MA-28 (Patreon)

We walked down the blue-striped path to an entrance in the side of the crystal pyramid that said. “Employees only.”

Two, armed security guards glanced at the badges hanging from our necks, then waved us through. I swallowed against the fear rising in my throat.

Stepping into the main area, we gasped at the sights.

The crystal pyramid stretched over our heads hundreds of feet above us. The audience sat in chairs neatly arranged into circular rows on the sand. An enormous spindle hung from a thick steel cable in the center of the seating area, where a circular stage had been erected.

The quiet thrum of thousands of voices all speaking in excited tones hummed around us. The blue lines stopped at the sand, but a pathway that led directly up to the stage stretched in front of us.

People walked on the sand, milling and speaking with others. Refrigerated chests with water bottles perched at each intersection and a staff member handed out water to each guest as they passed by.

“Staff seating is on the stage,” an employee stated. “Up the stairs and to the left.”

I nodded and gripped Karyn’s hand.

“So we need to find our old bodies in all this?” Karyn said.

“Yes, baby.”

I pulled her along as we passed the first row of seats.

“I can’t see over the chairs, Mommy. Can I ride on your shoulders?”

In Madeline’s memories, I remembered carrying Jessica on my shoulders in the pool up to when she got too heavy. I didn’t know if I could still do it, but it was worth a try.

“Stand on the chair, and I’ll squat low.”

She stood on the chair, and I crouched low. She giggled and got on my shoulders. I stood up slowly, trying to keep my balance. She teetered a bit and wrapped her arms around my forehead.

“Better!” she said, scanning the crowd.

We walked through the audience as much as we could, passing through each ring of the circle, before moving on to the next ring. Karyn could see several rows in each direction.

“We will be commencing with our event in less than forty minutes,” intoned a voice that came over loudspeakers from every direction.

“Walk faster, Mommy!” Karyn said.

We had just made it to about the halfway mark when suddenly Karyn pointed and whispered urgently in my ear. “Mommy! I see my old body!”

“Where, baby?” I whispered back

She pointed, and I followed her finger, scanning the crowd. After a few moments, I saw her. The woman had her blond hair up in an intricate hairdo and was wearing a sparkling silver evening gown. She smiled widely and held a champagne flute, a phone in her hand as she spoke into it. Apparently, she’d activated her old social media accounts and was showing off for her followers.

“Great job, baby!” I said. “Any sign of mine?”

Onstage, a number of people filed to the front of the stage and took a position under the spotlight. They were clad all in white with a top, loose pants, and white sandals. Men and women of different ages circled the stages and stood in each of the spotlights.

“I see it!” Karyn said. She pointed up at the stage.

My body walked along with the platform, then took a position under one of the spotlights. He was in the third circle inward. Shortly afterward, other people wearing white filled in front of him and I lost sight.

“I can’t see you anymore, Mommy!” Karyn whispered rather loudly.

I leaned over and set Karyn down on the ground. Kneeling, I looked into her eyes.

“Honey, think you need to be standing next to your body, and I need to stand next to mine.”

She nodded, swallowing.

“When...whatever happens...try to be in physical contact with it.”

“Touch her?”

“That way when this switch happens, you’re the closest person to her and if you’re touching her, the switch will happen with you two.”

She nodded. “And you’ll do the same?”

“Yes.”

“How are you going to get out there, Mommy? It looks like you have to be wearing all white?”

“I’ll figure that out. You just make sure you’re touching your old body, skin to skin when whatever this is happens, okay?”

“Okay.”

“And where do we meet after?”

“At the car.”

“Do you remember how to get there?”

“It’s through that tunnel,” she pointed. “Then into the parking lot, space D87.”

“Perfect, baby.”

“Do you think all the people in this audience are hoping to be swapped into one of those bodies on stage, Mommy?”

“That’s exactly what I think is going to happen.”

“There’s a LOT of people, Mommy.”

“Yes, well, that’s the excitement, right? The allure of being pushed into a body that you have no control over?”

“I suppose.”

“Ten minutes until the initiation of our event commences. Please take your seats.”

“Better hurry, baby, remember what I said.”

“If I have to, I’ll get under her chair, Mommy!”

“That’s a good idea.” I kissed her softly on the cheek. “I’ll see you soon, my brave girl.”

She looked at me. “It was kinda fun being your daughter, Mommy.”

I smiled and brushed her hair out of her eyes and behind her ears. “And I loved being your Mommy.”

She gave me a big hug then and I felt tears bite at the corner of my eyes.

“I’ll be brave, Mommy.”

“Okay.”

And she scampered off toward the row she had seen her body.

I made my way down the path and ascended the stairs leading to the staff platform.

The staff seating was arrayed counter to the...I’d refer to them as ‘targets’ the people dressed in white who were frozen like statues on their circle. They neither frowned nor smiled, standing immobile on each lit disc. I knew there wasn’t a ‘personality’ in each body, they were empty vessels ready to be filled.

Looking at the audience, and at the staff seating, I made an estimate. And only a one in seven thousand chance of actually getting back to my own body.

I found a chair as close to my body as I could get, directly across the stage. They were on an area of the stage that was a few steps down from mine, but I figured I could jump that space, and hurtle myself onto my body at the required moment. Then it was about a twenty-foot jump down into the audience.

Twenty feet. Land on the balls of your feet and roll, Robbie, roll roll roll and hope you don’t snap an ankle.

Regardless of the outcome of the event, I was done trying to get back. If this didn’t work, I was going to live with Karyn in whatever state we happened to be in, and live out our lives. This constant state of not knowing, being in flux, temporary identities was getting old. It was time to stop running and start living.

Someone stepped in front of me. Someone exceedingly tall, dark, and dangerous.

“Well, well, Ms. Reagan,” Ex-muritious Forrester said. “I see you were able to join us in the night’s event after all.”

My heart sank.