Shortcut (Part 2)

View Part 1 of Shortcut.

It was absolutely crazy, but Jeff swapped bodies with a middle aged woman! And it seems everyone in the surrounding area did as well. The answer came soon enough. A young woman entered the condo claiming to be a professor at the university -- and the husband of the body Jeff currently inhabited. He had been working on a body swapping machine, and things just got out of hand. He was sure he could get everyone back to normal, and over the next couple days, he did.

However, for Jeff, there was still a problem. His body had actually fallen off the skateboard during the swap. The professor explained it wouldn’t be safe to swap back until it was awake and out of the hospital. So until that happened, Jeff was stuck in the body of this guy’s wife! It was weird living a few days as her, wearing her clothes, walking around in her body, and so on...

The Weird Girl (Part 1)

Jenna had told herself that college was going to be great. She had been a popular girl in high school, and she was positive higher education would be more of the same. Sure, it meant she was going to have to make a long distance relationship with her boyfriend work, but he promised to visit whenever he could. Though once she got there, she met her roommate. Hannah was a weird loner goth-type, and Jenna had a hard time making conversation. It wasn’t long before she was on the phone begging her boyfriend, Chad, to come for his first visit.

Hannah was annoyed by Chad staying in the room and the two of them giggling all night. The weird goth girl mumbled that she was going to curse them, but none of them thought it was serious until they all woke up in the wrong bodies.

Chad was in Jenna’s body, and Hannah was in Chad’s. That meant Jenna was now in Hannah’s body. There was a lot of yelling before Hannah agreed to research any sort of magic she could find to explain any of this and hopefully reverse it. Jenna, of course, hated being stuck in Hannah’s body; she was especially mad most of her own clothes didn’t really fit Hannah’s body. Luckily, she could still wear a few larger items like her favorite pink coat to brighten up Hannah’s dreary style. And as the next few days passed, Jenna just felt miserable. She could only hope that Hannah could do some sort of magic thing to get them all back to normal before Chad had to leave. But as she walked back to the dorm to check on Hannah, she noticed something...

World Domination (Part 1)

On his home planet of K’laxor, Z’xyw was a member of the alpha gender. As such, he was required to infiltrate a species and conquer a planet when he came of age. With many nearby worlds already under K’laxor control, he was forced to reach a distant corner of space thought to be uninhabited. To his surprise, he found a small blue world that seemed to have primitive life.

He abducted a specimen of a dominant species, taking the creature’s DNA and merging it with his own so he could take its form. He blended in and quickly learned the various grunts and groans this species considered to be language. For the time being, he was set to gather information on what these “humans” called “Earth.”

Many seemed quite focused on differences of gender and race, which Z’xyw found amusing. The alpha gender on his planet was five times the size of the twenty other genders. The differences (or lack thereof) between humans was laughably insignificant. They all might as well be indentical to him. Considering the early primitive state of this world, it seemed ripe for conquest. It didn’t take long for Z’xyw to decide the finish up the infiltration phase and move onto the task of domination.

VC

“So, as you can see,” Nicholas explained, “The device can actually swap two people’s bodies, and it can even be triggered remotely with the phone app.”

Tiffany had to admit that she was impressed. She was, after all, now watching her own body present this weird new invention after Nicholas had swapped bodies with her. However, she did have plenty of worries regarding ethical and marketing concerns.

“It’s amazing,” She sighed, “But I’m afraid we have to pass on funding.”

“Well, here’s the thing,” Nicholas let out a devilish smile, “As long as we are swapped, I’m technically the one that controls that decision. And, in fact, I’ll think I’ll be making a recommendation to my VC firm to invest for several million dollars. Play your cards right, and I might not push you out; and if you’re good, you might even get your body back after all this is over.”

Dirty Laundry (Part 5)

View Part 1 of Dirty Laundry.
View Part 2 of Dirty Laundry.
View Part 3 of Dirty Laundry.
View Part 4 of Dirty Laundry.

While May was absolutely miserable in the body of Mike’s dad, her mom was actually quite pleased to be in Mike’s body. But she had a confession and she wasn’t sure who else to tell, so she approached Mike’s dad.

