“I can’t believe we’re going to do this Aunt Casey!” Lucy McCain squealed out in a way that only a 10 year old can.
“It sounds like fun kiddo” Casey Walker replied “And anyway…It’s not like you’d want to see what your Mom goes through in a day; Boring!” she added looking at her older sister Julie and smiling.
“Great” Julie said throwing her hands up “My daughter will get to know what it’s like to serve drinks at a bar”
Casey laughed at that “What? It’s not like she’ll actually be serving drinks or waiting tables either sis; lighten up”
“So when and where do I pick up my GoPro?” Casey asked.
“We can go there tomorrow morning if you’re free” Julie told her 30 year old sister.
“I can do that” Casey replied. “I’ll swing by tomorrow at 10”
Casey pulled into her sister’s driveway the next morning and was met by Lucy sprinting out of the door. “Aunt Casey! I couldn’t wait for you to get here! Let’s get going!”
“You know we have to wear these for a week and then we have to wait even longer before we get to wear them again for the experience right?” Casey replied.
“I know that but the sooner we start, the sooner we can get to the good parts” she informed her aunt.
“Well okay then” Casey said as she watched her niece jump into the passenger seat of the car. Casey waved to her sister who stood on the door step “Guess I get to sit in the back” she said slinging her purse onto her shoulder.
“I still don’t get this whole Virtual Reality thing” Julie admitted as she climbed into the back.
“It’s cool Mom” Lucy said turning around to face her mother “I’ll get to put on a headset and it’ll be like I am Aunt Casey and she gets to see everything that I see”
“Everything?!” Julie asked nervously.
“It all gets edited down; that’s what takes so long” Casey said as she backed out. “Honestly; how old are you, like 90?”
Lucy laughed at her aunt’s joke as they drove off to the tech company headquarters.
“As you know; this type of immersive experience is still in the testing phase; that’s why we’ve asked for volunteers such as yourselves” the technician explained to them as he adjusted the Wi-Fi settings on the GoPro headsets that he was setting up. “These are weather proof and will run for the entire week recording everything as long as you keep these charging devices nearby at night while you sleep but you are not to take these off at all for the next week is that understood?”
“Yes” Lucy answered.
“Of course” Casey said as she adjusted the band to fit over her thick brown hair.
“You can pause them at times like in the bathroom or other such places that are private” he continued.
Lucy started laughing and swinging her head around as soon as she got hers tight.
“You know what? Do as much kid things and have as much fun as possible for me this week kiddo; I can’t wait to see the world through your eyes” Casey told her.
“And I can’t wait to see it through yours Aunt Casey” Lucy replied.
“Do you think I’m going to let you into the adults’ only meetings that are held every Tuesday night after you go to bed?” Casey teased her niece giving her a gentle elbow poke.
For the next week, both kept their cameras rolling no matter what they did even though it was a bit off putting to those around them. Lucy’s friends spent two full days mugging for the camera before they finally just gave up and acted like themselves while Casey had to answer questions constantly at her job, but most people didn’t mind in the end. They turned their cameras in and settled in until they would be told that their experience was ready.
“So what did you do that week?” Casey asked as they were on their way back to the lab a few weeks later. They would be there all day in an enclosed room to live out their experiences. Lucy’s Mom and Casey’s sister had stayed behind today leaving just the two of them on their adventure.
“You’ll just have to find out when you get there” Lucy teased.
Once inside, they both couldn’t stop smiling “I’m really looking forward to this Lucy” Casey admitted.
“Duh; me too” Lucy replied.
The technician walked up to them with two headsets in his hands “Glad to see you bright and early; we have a very big day ahead of us today. You are frankly not going to believe your eyes when we get you going…follow me please”
Casey smiled down at Lucy who bounced up and down a few times as she got going into the next room.
“This is where you’ll both get started in a kind of get acquainted type of scene before you both will head off into your own separate room to go through your experience”
“Sounds good to me” Casey replied.
“If you’ll both take off your shoes” The technician asked them and they quickly complied. “You’ll be able to move around better barefoot”
“Cool” Lucy replied quickly.
“If you think you know what you’re about to see, I can assure you; it’s so much more. This is truly innovative and immersive on a scale never attempted before. YouTube videos are like 1% of what you’re about to experience” The tech bragged as he handed their headsets to them “Once you put these on; you’ll see a countdown of a few seconds and then; you begin. Let the day take you were it goes…” he finished with a smile. He turned and walked out of the room.
