"The Shift: Unraveling Mysteries"

Prompt: "We're here." I pulled the big SUV into the empty spot between the beach house's legs. The other two parking spaces were taken by a black Mercedes convertible and a bright yellow Prius. Apparently my parents and sister had beat us here. The three-story structure that would be our home for the week sat overlooking the shoreline of Myrtle Beach. Identical houses, though painted a different color, stood on either side of it. "About time," my son Joseph said with a heavy dose of sarcasm. He was seventeen and still in the middle of resenting everything his mother and I did for him. "I hope my room looks out on the beach," his sister, Carrie, said. She was fifteen and far more enthusiastic about the vacation. "I'm sure your Aunt Lydia has probably already claimed one of those for herself," Melanie, my wife of almost nineteen years said to Carrie. Her crisp Manchester accent put a different emphasis on the words. "Perhaps she'll switch with you. Right, Douglas?" I bit down on my tongue to keep from responding immediately. My kid sister Lydia was, to put it bluntly, a flake. She was thirty-two, recently identifying as gay (despite spending most of her formative years bashing homosexuals), had never held down a steady job, and spent nearly every dime she earned from her "art" to get a new tattoo or piercing. "I'm sure if you ask her nicely, pumpkin," I said to Carrie. "Aunt Lydia has a soft spot for you." My wife and daughter went inside the house while Joseph and I unloaded the car. I was on top of the SUV, unhooking the straps holding the luggage carrier when I heard someone say hello to Joseph. Leaning over, I found myself looking down at a rather attractive young lady in a bright green bikini. She had long, copper-colored hair that drifted down over her small shoulders and framed a pretty face wearing dark sunglasses. The bathing suit probably wasn't designed to be indecent, but the developed curves stuffed into it made it almost illegal. From my vantage point, I could see right down into her uplifted cleavage. I glanced over at Joseph, noticing that he was in rapt appreciation of the beauty before him. It took him a second to regain his composure before he tried to speak. "Uh, hi," he said. As if he weren't sure how to English properly. "I'm Kara. Kara Beauregard," the redhead said, flashing a small smile up at me and a huge one at Joseph. "We're staying next door." She shrugged. "Thought I'd come over and say hello to my temporary neighbors." My son nodded, then finally started to catch up. "I'm Joe," he said, standing a bit taller now that the initial shock had worn off. "That's my dad, Doug." He pointed up at me. I frowned and looked from my firstborn to the girl. "Mr. Thomas will do." She smiled. "Of course. Mr. Thomas." God, if I was nineteen again. Or not married to the love of my life. Joseph might have inherited my large build and good looks, but he was still wet behind the ears when it came to handling a smoking hot female like Kara. "Who's we?" I asked, nodding at the house beside ours. "Right now, it's just me, my little brother Billy, and our grandmother. My mom and dad are flying down tomorrow night. This is our first time to Myrtle Beach." I nodded, then looked at Joseph. "Help me get the rest of the luggage into the house, say hello to your aunt and grandparents, then maybe you can show Kara around the boardwalk before dinner." I felt a bit embarrassed for having to throw my son a bone like that, but I already knew he wasn't going to take the initiative. "Sounds great," Kara said. "Is it okay if Billy comes with us? He's only ten and can't stay by himself." "What about your grandmother?" She frowned. "She had a stroke last year. She's not able to walk or use one of her arms very well. Billy can behave most of the time, but if something happens, she won't be able to do much." I looked at Joseph. "Why don't you see if Carrie wants to go, too?" "Okay." He looked at Kara. "We'll come over in about twenty minutes." "Sounds good." She flashed him a smile that would have made most red- blooded American men as hard as tempered steel, then sauntered off. We got all the bags into the house, and I made sure Joseph at least spent five minutes in greetings with my parents and sister. As expected, Lydia was droning on about the fight for feminism and artistic freedom to our folks, both of whom were doing their best to be supportive of their youngest child. Growing up, I had been instilled with a strong work ethic and the drive to succeed at everything I did. During my senior year of high school, I worked my butt off at a local construction site. By the time I graduated, I knew I wanted to be a general contractor. Thirty years later, I owned three construction companies and had more governmental contracts than anyone I knew personally. I met Melanie on a trip to London when I was twenty-seven. She was a lawyer at a small firm and her big green eyes and infectious laugh had captured my heart in an instant. We exchanged numbers and spoke regularly on the phone. After three more trips to see her in person, I managed to convince her to marry me and move to America. Joseph had been born a year later. "Douglas," Melanie said, placing her hand on my father's arm when Lydia stopped for a breath. "Roger just told me that he and Diane were thinking of taking an extended trip to England this fall. He suggested we join them." My father was a doctor who'd been able to make some pretty good investments over the years. He had retired