When she first got close, he pulled back, but she told him they had to act like Mike and May normally would, and that meant being affectionate and sharing a few secrets. He ultimately relented and let her kiss him. Mike’s dad felt May’s body react to the kiss and hated himself for enjoying it so much.

That’s when May’s mom dropped the bomb. She had intended to steal her daughter’s body; somehow Mike and his dad just got in the way. Despite not being the actual plan, she loved being in Mike’s body and was planning on keeping it -- and if she didn’t swap back, that meant no one would. Mike would be forever stuck in the body of May’s mom; Mike’s dad would be inside of May; and May would be stuck in his body -- all for good. Mike’s dad wasn’t quite sure how to react. He tried to force a smile, thinking it might not be best to piss off a woman who would and could steal someone else’s body so readily.

Happy

“There’s no way you could be happy about this,” Fiona stated in disbelief, “You were Andrew freeking Jones, the star quarterback in high school. Now you’re in my body thanks to the Great Shift. And I never liked my body. There’s honestly not a lot to like.”

“I think there’s plenty to like,” Andrew retorted, “And I’m happy. Being the quarterback in high school, there was a lot of pressure. And I don’t just mean at the games. I mean like, you’re supposed to do things like date the head cheerleader and be popular. And even though I busted my ass academically, I don’t think a single one of my teachers ever bothered to read my papers. They simply assumed I was dumb, and gave me the good grades because they didn’t want to flunk the quarterback. But being you has opened up a whole other world for me. My professors at college actually engage with me; they encourage me. But I think the best part is that I can truly act like I feel on the inside. I don’t have to put up the fake illusion of being a guy, because I’m not a guy. I don’t think I ever really was. Being female is always who I was on the inside, and it’s just that I finally have a body that matches that! And whatever you didn’t like about it, I don’t really care, because to me, it’s perfect! It’s what I’ve always wanted; It’s what I’ve always been! Now I just look it!”

Hide Away (Part 2)

View Part 1 of Hide Away.

On Monday, after a very long weekend of being stuck in Jason’s body and living his life, Laura decided it was best to meet Jason at her apartment in case he needed any help getting ready.

She was surprised to find Jason standing outside waiting for her. Even more surprising was that he was holding himself better, he had picked a reasonable looking outfit, and he even had done his makeup! It was a basic look, but he managed to look like an actual woman and not a man stuck in a woman’s body.

The first words out of his mouth were simply, “I told you I could handle this!”

Laura was speechless, but finally managed to get out a basic, “I guess so.”

Jason continued, “I listened to what you said. About how men and women handle each other differently, so I’ve basically been practicing all weekend! The last thing I want to do to is embarrass you while we’re stuck in each other’s bodies. Should we head to work? Maybe they have news about swapping us back?”

Laura nodded.

Refugees

“Ugh, I hate being a woman,” Ivan complained.

“Would you rather have stayed behind and died in the war?” Alexei retorted, “They were forcing all young men to fight, and, quite honestly, you probably would’ve been killed within a few days. But women? Ah, women they not only let leave, but they helped us to do so!”

“What about the women we stuck in our bodies?”

“They are probably dead. It’s best not to think about it.”

“Maybe if they survive, we can go back. This body just feels all so bloated and fat.”

“It’s a healthy bod with a good build! And excellent child birthing hips! Men will take one look at you and know you will be a excellent wife and mother!”

“I literally have no interest in any of those things.”

“I highly suggest you start developing an interest! Getting married is probably going to be one of our best options...”

Not One of Those Stories

It so often seemed that a lot of stories about the Great Shift involved someone swapping into a gorgeous body. This is not one of those stories. Of course, Calvin had plenty of friends who found themselves in gorgeous bodies, but Calvin himself? He hated looking at his new face in the mirror. Something about his body just looked awkward. Maybe his smile was too crooked or his face was just too asymmetrical. It didn’t help that before the Shift, he had been a tall, good looking man; now he was a short, awkward-looking woman with little to no motivation to improve his appearance.

