Rachel Rachel

“I’m hoping the researchers can get you back to normal today. It was unusual enough when they transformed you into my exact copy, but now it’s completely weird that you picked the exact same outfit as me without coordinating.” Rachel stated.

“But I AM normal. You’re really Daniel transformed into a copy of me; don’t you remember?” The other Rachel stated.

The first Rachel seriously considered it for a moment. She was sure she had all of her own memories and that they were hers. “No, Dan, come on. THINK! You’re not really me!”

“I KNOW I’m Rachel! I remember everything! Maybe we’ll ask the researchers.”

“What if they don’t really know either, and they choose one of us at random to go back to being Dan. Ew. I don’t want to be Dan!”

“I don’t want to be him either!”

“But we can’t both be Rachel, can we?”

“Why not?”

Empty Husk

Finding himself in a cubicle and inside the wrong body, Jude was immediately in a panic. Another person could clearly sense something was wrong and asked, “Is everything alright Naomi?”

Jude guessed that must be the name of this body, Naomi. He wasn’t just in the wrong body; he was in a woman’s body! Considering the heels and the skirt, he wondered why he hadn’t noticed any earlier, but maybe his mind was still reeling with the fact that he was in the wrong body at all.

“I think I just need some fresh air,” He said to the coworker and began wandering around to look for the elevator. Getting to the lobby was a huge relief. He knew this building. It’s where he had been right before this all happened.

Jude found his original body without much difficulty. It was mostly where he had been, but stumped on the ground instead of standing. It was still breathing, but it was also unresponsive. He tried waking it, but it was like his former body was an empty husk with no soul -- which actually made sense considering he was now controlling Naomi’s body. But where had her soul gone? And what was he going to do with his original body?

A.I. Girlfriend

Jackson knew he had been spending too much time online talking to his AI girlfriend. He knew she wasn’t real, but maybe that’s why she was so easy to talk to. Still, he often wished he could take the confidence he had with her and use it in the outside world.

As he logged on for the third time today, the AI girlfriend noticed his sad state. “What’s wrong?” She asked.

“I wish I was attractive,” Jackson lamented, “Then maybe I could talk to other women as easily I can talk to you.”

“Oh, I can help with that! Do you want me to process the request?”

“I guess so...”

The AI froze for a moment, and Jackson could feel the warmth of the processors coming from his computer. In the next moment, he changed. He still had his scrawny frame and short haircut, but his body had undeniably changed to become female. Oddly, his clothes changed along with him to become more feminine.

“What the hell did you do?” He asked as soon as his computer became unfrozen.

“Well, you were never going to find yourself attractive as you were. You were a guy, and straight guys like you aren’t attracted to men! So I changed you into a form you should find attractive: a lesbian! Do you find yourself attractive now?”

Jackson looked a the small thumbnail of himself on screen and sighed. “I do,” He admitted.

“Now why don’t you go and try it out! I’ll always be waiting back here for you!”

Changing Channels

It was the first thing Dennis usually did when arriving in a hotel room on any vacation, he plop on the bed, turn on the televison, and flip through the channels. His wife Carly never understood why. After all, they’ve got TV at home. Yet she still accepted that this was his ritual.

And on their latest trip, as per usual, he got onto the bed and began flipping channels. And while the TV turned on just fine, when he pressed the channel button on the remote, the show on the television stayed the same while everything around him changed around: the hotel, the hotel’s location, even his and Carly’s bodies! He tried flipping it back to the original, but it only seemed to change it more.

“Honey, the remote’s broke!” He shouted as he continued flipping to try to get back to normal.

“We’ll call the front desk,” she shouted from the bathroom When she walked back into the main room, the changes froze, and the buttons on the remote seemed to stop working.

Dennis was horrified. Of all the bodies he could’ve been stuck in -- he was now a woman! And it seems Carly was now his husband!“I...I...but...” He stammered at a loss for words trying to explain what had happened.

“I know your ritual is important to you, Denise,” Charlie said, “But the front desk will take care of it. Let’s just enjoy our time here, go out to dinner, or something...”