from his practice at the age of sixty, and he and my mother were always jetting off on one adventure or another. "Sounds good," I said to her. "I know it's been a while since we visited your parents. Maybe we can spend a little time with them while we're there." We got settled in, Lydia agreeing to switch rooms with Carrie. Joseph and his sister left with Kara and Billy, who was the complete opposite of his sister. Where she was gorgeous and polite, he was rude and extremely overweight. While they were gone, the five of us sat on the deck outside talking. Mother made the mistake of mentioning Lydia's girlfriend, which resulted in my father snorting in a derisive manner and rolling his eyes. Roger Thomas had nothing against homosexuals, he just firmly refused to believe that one of his children could be one. "It's always the new, edgy thing with you. Isn't it?" He said to Lydia. "First the tattoos and piercings. Then shaving half your hair off and joining that damned artists' commune in Michigan. Now you're a lesbian feminist fighting against 'the Man'. What's next? Transsexual? Are you going to decide that you're really a guy?" "Roger," my mother said sharply. "This really isn't the time." He rolled his eyes again. "It's never the right time is it? I don't know where we went wrong with her, but it's too bad she couldn't be more like Douglas." Lydia jumped to her feet, knocking over her glass of wine. "Well, I'm sorry I couldn't be more like Mr. Perfect. I guess he managed to get all the greatness and left nothing for me." She put her palm on my father's chest. "Maybe if you'd wanted me to be more like Douglas, perhaps you should have treated me like you did him." Melanie had hopped up as well, trying to keep the spilled alcohol from running off the table. She hated the way my family could go from being perfectly fine to shouting at each other. Particularly my father and sister. "Look," I said standing up. "We all came here for a vacation away from the stress of our normal lives. How about we just try to put ourselves in each other's shoes for once." I shook my head as I looked at my father and sister. "Every time we get together, you two ..." A wave of dizziness splashed over me as the world around pitched violently to the right. I floundered my arms for balance, but darkness overcame me before I hit the deck. I felt someone lightly shaking my shoulder, tugging me back to consciousness. "Are you okay? Can you hear me?" Joseph? Joseph was trying to bring me around? How long had I been passed out?" I slowly peeled my eyes open to see my son looming over me. Vertigo was taking its time releasing my brain, but I had still returned to awareness enough that I could hear the sounds of screams coming from all around me. I fought against the nausea and slowly sat up, looking around. The first thing I noticed was that I wasn't on the deck of the beach house. Instead, I was several blocks away, sitting on the soft sand next to the sidewalk that ran along the Strip. Several cars had crashed into buildings and light posts, and everyone around seemed to be either screaming, staring around blankly, or grabbing themselves with shocked expressions. Joseph placed his hand on my shoulder. "Are you okay?" he asked again. I nodded, turning away from the pandemonium to look at him. "I ... I think so." Only the voice that came out of my mouth was definitely not mine. "What the hell?" "Kara, what's wrong?" Kara? I looked down to see what seemed to be a huge amount of cleavage wrapped in a green bikini looking back at me. Just beyond my disturbingly large bust were a pair of shapely legs I had been admiring only a few hours earlier. The dainty toes poking out of the sandals on my feet were painted a light pink shade. "Oh shit," I said, wincing again at the soft, feminine voice. "This is way too much." Joseph nodded, glancing around at the commotion. I noticed his hand remained firmly planted on my shoulder. Almost possessively. Then he looked behind me. "Carrie and Billy are waking up." I shrugged his hand off my shoulder and turned around. My daughter and Kara's brother were sitting up, rubbing at their heads and blinking with confusion. They looked down at themselves for a few moments, Billy poking at his bulging gut. Carrie's hands cupped her smallish breasts beneath the tank top, her head shaking back and forth. Then her eyes locked onto mine and she jumped to her feet. "You!" She screamed, pointing at me. "Give me back my body!" Joseph got to his feet, moving between me and his sister. Or what he thought was his sister. "Carrie," he said. "Calm down." "I'm not Carrie, jerk!" she shouted. "I'm Kara!" I climbed to my feet, trying not to be too put off by the way the body I was in wanted to move. There weren't enough muscles in places I was used to, and far too much jiggling in others. Although, I did have to admit that, other than a slight residual headache, I felt better than I've felt in years. Joseph turned and looked at me, then to the street. Several people were mimicking Carrie, or Kara as it were, accosting others and demanding they give back their bodies. His mouth dropped open slightly and, after a few seconds, looked at the body of his little sister. "You're Kara?" His gaze went back to me. "Then who are you?" I sighed, bringing my arms up to cross them over my chest to provide some type of modesty. I wasn't a fan of the way he kept trying to look at the barely-covered mounds. "I'm Dad," I said. "Douglas." His eyes nearly widened enough to fall out of their sockets. "Dad?" he