Find Yourself

Arthur had bought a ticket online to the local art museum and was a little surprised to find the place swarming with reporters and celebrities. Apparently, it was the opening day for some new exhibit called “Find Yourself,” where an artist had installed some sort of strange maze throughout the museum.

With his ticket in hand, he had a scheduled entrance time and walked past much of the line. The staff gathered him in a small group, and he felt a little out of place. People were dressed up, he was sure he spotted a few actors he knew in his group. And just as they were about to be escorted inside the maze entrance, there was a flash. Suddenly Arthur found himself entering from a different location, and his group had changed. He looked down to see a green dress. There must have been some sort of tech that caused the groups of people to swap bodies. “Find Yourself” soon seemed less like the title of the exhibit but more like instructions.

Arthur began to wander about the maze, looking for his own body. He hoped once he found it, he would swap back to normal. He moved slowly, having difficulty walking with the heels on his feet. He began to wonder whose body he was in. He didn’t think he was skinny enough to be a model. There were no mirrors in the maze to check out his face. And even if he could see it, there was no guarantee he would recognize it. And as more time passed, he focused much more on who he was now as opposed to the location of his original body, and he began to rethink the meaning of “Find Yourself” yet again.

Hot Aunt

“What the heck? Why is there a tattoo on my arm, Aunt Sharon? Why did you get a tattoo? I don’t want to get my body back with a tattoo on it!” Harvey protested.

“Maybe I don’t plan on giving it back,” His aunt replied.

“No! We agreed! We were just doing this for a few weeks in the summer before I went to college. It was fun, but I don’t want to be stuck in the body of my mom’s sister! She talks to me about sleeping with dad! It’s gross, and she won’t shut up about it! I hated having your period, and how men treated me in the office as a woman! And I don’t think I deserve to lose twenty years of my life!”

“Now you’re just naming all the reasons I shouldn’t agree to swap back. You were the one dumb enough to ask about swapping bodies in the first place. I know you were so curious about what it would be like to be the ‘hot aunt.’ I could’ve told you that it sucks, but you know because you lived it. But it sucks for you, because you’re going to have to continue living it. I know we can’t swap back unless we both agree, and I’m simply not agreeing.”

Pass

“Do you think...do you think I can still pass as a woman?” Leigh asked nervously as she stood in her apartment wearing a dress and wig.

“The wig helps!” Jason smiled, “But, honestly, you still look like me...except in a dress and a wig.”

“Damnit! Swapping bodies sucked! I wish the Great Shift never happened!”

“I get it! But we can’t change it; we can only deal with what it did to us. I’m in your body now, and I’m dealing with that! I didn’t want to be a woman, but I’m okay with it. And you ended up in my body. And believe me, it’s weird to see me standing there in a dress! And I’ve totally accepted the fact that you are taking estrogen, and that’s going to change my body! But it’s what you want, and I have to deal with that!”

“It’s not working fast enough! I’m still so manly! But thank you. I know it’s probably not easy seeing me do this to your body. You really are like my best friend.”

“I know! Your mine too. And again, stop thinking about that body as mine. It’s not mine anymore. It’s yours. You get to do with it what you want to, okay?”

Worst Case Scenario

It had been two days since the accident had swapped Hector’s brain with Claire’s, and he had been looking for a way to swap them back ever since. As he combed over data, he noticed a worrying trend.

“Oh, shit, Claire. This isn’t good.” He said.

“What is it?” Claire asked looking up from her phone.

“I scanned our brains when we first swapped, and I’ve been doing regaular scans on myself ever since. Each time, it’s getting further and further away from my scan, and closer and closer to yours.”

“So?”

“Well, for starters, if we don’t swap back soon, I’m not sure it will even matter. Eventually my brain waves will become your brain waves. I’ll have all your original memories and your skills; I will think of myself as Claire. And the reverse will be true. You’ll think of yourself as Hector. We may even reach a point of return very soon -- I might simply lose my abilities to research all of this.”

“So, then, doesn’t the problem just sort of fix itself?”

