Experience It

Alfred thought he was pretty lucky to stumble upon a slot machine in Vegas that seemed to be completely free. It didn’t seem to have a way to even take money, so he casually pressed one of the buttons to spin. The symbols on the screen lit up, but in the same way there was no way to insert money, there didn’t seem to be a way to get any out either. He decided to press the button a few more times. At one point, he noticed his hands seem to get thinner. With each spin, his body changed more and more.

It was some time later when Alfred became worried as the machine stopped working. If he couldn’t keep changing, he’d be stuck like this! No, he had to keep pressing to get his body back! He didn’t want to be the petite Asian woman he had become, but his continued pressing did nothing. Eventually a large man approached.

“You need to get off this machine and let others use it,” The man said.

“But it’s broken!” Alfred protested.

“We disabled it. You’ve hit your limit.”

“But this slot machine transformed me! I need to keep going to change back to normal.”

“That ain’t a slot machine. It’s more like...an attraction. And it changes people at random. That’s what it does; that’s what it’s designed to do. And you need to give other people a chance to experience it.”

Genius (Part 1)

Martin had always been a genius. He took the SATs in the fifth grade and got a perfect score. He graduated college by the time he was fourteen. By the time he was twenty, he was inventing things straight out of science fiction books. Despite his genius, he was socially awkward and lived with his parents. Instead of presenting his new creations to venture capitalists, he’d often show them to his mom.

His latest was a device that could swap two people’s brains. He begged his mom to try it out with him. She seemed hesitant, but he told her that if she swapped with him, she could be young again. She be able to go out for a night on the town, and that maybe she’d be able to help him make some friends while she was in his body. She saw a chance to help her son out, so she agreed.

The device was oddly simple and quick, and Martin and his mom soon found themselves in each other’s bodies. Martin was extremely excited that it had worked and gave a big grin, telling his mom to enjoy her night out. She tried to suggest they swap back immediately, but Martin was insistent that she take the night to enjoy herself. As she left, Martin sat back on the couch and smiled even wider; he couldn’t believe his latest device had worked! He couldn’t wait to go over the data, but decided he should change out of his mom’s work clothes first. They were so uncomfortable.

Enhanced

“Jack! Jack! You can’t leave me trapped like this!” Dr. Anne Kim yelled from inside the chamber, shocked that Jack was on the outside wearing her labcoat and glasses.

“I don’t plan to,” He said.

“Well, what are you going to do to me?”

“Two weeks ago, you put me in that chamber and used it to transform me into your exact double. You forced me to deal with your personal and family life while you spent extra time here in the lab. But I wasn’t your exact double, you see. Intentional or not, you enhanced certain aspects of yourself. Your intelligence, your desires -- all of those were enhanced in me. I was trendier, more popular, and smarter than you. I was a better Anne than you ever coule be. And you even enhanced how much I enjoyed being Anne. I realized there couldn’t be too Annes running around, and I knew I had to eliminate the inferior one. But don’t worry, I’m not killing you. I still have my old DNA on file. I am going to use this machine to turn you into me.”

“But I don’t want to be you!”

“You won’t be me. You’ll be an enhanced me, a better me. And just like what you did to me, you may be fighting it now, but I will enhance how much you will enjoy being Jack. You’ll be thanking me when it’s done. And who knows? Maybe these changes will make us perfect for each other.”

Good News. Bad News.

“I need some advice here,” Jonah said nervously as he entered his bosses office, “Do we have any clue how long it’s going to be until we all swap back to our own bodies? I’m nervous to walk around or touch anything because, well -- this!” He gestured to the fact that he now had Andrea’s body.

“Well, I suppose the good news is that you don’t need to walk on eggshells.” His boss replied, “Just act in Andrea’s body as you normally would in your own body.”

“Well, that’s good news because I think I really need to go to the bathroom, and I was really uncomfortable with that! I still don’t want to. Is there any chance we’ll get back to our own bodies any time soon?”

“And that’s the bad news. This wasn’t an incident just at this company or this office. We’ve checked. We also have been hearing news reports starting to come out. The body swapping event is a world wide phenomenon. It’s affecting everyone. Not just here in this office or even in this city, but it’s hitting all across the globe. That means you’ll probably have to get used to being in Andrea’s body for a while. I wouldn’t hold it in or you might give yourself a urinary tract infection.”

“A...what...infection!?”