But then one day at the grocery store, he needed to get something off the top shelf. He was absolutely frustrated by his inability to reach the top. He didn’t want to talk to anyone but he knew what he had to do; after all, people used to ask him the same thing all the time when he was tall. So he asked a man for some help, and as he watched, he began to feel something odd. It was the first time he was feeling these things since being in a woman’s body. He was feeling...attraction. He began to smile as he watched. He thought about asking this guy out until he remembered what he presently looked like. There was no way this guy would go out with him. But maybe he could try a little makeup? Or put on a cute dress? Or both? Then maybe he’d come back to this store, and this guy would happen to be here again at the same time? Then he could ask? Maybe he could make this body work after all...

Couples’ Counselor

As a couples’ counselor, Diane always told her clients that both partners needed to attend; it was essential. So she frowned when her client, Amanda, entered the room. It was Amanda’s third visit to her office, and she seemed to have brought her mother instead of her husband. Diane looked sternly at Amanda.

“Amanda, you know it’s impossible for me to help you if your husband doesn’t come along,” Lectured Diane.

“I’m not Amanda; I AM her husband. I’m Ryan.” Ryan responded from inside Amanda’s body, “And Amanda is here inside the body of her own mother.”

“You’ve all...swapped bodies?”

“It’s crazy, right? I know it seems impossible, and it’s made our relationship a little...weird, to say the least. But it’s also made me realize how much I love Amanda, no matter what body she’s in.”

Amanda nodded, “Oh, Ryan’s been so kind and sweet since it all happened! I can’t believe it.”

Diane could only sit and listen in shock as the couple explained every little detail.

Set for Life

It had been around a week since the accident had caused everyone in the office to swap bodies. The lead programmers, Todd and Devin, found themselves working overtime to try an solve the problem.

“It must really suck for you,” Devin mused late one night to Todd, “I’m sure you’re eager to get back to normal.”

“Oh, you think so?” Todd said as he swiveled around in his chair, “The way I see it, I scored the jackpot. I swapped into the body of the CEO’s ex-wife. And I’m about eight months pregnant with his kid in here. The way I see it, if I actually give birth to this thing, I’m set for life. Child support from a guy who owns multiple billion dollar companies seems like a good way to live.”

“So you’re saying...”

“I’m just saying don’t rush yourself. I’m not. When we ‘work late’ on this stuff, I’m mostly just playing Fortnite or something.”

Expose (Part 5)

View Part 1 of Expose.
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View Part 3 of Expose.
View Part 4 of Expose.

Amy wondered if she could get the dog to press the buttons in the elevator to get them both down to the basement again to hopefully sort out this mess. First, she tried a series of encouraging barks to get the dog in her body to stand, then she tried to run along the floor to communicate where the elevator was. It all seemed to be working.

Just as they got to the elevator, the door opened. Dr. Baxter stood there, or at least his body did. The dog in Amy’s body growled at the man standing there, and Amy in the dog’s body could feel that something didn’t seem right.

“Oh, this is too good,” The doctor’s body said, “I wanted you and that whistleblowing doctor out of my hair, but this is too good! I’ll be having the doctor now inside the body of that undocumented janitor deported by morning. And you?” He picked up Amy in the dog’s body, “You can be my new pet! Don’t think of biting me, or I will have you put down!” He then turned to the dog in Amy’s body, “But what to do with you? Maybe an insane asylum is a good place for a woman acting like a dog. Regardless, none of you are getting your bodies back, and your plans to bring down this company surely have failed. I hope all of you enjoy your new fates.”

Reformat

The nights were long on Planet 5S-27. At least twice as long as on Earth, and in the winter even longer. It often meant Sam had trouble sleeping. He was proud to be one of the earliest colonizers on the distant planet, but with only about a dozen humans and fifty robots, it got rather lonely. He rolled around his bed and felt his heart jump when he saw someone in the doorway.

“You scared me, CZ-19,” Sam said to the robot standing in the doorway, “I know days are weird on this planet, but I didn’t think it was time for you to clean the room yet.”

CZ-19 looked blankly at Sam for a moment. He always felt the fact that the robots had such a human face atop their metal bodies was weird; the fact that they were also designed to look so feminine also had been a strange choice he never understood. CZ-19 finally spoke, “That’s because it is not time yet.”

Sam couldn’t even describe what happened next. It was like the robot attacked his brain and sucked all of his memories out. The next thing he could remember was seeing his own body walk very roboticly before adjusting to its humanity, and he realized he was now in CZ-19’s robotic body! He wanted to fight back, but the body’s programming seemed to be in control, as he could hear his body making whirring noises as he moved back to the hallway.

