Copy + Paste

For the past few weeks, Andre had been trying to figure out how to undo his body swapping with Sumiko. The plan seemed straightforward: Find his body, return to the warehouse where they had switched, and then use the device to swap back to normal.

Tracking his own body down was almost too easy, but it told him a different story. In short, there was no body swap. Andre hadn’t swapped bodies with Sumiko. It was just that all of Sumiko’s memories were overwritten with Andre’s. The body swap was just a lie that was told after the fact, but the records could all be found in the warehouse. The Andre in Sumiko’s body determined the second part of his plan still made sense.

Upon arrival, the warehouse seemed abandoned with all the scientists and staff cleared out since the experiment. Luckily, the power was still on, protecting the remaining equipment inside from the harsh winter elements. Andre couldn’t find the body swapper; there didn’t seem to be any evidence it had ever existed. But he did find something else.

It was the device that had given him Andre’s memories, just as the original version of himself had said. And there were documents, videos, and holograms explaining it all. It talked about how Sumiko became a vegetable due to an early test, it talked about trying to use Andre’s brain to “fill the gaps”to bring Sumiko back. He saw the brain scans, and then he saw another error that showed how Andre’s memories had completely overwritten anything that might have remained in Sumiko’s head. Andre realized he wasn’t a swap; he was just a f*cking copy.

Burqa

Afareen was happy to quickly get in touch with the person now in her body after the Great Shift. And even though it had only been a couple of hours, she almost didn’t recognize herself.

“What did you do with my burqa?” She asked, quite shocked to see her body outside without it.

“Dude, I changed out of that thing the first chance I had and into some real clothes,” Zeke replied.

“But...please...no!” Afareen struggled to find the right words, “You have to! At least my hijab, please!”

“But that’s your culture, not mine! You’re not going to catch me wearing any of that stuff! You can’t force it on me just because I have your body now.”

Big Break

I formed a metal band with a couple friends in college, and we had been playing shows at small clubs across the states for a few years. We lost money on every show, but we were just a bunch of dudes with day jobs who liked to play music, so we didn’t mind.

Getting contacted by a booker in Asia, we thought it would be our big break. Sure, it was just a few dates in similarly small venues and we’d lose even more money, but exposure to an international audience seemed like a no brainer and a fun vacation.

We never expected the Great Shift to hit right in the middle of tour. One second I was loading my own gear into a crapy dive bar, and the next minute I’m sitting backstage in a fancy green room. I’m wearing pink. I was a woman! There were several other women around me. It didn’t take me long to realize it was the rest of my band, and we had all swapped bodies with a kpop girlband.

The crowd had all swapped as well, and were quite restless. A promoter asked us if we knew music, and we nodded. He didn’t care what we did as long as we performed. So despite having the bodies of pop stars, we went out to the arena stage and played our metal songs. It was difficult for me to growl the vocals with my new body, but I did my best. Defying expectation, the entie crowd seemed really into it. It wasn’t how we expected to have our big break in music, but we weren’t complaining.

GPA

Jake had hired Kiko to be his tutor to help get his GPA up. If he wanted to keep his place on the college football team, his grades needed to be high enough. After a few weeks, Kiko was fed up. She was convinced Jake wasn’t even trying. He tried to plead with her to stay, explaining he’d do anything to stay on the team. And that’s when Kiko brought him into the science lab to test out a device she had been tinkering with.

The device allowed the two to switch bodies, and now several hours after the swap, they sat in the library with nerdy Asian student now inside the body of a jock and visa versa.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Jake asked.

“It’s fine. The only way you’re going to pass any of these tests is with my brain inside your body,” Kiko assured him, “And don’t worry about me on the field. The right move is often just a matter of the right math mixed with the right brawn, which I obviously have right now.”

“And what about you? Are you worried I’m going to fail all your classes while I’m in your body.”

“Don’t worry about me. I’m so far ahead that a few flunked tests won’t dent my GPA. Besides, maybe while in my body, you’ll be able to focus and actually learn something.”

Brain in a Jar

“Oh, Ami,” Jason mused aloud, “I imagine you would be suffering if you actually understood your situation. You are nothing but a brain in a jar without a body attached. You are unable to see, unable to touch, and unable to move. Of course, thanks to this machine, you know none of that. It still has your synapses firing in order to make you think everything is perfectly normal. Perhaps you one day might realize that you are you are in a dreamlike state that you will never awaken from.

