"Hey Zhang...you ready for lunch?"
Li Zhang shook her head and looked up quickly from her computer screen "Oh my gosh Casey, I was in such a daze" she admitted and blushed.
"You look tired" Casey Kline told her.
"I didn't sleep well last night" Zhang said standing up and stretching out her back while letting out a yawn. "Or the last couple of nights actually" she added coming out from behind her desk.
Casey gave her a sympathetic smile and nod "Been there, done that" she laughed putting her hands on her hips.
Casey and Zhang were both Supervisors at their company and went to lunch together most days. Casey had been with the company for almost 10 years now while Zhang had been there 3.
Li Zhang was 28, a native of China, she had moved to the United States when she was just 4. She could speak fluent Chinese but also had no accent when speaking English.
5'4" with brown hair and eyes she wore a white blouse and tan skirt today with nude heels.
Casey was several inches taller at 5'8 as well as 10 years older. She had taken to Zhang instantly and they had become good friends. As they entered the cafeteria, Casey saw Ann Thomas eating lunch with her friend Mary Baker.
A smile and nod was all that passed between them.
Casey straightened up at seeing Ann but never broke stride.
Ann always looked. She passed Casey a few times every day during work and every day she was reminded of what had happened between them just over 4 years ago now.
Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Casey glide in her heels and sit so smoothly crossing her ankles as she sat.
Casey knew Ann was watching and she loved that she was.
Casey looked too. Every time they passed, every time Ann went past her office. Every outfit, any changes to her hair or really anything was noticed.
4 years earlier in October of 2017, Ann and Casey had swapped bodies and lives.
Casey had only been Casey for a few months when Zhang started. The first 34 years of their lives, they had been the other.
Casey had been plain Ann; short and chubby with short hair. Married with kids and a stepson and making half of what the Supervisors made.
Now she was tall and pretty; single and much better off and every day she saw what she had left behind all because of a dream.
Ann was less pleased but she had made peace with herself. She had grown up as Casey and had been her for 34 years until a dream; that compulsive dream, had swept her up into believing that this was who she was actually supposed to be. She should be Ann and Ann should be Casey.
So powerful and vivid, she had gone through with the dream and found herself incapable of changing back.
She had settled into her new life but always desired to go back, the perpetual What if and Why? Why had she had to switch places? Why?
Ann noticed Mary staring over at the table Casey was at with Ann's Supervisor Zhang.
Casey sat back "So are you stressed out or something? Is that why you can't sleep?"
Zhang looked around "This is going to sound crazy but I've been having the strangest dreams...I don't usually even have dreams so the fact that I am, and they're so vivid and it's like the same thing every night is really weird to me"
Casey felt her heart skip a beat. "Oh...what about?"
Zhang looked around again and said softly "It's so nuts. You're not going to believe me but I've been dreaming that I've turned into Mary Baker"
Casey was speechless. She felt the color draining from her cheeks. Her jaw went up and down but no sound emerged.
"I know right!" Zhang said "But it's very realistic, like so real and every night more details come in"
"Wow" Casey croaked out. "But it's not that crazy really"
"Oh you don't think so? Let me tell you just how detailed these dreams are though. So I don't know Mary that well; she reports to you, not me but she's always been friendly to me. But I like know all kinds of details about her family and parents. I know where she went to school, I bet you I could list off the contents of her refrigerator or her closet for that matter!"
"Oh come on" Casey offered weakly.
"It started almost a week ago" Zhang leaned in close "That night I saw us physically switch bodies. We held hands and said like 5 phrases or just really long, gibberish words and then we started changing into one another...like piece by piece until I was her and she was me"
"That’s fascinating" Casey said pulling herself together "So then what?"
"Then we switched clothes of course and then she went to my office and I went to her cubicle and I went to work as her, doing her job while she did mine. Then each night, I'm still her! I go through her days, work and her home life, but every night, it just builds more and more" Zhang said "It's so weird. I go to bed and it's like I don't sleep, I live her day instead"
"Have you mentioned this to Mary?" Casey asked cautiously.
"No...she would really think I'm insane!" Zhang said "No…"
"But it could bring closure" Casey said.
"I didn't tell you the strangest part. Every night, I predict what she's going to wear the next day. I've worn the outfit she wears in to work in my dream the night before"
"See, that's too much of a coincidence. Hey, you know what would be really crazy; maybe she's dreaming about being you every night" Casey felt compelled to push the issue along now. A warmth was growing in her belly.
"What?! No!...wait...you think?" Zhang said, genuinely curious and frankly, intrigued.
"Like you said, it can't be a coincidence, it's too real" Casey said."I just think it can't be a one way street. If you're dreaming about being Mary, then where does that leave Mary? As you"
"But…" Zhang found herself seeing it again. She looked across the room and saw Mary talking at her table. She was fascinated watching her.
"What if I were her?" Zhang thought. She shivered.
Ann went light headed. Her blood ran cold. As Mary talked, the days 4 years earlier played out vividly in her head. She barely heard Mary after she started talking.
"It's the strangest thing Ann, every night I dream that I'm Zhang. I can see everything as her...I can feel it. I feel differently when I think about it, you have no idea" she was shaking her head. " It's too odd to dream it every night. The first night...I can still replay it. I could feel myself changing into her! It was the most intense feeling I've ever had in a dream! It was so real!"
Mary was tall and heavy but in a very flat way. She stood 5'10 and weighed just north of 200. She had no curves. Her body was boxy with her shoulders and hips in direct line. Her breasts were flat and tended to just blend into her chest and stomach.
Her face was plain. There was no other way to put it. Every feature was just there, nothing too large or too small.
She wore no makeup and her mouse brown hair was straight and shoulder length.
She wore a blue sweater, tan pants and tan flats. Nothing ever flashy or special or out of the ordinary.
She and Ann had worked by each other and been friends for 8 years now. Mary was 35, never married, never on a second date.
"I'm so small and so pretty when I'm her! I find myself really looking forward to these dreams now...yet, I wake up tired because it's like I'm working twice. Once as me and then again as her!" Mary said.
Ann could barely hear or understand Mary's words. PTSD flared throughout her body, mind and soul. She nodded as a high pitched whistling sound screeched through her head.
"Are you okay Ann? You're pale and shaking"
Ann nodded her head "Yeah, I'm just, wow, you know, that's, um, wild, yeah...crazy, so, uh…" she smiled still numb in all her extremities.
