Riley Hartman stretched out her arms over her head and tossed her long brown hair off her face. She had just woken up in her dorm room as her friend’s had invaded her space laughing and carrying on. “Guys! Shut up!”

“Why Riley…come on! Get up…we’re heading down to the store; come with us!” her friend Amber said pulling on her arm.

“I don’t need anything at the store” Riley protested.

“Well you’re coming anyway so get up!” another friend, Jill added in.

“Fine” Riley responded as she kicked her covers off and swung her legs out. Wearing just panties and a tank top showed off the lithe 5’9” junior’s body.

Riley was the tallest and most athletic of her friend group. She also happened to carry the best grades of them as well as being the nicest; or at least she thought. Her friends were immature and tended to still put on the “mean girl” act more befitting a high school junior but Riley still valued their friendship.

Riley piled her thick dark hair up into a messy bun atop her head as she brushed her teeth. She put on a clean t-shirt and a pair of short denim shorts before slipping into a pair of Birkenstocks. “Fine, I’m ready”

“Yay!” her friends called out mocking her as they headed out the door.

“This isn’t just because I have the only car with air conditioning in it right?” Riley asked.

“No! No of course not! We just wanted your company haha!” Jill said.

Leia Mercer pushed her cart down the aisles of the grocery store picking up the items she needed and a lot of stuff that she didn’t.

She stopped at one point, her heart intent on the bag of flaming hot Cheetos on the top shelf. It was the last bag and it was pushed all the way to the back.

“Dang it” Leia thought. The top shelf was imposingly high to her 5’1” frame. It also didn’t help that while being short, she was also heavy. 220 pounds packed onto her 40 year old body, most of it settled around her middle in her thighs, hips, ass and stomach.

Riley, Amber and Jill rounded the corner “Check this one out haha” Amber said “Little Oompa Loompa lady can’t reach her snack” she snickered.

Jill hissed out a laugh while trying to hold it in.

Riley shook her head and walked up “Do you need help Ma’am?” she said coming up.

Leia tugged on her floral pattern top. She had heard the comment, not that it was anything new, but it still hurt like always.

Seeing the woman blushing embarrassed “If you heard my friend back there, ignore her; she’s an idiot” Riley said smiling “I honestly don’t know why I hang out with someone who can be so rude and mean”

Leia’s face brightened with a smile as she gazed upon the tall and frankly gorgeous young woman standing before her.

“Ah…Flamin’ hot Cheetos” Riley said rising up on her tip toes and grabbing the bag and pulling it down “A favorite of mine as well”

“Thank you” Leia said meekly.

“No problem…have a good one” she added and walked away. “You two need to learn when to shut the fuck up” she laughed coming up to her friends “You hurt that ladies’ feelings for what?”

Leia lost their conversation as they walked away but she stood there motionless, her heart pounding in her chest.

Finally she moved but she couldn’t clear her thoughts about that young woman “I didn’t even get her name” she thought disappointedly.

Riley forgot about the incident within the hour. She had a lot on her mind without worrying about little things. She was currently carrying a 3.8 GPA in nursing, she played volleyball and she had her boyfriend Ryan to keep her occupied.

Leia on the other hand couldn’t get the young woman’s face out of her mind.

By the time she got home, a thousand different things were running through her mind but the most important thing was what had been on her t-shirt; Miller College Volleyball.

A few Google searches later and the roster was on Leia’s computer screen “Riley Hartman” the smiling picture was the woman who was so nice to her in the store. There was a picture of her close up, smiling with her hair down and poker straight. Then there was a second full body picture of her in her uniform.

Riley stood tall with the number 9 on her chest. Short volleyball shorts showed off her long legs broken up by her knee pads.

Leia was transfixed by the picture.

For the next three days, as Riley went on about her life blissfully unaware, Leia contemplated making the biggest decision of her life. Finally, she picked up the phone.

“Leia Mercer…I had wondered if I would ever hear from you” the voice on the other end said barely above a whisper.

“Um…yeah…I know it’s been a while but I was wondering if your offer to me was still good?” Leia asked nervously.

“Of course my dear. I am indebted to you; anything within my power to grant can be yours”

Leia froze for a moment “Can you…can you make me switch bodies and lives with someone?”

Leia heard nothing for a moment and was so embarrassed and discouraged that she thought about hanging up just as the voice said “I can”

Leia exhaled.

“This is not a small thing that you ask of me. It is a powerful spell. I hope you have thought out all the consequences of such an action”

“I have…I really want this. I waited to do this until the right thing came along and once I knew, I just knew that this is what I wanted” Leia said.

“Very well. I will need a few things from you and from the person you wish to switch with. Bring these to me and it will be done”

Leia took notes as she heard what was needed.