“Guess it’s all on us now kiddo” Casey said.
“Then let’s get going Aunt Casey!” Lucy said excitedly. She slipped hers onto her head and looked around quickly, her long straight brown hair flying loosely around her face.
Casey smirked “Her we go…” she said as she put hers on and sure enough, it began to light up.
“I think it’s starting!” Lucy said still looking at a black screen.
In the blink of an eye, the room and vision opened up in front of her and Lucy stumbled backwards in shock and joy and surprise “Whoa!” she said catching her balance “This…oh my gosh even my voice sounds different to me…Aunt Casey are you…? Are you seeing this?” She waved her hand and laughed catching the sight of a different looking hand in her vision “Is that you Aunt Casey?” she said as she looked down at the very shocked looking little girl in front of her “I can see myself!”
“Lucy?” Casey finally spoke up. She was staring up in shock, absolute shock at seeing herself in front of her “You look just like me to me” she said.
“You even sound like me Aunt Casey! This is so awesome!” Lucy said.
“I mean…” Casey said looking up and down at her body in front of her.
“You even look like you’re shorter than me now” Lucy said giggling “You’re the little kid so that must mean…” she looked down and gasped “I have boobies!”
Lucy began to poke and prod at her body and even though it was still her skinny childish body, it somehow felt different because it looked different to her “I’ve got your legs! Your….your…stomach!” she lifted up the bottom of her shirt “Your hands…whoa” she stopped when she spun away and caught her reflection in front of her. The room was now showing a mirror that took up the entire wall in front of them. “Check it out Aunt Casey” she took a few steps forward in the room and stopped “Wow”
Casey now turned and jumped at the sight before her. There, reflected in the mirror was the image of herself and her niece but she was controlling all the movements of her niece instead of her own body. She watched as it moved around under Lucy’s control.
“This is blowing my mind” Casey said looking at herself in the mirror and looking down at her body and seeing the skinny body of a child there instead of her own. She ran her fingers through her hair, now looking longer and thinner than her usual thick hair cut at her shoulders. “I can’t believe this is even possible” Casey said walking up closer to her old self.
Part of her wanted to pull the headset off just to prove to herself that it wasn’t real; that she wasn’t really Lucy now but she remained strong and left it on telling herself “He said it was going to be amazing and I have to admit; it is”
“It’s so realistic Aunt…I mean Lucy” Lucy said laughing “I think I should call you Lucy while we’re doing this huh”
“Um…okay” Casey said a bit uncomfortable. She waved her skinny arms around in circles for the mirror and smiled seeing Lucy’s braces filled mouth reflect back. Instinctively, she ran her tongue over her teeth and even though she hit smooth surfaces, part of her mind still registered a metallic taste.
Lucy now leaned forward and bared her teeth “I love your teeth!” she said and even though she still felt the braces and gaps, she remarked “Why does it feel so real?”
“I read something about this while we were waiting for this last week; part of your brain trains you to believe what the eyes see is true even if you know it’s not and then it even starts to make you feel what you see”
Lucy poked her right breast and even through her finger went up against her flat chest she said “Yeah…it’s like I can feel it”
Casey’s and went up and cupped her breast even though to her eyes, it was holding nothing against a flat t-shirt. She pressed her hand down and held it until it felt flat to her “Weird…” she said shaking her head.
She shook it harder and wilder and could almost feel the hair whipping around her until she caught how silly she looked and began to laugh.
“What?” Lucy said looking down and seeing her old self before her.
“Nuthin” Casey responded with a shoulder shrug looking up “Still trippy having to look up to you and seeing my face there”
“Well get used to it at least for today kiddo” Lucy said.
The door to their left opened and they both saw Julie standing there “Come on Lucy” she said putting out her hand “It’s time to go”
Casey opened her mouth then pointed at her chest “Me?!”
Julie nodded “Come on Honey, it’s time for soccer practice”
Casey looked up at her old self “I guess I have to go”
“Yeah…it looks that way” Lucy replied.
“This is so weird; Casey thought “She’s treating me like her daughter! I have to go with my sister; wait, I mean my Mom”
“Coming Mom!” she piped up and ran to the corner of the room putting her hand out for the vision in the headset of Julie to take it and lead her away.
Lucy was left by herself in the main room. The door to the right opened and she shrugged before walking towards it and onto the next stage of their experience.