"So anyway...it starts as we hold hands and say these 5 really long words that make no sense at all. So then, we start exchanging bodies like part by part, like I get her feet and she gets mine, then it's our legs and well you get the idea until I'm her and she's me" Mary said getting a sudden and intense flutter in her stomach just talking about it. She put her hands to her soft middle and pressed down.
"Oh...I get butterflies just thinking about it. I mean, what if?" Mary added.
Ann's mouth was dry "I'm sure it's nothing, just a dream...switching bodies, sounds,"
Mary cut her off "It sounds amazing!"
"You don't know what her life is like outside of here, it might not be any better" Ann cautioned.
Mary laughed and rolled her eyes "Anything has to be better than what I've got now. Come on Ann...being Zhang would be such a step up"
Ann looked over at Casey and found her already looking at her. Their eyes met.
It was time for everyone to go back to work.
"Don’t obsess over it too much Mary. I'm sure it's really nothing" Ann cautiously said.
"Hey, if you're curious, talk to Mary. Drop a subtle hint or something" Casey told Zhang. "Just to see you know"
Zhang blushed and looked down as she gave a sheepish smile.
Casey had just sat down when Ann appeared in her door. "Hey Ann"
"Can I come in?" Ann asked, her voice shaking "it's important"
"Yeah, come on in. Close the door behind you" Casey said.
Ann sat down across the desk and Casey already had a box of tissues in her hand to pass to her.
"Ohmygosh thank you...I need to cry. I'm so overwhelmed right now" Ann said.
"So it's happening again. I saw you and Mary talking and knowing what Zhang had just told me; I saw your face" Casey said.
Ann nodded.
"They’re dreaming about swapping with each other" Casey said bluntly. "We can't stop this. You remember the compulsive dream. The compulsion to see it through. The words. The physical body swap. Everything afterwards"
"It's like I'm reliving our swap all over again. I know it's going to happen and no matter what, I won't be able to say anything. It's like knowing a plane is going to crash but no one believes you" Ann said.
Casey chuckled. She looked at her former body and reminded herself of her step up. "Of course I'm taking this better than her. One goes up, one goes down. I won, she lost. Mary is about to get the jump of a lifetime: literally but poor Zhang, going into that body...and she'll want to get it so badly that she can taste it"
The following morning, Zhang got to work earlier than usual and saw that Mary's car was also already parked. She found her in the break room.
Mary was just scrolling on her phone when she heard footsteps, heels, coming her way and she looked up just as Zhang came around the corner and into the room.
"Good Morning Mary, you're here early!" Zhang said cheerfully as she put her lunch into one of the refrigerators.
"I'm always here at this time, I think you're the one who's early haha" Mary replied. Her heart was pounding. She rarely spoke to Zhang and hadn't since the dreams had started.
Zhang was super nervous in her own way but masking it. She came over and stood by the table "So how have you been? Everything going okay on Casey's team?"
"Everything is fine...just, you know, everyday work stuff. I like working for Casey" Mary replied.
"Sometimes I wish I could work for her" Zhang laughed nervously "We have a big Supervisors meeting today and I don’t want to go"
Mary looked up, her eyes beaming. She nodded eagerly "I would take your place gladly" she laughed.
Zhang's mouth watered, she felt like she was floating. She wanted to just let it out and tell her everything about her dreams, she was going to burst. "If only right?" She paused just a second "It's funny though. I actually had a dream where, um...haha...the two of us switched places" Zhang was blushing bright red.
"Shut The Front Door!" Mary said. Shock, surprise, relief and elation all washed over her at once. "Are you fricking kidding me?!"
"No haha...it’s, yeah" Zhang nervously tucked her hair behind her ears "I've actually dreamt it more than, um, more than once"
"You’re not going to believe me but…" Mary looked around and saw they were still alone "...I've been having the same dreams. That I'm somehow you and you're me"
Zhang sat down hard and fast, her jaw opening in shock.
"This is so weird" Mary said.
Zhang wiped her mouth and ran her hand down over her chin. "I was so nervous to even bring it up but, it's been over a week now and every day, the even stranger thing is, I know what you're going to be wearing to work because I've worn the exact outfit in my dream the night before as you"
Mary was flabbergasted "me too...every night for the last 8 nights now, I've dreamt I was you. I wore that outfit. I...I just…"
"This can't just be a coincidence Mary" Zhang said "Things like this don't just happen like this"
"But what does that mean for us? Are we, are we actually...do you think we can and are supposed to switch places with each other?" Mary said.
"I don't know" Zhang admitted. "I know in my first dream; the dream where we actually, physically changed, we held hands and…"
"...and said 5 words together!" Mary finished for her.
They stared at each other in shock.
"The first word sounds something like "Shambolatsha" Zhang said and Mary felt the hairs on her neck stand up.
"Chamboshlata" Mary said. Both felt an odd electricity burst around them.
"Or something like that...we're close on it" Zhang said looking at Mary's hands. "Do you think you know all of them?"
Mary shook her head "No, it's like on the tip of my tongue and brain, like trying to remember the name of someone you went to middle school with. You can see their face and it's right there"
"That’s actually frustrating" Zhang said.
"So, wait a second. You. You would actually be willing to switch places with me if we could somehow?"
Zhang nodded "Yea...yes. Yes I would"
Mary's mouth went to a shocked O.
"Would you? I mean, if it were real and you could, would you swap places with me?" Zhang asked.
"Of course I would! I'm just shocked you would willingly turn into me!" Mary admitted "I'm being honest. I don't match up to you looks wise...and you make more than me and…"
"And something is telling me very strongly that I should be you and you should be me" Zhang said "I can’t explain it" she looked around "but I want it to happen"
They both just looked at the other. There was a genuine excitement in the air. "I can’t believe we're talking about this...and yes, I want it to happen too. I can see that initial dream. I can picture it, I can feel it" Mary admitted.
"Am I seriously going to become Mary Baker?" Zhang had pop into her mind. "What if our bodies do switch? I would be in her place. In her shoes, in her body, in her job, in her life...it would be my feet, in my shoes, my job, my life. I would be Mary"
"I love your earrings" Zhang said looking at the diamond studs.
"Oh thank you...yours are super cute too" she replied. Zhang had silver hoops in.
"Would you like to at least switch our earrings?" Zhang said hopefully.
"Uh, of course! Yeah...let’s" she started taking them out and they exchanged earrings. Sliding them back and forth, they were both giddy as they put the other's earrings in.
