Cold

Some people noticed their new bodies right after the Great Shift. Keith noticed the cold. He swapped into the body of a woman walking in heels, immediately lost his balance, and fell into a pile of snow. His mind couldn’t fathom how he had gone from being in his nice, warm apartment to suddenly being surrounded by cold snow.

It was until he began to pick himself up that he started to notice everything else -- the pink dress, the long hair, the face that he was literally now a woman.

As he began to look around, he realized he wasn’t the only one either. People weren’t exactly shy about checking out their new bodies, despite the cold and despite the fact that what they were doing seemed completely inappropriate for public viewing. Though Keith chalked all that up to New York City being New York City, after all.

Of course, despite all the craziness of the Shift, he was still outside in freezing temperatures. He needed to get back to his apartment, or at least duck into some place warm.

Style

Both Jim and Caroline had hoped going to sleep for the night and waking up the next morning would reverse the body swap that had affected both of them. When it was obvious it hadn’t, they decided to meet up. It was in a park not far from both their apartments; they barely recognized themselves.

“What the hell are you wearing?” Jim asked, “I hope my roommates didn’t see you leave looking like that?”

“It’s called style. You should try it some time,” Caroline replied, “I mean, like, you really should. You have my body looking like someone who grew up in a Good Will bin. And would it hurt you to put some makeup on my face?”

“Hey! I’m a guy! We wear comfortable clothes, and we don’t wear makeup!”

“Except you’re not a guy right now. You’re me! And if we’re stuck as each other for longer, you’re going to have to make a bit more effort, please?”

“Only if you agree to tone it down a little! I don’t want people thinking I’m gay when I’m back in that body!”

Caroline hesitated, “Okay. Fine. A little. But now, we have a lot of work to do on you...or, on me...whatever.”

Famous

“I wish I was famous,” I remembered muttering those words in the last few seconds as a man.

The next thing I knew, it felt like I was falling, as if my soul was dropping into a new place. Then I regained a physical form only to find myself falling for real, unable to stand on tall heels that I had never worn before in my life.

There was a crowd watching me. Everyone was taking videos. I tried to pick myself up, but I couldn’t. Swapping bodies with someone wasn’t like what you might see in the movies. Your brain doesn’t know how to adapt so quickly. You need to relearn how to do basic things like moving and walking.

I don’t know how long I struggled, but eventually a medic came. He helped me off the stage and began to examine me. He could tell my movements were slow and awkward. Eventually, an ambulance came and took me to the hospital. None of the doctors could figure out exactly what happened, nor did I feel open to tell them that I swapped into this body somehow. The longer they kept me under observation, the more I was able to relearn basic movements in my new body. I noticed on the television in the room that my situation was on the news. “Supermodel collapses on the runway” were the stories. I guess I got my wish to be famous.

Find a Friend

“Okay, so it’s pretty clear that everyone has all swapped bodies, and it seems y’all have swapped with each other,” Tyler explained trying to get ahold of the confusing situation, “But has anyone seen MY body? I was a 6’6” Black man before all this happened. I was like the only one in this entire park. And so I guess if you want to find her, I think you better start looking for my body, because all your other friends are accounted for, right?”

A few heads nodded ever so slightly. Though they might have cared in theory, they were all still much too concerned with the fact that they had all just been body swapped as well. Tyler wasn’t exactly rallying anyone to an enthusiastic search.

Goblin Princess (Part 2)

View Part 1 of Goblin Princess.

Ryan brought the adventurer inside the goblin castle and began to pepper him with questions. He knew the dialog was probably all just the programming of the game, but he still couldn’t stop himself from saying any of it.

“Do you like my wedding dress?” Ryan asked.

The answer the adventurer gave was cold and aloof, but it wasn’t hostile. That was certainly nicer than ny goblin (even a half-goblin) expected, and Ryan found himself blushing. It was getting harder and harder for Ryan to distinguish what thoughts were actually his own. He began to talk more about the wedding. He told the adventurer he try to could cover his “ugly goblin ears” with his hair for the ceremony.