Lucy kept glancing at the mirror as she walked; she smiled watching how her body swayed and moved in a womanly fashion.
Once on the other side of the door, she found herself standing before a different mirror but one that she recognized; it was the mirror in Aunt Casey’s bathroom. She was now dressed in black pants and a white shirt and she realized that she was getting ready for work.
Lucy gathered up her hair and it felt like there was less of it there as she bundled it up on top of her head in a bun. “Ready for work I guess” she said as she turned around and walked down the hall of her Aunt’s apartment and out into the parking lot. A small chair was set up and she sat on it but to her mind, she was climbing into her Aunt’s car and driving to work. “I can drive!” she thought as she motioned and leaned back and forth as the headset played out traffic in front of her.
Anyone watching would have seen Lucy running back and forth as she worked, waiting tables, getting drinks, pouring behind the bar and talking to an endless sea of people. All the time, she seemed to be getting quite used to her body and size.
But to Lucy, she was getting worn out. “I never get to stop” she thought. She had found an apron to put on along with a pad and pen to write out orders. A guy in a tie kept coming up to her and telling her where to go next “Sure thing Boss” she would reply with a smile and a brush back of a stray thick curly band of hair that would fall across her vision. After a while, it was like she could actually feel the hair laying there. “I’m sweaty and my feet hurt” she realized after running back and forth filling and carrying orders, getting silverware, getting napkins, getting crayons for kids and hearing her name called out repeatedly.
“I’m definitely getting used to hearing everyone call my Casey” she thought tugging at her shirt. It was a t-shirt in real life and a white blouse that was now looking dirty as she went through her day but all the same, it felt tight on her.
Casey was fascinated as she walked towards her sister who was smiling down at her “Okay Mom” she said still somewhat amazed at how high her voice sounded to her. She followed her through the door and found herself standing in a grassy field.
“Whoa” she said looking down at herself and seeing a bright blue soccer shirt on her body now along with blue shorts, shin pads, blue socks and cleats. “Come on Lucy; you’re starting” she heard her coach tell her.
Casey proceeded to run back and forth in her room for the next half hour without stopping “I feel great! I had no idea I could still run like this; I’m not even winded!”
After the game, Casey’s screen changed yet again and now she crouched feeling very self-conscious “Oh My Gosh!” she said as her hands slapped around as she saw that she was now at a swimming pool and was wearing a bikini on her skinny little girl body.
But that stopped quickly when a girl ran up to her soaking wet and said “Come on Lucy! Jump in!”
Even though, she never felt the water, it was still fun for her to play and bounce up and down.
“I’m still not tired” Casey said as she had found a towel to wrap around herself for the moment until her scene changed yet again and now, she felt her stomach fall out.
“I’m back in school!” she said realizing that she was standing outside of Lucy’s elementary school “I have to go through a day of school as her too!”
The backdrop led her across the room until she found a desk and sat in it “I fit pretty good in this seat” she thought as she could even feel her feet off the ground swinging back and forth.
She had to write and she was amazed at watching her hand work on the paper “Even my writing looks like hers and not mine in here” No matter how she moved her hands, the letters were childish and blocky instead of her usual scratches.
Casey still jumped each time she heard “Lucy!” from her teacher’s mouth as she knew she should know the answers but her nerves kept getting in the way. “Um…6” she fumbled for a moment before answering a math question. She felt pride when the teacher nodded and smiled back at her. “And my voice still sounds so high” she thought.
Casey had fun having art class again and caught herself sticking her tongue out in concentration as she painted “The longer I stay in Lucy’s life; the more I feel like I am Lucy” she thought when she got a quiet moment.
Casey looked down at herself and touched her leg with a deep poke into her thigh. She got up and walked until she went into a restroom in the school and found a mirror. She saw Lucy looking back at her. “Hello again” she said to the reflection “Just wanted to see my face again and see…” she trailed off and shrugged before turning and walking back out.
She found a chair that she used as a seat on the school bus and she rode until she got to her house. “I thought of it as my house” she realized. “Not my sister’s house…not my niece’s house but my house…”
Casey stopped just outside of the door “I wonder how long I’ve been at this?”
Lucy wasn’t wondering the same thing yet. She was tired and her feet did hurt after her full shift at work but when her scene changed, she was quite excited. She was back in the bathroom but this time, she was wearing a long black dress and high black heels “Wow…sexy” she thought looking down at her exposed cleavage and the long slit up the side of the dress that showed off her leg. “Date night?”