He needed to find someone! Anyone to help him out!

When he finally stumbled upon his friend, Ralph, Sam began to plead, “Ralph! You gotta help me! CZ-19 stole my body somehow! It’s me! It’s Sam!”

Ralph sighed, “Malfunctioning again, CZ-19? Well, I guess we’ll just have to reformat you.”

Sam screamd, “No, you can’t! Ralph! Don’t do it!”

Teed Off (Part 1)

When Larry arrived at the country club for the first time after the Great Shift, his three friends were shocked. It seemed all of them had been lucky enough to not swap bodies with anyone, except (of course) for Larry.

“Well, ain’t you a pretty little thing now,” Frank laughed as he saw Larry’s new body for the first time.

“It’s not like being rich made us immunte to the effects of the Great Shift,” Larry tried to reason, “The rest of you all just happened to get very lucky. Besides, it’s not like there aren’t some advantages...”

“Yeah, like you can use the ladies’ tee.” Joked Harold.

“You know what?” Larry fumed, “$10,000 says I can beat all of your old butts today...and I’ll even use the back tees.”

They shook on it as Harold whispered to Frank, “This is gonna be the easiest money we make all week.”

Speechless

Evan was speechless as he reached his hands up to his chest to confirm a very unfamilar feeling. With no mirrors around, he had no idea what he looked like, but he knew he was now a woman for some reason. He left the small room he was in, and soon discovered it was part of a much larger complex. There seemed to be nuns all about; Evan realized he must be in a convent, and he must be in the body of a nun, although the skin on his hands would suggest he was a young one.

But he figured the nuns might be able to help him. As he approached two he saw walking together, he tried to explain his situation, but no one words came out.

“Sister Yoon,” One of the nuns said to Evan, “I see you are talking that vow of silence seriously.”

The other nun could see Evan’s frustration and scolded the first, “Sister Anne! You shouldn’t make fun of Sister Yoon for being mute!”Evan quickly rushed off looking for something to write with, but came up empty. If he wasn’t able to communicate with this body, how was he ever going to explain the situation he was in?

One Year Anniversary

Technically, this is a sequel to My New Life.

It was a year ago when I found myself in a woman’s body by the name of “Alicia.” And I have been enjoying every minute! Sure, there have been some weird challenges along the way -- there’s a lot to learn about being a woman when you’ve never been one before -- but even those difficult times felt very rewarding!

I guess this is my way of saying, it’s been a great year being back, and I felt like having a celebration! So this is it! This is the celebration of my life as Alicia!

Some Kid's Mother

Last night, I had gone to bed in a dorm room after binge drinking at a frat party as a typical college guy, and this morning I woke up to find myself in a large designer bed in a stylish home in the body of a woman. Going to the bathroom was really awkward and strange, and as I washed my hands I looked at my reflection. I was in the body of an Asian woman, who looked to be in her 40s. It was hard to tell exactly, because even though I could tell she was older than I was, she still looked damn fine. It was weird to think this body was mine, and it might’ve been even weirder that I was sort of checking it out.

Eventually I made my way downstairs, and I tried to find some coffee or somethign to perk me up. And that’s when I heard a voice shout out, “Mom! Why didn’t you wake me up? Are you going to make me breakfast?”

I wasn’t just in the body of a woman; I was in the body of some kid’s mother!

Gene Transfer

I wasn’t in the club for more than fifteen minutes before a woman approached me. She had an evil look in her eye before she licked my cheek and whispered in my ear to follow her to the bathroom. I didn’t expect any of this. I was hardly in my prime. Far from it; I was a middle-aged man whose wife had just divorced him. I was paranoid my hair was thinning, and I knew about my dad bod. What could this woman possibly see in me? And was I in any position to refuse?

So I followed her, and she pulled me into the men’s room and quickly into a stall. She tore off my shirt, but instead of any sort of intimacy, she stabbed me with a syringe. I blacked out. When I awoke, she still stood over me...sort of...but she had become...a man? I didn’t notice my own body at first until she pointed it out...or he?