The pronunciation of the first word came to both of them clearly. They both knew.
More people were now arriving so Zhang got up. "I'll talk to you later" she said as she hurried off.
The day was excruciatingly slow for both of them. Fidgeting and day dreaming by the afternoon, both wanted out.
Zhang went into the management files and got Mary's cell phone number. She texted to her 'Save this number, it's Li Zhang'
Mary's heart leapt seeing her new message and number come up 'Hey! Awesome thanks'
A few moments later, Mary's phone went off again Zhang: 'do you want to get dinner tonight after work?'
'Absolutely yes! I would love to!' Mary replied.
At the end of the day, Zhang made her way to Mary's cubicle. Ann saw her pass by but couldn't say a thing.
"Hey" Zhang had a big smile on her face as she came to Mary's desk. She looked around at the surroundings "Are You ready?"
"Yeah I'm clocked out"
"I was thinking we could go to Shelby's or, maybe go to my house and order something in...I was looking to talk to you more than eat to be honest" Zhang said.
"I would love to go to your place and get take-out" Mary said.
"You can follow me. It's not far, only about 10 minutes from here" Zhang replied bouncing in her heels.
Mary drove in a daze "I can’t believe this is happening!" She kept telling herself.
Zhang had a small house set back from the road, very neat, just 2 bedrooms, but it was cozy and warm. Mary loved it immediately.
Zhang removed her shoes by the door so Mary did as well.
They made small talk at first before they both sat in the living room.
Zhang was still wearing her skirt and blouse. She was very thin but still curvy and sitting in her chair, she crossed her ankles and leaned forward. "I really want to just talk, get to know each other"
Mary nodded "So do I"
They started just talking and let the conversation flow. They ordered food and drank a bottle of wine as they delved deeper and deeper.
Mary learned her first words in Chinese and Zhang clapped and complimented her on her pronunciation. "We will make you into a Chinese speaker with no problem"
"Haha, thank you...it would be easier if I had your background" Mary teased.
"Oh okay Baker Mary" Zhang laughed "Or maybe I should just call you Zhang huh"
"I would love it if my name were Zhang. Li Zhang." Mary replied.
Zhang opened a second bottle of wine.
After pouring generous glasses and taking a long drink "I want to be you Mary" she admitted. "I really hope we can figure out a way to make this dream a reality"
"I think we will. Those words are getting closer. I Know you shared that moment this morning...we got the first word when we switched earrings"
Zhang just blinked. She stood up and went to her bedroom and she came out with her oversized cardigan.
Mary felt anticipation now. She slipped the cardigan sweater that she had on off and traded it for Zhang's.
With a smirk and a nod, they slipped on each other's sweater. The second word came to them. They were both absolutely certain of the pronunciation.
"Oh my god...I think…" Mary was saying a Zhang got up looking around furtively. She came back with a pair of flannel lounge pants with drawstrings.
Mary's jaw dropped but she stood up and, very self-consciously, she took off her pants.
Zhang looked at Mary's chubby thighs, her stomach, large and coming over the waistband of her panties. It didn't matter.
Mary stepped into the lounge pants as Zhang put on Mary's dress pants.
The third word, the hardest, biggest tounge twister word was right there for them, just ready like plump fruit ready to be picked.
"Oh my God" Zhang said. "Do you? Should we keep going?"She asked.
Mary nodded enthusiastically "Please!"
Zhang blushed bright red as she went to her closet and grabbed a pair of flip flops. Mary giggled knowing her own feet were way too big to fit into any of Zhang's closed toe shoes.
Zhang grabbed Mary's flats and dropped both pairs on the ground between them.
Zhang's feet were tiny, size 6 ½ while Mary rocked a size 10.
"Oh my" Zhang said looking down at both of their feet.
"Wow...sorry" was all Mary could say "Your feet are really small"
"And yours are…"
"Freaking huge haha" Mary said lifting her toes and wiggling them "Sorry...I know...it’s um..."
"But I want something different. I realize that now" Zhang said leaning forward.
"After the last several hours of talking; you still want to go forward with this? I told you about being picked on growing up. About not having many friends"
"But I'm your friend now" Zhang said.
Mary smiled "But no luck dating either"
"And I've told you about hearing racial slurs. Growing up in this town as the only Asian girl. I still hear them to this day" Zhang said.
"It's not too late...if, you, um, if you want to stop" Mary said. "I'd understand"
Zhang smirked and put her tiny right foot into Mary's big shoe "I can’t stop now. Not a chance...I, we...have to see this through"
Mary smirked and giggled now seeing Zhang's foot swimming in her shoe. "Just imagine having a foot that will fit that"
"I'm actually picturing that exact scenario right now" Zhang admitted. She moved her toes around inside the shoes just trying to find all the toe divots.
Zhang swished the pants too noting how big and loose they were on her. The sweater was big on her too, the sleeves came down over most of her hands and the shoulders sat high up and broad from being broken in differently. "It's amazing to think about my body growing and changing into yours. To actually physically become another person"
"You’re so much smaller than me" Mary said. "I can’t imagine being your size" She was moving her right foot to the small flip flops. Her foot engulfed it. She slipped the strap between her first and second toes. Her heel came off the back and the sides were wider and only the strap could be seen.
"You have such awesome shoes and clothes, so stylish and I'm so frumpy" Mary added.
She put her left foot onto the other flip flop and looked up.
"Well maybe you can help me pick out more stylish clothes" Zhang said with a shy shrug of her shoulders, her cheeks still bright red.
Zhang was looking down at her feet, holding her hair back off of her face "I'll lose my ethnicity. I won't be Chinese. I'll be just American...white...will I remember my language or will that somehow transfer to her too. She'll be expected to know it, not me. This is everything. Not just our bodies...this switches our lives, our futures and our past"
Zhang hesitated.
She curled her foot up and pressed her toes down just behind the heel of the flats. She swallowed hard and took a deep breath. Her mouth went dry. "Do it"
She heard it in her mind. Images of all the dreams swam up and she felt it; she slipped her left foot up and forward, planting it in Mary's big shoe.
The 4th word came to them. It was bold and bright like a flashing neon sign.
"We're almost there...it’s so close"
Zhang's demeanor changed again. Hesitancy was gone, a new push was there. She saw a ring on Mary's right hand. "Your ring. It's from your Grandma right?" Zhang asked.
