Stand-Offish

“Being a woman is not the end of the world, you know,” Amelia tried to explain to her boyfriend Paul after the Great Shift.

Logically, he knew this was true, but it didn’t exactly make him feel any better. It wasn’t just that his mind was in a different body; it was also being exposed to all sorts of different hormones. And those hormones were having an influence.

And of course, he was rational enough to realize the effect of those hormones. Not finding Amelia attractive anymore bothered him greatly, and it was not something he wanted to even admit to her. But he also felt more irritable as well, which he couldn’t totally explain, but was also part of the reason he was so stand-offish. If he had thought a little harder, he might realize what it was signaling...

Poor Choice

Bruce clutched his purse tightly. Money was so tight, he certainly couldn’t afford to lose it. Things had changed so much for him in the past few months. It was all so hard to believe that he had once been a rich man living in lower Manhattan taking cabs everywhere, and now he was a poor woman from the outer boroughs forced to take a bus.

It was one of those cabs that had gotten him in trouble in the first place. The crazy driver ended up stealing his body and his life. He was so desperate to track down his old self, and he realized certain aspects of being stuck as the driver of the magic taxi made it impossible. He needed to steal someone else’s body to escape, and so he did it as quickly as possible, not giving much consideration to the woman he would become.

And yet, once the swap happened, and he tracked his old body down, he realized the person in his body was just as much a victim as he was. They too had been forced into the cab driver’s body for a while, and now Bruce had doomed the woman to the same body swapping fate. Of course, she might take much more care about it than Bruce did!

Costume Contest

Not everyone dressed up for the party -- in fact, very few people did -- but there was a contest for the best outfit. I thought I was pretty much guaranteed to win, and I began to rub it in my competitors faces.

“Really, Yukiko? You think that’s going to give you any chance for a win?” I asked, noting that she seemed to be wearing little more than a mask and a hat.

I was unprepared for the deep, male voice coming from her mouth. “I actually think my odds are pretty good.”

I didn’t recognize the voice, but it wasn’t Yukiko’s! I was beginning to think my victory wasn’t quite so secure, but I also knew as long as this guy didn’t open his mouth, I might still have a shot, as people would just assume he was a woman instead of just being dressed up as one...

Body Swap

Collision Course

Ahn often did her best to try to defy Asian stereotypes. Despite her thin frame and her stature at just over five feet tall, she was loud and obnoxious just about anywhere she went. And there’s no way she would allow herself to be pushed around...ever.

As she walked down the street, the man walking the other way kept on his path straight towards her. Well, she wasn’t going to be the one to step to the side. They were on a collision course, but she simply refused to budge. And despite all odds, when they collided, she remained standing.

But then she looked down to see her own body laying a pile of garbage.

“What the f---?” The words only partially escaped from strange lips in a register that was far too deep.

“I was thinking the same thing,” Her former body now said, “I supposed the last time I would’ve expected today was to swap bodies with someone, let alone a woman!”

Ahn wasn’t really paying attention though. She was more focused on herself, and thinking how no one would be expecting her to be quiet, shy, or timid now.

Dumb Townie

Though his hometown had a pretty notable college, Will never thought he was smart enough to go there. He started a career in the trades and often felt made fun of by the college kids and often heard them snicker “dumb townie” in his direction. It didn’t bother him so much, he just wished he could get a drink at a local bar in peace.

When Soo approached him at the bar, he thought she was going to make fun of him too. But she actually ended up being kind of nice. She even asked him out, and they went on a few dates.

But she soon had a favor to ask: if he would help test something she was working on for her graduate studies. She said a lot of technical stuff Will didn’t understand before mentioning a body swap machine.

The thing ended up working and Will found himself in Soo’s body with Soo in Will’s. But for some reason, it wouldn’t swap them back. Soo started working on it, and Will offered to help. But she snapped at him, telling her she hadn’t loved him and the whole thing had been a ruse as no one else had been willing to test the machine with her, but she figured tricking a “dumb townie” would be easy.

Will found himself running off crying. It was only a short while later when he picked up a book in the library that things got weird. He understood the complex equations. He not only had Soo’s body but important chunks of her knolwedge as well. If he wanted, he could single-handedly fix the body swapper. Then again, it might just be more fun watching Soo continue to squirm with his dumb mind.

Outlet

“What are you doing, Shelby?” The man asked upon entering the apartment and seeing his girlfriend on her knees looking at a wall outlet.

