Awkward Times

“Okay, relax,” James said quietly to himself as he held his hands to his temples, “When was the last time I remember being in my own body?”

It would an absolutely absurd question for most people, but for James it was a fairly regular occurrence. He had an ability to swap bodies with people, and it often triggered without him even realizing it. And he was usually able to deal with it before anyone else noticed as well.

But still there were those awkward times when the person he swapped with noticed first. He certainly hoped this wasn’t going to be one of those awkward times, but he needed to find his body quickly!

Halfway to Hell

Dustin looked in the mirror. The swapping procedure had been much more intense than he could have ever imagined. It was certainly Aimee’s face that was looking back at him, but it looked like it had been through a lot -- her nose was running, a blood vessel felt like it was popped behind her eye, and there was a general sense of weariness.

They were supposed to swap back right away, but in this condition, it seemed downright dangerous to do so. Her body looked like it had gone halfway to hell, and he absolutely didn’t want to send her there completely. He was sure his own body didn’t fare much better.

But how long would it take to recover before attempting the return to their own bodies? A few hours? A week? A month? Right now, it seemed a little unclear.

Not Okay

“I don’t think we’re ever going to find it,” Roger said as he sat down on the beach that evening.

“The tides have to wash it ashore eventually. Or it just sank where Dana threw it. Either way, it can’t be too far out. We just need to be thorough.” Alice said as she searched the area where the waves met the sand.

“It’s been a year, and we’ve searched and searched each and every day. We’ve adapted to being in each other’s body and living each other’s lives. Maybe we just accept that we’re stuck as each other.”

“Maybe Dana and Mike can do that. I don’t want to be stuck as you just because she freaked out and tossed the medallion.”

“It’s not her fault. You don’t know how Mike treated her. She wasn’t thinking that she had used it to swap our bodies as well. She just wanted to be done with it; to be done with him.”

“It’s still not fair to us.”

“We’ll be okay. She wouldn’t have been.”

Man vs. Bear

Regular Sunday

I didn’t really wanted to think about the fact that I swapped into the body of my neighbor, Mrs. Kim. I just wanted to have a normal Sunday. And I did my best to ignore the fact that I was now a 40 year old Korean woman and just tried to enjoy a football game with a beer and some snacks.

It was easier than I expected to keep it out of my mind. Though there were moments -- like how after my third beer, I needed to use the bathroom. And there was the time Mr. Kim came to my door wondering why who he thought was me was vacuuming his floor while what he thought was his wife was sipping beers in my apartment. But the distractions worked for the most part, and I at least got through the day with the hope that something would happen overnight to get me back to my own body...