Riley walked out of her last class of the day and headed to the Starbucks just across the road. She had a few hours before practice and figured she could get in some studying in a different environment.

She wore her Birkenstocks again but this time with black leggings and a loose light blue top. Once again, her hair was piled up into a bun on top of her head.

She stood in line tapping away on her phone texting Ryan when she heard a voice behind her “Oh Hello again!”

Riley turned and just caught the top of a woman’s head. She looked down and saw a short, pear shaped woman simply beaming at her.

It took Riley a moment to even place her. Short, around 40 with mouse brown hair cut to shoulder length and a very forgettable face. She was overweight, carrying her excess around the middle; her stomach stuck out further than her breasts. She was wearing a brown top that accentuated that fact along with a long tan skirt which tried to hide her wide hips “Oh…you’re the woman from the grocery store” she finally replied.

Leia nodded enthusiastically “You remember!”

Riley smiled “Sure…how have you been? Need me to get down some creamer today haha”

Leia laughed “They usually keep things at a level that even I can reach here…but I would like to thank you by buying your drink”

“Oh! You don’t have to do that” Riley said.

“It would be my pleasure honey. It’s the least I could do”

“Well thanks” Riley said blushing a bit.

“A college girl like you has to watch her money I’m sure” Leia said.

Riley laughed “Yeah…no doubt about it”

“So you do go to Miller?” Leia asked.

“Yeah…I’m studying nursing” Riley replied.

“That’s awesome! I wanted to be a nurse but…” Leia shrugged “I couldn’t afford college…but I work for the hospital in billing now”

“Oh that’s nice” Riley said waiting for her turn.

“So are you from the area or did you just come here for school?” Leia asked.

“Oh, um…I grew up in Ridley”

“Riley from Ridley!” Leia said.

“Wait…how…how did you know my name?” Riley asked.

Leia just pointed to her student I.D. hanging off her wrist.

“Oh…duh! Silly me!”

“It’s a pretty name…I like it” Leia said.

“Um…thanks” Riley replied.

They stepped up and both ordered as Leia paid.

“So what goes with Riley…what’s your middle name?” Leia asked.

Riley furrowed her brow a bit but thought “What’s the harm?” “My middle name is Elizabeth”

“So is mine!” Leia expounded.

“Do you have a boyfriend?” Leia asked.

Riley shifted her weight from foot to foot “Why?”

“Oh I’m just making conversation. I’m sorry if I stepped over the line…I’m a talker…I’m sorry” Leia apologized giving her a sad face.

“She’s probably a lonely cat lady” Riley thought noticing no rings on her fingers. “I do. His name is Ryan”

“Ryan and Riley…that’s so cute! Make sure he takes good care of you” Leia said.

“He does” Riley answered looking down.

“So do you think I would be Ryan’s type?” Leia said.

Riley was totally caught off guard at that one. She froze for a second before letting out a nervous laugh “Um…” she shook her head smiling “You might be…I’m not sure” she said as politely as possible.

“So do you play sports? You’re pretty tall…how tall are you?” Leia went right back into questioning.

Riley sighed “I’m 5’9” and yes I play volleyball…”

“5’9”! I would absolutely love to be your size! I am so jealous…I’m so short…I couldn’t imagine being your height”

Their drinks came up but instead of staying, Riley took hers to go “Nice seeing you again. I’ve got to get back to campus”

“Oh it was great seeing you too!” Leia said as she watched her leave.

Riley headed to the library and went to the far back corner of the third floor to do her studying. With a simple thought of “Weirdo” she went about her day.

Leia could hear the squeak of sneakers on the floor, the pounding of the volleyballs as the bounced off of hands and the floor as she crept into the locker room.

She had followed Riley at a greater distance the rest of the day but she was close to getting everything she needed. She already had her discarded Starbucks cup and straw sealed in a bag, now, she was about to get her last piece.

Leia went into Riley’s gym bag and smiled. Several loose hairs sat on the shoulders of her light blue top she had changed out of before practice. She plucked them up and they went into another Ziploc bag.

Tiptoeing out, Leia smiled.

Trina knew she was coming. She didn’t have to look outside. She opened her door as the short and plump woman waddled up the front steps “You have decided to come to me tonight Leia”

Leia felt her face warm, her whole body warmed thinking about what might be “Yes” she nodded unable to suppress her smile.

“Very well. Come inside” Trina Leroux said ushering her in.

Trina hadn’t laid eyes upon Leia in 20 years. The years had changed her but Trina had always seen that this would be where she would have ended up.  “You saved my life once long ago and I told you then that I was in your debt. Tonight, that debt is repaid”

“I understand that” Leia answered.

“This is truly what you want?”