“Well, for starters, I’m not ‘Shelby,’” She responded indignantly, “I’m not sure how I ended up in this body, but there were sparks coming out of the outlet in my apartment and sparks in this outlet after the swap. This isn’t my body; this isn’t my building; I certainly shouldn’t be a woman!”

“You're a dude? There’s a dude in my girlfriend’s body.”

“Relax. All I’ve been doing since I found myself in Shelby here is trying to examine this outlet to figure out how all this happened. Being like this is the last thing in the world I want, and I’d very much like to be myself again.”

Not Fair

Douglas looked over to his girlfriend Anna sitting on the couch. It had been a few months since the Great Shift, and he had really given this thing a chance. He thought he could deal with the fact that she was now a man. He wondered if he had swapped with a woman in the Shift, if it might’ve worked. They could’ve swapped roles or something. But Douglas just swapped with another guy, and Anna had tried clinging onto her former identity.

Even now, she was wearing a floral dress. She had started to grow her hair out, too. She had tried shaving her entire body, but she claimed it grew back too fast, even the beard!

He had only put this off for so long before she often talked about how much she had lost in the Shift. He didn’t want to be one more thing that she’d be losing, but he just couldn’t stay in this relationship any longer; it wouldn’t be fair to either of them...

Bass

We had formed the band and played a few gigs here and there before the other members gave me the bad news. They were kicking me out, but it was for the stupidest reason. They wanted to get a girl in the band, and a female bass player was simply “the trendy thing to do.”

I didn’t say anything; I just left.

But I would respond to the ad they put up online a few days later. They’d never notice it was me. How could they? I was completely in disguise. I looked exactly like the woman they wanted, and (no surprise) I picked up the songs almost instantly.

I was back in the band. And all I had to do was transform myself into a woman for every practice and every gig.

Slop Machine

No Matter the Effort

It didn’t seem to matter how hard or how much Nelson worked out, he was gaining weight every day since swapping bodies with his girlfriend Cindy. After a month, he was huge.

Cindy just looked on and laughed, “It’s not so easy to stay fit as a woman, is it?”

It was like a lightbulb went off in Nelson’s head when she made that comment. “No,” He said, “But you should be bothered by seeing your body look like this, and yet you’re not. It’s part of the curse, isn’t it? You didn’t just swap our bodies, there was some sort of weight gain spell involved too, wasn’t there? No one gains this much weight in a month! It’s impossible! It didn’t matter how much effort I put it, this was going to happen no matter what!”

Cindy was at a loss for words. Nelson had finally figured it out. And, honestly, she was surprised he finally did. After the first week, she thought he never would. But maybe it was time to reverse all the magic, or maybe she could let him suffer just a little bit longer...

Life Goes On

Two days ago, Ethan had woken up to the sounds of screams outside, but today it was eerily quiet. It seemed almost impossible for the world to adjust this quickly to the massive body swapping event that was being called “The Great Shift.” And yet, that seemed to be exactly what was happening. What choice did people have, after all?

Because, after all, Ethan had adjusted as much as anyone after his initial panic. He had shouted about not wanting to be a woman and freaking out the entire first day. But today, he woke up, showered, got dressed in some Lulelemon-type outfit from this woman’s closet, and starte on his day as if it was all completely normal and routine for him now.

Sure, there was still plenty of drama among celebrities and politicians and whatnot. But for the average person? Well, life just went on...

Miss Personality

Angie gave a reluctant wave to her friends, but she felt disgusted looking at them. They were dressed in pink, preppy clothes with bubbly personalities; it all reminded her of how she had been just a few days ago. That was before the personality swap with Spike.

Slipping into his gutter punk aesthetics was easy. Pulling from thrift stores and even swiping some of Spike’s old clothes was a no-brainer. There was a subculture for it on the college campus. She imagined it was all much more difficult for him -- trying to fit into his dropout crust punk lifestyle with her perky preppiness.

However, external styles were the simple part of the personality swap. The fact that she now felt like a guy trapped in a woman’s body was a much more difficult struggle. And seeing all these femme, preppy girls was somehow making it that much worse...

Cold (Part 3)

View Part 1 of Cold.
View Part 2 of Cold.

Even though returning to the world at large where the devistating effects of the Great Shift loomed large, Harvey and the rest of the guests at the resort were trying to put that out of their minds for now.

The relative calm of the resort was comforting. Like many others, Harvey acclimated to his new body fairly quickly. He was just set on trying to have a good time while he could without worrying what he looked like on the outside.

Sledding, making snowmen, and other activities passed the time. Snowball fights with other guests was one of his favorite things. Much like when it first happened, he barely even took notice to the fact that he was a woman now. He knew he’d probably have to deal with certain aspects sooner or later, but for now he could just enjoy himself. Just like all the other guests.

