Curved

My reflection after the Great Shift made me want to cry. It felt like I was looking in a funhouse mirror, but -- nope, just a normal mirror. I mean, I knew I swapped into the body of a woman, and I knew women had curves, but this was ridiculous. They seemed way more extreme than I could ever remember seeing on a real person -- except they were on a real person now, and that person was me.

I wondered if she has some sort of implants on the various parts of her body or if she had her waist narrowed. Would there be any way to tell? Could I look for scars or something? I hadn’t found any so far, but maybe they were just some place not so visible; I wasn’t going to ask anyone else to look, because I didn’t want anyone to get the wrong idea.

I hated this. I just wanted to go back to being a guy, but I knew that wasn’t an option.

Gaming Skills

Brent had hated the results of the Great Shift. Swapping into the body of a middle aged woman was bad enough, but realizing his gaming skills in this body were terrible made it that much worse. At first, he tried to blame it in the fact that he wasn’t used to the fatter fingers or the nails; he told himself he’d get used to the differences of his new body. But months passed, and he was still terrible at games he once dominated at.

He began to come up with other theories. Maybe the fact that she was older was a factor; maybe these fingers just couldn’t move in the way his younger ones could. Of course, his friends online joked it was because “girls just naturally suck at gaming.” The comment made him angry, especially once they started to get vulgar. He was more determined than ever to show them that he could still play.

Normal

Adam understood why people wanted to get out, go to a bar, see a concert, or whatever. What weirded him out was how normal everyone was acting. It was like a massive body swapping event didn’t just affect everyone on the planet a few weeks ago -- which it most certainly did.

It’s how he ended up as a woman -- something he was desperately trying to hide by shaving his head and wearing baggy clothes. Of course those things didn’t make him any taller, nor make his voice any deeper. It also didn’t change anything under those clothes. He hoped people couldn’t tell, but he was pretty sure they could. He thought there would be more like him, fighting what his new body was like; yet it all seemed so...normal.

Hot? Younger?

Jacob looked around. It was clear he wasn’t the only one who had swapped bodies. Many had already rushed to see their new reflection in a window, but Jacob wasn’t sure he wanted to.

He had read stories online about body swapping, and people always ended up in hot, younger bodies of the opposite gender. That’s clearly not what happened to Jacob. Though he was certainly the opposite gender now, words like “hot” and “younger” didn’t seem to apply. Even without looking, he knew he was now older. He also certainly felt heavier than he had been.

He supposed this as mathematically likely as anything -- and with a possibility that it could have been worse -- but it wasn’t what those stories online had promised! That’s for sure!

Hands (Part 1)

Michael was just pulling his car out of the driveway to head out on a week long business trip when it happened. He suddenly found himself back inside his own living room, sitting down on the couch. He lifted one hand.

It wasn’t his hand.

He recognized the hand. It was the one he had placed a ring on when he had gotten down on one knee to propose decades ago. It was the same hand that stopped wearing that ring after her hands had swollen up while pregnant with their first child twenty years ago.

How was he now have his own wife’s hand? How was he the one in control of it? The revelation hit slowly. It wasn’t just her hand.

Then he heard the crash.

That's My Purse! I Don't Know You!

Most things Derek had gotten used to after the Great Shift caused him to swap bodies with a woman -- except for carrying a purse. He was so used to always having his keys in the pockets of his pants that he found himself locked out so often simply because he left his purse behind.

This had to be the third time he locked his keys in the car this week!

Then he reached down for his phone to call a locksmith, but he once again realized he had no pockets and the phone was in his purse -- the purse locked in the car.

He banged on the window for several minutes not knowing quite what to do this time. A man came around offering to help, sliding a thin piece of metal into the door, allowing Derek to gain access to his purse.

Derek thought about thanking the man, but decided the best thanks was simply not to say anything as the man continued to slide the metal into the doors of several other cars.

Curry Favor

It had been a few weeks since the Great Shift, and Sanjay had tried not to panic about the fact that he was now a woman with pale, pasty skin. There were a few adjustments -- sure -- but it hadn’t been that bad. He was looking forward to things getting back to mostly normal, and his favorite restaurant re-opening certainly qualified as normal.

He went in and ordered his favorite dish. He noted the aroma seemed slightly off, but it still smelled extremely delicious. He took a bite, and it was so...spicy! Obviously, he KNEW it was spicy; that’s why he liked it! But this new body was having trouble handling the heat. Things started to get messy; the curry only burned the sides of his mouth as much as it burned the inside. This was a nightmare! It no longer had the familiar, delicious taste he was once used to; now it only tasted like someone set fire to his mouth. Being stuck as a woman he could handle, but being stuck as someone who couldn’t eat his favorite dish? Well, that was terrible!