“And I hope you don’t worry about your body as I am taking very good care of it. I am getting plenty of exercise, eating well, and your boyfriend says he has never been happier. As far as everyone is concerned, things have never been better. I thought I’d have some trouble, but it seems that when you look like someone else, it doesn’t matter how much you don’t really act like that person. There’s no way for me to know what you are thinking in there, but I hope you are a very happy brain in a jar...”

Genius (Part 3)

View Part 1 of Genius.
View Part 2 of Genius.

According to the website, the place where his mom had gone had a strict dress code, so Martin had to change again -- this time into a dress, which was even worse than his mom’s work clothes. He had also assumed his mom had gone to a fancy restaurant or something, and he was very surprised when he showed up and it was actually a loud night club.

Martin hated the blaring music; he hated the crowd; but he knew he had to find his mom. His random searching didn’t turn up anything, so he had to build up his courage and actually talk to people. He had trouble describing himself, and his social awkwardness still was difficult to push through. But after about an hour, he learned his body had moved to another club in town.

In fact, it seemed she was bouncing all over, taking full use of her single night of youth. Of course, Martin was worried they were running out of time. If he didn’t find her soon, it wouldn’t just be this one night.

After the fifth or sixth club, he finally gave up. It was already too late. He drove home realizing he would be stuck in his mom’s body for the next two years.

When he pulled up, his mom’s car was already in the driveway. The true horror of it all set in. Not only would they be stuck as each other, but if he hadn’t run off to try to find her, she might’ve been back in time to swap back. Now he had to break the news.

Hustle

There hit a point when Derek’s pool hustle stopped working. Everyone in town knew him, and even if he threw a game beforehand, no one would ever place a bet against him. He knew he needed a new angle.

That’s where his sister Emma helped out.

Early on Friday evenings, they would use one of those illegal swapper devices to switch bodies. He’d head out to a bar, hustle some patrons at the pool table, and then split the winnings with his sister before they swapped back.

The scheme was even more successful, as Emma seemed even more unlikely to be a billiards expert. Her body screamed “school librarian” much more than “pool hustler.” He found that with her body, people not only fell for his swindle once, but multiple times! And all he had to do was spend a few hours each week in the body of his own sister!

AI (Part 2)

View Part 1 of AI.

The electrical surge had corrupted the data, so Roger could never figure out how to recreate the surge. He just had to learn to adapt to being in the body of an android. The first few days were certainly a unique experience, Roger and XC worked side-by-side to upgrade various parts of his body. Perhaps most notably, his face was more detailed now and more feminine. Roger pushed for realistic synthetic skin, so he could leave the house, but XC seemed to have other ideas.

She began to complain about how often her human body got exhausted, and offered a solution. Since Roger now had her android body, he could accomplish things like cooking and cleaning without ever getting tired. Roger realized this was technically true but protested, because he wanted to prioritize work to either get back to his own body or (at least) be able to pass as human. XC simply explained her advanced AI was still intact now that she was in Roger’s body, and she could do all that better and quicker than him as a result, even with the limitations of the fact that she now had his human body.

And so Roger resigned himself to chores. He looked at the meal he was making. He couldn’t smell it; he couldn’t taste it. His hands were still more clumsy than he was used to and often spilled it. Maybe he would ask XC if she could find a way to improve his dexterity. Somehow he felt like that was something she might be able to put effort into and get done. He was pretty sure she had forgotten about the skin she promised. He was also convinced that she was having too much fun in his human body to ever care about finding a way to swap back. Little did he know exactly how right he was...

Questioning

It was like waking up after a very long sleep. James didn’t know what was going on. He gasped for breath as he sat up and emerged from a pool of water he had apparently been in; there were all sorts of computers and electronic equipment around him. Then there was his body. This couldn’t possibly be his body! He was a man, and this body was certainly female.

Had his mind been placed in this body using this strange tank and equipment? Then again, maybe he was originally a woman, and all these electronics were some sort of dream chamber that had allowed him to imagine his life as James. Maybe he had been kidnapped and all this stuff had transformed him into a woman. He had no answers, and it seemed there was no one around to ask.

He stood up, detached wires from his body (What if this body wasn’t even human? What if it was some sort of synthetic made to look human?), then he began walking around. But there wasn’t another soul around. There were other rooms, but all the other tanks seemed empty. He wasn’t getting any answers anytime soon...