The adventurer quickly agreed that the ears were hideous, and Ryan felt his first tinge of disappointment. While he was still happy to not be outright attacked, he wanted something a little more from his future husband. It was as though Ryan knew a better option had to exist, but he couldn’t quite place why he knew that. He pushed that troubled thought out of his head to focus on the one thing he truly needed from his future husband: a ring!

Ryan’s head cleared for a brief moment. Of course! All the dialog he was spouting was just to send the adventurer on a quest (a quest he missed out on by killing the goblin princess too early).

Nursing Home

“What the hell did you do to me, you preverted old man,” Camila shouted, “You stole my body somehow! I don’t want to be old! I don’t want to be a man! I don’t want to be stuck as you in this nursing home! Give me my damn body back!”

“Gee, Mr. Gillis, I think I am going to have to talk to the doctor about having your medication increased,” Jasper lied while pretending to act concerned, “Talk of stealing bodies? That’s just dillustional.”

“No, no! I remember! I remember getting my nursing training, and I remember getting this job! I remember my first kiss with a boy! I remember! I know who I really am!”

“Seriously, look at mr, Mr. Gillis. No one would ever believe you are anything but a sad, old man. And it’s probably not best to act so aggressive towards the person in charge of your care. You’d be quite amazed at what I’m authorized to do based on the documents your children signed when they put you in here.”

Suddenly, Camila got quiet. She was realizing that Jasper had not just stolen her body, but now he was threatening her. If she ever hoped to get her body back from him, she was going to have to figure out a much more subtle approach.

Community College

Braydon had known Swap Class was a requirement for every freshman at his ivy league school, but he had expected to switch bodies with one of his classmates. Instead, this year, the university had partnered with several community colleges in the area. As a resuly, Braydon was in complete shock when he swapped with Lucia.

But it wasn’t just that he was going to be spending the semester in her body; he was expected to live her life! He couldn’t believe his parents were spending $80,000 a year so he could live with Lucia’s mom in a one bedroom apartment, work a full time job, and attend classes at -- ugh -- community college.

It didn’t take long for him to feel completely degraded by the experience. His first paper for Swap Class was basically just complaining about how terrible Lucia’s life was. He got an ‘F’ along with several notes imploring him to explore Lucia’s culture or try to and understand her struggles instead of just complaining about them.

Pick It Up

As she walked the final stretch of her morning commute from the train to the office, Tara noticed a few coins along the way. She though they might have been gold or at least valuable, so she reached down to pick one up. A spark of lightning shot from the coin. She wanted to drop it, but she didn’t seem to be able to; in fact, her entire body was no longer responding. But it was still moving, stretching as if he hadn’t moved for a long time.

“Well, this is unexpected. I never would’ve guessed I would become a chick,” Tara’s body said, no matter how much she was trying to stop it, “You have no idea how long I was stuck in that damned coin. You can only still perceive the world, because I’m still holding it. Once I drop it, you’ll be stuck in there until someone picks you up. I can almost promise you it won’t be as good as this one. Maybe it willbe like my old one -- fat, bald, male.”

Tara was horrified, but there was nothing she could do.

The man in her body continued, “Once I put you down someplace safe, I might try to come back up here with a few of your friends, convince them to pick up my buddies who are still in that pile over there. Maybe I gotta practice acting like you -- you know, walking in heels, maybe swinging my hips like women do? Eh, heck, I have no idea, and it’s not like you would help me even if you could...”

Fix

“I don’t get it. I don’t understand,” Chris flustered, “The university has fixed the body swapping machine.We can swap back now!”

“But do you really want to?” Mika asked, “Just look as us for a second. When I was in that body, I dressed like I am now -- jeans, a sweatshirt, no makeup -- and look at what you’ve done in a few short months in my body. You’ve developed a style that few other girls on campus can't match. I’m actually really comfortable in your body; it feels right. I would highly doubt it if you didn’t say the same.”