Before/After

It was a challenge not to imagine what this woman’s life was like before the Great Shift, before I swapped into her body. I didn’t know why she was on our street at that time, and many people often didn’t believe who I really was.

My wife was actually the first person to believe me, which was a relief on a lot of levels. All of her clothes fit my new body -- though her love of floral patterns and pastels certainly contrasted with my new body.

I could accept the fact that I was a woman now, but the tattoos were harder. I wanted them removed as soon as possible; however, with the Shift closing down all non-essential business and the sheer number, it would be a long wait and a long process. Until then, I woke up each day looking at this woman, and I still couldn’t believe she was me.

Is It?

“She’s kinda fat,” Matt said while looking at his post-Great Shift reflection in the mirror, “I didn’t know Asian women got fat.”

“That sounds hella racist,” His roommate shouted back from the other room.

“Is it? I’m technically Asian now. Can’t I say things like that?”

“It still seems wrong when you were the most generic white guy on the planet two days ago.”

“Fair enough, but I don’t think anyone is going to say that about me now. I just had a mindset about Asian women, and this isn’t it.”

“Yeah, Dude, that’s racist...”

Hormones

Choking on a spoonful of ice cream probably wasn’t the worst situation a person found themselves in as a result of the Great Shift. And, believe me, some of my friends had absolutely disgusting stories about the positions they ended up in. But all those things a body was doing or experiencing at the time didn’t just go away just because someone else was in control.

Along with the ice cream, I was also feeling all the hormones and sadness and crying this body had been going through at the time of the swap. I didn’t know her boyfriend had just broken up with her, but I also couldn’t seem to stop the impact on a dime. I kept eating the ice cream and watching the trashy romcom she had on; I couldn’t explain why. I would’ve never done these things as a guy. I wasn’t even sure if they were helping or sending me further down a spiral.

It probably messed me up in some ways, but, again, far from the worst situation...

Only One

Ralph wasn’t sure what was worse -- how quickly the world snapped back to normal after the Great Shift or how he so often found himself as the only guy swapped into a woman’s body in situation after situation. Sure, he knew that (mathematically speaking) he should encounter many other guys now in the bodies of women, they just didn’t shake out that way in the real world.

When he went to a ballgame, it felt like he was the only one in the entire stadium with a woman’s body. There were definitely guys and women who swapped with guys...but he felt like a clear minority with his body. At least the lines to the bathroom were reasonable, though he wished he could say the same for the food.

Unadapted

When the Great Shift first happened, I think I expected most people would adapt to their new bodies. Maybe for a while, they tried. But as the weeks turned into months, it was very obvious that people were acting more like who they were before than who they appeared to be now.

Let’s take Melanie from my office, for instance -- or rather, her body -- Dave from the dev team is now the one inside her body. On day one, no one would’ve guessed it was Dave inside of there. Her body still looked like the hottest woman in the office, even if it moved in a little more masculine way.

I think the makeup was the first thing Dave gave up on, within the first week. Then the hair on her body’s legs and armpits started to grow in. Dave had no plans to shave it. Perhaps the only odd thing was he kept wearing her clothes -- though in reality, he had no interest in buying anything new for the newly feminine body he now had.

As it turned out, Dave wasn’t an isolated case. It started to become quite apparent which women were men before the Shift happened.

Paranoia

Why did it feel like everyone was staring at me? Seriously, I knew people was probably dealing with their own problems after the Great Shift. It made no sense to think that anyone would be caring about a single guy swapped into the body of a woman, let alone staring or obsessing over him or her. Yet that’s what it felt like.

I didn’t know if this body has internalized brain chemistry that caused paranoia or if this was just something women naturally felt self-conscious about for some reason, but I was glad the body I ended up in lived close by and I found the keys to get in pretty easily inside her purse.

I gave one last look around to make sure no one followed me before I unlocked the door and went inside.

Flight

The fact that everyone on the plane was still alive was a miracle. It was purely by chance that the pilots were unswapped by the Shift -- unlike everyone else on the plane.

Neil has sudden found himself in the body of one of the overworked flight attendants, teetering on tight heels that were already on exhausted feet. Despite the initial demands of everyone on board, it wasn’t hard for him to explain he wasn’t actually who he appeared to be. After all, everyone else was in the wrong body as well.