All in the Family (Part 3)

View Part 1 of All in the Family.
View Part 2 of All in the Family.

“I had no idea how much trouble you got into at school,” Amber’s mom began to lecture her, “When we get home, your father will not let you hear the end of it.”

It felt hypocritical, and Amber wasn’t having any of it. “You’re one to talk! You’ve been in my body for one day, and you were already in the principal’s office!? Plus, it takes an extra special sort of effort to do something bad enough to call me in -- you in -- whatever -- a parent in! I just hope we can get back in our bodies before you screw up my life any more than you already have!”

“I’m trying to set it right, Amber! I’ve seen your grades! And your father is in no condition to go to work considering --”

“Oh, God! He’s doing fine in Autumn’s body! You’ll see.”

Cold (Part 2)

View Part 1 of Cold.

Had he walked in the wrong direction, things might’ve been quite tragic, but luckily Harvey headed in the right direction and found a ski resort. As it seemed, it’s where this body was actually staying as a guest. And it also seemed, just about everyone else there was stuck in the wrong body just as he was.

Most everyone else were families switch around with each other or staff swapped with other staff. Relatively speaking, Harvey’s tale of being swapped from miles away was quite dramatic. However, he still didn’t get the attention of people who had broken legs or other harrowing tales.

Still, it appears this resort fared better than most of the world. Even with a few injuries, there were no deaths like many reports on the news coming in. And most everyone here tried to take it in stride. Still, returning to the Shifted world was going to be difficult for everyone.

So Far, So Good

“You said it was supposed to work again after twelve hours, so we tried to swap back after twelve hours. Then you explained that it might not be working because I started your period, so we waited until that passed. So why the hell isn’t this necklace swapping us back NOW?” A very annoyed Corey said.

Natalie shrugged. She actually knew exactly why they weren’t swapping back. That necklace Corey wore wasn’t the actually Medallion of Zulo, which she had switched out a while ago with an exact look-alike. Her entire goal was to steal Corey’s body permanently, but she needed to make this convincing. If he knew she wasn’t telling the truth, he would force her into swapping back. But, so far, so good...

Extra Credit

Fine

Joel found his way to a mirror, his brain still reeling with the intense pressure of what had just happened and his arms and legs still sore for some reason. His own body was no longer staring back. Instead, there was a woman reflected. She was plain and unremarkable. This was his body now somehow.

It was fine. He knew the swap would be somewhat random, and he knew it could have gone much worse. And he was sure who’ve this was probably wanted their body back.He snapped a photo and sent it to himself, along with his planned ransom note.

He expected a response quickly, that whoever he swapped with would want their body back. But no response ever came. It seems the woman he swapped with was perfectly fine with how things had turned out...

Cold (Part 1)

Harvey felt a sudden sense of cold all around him. A gust of wind brushed his face as the foggy outside air made it difficult to see. He had somehow been transported miles from home to a snow covered forest.

His body felt strange. There was a sense of his brain not quite connecting in ways it should. He reach felt shorter; when he stood, he felt his feet hit the ground before they should. It actually took longer than he expected to realize it was a woman’s body and not his own; the bulky winter clothes and first person perspective just ended up hiding a lot of obvious details in that regard -- and the gendered parts of you aren’t necessarily the focus when you are bundled up and trying to stay warm.

But how did he get here? How did he end up stuck in this body?

Difficulty (Part 2)

View Part 1 of Difficulty.

Orson arrived the next morning to find much of it destroyed with only the power source still emitting a dull light. Hannah had come in early to do the damage, ensuring they could never swap back.

After living one night with her life and in her body, he understood why. Her husband was a cold man, and the evidence he was cheating on her was clear to Orson the moment he had walked in the door. Her children were grown and had moved away, so he wondered why she stayed with him.

Of course, with the machine destroyed, Hannah’s life was his now. He could do what Hannah couldn’t, and he guessed that was kind of the point. Hannah knew the type of guy Orson was, and if he was going to be stuck as a woman, he wasn’t exactly going to be satisfied sticking in an unloving marriage. And he was Hannah now; there was no going back. Things were going to change...

Pills

Xander often wondered how past generations dealt with problems. AI had been unreliable, the internet was filled with lies, treatments were crude, and science just wasn’t up to par with where it was today.

For instance, he knew he suffered with depression. He knew he had from gender dysphoria. Yet dealing with either of those these days was as easy as popping a pill. They worked without any side effects. He could be in a world that felt alive and vibrant -- and do it in the gender of his choice. It would all happen in an instant.