“I’m not sure. There could still be some sort of floor or core to what we retain. We might go crazy from feeling different on the inside from how we express ourselves or remember ourselves on the outside. That’s worst case scenario, but I can’t eliminate that possibility.”

Tied Up

Adam awoke in a chair feeling himself tied up. That quickly became a secondary concern when he realized his own body was in a chair next to him, and he was in someone else’s body -- a woman’s body. He noticed an old man shuffling in the distance.

“Hey! Hey!” He shouted to the man, “Let us go! Untie us!”

“I need to get to work,” Kelly groaned as she awoke in Adam’s body.

“Actually, you don’t,” The old man said, “The body you’re in is unemployed.”

“What the hell? Switch us back now!” Kelly demanded.

“I would if I could, but whoever did this switched me too. But he did give me some instructions. It may take me a while to untie you both with these old hands, so I suggest you share information about yourselves with each other.”

“Share information?” Adam asked, “No,she’s right. We need to be swapped back to normal. I can’t live like this! I can’t be a woman!”

“I’m afraid you have no choice. He’s long gone and took the device with him. You’re lucky I’m kind enough to stay behind and help, otherwise you’d not only be stuck in the wrong bodies, but you’d have no one to let you go.”

Work at the Museum (Part 2)

View Part 1 of Work at the Museum.

The orb continued to glow and swap bodies well into the night, never returning anyone to their original body. And then it finally dimmed and stopped. Everyone was in the body they were in during the first swap -- which the exception of Suki, who had run off with Kelly’s body; and Kelly, who was now in Vic’s body -- and that meant Vic was back inside Suki’s body.

He told the students to take the next few days off, but for Vic, there would be no rest. He got to work immediately to look for more information about the orb and perhaps the other artifacts that where discovered at the same time. The records did show a second orb had been found at the same time. Perhaps it had the answers; perhaps it was a way to get back ro normal.

Of course, that orb was at another museum halfway around the world. The staff over there were known for being prickly, but it was also right now his only lede. He’ll tell the students when they returned. It wasn’t much hope, but it was hope nonetheless.

The Long Road into Town

Barney didn’t even have time to appreciate the fact that his body swapping machine had actually worked before electrical systems lost power and the external console caught fire. It spread quickly, and Barney grabbed the core of the machine and ran. The core maintained the programming and main data of the body swapping machine, and while he’d have a lot of work ahead of him, he should have enough to be able to swap himself and Joanne back to normal within a week or two.

But speaking of Joanne, he didn’t see any sign of her in his body. He could only hope that she had gotten out safely as well and was already well down the road somewhere.

And it would be a long road for sure. The cabin where they had tested the machine was deep in the forest and miles from town. There was a chance the fire could spread to the surrounding forest. And the temperatures were frigid, and they seemed to feel even colder now that he was in Joanne’s body. As his panic began to dwindle, feeling the effects of now being in her body were starting to settle into his mind. It wasn’t just the cold, it was the mere fact that her body was different than his own that made the journey much more awkward. But he didn’t have a choice. It wasn’t even about this being his only hope of getting his body back, this was his only hope of survival.

Bad Trip

“Whoa...everyone...I think...I think the shrooms kicked in,” Drake said as he looked around the room, “I saw this like weird flash of light, and now it’s like...it’s like I’m looking at myself. And it feels like...it feels like I’m Casey! This is so trippy, everyone...”

“But...you are Casey,” Jack interjected, “But...whoa...I guess I’m in the wrong body, too! I feel like I’m totally Amy, guys!”

“No wait. No wait.No wait!” Theo added, “I’m just drunk. I shouldn’t be hallucinating at all. But I’m definitely in Ling’s shrimp body. I think...I think we really swapped bodies. And...whoa! The shrooms kicked in, because all of the colors are swirling, and I didn’t take any! But Ling...Ling definitely did!”

“Whoa are you calling a shrimp?” Ling protested now that she stood behind herself in Theo’s body, “And someone get me some shrooms, because I am in Theo’s body, and he’s right. He didn’t have any yet, and I totally want to get stoned.”

