Path of the Body

Wanting to get out of this weird hallucination as quick as possible, Ethan picked the first door. It suddenly swung open and he was blinded by a bright flash of light.

A moment later, Ethan’s eyes flew open. He felt relief when he saw that he was back in his room. On this bed still laid all the junk from his dad’s box, including the ring box. Still dazed from whatever that ring did to him, he picked himself up off the floor.

Wait…something was off…why did the room feel bigger all of a sudden?

“Huh. Was the ceiling always that hi-” Ethan stop speaking for a moment. His voice came out in a much higher pitch than he was expecting. He attemped to clear his throat and speak again. “Hello?” He squeaked out, in a familiar, feminine voice.

Ethan looked down, only to see a pair of breasts pushing out of his t-shirt.

He screamed.

The door flung open, and his mom burst in. “Ethan, what’s wrong?!” She said, as she ran over to him.

“I…I…MOM, LOOK AT ME.”

The two stared at each other for a moment. His mom finally spoke up.

“Urm...what am I supposed to be looking at, Ethan?“

“I…I have boobs!”

She stared at him, unblinking. She looked down at his boobs and then back up at him.

“So? You’ve had them for years, why are you making such a big fuss now?” She asked, looking at him it was something so stupidly obvious.

“I-What?!”

She cut him off. “Ethan, are you high? I told you- You know what, I don’t have the energy to deal with this right now. Drink some water and lie down, honey.” She closed the door and left.

Confused, Ethan looked down at himself. His shirt was still distended, and he also noticed for the first time that his hands had become small and dainty. The nails were unpainted, and his slightly olive colored skin was smooth and hairless.

A thought hit him. He grabbed his phone, and opened up his back facing camera. His jaw dropped.

Staring back at him was his sister Emily! But…different. Her face lacked any sort of make up. Her hair was styled in the same messy cut he usually had, and it was missing the dark blue she changed it to last week, now back in its natural jet black.

Looking down at himself, he saw that his clothes that would’ve normally looked a bit baggy on Emily’s much shorter frame had resized themselves to fit him.

In his head, he felt like he looked like Emily trying to pull off a bad halloween costume. Of HIM. Ethan didn’t know what to think. His mom didn’t seem to blink an eye for whatever strange reason. He looked at the ring. It was still wrapped around his finger, cold and metallic.

“Why the hell would dad have this?!” He said out loud, cringing at the sound of Emily’s voice coming out instead of his. He turned back to the box of junk on his bed. Maybe there was some sort of explanation for this phenomenon. He began searching through the junk, but aside from the box he pulled the ring out from, it seemed like there was nothing else of note that could help him.

Frustrated, he sat down in his chair, burying his face in his smaller hands. Was he stuck like this? What about-

He suddenly sat up. What about Emily?

He immediately grabbed his phone and pulled up her contact. There she was…or rather…there he was. Ethan had originally used a rather goofy photo of Emily from when she was wearing one those white face masks and cucumbers on her eyes. Now, it was a picture of him, with a towel wrapped around his head, wearing said face mask, sticking his tongue out at the camera.

“So…we swapped bodies? Is that what this ring did?” He said, holding up his hand. The ring was still stuck on his now delicate fingers, completely cold to the touch.

“I wonder if she’s like mom, and thinks this is all normal. Only one way to find out, I guess.” He shot her a text.