He rarely ever used the pills to turn back into a guy any more. Why would he? Being a woman was what he wanted, and the pills made it a reality. Life was perfect.

To Pay the Bills

Becky sat in the chair as the Asian woman did her hair, makeup, and nails. The influencer had a hard time understanding just how this woman was so talented with beauty treatments while taking such poor care of herself.

“Is there a reason you don’t do anything about your own hideous acne?” She finally blurted out.

Eugene sighed. He just pretended not to speak English well and keep working. It wasn’t exactly a lie; he didn’t speak English well anymore. In fact, when he swapped bodies with Miyong, he switched skills with her completely. His knowledge of English decreased as he became fluent in Korean; his skills as a beautician blossomed as he forgot how to code. He had to take on her job at the salon, as that’s what he knew how to do now. But these things just didn’t interest him, so it’s not like he kept Miyong’s body up to the standard she did. He cared not about putting on makeup in the morning, or keeping smooth skin blemish free, or wearing trendy fashion.

Despite appearances, however, Miyong was still known -- and continued to be known -- as one of the best, even with Eugene being in the one inside her body.

Your Transformation Horrorscope

Parking Lot (Part 2)

View Part 1 of Parking Lot.

Jake felt a vibration in his coat and eventually discovered a phone. He felt stupid for not checking for one earlier. The number calling him was (of course) his own. Discussing this whole body swap thing in person seemed like a good idea, so Jake told the woman in his body to meet him in the parking lot.

Now, he waited.

He leaned up against the car, and the waiting felt like forever. He began to feel ever more keenly aware of the fact that he was now female as time went on. And instead of thinking about how he might be cute if he smiled, he thought about how much he didn’t want to deal with any aspect of being a woman whatsoever. Not monthly cycles, not makeup or women’s clothing. And yet, it seemed like he wasn’t going to have a choice unless she showed up here with his body AND a solution.

Catalyst

The Great Shift had been quite the catalyst in Lou’s life. For sure, things were likely to be upended when he went from being a guy in his early 30s to a woman in her late 40s, but he never expected things to play out quite like this.

He and his wife had made plans to try to continue as normal. People expected her to be the one to cheat; she was in the body of a gorgeous supermodel now and seemingly way out of his league.

And yet it was Lou who actually cheated when he was alone one night at the office with a co-worker now in the body of a 50-year-old man. It wasn’t that he didn’t love his wife. He did, but his body craved something else that his wife couldn’t provide no matter how beautiful she was.

He confessed his transgression the next morning. Within a week, he was moving out. He wasn’t sure what was next, but he hated that the Great Shift had ever happened. And yet deep down, he knew he had no one to blame but himself.

Which Witch

She was dressed as a witch at the Halloween party, and Milo tried some lame pick up line on her. She was having none of it.

At first, he thought her revenge didn’t seem all that severe. Swapping bodies? He didn’t mind spending a little time in her hot body. Heck, if he thought of numerous ways that being a woman for a little while could actually be a lot of fun. But the curse wasn’t so much that he had swapped bodies with her, it was that everyone else seemed to have swapped as well.

And they were all blaming him.

After all, he was the “witch” now. And even when he tried to explain that he swapped as well, they thought he was the one that could switch everyone back to normal. He wasn’t left alone for a second with request and pleads and outright begging. But he had no way to help. He just had her body; he didn’t have her powers...did he?

Time (Part 2)

View Part 1 of Time.

Jin should’ve realized getting back to his own time wouldn’t be so easy. Well, technically, getting back to his own time wasn’t the problem -- getting back to his own body was.

Simply put, the device that returned him to the present was quite similar to the device that sent him to the past. It brought his brain into the body of a person inhabiting that time, without much control as to exactly whose body he would end up in.

As such, he was back in his own time, but still certainly in the wrong body. This new body was Asian, like his own, but it was also obviously female (like the one he had just been in). He’d probably have to tweak his device for years to be able to have the control needed to get back to normal...though again, the amount of time really technically shouldn’t matter to him...

I'm So Fancy

I get that it wasn’t exactly a reasonable outfit to wear for walking to the grocery store, but through some sort of freakish body swap I had only been a woman for about forty minutes now. As such, I was more than curious about the fantastical outfits in this body’s closet. I had to wear something fun; I had to wear something that I never would’ve been able to wear as a guy.

And so that’s how I settled on the gown. I had no idea what it was supposed to worn for -- a wedding? Some other special occasion? I didn’t care; it just felt nice to explore this side of myself that I don’t think society would’ve ever let me explore as a man.

