Fail Safe

The semester had ended a few days ago, and Jacob had come to visit Mia. They didn’t look at each other. Mia had a hard time looking at what was technically her own face, and Jacob felt guilty, even though none of this was his fault.

“I’m still sorry about Swap Class,” He said staring at the window.

“It’s not your fault, you know?” Mia replied.

“It still feels like my fault. It was my body. I’m not even sure how Professor Chen ended up inside my body. We were paired up, and somehow the swapping machine just included her. There weren’t even an odd number of kids in class! We should’ve had them fix it right then and there.”

“I would’ve preferred to end up being stuck in your body instead of hers like I am now. At least no one’s forcing me to dress like a teacher anymore.”

“You wouldn’t have been stuck in anyone’s body. We would’ve swapped back like everyone else. It’s only because she did something stupid and fell off that cliff on the hike with my body. I did try to argue with the techs to swap us so you could at least return to your own body. But they said no.”

“It’s a fail safe. All swapping bodies need to be present to return to normal. They can’t override it. So I’m stuck as Professor Chen, and you’re stuck as me. They never did find your body though. Do you ever think she faked it to run away with your body?”

“I’ve considered it. But where would she go? What would she do?”