Leia nodded and bit her thin bottom lip “More than anything. I held onto your promise for two decades. I could have wasted it on a lot of stupid things. I almost did. I came so close to calling you so many times over the years but always held back. Now I know why…this is my destiny”

“Very well” Trina replied.

Leia followed her into the next room where candles burned on a table with a shallow bowl of greenish brown liquid sat.

Trina took the bag from Leia. She took the end of the straw and swiped it through the liquid before she added in the hairs from Riley’s shirt.

Leia in turn plucked a few hairs from her own head which she handed over after spitting into the bowl.

“State the name of your intended swap” Trina said.

“Riley Elizabeth Hartman” Leia said.

“You wish to become Riley Elizabeth Hartman”

“I do” Leia stated firmly.

Trina lowered her head to just centimeters over the bowl as she whispered a few words that Leia could not hear.

She rose up “Leia Elizabeth Mercer and Riley Elizabeth Hartman shall now swap bodies, lives, destinies, and futures. Leia shall receive Riley’s and Riley shall receive Leia’s in return. Everything that was Leia’s now belongs to Riley. Everything that was Riley’s is now Leia’s. Their fates changed, their destinies altered. From this moment forward this swap shall proceed…Uta Linigha Osmana Dauta”

Leia felt a shiver and she began examining her body frantically.

“It is by no means instantaneous. This will take a matter of time to swap. Be alert to the changes. It is up to you on how you explain this to the new Leia” Trina said, her face illuminated by candle glow.

“That’s it though? This is working?” Leia asked anxiously.

Trina simply nodded “Watch for the signs. I think you’ll find it will start out slowly but will gain momentum from there”

Leia floated from the house, her heart pounding, her breathing shallow, her head swimming. She was dizzy and lightheaded as she collapsed behind the wheel of her car.

Despite being told that nothing would happen immediately, she examined her hands, her fingers splayed out but just saw her normal, usual pudgy fingers.

Leia flipped down the mirror and examined her face expectantly; the smile fading as it just reflected what she had always seen.

Riley was showering after the end of practice when a shiver ran down her spine causing her whole body to shudder. “What was that?” she asked herself; a dark cloud passing through her mind.

She put her hand out against the wall to steady herself as she heard voices mocking her, people looking down at her and laughing and smirking.

Just as quickly as it started, it passed and she stood back up straight. A bit spooked but okay.

“See ya tomorrow girls” Riley called out as she headed to her dorm room.

Once inside she realized how exhausted she was “Dang…” she yawned and stretched rising up on her tip toes “Why am I so tired?” she thought. “It’s like all of a sudden I’m exhausted”

Riley curled up in her bed and quickly fell asleep.

Riley awoke the next morning still feeling tired and a bit achy as well. She looked at the clock and jumped up “Shit! My alarm didn’t go off! I should have been up 20 minutes ago…Shit!” she got dressed as fast as she could and still made it to class on time but she felt totally rushed and off.

Seated in her class, she pulled out her phone and saw that the alarm wasn’t set. It didn’t look like it had ever been set up to go off “Absolute worst time for my phone to reset” she mumbled making sure it wouldn’t happen again.

She was restless as the lecture proceeded “I’m just going to be off today now” she said to herself as she settled in as best she could.

Leia woke up energized. Her eyes popped open and she sat right up. She could tell her body was still her own and was disappointed by that as she swung her chubby legs out and hopped out of bed. But today, unlike any other day in so many years, she moved with a bounce to her step as she got ready for work.

Leia pulled out a dress, white with a floral pattern on it but she thought it helped hide her hips and ass. She wore a pair of black heels as well to boost her height and she did her hair and makeup as well just because she felt like it.

She greeted people at work enthusiastically, even the ones who were usually mean to her, not caring about what they said or thought. She turned on her computer at her desk and pulled up her email. Of course at the top were 3 junk ones with dates of 2039 but just as she was about to click delete, she saw something and her heart skipped a beat.

The subject line said ‘We’ve been looking for you Riley’

Her jaw dropped. It was just a stupid piece of Russian scam email with a virus in it but that couldn’t just be a coincidence she thought and she giggled to herself.

The rest of the day skipped right by quickly for Leia. She headed home not stopping at one of the fast food places along the way; she simply wasn’t that hungry for it.

She kicked off her heels upon coming inside and her phone went off with a text from a number she didn’t recognize ‘Thanks 4 letting me use your notes sistah!!!! Lifesaver!’

Leia thought it was simply a wrong number but deep down, she hoped it was something more.

Riley was so glad when her classes were over. She didn’t want to study, she didn’t want to do anything but sit down and put her feet up and eat. She was starving and all she was craving was junk food “God am I starting my period?” she thought. “I feel kind of bloated and lethargic”

She opened her laptop and opened Netflix ‘Recommended for Leia’ came up and her brow furrowed “Who the Hell is Leia?” she laughed before seeing a bunch a shows and movies come up that she had never seen and had no interest in “Netflix has something screwed up” she added before finding something to watch.