Crimes (Part 2)

View Part 1 of Crimes.

After a close call where he woke up in the hospital after one of old lady’s he swapped bodies with had a heart attack, Jim decided he needed a different approach. He needed an even quicker way to grab cash and he needed to choose younger bodies, ultimately settling on robbing convenience stores with the bodies of middle aged suburban moms.

He first pick was a woman coming out of the gym. He was sure she was healthy. After stealing her body, he picked up a fake gun he left nearby. Pointing it at the clerk, he demanded all the money in the register.

The clerk stammered, “Yeah, yeah, sure. But there’s only like $50 in there. The rest is in a dropsafe in back! I...I don’t have the key to that or anything. And, and, there’s a camera right there. If I’m short $50, the police will come. But if you walk away right now, they won’t even check that video.”

“I don’t care about the video,” Jim said staring straight at the camera. But maybe the clerk was right. It wasn’t worth it; he needed a bigger score. He sighed as he tucked the gun into his yoga pants and walked away.

In the Warehouse

I wrote a second part to this that is up exclusively on my Patreon.

Raymond was working as a night security guard in a large research lab on the outskirts of town. There were plenty of doors he was often instructed not to enter. Yet one night he heard a noise and screams for help behind one of those forbidden doors. When he entered, he saw a tank with a mermaid inside.

“Help me,” She said softly, “Free me from this tank!”

Raymond nodded, “What do I do?”

She pointed him to a machine next to the tank and gave him a series of steps, which he followed word-for-word. The final step was simply pressing a final button.

After doing so, Raymond felt quite strange. His face was now pressed up against the glass and on the other side was...himself? He looked down to see a tail. The machine had freed the mermaid by swapping their bodies! He was her and stuck inside the tank.

“Thanks for freeing me,” She said, “I’m sorry this was the only way to do so.”

As she left, Raymond flipped his tail. He couldn’t believe it; he was a mermaid...and probably subject to whatever sorts of weird experiments they were doing to in this lab.

Cycle D

“Please awaken, #1370-D,” The voice inside Ben’s head said.

“D?” Ben muttered, “So it’s a new cycle?” Ben noticed something about his voice. It was much higher pitch than he expected. Sure, a little bit was expected. After all, a new cycle meant he was 20 years old again. That was just how it worked.

At the start of the first cycle, several thousand volunteers were shot into space to reach the nearest inhabitable planet. Due to the long journey, they would be in statis for most of the time and only awoken for a single day each year to prevent brain deterioration. When their bodies hit fifty years of age, their memories would be transplanted into the next generation of twenty year old bodies that had been grown on the ship. Each new body was considered a new cycle.

New cycles were always difficult as it took some time for the brain to adjust to a new body. But it was different this time for Ben. Everything was feeling very weird. And as he started to regain his senses, he realized why...he was a woman!

“Computer? What the heck is going on here? Why am I a woman?” He demanded.

The voice in his head replied, “#1370 and #0045 merged genetic codes for cycle D. No male offspring were viable. Overall gender balanced on ship maintained.”

“Sh*t,” Ben muttered. He didn’t want to be in a woman’s body. But he also knew he would only have to do this for thirty days before the next cycle began again, so maybe it wouldn’t be too bad.

Prelude

Desmond was worried about the fact that his experiment was presently unattended. Describing what happened when he activated was difficult. Were he not a man of science, he might say his soul or spirit was ejected from his body. Then that soul traveled some distance before attaching itself to a new form. Now Desmond found himself inside the body of a young woman. But it wasn’t being in the wrong body that made him nervous, it was his experiment. If it continued unchecked, it would likely swap more and more people. If he couldn’t get to it in time, it might even implode and swap everyone in the world.

He needed to shut it down, but there was a problem. In his current form, there was no way he would get by the personnel checkpoints. Even if he did, his lab had biometric security limiting access to only a few people. He arrived at the perimeter still without a plan. He sat by the fence trying to think. Ultimately, he knew he couldn’t just sit here all day; he had to try something. And that’s when the bright light same shooting out of the lab...

The Tiki

Kelsey was trying to wrap her head around what was going on. All morning her boyfriend had been telling her that he was actually her best friend, Allison. A few hours later, Allison shows up with a weird tiki statue and says she is actually her boyfriend Marc.

