Sarah was sitting on one of the examination tables, waiting for someone to attend to her wound. She felt a little awkward, sitting there completely topless, her breasts fully exposed for the world to see. But, of course, only she saw them. Everyone else thought she was a guy.
She looked at her reflection in the mirror across from her and saw what the world saw - a handsome athletic teenage boy ... with a bleeding shoulder. Out in the hall, she could hear the rising commotion. She knew what was happening. More and more people were becoming swapped, just like she was. And the panic was rising.
She closed her eyes, blocking out the sights and sounds, trying to forget that she was in a boy's body and had a bullet wound in her shoulder. But when she opened them again, everything was unchanged. This was her new reality.
A minute later, the door opened and a 9-year old girl walked in. Sarah figured that the kid had the wrong room, until she spoke up. "I'm Dr. Carter," she said.
Sarah's eyes went wide. Dr. Carter was one of her father's colleagues. But the Dr. Carter she knew was over fifty years old. Could it be that he swapped bodies with this little girl?
"Dr. Carter. It's me. Sarah McMillan."
The girl's eyes went wide. "Oh, dear. I ... I didn't even realize. Have you seen your father? We could really use his help here."
"My father is the one who shot me. He didn't believe me when I told him I was his daughter."
"I can't really blame him. A few hours ago I wouldn't have believed it either. But now look at me," the girl said. "I'll have to grow up all over again, only this time it'll be as a girl." She paused, then shouted for a nurse.
A moment later, another person entered the hospital room.
"Melissa?" Sarah asked. It was Melissa Smith, one of her best friends. What was she doing at the hospital?
"Sorry, I'm not," she said. "My name is Rose. I'm a nurse here at the hospital. Um ... do you know her?"
"She's one of my friends. A cheerleader."
"Yeah, that's how I found myself after I got swapped. I never thought I'd ever find myself in a cheerleading outfit. I was never really into that stuff. Chess club was more my thing."
Chess club? Sarah thought. What was she? Some sort of geek? It was hard to think of someone as beautiful as Melissa doing geeky things.
The little girl who was actually Dr. Carter leaned in and looked at Sarah's wound. "It doesn't look too bad. It probably hurts like hell, but it's not too bad. We'll have the bullet out and have you stitched up in no time."
It was so strange. The two people who ended up treating her were a 9-year old girl and one of her best friends. Could things get any stranger?