Chris became silent for a moment. He had absolutely enjoyed every second of being a woman -- of being Mika. She was right. He was pressuring her to swap back because it was what they were supposed to do, just like how he never explored fashion or his feminine side in his old body because it was something he was not supposed to do. Being a woman had freed him of all that.

“But can we stay like this?” He asked, “Is that even allowed?”

“Why wouldn’t it be? It’s their fault we were swapped in the first place. And as long as we both agree, there’s shouldn’t be an issue.”

Crimes (Part 1)

Jim never had a great life. He dropped out of school, couldn’t hold down a job, and needed cash to avoid a prison sentence for petty theft. Basically speaking, things were a mess. And it was probably at a moment of absolute darkness when Jim discovered he had a strange power. He could swap bodies with anyone he wished.

At first, he’d steal a body for a few minutes, drop the money out of their wallet some place, and return to his own body to pick up the cash a short time later. It was a slow and inefficient process; maybe people didn’t have any cash on them anyway. He realized he needed to go bigger.

So he started to steal people’s bodies to commit significant crimes. He often picked bodies that he thought looked innocent. After all, no one suspected that an old lady seemingly confused by the technology of an ATM for thirty minutes was actually hacking the machine. It ended up spitting out a lot more cash than what he had been doing with the wallets. Just to be safe, he’d swap between a few different bodies to pick up and drop off the cash before securing it with his own. If they ever checked the security, he figured the police would pick up the old lady. Even if they ever did trace it back to him, when you can swap bodies with anyone, there is always a way out.

A Race

Xia still couldn’t believe she was looking at her own body. She had come to this ski resort to train, hopefully qualify for the Olympics. But now she was stuck in the body of some beanpole man, while he was inside of her.

“I’ll tell you what,” He said to her, “Let’s have a race. Just one ski run down the hill. If you win, I’ll tell you how we can probably swap bodies back.”

She spoke with an anger in her voice, “I thought you said you weren’t responsible for this?”

“That was the truth! I wasn’t! That doesn’t mean I don’t have some idea about how it happened. There’s this crazy old guy at the lodge who I spoke with that talked about the scientific theory behind swapping people’s bodies. I thought he was a nut at the time, but now -- ?”

“What if I lose?”

“Then you accept these are our bodies, and you help me in any way so that I can continue your life as you.”

Physcially, Xia knew she couldn’t win. She had worked hard in her original body to build up muscles in all the right places, with extremely strong legs in particular. Then again, the guy inside her body might have no clue how to ski properly, and the knowledge still inside her might be enough to prop her up to victory. Plus, all things considered, could she really say no? Winning this race might be the only way to convince this guy to swap back with her.

Isabel

It wasn’t uncommon for the sunlight to bounce off one of the other skyscrapers in just the right way to fill the office with a flash of light. But the flash of light one that one day was different. It was like it had a force behind it; it was almost painful, even knocking people to their feet. It didn’t take long for everyone to notice that the flash of light that day was no ordinary flash of light.

Like many of his co-workers, Andrew found himself on the floor after the flash. He felt very strange and oddly hungry, considering he had just eaten lunch. As he began to pick himself up as he noticed a reflection in the office windows. It was the supermodel they had brought in earlier that day for their latest ad campaign. He turned his head behind to get a look at her, but she wasn’t there. Then he noticed that as he turned his head, the reflection of the supermodel did the same. As he slowly stood, once again the supermodel’s reflection mimicked his actions. Finally, he walked slowly to the window and touched it; seeing his own hand touching the reflection of the supermodel. He didn’t want to look down to see what he knew was there; the leather pants, the pink top, the breasts. He jumped when a voice addressed him from behind.

“Isabel, are you okay?” It asked.

“I’m okay, but I’m not Isabel.” Andrew replied.