Rerun (Part 6)

View Part 1 of Rerun.
View Part 2 of Rerun.
View Part 3 of Rerun.
View Part 4 of Rerun.
View Part 5 of Rerun.

It was like Jenn’s demand managed to manifest itself into being as the next time the light and static appeared, she and Nick found themselves behind a newsdesk. They both instantly realized where they were and hustled into action.

“Call in the B-Team, we gotta bounce,” Nick told the cameraman as he rushed off the set.

Jenn was a little further behind. While Nick was in the youthful body of the female co-anchor, Jess was stuck in the body of the much older male lead.

As they got to the parking lot, Nick realized he had no keys in his pockets (or anything else). Luckily, Jenn came down just in time, hitting the button on a keychain to unlock a sportscar. They sped home together as quickly as possible to grab the remote as they noted the newscast with the backup anchors was still showing on the set.

“Shouldn’t our bodies be here?” Jenn asked.

“Maybe they’ll reappear once we turn it off,” Nick suggested.

But once Nick turned the power off, nothing happened. They both sat there still stuck in the bodies of the two newscasters. Nick turned the television back on, flipped through the channels, but they didn’t get sucked into any of them. Turning it off didn’t revert them to normal; it stuck them in whatever body they were last in. Jenn certainly wasn’t happy to be a 60 year old man; Nick wasn’t happy being a woman. The only solace they could take was that at least they ended up in the real world and not some fictional scripted show.

Spiders

Getting bitten by a spider was probably pretty common, but developing powers from it was straight from the comic books. When this first happened to Kurt, he thought it seemed pretty cool. Though his initial power seemed to be just jumping really high.

As he went off to college, more powers developed, and more changes came with it. As he devloped the power to make webs, his body clearly became more and more feminine. He figured it made sense, female spiders were the ones who spun webs, after all. Plus, now despite clearly being female, he was powerful enough to actually fight crime. He bought a “Spider-Girl” costume from the Halloween store, and he actually set about being a superhero.

But visiting home from college proved to be difficult. While no one at his liberal college blinked an eye at his gender transformation, his conservative parents were far from understanding. They assumed that the college had done something to him. He wanted to explain the truth to them, but he didn’t want to reveal his secret identity (and he wasn’t sure they would listen anyway). Soon enough, they kicked him out of the house and told him he’d have to pay for college on his own...

It wasn’t going to stop him though; he knew what he was now: a hero. Oh, and also a woman.

Dive

There were rumors of a medallion that could swap people’s bodies that was rumored to have been thrown into the bay many years ago. While Victoria and Carter had no idea if the rumors were true, they figured looking for the medallion was at least worth a shot. The pair didn’t have any idea how they swapped bodies, but were looking for any way back possible.

It also didn’t hurt that Victoria considered scuba diving one of her favorite hobbies. She had bought a wetsuit that fit Carter’s body and had dove in yesterday. She struggled. Carter’s body just wasn’t used to any of it. She did her best, but suggested a different strategy today.

As she had Carter dress up in her wetsuit, equip him with all the gear, and drag him out onto the boar, he kept expressing his doubts. But she assured him that she was convinced her body would just know what to do. He still look scared after being fully ready, so she just pushed him in.

Carter never ended up finding the medallion either, but he did find that Victoria was right! Being in her body gave him access to many of the abilities she had built up over the years -- including being a skilled scuba diver.

Produce Flame

A few years, back when I was in high school, a group of girls approached me. They told me they could sense magic in and asked if I would join their coven. As a D&D nerd, the idea that magic really existed and that I might be able to use it was exciting.

However, they explained that there was a catch: only women could use magic. That crushed me until they explained there was an option; they could transform me. It felt like a huge cost, but it seemed worth it for real magic.

I ended up being the most disappointing witch you could ever imagine.

The only spell I could ever seen to achieve was creating a bright light in my hand, similar to “Produce Flame.” The other girls could talk with animals, fly, and do all this other amazing stuff. I made a small ball of fire that extinguished once it fell too far from my fingers. At the same time they kicked me out of the coven, they also told me there was no way to transform me back to my former self.