By the following morning, the feeling had not passed. Riley woke up even more worn out than she had gone to bed “I must be coming down with something…I just don’t feel good”

She decided to skip her classes and just get the lowdown from her friends later. She curled back up and rolled over.

At 9 o’clock a text came up from a number she didn’t know ‘Why aren’t you at work? Bossman is freaking out’

She dismissed it as a wrong number.

Leia walked down the halls of the Gadsden Hall for Nursing at Miller College. No one really looked at her in either a good or bad way.

She had dressed down for the occasion; like a college student. She was wearing worn out sneakers on her feet, black leggings that were stretched to capacity and a light blue top. She didn’t have enough hair to pile on top of her head to truly emulate Riley, yet. Her heart was pounding as she thought “Am I really going to be attending classes here? Is this really MY future?”

A girl in a ponytail nodded and smiled at her as they passed by “I can’t wait for this to be me” she thought before going to work. A bit late, a bit of an eruption by her boss, but she didn’t care, “Not like it’s me I’m hurting haha” she thought.

Riley’s back groaned at her as she sat up and stretched. She wandered into the kitchen, found a bag of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and began to munch on them. She was several handfuls in when she thought “I don’t remember buying these” but, they still tasted good so she continued to snack on them.

Into her bathroom, she decided to take a shower. She stripped down and got under the hot water but when she grabbed for her shampoo, it was brand she had never used. “What the Hell? Is somebody pranking me?”

Getting a bit paranoid, she also noticed a bottle of perfume on the counter when all she usually used was body spray from Bath & Body Works.

“I need to go for a walk” she told herself as she wrapped her hair up in one towel and wrapped another around her chest.

Riley grabbed a pair of underwear and a bra, putting them on quickly and hastily. She grabbed a pair of black shorts and a gray V-neck top. As she turned to take the towel off her head, a glimpse of white caught her eye in her closet.

Riley’s heart leapt and beat faster in her chest; too many weird things were happening that she was just now noticing. With her brow furrowed, she reached for the white in her closet.

“What the…?” Riley’s heart was beating as she pulled out a very large white dress with a floral pattern on it.

She examined it, turning it before her eyes, noticing how out of place it was in her hand and closet “Why in the world…? It’s not my size…it’s not my style…” She looked at the tag “Size 18?!” She hung it back up not knowing what else to do with it.

Thoroughly creeped out, Riley put on her Birkenstocks and put her hair up into a ponytail and left her dorm room.

Outside in sunshine and fresh air, she felt her mind clear “It has to be Jill and Amber screwing around with me…I skip one day of classes…” that thought made her paranoid again though “But I haven’t left my dorm room…when did they have time to…”

“Hi!”

Riley jumped “Ah!”

“Hi Riley!” Leia said.

“What the…? Where did you come from?” Riley said seeing the woman from the store and Starbucks suddenly at her side in the middle of the campus lawn. She noticed that she was dressed in a pair of black shorts, sandals and a gray V-neck top, causing Riley to do a double take.

“I live nearby here. I take walks around here some days. It’s a nice place” Leia said looking up at Riley with a broad smile on her face.

Leia’s jaw dropped seeing their matching outfits “It’s like we’re twins” she said in a hushed awed voice.

“Yeah…well…whatever…” Riley started to walk again as Leia chugged to keep pace.

“I mean…it’s like we’re already so connected with each other” Leia said walking along about a step behind Riley.

“Hey…I don’t want to sound rude but I’ve had a really bad day and I was just out trying to clear my mind okay…um…” Riley stopped

“Leia…my name is Leia” she said softly, sounding hurt.

A brief spark in Riley’s mind “Yeah, Leia. I’ve just had a really bad day…just kind of freaky you know so I’d kind of like to be alone”

“Oh.” Leia said dejected. She looked down at her feet as she shuffled her sandaled feet slightly on the gravel path they stood on.

As she looked down, she felt her heartrate increase. Her feet looked flatter; thinner. They didn’t look as puffy as they usually did.

Leia stared at her feet and her jaw dropped in awe. Her toes were changing shape. Slowly, they grew longer. The shape of her nails began to change right before her eyes. Her heels smoothed out and her feet increased in size with the ends of her lengthening toes now coming over the front edge.

Her eyes shot across to Riley’s feet. Riley’s puffy feet?

Leia stole a glance up and saw that Riley was looking up and away at the sky. She was unaware of the changes occurring to her feet as Leia watched her toes begin to shrink. Her heels roughened up, lines and cracks appeared in her harder heel skin and her feet shrank down smaller inside her sandals.