He explained he was a billionaire in the biochemical space. He had a breakthrough that allowed genes to be transfered, and he somehow ended up losing his Y chromosome. But while genes could transfer, they couldn’t be replaced. That’s where I came in. He had stolen my Y chromosome. I was now sitting on the stall of a men’s room, and I was a woman.He had taken my clothes and given me his dress. But he had taken my manhood, and he was prepared to leave me like this.

Pledge

“I really don’t know if this was a good idea,” Harrison confessed to Mark.

“One of the requirements for pledging the frat was showing up to this bar tonight. And this bar is notorious for checking ID. Everyone pledging is going to have to be creative to get in,” Mark explained.

“I know. I get it. But we lied to our professors about being interested in their body swapping research, and then we took those drugs, and then we let them swap bodies with us. What if we messed up? What if we can’t swap back or we took too many drugs?”

“Relax. Our bodies were still alive when we left; they were just asleep. They’ll be fine! And of course we can just use the device again to swap back; it’ll be fine!”

“But how are we going to even prove it’s us here when we don’t look like us? And I don’t even see any of the frat members here...or any other pledges!”

“Maybe they all had to get as creative as we did. I’m sure there will be some sort of announcement or maybe a password. We just have to wait.”

“I don’t know how much longer I can stand being in Professor Huang’s body!”

“You can bail if you want to, but don’t expect me to save your ass by telling about anything that happens tonight.”

Harrison sighed, “Fine. I’ll stay, but I’m still nervous about this whole thing.”

Not a Single Layoff

I showed up to the job interview, and there was a single woman in the office. “I was a little surprised you guys were hiring,” I told her, “But I guess the rumored layoffs were even deeper than people were saying.”

“We actually didn’t have any,” She said.

“Is everyone working at home?”

“No, there was,” She paused, “An accident. We had been developing groundbreaking tech. The code we developed could compress a human brain and store it on a hard drive. But we ended up,” She paused again, “Merging. This body contains every ability, feeling, and memory from everyone at the company. Even the DNA is sort of average of all of us. About 60% of the staff was Asian, so we are as well.”

“Were the coders mostly women?” I couldn’t believe I was even asking questions instead of just getting the hell out of there.

“The Y chromosome is in many ways like an incomplete X. But ther averaging completed it enough that it seemed to round up, and so we became a woman. But if it makes you feel better, we are still a total tech bro at heart in many ways too! It should probably come as no surprise we are able to do just about everything at this company, but we do need more hands to pull it all off. After all, this body only has two, and can only work so fast!”

Mall Kiosk

Keith was at the mall with his girlfriend. It was more crowded than usual, and she was taking longer than normal. He decided to excuse himself and found a place to sit down at a kiosk outside the store. He pretended to be interested in the small devices, so as to not annoy the clerk working the kiosk.

After fiddling around with the thing, he felt a spark; strangely he now seemed to be facing the other way, and there appeared to be a man on the other side of the kiosk that looked like he could be Keith’s twin. When the man stood up, he realized that wasn’t a doppleganger, that was actually someone else in his body!

“Hey! Where are you going?” Keither shouted, now hearing his now feminine voice for the first time and realizing he had swapped bodies with a woman.

“Enjoying my new life as a what? A 20-something young man,” His body replied, “I’m sure you’ll find fulfillment pleasing your husband with that 45 year old body.”

“45? Pleasing my -- what? And this damned kiosk sells body swappers? Give me my body back!”

“Fat chance! You shouldn’t have been so careless!”

New Program (Part 2)

View Part 1 of New Program.

Adam spent the three weeks in his trainer’s body much like he spent most of his weeks. He downed sodas and energy drinks as he worked from home, ordered pizzas to eat as he played video games after work, and mostly louned around. He realized he was struggling to squeeze into the outfits his trainer had given him to wear, but he was lucky some of her workout outfits were stretchy -- although tight.

He returned to the gym after three weeks, and his trainer looked at him in horror. “What did you do?” She asked, “All you had to do was stick to my diet and do a daily walk? You’ve ruined my body!!! Didn’t you read the contract about how to take care of my body?”

“I thought it just said stuff about not doing drugs or getting tattoos and stuff! I guess I just didn’t read it to carefully.”