Mary nodded "it is" she said "I'd ask you how you knew but I know your ring was your Great Grandmother's so…"
Zhang nodded and slipped her ring off. Mary now took hers off as well. "The dreams. I've already been you in my dreams...I know this house, I didn't have to follow you to get here, I could have found it on my own"
Zhang smiled "I know your place too, like it's my own"
"So this is inevitable" Mary said.
"I think so, yes" Zhang agreed.
"Before we, um, swap rings and get that last word, I, um, I'm going to become Chinese" Mary said lifting her chin up.
Zhang nodded.
"I don't want to disrespect you or your family or heritage or customs but I don't know the first thing about being well, being a different race, having such a different background and perspective and…"
"I think it'll be okay. In the dreams, it's everything that changes. You get my knowledge and experience and, and my life. As scary as that sounds it has to happen. You're going to be expected to speak ,well, your language. I won't be so I won't need it anymore, it should go to you" Zhang said. "And yet I always knew who I had been. I don't think we ever forget being our original self"
"Me too!" Mary replied a bit relieved but still nervous "And, I wanted to say Thank you"
Zhang looked surprised.
"For doing this...for going through with it. For not ignoring it, and for not thinking I'm ugly. You could have dreaded and complained but you seem excited, gracious even to be turning into me"
"Fascinated with it...amazed by it. The random shuffle...we work with 400 people. Why the 2 of us? Why all of this? How and why is it possible? I can't ignore it. This is the way...everything is telling me that we're supposed to switch places. We have to switch places with each other for some cosmic reason"
"I genuinely hope we become close friends with this" Mary said.
Zhang came forward and hugged her.
She noted the softness, the totally different body shape and feel of Mary; she couldn't stop now, every fiber of her being was pushing her toward this.
After they broke their embrace, Zhang looked at the ring in her palm. She bounced it up and saw Mary holding hers out. She noted Mary's bigger hands; much bigger hands than her own which were very small and dainty "man hands" popped into her mind.
Her heart fluttered as she plucked the ring with her thumb and forefinger from Mary.
A quick assessment of sizes and Mary was sliding Zhang's ring on her pinky while Zhang chose her thumb for Mary's.
The ring felt tight on Mary's finger while Zhang was afraid of Mary's slipping off so she kept her hand pointed up.
Zhang's hand went to her temple as the 5th word washed over her. Her whole body shook like a sonic wave hit both of them.
"It's there...the words are all there" Zhang said.
"We can swap. It's now absolutely possible for us to change bodies" Mary added.
Zhang dropped her hand and the ring clattered to the floor. She also lost her grip on her pants which dropped and she stepped easily out of Mary's shoes.
They looked into each other's eyes and nodded. Their stomachs flipped, their heart rates rose "Let’s switch places" Zhang said and Mary giggled nodding.
They took each other's hands and after a deep breath, began to recite the words.
The first word came out in perfect unison, their voices somehow melding as one. An electric charge rose up around them. Arm hairs stood on end and their bodies tingled.
The second word was spoken and heat built up emanating from the very core of their bodies.
The third word should have been unpronounceable but it rolled our and the lights dimmed around them.
The energy that had built up around them now sucked into them. The surge lifted both of them up onto their tip toes, holding them in suspension.
Thoughts began to cloud, to muddle, to combine.
Mary's mind now started pulling in Chinese words. Doubt and fear now piled onto Zhang like she had never felt before.
Mary's voice rose louder in confidence as they spoke the 4th word.
Both women felt a pulling in their chest, their souls, their very essence being pulled forward and then out.
An odd weightlessness hovered as the said the fifth and final word.
Now a pushing into their chests, filling the hole just created but these new replacements didn't fit right or feel the same.
Energy now shot out in a seismic rush, emanating from their very core, flowing between them in a cycle.
And then, full calm and stillness.
Quiet.
Silence.
Both women stood perfectly still, holding their breath even "I'm Zhang.
"I'm Mary"
"Li Mary Zhang Elizabeth Baker"
"李玛丽张伊丽莎白贝克"
A plum tree in the distance, getting closer.
A plum tree in the distance, fading further.
Zhang jerked. She blinked and took in a breath "Ah...uh…" she patted her tiny chest and pressed down against her sternum "Mary?"
Mary now blinked and jerked, her shoulders shimmied in a shudder. Her lips parted slowly enough that Zhang could see them catch on dry patches before they separated. She started to smile "Zhang?"
Zhang shook her head. "No...I don't think so. Not anymore...I feel different. Like nothing I've ever felt before. I don't feel right. Am I? Did we...we've...this is what you feel like. I feel it!"
Mary nodded "I'm Li Zhang. My...something is different about me. I know it...we did it. We're switching places already. I have your, your...destiny. your essence. You. I have your fate and future. Mine...I felt it pull out of me, then a void but then, I felt full, somehow more"
Zhang realized it too, the feeling for her felt like a pair of scissors cutting then that fabric getting pulled out of her. But for her what came back felt jumbled, balled up and shoved hastily back into her. "I'm Mary"
They looked at each other. "I'm now Mary. Now and from now on...we just traded our lives. I gave you mine and have yours now"
"Our bodies have to catch up. I'm not supposed to look like this anymore" Mary looked down at herself "This isn't me"
Zhang felt her muscles twitching. It started in her back but spread to her legs. They felt loose; looser than ever before. Then, her body started to move on its own. Her shoulders hunched and an odd stretching sensation rippled over her.
A look of shock came over Zhang's face as she began to grow.
Mary too was shocked but fascinated and she let out a nervous laugh seeing the petite woman in front of her begin to grow not only taller, but wider and bigger.
Zhang's back and shoulders were spreading out accompanied by popping sounds. Her blouse was tightening, she felt the pinch on her sides as her 32B bra stretched against her expanding chest.
Her white blouse was tight and form fitting and while expensive, it was fragile.
The seams around her shoulders popped, shredding wide open and separating from the main part of her blouse. Zhang unbuttoned her front and unhooked her bra to relieve the pressure.
As she did, her legs began to lengthen, stretching out, adding more height to her frame on top of her added inches from her torso.
Mary watched as Zhang rose up higher in front of her, slowly but steadily catching up to her, matching her in height.
Standing eye to eye with one another, Zhang smiled and was met by one in return from Mary "Hey!" She giggled "Welcome to your new height"
Zhang looked around her living room from 6 inches higher in perspective. Everything seemed farther away, lower "Wow...it’s already something so different"
"I know...I'm used to this but I want to get smaller!" Mary said "I'm kind of jealous you started first! What did it feel like?"