“No,” Casey added, “If we all swapped bodies, someone needs to not be whacked out on shrooms. Like a safety or something or whatnot. Because...this is turning into a bad trip for me! I don’t want to be Casey! I want to be me!”

First Semester (Part 6)

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.

“Loneliness, isolation, depression...” Josh spoke in front of the class, stating the themes of his presenation as his introduction. He knew he had a unique experience to tell. The semester had been miserable, and despite showing up to classes everyday, he still felt like an outside and detached from campus life. In the community, he was an older woman, who often had trouble connecting and making friends. He discussed the sudden wane of sexual desire as soon as he found himself in an older body.

And perhaps there was something about being in Ms. Wen’s body, which had years of practice delivering lectures in front of classes, Josh felt so at ease as he as he said every word. He knew it the presentation would be like other student’s in class, because he was in a situation like no other student in class. A few kids even clapped at the end. But the best part was when it was over. Sure, he was still stuck in Ms. Wen’s body for a few more days, but it really felt like Swap Class was truly done.

Digging Through the Trash

“I can’t believe you’re digging through the trash like that! You’re going to get my hands so dirty! Or you’re going to find some needle, stab my body, and get some weird disease!” Nicole protested as Josh started digging thrugh the trash in order to find try to find the Medallion of Zulu that they had lost.

Josh reasoned, “If we don’t find that Medallion, these are going to be my hands, and this is going to be my body -- forever! We checked everywhere inside; it’s not there! Our only hope is that one of our roommates threw it out, and that it’s here in the trash some place. Just be glad they haven’t come to take it yet! I had fun as you these past twelve hours, but I really don’t want to be stuck in your grumpy goth body for good!”

“I’m not grumpy! And fine. We’ll look, but I just wish we didn’t have to sift through all the neighbor’s trash, too!”

“Can you tell the difference? Because I can’t!”

Josh hoped he was giving a convincing performance. The truth was he had given the Medallion to a friend, because he wanted to keep Nicole’s body; but he couldn’t let her know that, so he had to pretend like it was lost. Acting like he wanted to go back, being desperate enough to dig through the trash; it was all a way to seem like he didn’t want to be stuck in Nicole’s body.

Who Are You?

It was like an earthquake or a powerful lightning storm or something. I was knocked off my feet; it seemed others were also as I saw many people picking themselves up off the floor. A man approached me, offering to help me up.

“No thanks,” I said, “I think I got it. I just need a minute.”

“Who are you?” He asked.

“My name is John,” I said.

“Do you know who you are now?”

I had no idea what he meant by that question. I gave him a puzzled look.

“Look at yourself,” He said.

I noticed the hands first. They weren’t mine. They seemed to be more wrinkled but well-maintained, still soft and almost feminine. No, they were certainly feminine. In fact, I came to quickly realize my whole body was.

“I have no idea who I am,” I suddenly confessed, “I am in some woman’s body.”

“No one knows exactly what happened, but so many of us are now in the wrong body, just like you are. Everyone is trying to sort of out who is who, who used to be who, and what we all plan to do about it now. You’re welcome to join in the discussion.”

Change the Plan

“I still can’t believe you just popped into town to see me here in flyover country, Jen. I have so much on my mind,” Joanne said to what she thought was her trendy big sister.

But the woman sitting across from her in the pink leather jacket wasn’t actually Jenn. It was Joanne’s husband, Peter. He had been paranoid that she might be cheating on him, and so he used a magic spell to turn himself into a copy of someone she would share secrets with.

“Oooh,” Peter said doing his best to imitate Jen’s excited and dramatic tones, “Is there trouble in paradise between you and Peter? Do dish!”

“I dunno. I thought married life would be fun and cool. But it’s sort of boring and lame. Maybe it’s just where we are. If we lived with you in Los Angeles --”

“You’re not getting an invite.”

“-- Oh, uh, okay, I wasn’t asking. I was just trying to say things were boring. I don’t even know how to tell Peter I’m pregnant.”