“Well, this is going to be extra,” She said almost in tears, “It’s going to be a lot extra.”

Freaky Week (Part 1)

“You don’t get to tell me what to do anymore EVER, Mom!” Stephanie shouted, “Because of whatever Freaky Friday weirdness we went through that swapped me into your 50 year old body, I’m stuck being an old woman! I lost over thirty years of my life, Mom! I’m allowed to act young and foolish if I want to! I didn’t get to enjoy going off to college, and instead I got stuck in your body! So if I want to dye my hair or go to the mall or dress up in outfits that I’m ‘too old for,’ well, I can!”

“Stephanie --” Ming tried to interupt her daughter, but she could barely get a word in.

“Shut up! Just let me enjoy myself! Let me have these little things! These moments! It’s not like I go to your work like this! I have’t gotten fired! And I just deserve to have FUN! I’m an eighteen year olf stuck in the body of her own mother for God’s sake!”

Graphic Design

Jason was staying late at the office to review what had gone wrong at the sales presentation earlier that day. He was sure he nailed it, but the deal just didn’t go through. As he ran it over in his head again and again, he started to develop a throbbing headache until he passed out.

When he awoke, he realized he was sitting in the corner of the art department where one of the junior graphic designers sat. As he pondered how he got here, he realized he felt quite strange for some reason. He reached his hand up and felt long hair. It didn’t make any sense, but he must have somehow swapped bodies with that graphic designer! She had been putting in a few extra hours as well, apparently. But swapping bodies? It seemed surreal, even if he couldn’t ignore the very obvious evidence.

He felt bad that he couldn’t even remember this woman’s name, eventually finding a name tag in the desk from a conference with “Ayumi” written on it. A few moments later, another co-worker came to the door of the art department and asked Jason, “What the hell just happened?”

Jason just turned around and shrugged.

Quarantine

Well, it seems I’m going to be stuck in this hotel room for the next two weeks. I had caught the body swapping virus, and they were trying to quarantine people to prevent it from spreading. But I knew there really wasn’t any containing this thing. In fact, the people quarantined here would most likely just end up swapping with each other, the staff, or some unfortunate guest. This thing just didn’t seemed to be stopped by anything -- even walls.

As for me, I actually caught the damn thing a while ago. They just happened to catch me on what should be my last swap. Most people swapped with a maximum of three others -- but I was one of the unlucky ones who swapped with a fourth. My third body was an average guy pretty similar to my original body. I thought I could sort of continue on as normal until I ended up swapping one more time with this Asian chick. She was the one who filed a report, which is how I ended up in quarantine in this hotel. Sure, they’d deliver clothes, food, and anything else we might need, but it was going to be a very boring two weeks within these four walls. Though, I suppose I always had a new body to explore.

Nice, Warm Cabin

“Hey! There’s a cabin down this way!” Ryan shouted out to his girlfriend.

“But we need to find that strange cave!” She shouted back.

Ryan sighed, “I know we need to find the cave with that weird orb that swapped our bodies. I don’t want to be stuck in your body any longer than you probably want to be stuck in mine. But if you want your body returned to you with all ten toes, then I think we should warm up in that cabin for a bit!”

Ryan’s girlfriend sighed. She knew he was right. It was pretty cold outside, and they had been out for a while now. Plus, she imagined that now that he had her body, he was the one who was probably more sensitive to the frigid temperatures. Yet there was still something about that cabin that she just didn’t trust. Going inside felt like giving up hope of getting their bodies back. She couldn’t explain why, but it was just a feeling she had. But Ryan was going to be very insistent about taking a break in a nice, warm cabin...

The Intern

Ed was usually pretty tolerant of the dumb things his co-workers would do the computers at the office. As the IT guy, he had seen some pretty dumb things, after all. But still, from time to time, he’d see something that would upset him. For instance, the new intern, Stef, had come to see him three times today -- on her first day! The only thing that stopped him from yelling at her was the rumors that she was the daughter of one of the higher ups.

However, she had managed to get a virus on her machine that was like nothing he had ever seen before! From what he could tell, it was re-writing the funtions of the computer’s hardware! And just when he thought he had it figured out, the machine zapped him and the intern.