"Well...honestly" Zhang tucked her hair behind her ears "It felt really good" she giggled. "Warm and kind of tingly and getting stretched out felt like all my muscles went loose and got pulled...my stomach was flipping like I was on an elevator going up. And now, it's just weird seeing how much further away the floor looks"
"Do you like it up here?" Mary asked.
"Yeah...I kinda do" Zhang laughed.
Mary's drawstring lounge pants were high up on her ankles, too short "Do you mind if I, uh, take these off?"
"No, not at all...I'm pretty much exposed here but not like we don't know what we look like naked" Zhang replied. "Sorry I ruined your blouse" she added slumping off the cardigan and now taking off her shirt in 3 pieces.
"Yeah, it's okay...I'll keep it as a souvenir haha" Mary replied as she stepped out of the tiny crushed flip flops and took down the lounge pants.
Mary poked at her thigh. Big and soft but subtly paler than usual. She looked at Zhang's leg, seeing what hers was about to turn into, something smaller, fitter, sleek, sexy. Mary blushed.
Zhang knew she was standing still but she felt the floor moving against the bottoms of her feet. The warm tingle was starting there. She looked down and gasped.
She pressed her toes down feeling them flatten just as they began to widen and lengthen. Zhang's nails were painted burgundy and were tiny atop her petite toes. Now, they were growing thicker and larger atop her larger toes. The nail polish was fading until plain nails remained. The stripe of white at the tops of her nails fascinated her.
She lifted her now long toes as her feet widened and grew bigger. Her heels stretched out, dragging against the floor as her feet grew 3 and ½ sizes larger.
They swelled on top getting thicker as they now matched Mary's feet exactly in look and size. They were Mary's feet.
Cautiously, Zhang lifted her left foot, simply feeling its additional weight and size; just how much bigger it really was now. She gave a goofy smile "My feet will never be tiny again"
"Nope...dainty is not a word to describe your feet" Mary said.
"They feel heavier" Zhang admitted. She heard them lift off the hardwood floor as she played around with then.
Mary felt a flutter in her stomach followed by a tingling sensation in her feet. They were getting warm too. "Is this? I feel something, am I finally going to start changing?!"
"Once I see something move, something change...it won't stop until I'm Zhang. This is it...my new life; my rightful life, starts with this; my feet starting to shrink and change shape into Zhang's" she thought.
She felt the bottoms of her feet scoot inward across the hardwood floor.
Mary's mouth went into an O of shock and she brought her arms and hands up in and tight just below her chin.
Her heels skipped as they pulled in closer. The sides of her feet dragged against the grain as they too pulled in narrower. Her toes began to change shape, shrinking down very petite, dainty even. Her nails had to shrink down to keep up. They thinned and rounded into oval shapes, very neat and trimmed. Burgundy nail polish appeared and darkened even as her toes continued reforming themselves into Zhang's tiny digits.
3 ½ sizes smaller they shrank, becoming thinner and paler as they went. She lifted her short toes as much as she could but they didn't lift as high of course. She lifted her right foot astonished by just how small and light it had become.
She put her right down and lifted her left "Finally" she said.
"What’s that?" Zhang asked.
"I finally feel like this is what my feet are supposed to look like. This is what I should see when I look down...they're perfect!" Mary gushed.
Her balance was off having such small feet on such a still large body. She looked anxiously over at Zhang and thought "Oh how I wish you were taller than me from now on...I want to be the shorter and smaller one and…"
Zhang's shoulders jerked and her stomach gurgled and growled. "Whoa" she said putting a hand to her stomach as warmth spread out from her abdomen.
Now Mary felt it too. A warmth began to spread but she also felt a chill run down her spine. Her leg muscles twitched and began contracting and relaxing, several times before a wave of vertigo hit her. Then, she began to shrink.
Just a slight twitch but it was noticeable to both of them because they no longer matched height exactly. Zhang was now ever so slightly taller.
"I'm shorter than her! YES! I'm shrinking and I'll never be this big ever again! She's bigger than me now and she always will be from now on!" Mary thought gleefully.
A half inch shorter became a full inch.
Zhang gave Mary a smirk and a nod as she maintained eye contact with the shrinking woman. "I guess this is the way it goes… shorty"
Another inch slipped away and Mary giggled at the nickname. "Yeah, I guess so" she shrugged her shoulders now lifting her chin up to Zhang. She was smiling wide, just an exasperated laugh escaped her lips "How is this even happening?" 3 inches now separated them.
Mary's eye level was Zhang's nose and still dropping. She shimmied her shoulders "I feel lighter" she thought and looked down. There wasn't as much of her as before. Her weight was transferring to Zhang who felt it coming.
Zhang simply felt heavier; bigger. Her body was filling out as weight poured onto her frame; obviously to allow Mary the ability to shrink. Her body wasn't turning into Mary's just yet, she was just getting bigger in her own body.
Zhang's legs were getting thicker along with her arms. Her back felt thicker, her waist was wider and her stomach now came out more than before, but not as much as Mary's usually was. She felt bloated and full.
Mary was diminishing all around. Her weight was dropping along with her height but she wasn't changing much elsewhere. Her body was still boxy and plain; just smaller now. Zhang's curves eluded her but not for very much longer.
Mary dropped another inch.
And another.
And another.
"Ah...you're so big!" Mary blurted out followed by a nervous laugh "I'm so sorry! I'm just not used to being the smaller one when I'm standing by another woman!"
Mary was blushing but Zhang just shook her head "It's your new normal though. Most people will be bigger than you now and well, I have to get used to being big" she paused "And being called big"
Mary blushed again and looked down at her tiny feet. They fit her body better already but her legs were still her own, just smaller versions. "But this is what we'd look like if we simply switched sizes"
"I already have to cede my shoe collection to you" Zhang admitted. "And all my clothes...we'd swap wardrobes if this was our end point, but it's not..."
Mary felt a tickle run through her. Her ankles tensed up and slimmed down; her feet popped up and down in response.
Her calf muscles twitched and rose up higher and tighter, giving her a curve with strong muscles that would bounce as she walked.
Zhang leaned forward watching the shape of Mary's legs change. "Those are...wow…" she had to admit just as she felt her own lower legs loosen and drop.