Monstrous Results

When Desmond first found the magic spell book, it was like a godsend. With it, he generated fabulous wealth for himself. The shy and nerdy young man was finally able to move out of his parents’ house and into his own place -- and not just any place, a fancy mansion with a huge backyard.

And as time passed, Desmond wondered if the book could bring him just as much success with love as it had with wealth. Spells to increase his own charisma or coerce someone to love him didn’t seem possible. But creating a girlfriend using the book? Well, that certainly seemed within the rules!

After speaking various incantations, Desmond looked around to see where his new girlfriend might be. Instead, he began to feel a sharp stabbing pain throughout his body. He soon realized he must have read something wrong. He hadn’t created himself a girlfriend; he had turned himself into a woman! But he hadn’t even gotten THAT quite right, as he also seemed to have some rather monstrous traits like pointed ears and sharp teeth coming up from his lower jaw. He felt a rage and anger like nothing he have ever felt, and he was having trouble containing it. He wanted to rip the book to shreads, but he knew it was also his only hope of getting back to normal, so he continued to read...

Showtime

“Fifteen minutes until showtime,” A voice said through a walkie talkie sitting on a makeup stand.

Stewart didn’t know what to do. Mere moments ago, he had been sitting at home alone. Then suddenly he was backstage at a concert in a stadium, and weirder still was that he wasn’t inside his own body anymore. He was now inhabiting the body of a kpop superstar, one of the biggest artists in the world. But he didn’t know any of her songs; he barely even recognized her name; he definitely didn’t speak Korean! He certainly couldn’t go on stage to perform, but how was he going to explain that to anyone? No one would believe he was in the wrong body. Heck, he barely believed it, and he was living it!

“Five minutes until showtime.” The voice said.

He grabbed the walkie talkie. “I can’t do it,” He said into the walkie, but he realized he was saying it in Korean. He began to sit and think. He didn’t know how he did that! It was more like instinct than rational thought. Maybe the songs and dacning would be like that too. Mabe he could actually pull this off...

Laughing at a Funeral

Ahmed knew everyone was staring at him. Usually funerals were somber occasions, and here he was full of smiles. Of course, he couldn’t tell any of his relatives or friends who he was, that he was alive, and about how he had his brain transplanted into this woman’s body. He had signed all sorts of confidential statements to not reveal any of it.

He thought he’d be showing up to this thing as a way to say goodbye to everyone he knew. He thought he’d be just as sad as they were. But when he saw his former body in a coffin, it felt just so good to be alive! The smiles came, the laughter soon followed.

Eventually it became too much, and he knew he was being disruptive. He left everyone to mourn in peace without him. He still so badly wanted to tell everyone in there that there was nothing to be sad about. But he knew he couldn’t...

Extended Offer

Angela had only discovered she was pregnant a few days before the Great Shift. Her and her husband were overjoyed; they had almost given up on having children after many failed attempts. They also realized this was probably their last chance of having a child, given their age.

The Shift’s body swapping didn’t offer them any additional hope; they ended up swapping bodies with a pair of neighbors around their own age. If anything, the problems were now compounded as a college student named Jim was now in Angela’s body.

Angela begged and pleaded with him to keep the baby and give birth for them. She offered him a lot of money and gifts to do so, and to treat him properly during the pregnancy. At the eight month mark, she couldn’t wait for him to keep birth. He was so demanding on shopping trips, always asking for more. Angela would always comply, not wanting to risk him doing anything dangerous to the baby inside his body.

Of course, Jim had gotten used to having his every need and more met; he didn’t want to give that up easily. He made a suggestion one shopping trip. “I’ve been reading a lot of mom books and stuff,” He said, “You know, they say the best thing for a baby is lots of breast feeding for the first few months. I’m just sayin’ I have two ample sources of the stuff here that I might be willing to help out with...for a price.”

Angela had read similar things. She cringed as she looked at her body with Jim’s masculine body language. She wanting nothing more than to be rid of Jim forever, and yet she was still seriously considering his offer....

Understanding in a Car Crash

William hadn’t seen the car that hit the cab he was driving. He was too focused on the couple in the back seat. They were talking about their recent wedding, how much they had spent, and how they could’ve easily afforded more. That made the man a prime candidate to swap bodies with when he let them off at their stop downtown. He’d become a rich guy with a hot wife; what could possible go wrong?