She went to the sink and proceeded to do her hair and make-up in the mirror, all the while staring into her Aunt’s face and using what appeared to be her Aunt’s hands and knowledge. “My hands aren’t shaky doing this…it’s like I’ve done it before” She would almost swear that she could feel the thicker shorter hair between her fingers as she did up her hair.
When the doorbell rang, her heart took off as she walked in the heels flawlessly to the door. Her heart jumped again at the sight of the handsome man on the other side. “Hello” she said as she took the flowers he was offering from his outstretched hand.
Lucy could feel herself blushing and nervous “I’m going out on a date! As an adult! This is so awesome I never want this to end!”
The scene quickly changed to a fancy restaurant and Lucy found herself standing before a table. A chair was there for her to sit at and a table in front of it. She could feel the tablecloth, the napkins, and the silverware as she crossed her legs as she sat down tugging at places where she thought her dress was gaping and showing a bit too much leg. But she felt her foot firmly on the floor and it was so realistic that she would have sworn she was wearing heels too.
She pulled out a small make-up mirror and checked her face, making sure she bared her teeth to see her straight white teeth. “This is a truly amazing program” she thought. “It’s so realistic…I’m having the conversation…”
Casey was exploring her house, even finding what would be her bedroom with her stuff in it when she heard the door open behind her “Time for Dinner Lucy”
She turned and smiled “Okay Mom” she answered when she saw Julie standing there. “I didn’t even think twice” she realized.
Casey made her way through dinner with her Mom feeling awkward and unable to keep up in every attempt to have an adult conversation. Her mind simply kept wandering back to things that would be important to a 10 year old.
Finally the scene shifted once again and Casey found herself in the mirrored room where she had started out the day. “Hello” she called out to the empty room. She looked at her reflection and rubbed her hand up and down her arm self-consciously.
After a few minutes, Casey saw a door open on her right and saw herself walk in with a big smile on her face. “Aunt Casey!” she yelled in joy and ran to her, wrapping her arms around her in a welcome embrace.
“Hey Kiddo! I missed you!” Lucy replied hugging her excited Aunt back. “I’m so happy to see you made it through my adventures!”
“Yeah! I had a soccer game and went swimming and went to school and hung out with my Mom…oops…I mean…”
Lucy laughed “I know what you mean…it gets pretty immersive in here. It’s easy to think that it’s real and that I really am Casey and you really are Lucy”
“What word did you say a sec ago…?” Casey asked.
“What? Immersive…it means to be deep into something honey” Lucy replied.
“Um…” Casey was confused “Something’s not right” she said earnestly.
“What do you mean?” Lucy replied.
“Well don’t you think that I should know what that word means…not you?” Casey asked.
“Oh” Lucy replied surprised “I hadn’t given it any thought really”
“Well I have and I realized that the longer I was acting like you the more I thought like you. My mind is jumping all over the place and when I was in school, I was having a hard time answering 4th grade questions”
“Well maybe it’s all part of the program; maybe that’s just part of it” Lucy replied.
“Um…I guess” Casey said shyly. She looked at the reflection out of the corner of her eye. She could still see her older and taller and larger body in front of her as well as in the reflection “So…since we’re back here together; does that mean we’re done?”
“Maybe” Lucy replied.
Casey was beginning to feel nervous “I think we should take them off now; I’ll count to three and we’ll both take them off okay?”
“Sure” Lucy replied not quite ready to but well aware that she had to.
“1…2…3” Casey said. She reached up and grabbed the webbing that was holding the headset in place and lifted up. As she did, she felt long thin hair fall loosely across her cheeks and over her shoulders to half way down her back.
The lights were bright and she quickly shut her eyes against them feeling a reeling and dropping sensation as she took a stumbling step back.
Her right heel was up in the air, her toes planted firmly down as they began to shrink smaller and thinner. Her left foot moved inward as well as her legs began to thin and shrink down. Her midsection, hips, rear and thighs all became skinny and childlike before her first harsh blink could even register.
Casey’s chest and back contracted, her breasts disappeared and her shoulders and arms trimmed and pulled up and in taking her hands in as they went.
Finally, her face morphed and changed shape, size and position. Her nose thinned and shrank along with her lips and chin. Her jaw shifted, her teeth popped and braces quickly snapped into place. Her blinking eyes narrowed and became smaller as her cheeks rose up in full roundness “Whoa” she said still staggering as the sound of her high pitched voice registered in her ears.