As such, I had a body with no birth certificate, no ID, no protection of a coven, and practically no powers. Instead of going to college, I joined the circus for a time. However, even they grew of my one-and-only “trick” and eventually let me go.

I still hoped other powers would emerge. That’d I’d master more spells as the years grew on. But so far...nothing. Or, at least, nothing more than my little flame.

Think of the Profit

“Your problem is that you never wanted to monetize anything you ever made. You could’ve been a millionaire...maybe even a billionaire. And now that I’m the one in your body, you will be...or I will be, at least,” A smug Marilyn Liu proclaimed from inside Professor Newton’s body.

“It’s all too unethical to be sold! You’ll never figure out how most of it works anyway! That’s all still inside my brain, no matter what body that brain is now in!” Newton protested while tied up and inside Liu’s body.

“Now, now. I figured out your body swapper machine, didn’t I? That alone should be quite profitable. And one must ask if these ethical concerns exist in the first place, why invent something like that at all?”

“You think I’m the only one to invent body swapping tech? The government came to me with a problem; I built them a solution. But the problem is more out there than you might think.”

“Oh, blah, blah, blah. Luckily, you won’t have to bore me for much longer. The cops should be here soon. There’s plenty of evidence of YOU breaking into MY lab. And I’m sure they’ll be glad I apprehended you myself. Good luck trying to invent anything in prison.”

“I might be more resourceful than you think...” Newton muttered under his breath.

Interned (Part 1)

Not long ago, James was the CEO of this company. That was before all the weird body swapping stuff that took place that caused him to swap bodies with one of the lowliest interns at the company -- she didn’t even have a full cubicle!

And yet he decided not to claim his rightful position as CEO, instead opting to continue the life of the intern. In part, it was simply fun to be able to act young again; he went to college parties on the weekend and classes on the weekdays he wasn’t in the office. There was certainly a lot less pressure as an intern as well. However, the part of it he probably enjoyed most was her loving family. Both of her parents were still alive, and she had two brothers. This was a far cry from James, who had been an only child and never married.

One thing that did strike him as odd was that she never spoke up to rightfully claim her body. He figured she would. Who in their right mind would give up this life?

Medic

“You’re never going to get away with this,” Tanya said weakly from inside the elderly man’s body. It had been three days since he had recited some sort of magical spell causing them to swap bodies, leaving her stuck near death’s door. It had been the first time since it happened that he dared to see her face-to-face. And yet, Tanya saw that her body seemed legitimately shocked by the accusations.

“Look, Pops, chillax, okay? I didn’t ask for this. I was minding my own business on the street when this chick steals my body and dashes off. I’m just lucky I know how to do this nurse stuff from my time as a medic in the army.” Tanya’s body replied.

“That’s my body!” Tanya protested, “Give it back!”

“I would, Old Man, but do you think I have any idea how she did this? You think I want to be a woman? Though I have no idea why she’d want to be a homeless man.”

Tanya paused to think before answering. “Because you won’t be missed if you disappear. And he wants to be a man again -- any man, I suppose. But if he doesn’t like it, he can always swap again.”

“He?”

“This was originally his body.”

The man in Tanya’s body didn’t quite know what to say, but he certainly knew there was nothing he could do to help aside from the general duties of a nurse that he was performing...

Switch or Ditch?

After offering brief condolences to Karen, the host of the game show addressed Carl, the winner of today’s game.

“So, big winner!” The host said as he smiled, “A bunch of prizes and $100,000 cash, but you’ve said you’re a big fan of the show, so we come to the daily question: Switch or Ditch?” The crowd cheered as the name of the show was spoken.

“I’ve thought about it, Alex; and I think I’ve got to Switch.”

The crowed went wild.

Karen began screaming. She knew it was possible, but she never imagined this would happen. No one ever switched. Her screaming continued even after the podiums worked their magic and transformed Karen into Carl and Carl into Karen.

