Syllable

The magic taxi had given Zach a once in a lifetime opportunity, and he had to go screw it up. A few weeks ago, he had been swapped into the cabbie’s body, and after reading the guy’s journal, he discovered that he now had one shot to swap himself. As a result, he mostly tried to pick up fares on Wall Street. One day, he picked up a guy he knew would be perfect. He wore a power suit, talked business on his phone, and even had a personal assistant with him. The assistant was a quiet woman, a bit uptight and stuffy. When the pair exited the cab, he knew it was his chance. He spoke the magic words, “Have a nice day, Mis...” But before he could add the final syllable, the magic took effect, and he ended up swapping bodies with the young assistant. He immediately tried to hail the cab again, much to the confusion of the man he was with. But after a minute, Zach knew the cab was long gone, and he was stuck with this woman’s life. He started to cry. The man tried to console him, but how could he even begin to explain what had just happened to him?

One November Morning

Henry had hoped college would’ve been different than high school. Instead, it was more of the same. He was still made fun of for being smart while the jocks of the school were revered. He knew a degree was important, but he still wasn’t sure how he was going to make it through four years of this! He was feeling particularly distraught one cold November morning as he walked from the chemistry building to the computer science hall. He had to pass a field where there was always some time of practice going on. Today it was football and cheerleading. As he passed that morning, the sky appeared to explode for a moment in a bright white light. He found himself off the path and now a few yards away in the middle of the field. He could suddenly feel the cool breeze directly on his skin, and it was particularly chilly, as if he had been sweating. It took a moment for it to sink in, but when he finally realized what had happened, he screamed. He had swapped bodies with one of the jocks on the field, and not just any jock, but one of the cheerleaders -- one of the female cheerleaders! He was in a panic, and as he looked around, he didn’t seem to be the only one.

Consequences

Roger looked up from his reading for a moment to see if Melinda was returning back yet. Luckily, she hadn’t, which meant that he still had more time to dig through this book for answers. After all, it was this book that had swapped their bodies in the first place, and he was sure that it could swap them back. At least he hoped so. Melinda had issued some pretty stern threats against him if he couldn’t find a way for them to return their original bodies. But as Roger started to think about it, what could she possibly do? After all, she wouldn’t lay a finger on her own body, which meant he was safe. And if she tried to do anything to his body, there was a pretty good chance they wouldn’t find a way back and she’d be stuck with the consequences. Maybe he didn’t need to rush through this magic book as quickly as he initially thought.

Disorientation (Part 2)

Click here for Part 1.

Kevin tried to convince himself that it must have all been in his head. After all, there was no possible way that he could have swapped bodies with Kimberly, right? Then again, he could certainly feel the difference from his former body, and the way the tight leather clothes she wore clung to his body; there was no way he could be imagining all this. He started examining his new self, and he couldn’t help but just feel shocked and overwhelmed by it all. He was now a gorgeous woman -- it could potentially open so many doors for him. But what about Kimberly? Would she be calling him soon to demand her body back. Of course, he had no idea how this happened, and even less of an idea how to reverse it.

Walk the Walk; Talk the Talk

Eric had been fighting with his live-in girlfriend about the responsibilities of men and women in the home. About a week ago, she had enough of his male chauvinism and cast a body swap spell to stick in her body to see if he could walk the walk as good as he talked the talk. He protested at first, claiming that he was really a man no matter what body he was in, but he finally agreed to take on the woman’s role as long as she had him trapped in her body. After all, he also wanted to show that it wasn’t that hard. Of course, in less than a day, he wanted out. Making meals was a near-impossible task, cleaning was just a nuisance, and he couldn’t get the hang of ironing to save his life. He found himself dropping the shirt off the ironing board and getting his long hair under the iron as he picked up to get it. His girlfriend didn’t enjoy that he had burned the tips of her hair, but she was getting a chuckle over how inept he was as simple household tasks!

Skin Deep

Keith had operated his auto body shop for many years, but he had seen a downturn in business recently. He had attributed it to the Great Shift at first, as people were staying at home to adjust to their new bodies. Keith couldn’t blame them, he felt concerned when he suddenly found himself in the body of a young woman. But as things returned to normal, business didn’t. He soon came to one undeniable conclusion, people just didn’t trust a female mechanic. He couldn’t help but think how ironic that seemed. After all, considering the Great Shift placed all sorts of people in different bodies around the world, he would think everyone would come to the obvious conclusion that things like race and gender are just skin deep.

Life Lesson

Edgar Winston III had been CEO of a large company until he pissed off a witch. She had hoped to teach him a life lesson by swapping his body with a young waitress at a nearby coffee shop. Edgar had been almost instantly fired for refusing to do what he considered menial work that was far beneath him. Of course, with no income, he soon could no longer afford the waitress’s “craptastic” (in his words) apartment. Soon enough, he was on the street. But he still hadn’t learned his lesson. He was still rude; he still looked down on people. Even with his stomach more often hungry than not, he couldn’t even show the slightest bit of humility.

Disorientation

Kevin had a slight headache and then a momentary feeling of total disorientation, and suddenly things were a lot different. He moved his hands up to his head to rub his temples, but found his once shaved head now covered with hair. His eyes went wide as he realized he now had dainty, well-manicured hands, a swan-like neck, and breasts -- dear God, he was a woman! And not just any woman, he recognized her. He was Kimberly! Somehow he had swapped bodies with Kimberly!

Starting from Scratch

John had made the same wish every night before he went to bed: to wake up as a beautiful woman. He never expected that wish to be granted. But one morning, he found himself in a strange room, and in a stranger’s body. She was gorgeous. He dug through her purse to find his new name, Alicia Jones. He opened up her computer and exploited a Google Chrome vulnerability to find all her passwords. He knew it was a good start to understand his new life, but he was really starting from scratch here. He had a new life, and he was going to enjoy every moment of it.