“So, you’re saying, that he is,” Kelsey said addressing Allison’s body while pointing to Marc, “Or that she is? That she is actually Allison. And you’re actually Marc.”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you all morning!” Allison said from Marc’s body, “And I told Marc to bring the tiki, because I think it’s responsible for all this.”

“Well, how do I know that thing is not going to swap MY body with one of you two?”

“That’s why you should probably get out of here.”

“If it’s going to swap her, it may already be too late,” Marc in Allison’s suggested, “We didn’t swap bodies after touching this thing until we went to bed. You and I should probably try touching it again. But we’re probably not going to know anything until we fall asleep again.”

“So I could wind up in HIS body?” Kelsey said pointing to Marc again, “I love you, Hon, but I don’t want to BE you.”

“I don’t want to be him either!” Allison added.

“And I don’t want to be you!” Marc added, “So let’s just touch this thing and hope for the best!”

Grabbing a Beer

Bill didn’t have explanation for what was happening. All he knew was that seemed to be in a rather nice house, and his brain or soul or whatever now seemed to be inside a woman’s body. Maybe he was dreaming; maybe it was all in his head; he decided not to dwell on it. Instead he just went to the fridge and grabbed a beer.

With a cold one in his hands, his plopped his now bubble butt on the couch cushions. Then he proceeded to turn on the televison, where a news report was playing.

“Authorities have not figured out a cause of the massive body swapping and have suggested no way to reverse it will be forthcoming anytime soon,” The talking head on the television said.

“Well, shoot,” Bill said as he took a swig of his beer. He was crossing his legs in a feminine manner without even noticing. As the reporter continued to describe more details about what he was calling “The Great Shift,” Bill kept drinking more and more. He got through a whole six-pack before he realized this wasn’t a dream, and he was going to be stuck like this. Finally, he decided he better figure out who he was now, and picked up a purse on the floor. He set it beside himself on the couch for a few minutes before digging in to look for identification.

The Farmhouse (Part 5)

View Part 1 of The Farmhouse.
View Part 2 of The Farmhouse.
View Part 3 of The Farmhouse.
View Part 4 of The Farmhouse.

After a day or two, my sister came to me and told me she had found someone. They’d be coming over this weekend. I smiled and asked to see a picture. Technically, the weekend was a little less than a week, but I could tell my sister desperately wanted her body back, so I agreed.

“Does she know that she is coming over to be swapped into my body?” I said.

My sister took a long pause before answering, “No...What are we going to do once she’s actually in your body?”

“It’s not like anyone is going to believe her. We’ll just tell Mom not to let her in...me in...you know what I mean.”

“Still, it’s kind of cruel to steal someone’s body...”

“I can stay in yours, if you’d prefer that?”

My sister gave me a cold look, “I think that’s exactly my point, assshole.”

Still Alive

“Am I going to die, Doc?” David asked.

“It’s a miracle that you’re still alive,” The doctor replied, “Obviously, transplanting your brain into a new body was highly risky and experimental.”

“You’ve told me I’m a woman, but I can’t feel it. I can’t look down and see it. Even when looking in a mirror, I can’t reach out to confirm the reflection is truly me. Even the voice I hear when I speak, I have to tell myself it’s really different. My head hears it as my own.”

“You need to be parient. The stem cells and nanobots are still repairing the various pathways from your brain and spine to the rest of your body. They prioritized the vital systems like your heart and your lungs. You’ve only been able to speak since yesterday.”

“What if they stop working?”

“You shouldn’t lose your current functions, but you wouldn’t gain any new ones.”

“And whose body do I have? Who was she?”

“We don’t know. She fried her brain on a drug overdose, but she was otherwise healthy except for a few minor injuries that the nanobots are also repairing...”

Experiment #341-B

Taylor had entered the lab looking for her boyfriend, Walter. She wasn’t into science stuff, but she knew he was often here doing this or that. Instead she found some of his notes, and began reading.

“April 11, 2024: Subject exposed to Experiment #341-B was a success. Gender of subject has completely changed from male to female. Subject seems unaware of previous gender.

“April 12, 2024: Subject’s new mental state is highly suggestable at present time. Managed to convince subject of an entire backstory of a fabricated life and decreased intelligence.

“April 13, 2024: Subject’s mindset is solidifying. Added some additional backstory but faced some resistance. Took some added work to convince subject she and I are dating.

“April 14, 2024: Subject is resistant to advances; still holds onto former straight male mindset. Exposing Subject to Experiment #53-C to heighten feminine desires.”