I turned heads, and it felt good. Even if I did nothing else with my time in this body, this felt like I did enough...

Fine!

“What do you think you’re doing?” Ellen Carver scolded the student in her body, “My body is much too old to dress like that! Do you plan to go to my classes and teach looking like that!? You’re going to get me fired!”

“Well, my girlfriend saw how you were dressing her body, and she told me to get revenge,” Lyle scoffed inside Ms. Carver’s body. “I’m not happy to be doing it. But she’s also not exactly thrilled with the fact that I’m in your middle aged body right now, and she will absolutely break up with me if I don’t do as she says while we’re all swapped.”

“What’s wrong with the way I’m dressing her body?”

“You’re making her look like a prude! But the solution is simple. We go to the bathroom, and we switch outfits.”

Ellen took one look at the pink sparkly shirt and short skirt. She didn’t want to dress like that, but she relented. “Fine!” She stammered.

Molecular Level

Reginald sat in the chair in his basement thinking about the breakthrough he had just achieved. He had modified his entire body on a molecular level; he had literally made it possible to become someone else completely. Picking a different gender, a different race, and even a different wardrobe was all about testing the limits of his technology.

Though it seemed a short cooldown period was needed before being able to return to normal, he didn’t expect this to be a problem. He didn’t expect his wife to come home early either.

Trying to explain why a strange woman was in the house wasn’t going to work, as she angrily escorted him out without allowing him to say a word. Of course, if he couldn’t get back to his basement lab, he’d never be able to revert the changes. He’d be stuck like this!

The Remote, Part 2

View Part 1 of The Remote.

Following the Agreement

I could tell she was shocked to see her own body looking this way. It was hard enough for her when I stopped wearing makeup on her face, and now I had cut her hair.

“Don’t be mad,” I tried to preempt anything she might say.

“It’s okay,” She replied nervously in a way that indicated she didn’t think it okay in the slightest before she added, “It looks good. I look good. I mean, you look good.”

“It was part of our agreement after the swap,” I explained, knowing she knew all this. “After a month, if we didn’t find the reversal, we agreed that we could...”

“...Live our lives as if each other’s bodies were our own.” She sighed, completing my sentence, “I know. It’s still hard seeing my long hair gone. And you’ve just made my body look so -- manish!”

“Well, despite being in your female body, I am -- in fact -- a man, after all. Though I know we did promise no actual sex changes no matter what. And we’re still here at the library looking for a reversal spell, so I haven’t given up. I just needed to be more comfortable.”

“It hasn’t been easy for me either...”

New Semester

The start of semester had been delayed for two weeks because of the Great Shift, but Mr. Steiner now stood in his classroom at the university. The new class would be here any minute. He had no idea what they would be like. They could be old or young or whatever, but he also knew what he looked like now as well. He had swapped bodies with his daughter’s friend.

Would he be able to command any sort of respect? Or would they have trouble taking them seriously because he now appeared to be the same age they were? He thought that maybe he should’ve worn some of his old clothes -- even if they didn’t really fit him anymore. He had been wearing his daughter’s outfits lately, since they did fit his current body, but he also ended up looking like the 20 year old woman he now was.

The moment of truth was near...

Tuition (Part 2)

View Part 1 of Tuition.

I often didn’t give much thought to the differences between being a woman and being a man. I used whatever bathroom I felt like using; I wore clothes from either side of the store. Basically, despite the technical changes to my body, I tried not to think about it.

Yet sometimes it proved unavoidable.

As my professor gave a lecture of particle physics, I found myself distracted. It was like I was focusing on him and yet my eyes were just glazing over, looking past his words. Somehow I was deeply enamoured yet ignoring everything. And then all at once it hit me; I was aroused; I had a crush on my professor!

It was the first moment I could remember being attracted to...well...anyone since first becoming a woman. I tried to think about what I used to do as a guy in this situation. Think about baseball? Nope, not working; I just ended up imagining this guy in a uniform. It wasn’t as sexy as a nerdy professor, but it was...I was mid-though admiring him when he asked me a question.

“Hot?” I said with a questioning tone, praying it had something to do with exothermic reactions.

Time (Part 1)

The time machine that Jin had created was a technological marvel. It worked by teleporting his mind back into a body in the past. He had carefully selected the late twentieth century, yet he was still surprised to end up as a blonde European woman.

Despite the successful trip to the past, he couldn’t celebrate just yet. He still needed to get back to the present. Of course, his own time machine wouldn’t be created for another hundred years, but his selection of time periods was intentional. He had everything he needed to recreate his device in this time.