But then the crash happened. It triggered an instant swap. There was no “Have a nice day;” no $50 tip; and, most notably, no choice of who to swap with. William was now inside the body of the female passenger! But he was fortunately uninjured, which was far better than he could say for the cab’s other riders. The man was passed out next to him and the driver (whose body William had been in moments ago) was unconscious up front. Both were losing a great deal of blood. William tried to pull them out, but he wasn’t sure if he was no longer strong enough or if they were pinned by twisted metal.

He hoped out and began to approach passerbys. “I need help!” He exclaimed, “He needs help! They need help!”

New Yorkers seemed oblivious to his pleas. Maybe it was just that New York stereotype or maybe they were avoiding this taxi for a reason. It took him a while to realize he had a purse with a phone inside. He quickly dialed 911.

Dumb

Evan looked at the test in front of him. He knew he knew this material, but he couldn’t seem to answer a single question. And if he didn’t ace this exam, Kelsey wouldn’t give him his body back. Of course, his sister had stolen his body because statistics were his expertise, and she was at risk failing out of college if she couldn’t pass. She told him it should be easy for him, and he thought she was right. However, it seemed that along with Kelsey’s body, he also had her intellectual talents (or lack thereof).

He told himself that even if he failed this one, he could study really hard for the next one to pull off a solid C. Surely, Kelsey couldn’t be so dumb that she was incapable of studying? After all, how was she able to get herself into college in the first place? Over the next few weeks, Evan would learn that his sisetr really was just that dumb.

College Town

Despite growing up in a college town, Matt just hadn’t been the type to go to university. Though when he suddenly found himself in one after a flash of light shone in his face, he knew where he was; he just didn’t know who he was -- the slender manicured fingers, the feminine curves hiding behind the bulky sweater -- he had become a woman!

He didn’t seem to be the only one in the wrong body either. Everyone in the lecture hall was screaming or grabbing their heads or their bodies. Matt realized he was the one standing in front of everyone at a podium with a microphone. Was he the teacher? A student giving a presentation? Who knows?

“Excuse me,” He spoke into the microphone, feeling very strange about the sound of his own voice. It was soft, high pitched, and not very commanding. He pressed on anyway, “We need to be calm about this. Panicking isn’t going to make it any better. I’m confused and scared, but I’m also not going to freak out, okay? None of us should. We can all figure this out together, okay?”

Single Mom (Part 1)

Evan still wasn’t sure how he had the power to switch bodies or why he had told his nieghbor Christine about it. He did know why he had agreed to swap bodies with her for a few hours. As a single mom, she just deserved a break. She was stressed out all the time between work and taking care of her daughter; Evan knew he had a carefree life -- as a kid with rich parents, he didn’t even need to take on a summer job before he’d be heading off the college in the fall.

But after spending the day as Christine, he did want to get back to normal. And while his power to swap bodies was pretty impressive, it did have one limitation -- namely that the person needed to be nearby at least. He and Christine had agreed to meet at the playground at 5PM, but that was an hour ago now. Evan was texting his old phone repeatedly, but Christine’s daughter was getting tired of the playground and hungry.

Finally, Evan decided a few more hours as Christine wouldn’t be so bad. He could take Christine’s daughter to McDonalds or something, head back home, and then swap back their -- the two houses should be close enough for Evan to initiate the swap. He texted the plan to Christine and hoped she would finally respond.

Haunted House (Part 3)

View Part 1 of Haunted House.
View Part 2 of Haunted House.

Anna and I should have listened to Conor. He had always been the smartest and most level headed amongst us. It’s not that we didn’t find Erika in Conor’s body -- we did -- but it was a trap. That ‘weird guy’ that Conor had mentioned now had two new bodies and brains to mess with, namely Anna’s and mine.

When I woke up, Conor’s body was now dead at my feet with his head hollowed out. I wasn’t able to muster up any feelings of fear, disgust, or anger; I knew I should, but I just couldn’t seem to pull them up in my head. The same was true when I realized I was now in Anna’s body. At worst, it felt like a minor inconvenience, even if I logically knew the whole situation was very bad.

It seemed Erika was now the one in my body -- neither of us knew where Anna’s brain was -- but where my emotions were muted, hers seemed heightened. I reasoned it was a good thing we were both tied up, she was absolutely enraged and thrashing about, trying to get free. I tried to get her to calm down, but that only made her angrier. She threatened me, but I found it difficult to care.