The curve evened out making a much straighter path to her now thicker ankles.
"This feels so weird! It's like my calves are the size of my thighs…" Zhang said as she lifted her legs. Her mouth was hanging open in shock as her knees now popped.
Mary smirked contentedly as she watched Zhang's legs grow. They got thicker and boxy, blocky and straight; just big for big's sake. No curve or definition, just thick tree trunks.
Zhang felt her thighs pushing out. They came together: soft, doughy flesh pressed against each other.
Zhang leaned forward watching it happen "How are those my legs now?" She thought. "My legs...they've never looked even close to this before but now they're mine. They're real" she brought her hands down to the tops of her massive legs and she squeezed them.
Soft and fleshy yet hard and broad. Her small hands could barely get around the tops.
"Somehow...somehow these legs are mine now" Zhang said as Mary nodded.
Mary unconsciously linked her lips. Her eyes were intense; eager. Her own thighs now began to trim. Muscle replaced fat. Shape and curve and form replaced her former blah.
Perfect legs, shapely instead of shapeless were all hers.
Mary's big hands easily wrapped around her right thigh. She felt the tense muscles, firm yet yielding and soft and feminine.
Mary began to giggle; she couldn't help it or stop it but she apologized anyway "I'm so sorry...I don't mean to...I just can't help it...I"
"It's okay...you're fine...I don't know what to do either...it’s all so strange" Zhang replied with a shrug and a nervous smile.
"Oh my God you huge dork...could you sound anymore desperate and pathetic?" Zhang thought scolding herself. The voice inside her head, the one telling her that was deeper, not the one she usually heard. It was new but it was about to shove the original voice out forever.
"What is it?" Mary asked seeing Zhang's delicate face scrunched up.
"Nuh...Nothing, just...I don't know. It's like my brain is all foggy is all" Zhang admitted even as she reset her big feet wider as her hips and ass began to change shape.
Her ass fell. It simply lost all muscle tone and grew doughy yet flat as her hips spread outward taking all curve away from herlower half. With her increased weight, Zhang's body was now straight and boxy as her waist and sides filled in.
Zhang though wasn't looking at herself or the changes currently taking place on her body. She was aware of the new heaviness and drooping sensation in her previously perfect ass but she was more fascinated watching Mary's body changing.
Mary's squirmed. Her hips were straining against themselves and Mary's body began to slide seductively back and forth, almost dancing as she shifted her weight from foot to foot, swaying her hips as they increased in curviness. "Mmmmmmmmm" a satisfied purr emitted from her lips. The warmth inside her was intensifying and she ran her hands slowly over her hips feeling the swelling up under her fingers.
Mary's eyes widened as her ass started to twitch. Muscles never seen or used before came to life as fat lifted and reshaped.
Her hands went to it and she squeezed. "AH!" She yelled surprised and excited about her body and what it was becoming. She squeezed harder and repeatedly as it formed up higher and firmer "Holy Shit!" She laughed as she craned her neck over her shoulder to get a view of her tight and frankly perfect ass.
Zhang's chin dipped watching Mary's body change into what had been her own body just moments ago. Her cheeks flared red again but this time it was from knowing and acknowledging the fact the Mary was now getting the better looking body between the two of them. It was hers now. And it would be hers from now on.
"Serves you right" came the deeper scolding voice inside her head. "You gave that up because…?"
"Because I had to" she argued within herself. Her voice changing internally between her high, sweet Zhang voice and this new deep sarcastic and caustic one that was gaining a foothold.
"Bullshit you had to...you're a fool and now at least your outside matches your inside"
Zhang shook her head trying to clear her mind and brush aside the doubt. "This is still the right thing to do! I had to do this! Everything was telling me to go forward!"
She watched as Mary's waist pulled inward accentuating her curves even more. Her stomach tightened, pulling up taut.
This now drew Zhang and Mary's attention to her stomach. Pale and doughy already, it now sloughed forward with newfound intensity. Her navel deepened as fat accumulated around it.
Zhang's hands went to her new increased flesh. She grabbed it like it was uncooked bread dough. She lifted it, held on to it in full handfuls as she freely moved it around. Once let go, it simply dropped down over the waistband of her very strained panties.
"I'm going to keep that whole outfit as a souvenir. Maybe get it framed" Mary said seeing the tears in Zhang's underwear.
Zhang looked at her confused "What? Why?"
"Why not...I'll put my outfit in with it. Just a comparison piece for us" Mary replied. "Reminding me how I shrank out of mine and you grew out of yours. All in the matter of turning us into our true selves"
"I...oh...yeah...uh...oh. Oh...Oh my God what is that feeling?! I feel um, really…" Zhang was saying as Mary suddenly rocked forward, lurching, swallowing suddenly "Oh god...Ohmygod"
Their eyes met. Their lower abdomen were suddenly very alive.
To Mary, it felt like a hose unreeling quickly inside of her.
A quick jab in both of her sides made her flick her hips. She put her hands on her hips as a deep seated warmth began just below her belly but quickly reached her spine.
The warmth steadily spread outward and downward.
Her labia and vulva now slipped and she clamped her knees together in a lightning fast reaction. "Oh shit! I'm getting your...your…well your you know!"
Zhang grimaced and nodded pursing her lips down and squinting. The warmth was spreading for her too. Two quick jabs pricked her by her sides but deep down. "Yeah...I know" Zhang said feeling a tugging sensation followed by newfound heat. Then, she felt her skin begin to move, the external and internal all changing.
"So sensitive" Zhang thought as her skin now rubbed against the taut and tight panties. Already possessing a full camel toe from her increased weight,, now as her upper pubic area bulged, moisture came out, dampening her underwear as her vulva and labia changed from her own into Mary's. Her vagina shifted, her clitoris flared up, engorged and humming, demanding attention.
Zhang bit her lip and shook her head as her ovaries reprogrammed and rewrote the DNA in every single egg she carried.
Her uterus walls changed, everything changed. A switch flicked internally, Zhang was now carrying different DNA. Her whole body's reprogramming kicked into a higher gear to keep up with her reproductive organs.
Mary shivered as everything changed just behind her baggy underwear. A wet spot formed as she dripped. Her own skin moving had caused her to nearly fully orgasm. Her clitoris throbbed, drumming away to a full beat, seemingly pulsating on its own and with every heartbeat.
Just placing her hand down there and pressing down was enough. Her fingers felt the heat coming off her body.