He was worried about how long it was taking. He had spent over a month in this woman’s body now -- though he did keep telling himself that how long it took really didn’t matter. And then there was the worry of leaving the device behind. Should he implement some sort of automatic self-destruct?

Gain

It was a dream come true for Reggie when he found himself in the body of a cute woman as a result of the Great Shift. Things started to get strange when he found he had an appetite that seemed impossible to satisfy. Burgers, sushi, pizza, pho, or whatever...it really didn’t matter. It was all good.

But all this food seemed to be adding to his weight, yet he just couldn’t seem to slow down; he just kept eating! He was hungry! It was so hard to see his cute new body lose it’s shape, but there was nothing he could seem to do slow down.

After a few weeks, he finally was able to get in to see a doctor. The news only got worse form Reggie’s perspective. The appetite and the weight gain were both for good reason. He hadn’t just swapped into the body of a woman; he had swapped bodies with a pregnant woman!

Revenge

Pink!

“Christine would never wear anything like this,” Benjamin said we a smile as he looked in the mirror, “But Christine isn’t in control of this body anymore.”

He was certainly enjoying being a woman and living it up to the fullest. Whereas Christine had been the type to often wear jeans and a sweatshirt, he was happy to put on a cute pink dress.

But he could take this further, right? Doll himself up even more? Gosh, he could look so cute!

In Matters of Taste

Adjusting to being Misaki was weird for Evan after the Great Shift put him into her body, but it wasn’t any of the things he intially expected. Being a woman was a novelty for about a day -- with all the sort of exploration and curiosity one would expect -- but it all quickly wore off. He ended up cutting her hair short because the length annoyed him, but he did find her dresses comfortable. But, again, none of that ended up feeling all that weird.

What he did have trouble with were his tastes -- like his literal tastes. He never thought anything was “too sweet” before, but as Misaki? Well, sugary things often felt gross. Vegetables tasted better -- vegetables!!! And, of course, he found Misaki’s body loved Asian food. He guessed it made sense; it was what her body was raised on. But it was still the one weird part of this whole Great Shift thing he had trouble getting over...

Celebrity

Swapping bodies with an international superstar as a result of the Great Shift was surreal. As is swapped bodies wasn’t weird enough, her agent called me immediately to tell me to pretend not to be shifted like everyone else and offered me a lot of money to do so. I was told the choreography could be learned; I’d get voice lessons. I laid out a few other conditions, like relocating to Los Angeles instead of Seoul.

I should’ve asked for more.

It wasn’t even the stressful schedule of practice and touring and filming and modeling. It was that I found I was almost never left alone. Arriving at a hotel lobby, I’d be swarmed with fans.

For a weeks, I had a trick. I’d show up without the entourage of managers and agents; I’d wear plain, baggy clothes; the biggest thing that allowed me to hide was not putting on any makeup. However, it wasn’t long before the media picked up on this trick and my short bursts of normalcy were broken forever. I was doomed to be a celebrity.

Answering the Door

Jason felt the flash of light pull his soul out, throwing him into a new location and into a new body. He barely had any time to even realize the changes before a door bell starting ringing incessantly.

He pulled some clothes from the floor to place on his now female form -- barely even able to register his new gender in his mind as the sound continued. Then he made his way down the stairs with little thought as to how much bigger this home was than his own apartment.

Opening the door, a man stood there, who immediately started yelling as Jason about giving his body back.

“I don’t even know who I am!” Jason protested, “And I absolutely did not want to be in your body! I’d give it back if I could.” Jason finally looked down, his new gender truly coming into focus, “And I would’ve never wanted to be a woman!”

Out of There

The Great Shift was one of massive events that were so scary for people in groups, where riots, rights, and accidents were common occurrences. But the Shift could be just as scary in isolation.

While the Shift took place in the daytime in the Western hemisphere, it was night on the other side of the world. Eduardo was one of those few people who swapped into a body halfway around the globe. It was strange to not only be in a new body and a new gender, but to go instantly from day to night; to go from being surrounded by loved ones to being alone on a desolate and dark street.

He thought he heard footsteps. In his former body, he was muscular; but in this body, he felt small and weak. Whoever those footsteps belonged to, they were heavy, loud, and getting closer. He had no idea where he was, but he had to get out of there quickly...

First Date (Part 2)

View Part 1 of First Date.

We didn’t even wait to set up a time and a place to meet again; we just took the subway straight to Coney Island. It was a goofy location for a first date, but it was fun. We laughed; we both had a really good time.