Going Down

The elevator came to a stop between floors as the lights went out and the display began to show strange characters. Once the light came back, Adam looked over to see his own body standing there.

“What the hell is going on here?” He asked, putting his hands up to his mouth, surprised by his own voice.

“Who are you and why do you look like me?” His body replied.

“...And you look like me. And I...” Adam was putting all the pieces together in his head. “No, it’s impossible. We’ve swapped bodies?”

“Like in the movies? But that’s impossible.”

“Look down at yourself. You’re a guy! You’re me! And I’m a woman! I’m you!” Adam began to frantically press buttons n the elevator, convinced it had something to do with the swap.

But the pressing did little than to get the elevator moving again.

“We’re should probably think of a plan soon.” Adam listened to his body, “Those doors are going to open in a second, and if people hear us talking about swapping bodies, they are going to think we are crazy. So, let’s grab a coffee or something and find some place out of the way to talk about this.”

Catch and Release

“Myrtle! What the hell are you doing?” Dirk shouted from the river bank, “That damned fish could talk! We could’ve sold it for a lot of money! Or at least we could’ve eaten it!”

“It also said it could grant wishes,” Earl added, “That’s probably a think we could take advantage of.”

“It could grant ME a wish. I caught it, and I released it. If either of you want a wish, you need to catch it yourself.” The woman in the river replied.

“Well, what’dya wish for?” Dirk asked, “Did’ya wish for money? I don’t exactly feel any richer.”

Merle knew he couldn’t tell Dirk or Earl his wish. They’d never understand. Heck, for years he’d wished to be a woman and never told them. They would’ve hurls all sort of slurs and insults in his direction; they’d probably never speak to him again. But when the magical fish offered a wish? Well, he wished to become Myrtle and that it would be like he had always been Myrtle. The fish seemed to understand Merle’s pain and happily granted the wish on its release.

“You just both have to trust me,” Myrtle said, “It was worse before. Even if things seems terrible; you just have to trust me that it was worse before, okay?”

Invasion

“Greg Cooper! Greg Cooper! You must open the forcefield!”

Greg could recognize the voice -- it was his own -- but everything else looked very strange. It was distorted and off-color. “What’s happening?” He asked, noting he now had a strangely robotic and feminine voice, which he also could recognize. “Zeyvla?” He added, “Why am I in your body?”

“Maybe it’s an attack! Or a sabotage! Please, just lower the forcefield and let me in! I need to be at my position at the controls! Things could get so much worse!”

“No.”

“’No?’ What do you mean ‘No?’ You need to let me in! It could be the difference between life and death!”

“Everyone swapped bodies, right? So I know I’m really Greg, and I’m in Zeyvla’s body...but how do I know YOU are really Zeyvla in MY body? I can’t make out these controls with her Zyxian eyes, and yet...you seem confident to take over using my human eyes? It doesn’t add up. If something was wrong, there would be a warning sound -- despite being in Zeyvla’s body, my hearing is fine. But if I powered down the forcefield, it’s linked to the shields. YOU are the invader! But why not swap into Zeyvla’s body directly? Why use me as an intermediary?”

“You don’t understand!”

“No, I think I understand perfectly..”

The Long Road into Town (Part 2)

Part 1 of The Long Road into Town.

It had been several hours now, and Barney had finally made it to a public road. During the day, the occasional truck or car might pass, but at this time of night, there probably wasn’t going to be any traffic. He placed the core down briefly to look both ways down the road just to be sure; it was desolate.

Both he and Joanne had to leave their cell phones outside of the chambers to use the body swapping machine, so they were both burnt up in the fire. If he had a cell phone now, he’d probably be getting enough signal to call for help.

At this point, he felt like his fingers and toes were going to freeze off -- He’d hate to give Joanne back her body without any fingers or toes -- but town was only about another hour away on foot. That was doable. Or at least he told himself he could do it.

He picked back up the core and headed down the road. There was still no sign of Joanne with his body.

Will Not Be Missed

“John? John? Is that you?” A voice in the distance called out, centering John causing him to feel like he was being brought back to reality.

He recognized the voice.”Mom?” He asked, “Where was I? Why does my voice sound so strange?”

“I brought you back, John.”

