Masked

The rules for the contest at the Halloween party were simple:

(1) Come in costume
(2) Guess the identity of others in costumes
(3) The last person to be correctly identified wins

Malcolm was pretty sure he had this in the bag. With a little help from the Medallion of Zulu, he had the perfect princess costume. He didn’t need the mask -- the fact that he had a completely different body was probably enough to never be guessed -- but it added a touch to trick peple further.

And sure enough, there were probably only about a dozen people left who still hadn’t been outed. Malcolm clutched the medallion in one of his hands; he’d still need to use it to transform back in the end to claim his win, and a quick check of the clock showed he’d hit the 12 hour mark in about two minutes.

It was all working out exactly as planned.

Alternate Universe

“I know what I’m saying sounds crazy, but we are all stuck in an alternate universe. And I have the key,” He said as he pulled out a strange glowing box, “You just need to touch it.”

“What will happen?” Jing asked, “Will I be sucked back? What if I don’t want to leave?”

“The only thing the cube provides is knowledge and memories. You will know who you really are; a powerful man devoted to justice and good in the world.”

“A man? Like, a MAN man? With a thing between my legs man? But what about my family? My husband?”

“You’ll still be you when you touch it. You’ll still be in your current body. But you will remember your life as a man. And you will remember your husband, not as a great love, but as a great villain. We believe he is responsible for this alternate universe. Putting you into that body and making you his wife was no accident. He wanted you to manipulate you to be submissive and obedient to his will.”

As much as Jing loved herself and her life, she knew the societal repression of womanhood far too well -- as most women do. But this man with his strange cube was offering a rare opportunity. And so she reached out and her head was flooded with a lifetime of memories -- of being a man named Chad Blake, of being a superhero, of the villain who cursed the world and rebuilt it who was (in fact) her husband...

The Jackalope (Part 5)

View Part 1 of The Jackalope.

View Part 2 of The Jackalope.

View Part 3 of The Jackalope.

View Part 4 of The Jackalope.

After the incident, and Cody had no choice by to assume Angela’s life. Trey filled him in on most of the details on things like where she lived and where she worked.

It was on a particularly grueling day of work when Cody looked up to see a familiar face: Trey! Well, it was technically Heather’s face, since Trey was still in her body. Cody lit up with a slight smile.

“Wanna grab lunch? I’ve got news.” Trey asked.

Cody hopped up from his desk, and the two of them went to a nearby place. Trey began to share about how their bodies had finally been discovered. They survived, but they had gone absolutely feral; found naked and eating raw meat while living in a cave.

“Did Heather and Angela lose their minds?” Cody asked.

“My theory is yes. Literally.” Trey explained, “I think they found the jackalope again. And I’m guessing it got spooked or something and swapped them with a pair of wild animals.”

“I guess there goes our last hope of returning to normal.”

“I mean, you seem to be adapting well enough. You’re even wearing Angela’s clothes!”

“Women’s clothes are really expensive! I can’t afford a new wardrobe! Not on her salary. And, oh, speaking of which, her job is SO boring. In a way, I understand why she leaned hard into being fashionable; it’s like the ONLY splash of color in an otherwise gray day. But seeing you show up actually gave me a rare second.”

Trey smiled in response. “I’ve been meaning to come see you more often and hang out like we used to. But obviously, when I still see you, I see Angela. And that’s hard, man. But I’ll try to be better; I’ll try not to let it get to me. We’ll be bros again, deal?”

“Deal.”