“That’s what I was afraid of. No one is who they are supposed to be anymore...”

A Murder in the Library (Part 2)

View Part 1 of A Murder in the Library.

“This is dumb,” Malcolm complained while looking through some of the old books Mrs. Porter had shown them, “What do we even expect to find here?”

“Well, for starters, a way to get back into our own bodies ... unless you enjoy wearing pantyhose and preparing for retirement,” George replied, “Well, everyone except for me, I guess. I don’t have an old body to go back to.”

“Maybe you’ll go into your dead body, and we’ll all get Tiffany back.”

George gave a glare at Malcolm’s rude comment; Malcolm realized he probably crossed a line.He tried to correct himself, “I’m sorry. I just miss Tiffany, and wish we could hae have her back. But I don’t think we’re going to get anywhere with these books It’ll take a million years to read all of them!”

“We can narrow it down by title. Look for anything about magic or the occult or something like that.”

That Guy

I never made music that could be described as mainstream. Mostly I just plugged a bunch of drum machines and effects pedals through a bunch of distortion with an occasional yelp into a microphone. My harsh noise set often seemed to be the perfect time for the audience to go outside for a smoke break. I knew I was never going to be the next big thing; I was always just going to be “that guy” in the Brooklyn indie music scene.

But then the Great Shift happened.

Suddenly, I wasn’t “that guy” anymore. I wasn’t even a guy at all anymore; I swapped bodies with a woman. And if I had swapped bodies with some random woman, like a lawyer or a nurse, I probably would’ve continued to perform in obscurity. But a weird twist of fate caused me to swap bodies with one of the members of the biggest kpop girl bands in the world.

Her manager and agent tried to pressure me into continuing her career, but there was no way I was going to play pop music. I continued playing my harsh noise sets in underground Brooklyn venues. But the word started to get around about whose body I now had. It started with people no longer leaving during my set, instead watching with curiosity. Then people started showing up specifically to see my set. It eventually built into a large, sweaty crowd -- obviously breaking any sort of capacity or fire codes. I knew they weren’t really there for my music; they were all there to simply see the body of a kpop superstar. They’d cheer my random yelps into the microphone, so happy to hear her voice even through layers of distortion. But I didn’t even want to look up; I didn’t want to acknowledge an audience. I knew they didn’t care. Not really. I preferred my former obscurity.

Back in Time (Part 3)

View Part 1 of Back in Time.
View Part 2 of Back in Time.

And while I was still aiding the king, I was under no mistaken impression about what would be considered to be my main purpose now. And thus, soon enough, I was with child. Once again, a bit of modern knowledge certainly helped. I stayed away from wine. I continued to do stretching like yoga. I refused to let anyone tell me I was too “delicate” also.

The doctors considered each of the four children I ultimately gave birth to “remarkably healthy.” Of course, I suspected a good amount of this was due to the genetic diversity that much of the royal family lacked. And despite technically now being part of the royal bloodline, they’d never be kings of queens. My princely husband had seven older brothers, each with kids of their own. But, still, I knew I’d be taken care of about as best as could be possible in this time period. I anticipated that I would die a happy woman one day...

The Farmhouse (Part 4)

View Part 1 of The Farmhouse.
View Part 2 of The Farmhouse.
View Part 3 of The Farmhouse.

“When I get out of here, I am SO going to kill you,” I heard my own voice yell from inside one of the chambers.

Meanwhile, I was busy marveling at being in my sister’s body. I was definitely convinced that I wanted to be a woman, and my sister’s body wasn’t old like my mom’s. It didn’t hurt that my sister worked out a bunch and was super flexible. I sort of just stood around and tried to move my body in weird ways as my sister kept cursing at me from inside the locked chamber.

I probably shouldn’t have tricked her into the chamber, and it was probably foolish that I had locked myself inside. But, damnit, it worked. Now I had my leverage.

