Zachary smiled at Opal and Caleb, as they reshuffled the deck. They then nodded to Caleb in regards to the card in their hand. It was an image of Opal with an empty thought bubble. Caleb froze for a moment and remained where they were. “That card wasn’t for your body, it was for Rodney’s,” Zachary explained. “Also despite the reshuffle, I’m sure the cards will end up in the order you want.” Zachary then gave a look to Opal that told her Tara had messed up.



Tara had jumped into messing with Caleb’s plans too quickly she didn’t think. Molly was his next swap target anyway, she was just taking Rodney’s turn for Caleb. So the result would’ve been the same except now Tara was trapped in the deck. Even if Opal or Rodney had stepped in instead the end result may have been slightly different but it still would’ve ended up with Caleb back in his body by the round’s end.



“Wait if Rodney swapped with my body and my body was empty doesn’t that mean Rodney’s is now as well?” Her eyes widened as she turned to Caleb. “Please tell me you weren’t actively driving…”



Caleb looked up from his chest, brushing the long blonde hair over his shoulder and looked over at Opal confused. “No… I didn’t know how to get the car to go so I pulled over.”

“And you put the car in park and put the handbrake on right?” Opal asked.

“Is that how you get it to stop moving? I just used the curb.” Caleb didn’t fully get the severity of the situation. “I’m sorry but I don’t drive.”



“So Rodney’s body is unconscious in a car that is still in drive…” She then grabbed Caleb’s arm and moved it to the deck. “Take your turn quickly so we can put someone in Rodney’s body.”



“What’s happening with my body?” Rodney asked, finally coming from wherever he had been.



“It’s got no one in it and it’s behind the wheel of your car,” Opal quickly informed him as she held onto Molly’s hand tightly.



“Ow.. okay… okay… I’ll take my turn,” Caleb cried. He had intended to push this turn out longer to give Molly’s body a trial run but he wasn’t expecting Opal to hurt him over this. He knew that he was about to end up back as Rodney briefly and Tara would've been given his body, if she wasn’t in the deck.



He drew the card he had arranged earlier which shifted everyone to the right. Now Rodney was in Opal, Zachary was in Caleb, Tara and Zachary were empty and Opal was in Molly.

Caleb had expected to experience being Rodney for a brief second but everything was black until he was sitting at the table with his head resting on it.



“Well what’s the word?” Opal asked, looking at Caleb waiting for an answer.

“I didn’t see anything,” he answered honestly.



“Take your turn again!” Opal demanded, though this time he couldn’t be coerced, at least not physically. Though at Opal’s insistence he once again took his turn. He wanted to take this turn as late as possible as it was about to give Rodney back his body and put him in Opal’s until midnight. The original plan was to leave Rodney empty and removed as a threat while he got to try out Molly’s body. He wanted Tara’s body empty, and to remove the threat of Tara or Rodney being in Rodney’s body. Though he couldn’t do that without giving it back briefly. Rodney would now have half the day as himself again, while he would be vulnerable as Opal.



Caleb once again found himself blacking out before waking up thirsty and hungry down the hallway. He managed to get up before noticing strands of hair falling to the floor, he looked back and saw brown curls on the bed. He then looked over the mirror and saw that someone had given Opal a hair cut while she was empty. This was the third one Rodney had given someone and another one he could be blamed for.



“I can’t get a hold of him,” Opal said, not noticing Caleb stumble down the hallway. She had Molly’s phone out and was trying to call Rodney. “Did we just kill Rodney?” She asked as she began to cry.



“At least he’s in his own body if you did,” Zachary put Caleb’s hand on Molly’s shoulder. “It gets messy when people die as someone else.” They spoke so casually about it that it even gave Caleb pause.



“What do you mean if we did?” She looked up at Zachary. “This whole game was your fault.”



“Yes but I wasn’t the one who demanded someone to make a swap before we were all here. We agreed on eleven tonight, I was even on my way early.” Zachary stated more as a fact than a defence. “I also wasn’t the one who made Rodney’s body go empty.” They paused for a moment and considered it. “Though I did encourage it… so I’ll take some of the blame there.”



None of this helped Opal’s thoughts at all as she stood up and swatted away the paper plane still in flight. She looked over to see Caleb and her body’s new hair cut and her face dropped even more.



“This wasn’t me…” Caleb defended for the second time. Opal scoffed in anger as she began to storm down the hallway.



Molly’s phone began to ring and Opal paused for a moment and answered it. “Hello…?” she said nervously. On the other end of the phone was a paramedic asking who she was and how she knew Rodney. She didn’t have a good answer for either of those questions right now so she gave the answer that applied to her body. “I’m Molly… I’m his girlfriend…”