I think we were all expecting it. It’s been six months since the incident. But it was easy to tell what had just happened after the office silently crowded around one of the computers. I didn’t even bother getting up, just a glance from some of my less fortunate coworkers was enough to know that we were stuck like this, probably forever.
I looked down at my tiny hands, so different than the ones I had before. These were my hands now. All due to that accident with the alien device which sent my mind out of my 53 year old male body into Katey’s 22 year old one. I still remember hiring her as an intern, the timid girl was just out of college and eager to learn her new lab tech job. It’s so weird to think that I’m the cute little intern now. It’s been quite the adjustment for sure, especially at home. My 28 year old daughter hates that her own dad is so much younger and cuter than her now, and my son has trouble maintaining eye contact. I suppose I can’t blame him, I was 19 once. Hell I’m close to that age now and these new hormones have definitely messed with my head a lot.
Even weirder is just how different the world treats me. I’m used to being the tall, imposing guy in a room. Everyone listened when I spoke and expected me to take charge at work. I didn’t even realize how much my large male presence affected my role; but being stuck as a five foot tall girl with a soft voice really changed my view on things. It’s not all bad though, people are much kinder to me now. And I’ve gotten more compliments since the incident than I received in over 50 years as a man.
While it certainly hasn’t been easy adjusting to my new body, I do my best to put on a smile at work. While I may have lost my commanding presence, I know how much a glowing smile from a pretty young woman can brighten someone’s day. And of course all things considered I made out well compared to many of my coworkers. Most of my office mates were lucky enough to at least swap with each other, and other than the half of us dealing with sex changes most people didn’t up in a body too different from their own. The most unfortunate swap in our office were Charles and Tyrone both being swapped into Janet’s body. This was especially bad for these two as they were always at each other’s throats; hearing ‘Janet’ arguing with herself would’ve been hilarious if it wasn’t so dire. Even worse were the people down in the animal testing facility, many of them ended up switching into the lab rats. The animals in their former bodies were a constant reminder of the poor souls. Worst of all, though, were the small number of people, including Katey, who seemed to switch into absolutely nothing. We have no idea where they went, just that the doomed alien device seemed to target nothing at all; leaving vacant bodies in their wake. Stranger still, apparently the man in Harper’s body died over 100 years ago; we still have no idea what happened or why.
All we can do now is move on. And I’ll do my best to keep my cute, smiling chin up so others can do the same. That's all I can really do.
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