“If you want me to let you out,” I yelled, “First, I get to keep your body for a week. Then you need to help me find another woman’s body. I don’t care if it’s a friend or a stranger...but I have to approve, okay?”

There was a moment of silence before I finally heard a reluctant, “Fine.”

One Hell of a Performance

Adam’s latest invention had completely malfunctioning, causing him to swap bodies with Cho, a ballet dancer in a nearby studio. She was obviously furious, but he promised to do everything possible to make things right. That meant tackling things on two fronts.

The first was not only keeping up with Cho’s ballet for an upcoming performance, but doing extra training on the side in order to not look like a fool during practice.

The second was obviously fixing his invention to try to swap back to normal as soon as possible. What made this especially challenging was the intensity and amount of ballet practice Adam had to do.

The night of Cho’s big performance arrived before Adam knew it. He desperately wanted to finish before the curtain rose; it was an hour away, and he was so close to fixing this. He was dressed and ready to go just in case he didn’t finish in time. With moments to spare he was ready. But Cho stopped him, telling him they couldn’t swap back yet. After all, Adam had been the one practicing and preparing for the performance all this time now. He was ready for it; she certainly wasn’t. Adam tried to protest, but Cho laid into him with a guilt trip about the initial accident. Finally, he nodded. Tonight, he would give one hell of a ballet performance; they could always swap back in the morning.

Not a Bad Place to Be

Deigo’s phone buzzed, and he checked it with excitement. “I’ve got bars again,” He said to Jose, “Let me check the news sites.”

The websites were all very slow to load. He was getting reception again, but it wasn’t very good. Many of the links didn’t load; the images never did. But the text of one news site seemed to work.

He began to read the article and explain the situation to Jose, “Okay, so they’re calling it the Great Shift. Early estimates are over 95% of the world population swapped bodies with someone else. They don’t expect us to swap back to normal...at least not any time soon. Crap. I need another drink.”

Diego and Jose stared blankly at each other for a moment.

“What are you looking at me for?” Jose asked, “Yeah, I’m in the bartender’s body, but I’m no more him than you are a supermodel despite that body you found yourself in. Just take whatever you want and pour it yourself. I don’t care! I’m not here to serve you, and I’m not about to collect money from you.”

“Yeah, sorry,” Diego apologized as he poured himself another drink as he continued to read the article, “It’s just sort of...force of habit. Things seem really bad out there. I guess this dive bar ain’t a bad place to be for the time being.”

Haunted House (Part 2)

View Part 1 of Haunted House.

Once free, Conor began to make head straight upstairs.

“Where are you going?” I asked him.

“Dude, we need to get out of here.” There was a sense of urgency and panic he spoke with; and even though it was technically Erika’s voice, it still sounded a lot like Conor.

“Dude! But we need to find Erika! We need to find your body! We got to find a way to get you back to normal!”

“I know when to cut my losses. I’d much rather be alive as Erika than dead in my own body. You didn’t see the guy that did this to me; he was scary. It’s morning, and I’m going home...or I guess I’m going to Erika’s home. But whatever.”

I was about to try to stop him when Anna grabbed my arm.

“We’ll find Erika without him,” She said, “Come on.”

Conor took one last look back, “You guys are making a mistake. I promise you.”

Beef

After a weird incident in the park involving a strange man with a body swapping raygun, Brian found himself in the body of a young Indian woman named Chanda. The police eventually apprehended the strange man and were using the raygun to swap everyone back to normal. There was only one problem for Brian, he had no idea where Chanda or his own body had run off to. Luckily, Chanda’s sister Anika offered to help him look.

The two searched in the park and into the surrounding streets with no luck. They decided to take a break for lunch and stopped by a fast food place.

Brian took a few bites of his hamburger, but soon stopped to look at with disgust, “Ugh, I think they messed up my order. This is gross.”

Anika shrugged, “Mine tastes fine. It’s probably because you have Chanda’s body. Technically beef is against our religion or whatever, so she doesn’t eat it. You’ll probably be vomitting it up in another hour or so.”