Her ovaries got the message first and began to furiously overwrite the DNA of every single egg. Her uterine walls flushed fuller, everything was now different. Everything was changed. Her internal organs began to naturally change into Zhang's now that she was more Zhang than Mary. Everything in her body was now flowing toward that distant Plum tree.
"Oh my God! I feel so different!" She thought but she said "我的天啊！我感觉很不一样!"
Both women were shocked. Both their jaws hung open staring at each other. Slowly they both stood back up to their full heights as their changes shifted upward, past their midsections and focusedore on their internal organs for the moment.
"天啊！为什么我现在说中文？我不能把它关掉" Mary said slightly panicked.
"Just relax. You have to relax. When you get excited, sometimes Chinese comes out. Take a deep breath" Zhang coached.
Mary slowed her mind but still thoughts came through in both languages. "Think!" Called out a high sweet voice clearly in English.
Mary saw the Plum tree again. It was so close she could smell the flowers. "Okay" she said before chuckling. "Wow...I just...went down the rabbit hole. I couldn't speak English for a second there and I was panicking"
"I'm sure it's confusing right now. We'll come out okay on the other side" Zhang reassured her.
"Thank you" Mary replied. She reached out and patted Zhang on the arm. It was a gesture Zhang usually did, the patting, and both instantly recognized it.
Jaws dropped again and Zhang jumped.
Heart rates changed. Breathing and lungs changed, liver, kidneys, stomachs, intestines, blood types...everything was changing down to their very cores.
Mary felt muscles tightening across her back and along her sides all the way up to her neck.
She clenched them, testing them and felt her own ribcage shift. "This just keeps getting weirder...bone structure...every muscle, tendon...my God" she mumbled.
Mary's shoulders tightened and rolled inward, sloping down smaller and narrower which only continued to accentuate her newfound bodily curves in conjunction with her flat stomach, slim waist, round, tight ass and wider hips atop slender legs. She looked down eager for her breasts to change. They'd be small but perky as opposed to the pancakes she currently had.
Mary's floppy and saggy breasts lay against her now slim chest badly out of place but a new tingle began to build in them making her smirk in relief.
Zhang's shoulders began to slide outward. She took in a deep breath and turned her head to the right to watch them grow.
Her whole upper torso puffed out. Her bones grew and elongated to complete her now straight and boxy bodystyle.
Zhang cautiously brought her arms up and held them out hovering taking in her new dimension.
She dropped them though and swallowed hard; her eyes fluttered in a bit of recognition for what was about to happen as a warm numbness washed over her tiny breasts.
Much like the rest of her body, they began to soften and flatten and sag as they grew larger and, subsequently longer.
The pert roundness of them dissipated as they sloughed forward. Her nipples and areolas widened and flattened as well as they drooped their way down.
In contrast, Mary's breasts began to rise up and firm up. Her nipples popped out as her areolas tightened down and turned a brighter shade of pink.
Mary shuddered as the excess fat vanished in a wave of lifting and firming tissue. It was a miracle to her eyes. The saggy and sexless bags she had carried, now turned into a perfect pair of pert and perky 32B breasts.
They sat up high and defiant of gravity proudly presenting themselves.
"Oh God Haha...oh my God" Mary purred as she cupped them in her still massive man hands. She squeezed them simply taking in their diminutive size yet their soft tenderness and sensitivity came quickly through to her nerve endings. A quick flutter resonated in her stomach and in her clit.
Zhang took in yet another deep breath through her nostrils, steadying herself. The unadulterated joy she was witnessing from Mary was unsettling to her. Her own transformation was not bringing her as much joy. The warmth and tingling were pleasant and she felt a definite fascination deep inside her of what was occurring to them. She couldn't deny that she was turned on but Mary was too and at a more intense level as she was watching her body improve at Zhang's expense whereas Zhang's body was downgrading in every way.
"I've given her everything" she thought. "I'm trading down" Zhang's cheeks flared anew. "But the dream...the dream told me that this had to happen" she now felt her arms lifting on their own. They went straight out and she saw Mary's arms had done the exact same.
Their eyes met beyond their outstretched arms and their hands which pointed up with their fingers splayed out.
Zhang's arms pushed out, lengthening. Seemingly pushing Mary's arms back as they were shrinking at the same time; exchanging sizes yet again.
Zhang's upper arms grew fat. They plumped up, filling out much larger than they originally were. Mary's arms trimmed and slimmed down, almost halving in size to her eyes as their changes continued down their forearms to their wrists and hands.
"Once again...your hands, like your feet, will unfortunately never be called dainty again" Mary said with a slight snicker at the end and a little head bob.
Zhang stared as first her wrists thickened and then her hands began to pulsate, growing larger with each throb. Her fingers then slowly extended, growing longer, larger and thicker. Her nails flattened atop them, the slight length she had pulled back as her dark burgundy nail polish thinned and vanished.
"Man hands" Mary confirmed for her as her own wrists thinned dramatically. Bird like and delicate, her slender wrists felt the weight of her hands until they began shrinking down. Her hands simply steadily decreased in size, dwindling down; her fingers thinned and shrank to almost child sized. Small oval nails grew out, topped by dark burgundy fingernail polish. "Huh" was all Mary could say as she slowly worked her fingers up and down, drumming them in the air, rubbing her thumb pads over her sharper nails.
Zhang saw her body with Mary's head atop it and new her own predicament of having the reverse, her head on Mary's body.
Mary's entire head shimmied, wobbling like an effect in a Matrix movie. In the blink of an eye, her whole head had changed shape, to a much smaller shape. Her skull had shrank down.
Zhang's vision urged as her own skull grew. It blocked everything for just a split second but, she instantly understood what had happened and she patted around her now larger head.
It took both of them a moment to acclimate to this new look. Zhang's delicate features on a larger palette and vice versa, Mary's wider and larger features somehow shrunk down closer on her new smaller frame.
It didn't last long before their faces began to change. Features merging, blending and coming out differently on the other side.
Coming out as their new faces; their new but now permanent features. Bones shifting and restructuring beneath skin that was changing just as much.
Zhang's neck thickened and her pointy chin began to round off taking her jaw down and back along with it.
She worked her jaw back and forth hearing clicking noises inside her head before her teeth began to grow and push outward.
Zhang's lips parted as her teeth widened, shifting in her gums, taking up new positions as they resized themselves. Her upper lip plumped as her lower elongated to fit her larger mouth.