But in the middle of it all, Alex got serious. He began telling me all about who he was before the Shift. He hadn’t changed genders in the Shift, but he had been gay; however, he felt like the body he ended up in was straight. He had been trying to fight it -- trying to tell himself he was still gay and that he could still be gay. But he felt like he was fighting a losing battle, especially once he saw me.

I blushed again, explaining my own situation. How I was a man before the Shift, how I was fighting this body’s hormones as a woman, and how I had been fighting these feelings myself before meeting Alex.

He laughed, “That’s perfect! I can even hold on to my identity a little and call you my boyfriend...if you don’t mind.”

“I don’t mind.” I said, “I’d like that. I’d like that a lot.”

Ulterior Motives

The past few weeks I spent dating Riko were better than I could’ve possibly imagined. She was a fun woman, full of life. I hated that I actually had ulterior motives.

But it’s not what you think. I was dating her just so I could sleep with her or anything. I just had an agreement to maintain. All I had to do was keep Riko happy and occupied. This wasn’t hard. She was the type of woman who just loved life and brought joy everywhere she went -- which only meant knowing what would happen would only be that much worse.

I saw him approaching behind her. If I screamed or warned her, it wouldn’t have made a difference; it only would have filled her last few moments with fear and panic instead of the joy she deserved. Then he approached closer until the possession finally started. Riko’s smile faded; replaced by his frown. He spoke with her voice, telling me my debt had been paid. I still couldn’t believe I had allowed that to happen to Riko, but it was to save my own soul...

You May Be Entitled to Compensation

2045

By 2045, the AIs had taken over. Even the humans like myself found themselves merely fighting alongside the slightly less evil AI. While the other side merely saw humanity as fodder, our side at least valued some of our experience. My military training made me valuable to them, for instance.

They put me on the front lines. Repeatedly. My death meant nothing to them. They had an implant that was constantly uploading my mind to their servers. When I’d die, they’d just download me into a different person’s body and send me back into the fight. I tried explaining how disorienting this was, but the AI didn’t understand.

It also didn’t seem to care to have any consistency with the bodies it would download my brain into. I was absolutely shocked the first time it put me into a woman’s body, but after a dozen or so times, you kind of get used to it...

Rich

Rupert woke up for the third day after the Great Shift, picking himself up off the matress on the floor. This woman was so poor, she couldn’t even afford a bed! He saw the irony of it all, considering he had been one of the richest men in the world prior to this, worth billions and billions of dollars.

Technically, he still was. People were certainly claiming their original lives, he just wasn’t in a position to do that quite yet. Perhaps once he was able to gain access to the internet or even a phone he could go about proving his true identity.

Until then? Well, he was stuck as an impoverished woman in a third world country. He didn’t have any reference, but he imagined it was even more chaotic here than in the developed world. He was also sure it would settle down soon. At least he hoped so.

Good Neighborhood

Our new neighbors had just moved in. They were a young couple, planning to start a family, and our town had some of the best schools around. My wife and I had a few kids in high school ourselves, so we certainly understood the motivation. We decided to bring a welcome basket to the Lee household.

It was only a few hours later when things got...strange. They’d come to call it Great Shift, but all I knew in the moment after it happened was that I was in Mrs. Lee’s body. I was wearing the same red sweater she had on earlier, and I pulled on it in disbelief.

My thoughts quickly went to our discussion earlier, about how she and her husband were planning a family. My only hope right now was that she hadn’t gotten pregnant yet!

Let Go!

Harvey tried to break free, but his former body was much stronger than his current one. He knew Sally had every right to be angry. After all, considering the body swap had caused her to be stuck in his 50 year old body that was recently diagnosed with cancer while he got her healthy 20 year old body. But it still seemed needlessly aggressive.

“Stop! You’re hurting me!” Harvey yelped.

“I’m allowed to hurt my own body,” Sally sneered. “We’re going back to that machine at the hospital, and you’re swapping us back!”

“But I don’t know how to use it! I just signed up for experimental treatment for my cancer! I didn’t know the doctors would solve it by switching our bodies! When it was found out, they were put on leave; I think they even dismantled the machine.”

“Then tell me where the doctors live!”

“Do you know the home address of your physician? I can help you look, but please let go!”

Perform This Way

David’s heart was racing. He was standing on stage in front of 40,000 people and about to perform. People held signs in a language he didn’t understand. Heck, he was even about to sing an hour long set completely phonetically. He felt like a fraud.