Peter tried to stay calm at the news. He was going to be a dad! He couldn’t believe it! He tried to keep his composure, “Well, see! That’s exciting, right?”

“Oh, God, you don’tknow the half of it! ’m not even sure it’s actually is.”

It was what he wanted to hear; it was what he expected to hear. And yet when he heard it, he felt empty about it inside. He wasn’t even mad; he just wanted to give up. He looked down at his feminine hands. Maybe he could. He’d buy a plane ticket to Los Angeles, he’d cast the spell again -- but this time, he’d turn Jen into a copy of him. Then she would be stuck with Joanne and his life. He could live as Jen. It seemed like a plan; it seemed like a good plan; it seemed like the only plan...

Spells 'R Us 2.0 (Part 1)

The latest tablet was sold out everywhere. But a single display model remained at one electronics store that Connor and Elena saw at the same time. They could both tell the other was eyeing it, and they began to fight and reach for it. Elena pulled Connor’s arm back as he reached for it with the other. As the fought, the tablet began to glow and eventually shot out sparks at the dueling shoppers.

It only took a few moments later for Connor and Elena to realize they had swapped bodies. Correctly assuming the sparking tablet had been responsible, they attempted to recreate the events that lead to the swap.

Connor (now in Elena’s body) held on to Elena’s arm. Elena reached with the other for the tablet. But instead of swapping them back, it shattered.

“What the heck did you do?” Connor whispered, not wanting to cause a scene.

“I didn’t even touch it!” Elena protested.

“Excuse me! Excuse me!” Connor said raising his voice, hoping to catch the attention of a clerk.

An older gentleman finally came around.

“Yes,” Connor addressed the old man, “We were wondering if you had another one of these...in the back or something?”

The old man put his glasses to look at the device and adjusted his nametag on his vest, which almost appeared long enough to be a robe. “This model?” He said, “I’m afraid it’s on back order. It will be weeks before we get more. Maybe months.”

“Can you fix this one?” Elena asked, “We’ll pay double...or triple!”

“I’m afraid not,” The old man replied, “The only solution here is to just be patient and wait.”

Fare Exchange

After spending weeks stuck in the body of the slobby cab driver of the magic taxi, Albert was happy to finally have a fare long enough to escape. Sure it was a woman, but at least she looked rich. After wishing her a nice day, he found himself in her body and handed the horrified woman now stuck in the driver’s body a $50.

He couldn’t believe he had finally escaped, and he certainly couldn’t believe he was now a woman! He took a deep breath and looked around when he felt a vibrating. The woman’s phone was ringing.

He answered cautiously, “Hello?”

“Hey, Honey, it’s me,” Said a man’s voice on the other end. “Could you pick up a gift for Hayley’s birthday while you’re out?”

“Hayley? Who’se Hayley?”

The voice on the other end was silent for a moment before responding, “Our daughter. Are you feeling okay? Do you need to come home?”

“That may be a good idea.” It was Albert who paused this time as he watched the magic taxi, which had been stuck in traffic, finally pull around the corner, and realizing he needed to ask, “Where do we live? I’ll hail a cab.”

Class Is In (Part 1)

Troy clutched his football in his hands. He didn’t want to admit it, but he was terrified. It wasn’t just due to the fact that he had swapped bodies with Amanda, a woman in his class; it was the fact that Amanda was so small and diminutive. He felt like he was looking up at everyone and everything. He felt like the slightly breeze could blow him away.

“I have to tell Tiffany,” Troy told Amanda.

“Maybe we should keep it a secret while we look for a way back to normal?” Amanda suggested.

Truthfully, she was enjoying this. Sure, it was weird to be a guy, and she was sure that would put her in an awkward situation later on, but it was nice to be big and strong. For those reasons, she enjoyed being in Troy’s football player body. She thought the more people who knew, the more they’d be able to help. And if they helped they’d be forced to swap back. If she kept it between her and Troy, she could hinder any progress.

“No, she deserves to know,” Troy insisted, “She’ll believe us.”

“Okay, but just her. People will think we’re crazy.”