Amalgamation

Ryan’s body had become an amalgamation of his various neighbors. He recognized the dress as one that Elle would wear heading down the elevator to a night at the club, the tattoos clearly belonged to Jorge, and the overall body was definitely Mrs. Shu’s.

The only thing left that Ryan could claim as his own was his mind. Though he could feel the other’s inside of him, begging for a moment of control. But what had caused him and several neighbors to merge into a single person? It didn’t make any sense; however, as he stepped out into the hallway of his apartment building, he soon discovered he wasn’t the only one in this strange situation.

Regular Sunday

I didn’t really wanted to think about the fact that I swapped into the body of my neighbor, Mrs. Kim. I just wanted to have a normal Sunday. And I did my best to ignore the fact that I was now a 40 year old Korean woman and just tried to enjoy a football game with a beer and some snacks.

It was easier than I expected to keep it out of my mind. Though there were moments -- like how after my third beer, I needed to use the bathroom. And there was the time Mr. Kim came to my door wondering why who he thought was me was vacuuming his floor while what he thought was his wife was sipping beers in my apartment. But the distractions worked for the most part, and I at least got through the day with the hope that something would happen overnight to get me back to my own body...

Separate Attempts

Brian though his neighbor Esther looked good for her age, considering she was in her 60s. He just wished he wasn’t the one currently inhabiting her body due to the swap between them.

Luckily, they both seemed fairly committed to swapping back. And inside Esther’s home studio, they both set about their own methods for doing so. Brian had gathered a bunch of wires and parts on the table. He knew enough about these things; he was sure he could build some sort of device to get them back to normal.

But progress was slow as he turned to look at Esther in the corner in his body. She was meditating in his 25 year old mal body. He thought it looked silly, and he was even more skeptical that a spiritual hippie solution was the way to go here, but at least she was trying something -- though she was no closer to getting them swapped back than he was.

Twist of Fate

Using the magic spell to steal his neighbor’s body was the easy part. But sneaking the book back out of the house so she’d never find it was the real challenge.

Then again, you learn a few things as a 300 year old wizard that come in handy in cases like these. Spells that trigger on a timer, illusions that make things invisible, teleportation. Heck, the body swap spell that allowed him to take Sandra’s body was actually the easiest part of this whole thing! And she’d never know about the magic either; she’d think it was all some weird twist of fate.

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!

Well Hidden

Martin knew it would only be a matter of time before Tara woke up and realized they had transformed into each other. He had hidden the spell book under a panel in his floor, but the panel itself was much too obvious. He’d have to move the carpet and then the couch. With Tara’s weaker frame, that proved to be a challenge, but he did manage to do it in time.

He just needed to plan ahead so he could pretend that he was just as surprised as she was. When she suggested they switch apartments for a few days, Martin was hesitant. To potentially leave her alone so close to the book? It seemed risky. He tried suggested just packing a few things in an overnight bag while staying at their original places to adjust, but Tara was insistent.

Martin finally relented, figuring the book would be safe in the hiding spot. But he still needed to come up with a plan to get back inside his place so he could destroy the magical spell once and for all in order to keep Tara’s body forever.

Surge

When Leonard saw the wall outlet where his lamp was plugged in was sparking, he thought the smartest thing to do to prevent a fire was to unplug it. Apparently, the woman in the neighboring apartment thought the same thing.

There was a surge and a flash, and as the sparks began to slowly dissipate, the reality of what had just happened began to sink in. The circuit must have linked their brains in some way, transferring electrical signals and essentially swapping his brain into the body of his neighbor.

It felt strange to be Hayley. She was a young blonde woman who tended to wear short skirts. But he was more focused on the science of the situation than his body. It was technically more like this brain got rewired to think it was Leonard as opposed to any sort of actual ‘swap,’ he supposed. It was certainly unheard of, but theoretically possible.

As he contemplated the situation, there was a knock on the door. He had an obvious assumption as to who would on the other side.

Flicking the Switch (Part 2)

View Part 1 of Flicking the Switch.

