Doing Okay (Part 3)

View Part 1 of Doing Okay.
View Part 2 of Doing Okay.

I didn’t recognize my former body as it walked down the street. In fact, it wasn’t until she looking down at me when I realized that was my former body. She looked incredible. I was amazed my old body could look that well put together with nicely styled hair and a sharp blazer over a collared shirt.

Then I looked down at the tank top and jean shorts I was wearing. I became hyper aware of how messy my hair was and the Diet Coke in my hand. I tried to hide the boxes of tampons in the plastic bag next to me. I realized I was slouching, and I tried to sit up straighter.

“You look...good,” I said in a tone that was hard to hide my embarrassment.

“And you seem to be doing okay,” She responded, “I can’t imagine it’s easy for a guy becoming a woman.”

Even her words seemed to be picked better than mine. I could feel my nervousness grow.

How to Dress to Attract a Man

Gimme Shelter

The shelters were so full after the Great Shift. They were set up quickly by people mostly confused as anyone else about being in the wrong body. Bill was glad they existed, considering he found himself in a strange body in a strange city.

The only problem, of course, was that the shelters basically had no privacy. The bed were in a room occupied by hundreds of other people, and even the bathrooms were always crowded.

It made sense, but considering he ended up in the body of a woman, he was also insanely curious. It felt so unfamiliar and yet he had absolutely no place to get to know it better.

Reboot

I had been rebooted again, but my body felt strange. It was no longer cold nor metallic, but warm and squishy. I was human once more.

I hadn’t been human for a long time. I barely even thought of myself as one anymore, though I suppose I had been one back in the day, long before my mind was uploaded and then downloaded into countless machines to perform countless more menial tasks.

I hadn’t been female back when I was human, or at least I don’t think I was. I feel like I would remember, though actually being human was a distant memory at this point.

“What is my task?” I finally realized I had to ask aloud as my brain was no longer connected to the network.

“Reproduction.” An AI voice said aloud, “The human species is at risk of extinction.”

“Understood,” I replied, as I still only had the slightest inkling that my free will was returning.

Dumb Ideas

Brad checked his phone. It was another text from Sundra -- there was probably about twenty at this point -- with another dumb idea about how to swap back into their own bodies. He had indulged her so far with some pretty dumb ideas including banging their heads together or getting electrocuted together, but he was getting a little sick and tired of it.

He had already come to accept he was probably going to be stuck in her body for the rest of his life. He started to type in a message to Sundra explaining that but deleted it; instead he responded, “Maybe later.”

He knew he couldn’t force her acceptance. It was something she would have to come to terms with on her own at her own pace. Until then, he’d have to deal with her dumb ideas.

First

I was one of the first ones to awaken after the Great Shift. My body felt heavy and strange. But it wasn’t just the extra weight, it was how that weight was distributed. And then there was the breeze blowing up my dress, because, yeah, I was apparently wearing a dress now because I became a woman.

However, I wasn’t even really thinking about that too much. My own situation was much less concerning than the haunting nature of seeing nearly everyone on the street collapsed and unconscious. I honestly wasn’t even processing my own changes until I started seeing other people sit up awake. Then it all hit me hard -- I was in the wrong body. We all were.

The Merge

Complaining

Tyler didn’t know why he was suddenly in a huge house in an upscale neighborhood, but he wasn’t exactly complaining about it. Then again, it only took him a few more seconds to notice the pasty white skin on feminine hands showing the wrinkled signs of being aged -- these were all things he COULD absolutely complain about.

How the heck did he suddenly become a forty year old white woman in the suburbs? It didn’t make any sense; he needed answers. He began to search for her phone, but couldn’t seem to find where this woman left it in her huge house. And the TV was one of those stupid SmartTVs that required a password just to turn on, which he obviously didn’t know. There had to be answers to why this happened; he just wasn’t sure how he was going to find any of them.

If I Could

I had remembered my wife screaming about the pain. I remembered trying to comfort her, telling her if it was possible for me to be the one to give birth, I would. The next thing I could remember was a feeling that almost seemed like I was being ripped in half starting between the legs while pushing something out of me. I could hear crying, but I wasn’t done pushing. And then I passed out.

When I awoke some time later, my wife, who was now in my body, explained to me everything that had happened. They were calling it the Great Shift, and had ended up swapping into her body moments before giving birth. I had torn pretty severely in child birth and passed out from blood loss. I was fortunate enough that the doctor had swapped into the body of a nearby nurse, and I was able to be sewn back up pretty quickly, but...body swapping? Great Shift? Being in my wife’s body? It was a lot to take in.

Adopted

Neil looked up as his younger sister, Lea, with scorn. “What the hell did you do?” He asked in a voice that sounded far too cute to be saying ‘hell.’