“Why wouldn’t you tell me that before I ordered it? Why didn’t you tell me before I ate it?” Brian said with a look of disgust.

“Whatever. She’s the traditionalist, not me. Obviously.” Anika gestured to her own hamburger, “Besides, you better get used to vomitting if you’re stuck in Chanda’s body.”

“Wait...is she bulimic? Am I now bulimic?”

Anika seemed apologetic, “Oh, God, sorry no! And I probably shouldn’t joke like that about eating disorders, but, well, it’s a sister thing...like a thing I joke about with her out of jealousy, you know?”

“So this hamburger isn’t going to make me vomit?”

“Oh, no, it probably will. The beef thing I was totally serious about.”

Dentist's Office (Part 2)

View Part 1 of Dentist's Office.

Neither Hector nor Dr. Tanaka had any idea how they ended up in each other’s bodies. They were both resolved to look for a solution to getting back to normal, but they also needed to figure out what to do in the short term.

Hector would agree to pretend to be Dr. Tanaka. But he didn’t know anything about being a dentist, so Dr. Tanaka would pretend to be a new intern in the office. She’d still do all the work of a dentist, and then Hector would simply pretend to check the work.

Hector would switch his college classes to those at night or on days when Dr. Tanaka’s office was closed. For larger lectures, Hector could just slip in the back of the room. For more intimate ones, he was going to depend on Dr. Tanaka attending for him and having her reiterate it all back to him.

It didn’t seem like a very sustainable plan, but they both figured they could do it for the next couple days. They only hoped this whole weird body swap wouldn’t last much longer than that!

Down

David looked down the hole. It was deep and ominous. A moment ago, it had just been glowing and bright. Both he and Cassidy had both figured that light had caused the body swap they just experienced. Cassidy was eager to jump down to investigate and hopefully find a solution. David wasn’t so sure.

“I’m not even sure we’d survive the fall,” He surmised as he looked down the hole.

“Then we’ll find a rope or something,” Cassidy reasoned, “But I’m sure the answer to why we swapped has to be down there...and a solution to switch us back as well.”

Everything about this called out to David as a bad idea, but what could he do? He didn’t want to be stuck in Cassidy’s body, that’s for sure! They certainly didn’t have any other leads or anything else to really go on. So David resigned to the fact that he was going to be going down a mysterious, weird hole.

Chemistry

“Everyone relax,” Mr. Harper told the class after a small explosion caused more than a few screams in the chemistry class, “I know these things may seem dangerous, but it’s just some smoke from the reaction. Everything is actually fine.”

But everything wasn’t totally fine. Through the smoke, Parker realized he was looking at his own face. And when he looked down to see overall and a feminine yet flat chest, he knew he wasn’t in his own body -- he was in Madeline’s!

What did that explosion do? Or more accurately, how did it do it? He was he most popular kid in the senior class, an 18-year-old athelete with a cheerleader girlfriend. Or at least that’s who he WAS -- now, he was somehow Madeline, a nerdy girl he had been partnered with in chemistry class. There was no way the stuff in these beakers and test tubes could cause a body swap, could they? And Mr. Harper was telling him to relax?

Parker screamed again. The fact that he was doing it with Madeline’s high pitched voice was just making him all the more nervous and scared. He was having one of Madeline’s panic attacks without even fully knowing what they were...

Enid

Ed was having one of the worst days he could remember. It started with being forced to participate in an HR activity at work. The entire office was split off into small groups, and each employee would swap bodies with someone else in their group for a period of two weeks.

It was bad enough that Ed found himself as the lone male in a group of women, but did he get to swap with Gwen? Or Katie? No, he got stuck swapping with Enid! She was probably the least attractive woman in the group, and probably in contention for the least attractive woman in the entire office. And for the next two weeks, he was going to be her!