Riley’s toes crept back from the edge. Her heels crept forward from the back edge of her Birkenstocks. The nails changed shape and size and even thickness but Leia was speechless.

“I’ve got to go” Riley said and she walked off.

Leia was unable to say or do anything in her state of shock.

Riley didn’t turn. She kept her eyes up as she walked on. After she felt like she was out of Leia’s line of sight, she stopped, annoyed that her sandals kept slipping around on her feet.

Riley looked down and thought she might faint. “What the fuck?”

She staggered to a nearby bench and slipped out of her sandals. She grabbed her right foot in both of her hands and stared at it, bending and contorting her leg to bring it up closer to her eyes “That…that doesn’t look like my foot” she thought panicked.

She ran a fingernail down a new crease in her heel. She ran the pads of her thumbs over her smaller yet thicker toe nails “I must be losing my mind” she thought “But who the fuck would believe me if I told them that my feet just suddenly changed shape! That’s absurd!”

She put her sandals back on and retreated to her dorm, panting by the time she got inside.

She examined her different looking feet for quite a while before tears began to form in her eyes and she hid them in a pair of socks. “Out of sight, out of mind” she told herself as she fell into an exhausted sleep.

Leia’s mind was racing as she headed back to her small 2 bedroom house. She kept stealing looks down at her feet as she walked, swearing that she felt less impact and was walking with more bounce and grace in her step already.

She began to giggle and laugh the closer she got to home and once inside, she broke out in hysterical tears of joy. She squeezed her feet as soon as she could, feeling the softer skin and running her fingers between her longer and slimmer toes. “You guys are so cute!” she told her feet “So much nicer than my old ones…those fat chubby little things…nothing like you! Just wait until the rest of my body catches up to you” she said wiggling her toes ecstatic at the visible and tangible changes to her body.

Leia picked up her sandals and carried them to the hall closet. She tossed them in and was about to shut the door when she saw something different.

“What is this?” she said softly as she bent down.

There, stacked in the back, were a pair of shiny, peep toe black heels. Leia had never bought or seen a pair like them.

Her stomach flipped as she pulled them out. Looking at them closely, she could tell they had been worn a few times as indents were visible where the toes would go. “Size 9!” she saw the size below the maker’s mark in the insole “I’m a size 9 now!”

Having always worn a 7 or 7 ½ she was excited anew and she had to take several deep breath to keep herself from passing out as she slowly slipped her right foot into the glamorous shoe.

It fit perfectly.

Leia gasped. Not only did she have Riley’s feet. She now also possessed one of her pairs of shoes. She could feel her toes settled into the groves perfectly.

She put on the left heel and stood up; a bit wobbly at first, before she began to walk and strut in them “I can’t wait to have the legs and ass to go with them…let alone the height…well, the everything!”

When Riley awoke the following morning, it took a moment for the previous day’s events to come into her mind. Her stomach dropped when it did hit her “Was I dreaming…I had to be dreaming…it’s just not possible”

Riley’s mouth was dry as she swung her feet out from under the covers. Still clad in thick socks, she really didn’t want to take them off. She had to breathe in and out several times to work up the courage to reach down and pull them off.

Riley gasped upon seeing the chubby feet at the end of her legs. She shook her head back and forth “I’m going insane…those are not my feet! But how…why? I…” then she sat up “Leia?”

She stood up “I was with her and then that’s when I noticed my shoes slipping…I was really only a few steps away when I noticed them…being different. What if…what if somehow…we managed to change feet between us? Did my feet go to her? Are these hers? I have to find that crazy bitch!”

Riley didn’t know where to begin. It was Saturday, it had been one week since she had helped her in the grocery store. She had seen her twice since then but each time, she had found her “I don’t even know her last name” she realized.

She showered, barely touching her feet and dried off quickly. She pulled out underwear and a bra and put them on but when she reached into her shorts drawer, she came out with a huge pair of khaki shorts unlike anything she had seen before.

Riley dropped them to the ground gasping again. She spun and looked in the closet. The size 18 white floral dress that had appeared yesterday was still there. Now, hanging next to was a tan skirt and a brown top.

She picked up the shorts as she walked to the new outfit in the closet. The shorts were a size 18. The skirt, size 18, the brown top, size XXL “Fuck” she said softly.

The next pair of khaki shorts were her size as was the simple white top she put on. She put socks back on and went for her tennis shoes only to find four pairs lined up instead of three.

Riley’s heart sank seeing a pair a gray and pink tennis shoes sitting in between her usual pairs. This pair was a smaller size and looked quite broken down along the sides and scuffed up at the toes. She knew. She just knew they would fit her changed feet and reluctantly, she put them on.

They fit perfectly.