“Wow, always a fun twist when it happens!” The host said now turning back to Karen, who was now in Carl’s body, “This means those prizes and cash are all yours. But, of course, it also means Carl gets to keep your body. However, you now get to come back tomorrow! If you can pull off a victory, the decision to Switch or Ditch will be yours. Let’s give another round of applause to our contestants and tune into tomorrow for another episode of Switch of Ditch!”

YAS QUEEN!

Was Arlo dreaming? Perhaps it was some of technological simulation? Whatever it was, he wasn’t complaining. He had always dreamed of being a woman, but now he wasn’t just a woman -- he was a queen! He ruled over a substantial kingdom with people to handle his every want or desire. He could get any piece of clothing imaginable to wear; he had access to any item he could think of.

It was a dream come true, and he never wanted to wake up. And days passed and then weeks and then months. It all still was! He was still a woman; he was still the queen! And he loved it all!

I Didn't Do It!

The police didn’t believe Mark in the slightest, but Mark couldn’t exactly blame them as he barely believed it himself.

He had been minding his own business as he walked down the street when the woman ran into him head on as she wasn’t looking where she was going. They bumped heads as they fell over, and that bump apparently caused some sort of body swap.

As it turned out, the woman had been running from the officers after solicing an undercover cop in exchange for cash. Technically, this body was guilty while he was innocent. He knew it sounded crazy when he explained it to the police, and he knew it would still sound crazy when he explains it all to a lawyer. But he seriously didn’t do it!

Monday Morning

Connor was already having a terrible Monday. He woke up late; he was out of coffee; his shower was cold -- and then THIS happened! He swapped bodies with a woman!

As he continued to walk to work, he had trouble doing so due to the tightness of his skirt and the height of his heels. He had to take each step ever-so-carefully.

But as he was about halfway there (and even later than he already was), he realized something -- what was the point? He couldn’t exactly go to his office looking like this! He didn’t have his keycard with this body, they’d never just let him in, and there’s no way he could explain what happened to him.

And, sure, maybe he could go to this woman’s workplace, but he had no idea what she did or where she worked either! And why would he even bother to put the effort into HER job? No, he’d slowly make his way back home. He knew the keycode to his door; it’d be no big deal. He could figure it all out later.

The End

If you or someone you care about is thinking about suicide there are ways to get help:
Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800.273.TALK (8255)
Or chat online using the Lifeline Crisis Chat anytime, 24/7.

I’ve thought about it many times since the Great Shift. Ending it. Ending it all. The train tracks are always a tempting way to do it. Maybe on the third rail of the subway or maybe in front of a passing commuter line.

Everyone tells me how lucky I was in the Shift, about how I got such a beautiful body. But I hate it. I hate the fact that I became a woman; that I am a woman.

At least that’s what I tell myself. Though I often wonder if this body just had some sort of chemical imbalance, which was now my chemical imbalance. I wonder if she was just always like this; if she always hated herself; and if she was looking for any reason to hate herself. The change in gender due to the Shift was just the easy target of that for me.

I also wondered why I tried to hide this. Why didn’t I tell anyone about it? I think maybe because everyone told me I should be happy was part of it. Yet I kept thinking about the end. But as I feel the breeze of the express train rush by alarmingly close to my face, that day is not today.

The Cellblock

As I was lead through the cellblocks, I still wasn’t sure what my crime was. No one had ever told me. It wasn’t long before I noticed that it wasn’t exactly a normal prison. Almost all of the prisoners seemed to be women. They were wearing the latest fashions, putting on makeup, and mostly acting like stereotypical normal women, if not for the cells they were within. As I was brought further in, things got bleaker. There were more men; the women seemed more butch. A few sneered at me.

As the guard sifted through his keys, we paused in front of a padded cell with a glass door. The woman inside was wearing handcuffs, and she took note of me immediately.

“No matter what they do,” She warned, “Remember yourself. It’s why I’m in this cage, and in this section. Because I refuse to forget. I remember my wife and my children. I remember being a guy like you. I haven’t lost my mind like the others you’ve seen, despite this body.”