At the count of three, Lucy reached up and laced her fingers under the tight bands keeping the headset on. Her fingers caught in her thick wavy hair as she removed it; her hair tumbling down to her shoulders.
Lucy brought her hand up to cover her eyes against the bright lights setting her feet and bending her knees, both of which were beginning to grow larger.
Her feet popped outward and her legs expanded out and up, maturing and rounding with adult curves.
Her thighs, hips, rear and middle all popped outward larger than before as her back and chest expanded bringing out a full set of breasts with them as they went. Her arms and hands changed, getting larger as well as they covered her changing face.
Lucy’s chin and lips grew larger, her braces disappeared across her straight white teeth as her cheeks streamlined out and her brown eyes grew larger.
“What the…?” Casey said now clothed in baggy clothes, her headset dangling out of her small hand. She looked over confused; still seeing her old body in front of her and not below and as her. “Lucy?” she asked.
Lucy heard her name spoken in a high voice as she regained her bearings. The feeling up rising still resonated in her and she felt dizzy and confused. She finally focused and saw the small girl before her; her for all intents and purposes “Aunt Casey?” she asked in her deeper voice “What…just…happened to us…” she was looking around.
Lucy held up the headset unit and rubbed her eyes with her free hand “Is this real?”
Casey had had enough “AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!” She screamed at the top of her lungs.
Lucy bent down to comfort the scared girl. She was shaking but as she did, Lucy’s tight and ill-fitting child’s clothing ripped and tore taking out seams along the sides and back. “Shhh…it’s okay” Lucy said.
“Nuh…No it’s not okay! I’m you! I’m a little kid!” Casey said backing away “And you! You’re me!”
Lucy stood back up, her clothes tearing even further.
“How are you me now Lucy?!” Casey asked. She looked down at her body in desperation. She grabbed her flat chest and her skinny legs with her small hands, squeezing everything she could. “No...Where’s my body Aunt Casey?
Lucy reared back hearing Casey call her that name.
Casey’s cheeks burned bright red in embarrassment “I mean…what are we going to do?”
Lucy stepped around “HEY!” she yelled “Anybody out there!?”
The technician walked in “Ah, Casey and Lucy how did everything go?”
“Awful! We actually physically switched bodies with each other in the end!” Casey jumped up and down “You have to change us back!”
“Yes…the glitch” the technician said hanging his head “We had really hoped it wouldn’t happen this time but apparently we still have some more work to do”
Lucy and Casey’s jaws dropped open.
“What? You knew about this? Has this happened to other people too?!” Lucy said.
“Yes, every time; it seems we’ve made the program too intense. So intense that the body instantly reprograms itself into what they had just been experiencing”
“But…” Casey began.
“What are you going to do about this?” Lucy asked.
“I’m afraid there’s nothing we can do about it. But that was all in the contract that you signed” He pulled out the stack of papers “Right here on page 17 it states ‘In the event of a catastrophic incident where in the two participants shall change physical bodies as a result of participating in said experiment, they shall henceforth and forevermore assume the identity of the other. No legal recourse is available for this event and both said participants have been informed of said possibility”
“What?” Casey cried out.
“It was all there in black and white that a possible outcome could be the two of you physically swapping bodies with each other and yet you both signed along with your mother Lucy” he said pointing to Casey.
“But who reads to page 17 of a 30 page document for a VR thing?” Casey said.
“You will in the future I assume” the technician replied.
“Now then, we can get some new clothes for both of you before you leave. If you’re interested, there is a doctor who is studying the few of you who have gone through this. She has a particular interest being that she was once a he. She was part of a trip through here with her spouse and they ended up swapped out as well”
“So you’re not going to do anything?” Lucy asked again.
“I’ve told you there is nothing we can do for you” he replied. He handed over a card ‘Dr. Stephen Barnes’ “He might be going by Emily though when you call”
Once they had changed into new clothes that fit each of them, they met back up and walked out to the car.
“So…Aunt Casey: Do we tell Mom?” Casey asked.
“Well Lucy, I don’t know…what do you think?” Lucy replied.
Casey scrunched up the tiny features of her childish face “Nah…I think this should just be between us. Mom would flip out on you if you do anything adult if she knew”
The new Casey laughed “Yeah…can’t afford for her to get me fired for serving drinks as a 10 year old”
“No” The new Lucy laughed “And if she knew she was getting to boss around her sister again, I’d never hear the end of it”