'Borrowed' Body - Part Three

With one final slurp I feel my senses slip away, an all consuming darkness flooding over me as I'm left floating in a void with only my howling grunting thoughts to keep me company and to let me know I'm alive. Pain shudders through my ethereal skull as I feel things begin to click back into place, my disjointed thoughts finally managing to grasp a coherent sentence.

"Fuuuuuck, oh my gawd what the fuck is even happening?" I think, my mind reeling as I listen to my thought rattle in my head with a dim vapid lilt. "What the... that is NOT how I fucking sound! I sound like a..." I shout in my head, the world snapping back as I find myself once again in a humming metal chamber.

"...fucking bitch..." Madi huffs under her breath, her gaze locked to the computer as she doesn't seem to register I had come to. After another few moments she looks up, her deep brown eyes darting between the two pods before hissing. "Okay, done. Now where's my money?" 

I sway back and forth in the metal chamber, blonde hair dangling back and forth into my field of view as my soft pouty lips part and my eyes stare ahead dimly. My head pounds, the warping of the gray matter inside my shrunken skull leaving me struggling to even string together a decent thought.

"Warm..." I manage to think to myself, the thick warm parka around me and the fuzzy boots on my sweaty feet at least working to fight back the chill. My hearing is slightly muffled by the heavy hood extending up over the jacket, the white jacket and fake fur around it framing my view of the auburn haired girl.

"So... about that..." my normal voice calls out with a deep chuckle, the sound of it coming from the other side of the room sending a shiver up my spine. "You do know that you could lose your job for this right? Maybe even wind up in prison? New deal, how about we don't turn you in and you stop harping on about money."

 

Reaching out with a small delicate hand I grab the edge of the pod's doorway, my body shaking as I stagger to my feet. My knees knock and my legs shake, my soft plush thighs quivering inside my new skinny jeans as I tentatively stagger up and out towards the room at large.

"You can't be fucking serious" Madi hisses, her voice building louder and louder with each word before a familiar voice shushes her. "Don't you fucking tell me to be qui..."

"Please try and keep your voice down" my former voice coos softly, Stephanie's tone of voice practically giddy as she finishes. "You'll mess up the recording."

In an instant I watch as the auburn haired young woman goes wide eyed and pale, her gaze shifting to me as I look at her in confusion. "Like... was Madi always this tall or something" I think, my thoughts bubbling up without much real actual thought behind them.

As the cold air bites at my hands I slide them into my jacket pockets, my eyes going wide as I feel my fingers brush against a large phone covered in a bulky plastic case. As I pull it free absent mindedly I find myself staring bleary eyed at the fashion flagship device, clad in a soft pastel pink case and with the screen showing an ongoing recording. 

"Huh..." I bleat, tapping the button to end the recording as a small notification drops down from the top of the screen.

'Uploading File 0%'

"Give me that..." Madi shouts, lunging at me as I go wide eyed. Weaving to the left I circle around as she stumbles into the pod with a painful thud, my hammering heart and surge of adrenaline instantly waking me up.

"Get away from me you fucking bitch" I blurt out sharply, my hand quickly plunging the phone back into my pocket as I snarl at the pimply young woman as she groans in pain at rubs at her shoulder.

"Well at least you sound the part" my old voice chuckles, my attention still lingering on Madi as she slowly stands back up and glares between myself and someone else in the room. "Stephanie" my former voice chirps, my mind practically buzzing as I hear the name.

"Uh huh!" I chime brightly, whipping my head around as I'm soon forced to stare up at the towering thirty year old man with an all too familiar face and a devilish grin on his face. "Steph Mr Hughes?" I bleat, my brow furrowing as I find my tongue twisting to spit out a different set of words. "Stephanie Mr Hughes... I mean... like... Steph Jordan..."

My head pounds as I feel a dull and subtle buzz ripple through my skull, new connection solidifying as as chunks of my new brain quickly make themselves at home.

"Well Stephanie..." Steph coos, her hand reaching out as it pats the top of my head through the thick padded hood. "It seems like some of the changes have taken rather quickly" she continues, reveling in the sudden shift in size as she stares down at her former body. "Fuck.. this feels so... what's the right word... liberating" she chuckles, rolling her shoulders before wincing as a joint pops a little. "Mentally I mean, some things could be a bit better."