In some ways, he guessed he was. He certainly wasn’t the international pop star he was pretending to be; he was just in her body. Her manager knew, of course; as did her agent and the entertainment company. None of them wanted to risk the loss of revenue by letting the truth get out, so David was going to pretend.

Aside from learning the songs and the choreography, the press was limited to English speaking outlets. A few online forums questioned the choice, but the it was dismissed with talk of “breaking into new markets.” It had been months now, and so far, no one could really tell the difference. At times, not even David.

The Werewoman

Comfort Level

The lights in the room flashed again. We were getting used to knowing what that meant. They were like some sort of instructions that caused our brains to rewire, essentially swapping us into different bodies -- or at least thinking we were. I think we kept hoping this time would be the one where we’d all be returned to our own bodies; we weren’t so lucky.

If anything, this time it was worse. I found myself sitting on a couch, which was probably more comfortable than the positions many people took on the floor once the lights started flashing. But that comfort was short lived once I discovered what body I had ended up in this time. It was the third time everyone in the room swapped bodies, and it was my first time crossing the gender line. I was now in the body of one of the women. And it seemed I wasn’t the only one.

All the swaps up until this point had been men with men and women with women. But now? Well, it seemed all bets were off. You could become anyone in the room now. We had all stuck around so far, thinking of hoping we’d swap back. But with gender in play, I noticed a few people finally trickle out...I became worried. What would that mean if people’s original bodies were just...gone from the equation?

Complete Control

Angie wasn’t sure exactly when it first started. It began as like an itch in the back of her brain, compulsions telling her to do things she didn’t want to do. They slowly took the form of sounds -- an then a voice. The voice was deep and masculine. It spoke not only commands that she would tryto ignore, but it also talked about a plan to overtake her body completely.

She tried to fight it, but it kept growing stronger. For short periods, it would take complete control of her entire body, forcing her to do things she didn’t want to do. She told herself always every day that she would win in the end -- despite the evidence that she was actually growing weaker to its influence.

When she finally collapsed coughing one day, she thought it was a purge; that she’d finally be rid of the voice in her head. Instead, it was her own soul pushed out in the form of a pink cloud of smoke, leaving only the man’s thoughts left in Angie’s head. He was satisfied with his slow possession; he had finally won.

Rare

Dante bent over to inspect the shiny item on the ground. It was all too often just a penny or a worthless piece of scrap metal, but he couldn’t take the chance of passing up another wish token. He had been careless with the previous one; it’s how he ended up stuck in the wrong body, with the wrong gender.

He had found the previous one in the exact same way -- just picking up a random coin on the street by chance. Now he was hoping he might get lucky twice and find another. Of course, he had been searching for over a year since he first ended up in this body with absolutely zero success.

e realized this made sense. Wish tokens had to be pretty rare, right? And he had ben lucky enough to find one, but dumb enough to make a careless wish with it. And now he’d be stuck like this unless he could find another.

No Entry

“It says ‘No Entry!’” Destiny told Rory as he was about to open the door.

“I know, I can read,” Rory said, “But I’m pretty sure they aren’t putting the machine that swapped our bodies behind a door that says ‘Come on In.’”

She knew he was right, but she still hated all this sneaking around and going into places they weren’t supposed to be. After all, it was that sort of behavior that had gotten their bodies swapped in the first place. Now she could only watch as Rory was throwing all caution to the wind while he controlled her body. Maybe it wouldn’t be so nerve-racking if he was just a little more careful!

A Lesson

Alyssa and Megan watched their former bodies walk away. They were beginning to think that swapping bodies with Harvey and Charlie just to “teach them a lesson” was a bad idea.

They didn’t seem to learning any sort of lesson. They were enjoying themselves -- and were also loudly proclaiming how much they were enjoying being women as they walked away.

Meanwhile, Alyssa and Megan just stood there in Harvey and Charlie’s body. They were already hating being men. And their own bodies were walking away. If they didn’t do something soon...

Post DEI

After Kimberly and Harrison found the strange tech in the office, the two were trying to figure out exactly what it did. When the thing shot out a beam of light that swapped their bodies, Kimberly was in shock.

“Why the hell am I in your body!?” She gasped.

“I heard about these things,” Harrison said leaning in, fully enjoying being in Kimberly’s body, “They used to use these things back when DEI was popular. You know? Empathy and all that stuff?”

“I don’t want empathy! I want my own body!”

“Well, you’re probably just going to have to wait. I think this thing in on a timer.”

“I can tell by that look on your face, Harrison! You better not be thinking about doing anything weird while you’re in my body!”

“And if I do? So what? Who in HR is actually going to care about any of that right now?”