible, but there was no way I could deny the results of what happened.

Man Up

It had been two months since the swap and Avery was getting sick of how his wife was acting. Sure, he had been supportive at first; he was panicking to find himself in her body just as much as she was when she found herself in his. But after a week or two, he got used to being Brittany. He was comfortable acting feminine, wearing skirts and dresses, and putting on makeup. On the other hand, Brittany started out not liking everything about being in Avery’s body, and hated it more and more each day. She’d come home from his job, try to squeeze into her old clothes, and cry on Avery’s shoulder. He would just roll his eyes at this; he wished she’d man up to the situation. It kept going. As time passed, she whined about growing facial hair. Avery told her to shave it, but the idea of having to shave her face just made her cry more. He heard sobbing when she used the bathroom, and when she got dressed in the morning. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could take it.

Miss Ember

Miss Ember crashed through the ceiling of evil Dr. Robotron’s lair. It was at this point, he was usually cowering in fear, but he seemed strangely confident as he looked at the heroine. As quickly as he could, he pulled out a ray gun, but he didn’t have time to fire. With her super speed, Miss Ember rushed over and crushed the ray.

The evil doctor feigned worry, “Oh, no, my ray gun.”

“You’re going away. You’re--” Miss Ember suddenly felt uncharacteristically weak, “Not going...” She soon passed out.

She awoke some time later to see a figure towering over her that looked remarkably like herself. But she soon realized her movements made robotic sounds, she had a metal arm, wires and circuits replaced body parts. She was in Dr. Robotron’s body, and that meant the person towering over her was...“Robotron,” she whispered.

“That’s right!” He crackled with Miss Ember’s voice, “You had no idea that breaking my body swapping ray is EXACTLY what would activate it! And now I’m in your powerful body, and your in my digitally enhanced one! I believe I’ll be taking you to the authorities, just as you had planned to do to me! Oh, who knows the troubles I will get into now? Who knows what fun I will have? You probably should’ve thought twice before rushing into my lair, hmmm?”