Stuck

It was weird for Mia to look into the chamber and see her own face with Doctor Herbert Kelvin’s scowling expression on it. The chambers had apparently been some sort of body swapping machine, and Doctor Kelvin had tricked Mia to step inside. He locked her in and stole her body.

“You made one very obvious miscalculation,” She teased, “By locking my body inside and then swapping bodies with me, you ended up locked up locking in yourself.”

“Let me out of here,” He hissed.

“No, not while you still have my body. Though, it is a problem. If I use this machine to swap back, then I’ll be stuck in there, and we go through this whole loop all over again. But there must be some way to outsmart this whole problem...”

Switching Teams

The noise from the crowd was now louder than when Tyler scored the last touchdown. Of course, instead of cheers, it was now the sound of anger and confusion that echoed through the stadium. The Great Shift had just swapped the bodies of everyone inside along with the rest of the world.

Tyler was, of course, just as confused as anyone now that he found himself on the other side of the field in the body of one of the cheerleaders from the opposing team.

His first thoughts were about how his playing days were probably over and thinking about what he was going to do next. Then he wondered what he even COULD do next, given the fact that he was now in a body he was certainly very unfamiliar with. And finally, he was thankfully that this body was on the field and not in the crowds, which was starting to sound increasingly like it was getting violent. Luckily, he knew a way to get out quickly before people started storming on...

Rainbow Mist

Ben couldn’t explain how he knew it, but it felt like there was magic in the air of the gay club that night. The magic was loud, the dance floor was hot, and everything just seemed perfect. As he stepped to the side for a quick breather, he noticed a strange rainbow fog fill begin to fill the air. At first, he thought it was an effect from the club, but no, this was something different.

Then as the mist began to overtake people, he noticed some changing. For some, the change was slight, maybe they became a little taller or a little more fit. He noticed several of his more confident friends didn’t change at all; they were perfectly happy being just the way they were -- gay and proud. Then there was others who seemed to change genders right before his eyes.

Ben realized he couldn’t pass up this opportunity as he darted for the mist. Transforming was a much more pleasant experience than he anticipated, as the mist swirled around him, turning him into a beautiful woman in a rainbow dress. A few of his friends stared.

“I know I never told any of you,” He said, “I thought I was just gay. But then I saw what we all just saw, and I realized...I was trans. I could’t pass up the opportunity...”

His friends simply nodded as the loud music resumed and everyone continued to dance.

Faking It

“So, you really woke up a few weeks ago and thought you were someone else stuck in your own body?” Jing laughed at the story his wife was telling him, “Why didn’t you tell me right when it happened?”

“When I woke up! I didn’t know who I was! I didn’t know who you were! I didn’t know I could trust you! It was like living in a dream until I remembered who I really was.” Curtis was lying through his teeth in a lot of ways. He had, of course, woken up in Julie’s body and didn’t understand why it happened or who he was, but he had just sort of faked it. He never remembered anything about actually being Julie or this man’s wife, but he was honestly enjoying it, so he decided to embrace it. In particular, he had opened up to Julie’s husband, Jing. And he felt like he had to be honest that it had happened, but maybe not too honest. He also conveniently left out the fact that in the different life he remembered that he was a guy.

“I honestly feel bad I didn’t notice anything was amiss. But it was probably just a bad dream working its way into the waking hours. I mean, it’s not like you were actually a different person before; that would be impossible.”

“Of course it would! So impossible,” Curtis laughednow too, “But it was really scary in the moment it happened.”

“Don’t worry. I’m always here for you...”

Decision (Part 3)

View Part 1 of Decision.
View Part 2 of Decision.

After several months passed, I had pretty much gotten used to being Charlotte and being a woman. I was able to reconnect with most of my friends, who knew to accept that Charlotte had simply become nicer. I loved spending time with Emily, and it felt like I was dating my best friend. But I had some problems with intimacy. I told myself it was because I still wasn’t used to Charlotte’s body; that I felt like it was violating it somehow. But Emily sat me down on the bed with a more blunt assessment.

“I think you’re straight, dude,” She said.