He finally got to sit back in his seat, an everyone was surprisingly calm. Everyone was silent as they sat there in the wrong bodies, and Neil felt as wrong as anyone. And once they landed, they soon realized the people on the plane weren’t the only ones affected by a massive swap....

Just Keep Working

Curt thought that swapping bodies with his wife was probably one of the better results of the Great Shift. Sure, not swapping at all would have been the best, but at least swapping with a spouse meant most of the details about your life were pretty much the same, and any challenges you were going to face would easily be answered by someone you were close to.

Though his wife Li did have some complaints. She told him that he was ruining all of her outfits at his job. Curt explained that he had to wear something! And he was lucky to be working! Construction jobs had dried up a lot in the immediate aftermath yet he kept going with work as though nothing had happened. His boss didn’t care that he was in Li’s body, and it kept putting food on the table.

He also tried to explain that she wouldn’t be wearing any of these things anymore. When she said that wasn’t the point, he promised to replace anything he ruined once things got back to normal.

So Metal

It wasn’t an ideal time for the Great Shift to happen -- though I’m not sure there is technically ever a good time for you and everyone you know to be swapped into other people’s bodies -- but it still sucked.

The club we were scheduled to play at wasn’t huge, but it was bigger than the places we typically played. But moments before my metal band was slated to take the stage, I went from being a guy with deep guttural growl of a voice to a woman who practically squeaked when she talked.

We had all swapped with someone, but we agreed that I had it the worst -- the only one whose new body might affect our performance. We took to the stage anyway.

Somehow we pulled it off. Even though the entire crowd was swapped too. Someone my new voice worked in a way -- sure, it was a bit of a different sound, but it also seemed like people dug it even more.

Smile

After the Great Shift, Ju Won’s friends had all thought he’d adapt to being a woman fairly quickly because he was gay. He had to explain to them that being gay and being trans were not even remotely close to being the same thing, and he was struggling with being a woman just as much as they were. It didn’t help them understand.

Still, Ju Won was interested in pursuing a relationship. He wasn’t sure if his preference transferred over or if this body was just straight, but he was still interested in men. The problem was that none of them seemed interested in him.

The Shift was still fresh and few people were interested in romantic exploration. He had a few moments at the club, but his new body’s busted smile always seemed to turn them away.

Then one time on the street, he got a compliment from a guy. He tried not to smile, but he couldn’t help it. And strangely, the guy didn’t run away. He smiled back...he SMILED BACK. Ju Won was over the moon...

Doing Okay (Part 5)

View Part 1 of Doing Okay.
View Part 2 of Doing Okay.
View Part 3 of Doing Okay.
View Part 4 of Doing Okay.

I don’t even remember exactly how it happened next -- what we were even talking about at the moment --when we suddenly turned to each other and started to kiss. It was hard to process all the thoughts that were running through my head; I was kissing my own body!

There was a warmth that spread through my body, but I think the thing that I will never forget was the taste. I recognized it; it was what my mouth tasted like before the Great Shift. Of all the things that had changed when I became a woman, the differing default taste in my mouth had been a weird one. But kissing my own body brought back that original neutral taste that I kin of missed.

I think she liked it too, judging from the smile on our face after we parted lips and just sort of stared at each other.

The Experience

Jeremy hit the ground hard. He expected it to hurt, but it felt good instead. In fact, everything felt good. The floor, the loud music -- all of it was good. People reached down to pick him up, but he didn’t want to. After all, the floor felt so good. But, as it turned out, standing up also felt good as well. Realizing he was in someone else’s body? A woman’s body? Also good!

It took him a few more minutes to realize he was high. How he got high was still a mystery to him, though maybe he was just imagining all of this. The club, the different body -- maybe it was all just from whatever he was on. It didn’t seem to matter right now; he could just enjoy this for what it was -- an experience...an out-of-body experience?

Oh.

Lou still couldn’t believe he was going on his first date since the Great Shift. He was still nervous about it, but there were things that would make it easier. When he arrived at the bar, it was pretty easy to spot Clarice with his own former face, for instance.

It all seemed to be going quite well until he mentioned the date.

From inside his body, she laughed, “Are you serious? We’re just exchanging info here, because we should be friends.”

“Oh,” It was hard for Lou to say much more.

“I mean, my former body is a 3 or 4 at most. But now? I’m like a 7 or an 8! I’m really sorry for what you lost, but a date?” She laughed, “No way!”

“Oh,” Lou repeated.