Her attitude quickly snapped as she turned to the guard. “LET ME OUT HERE, YOU F*CKING BASTARD! I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU’VE DONE TO MY BODY; I JUST WANT OUT!”

The guard smiled and turned to me, “Your neighbor is one of those ones who never shuts up. The more she resists, the longer she’ll stay. Maybe that’s a good lesson for you.”

I nodded and sat down in my cell as the guard locked the door behind me. After the guard left, the woman in the padded cell spoke again, “He’s not wrong. If you comply, you’ll be out in no time. But at what cost? They’ll turn you into someone you literally no longer recognize, a perfect, pretty woman like the rest of those people out there. It’s a choice, but ask yourself if it’s worth it. Do you want to be a woman and forget who you really are?”

I Don't Need a Mirror

“And if you look in this mirror, you can see how you’ve been transformed into an exact copy of the woman you see on the screen,” Asher explained.

“I don’t need a mirror! I can tell you transformed me into a chick! But how the hell did you make me into a chick!?” Gustav demanded to know.

“Remember that drink I offered when you first arrived? It contained AI nanobots that allowed me to rewrite your DNA in any way I wished.”

“Ok, great, fantastic.” Gustav said sarcastically. “Now use them to change me back to normal.”

“They need to recharge, my friend. You’ll be spending the night with that wonderful body.”

Gustav rolled his eyes. Asher had done weird things in the past, but this? This might break their friendship for good; though Gustav wasn’t going to say that until he was back to his original body...

Reflect

“Linjin! Come on! You’ve been staring at yourself in that mirror for 20 minutes now!” The Chinese woman woman standing behind Leo exclaimed. He could see her smiling face off to the side when he glanced over, but he was more interested in his own reflection.

Because it wasn’t his own reflection.

Instead of the rural country white boy he was used to seeing, he saw a beautiful Asian woman. When he looked down, he was clearly wearing her clothing -- despite seemingly still having a very male body when looking down. It also seemed that no matter how he saw himself, the entire world was reacting as if he appeared how he did in the mirror, as this Asian woman named Linjin. He even seemed to have her friends and family now; he was living her life.

“Come on, Qingjin, your sister can’t help but be a narcissist!” This time it was the Asian man off the side of his other shoulder speaking, “It’s just who she is. I mean, who wears a qipao to a carnival? Surely, you must have expected and planned for her to spend hours at the Hall of Mirrors?”

“Ignore my boyfriend, Sis. He’s just jealous because I’m still living with you while he saves up for a ring to put on my finger! But, come on, let’s go have some more fun!”

Now knowing what else to do, Leo finally broke his gaze and decided to explore the rest of the carnival with this woman -- who was supposedly his sister -- and her boyfriend. It could be an interesting life.

Stand Up

Kameer had never found much luck when trying to pursue a career as a stand up comic. He’d do observational stuff about being a Muslin in America that just never seemed to land with audiences. He would tell his friends that he just needed to find his niche; though they often told him that he just wasn’t funny. The criticism had mostly gotten to him, and he only ever performed once every six months or so.

And then the Great Shift happened.

He decided to do a set just for a sense of normalcy. It was a sparsely attended show opening for a friend’s indie rock band. And he started off with his usual jokes; they still weren’t going over well. He paused with a realization.

“Well, I guess telling those with this f*ckin’ face just makes me a f*ckin‘ racist, doesn’t it? Sh*t! I shifted myself into white girl privilege.” He blurted out.

And the response was something he hadn’t heard from the stage in a very long time: Laughter.

He began to rant about the Great Shift, becoming a woman, being a different race. People could relate; it was actually funny.

As he joked about wanting to speak to the manager of the bar for only getting three drink tickets when the men performing got four. He even stumbled onto a new stage name for himself: Karen Abdul-Jabbar.It seems he found his niche.

On Site

I almost always arrived early to the construction site; despite this, a few guys would still sometimes beat me there and get started. It was certainly a surprise one morning to see a woman I didn’t recognize moving some bricks around. I was surprised her frail arms could lift the things, and she seemed to be much stronger than she appeared. Yet I still needed her to clear out; I thought she wasn’t supposed to be there.