Annabelle pounded on the door with no answer.

“Maybe they aren’t home,” Caleb suggested.

“They have to be home,” Annabelle firmly stated, “We literally just walked by and some sort of energy came out and swapped our bodies. I’m not exactly planning on running around with this itchy hair on my face; I won’t even explictly mention the other explicit thing.”

“But no one is answering...”

“Then I’ll pound until your knuckles are bloody.”

“Please don’t...”

Jonathan and Minh simply couldn’t hear the doorbell or the pounding on the front door from inside the garage. And while Caleb and Annabelle were the first ones to arrive with their bodies swapped by Jonathan’s careless switch flicking, they were certainly not the last as a small crowd was soon gathering...

Welcome to the Neighborhood

Derek and Julia had moved into their new neighborhood about six months ago and had heard about the parties the local couples held, but this was first time attending. As they greeted the hosts, Phil and Melinda Quinn, Derek started to get a little suspicious after striking up a conversation.

“I hear these parties are pretty popular,” Derek said to Phil.

“Oh, you’ll find out why,” Phil smirked.

“Maybe we should show them early,” Melinda suggested.

“Just the four of us? Come on, that’ll spoil some of the surprise.” Phil lamented.

“We should easy of them; it’s their first time,” Melinda reminded him.

“Oh, God, I think this is a swinger’s party,” Derek whispered to his wife, “Let’s get out of here.”

“Let’s just play it cool. If it gets too weird, we’ll leave,” Julia whispered back to him.

The Quinns lead Derek and Julia down to their basement where an orb sat on display. Instead of any sort of sexual advance, The Quinns just suggested they all touch the orb. Derek and Julia shrugged; they couldn’t see what harm it could do. But as they touched it, the orb glowed and everyone was awash ina bright light.

Derek blinked until he could see again. He could tell things had dramatically changed. He saw Julia, Phil, and...his own body? In an instant, he knew that the orb had swapped him into Melinda’s body.

“Isn’t it great?” Phil said speaking from Julia’s body, “It’s like you get to cheat without actually cheating.”

“No! No, it’s not!” Derek exclaimed, “I want my body back.”

“You’ll have to wait a while,” Melinda said from Derek’s body, “I have no interest in having that body back again for a while. She was a little frigid in bed. You could get lucky though, I do plan the join the general random pool next time. Now you see why people coming back to the party, right?”

Neighbor's Mom

“Hey, Mom,” Ken asked as he put his bag down on the kitchen floor, “What’s for dinner?”

“I picked up some burgers from that fast food place. They’re in the bag on the table; help yourself.” She replied.

Ken reached into the bag and pulled out some burgers, shoving one into his mouth. He always loved a fast food burger, but it didn’t seem right. He had grabbed them with his friends, sure...but his mom? She always made some sort of traditional dish for dinner. He spoke with his mouth full, “Is everything okay? Are you feeling well, Mom?”

“I’m fine,” She lied. It’s not like she could tell him the truth. She doubted Ken could believe it anyway. To try to explain to him that she wasn’t REALLY his mom -- heck, she wasn’t even really a woman. She was a guy named Evan, their neighbor. Thanks to some weird power he inherited, he ended up switching bodies with Ken’s mom this morning. To make things worse, Ken’s mom was now in Evan’s body without knowing who she really was! Now Evan needed to figure out how to convince her to agree to swap back to normal without her even having the faintest idea that it really was normal. That’s just how his power worked!

Real Magic

Did the magic spell actually work? Chase’s head was still pounding from its effects, but he knew he had to act fast. He looked around; he certainly wasn’t in his own apartment anymore. Then he began to feel the sensations of his body -- the cascading long hair, the tightness of the leather pants. Yep, it had definitely worked; he was now inside Faith’s body, the woman who lived in the apartment next door.