As she headed out, she said hi to girl she had been in class with the previous semester “Hey Zoe”

“Hey Leia” she replied never breaking stride but making Riley come to a screeching halt, her stomach a frozen ball inside her.

Riley hit the campus lawn and began to walk up and down. She crossed to the Starbucks and walked along that side of the road past a few other fast food restaurants on campus “What am I doing out here? I’m never going to find her”

At one point in her walk, a wave of dizziness washed over her and she closed her eyes momentarily. When she took her next step, she did so at 5’8”.

Riley stumbled a bit, it felt like her stride was off but she adjusted while tugging on the waistband of her shorts. It didn’t occur to her that she would never be as tall ever again as she was in that last moment.

She walked back towards campus cursing her wild goose chase and heading back to her dorm.

She took a seat in the common area just to hear the noise and commotion. Amber came in and took a seat next to her “What’s up? You feeling better now that you missed class?”

“No. No I’m not” Riley said frankly.

“Oh well don’t get me sick if you’re actually not feeling good” Amber replied.

“It’s not what you think. I mean, I feel tired and run down but…never mind…it’s going to sound too weird” Riley waved her off.

“No…you can tell me. I’m your friend” Amber said.

“Okay but promise me you won’t think I’m weird” Riley said as she bent and untied her shoes and took off her socks “Look!” she pointed at her feet.

Amber leaned over “What? What am I looking at besides your feet?”

“Don’t you see that they look totally different than before?!” Riley said.

Amber pursed her lips and furrowed her brow “Um…I’ve never actually studied your feet dude but to me, they look like they have always looked”

“What? No! They’re like two sizes smaller and they’re puffy and fat!” Riley said.

“They’ve always been like that as far as I can remember. I know I’ve teased you for your ugly feet before. You being so tall but having small chubby feet…are you sure you’re feeling alright?” Amber said.

“These really look right to you? You don’t see anything wrong with them?” Riley asked again.

“No. I swear they look like they always do to me. The same 7 ½ feet I’ve always known you to have” Amber said.

“But no…we’re the same size…we’re both a size 9” Riley said unsure.

“Nooooo…your feet have always been smaller than mine” Amber said getting up confused. “I hope you feel better. I’ll see you later”

Riley just waved and nodded as Amber walked away.

As Amber left the room, Riley reached down and held her right food in her hands, giving her predicament another look-over. The feet looked wholly out of place at the end of her slim and toned legs. She felt distanced from them, as if they weren’t truly a part of her. They couldn’t be. She slowly wiggled her fingers around the toes, getting a feel for how short and chunky they were. There was hardly any space in between them. A layer of fat covering the foot was hiding any semblance of muscles and bones. Brushing her fingers over the swollen top of this foot was enough to make her stomach turn. “This skin is so coarse and thick…” 
She raised the foot closer to her face to get a better look. It was much shorter and wider than what she was used to seeing. More alarming were the off color calluses on this veiny and aged skin. They were subtle, but nothing was lost on her. Riley had to take a deep breath as she felt her lower lip beginning to quiver. “Calm down Riley.” she breathed to herself as she let go of the foot, letting it drop to the floor. She craned her head back and suppressed the emotions that were boiling inside of her.
After taking a deep breath, Riley took her phone out of her bag and started going through old photos. She had a hunch she needed to confirm. It took a while, but eventually she found the picture she was looking for. It was a photograph of her and her friends playing volleyball at the beach after passing the first year of nursing school. Everybody was wearing beach attire and, as Riley expected, she was running around barefoot herself. She held the phone close to her face and slowly zoomed in. The picture was of low quality, but the misshapen blurry outline of small puffy feet was telling. She bit her lower lip as she hurriedly removed the picture from her phone. “Am I going insane?”

By the time Riley got back to her dorm room, she noticed another pair of her sneakers had changed shape, color and size. She was down to only one of her original pairs and she felt compelled to wear them.

She quickly kicked off the gray and pink pair and put on her own black ones only to find them extremely uncomfortable. Her feet were now shorter and wider no matter what she wanted or what she knew to be true.

Riley was almost afraid to check anything else. She went to her closet and saw that she now had a pair of broken down black flats and she was missing her favorite pair of black peep toe heels.

Leia awoke with a start; she had dreamed she was already fully Riley and she was slightly disappointed that she could still feel her soft body move as she sat up in the bed.

She scanned her room for new changes excitedly.

A bottle of Bath & Body Works spray sat where her perfume bottle had been and she looked like she was down to just three bottles of nail polish.

As she got out of bed to investigate, her feet hit the floor and she closed her eyes and smiled, lifting her long toes up and wiggling them excitedly.

Leia took her first step and got dizzy. “Whoa” she stopped and closed her eyes and stood still. She thought she felt her muscles tense up and then release but wasn’t sure what it meant. By the time she took her second step, she stood 5’2”

Leia got to her bathroom and stepped in front of her mirror. Her jaw dropped and her hands went to her hair. It looked longer.