“Back? I was...I was dead. The cancer got me. It must have. But how am I...” John began to look down at his body to see a feminine form wearing a dress. “Who am I now, Mom? Whose body is this? Where did you get it?”

“That’s not important right now. What’s important is you’re alive again.”

“Not important? Whoever she was, she had a life! And somehow you used this weird machine that she was strapped into to steal her life and give it to me? It doesn’t feel right.”

“Just trust your mother, John. The hardest thing for a parent is losing a child, even if they are an adult like you were. The only thing you need to know about the woman you are now is that she will not be missed.”

First Semester (Final)

View Part 1 of First Semester.
View Part 2 of First Semester.
View Part 3 of First Semester.
View Part 4 of First Semester.
View Part 5 of First Semester.
View Part 6 of First Semester.

“Chanellor, deans, professors, faculty, and students, I come to speak to you today about the recent tragedy on campus,” Josh was nervous as he spoke, “The unfortunate death of Eunice Wen has shook the campus. It happened while she was still in my body on the day after my final Swap Class presentation; two days before we were scheduled to return to our own bodies. And so now I am stuck in her body, but that’s not what I’m here to address today.

”The danger I am here to talk about is Swap Class itself. Eunice didn’t give me much instruction about how to be her, but she did teach us all that for the duration of class, we should be embracing who we appeared to be. And let me ask you? Was not Eunice Wen doing that in my body when she got drunk at a party and fell off a roof? I held up an unpleasant mirror up to her life, and she responded by acting like the irresponsible male college freshman she appeared to be. So I am asking you to cancel Swap Class. And I’m not for the fact that I am now stuck in the body of a middle aged woman -- you’ll see a fairly big lawsuit about that. No, I’m asking foe the life of a woman who would still be with us if not for the foolishness of placing us all in the wrong bodies for a few months. End Swap Class. End it now! Thank you.”

Procedure

Keith had gone to the clinic on his wife’s suggestion. Sheila had heard about a new treatment that was recommended for all men over 40, and she urged Keith to talk to someone about it. He had entered the building where the clinic’s office was on the third floor, and Sheila waited outside.

The whole process was weird and rushed, but Keith had to admit that he felt great afterward. He stepped out of the building to see his wife waiting.

“You were right.” He said to her, “Best decision I ever made! I feel great.”

Sheila didn’t recognize this person. “Who are you?” She asked Keith.

“It’s me. Your husband!”

“Look, Lady, I don’t know why you are trying to mess with me, but you are clearly NOT my husband.”

“Of course I am! I just went in for that procedure and they...” Keither finally noticed his manicured nailed and the stylish pink pantsuit he now wore, “...And they turned me into a woman! Oh, God! Of course you don’t recognize me! But it’s me, Sheila! It’s me!”

Summer Concert

When it started to rain at the outdoor concert, few ran for shelter. The lightning that came next stopped the show, but simply elicited boos from the crowd instead of a rush to the exits. But then the lightning began to do strange things, striking the crowd and swapping bodies. And that’s when people started to panic.

James had been trying to walk out orderly when he was pushed by a woman who had been running. They both fell into the now muddy field when the lightning hit them.

James had expected to experience some sort of electric shock or feel something from the swap; instead it was the pain of the fall that he felt the most. The softness of the mud prevented any open wounds, but he was sure he was going to have some bruises, especially as the woman now in his body was lecturing him about how she bruised easily.

James looked as he old face, and cracked a smile before bursting out laughing. Watching his former body carry itself in a feminine manner was actually amusing him. Then he began to check himself out. It made him laugh more. It was probably a typical concert outfit a woman to wear, but he still couldn’t believe he was the one wearing it -- black leggings, a pink top, she probably used to have shoes, but they seemed to have gotten lost when she tripped.

Of course, James’s laughter really enraged the woman in his body, but he still couldn’t stop himself.

Partial

“Stop! Please stop!” Trevor shouted, but he wasn’t quite sure what voice he was shouting with. He had woken up in the middle of some sort of experiment that he was being subjected to, and it seemed to be exchanging his mind with a young woman named Hayley. He wasn’t even sure how that name popped into his head as he had no ideawho this woman was!

“I suggest you both sit still,” The mad scientist conducting the experiment said flatly.

“No! I won’t let you do this!” Trevor protested, this sure he was pretty sure he was speaking out of Hayley’s mouth with her voice.