But he knew the magic wouldn’t last unless he could find where Faith’s spirit had gone. According to the spell, it would latch itself onto something living. He didn’t hear a pet; he didn’t see any house plants. But her spirit had to go somewhere? That’s when he noticed a small spider on the ground, scurrying away. Could that be her? Without hesitation, he took his heeled boot and squished the spider. He hoped that was it! If it wasn’t, he’d be pushed back to his own body within the hour...

It felt like the longest hour of his life; he couldn’t even enjoy being in Faith’s body as he waited...

Freaky Friday

I was trying to figure out just what the hell was going on. One minute, I’m off studying at college, and the next I find myself inside the body of my own mother -- yet I seemed to be wearing my sister’s school uniform. I stormed off toward home to demand some answers.

Our elderly neighbor was waiting outside for some reason. She looked worried, but before I could ask what was wrong, she explained that she was actually my sister stuck in the neighbor’s body. I quickly added that I was actually her brother.

And so my sister started explaining about the weird “Freaky Friday” incident she had, how she woke up inside our mother’s body. They decided to avoid cliches and not try to pretend to be each other, which is why she put her uniform on and headed to school, despite being inside of mom’s body. Once there, she begged for help from the weird goth chick. She did some research about some magic spells and came to my sister after school with a solution: a spell for a single wish. She had to study it and cast it when she was alone.

And so my sister wished. The wish was simple: For her and my mom to switch bodies again. It was probably too simple. She should’ve specifed “with each other” or something like that. That vagueness was apparently how I ended up swapped with mom’s body and how my sister ended up as my elderly neighbor (with the neighbor now in my sister’s body and my mom in mine). Unless we find yet another solution, it seems were all stuck...

Waiting on the Porch

Rick rang the doorbell and waited, but Jia didn’t answer. He knocked and shouted her name, but she still didn’t come to the door. It didn’t make any sense! He had only taken a few hours to repair his machine that had earlier swapped his body into hers. It was a pure accident when he first activated the device. And it only happened due to an increased amount of power and the proximity of her condo to his. She had seemed very upset about the whole thing, so it made no sense for her to shut him out like this. Maybe she was just trying to make him worry, but he had been waiting a long time out here, quite ready to use the device again...

Secret Body Swapping Machine

Based off of this writing.com interactive story.

Kyle couldn’t believe he was having to sneak back onto his land he owned. Of course, no one had any clue who he really was. In fact, this was the whole reason he had to sneak back. When he found that strange invention in the machine shop on his farm, he had no idea it could swap two people’s bodies! That is, until he and his neighbor Rebecca did just that! He wanted to switch back right away; she had other ideas. She pretended to be him and told his family that “Rebecca” was crazy. He tried to explain, but they wouldn’t listen. Not that he could blame them; he probably wouldn’t believe it either. But he figured that if he could get to the device, he could swap with someone else, and then get close to tell his family exactly what happened. He hadn’t yet planned who he was going to swap bodies with; he’d figure that out later. All he knew now is that he couldn’t solve his problems while he was still in Rebecca’s body.

Everybody Change

Author's Note: I am working on an upcoming series that REALLY made me reflect on elections. For those in the US, today is election day. I encourage you all to vote for candidates that support LGBTQIA2S+ people. There are many politicians out there who will make the world a worse place, particularly for the trans community; and I fear many of these people could get elected today. Do your part. Vote. Vote for the people who are most likely better to make the world better for trans people. Vote for people that support women's choices. Vote.

William had just graduated law school and got a job as a junior lawyer at a law firm. He was finally able to move out of his parents’ house and get an apartment down by the court house. The other people in the building explained that the community was very close, and William looked forward to getting to know people. His job left him with very little time to do so however. In fact, his first time to breathe had to spent going to the local laundromat.

Shortly after he put his clothes into the dryer, a weird homeless man came in shouting, “Everybody change clothes! Everybody change!”

William looked a little scared, but a neighbor told him that he would get used to it. The man left shortly after with no incident, and William finished drying his clothes. But as he pulled it out, his clothes were gone! Instead, a woman’s set of clothing was inside.