“What?” I protested, “No way! I’ve always like girls!”

“You used to, sure. But now you have Charlotte’s body, and Charlotte’s body likes dudes. I can tell.”

“How?”

“Give me a compliment.”

“I like the way your sweater brings out the blush in your cheeks.”

“See. That’s a total girl-to-girl friend compliment. If you were a guy still, you’d totally mention my butt or something.”

“But we are both women now! We’re girls! So, of course, it’s girl-to-girl compliments!”

“What do you dream about at night?”

“I dream about being in my old body again.”

“Do you dream about being yourself again? Or do you dream about being with yourself?”

I didn’t want to admit it to Emily, but that last line hit me hard. My fantasties were no longer about being in my old body; they were about being romantic with my old body. That was the sort of intimate experience I wanted. I realized I probably needed to find the real Charlotte again, but now for an entirely different set of reasons. And I can’t imagine Emily would want to help me this time.

Into the Water

Max and Peter didn’t understand why the local beaches were closed. There was no explanation; no reason! They decided it wouldn’t stop them. Besides, who would stop them? There weren’t even any guards working.

Max stepped into the ocean first, and to Peter’s eyes went wide when he saw Max change. And soon enough, instead of his best friend, stood a beautiful woman. Even his clothes had changed!

“What’s wrong, Peter?” Max asked, “Suddenly afraid of breaking the rules and getting a little wet?”

“Dude! Look at yourself!” Peter shouted back.

“What?”

“You turned into a chick!”

Max laughed, “What’s wrong with your head? I’ve always been a woman! Now, come on!”But, of course, now getting into the water was the last thing Peter wanted to do...

Just Visiting

Susan pulled the car up to the house where her mom was waiting in the driveway. Susan looked over to her husband, he seemed nervous. This was the first time since their wedding that they’d seen Susan’s parents, and she knew her mom had always given Tom a hard time.

“Relax, Tom,” Susan assured him, “My mom can just be over protective, but she loves you.”

The conversation didn’t even get to start as it was interupted by the loud nasally voice of Susan’s mom, “Why if it isn’t my daughter and my favorite son-in-law. I don’t know why it took you so long to visit. Susan, why don’t you go say hello to your father inside?”

Susan nodded and went in.

“It’s good to see you, Mrs. Lee,” Tom’s body said.

“You can cut the shit. She can’t hear you out here. You stole my body on my wedding day! And I need answers! Why? Why did you do it? It’s got to be weird stuck in the body of your own daughter’s husband!”

Mrs. Lee inside Tom’s body laughed, “It is. And I didn’t want to be you. That’s for sure. But you weren’t good enough for my daughter. You couldn’t provide enough for her, and I wasn’t going to let you bring my daughter down to your level, so I did what I had to do, and I became you. And that meant that you had to become me. I hope you are happy with my body and my life. I know from first hand experience how handsy Mr. Lee can be at night.”

“Fuck you, Mrs. Lee. I’m going to find a way back to my own body no matter what!”

Becoming a Hero (Part 1)

It all began one day when a monster started attacking the city. Matthew found himself quivering in terror, wishing he could do something and hoping a hero would come in to save the day like what he sees in the movies or reads in his comic books.

And that’s when a strange alien appeared in Matthew’s apartment. The alien made an offer. He could have real life superpowers; he could stop the monster and save the city; he could be a hero. Of course, Matthew couldn’t resist the opportunity, and he quickly agreed.

And as soon as he agreed, Matthew could feel the alien transfer power into his body, but Matthew’s body changed in other ways as well -- he became a woman! He looked at his new body in a tight pink outfit, and he began to ask a litany of questions to the alien.

“Consider it the ultimate secret identity,” The alien shrugged, “Now I’d hurry if I were you, or there might not be much city left.”

And so Matthrw rushed off for a quick battle, ultimately destroying the monster and a good portion of the city along with it. If being a superhero meant being a woman while doing it, it seemed worth it. Plus, he just had to figure out how to turn his powers off and become his normal self again; that whole “secret identity” the alien talked about, right?