Rain began as he left work, and the bus was late. After getting soaked for a while, he realized he had forgotten his bus pass back at the office -- inside Enid’s purse that he was forgetting he had to carry around now that he was a woman. After going back to get it, he saw the bus pull away from the stop just as he returned. He was going to have to wait for the next one -- still in the rain.

Somehow it seemed like an appropriate way to start what would surely be a miserable two weeks.

First Semester (Part 4)

View Part 1 of First Semester.
View Part 2 of First Semester.
View Part 3 of First Semester.

Sleeping in Ms. Wen’s quiet and empty house was difficult that night. It didn’t help that he still felt very awkward in her body. He thought about the words she said to him, and he fretted about how he was expected to dress and act.

It all contributed to him oversleeping, and with Ms. Wen’s warnings about esterday about wearing something appropriate coupled with the fact that putting on women’s clothing was still awkward for him, he knew he was going to be late to class.

For most people, skipping Swap Class wasn’t a big deal -- they often just showed up to give their final presentation at the end -- but most students weren’t in the teeacher’s body. Josh was sure Ms. Wen would notice his absense. He tried to sit down without being noticed, but Ms. Wen called him out.

“Thank you for joinin us, Eunice,” Ms. Wen said to him.

“Wait...what did you just call me?” Josh said reeling at being called by Ms. Wen’s first name.

“We were discussing the meaning of self. Tell me, do you feel like a ‘Josh’ or do you feel like a ‘Eunice?’”

“To be honest, I’m not really sure.” Josh mumbled.

“Well, if you had shown up to class on time, you might actually have had a thoughtful philosophical response instead of a mumble...”

The Origin of the Magic Taxi

Omar had taken out a pretty big loan to pay for his taxi medallion. It seemed like a good investment at the time, but then Uber came to town and put the taxi business in a tough spot. Omar’s debts were piling up; he was getting desperate.

He often visited the New York Public Library, and often considered education as a way out. But a strange book caught his eye, filled with supposedly magical spells. One in particular seemed alluring, a body swap spell! If he wasn’t himself anymore, he wouldn’t have to worry about his troubles! He recited the spell while waiting to pick up a fare at the airport, just sort of as practice.

An Asian woman popped in, asking to go to midtown. The ride was long, but rather uneventful. As she paid and left, the only words he spoke to her the entire ride were, “Have a nice day.”

It seemed to act as some sort of trigger. Suddenly, Omar felt himself standing outside the cab. The instantaneous change had caught him off-guard, as he fell to the street. He picked himself up now looking at his former face behind the wheel. He reached into a purse he didn’t know he had and gave all the cash inside to his former body, $50. Then he watched it drive away.

Omar realized he hadn’t just be reading the spell, he had actually cast it! With no specific target in mind, the magic infused into the taxi itself. Once the woman got in, it was inevitable that he would swap with her. He was certainly happy to have a new life, even if it was one he probably wouldn’thave purposely chosen. He just hoped the magic of the taxi would just be this one-off.

Drow

For the record, I played way too much Baldur's Gate last year, and it's totally reflected in my captions.

Gene and Jason entered the mall through a side entrance. It was almost always nearly empty these days, but every now and again, there was a reason to go. No sooner had they entered, did a strange puff of smoke exploded in front of them, and two women appeared from within. They appeared to be dressed as fantasy characters...

“Drow?” Gene asked.

“Silent, Human!” The lead drow said.

“Sister,” The second one pleaded, “I do not think these two are adequate. They are weak. They are male!”

“The fact that are so unremarkable is what makes them perfect. We will steal their bodies and go on our mission to investigate the surface undetected, so that we may solidify our invasion plans.”

The second drow sighed before speaking strange words. In the next instant, Gene and Jason were looking at their own selves, realizing they had swapped bodies with the two drow women. Jason, now in the lead drow’s body, decided to run as fast as he could. Gene, in the second drow’s body, tried to follow, but a second spell spoken by the drow now in the men’s bodies held him in place before he disappeared in a puff of smoke, presumably pulled into the underdark.