said in a voice laden with shock and dismay. "Oh, Douglas," the boy behind Carrie/Kara said in a familiar British accent. "What happened to us?" All three of us turned to look at him. Carrie/Kara knelt down beside him. "You're not Billy, are you?" The chubby boy shook his head, then pointed at me. "I'm his wife. Her wife." She stomped her foot, a trait she had when something was vexing her. "Douglas' wife. Joseph's mum." "We need to get back to the house," I said, choosing to look at my son rather than the pre-pubescent boy that talked like my wife or the girl in the driver's seat of my daughter's body. "It looks like whatever happened didn't just happen to us. We need to find out if it was just the Strip, the whole city, or ... worse." The walk back to the beach house took longer than I expected. In addition to the people running around in various stages of panic, I was fighting this strange, unfamiliar body. A few blocks into the journey, Kara closed the distance to walk beside me. "I hope this is only temporary," she said in a low voice. "But until we get it fixed, can I give you some advice? You've got hips, boobs, and an ass now. Just let them do the work and it will be much better." She shrugged. "Believe me, when everything grew in all at once, it took me a while to move normally, too." "Thanks," I said, biting my tongue to say something negative. Right now, I had to hope that the strange incident was not only isolated, but being investigated by the Powers That Be. The four of us climbed the stairs to the door of the house and went inside. The place was eerily silent, except for the unnerving sound of a droning tone coming from the living room. I rushed through the doorway to see myself, my parents, Melanie, and Lydia all huddled together on the sofa, staring at the television. The screen had an image that read "Emergency Broadcast. Please Stand By." Those five words sent a bucket of ice water swirling through my veins. This was obviously much bigger than Myrtle Beach. The quintet on the sofa turned to look at us as we came into the room. Melanie hopped to her feet and grabbed Carrie/Kara. "Who are you?" she asked, leaning down to peer into the young girl's eyes. "That's my body." Oh god, I thought. Carrie's in her mother. "I'm Kara," Carrie's mouth replied. When Melanie's eyes widened, my daughter's head nodded at me and the boy holding my hand. "Your dad got mine, and your mom is in Billy's." The stares being directed at me made my face grow hot. I released the hand in mine and covered my chest again. "Did you all switch, too?" I asked. "Because Joseph apparently didn't." My head nodded. "I'm in my son's body." Eyes I'd seen only in pictures and reflections looked at the four of us before focusing on me. "I'm sorry, Douglas." Tears began to spill out down my cheeks. I almost started crying myself. "It's okay, Mom." Then I looked at the rest of them. Lydia looked like she was about to throw up. But the way she was sitting, with her leg crossed over her knee and a slight lean to her side, I had a good idea who was riding around in my sister's skull. "Dad?" The head gleaming with over a dozen shiny bits of metal nodded once. "Unfortunately, it would seem that your sister and I have traded places." He shook his head. "I'm not going to try to attempt to explain how this could have possibly happened. However, despite the randomness that the switches seemed to have occurred, I can only guess we swapped because we were touching when it happened." I nodded, then turned to my mother. Or at least, the person who looked like my mother. "Constance," she said, giving the barest hint of a smile. "Constance Beauregard." "Gramma?" Carrie/Kara said before rushing over to drop to her knees before the woman who'd birthed me. "Gramma, is it really you?" My mother's head nodded. "Yes, Kara. It's me." Her eyes came up to look at the boy standing there looking completely lost. "Billy?" The teen shook her head. "That's the wife of the man who got my body. Melanie Thomas." Then she jumped to her feet, whipping her head around. "Wait. Then where is Billy? Everyone is here, right?" The woman next to her, put her hand on the girl's arm. "Not everyone, dear." She frowned. "I'm not here." I remained behind with my wife, Lydia, my father, my mother, and Joseph while Kara/Carrie and her grandmother went next door. They returned a few minutes later with wet eyes and trembling bodies. "He's dead," Kara's grandmother said. "Perhaps the shock of what happened caused my body to have another stroke." She wiped away the streams of tears running down her cheeks. "I hope ... I hope it was painless." Just then, the television came to life. The Emergency Broadcast screen was replaced by an uncomfortable-looking man who might be in his late fifties. However, the teletype at the bottom of the screen read "Anita Johansson." I recognized the name from hearing some of my guys talk during break time. Apparently, she was this super-hot television anchor who'd parlayed a modeling career into a successful stab at journalism. Now, she looked like the kind of guy who spent his days at a dive bar, drinking Scotch straight. "Good afternoon," the former beauty pageant winner said in a gruff, scratchy voice. "By now, I'm sure everyone in America has discovered that something completely ... unprecedented has occurred. The authorities are referring to it as the Great Shift. Right now, details are sketchy, but it is assumed that nearly 93 percent of the world's population has switched bodies with someone."