The same neighbor came over again and explained, “It happens everytime that man comes in. You’ll switch bodies with someone in the neighborhood. Looks like you’re Maria de la Cruz right now. Like I said, you get used to it.”

“New body?” William hadn’t even noticed but when he looked down it was clear, “But...how?”

“No one knows how he does it. Someone probably mentioned when you moved in that we are a close community.Now you know why.”

Mom, Please!

“Mom, please,” Mike begged, “I was mad at you and bad when you moved us here, but then I found that weird body swapping device in the barn in our backyard and things at least got interesting. You have no idea how many swaps I made before you caught me in there after I swapped with our neighbor, Lindsey. Then you activated the thing, and I never expected you to end up in her body, and I certainly didn’t want to be in your body. And, yeah, I guess it was fun for a while, but Lindsey wants her body back, Mom! Please!”

“Maybe I should keep this body a little longer to teach you a lesson,” Mike’s mom replied, “And maybe if you spend a few more days as me, you’ll understand exactly how hard it is to be me.”

“But you can’t punish, Lindsey, Mom! It’s not fair.”

“Fine. We’l go back to the barn, and I will swap with Lindsey. She’ll be normal; I’ll be you; and you can stay me for a little longer. Does THAT seem fair to you, young man?”

ETA (Part 4)

Click here for Part 1.
Click here for Part 2.
Click here for Part 3.

The next few times Chen went to check in on Dave, he wasn’t home. She thought this odd, because he had never not been home. The next time she saw him was actually when she was on her way to get groceries. Her jaw dropped at what she saw.

“What the hell are you wearing?” She asked.

“What?” Dave replied, “You told me to ditch the overalls.”

“Yeah, but my body is practically naked wearing what you have on! And where the hell did you get it!? I don’t own anything like that!”

Dave shrugged, “I went out and got it.”

“Shouldn’t you be spending time fixing that device of yours, so we can swap back to normal?”

“Everyone needs a break. And I think I look cute.”

“You mean MY body looks cute? And where are you off to now anyway? Another break?”

“Something like that. When I went out shopping a guy asked me out on a date. I thought we’d hook up.”

“No way you are hooking up with anyone! That’s my body!”

“Well, not right now it isn’t. And until I do fix my device, it’s not going to be yours. And, quite frankly, you aren’t giving me much of a reason to rush with this attitude of yours all of a sudden...”

ETA (Part 3)

Click here for Part 1.
Click here for Part 2.

“I know it’s upsetting, but I need the time,” Dave begged.

Chen sighed, “Okay, but I have one small favor to ask.”

“Anything.”

“Could you maybe try wearing some of my clothes instead of yours? The overalls and bandanna look on my body is, well, it’s not my style.”

“Sure, yes, consider it done.” Dave said with a smile that Chen was nearly alarmed by, but she decided to keep that to herself. He had been so agreeably so far....

ETA (Part 2)

Click here for Part 1.

When Chen arrived the next day, Dave didn’t seem ready to swap back at all. She sort of expected him to be set up in the living room with the device ready to go. Instead, she found him in the basement putting together something that didn’t look nearly as impressive as what he had completed yesterday.

“Some bad news,” He said without looking up, “The test failed.”

Chen was at a loss for words, but Dave continued. She could tell he was upset. “I ended up frying both my cats’ brains. It was...unpleasant. I’m glad that wasn’t us though. I hate to say this, but it’s probably going to at least be another few days.”

ETA (Part 1)

After three very long days, it looked like Dave was almost finished. Chen had to admit that her neighbor had been pretty apologetic about his malfunctioning invention that resulted in them swapping bodies. He had been working all day and night to fix the thing -- it had literally caught fire shortly after the swap -- and she checked in every few hours to see how it was going. Dave always explained in detail. The technical details went over Chen’s head, but she perked up when he told her he’d likely be able to run a test in the morning and possibly be ready to swap back as early as tomorrow afternoon. She watched him work for a few more minutes, still somewhat fascinated to see her own body move without her being the one to move it.