Stephanie quickly places a hand at my back, her towering figure soon pivoting me around as she guides me to the door. The auburn haired girl behind us is left huffing and groaning as she staggers back up properly the subtle sound of choked back tears soon filling the room.

"Goodbye Madi..." Stephanie calls from my body as she shoves me out the door and into the dimly lit hallway. "Stephanie here will get in touch when we need to go back to normal" she continues, stepping out and closing the door behind her as the sound of Madi's tears of impotent rage are soon silenced behind the thick wooden door.

 

Stephanie wastes no time in striding down the hallway ahead of me, my former legs carrying her far further than my new slender limbs could carry me. Snapping out of my malaise I quickly begin to jog up after her, my new chest bouncing inside a well-fitted bra somewhere deep under all my warm layers.

"Why is my head all messed up?" I ask, unsure how to phrase my concerns as I reach the now decade older former party girl. "Like... urgh, I dunno how to... why does my head feel so... so..."

"Empty?" Stephanie chuckles, shooting me a look before grinning ear to ear. "Probably because I took quite a bit from that little head of yours. Like we said, Madi and I couldn't simply have you traipsing around campus with the knowledge and education of a post graduate" she continues, her smile growing even larger and wider as she pokes out my old tongue.

"So... like... I'm..." I bleat, my head throbbing as I try to dredge up something, anything, from my time at college.

"Traipsing... that's a fun word..." Steph cackles, reveling in her newfound vocabulary. "Traipsing... tantalizing... antagonistic... belliger..." she hums, bouncing from word to word without much rhyme or reason.

As I search my memory I find it lacking, the images drawn up from the depths of my mind appearing to largely be limited to High School and more so limited in just how much school was actually paid attention to. D's and C-'s fill my head, bare passes that just managed to shuffle me into college to study some kind of hollow arts degree.

"Uh... Stephanie Mr Hughes..." I ask, wincing a little as my tongue twists once more to warp my words. "... How the fuck am I meant to pass shit... like... like..." I blubber, failing to notice we had even reached the exit as Steph moves to push the door open.

"Well you still have your capacity for learning" she states, rolling her eyes. "It's just that you know have a different starting point and lack the extended education that was left... in... here..." she explains, tapping at her borrowed temple. "You'll be fine so long as you pay attention, and then when we go back to normal all that new education can be siphoned back over."

 

As I go to step out of the door Steph holds out her hand, barring my exit as she shoots me a look behind narrowed eyes.

"I will go out first, get to my car and then drive home. You can leave in a few minutes, though I suppose you'll be walking back home to your... delightful housemate" Steph states, her borrowed eyes rolling as she brings up Gracie.

All I can do is nod in response, my body shaking as the cold night air buffets its way inside through the open door.

"Now just... be normal..." she orders, unsure as to how to word her demand. "Remember who is paying the rent here. Don't mess things up with your social life, family, school or anything else and this will all be over once I'm back from Europe."

Again, all I managed to eek out is a simple nod, my head shaking slightly as I wriggle deeper into the warm padded hood to fight back the chill of my rapidly freezing nose.

Steph goes to leave, her whole body out the door as she barely holds to the edge of the door with her hand. Pausing for a moment in thought she eventually looks back, her lips turning to a pout as she tries to remember something.

"Also, you have something on tomorrow. Just check your phone, it should all be there" she explains before letting go of the door, the wind quickly slamming it shut as I'm left alone in the quiet Swap Clinic.

 

Reaching into my pocket I pull the phone back out, clutching it in two hands as the notification drops down from the top once more to read.

 'Upload Complete'

"What a fucking bitch..." I grumble, unhappy with how Steph had gone about this whole endeavor. It's not like I could have done anything though, my dazed state and tiny frame lacking much in the way of the requisite physical or mental prowess to maneuver around her betrayal of that poor young woman. "Guess I'm... like... the bully now or something..."

Pursing my lips and twisting them from side to side I open up the phones calendar, my gaze falling on the first item tomorrow morning.