Tugging on her hair she began to smile “Oh my God!” she squealed to the mirror. “It grew! It grew overnight!”

Leia returned to her bed and pulled out her laptop and brought up the pictures of Riley she had saved “Soon…” she said.

Leia found her new sneakers, blue and white, and she put them on grinning the entire time. She was getting a later start than Riley and wouldn’t cross her path as Riley looked for her.

Riley was already back in her dorm room when Leia walked by her building. She looked up at the building trying to pick out which window would be hers when she felt her fingers twitch.

Her palms began to itch and she balled her hands up into fists and began to run her nails over her palms.

Leia looked down and gasped “It’s happening again!” she realized and she jumped up giddily. She froze then and stared at her hands, fingers apart as they began to change.

Her chipped blue fingernail polish faded and vanished leaving behind clear plain nails that began to thin and round off closer to the ends of her fingers. The skin tone began to change as her fingers thinned and grew longer “So elegant” she thought happily.

The backs of her hands rejuvenated; smoothing out softer as they spread. She flipped her hands over in time to see the lines on her palms move positions like small shifting streams. When she stared really close, she could see her fingerprints changing shape.

“Riley’s hands! My hands!” she said flipping them back and forth several times.

Her fingers shook slightly from her nerves and excitement until she rubbed her hands together. She ran her right thumb over her left hand while she pressed down trying to take in every sensation.

She giggled and walked away in awe, changing her plan of trying to go into the dorm common room for now “Thanks for such beautiful hands” she said up to the side of the building as she walked away.

A few steps away, the wave of dizziness she had felt first thing in the morning returned suddenly causing her to stop in her tracks. The same stretching of her muscles feeling came and passed along with the light headedness and she resumed walking, now 5’3”.

Leia stumbled on her first step and she stared down at her legs “I swear something else is different but I just can’t quite put my finger on it” she said to herself. She grabbed her hair thinking it might be even longer, giggling as she walked away.

Riley was texting her boyfriend Ryan. ‘I miss you so much! I really need you here! I can’t explain in text, I know you’re not back in town until Monday but please come see me as soon as you can!’

If there was one person who knew her body as well as she did, it was her boyfriend Ryan. What sucked was that he was travelling and she couldn’t really get ahold of him. It was really adding to her anxiety.

She put her phone down and felt a cramp in her hands. Riley grimaced as she balled her hands up into fists.

Upon easing up and releasing them, she immediately noticed chipped blue nail polish was beginning to appear. “No, no, no, no, no….” she said trying frantically to pick it off.

She ran her forefinger nail over her thumb nail but the polish just kept coming onto each finger one by one.

“Ah!” she let out as she splayed her fingers out in front of her face. Her heart raced and her stomach dropped as her fingers began to thicken and shrink down. “No! This can’t be happening! What the Fuck am I seeing?!”

Riley could barely breathe as her skin roughened up, veins appeared on the backs of her hands and spots and many more lines dug in. “My hands! They look so old and…and fat!”

She flipped them in time to see the lines on her palms shift in different directions, shortening and lengthening and her fingertips itched as her fingerprints reworked themselves into totally new patterns of whorls and swirls.

Her entire hands throbbed as they shrunk down smaller in one fell swoop. Riley’s hands shook as she looked down at them. Her sock covered feet were behind them in her line of vision “Hands and feet…what the fuck is going on?! I have to find that woman! I have to know…this can’t just be happening to me in a vacuum…why is this happening to me? She’s the only thing different!”

Riley scanned her dorm room frantically. She swayed overcome by another wave of dizziness but she flinched as she put her hand up to her head; feeling her chubby fingers brush her temple and hair freaked her out and caused her dizziness to prolong itself.

She felt every muscle in her body tighten up and she felt like curling up into a ball before the feeling passed and she stood back up and shivered from head to toe now standing 5’7”.

Riley stumbled taking her next step and she stopped herself and looked around her room; it looked different to her, larger somehow? “That’s impossible…I must be losing my mind!”

She headed back down to the common room and saw that she had a piece of mail in her physical mailbox. She nearly dropped it when she saw it was addressed to Leia Mercer.

After the wave of horror and shock passed, she realized she now had a last name “Maybe I can find her now” she thought.

Riley was overcome by a wave of hunger and her stomach growled accordingly. She pulled out her phone as she headed to the cafeteria. Once she had a big plate of pasta and breadsticks in front her, she began to search for Leia Mercer.

She found her before she was even halfway done with her food and she was inhaling it. Leia had a house just 2 blocks from campus and Riley was going to go pay her a visit.