“Trust me, it’s worse if you don’t let me finish. Once I am done, yes, your brain will be in the wrong body, but at least you will be sure of who you are. But if I stop now? Or if you try to cut things off early? Well, your minds will be a mess of confusion. Your head will be filled with contradictory thoughts, memories, and emotions. At the same time, there’s no telling what things you might be missing completely. You aren’t my first test subjects. The ones who weren’t fully transferred all went totally insane.”

“But I don’t want to be Trevor...I mean, Hayley!” Trevor shouted. He knew what was going on was wrong, but for the moment he was (perhaps fortunately) unable to feel anger or panic. It was as if those emotions had be taken from him. It was also a moment of clarity. As much as he hated that this was happening to him, being stuck in a state like this would be far worse. And so he settled in to prepare himself to fully become Hayley. Or maybe he was Hayley and had to prepare to become Trevor?

Spells 'R Us 2.0 (Part 2)

View Part 1 of Spells R Us 2.0.

After sharing information with Elena, Connor spent the next several hours thinking about the life he was going to be stuck with for the next few months. He mostly wandered the halls of the mall, as he didn’t want to go back to Elena’s home. She was just a few years older than he was, but still lived with her parents. She had a crappy minimum wage job that made him wonder why she even bothered to reach for the expensive tablet.

He did his best to avoid thinking too negatively about the life he was stuck with, but he still blamed her for the swap. If she just hadn’t tried to fight him while reaching for that tablet, none of this would have happened!

What may have been worse was thinking about the life he wouldn’t have for the next few months. He’d miss out on a piece of his college education, a gleeful time in the dorms and attending parties!

And, of course, as he walked, the fact that he was now a woman sunk in as well. He could tell he was holding himself and walking differently. And then there were the comments. Rude jerks would just hit on him. It’s what eventually drove him to finally leave to go back to Elena’s place. Of course, he had to take the bus! Ugh!

The Prison

Daniel never knew why he was arrested and sent to the prison. He was never given a trial, and he had doubts that he would ever get one. Guards were minimal and security was basically automated. The only people he ever saw were when they conducted tests. It was often random serums or drugs they’d make him take. One time they pierced a needle into his skull that caused his arms and legs to flail.

For this latest test, he was brought into a room where a woman was strapped to a chair begging and screaming, telling them not to do it. After Daniel was strapped into a chair next to her, they activated a machine. Daniel awoke back in cell some time later. It appears the machine in this latest experiment caused him to swap bodies with the woman.

He felt small and weak. He was nervous about what would happen when he saw another male prisoner. He knew he’d be targeted for violence...or worse. He felt angry. With little other outlet, he punched a wall. To his surprise, not only did punching the wall not hurt, he nearly succeeded in punching a hole...in solid concrete!

Looking at the door, he focused all his strength and punched it. The metal shattered; the lock destroyed. He wasn’t sure how this petite woman had this amazing strengh -- and Daniel considered that the prison swapped his body with hers in the hopes of taking it from her and having him never find out about it -- but he planned to use it. He decided not only to escape, but help bust as many other people out as he could. And if they tried anything instead of accepting his help? He’d knock ‘em out in one blow.

Class Is In (Part 2)

View Part 1 of Class Is In.

Troy and Amanda found Tiffany unexpectedly found Tiffany hanging out with Hannah, the class goth. There was something obviously strange about both of them with Tiffany scowling and Hannah having a dopey grin onher face. Troy knew he wasn’t the smartest guy in the world, but even he could guess what happened.

“Did you two...swap bodies?” He asked.

“OMG! Like, yes, Amanda! It’s weird, right? I’m totally in Hannah’s body!” Tiffany chirped with Hannah’s voice, which was honestly sort of weird.

“Actually, I’m Troy. Amanda and I swapped bodies too.”

Tiffany’s smile went away for a moment before quickly returning, “Well, thank goodness that Hannah is like bisexual! I was worried there for a second.”

“Aren’t you concerned about all this?” Hannah scolded, “This just sucks, and you’re taking it way too well. We need to find a way back to normal.”

“She’s right,” Troy confirmed.

“It may not be so easy,” Amanda interjected, “When it was just us, it was a fluke -- something that we could probably find a fix for. But now there’s four people swapped, and who knows how many others. We just haven’t asked or talked to anyone. But if this is widespread, reversing it could be complicated or worse -- impossible!”