Open

The streets had gotten quiet in the hours since the Great Shift. Nearly every store was shut with the lights off, but Albert saw a dim light coming from a bar. There weren’t many people inside; he sat down and asked for a beer.

“I’m gonna need to check your ID,” The bartender said.

“If this woman had an ID, don’t you think I’d be at this woman’s home, trying to figure out things?” Albert asked.

“Don’t worry. I’m just messing with ya. In the wakeof everything that’s happened, I’m not sure checking IDs even means that much anymore.”

“How can you come to work given everything that’s happened? I mean...look at me! I’m a chick!”

“I take it you weren’t one before? Well, it seems everyone is someone else now, so you aren’t alone. Everyone except for me, at least. I’m the same ol’ Pete I always was. Kinda a shame though; being someone else might be fun. And I probably would’ve had an excuse to shut down for the night. But, eh, I own the place and live upstairs. It’s a hellauva commute, I must say.”

Albert laughed for the first time since the Shift swapped him into this body. Maybe things wouldn’t be so bad....

At the Shop (Part 1)

After the world went blurry for a few moments, the first thing Theo noticed was a sharp pain in his fingers. He seemed he had stabbed himself with a sewing needle he had been holding. The pain was enough that he didn’t notice how his entire body had changed. Something he would be distracted from noticing again by a piercing scream not far away.

As he went to investigate, he noticed the fancy dresses around him. Was he in some sort of a store? He felt an ache in his side and paused a moment, which happened to be right in front of a mirror. He was shocked to see the reflection of a middle aged Asian woman instead of his own body. This didn’t make sense; this didn’t make sense at all! People just didn’t randomly become someone else!

Then he heard the scream again. He reconsidered. Maybe people DID randomly swap bodies, and maybe he wasn’t the only one!

Helping

Rachel and Doug had been friends since they were kids. Even as they grew older and moved far from each other, they stayed in touch -- regularly talking on the phone. Though as they got older, the phone calls stopped, replaced by emails. It was a while before Rachel revealed why, her boyfriend hated when she talked with other guys. It only got worse from there. As time passed, Rachel’s boyfriend went from controlling to abusive. She often asked for help from Doug to escape from the relationship, yet any attempts proved unsuccessful.

Doug finally asked if he could try using magic to help her. He wasn’t sure if it would work, because he had never really attempted any spell casting before. Rachel LOLed in an email response, saying magic wasn’t real, but she’d try anything at this point. And so he cast the spell, crossing his fingers that his plan might actually work.

Sure enough, the next morning he woke up in Rachel’s apartment and in her body with her abusive boyfriend snoring beside him. He was more than surprised that Rachel’s body was pregnant; this was something she hadn’t mentioned in the emails! He decided this didn’t change the plan at all as he quickly got dressed and went to the bus station. It’d be a long, uncomfortable journey in Rachel’s pregnant body for him to meet up with his own body, but he knew he had the will to make a break from Rachel’s boyfriend in a way that she just couldn’t seem to do on her own. Any unpleasantness was worth it.

It Sucks

“This Great Shift thing sucks.” Brian complained, “Freshman year of college should be like the best. Instead I’m stuck in the body of some 40-something year old townie.”

“Come on, it’s not so bad,” His roommate Jake replied, “At least you can look at yourself in the mirror while you change clothes.”

“It’s not excited when you look at yourself. And it’s not like this body is the kind you see on websites.”

“Well, I’m sure the government will find a way to get people back to normal in like two or three weeks, tops. They have all sorts of body swap and teleport technology just sort of sitting around that they pretend doesn’t exist.”

“Dude, the government doesn’t have some sort of secret body swapping machine. They don’t just hide things from the public like that.”

“Hey, man, just you wait. You’ll probably be prioritized because your body is old and stuff. They might even sweep you away in the middle of the night.”

“Oh, shut up, I’m in a middle aged body, not a senior citizen! And it sucks! And there’s no savior that’ll magically put me back in my own body. It just sucks, and it’s going to continue to suck. I have to get to used to it.”

Not According to Plan (Part 2)

View Part 1 of Not According to Plan.