The next thing he knew, he was in her body while his own body lay lifeless on the floor. It was still breathing, but when he realized he could access his own memories as well as Stef’s, he couldn’t help but think there wasn’t much left in his former body. Not that he really minded! The idea of living the life of a rich, spoiled brat seemed somewhat appealing!

Good to Be Back

After hearing the doorbell ring, Maya stepped outside. She didn’t recognize the odd man who stood there, so she didn’t want to let him inside.

He seemed nervous and stuttered before he finally got his point out. “I’m afraid I’m from the hospital. We discovered there was a tragic happenstance that you were involved in.”

“I’m afraid you have the wrong woman. I haven’t been to the hospital since I was a kid.”

“Exactly! You were quite young, and we discovered a rouge doctor had used you for his weird experiments. He placed your brain into the body you currently have, but that’s not your body. Not your real body.”

“Oh, come on, that’s ridiculous.”

“No, your real name is Vincent Powers,” The man took out a pictured and handed it to Maya.

Maya looked at the photo of an overweight and unattractive man. She couldn’t believe this man was telling her she really was supposed to be...that.

“We wish to rectify the situation,” The man said.

“That’s quite unnecessary. I’m quite happy with my life and have no interest --”

“This notification is a mere courtesy, Mr. Powers.” Maya rolled her eyes as he called her that. “The doctor has been ordered to provide us with this remote that should reverse the swap.”

“But you can’t --” Maya was again interupted as the man pressed the button, that transfered her mind back to Vincent’s body, which she hadn’t been in for 25 years, and swapping his mind into Maya’s body.

Vincent in Maya’s body smiled, “Thank you, Clark. It’s good to be back after all these years.”

Mixup

Kenzo was a little surprised when a man walked into his hotel room. Luckily, he had just finished changing; otherwise, he might have been quite embarrassed. Kenzo first spoke with his native tongue, but seeing how confused the man was, he switched to english.

“Who are you? Why are you here?” Kenzo asked with a thick accent.

“Just coming to see what body my wife got,” The man said in a thick southern drawl, “But no need for those little role playing games to make this more interesting; that body is clearly enough!”

“No role play!” Kenzo insisted, “It’s a mixup. I will call the front desk.” Kenzo was getting nervous. He had been to Exchange Island many times, but never had been any sort of mixup. Yet there was this man standing here, who clearly had a key to his room, telling Kenzo that he was this man’s wife?

As Kenzo picked up the phone, the man began to reach toward Kenzo inappropriately. An instant later, Kenzo military training kicked in, and the man was cold on the floor. Kenzo continued to dial the front desk to explain everything.

Deviant

At 25 years old, Elliot had never had a girlfriend; he had never been in the “in” crowd; he barely had any friends. He was often lonely and frustrated. He often told himself this would make him a better boyfriend when he was finally able to find a person who would date him, but the reality was it was just making him a jerk and a bit of a deviant.

But a strange thing happened to when he was walking around aimlessly one night. He felt dizzy for a second and then his body felt disoriented. When he looked down, he saw the body of a woman, and he smiled. He had never even been close a woman before, and now he was one! There were so many things he was tempted to do to himself right there in public, but he decided it best to sneak off some place private to do them.

As he did, he heard a shout. “Come back with my body,” It screamed. In response, Elliot just ran faster.

The Great Blip

My girlfriend, Mei, and I were on a walk when we were blinded by a flash of light. When I turned to look to see if Mei was alright, all that was left was a pile of clothes where she once was. Except I soon realized the clothes were mine, and I had somehow become my own girlfriend! I had gone from being a 6 foot tall white guy to a 5 foot tall Asian woman.

It seemed like something out of a comic book movie, except half of the population didn’t just blip away. The half whose bodies disappeared ended up inhabited the bodies of those who remained -- hence how I became my own girlfriend. My story was fairly simple; I just gathered up my clothes and returned to the apartment she and I shared. Maybe it was something about having her hormones or maybe I was just truly sad, but I found myself crying for days. I knew other people had it worse; I saw it on the news. There were plane crashed and nuclear accidents. I knew my situation was relatively fine, but I was still sad. I was sad my girlfriend was gone, yet I’d be reminded of that every second for the rest of my life...