“I swapped our bodies,” She replied.

“But why?! You never seemed upset by who you are or your body. Heck, you clearly like your gender with all the dresses and pink -- neither which am I too happy with right now, by the way.”

Lea sighed, “Because even after 25 years, I still feel like an outsider in this family. Being adopted sucks. I just want to go through one family holiday as you, okay? Just please go along with it, okay? Also, I kind of like being in your tall body. Towering almost seven feet is amazing! At least compared to my usual 5 foot 2.”

“Okay. Fine. But once the holiday is over, you are swapping us back, okay? Promise?”

Body Swap Chronicles: Strangers Edition

The Threat

I hadn’t had any time to process why I was lying on the street or even why I was outside before I felt someone violently grabbing my arm, trying to pull me to my feet.

“Give it back!” I heard a gruff voice shout at me. I looked up to see an obviously homeless man firmly holding my arm as he continued to shout, “Give me my body back now!”

I thought he was just crazy at first, but I looked at the arm he held in his hands. It was slender and feminine. It was attached to me, but it certainly wasn’t mine. The rants may have sounded crazy, but I was in the body of a woman -- and I could only guess she was in the body of the homeless man.

Of course, there was no way anyone watching would know this. They just saw what looked to be a young woman threatened by a homeless man. And I would’ve liked to have figured this out calmly, but I wasn’t exactly upset when a punch from a savior to the homeless person’s face freed me from his grasp.

Don't You Work in IT?

“Don’t you work in IT, Johnny? Can’t you fix this!?” Anna pleaded, who was somehow fused into one body with their co-worker, Hao.

Johnny tried to explain. “I work in software. I don’t know anything about biology or whatever happened here. I didn’t even know this lab existed off the server room until I heard your screams.”

Anna pouted. “But he used a computer to do this! And you know computers!”

“I understand you don’t know,” Hao reasoned, “But surely someone must know what was being done down here.”

“I mean, I don’t even know where the unused parts of your bodies are. I certainly wouldn’t know how to undo or re-attach anything. But I guess I can ask around...”

Office Environment

Roger had spent the last few days wondering about the new body he ended up in as a result of the Great Shift. He hadn’t been able to get in touch with her, so the only information about he knew were externally visible -- like the pink hair and tattoos all over her body. For a mild mannered, middle aged accountant like him, it felt a little much.

He had hoped going back to the office would give him a sense of normalcy, but it only proved to make him feel more awkward. Even wearing some of his wife’s work clothes, he felt like a fish out of water with this body in an office environment. She just didn’t seem like she belonged here, which made him feel like he didn’t belong here...but what choice did he have? He needed to get on with his life...

Dumbest

Verona was probably the dumbest woman Professor Barnes had ever had in his class. He knew he’d let her squeak by with a D even if she didn’t deserve it since because her father was one of the university’s biggest donors. It was easy to forget she was in the class at all, considering how often she skipped.

She was there for the final, and he could see her struggling as he clock ticked down. She was working until the final second, and in that final second, the truly unpredictable happened -- though it would be a global phenomenon that no one would soon forget -- The Great Shift.

Professor Barnes now found himself swapped into Verona’s body. It seemed so strange to be young again and even stranger to be female now. But he also knew this was going to be a real challenge. Verona’s father would likely be quite unpleased that someone else was now in his daughter’s body, but all his power and money didn’t immediately solve the problem nor reverse the body swap. But he was sure it could be enough to make his life in this body miserable if he didn’t tread carefully.

Document It

“Could you please turn that camera off!” Anthony sighed.

“Come on, Dude, we should document this,” Lewis pleaded, “I mean, you just experienced the first cross-gender body swap in history.”

“Not by choice,” Anthony interjected.

“But people are going to want to know what it’s like. Maybe it could helpful to trans people or something.”

“But I’m not trans. Or I wasn’t. I shouldn’t be a woman right now...I just am. If people want to know what it’s like to be a woman...maybe just ask one? Please just turn it off. Okay?”

Missed Connections

New Jersey (Part 2)

View Part 1 of New Jersey.

Darnell waited several hours for the train to arrive. It didn’t. It made sense. After all, if everyone had swapped bodies that included the conductors and ticket takers. It was probably chaos. Meanwhile, almost everyone who had been at the station when this whole body swapping thing happened had left.

As it seemed, it looked like he’d be spending the night in this body...and in New Jersey! He hoped this big purse had a set of car keys in it, and that this woman was parked in the commuter lot -- he imagined hailing a taxi right now would be even more annoying than waiting for this train. He hoped she had some sort of ID in the purse, too; hotels probably wouldn’t be an option either.<./p>