They quickly managed to contact most of the guests. Everyone may have been in a different body, but everyone also seemed to be okay. The only person Calvin wasn’t able to get ahold of was his future wife, Marisol. But it turned out she wasn’t far; she ended up swapping bodies with one of the undocumented workers on the venue’s kitchen staff. He owned no phone nor car, yet Marisol was determined to make it to the venue.

She showed up and explained who she was. Calvin also told her about how he swapped with the wedding planner. The two agreed to move forward with the ceremony, despite being in different bodies. Marisol borrowed a suit from another guest. Calvin apologized for not having a dress; they hadn’t located Marisol’s body, and Calvin wasn’t sure it would fit his new body anyway. Marisol told him it didn’t matter; the only thing that mattered was that they were together. Calvin couldn’t help but blush and smile. He couldn’t believe he was about to get married and was in even more disbelief that he was technically now the bride in this situation. Marisol was right though; none of that mattered. Right now, he was simply the luckiest woman in the world.

The Mission

“Act natural, and don’t panic. I wasn’t followed, but you can never be too careful,” Agent L said grabbing his companion’s arm.

“Well, it’s about time,” Alice Wu snapped back, “I was worried you were going to get my body killed! And I didn’t appreciate expecting to actually spent some time with you, but instead be surrounded by CIA agents who swap our bodies!”

“I said I’m sorry, but --”

“No you didn’t.”

“Well, I’m sorry, but I needed your body for a mission. I needed to sneak into North Korea and steal some codes. Your body and your passport allowed me to do that.”

“You could’ve asked me to get them for you.”

“It was all classified. I’ve probably told you too much already. But you know I repsect you. It’s all over now anyway. We just need to go back to the CIA and return to normal.”

“What I don’t want to swap back to normal.”

“I didn’t want to do it this way, but I’m afraid you once again don’t have a choice.”

As Agent L exited the restaurant holding Ms. Wu’s arm, he expected another ambush. But this time there were no agents.

“It seems no one is coming to help you this time,” Alice smiled, “This might be that I’ve already convinced them we already swapped back to normal. Maybe that respect is more than mutual, so much so that I’ve adored actually BEING you while you were on your silly mission...”

Back in Time (Part 1)

To Whomever Finds This Note:

I have made a truly amazing scientific breakthrough that allowed for instantaneous travel through space and time. My initial activation shot my brain hundreds of years into the future to find myself in the body of a woman living in Japan with amazing technologies at her fingertips. Unfortunately, my presence was not stable, and both my brain and new body slingshotted back to England in the late Middle Ages.

I don’t dare explain that I am from the future, my technology, or that my mind was originally a man’s now in a woman’s body. They see me as “exotic,” and attribute my use of more modern english to my “accent.” Their false assumption of my foreign-ness has allowed me to hide any errors or faux pas I might make in plain sight.

I have ensured the gadgets on her person that came with me were well hidden, but I have certainly used my knowledge of the modern world to improve the lives of the poor villagers. Some basic hygiene such as not dumping waste into the water we drink has gone a long way to improve health. Though I do seem to be stuck here with no access to the type of technology I would need to create the means to return.

The Farmhouse (Part 2)

View Part 1 of The Farmhouse.

I slouched down and sat on the floor, still reeling from the fact that I had swapped bodies with my own mother!

Finally, my mom (now in MY body) leaned down to comfort me. “I think I can fix it,” She said, “Whoever made this strange thing likely just left it on when they disconnected the power. I just have to figure out how to power it down before reconnecting it. Then we should be able to swap back to normal.”

“Can’t we just touch the wires together like you did earlier,” I begged.

“If we do that again, we risk frying the circuits. And if the circuits fry before we swap back, then we’ll be stuck; I obviously wouldn’t be able to repair the machine if that happened.”

“Okay, fine.” I sighed, “How long should it take?”

“Probably a few days. If I’m really lucky, only a few hours. But I suspect I’ll have to drive into town for parts.”