Taylor was horrified as she realized she was the “Subject” in question. She wasn’t Walter’s girlfriend; she wasn’t even a she! She was a guy subject to all sorts of experiments that had transformed her into...this -- a woman with a strong libido especially attracted to Walter. But now that she knew? It changed everything...

Elven Magic

Things had just gotten worse ever since Rick had found the magic spell book. He was certainly capable of doing magic; he just wasn’t very good at it. The first thing he managed to do was accidentally give himself large elf ears. It wasn’t his intention, but he was impressed with himself, so he showed his girlfriend.

She was convinced it was just some elaborate cosplay and told him to stop goofing off. Convinced he could prove her wrong, he tried another spell that would up turning her into a pigeon. He chased after her once she flew out the window.

On the street, he hoped the bird he found was actually his girlfriend, but another screwed up spell and he turned himself into a woman instead of his girlfriend-turned-bird. He told himself he could fix this; he tried another spell.

This time it was Rick’s mind that was glossed over. He wasn’t Rick; she was Ricci. She was a poweful elven mage; this bird was her familiar. She now knew everything she needed to know about magic, but she had no desire to return things to “normal,” as this was her normal.

Change

“I told you!” The crazy old homeless man shouted, “I told you that if you didn’t give me change that I would give you change! And I gave you change! I gave you so much change!”

Brad and Moniqa could only stare at each other for several minutes as the homeless man continued to gloat. They were both walking by as he asked for change, and they both ignored him. He cast some sort of magic spell to swap their bodies, and now they were both trying to figure out what to do.

“Dude,” Brad asked, “If we give you change, would you swap us back?”

“Oh, no, it’s much too late for that,” The old man replied, “What is changed cannot be unchanged!”

“If we gave you cash, would you at least shut up?” Moniqa suggested.

“For a bit...perhaps.”

Moniqa took $10 from Brad’s wallet and gave it to the man; he soon quieted down. She turned to Brad, “Why didn’t you just give him money in the first place? You’re clearly loaded. I’m dead ass broke!”

“Well, I didn’t think he’d cast some spell to swap my body with someone else! It’s not like I can give money to every homeless guy I come across.”

“Well, maybe now that you’re me, you’ll learn what it’s like to struggle. By the way, my name is Moniqa, with a Q! I guess it’s your name now.”

“And maybe now that you’re Brad instead of me being Brad, you’ll learn being rich isn’t so easy either! Speaking of which, you’re lunch break is over in five minutes, and you have a pretty important meeting. I hope you don’t screw it up, for both of our sake’s.”

The Body Swap Machine

Jason woke up sitting in a chair. He felt strange and could feel a weird helmet on his head that was distorting his vision. He could barely make out another person sitting in a similar chair and a strange machine. It seemed only logical to lift the helmet. As he did so, he was in for a shock, the other person seemed to look exactly like him -- and also seemed to be taking a helmet off at the same time.

“Why am I sitting over there?” The other person asked.

“Holy crap! You even sound like me,” Jason said before noticing his own voice, “But why does mine sound so strange?”

“I think we...swapped bodies!”

“Swapped...” Jason took a moment to look down, realizing the other person didn’t simply LOOK like him, they WERE him; and he was a woman! “...bodies?”

“It must be this machine. Do you know how it works?”

“I don’t even remember how I got here! I think I was at a party? Maybe I passed out? Maybe I was drugged? Oh, God, I passed out and woke up in the body of a girl!”

“A woman!” Jason’s body corrected him, “’Girl’ is offensive and belittling. And I’m a guy!”

“And guy is...well, actually, guy is fine. Yeah, you’re a guy. Maybe we should put these helmets back on and try to fiddle with these knobs?”

“I can’t understand them now, and with this helmet on I can’t see a thing. Do you really want to risk frying our brains with this thing?”

Work at the Museum (Part 1)

“What the hell just happened?” Suki’s voice trembled as she realized she was now inside the body of the museum’s curator, Vic.

“When the orb was discovered, there was no record of it swapping people’s bodies. Of course, there was no record of the orb glowing like that either,” Vic tried his best to sound authoritative, despite being in Suki’s small body and speaking with her high pithced voice. It wasn’t just he and Suki that had swapped bodies. All the graduate students he had hired to catalog the museum’s collection in the basement did as well.

“It’s still glowing,” Kelly suggested while in Terrance’s body, “Maybe if we just wait, it will swap us again, and we’ll swap back to normal.”