Jason ran into one of the few occupied stores where a few people actually were. He got more than a few stares based on his new body. He thought fast as a few people gathered.

“Hey, thanks for the concern,” He said, “I just ran into some crazy fans back there. I knew my cosplays were getting big on Instagram, but I guess I never realized how big, you know?”

The crowd seemed satisfied with his lie, Jason was proud of his excuse. It explained why he was running and why he looked the way he did. However, trying to come up with a plan about how to get back to normal seemed like it was going to be much, much harder.

Investigation (Part 2)

View Part 1 of Investigation.

A week passed at Sarah’s work with no incident, and Alvin decided she needed an update. She found it weird to still be looking at her own face, but he didn’t even need to say a word.

“It’s bad news, isn’t it?” Sarah asked, “Is my face really always that obvious.”

“I wouldn’t call it bad news,” Alvin tried to spin it, “It’s just that we have nothing actionable yet.”

“You think I made it all up, don’t you?”

“On the contrary, in the short time I’ve been in your body, there have been a few suggestive and rude comments from some of your co-workers. I’d be more than happy to go after them if you want, but your boss is the one you really want, isn’t it?”

Sarah nodded and whispered, “He’s done a lot worse than words.”

“I know. That’s why I’m gonna get that bastard. I’m just going to need more time like this.”

I Do.

I suddenly found myself in a room, surrounded by people I didn’t know. They were all staring at me. I looked down to see breasts and a white dress; somehow I had gone from being a man to a woman in a mere instant. Speaking of a man, a handsome one stood next to me in a tux; he looked nervous. I began to put all the pieces together. I wasn’t just a woman; I was a bride. I knew what they were waiting for, and I decided I didn’t want to ruin this woman’s big moment.

“I do.” I said.

I heard another man speak as I turned to see a priest, “You may not kiss the bride.”

A moment later, the man in the tux did just that, and everyone clapped. I smiled nervously and escaped to the bathroom at the earliest chance I had.

I looked in the mirror. I was glad I hadn’t screwed this up for her. She just didn’t strike me as attractive enough given how handsome her husband was, but I suppose they loved each other. Though technically, as long I was in her body, I was keeping them apart. I needed to figure out how to get back into my own body...

Sweet Caroline

As he sat in his office, Hugh found the world blur for a second. In the next moment, he needed to grab ahold of his desk to steady himself. But he was now standing for some reason, and this wasn’t his desk. It took him just a moment to realize he was no longer in his own body, the desk belonged to his assistant, Caroline. He had swapped bodies with her somehow!

Except a shout soon came from inside his office. “Caroline,” His own voice commanded, “I need you in here a moment.” He thought they’d discuss the swap; instead, Hugh’s former body talked about an upcoming business trip that needed arrangements, arrangements Hugh would have to make, now that he was inside Caroline’s body.

If Caroline was inside his body, she seemed to be completely unaware and thought that she was really him. If she wasn’t, Hugh wondered if his mind inside of Caroline’s body was merely a copy somehow. At this point, he had more questions than answers, and all he could do was continue on, pretending to be Caroline.

Final Video

Arthur found a phone in the bag he carried and pulled off his gloves, exposing his unfamiliar fingers to the frigid air. Luckily, the FaceID unlocked the phone, and he began to film a video.

“My name is Arthur Colvin,” He said holding the phone to film himself, “Even though I may not look like it. I swapped into this body in some sort of twisted ‘Freaky Friday’ moment, but I have no idea who this body is or where I am. I’m in the middle of a dense forest, and I can’t seem to find my way out. I’ve been walking for hours since the swap, and it’s so cold. I think there’s a pretty good chance I’m not going to make it out of this. If I can get some bars on this phone, maybe I will call for help. If I can’t, maybe someone will find this video after I freeze to death. They’ll at least know what happened to me, even if it’s completrely unbelievable.”