Out of this World

Receiving the first transmission from an alien civilization was a momentous occasion. The humans sent as much information about humanity as they could from music to mathematics, from art to anatomy. The aliens seemed to sent back schematics for a portal. Some were hesitant to build it, thinking it would allow the aliens to invade Earth. However, top scientists concluded that the portal would only work for a single lifeform, for a single trip, and it was a one-way trip.

It took quite a while to build, and almost no one wanted to be the one to use it. Anyone going through would likely never see their loved ones again, or even another human. Dr. Maxwell Wen eventually volunteered. He had never gotten married; his parents were dead. He couldn’t justify allowing a member of his team to make the sacrifice.

The trip through the portal was painless, a single step and he was on an alien world. He was greeted by a group of aliens, who explained how the portal worked. It destroyed his body and converted it to data, which could be transmitted over long distances much quicker. Then it was reconstructed, curing and diseases, fixing wounds, and repairing any damages DNA; improvements could be made as well, such as allowing his reconsructed body to live comfortably in the alien atmosphere or adding knowledge of the alien language to his brain. He questioned why he had become a woman. The aliens didn’t know what he meant, but as they had no gender, the portal had assumed Maxwell’s Y chromosome was simply a damaged X, and repaired it accordingly.

Maxwell supposed it didn’t really matter as he was the only human on the entire planet -- and the only being with a concept of gender at all. It was fascinating to collect information on the alien species and send data back to Earth in a human language they could understand. At the same time, he would translate any transmissions from Earth for the aliens while also sharing from his own depth of knowledge.

If It Ain't Broke (Part 2)

View Part 1 of If It Ain't Broke.

“God, you make my body look so stupid sometimes.” Anne heard Joe say from a distance.

Making fun of each other was common for both of them. That sort of banter often made Anne feel like she was already married to Joe. She knew she probably looked stupid by continuing to wear women’s yoga pants and high heels even though she had Joe’s body, but she did it so she felt better about herself, not for anyone else. She realized Joe dressed the way he did for similar reasons.

Of course, she couldn’t let him get away without a barb of her own. As soon as she saw an opening, she spouted out, “You’re hardly a lesbian as long as you’re with me,” referencing the previous night.

As the jokes toned down, they began to talk about their wedding plans. Anne had an uncomfortable favor.

“I know it’s weird, but...would you mind wearing my mom’s old dress for the wedding?” She asked before adding, “I think it would mean a lot to her. It was something I promised I would do prior to the Shift, and considering the body she’s now in...I don’t think she’ll be around much longer. And I think it would mean a lot to her to see you dressed like that and for a moment have her think that’s me up there...”

“Of course, but I guess you gotta wear a tux that day.”

“Yeah, not looking forward to that, but it’s fair. But after the wedding, we’re back to the usual.”

“For sure!”

“Good, because I’ve been working out and your former body is going to look so good in a bikini on our honeymoon...”

Pivot

“Who was she?” Lawrence asked looking down at the frozen woman in the glass box.

“No idea,” The man working at the Cryogenic Center replied, “People have been frozen here for years. We’ve lost a lot of records. We’ve had a lot of screw ups. This one, for instance. She’s one of the one whose brain just sort of melted inside the body. But, you know, its one of the ways we’ve pivoted as a business. We can sell the bodies to people like you.”

“You mean the sick and dying?” Lawrence sighed as he took another pill from the jar in his pocket.

The man laughed, “I mean the rich. Most of the people who come here ain’t like you. They ain’t coughing and wheezing or popping pills. Well, they may be popping pills but not to stay alive. Sometimes they buy, sure. But often times, they rent the bodies for a while, just to do stuff without consequences. Though a lot of times, what they do with the rented bodies -- let’s just say they don’t get their deposits back.”

Lawrence looked down at the woman again, “She deserves better than that.” There was a long pause before he added, “So, yeah, I’ll be her.”

“In that case, you go get ready in that room over there, and I’ll prep her up. The doctor will be in shortly to operate the equipment to transfer your brain into her body. Just a fair warning, the skin might stay blue for a few hours while you fully thaw.”

Island Vacation (Part 3)

View Part 1 of Island Vacation.
View Part 2 of Island Vacation.