And that’s just what they did. And the orb continued to swap their bodies around every thirty minutes or so. But it never seemed to swap any body back to their original body.

After a few swaps, Suki realized she swapping quite frequently into Vic’s body. She began to worry that she may get stuck in an older male body, so when she found herself in Kelly’s body, she decided it was close enough and ran upstairs and out of the museum. The other’s looked at each other nervously, realizing they too might all have to settle for a body that wasn’t their own.

Kinda Stupid

Kenneth had always considered things like yoga and meditation to be “kinda stupid,” but he seemed to have more than a natural ability at it. In fact, after attending a single session he was able to manage astral projection, which he previously would’ve scoffed at. Yet his experience was quite undeniable. It also seemed as he approached a body other than his own, they would fall asleep. He began to wonder why.

As he approached his girlfriend’s body, she too fell asleep. And then he got a little too close and began to be sucked in. Her body began to awaken, but it was Kenneth’s spirit not inside. He wished he hadn’t gotten so close! He didn’t want to be a woman! He tried to get back into his astral state, but he was having trouble concentrating. Had it just been beginner’s luck the first time?

Meanwhile, his own body lay lifeless and the rest of the yoga class was getting concerned. The instructor stopped the class and called an ambulance. Kenneth was now extremely worried. If he wasn’t getting guidance from the instructor, how could he ever hope to achieve that same higher state? He’d never get back to astral form, and he’d be stuck in his girlfriend’s body for good!

Tuesday

It had been a normal Tuesday morning, and Elliot had been walking to the bus stop when it happened. His suit suddenly felt huge, and it was like he was tripping over his own feet. One of his shoes slipped off, and he noticed how small his foot had become. His whole body seemed smaller, and with a little more exploration he discovered he had become a woman.

He couldn’t go to work like this! He’d have to send an email to call in sick, but in order to do that, he’d need to go home in order to connect his work laptop to the company VPN. But he realized he couldn’t let his wife see him like this either! He’d have to wait until she left for the day. So he nervously waited just a few houses down before slipping back inside.

Once he did, he was finally able to see his new reflection. He still looked a lot like himself -- except smaller and more feminine -- almost like what a sister of his would’ve looked like if he had one or if he had been born a woman instead of a man. He sent the email to work, hoping this would all work itself out over the course of the next day. Then he looked for different clothes to wear. All of his were much too big for his small frame, so he had to opt for some of his wife’s wardrobe. Only things like dresses didn’t seem to pinch him, even if a dress was the last thing he wanted to wear. And after that, it was a matter of hoping and praying he’d return to normal.

First Semester (Part 5)

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

Josh trudged to another early morning Swap Class and slouched down. He really wished he could skip, and all he could think about was how he was glad this semester was finally almost over. His final presentation was next week, and then he was scheduled to swap back to his own body two days after.

Then he could finally actually start a normal college life! Being trapped in a teacher’s body was the worst! He honestly couldn’t wait. That being said, he was pretty sure he was going to give the best presentation in the class; he certainly had a lot to talk about...

Fairy

Evan couldn’t believe that he had found a legit magic book! Magic was real! Of course, the first spell he cast had also unfortunately transformed him into a small, feminine fairy, but he was sure he could undo that. After all, he had a magic book!

However, being the size of a fairy proved to be quite difficult. The book, for instance, proved far too heavy to carry anywhere, so he decided he would have to stay close. Even the front cover was massive for his small form, but it was at least possible to open and shut. And while the book contained many spells for transforming humans into magical creatures, it didn’t seem to contain a single one for changing magical creatures back into humans.

But that gave him another idea. Maybe he didn’t need the magic book at all anymore. After all, wasn’t a fairy inherently magical? Shouldn’t he have magic just sort of coursing through his veins now? He fluttered up toward a web and magically made the spider speak. Evan was excited that his fairy magic had worked. Of course, all the spider seemed to want to talk about was her web and tempting Evan to come closer. Was she trying to trap Evan and eat him? Evan was small, but he wasn’t that small! Being a fairy sure came with a lot of interesting dangers in the world.

An Experiment

“The machine has successfully swapped the two subjects’ brains,” Dr. White explained to his colleagues, “Now we will return the two volunteers to their homes. The hidden cameras in their homes and implants in their heads will transmit data to us back here in the lab that we can analyze to see how they adapt to their new bodies.”