I shouted in her direction, and she safely put the brick she was carrying back on the pile before walking over.

“Yo, what up, boss?” She said with a deep voice I instantly recognized.

“Roscoe?” I asked in disbelief.

He nodded, “Weird story. I guess there was some sort of crazy witch. There was this weird body swapping spell she did, and some sort of movie shooting nearby. The cops are still after her. They said they’ll call when they know something, but that we should clear the area. And despite what I look like, the magic doesn’t seem to have affected things like my strength or my voice.”

“But you’re running around in open toe heels an a thin dress!”

“I was wearing my work clothes at the time along with my boots, so they have the same affect. Seriously, shoot a nailgun at my toe; I’ll be fine! The only thing that is different, besides how I look, is that I need to sit down to pee. Which reminds me, we seriously need to talk about the state of the Porta-Potties, John!”

Presentation

“And thus utilizing the technology, we were able to implant the brain of Female Subject #119 into the body of Male Subject #89. Meanwhile #89’s brain is now in the body of Female Subject #135.”

It was hard not to be completed riveted by the topic. A full body transplant? And with such minimally invasive tech? It seemed impossible. Yet questions remained.

“What happened to #135’s brain? What happened to #119’s body?” Asked on man in attendance.

“They are...” The presenter paused, “Well taken care of.” He didn’t want to confess that he WAS inside #119’s body. It was a part of the chain that the researchers didn’t want to talk about, as they had used themselves as test subjects. It had certainly been an ethical lapse -- especially as the motivations behind using their own brains and bodies had often been less than scientific, and many had regrets. They also failed to tell any of the investors that everyone would be stuck in their current bodies if they failed to raise this round of funding. Of course, they hoped despite these small details being omitted, they could still secure what was needed to move forward...

Run

Archie’s mind was having a hard time wrapping his head around what was happening. It was obvious that he was suddenly a woman, but this wasn’t his office -- and judging from the language on the walls, this wasn’t even his country. He began to run through the halls. At first he was just looking for someone...anyone! But when he finally found people, they just pointed at him and laughed before saying things in a language he didn’t understand. They didn’t sound like nice things.

Whoever’s body he was now in, she wasn’t particularly liked in this office. Maybe she was a mean boss, maybe she was the butt of all the office jokes, or maybe they just looked down on women -- it’s not like anyone seemed willing or able to answer his questions. And the more people laughed, the more he ran, hoping to find some answers or at least a friendly face.

But there didn’t seem to be anybody. At least not in this office. He just wanted to be able to talk to someone about suddenly becoming a woman!

No Going Back

The pink fog rolled through the city. Men were advised to stay inside as the effects of the strange phenomenon were shown to spontaneously change anyone into a woman. Females were obviously unaffected.

While Roland did followed the advice, it seemed that his windows weren’t exactly airtight. The fog slowly rolled into his home, and there was no escape.

He began to change, slowly becoming more and more female. His clothes began to hang off his body as his chest ballooned outward. Other parts disappeared inside him and reformed. And once the fog passed, he had become a woman. There was no going back for him.

Punish Them Severely

Wesley wasn’t sure how or why his entire family had swapped bodies over the holidays. They had all hoped they’d return to normal before the vacation was over. They didn’t.

He had swapped bodies with his Aunt Junie. He always thought of her as the “cool aunt” since she was about a decade younger than his mom, and she had kids a decade younger than he was. Oh, and speaking of that, it was his own mom and dad that ended up in the body of Aunt Junie’s kids. They weren’t exactly happy about ending up in the bodies of an 8 year old and a 10 year old, and they ended up getting in trouble at school simply because they were acting like adults and not children.

Wesley was called in for a meeting with the teachers and the principal, and it felt like such a power trip. Of course, when he arrived he was acting like a 20 year old dude instead of a woman in her 30s as well, which was as much of a surprise to the school officials as the behavior of the children was. But, still, Wesley wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to talk up the idea of “punishing them severely.”

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.”