As the months passed, Mason began to adjust to his new life of this woman. She had a lot of debts; many of them to her brother. Luckily, Mason was able to easily handle the receptionist job; the worst part was probably that her brother insisted Mason wear a dress on the job. But it was a way to earn money, and he had a lot to pay back. It was nearly impossible to save between that and ongoing expenses. He was pretty thankful for this woman’s brother. Not only had he provided the job, but he rented the room in his apartment to Mason for dirt cheap.

Mason often thought about sharing with him about the swap, but the find out the person who looked like his sister and acted like she turned her life around with his help wasn’t actually his sister would probably be too much for the guy. So Mason kept pretending. He often tried calling his old number, but no one ever picked up. He did collect his meager savings in a jar, but opted against buying a plane ticket once he was about halfway to his goal. He could only imagine how much this woman screwed up his life now that she had control over it for a few months. If they were to swap back, he’d probably be in an even bigger mess, and there’d be no kind brother to help him out in his own body.

The Impossible

“What the hell is happening,” Charlie mumbled.

“Please don’t speak,” The doctor explained, “You are likely still weak from the procedure, and you may have some memory lapses. Allow me to explain. A few years ago, you were diagnosed with brain cancer, and we tried everything to cure you. Neither cutting it out nor radiation treatment seemed to be successful. But what if we could use donor cells to help reconstruct the damaged areas? We cut a bit deeper than we normally would and replaced very small parts with brain pieces from a recently deceased man. It sounds controversial, and it was certainly experimental, but I am happy to say it looks like you will make a full recovery, Miss Ramirez!”

“Miss?” Charlie asked, “Ramirez? No, I’m Charlie. Charlie Hendrix...a...man...”

“...Hendrix?” The doctor asked, “The donor? No, no it’s impossible. There wasn’t enough of the brain to...and the sections would be all wrong for that to happen. Oh, my...”

Personalities

Jason fiddled nervously as he sat for his session with his therapist. He had been going every since the Great Shift swapped him into a body with a history of mental problems. For the first month or so, things had been going fine -- but he quickly developed some concerns.

“Ihis chick had multiple personalty disorder, right?” Jason said flatly, “What if when the Great Shift happened -- and this is sort pf philosophical -- but what if multiple personalities left this body and then multiple personalities entered? I found the file on her last time; you were careless. They found multiple people, each claiming to be a different one of her personalities.

“And now I...I have memories I don’t know where they came from. I’ve called people who I don’t know and maintained conversations as if I’ve known them my whole life using a name for myself I don’t know. I’m starting to do things I don’t remember -- I don’t know how or when I shaved my head! They’re in here with me! I know it! I can -- I can log into Facebook accounts with passwords I mysteriously know somehow that all stopped posting right before the Shift. The woman who had this body before me did have a mental illness; she couldn’t tell anything was wrong. I’m not about to tell you everything is fine. I don’t have a mental illness, so I can absolutely say for sure that something is definitely wrong with me right now.”

Succession (Part 2)

View Part 1 of Succession.

It didn’t take long for Everett to learn why the woman who sold her to him did it for such a low amount. It wasn’t just because she was desperate; it was because she thought she could take advantage of things once she was in his body. However, she was quite out of her league.

Everett had already sold his corporation and stashed much of his fortune in off-shore, unnamed accounts. With all the correct passwords, he was able to gain access to his funds, buying back a controlling interest. He was quickly able to squash any legal claims she thought she had. The biggest victory she had was maintaining possession of his mansion -- though he imagined the property taxes would come to bite her at the end of the year, if she even managed to live that long!

Everett tried not to give his former body a second thought, but every few months, something new would pop up. He was surprised at how many years this continued! He knew his old body was tough, but it was still no match for this young body with his keen, business-oriented brain inside of it!

No Case

Jim always hated giving his clients this type of news, but he stood in front of them and sighed, “Quite honestly, and I hate to break it to you, but you don’t have much of a case against the university.”

“How do we not have a case? We were at the school when it happened. They’re clearly at fault here. I swapped into the body of my own student because of them! I’m a tenured professor trapped in a nineteen year old woman’s body for Christ’s sake!” Professor Howard Powell protested.