“But isn’t the experimented tainted by the fact that they’ve volunteers who knowingly agreed to swap bodies with someone of the opposite sex?” Dr. Park asked.

“Ah-ha, but they don’t know they agreed!” Dr. White smiled, “When we swapped their brains, we were able to pluck out their thoughts and memories about agreeing to this experiment and really anything about the experiment completely. As far as either of them will be aware, they are simply waking up in a different body with no context of this, which was of course part of the agreement that they don’t remember. The memories will be returned to them once we have concluded and placed them back in their own bodies, of course, but it should be fascinating to see how the two subjects deal with being in a different body, particularly as this is our first pairing of two people of different genders. It should be quite fascinating.”

In the Right Hands

Neil had to admit that he had outdone himself with his latest invention. With what he had created anyone could make themselves look like anyone else. But it wasn’t a mere illusion, more like a transformation. He simply adjusted the settings and his body morphed from a 5’11” male weighing 200 pounds to a 5’4” woman at just a little over half that weight. Anyone touching him would only feel his now soft feminine skin. And even his own body would feel and react as if this was his actual body.

The potential for this technology was limitless. In the wrong hands, it could be used for criminal activities or to impersonate celebrities. In the right hands, it could treat gender dysphoria or used as a welcome vacation from one self.

But for now? Well, for now the invention was all in Neil’s hands. And it was time for him to test some limits and maybe have a little fun.

Atypical

If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts or a crisis, please know you can reach out to the Suicide Prevention Hotline. <3

Stephanie absolutely hated the new law that required all cybertronic hybrids to have one obvious part exposed. She hated the day they removed the skin from one of her arms for the sake of “compliance;” she longed for the days when she just looked like a typical girl.

She no longer blended in; she was almost always bombarded with questions. She either wouldn’t answer, or she’d lie. Sometimes it was blatent. She’s say she was an AI or that it was just her arm. Sometimes she would start with the truth -- explaining that she had died, and her brain was transplanted into a cybertronic body. What she’d never share is that she had actually attempted suicide, or that she had once a guy named Stephen.

For the former Stephen, her brain inside a cybertronic body that looked like a woman was an instant dream come true. Everything felt right with the world, and she was truly the person she was meant to be. And then that stupid law passed. She felt so dehumanized by being forced to reveal a robotic piece of herself. It was why she switched to a pre-law major at her college. She was going to fight this for the rest of her life -- and the life expectancy of a human brain inside a cybertronic body was very likely going to be a very long life.

Just the Way New York City Is

It didn’t take long for Elizabeth to find her body after the Great Shift; it was sitting in the same spot she had been prior to the massive body swap event. She didn’t know quite how to introduce herself.

“So, did we...” Elizabeth cleared her thought after hearing her new masculine voice for the first time, “Did we swap with each other?”

“If I have your face, then I guess we did. Because you certainly have mine.” Theo replied.

“You’re really calm about suddenly being a woman. Everyone actually seems really calm about this whole thing. I would’ve expected massive freak outs.”

“Oh, people are. I was reading news reports about it on your phone. But New York City is just...different. We’re all just used to weird stuff, I suppose.”

“But switching bodies? That’s like really weird. Even for New York.”

“It’s not like either of us are freaking out about it. At least not outwardly so; we’re still able to talk about it calmly like human beings. And speaking of which, I guess we have a lot of things to talk about...”

Bad News

Megan and Ryan had been dating for a few years. They were in their mid-30s and often talked about getting married. Megan was sure Ryan was going to ask any day now. When the Great Shift happened, and Megan ended up in the body of a 59-year-old woman, she was sure it would accelerate their plans. After all, she wasn’t getting any younger! And one day when Ryan asked to sit down with her in their apartment, she was sure this was it. The bad news blindsided her.

Despite Ryan now being in the body of a 19-year-old woman, he rarely acted like it. But in this situation, he was fumbling his words as he explained why he was breaking up with Megan. He touched on their age difference; he mentioned how he was finding himself attracted to guys; he talked about how he labored over the decision.

Megan didn’t say much. She just listened as Ryan drifted from point to point; she also knew he was right. She could just feel it was doomed in her heart. The only reason she had wanted it to work was because of how nice it had been before the Shift, but with their new bodies, they were absolutely growing apart. She finally told him to stop speaking, and simply said it was all okay and that she accepted it.

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...