As she ate, her chubby hands kept catching her attention. She once again went into the pictures on her phone for verification. She knew there was a picture from a concert a few months ago where she had her hands up so they could be seen clearly.

Riley found the picture and her heart sank. Her hands were what she now saw, fat fingers, bad nail polish and small pudgy hands. “Fuuuuuuuuuuccccckkkkk” she hissed out.

Riley stopped in the restroom before she headed out. She felt her bun slipping and went to the mirror to redo it. She stopped immediately upon seeing her reflection “What the…?” She furrowed her brow trying to figure out what was wrong. She rose up on her tip toes and it hit her like a sledgehammer. She gasped.

“No…oh my God! No…I’m imaging that…I’m not shorter…there’s just no…no…no way!” her mid was running as she untied her hair. It fell past her shoulders like always but as she grabbed it and tied it back up, the knot looked smaller, like there was less hair tied up. Riley simply shook her head “I need some fucking answers!”

Riley could see the small white ranch coming up on the left hand side. Her heart was pounding in her chest. A small gray car sat in the driveway, a Honda Civic, with a small dent in the back panel. The concrete was cracked in the driveway and the lawn was a mixture of grass and weeds but it had been recently cut. Riley walked up and knocked on the front door.

Leia was picking at a salad she had picked up on her way home; she wasn’t very hungry and was eating more out of boredom than hunger when she heard the front door. Her heart leapt when she opened it “Riley!”

Riley froze when the door opened. There she was; the woman, Leia.

She looked slightly different initially and Riley struggled to place it until she quickly forgot about the overall look and instead focused her eyes down.

Riley saw her hands “My!” she said before her eyes trained even further down.

Leia was barefoot and she was standing in a way where her left foot was flat and planted and her right one had its heel lifted and the toes spread out. Riley recognized them immediately “My feet!” she yelled “You have my feet! How the…!”

“You should come inside Riley” Leia put her long slender fingers on Riley’s shoulder and urged her inside.

“You really need to tell me what’s going on! I…I think I’m losing my freaking mind over here! Please tell me you know what’s going on and why you have feet that look like mine” Riley pleaded as she stepped inside.

Leia giggled “You’re here…you found me”

“You’re damned right I found you!” Riley replied. “But why did I need to find you?”

“Well the answer is simple and yet very complex” Leia began “The simple fact is that we are switching bodies”

Riley stared “What?”

Leia nodded enthusiastically “Yeah! I knew the moment I met you that you were an extraordinary woman. I knew I had to be you…I felt it immediately that it was my destiny. Now I know that you’re confused but now that you know, I will help you transition into becoming me as best as I can ok”

Riley was dumbfounded, frozen stiff as her mind raced and stopped dead in its tracks at the same time. She couldn’t articulate anything.

“I’ve been Leia my whole life” Leia giggled “Well of course I have right…how silly…but you know what, I’m tired of being Leia. I’m tired of being short, fat, overlooked Leia. Teased and picked on my whole life and now I’m pushing 40 and nothing has ever gone how I wanted it to go, but once I saw you…well, I knew that was who I was supposed to be…”

“How?” Riley interrupted with her single word.

“Oh…well that’s the complex part and I don’t totally understand it myself. I have a friend; she’s a witch and she owed me a big favor after I saved her life. Anyways…I called her up and told her that this is what I wanted. I left the details up to her but needless to say…” she smiled “Here we are!”

Riley staggered backwards and Leia came up to her “Hey, hey, hey…I know it’s a lot but I’m going to help you” she put her hand on Riley’s shoulder.

“Don’t you fucking touch me!” Riley screamed backing away. “Why would you do something like this? Do you know how crazy this sounds? Do you realize how evil this sounds? You just…you just told me that you’re taking my life away from me and then you want to act all buddy buddy with me?! Fuck You!”

Leia felt like a dagger had been punched through her heart and her face sagged.

“So this is all good for you huh? You just see me…after I was simply trying to be nice to a stranger and you just…decide that you’re just casually going to take my life away from me and make it your own?! You get to decide that you just deserve my life and my body?! You stand there and tell me that your own life sucks but hey, that’s ok, it’ll be mine soon enough and you won’t have to fucking deal with whatever shit you’ve decided to do in your life to ruin it!” Riley was yelling.

Riley let out a primal scream of rage before molding it into a simple and loud “FUCK YOU!”

Tears had formed in Leia’s eyes and her hands shook “Now you listen here Riley…I was going to help you but now, after this, no. We can do this the hard way” she said softly.

“We’re not going to do this any way! You need to stop this right this instant! I do not give you permission to take my body and my life! Stop it…it’s wrong…it’s possibly the most evil and selfish thing that you could do to another person! I want you to get this witch friend of yours on the phone and reverse this before it goes any further!”