“Look, I believe you, I do,” Jim sighed again, “But the courts need evidence. Quite frankly, we can’t come up with any! There’s not even any proof that you two have even swapped bodies at all! We did brain scans on oth your bodies, and Miss Lim doesn’t have any prior scans to match up with, but Howard, you do. The scans still line with your body, not with where you say your mind is.”

“But I know I’m me,” Howard stated again from inside Grace Lim’s body, “And surely the university knows something.”

“If they do, we haven’t been able to uncover any record of it. We literally have nothing to go at them with. If I were in your position, Howard, I would enjoy my new lease on life; take as much advantage as you can being young again. And if I were you, Miss Lim, I’d say you should enjoy the financial security that comes with being a tenured professor. There’s really nothing they can do to fire you; even if you do a terrible job teaching. Enjoy your new lives, appreciate them. Maybe if your lucky; it’ll all just reverse on its own...”

First Semester (Part 2)

View Part 1 of First Semester.

The swap itself was surprisingly uneventful. Each student would show up to the classroom at the given time, pair up with their partner (in Josh’s case, Ms. Wen), then go off to a side room where someone from the engineering team aimed a device at the two of you where they’d zap you. It was instantaneous and painless. If the two bodies were similar, you might not even notice. However, Josh certainly noticed that he was now female and certainly older.

It wasn’t uncommon for the students to help each other adapt to their new bodies, but Ms. Wen was pretty no-nonsense. She simply handed her home address to Josh and left. He stood there somewhat dumbfounded. What was he supposed to do now? He figured he could at least pick a less stuffy outfit, so he decided to head to Ms.

It was a fairly big house now far from campus. Many of the rooms seemed empty, but finding her closet was pretty easy. As he looked through, he settled on something that looked comfortable. If he had gotten any other female body in the swap, he might’ve been excited about changing clothes, but as Ms. Wen, he just wanted to do it as quick as possible.

New Product Now Available!

The bright pink box caught David’s eyes. The fact there was a whole aisle of the product was even more interesting. The ads claimed it could “partially reverse the effects of the Great Shift” (with an asterisk). There was even a man sitting at a small table with a display.

Confronting the man, David asked an obvious question, “What exactly does ‘partial reverse the effects of the Great Shift’ mean?”

“What’s your name, Ma’am?” The slick salesman asked.

“I’ve been going by Danielle since the Shift.”

“But that’s not actually your name, is it? What was it before the Shift? Daniel? Dennis?”

“David,” He confessed.

“Well, you see, David. I bet you’d like to be a guy again, right? Well, a few short weeks and this product will do that. Course, you gotta keep on it to stay that way.”

“So, it would turn me back into a man, but I’ll still be twenty years older than I was; I won’t suddenly change my race back either. Will I? I won’t really go back to who I was.”

“Well, we do what we can to make people feel better about themselves, even if it’s just a little bit.”

“I miss who I was, sure. But I’ve comes to terms with who I’ve become. This just feels like it would change me again. I’m sure there are people who need this, and I’m sure it will be good for them. But I’m also sure you’ve had this for a while, considering how fast it came to market. You could’ve offered it to transgender people long before the Shift; it would’ve helped them out. You chose not to do that. But now there’s a catastrophe to market from, and here your company is, trying to claim this reverses the Shift when that’s far from true. You’re just preying on the desperate...”

On the Road

The remote highway rarely had more than a single car driving down it at any time, so it was odd that several vehicles were driving along it when the solar eclipse happened. One of the drivers was distracted by the sudden loss of sunlight, smashing into another car and resulting in a chain reaction. Due to magnetic materials below the surface at the exact spot, the occupants of the vehicles all ended up swapping bodies with each other.

Jack had been a young man just out of college riding on his motorcycle, but now he was inside the body of the mother of a family of four sitting who had been sitting in the front passenger seat of a minivan. He sat on the roadside as everyone tried to figure out who was who. Perhaps the oddest moment was when the woman’s six year of daughter piped up with a slew of profanities, explaining that she was the actually the burly truck driver who had been behind the wheel of the big rig. They all began to talk about the possibility of trying to recreate the accident in hopes of swapping back to normal...