Her tongue flicked against the inside of her teeth, saliva rushed forward and she swallowed it back before licking her lips and running her tongue over both her top and bottom teeth. "My mouth!" She suddenly found herself thinking "I have someone else's mouth!"
Zhang's cheeks; previously high and round now began to flatten. Her nose, which had been rather flat and small now started to grow as it changed, lifting up larger. Her nostrils flared as the tip of her nose came up and out, coming into a more prominent view in her vision. Her ears burned as they grew larger.
Mary's neck slimmed and elongated accentuating her smaller face. Her chin jut outward and came to a point as her jawline strengthened and rose up.
Mary snapped down clacking her teeth together as she felt the beginning to move inside her mouth, swimming through her gums as the shrank and straightened and resized and repositioned themselves, anchoring in at their new and now permanent size, shape and place.
Mary hummed through pursed lips as her tongue lashed, shrinking down. Saliva rushed forward and she swallowed hard as her lips thinned and grew smaller on her now smaller mouth.
Mary's cheeks lifted, her cheekbones rising up high and round, they would become even more prominent when she smiled.
Mary blinked hard as her nose flattened down and shrank yet spread a bit wider. Her ears burned as they shrank down much smaller.
Zhang looked across from her, watching Mary's face change into her own; it was surreal.
Zhang's mind swam, thoughts came and went, emotions flooded forward as she watched Mary's forehead smooth and narrow.
She could feel her own sliding wider and backwards and up.
Zhang blinked against a slight tugging at the corners of her eyes. Her brown eyes were paling to a light blue while shifting and changing shape. Her eyelashes fluttered and swept back and forth and her eyebrows lightened a shade but grew bushy and unkempt.
Mary nearly squealed, it was almost completely done. She watched Zhang's face change into her own, or what had been her own. Mary was squinting as tears flowed into her eyes from a slight tugging sensation she was feeling at the corners of her eyes.
Mary's eyes were darkening from pale blue to a deep rich brown.
The shape changed. Her eyelashes batted and fluttered as they too changed. Her eyebrows thinned and darkened, sculpting down with a professional brow job, something she had never previously done for herself.
Their jaws dropped yet again as they now had each other's face.
Zhang shivered as her hair began to lift and lighten in color. The front swept around as her part and style changed while it lifted from down past her shoulders to merely shoulder length and mouse brown.
Mary's hair darkened and began to grow longer, snaking down over and past her shoulders in a much richer shade of brown.
Her scalp itched as her part shifted and the styling swept into place. It felt soft and silky as it brushed her bare skin.
There was an electricity to the air around them. Mary's eyes rolled back and fluttered. Zhang froze ramrod straight. Her jaw clenched, her muscles tense as a vacant stare crossed her face.
The electricity in the room intensified. An audible hum started to rise higher and higher in pitch and sheer volume.
Mary found herself beneath the Plum tree. Her thoughts swirled and tossed about. She heard a tea kettle sound in the distance.
Zhang saw herself, her new self standing in an open field. Her mind scrambled trying to find a foothold. She heard a whistle getting louder like a soccer referee running towards her.
The sound paralyzed their bodies and minds, it consumed them, surrounded and enveloped them. Then, it stopped and the silence was all encompassing.
Zhang opened her eyes.
Mary blinked and the world came back in focus. She gasped.
Zhang shuffled her feet. Her mouth went up and down but only a few mumbled "ahs" and "uhs" barely in a whisper escaped her throat as her hands hovered, moving over her body but not yet touching.
Mary's gasp was loud and sudden. The sound of it foreign to both their ears. Higher than Mary usually sounded but not right for Zhang's ears either having never heard it from an outside perspective.
Zhang looked up. She froze again staring ahead. Her lips trembled, her body trembled. She screamed.
Mary, shocked at the scream coming from in front of her reacted with a scream of her own.
She jumped and let out a high yelp as Zhang's continued on.
Zhang couldn't control her voice. Her hands now went everywhere touching her big fleshy body. She alternatively looked down at herself and the petite Asian woman a few feet in front of her. "It's real! It really happened! It's over...it’s, there's no going back...i…I can't even remember the words. We just said them...they're already gone!" Zhang spoke quickly, her voice now deeper.
"I'm Mary...I'M MARY! My…" she looked over and saw Mary watching her fascinated.
"We...you...say something!" Zhang demanded.
"What do you want me to say? You're right" Mary replied nodding "It is very much real. This is our new reality. I'm you and you're me. No going back...just like our dreams showed us. I'm...I mean we're, exactly who we're supposed to be"
Zhang deflated a bit. She just exhaled and slouched. "We really did it. If we did it...did something so impossible, I guess it was meant to be" Zhang admitted still looking and touching.
Mary nodded with a smile on her pretty face.
One year later…
There was a bounce in her step. Her dress swished as she walked in her low black pumps, brushing against her calves. The dress itself was black with a red floral pattern. She was excited; it was the end of Friday and she was going out with Matt from legal again. They had been seeing each other for about 3 months now. She had checked her makeup and hair; her manicure and pedicure were fresh and she had gotten waxed and her brows done, all pretty routine for her these days. She smiled as she put her mirror away and got up from her desk.
Just then, Matt came around the other way with a big smile on his face "Hey! You must be ready" he laughed as he came up and kissed her gently as she wrapped her arms around him.
"Just clocked out haha...let me drop these off and we can get going" she waved a stack of papers in her left hand.
"Hey...here you go! Have a great weekend Casey"
Casey looked up and smiled "Oooooo, you too Mary! Hey Matt! Have fun tonight!"
"Thanks...we will" Mary laughed as she kicked her right foot up behind her and shook our her long hair.
Zhang had adapted well to becoming Mary. After her initial shock wore off that is. A determination had settled on her. She joined a gym, changed her diet, bought a new wardrobe once the weight started slipping off and had started pampering herself with better self care and better products. She was 40 pounds lighter than she had been that first day. She had ran her 3rd 5K the previous weekend and had her best time.
She had also made the effort to be more outgoing even though it was hard for her. Matt was cute but quiet himself. They shared interests in movies, books, music, food and even sports they had discovered slowly over time as they talked.
They walked hand in hand smiling and giggling past Zhang's office.
A quick glance; eye contact between the two women. Then as the two love birds moved on, Zhang smiled looking down at the 2 carot rock on her finger "Still got the best of the deal" she said to herself satisfied.