A Weird Day at the Office

Reid tried smiling when people passed by his desk, but he was actually feeling pretty miserable. The morning commute had been plagued by thunder storms. It wasn’t all that out of the ordinary -- but a lightning strike that hit the building just after 9AM, causing everyone inside to swap bodies certainly was!

And Reid ended up swapping with probably the last person in the ofice he would’ve ever wanted to swap with -- Tara! For starters, she never seemed to be appropriately dressed for the office. Today was certainly no exception, as Reid was forced to deal with the short leather tube dress she had been wearing. And she also seemed to spend so much time gossiping or flirting that she hardly seemed to ever do any work. At least he could change that as he pledged to work hard that day. Yet more people seemed to come by his desk than usual, and he felt obliged to smile or say hi. And soon he realized some weren’t just being friendly; they we’re hitting on him! But they had to know he wasn’t really Tara! Everyone had swapped bodies! He certainly wasn’t going to flirt back, or at least he was going to try not to...

Unnoticed (Part 2)

View Part 1 of Unnoticed.

The Role Exchanger had affected Allison while she was in the kitchen as well. Just as Kevin was unaware that his entire body (except for his poor eyesight and glasses) had been swapped with the attractive woman in the apartment above them, Allison was didn’t notice how the Role Exchanger had affected her either.

She had gained the muscle mass and height of a man passing by outside doing his daily workout. In addition, she also gained an assertive and bisexual attitude from another neighbor.

When Kevin (now technically considering herself a her) expressed her love upon her return, she couldn’t help but respond by picking her up and planting a giant kiss on her face. Kevin responded by kissing back. As husband and wife, none of this was new to them. But they both observed how clumsy and awkward they were as they made their way to the bed.

“It’s like I don’t know what I’m doing...as if we’re experimenting together for the first time,” Kevin observed without realizing quite how right she was thanks to the Role Exchanger.

Breakdown (Part 1)

A day ago, Ami’s car had broken down by the remote farmhouse. Jim extended his rural hospitality to her as best he could, even if he found Ami to be a stuck up and obnoxious city girl. Ami didn’t think too highly of Jim either, perceiving him as a backwards redneck. Still, they both tried to be polite with Jim offering to help Ami with her car, explaining he just needed to go into town tomorrow for a few parts, and Ami being quite grateful in response. The tension between them was unspoken up until the moment they swapped bodies.

For the next few hours, it was a shouting match full of insults before they both finally calmed down. Jim finally decided the plan stayed the same; he’d go into town and get the car parts the next day, but also ask around regarding any strange circumstances. Ami would stay here and watch the television for any news reports about any sort of incidents.

Jim was gone several hours and came back shocked to see how Ami had dressed his body. “Where the hell did you even get clothes like that from?”

“Next day shipping,” She replied, “There’s no reason I can’t make your body look good as long as I’m the one in it!”

“Well, just don’t leave the farm dressed like that. You’ll embarrass me for the next decade.”

“And can we talk about what YOU’RE wearing!?”

“I got it while I was in town...” Jim explained.

Being the Boss

Sebastian stood when his boss entered the office. He greeted her with a smile.

“What the hell are you wearing?” His boss Grace asked.

“You told me to wear a dress from your closet!”

“A dress that’s appropriate for the office! Do you know anything about women?”

“I’m a dude in my early 20s straight out of college who has never had a girlfriend,” Sebastian retorted, “Of course I know nothing about women! And I’ve been stuck in your body for twelve hours now, and...it’s weird. Even changing into this dress and looking at myself...it’s weird! And don’t get me started on using the bathroom! All I want is to be out of your body! I don’t want to be female! I don’t want to be 40 years old! I just want to go back to being the normal me! Now I heard other people have already swapped back, so I hope we can just go down to research...”

“Well, I was hoping you’d adapt to being me a little better, because I plan on keeping your body.”

“No, you can’t...you...I...”