Dumb (Patreon exclusive) (Patreon)

Jeffrey stopped talking about the role exchanger long ago, that’s the name he gave to the blue light that changed his life in so many ways. He seemed to be the only one that remembered it, and the only one that remembered how it changed things.

He saw it make changes to other people first. He watched the elderly woman across the street turn young while his neighbor’s wife rapidly age -- yet despite her old age she still wore her string bikini by the pool while her husband disrespectfully slapped her now wrinkled ass. Shortly after, a man and a woman walking together on the street seemed to magic switch clothes without skipping a beat.

Jeffrey followed the light for a while, and it almost felt like the light noticed him and panicked. It swapped Jeffrey next, and he found himself in a 20-year-old woman’s body with her mannerisms and everything. He could only guess that the changes were meant to go even further, as his former body now stood there, seemingly unaware about being anything other than Jeffrey (and also being unaware of the role exchanger). Jeffrey realized he should’ve stopped at this point, but he kept following, watching all manner of swaps.

Once again, it seemed to notice that Jeffrey was following, and he got affected again. This time, the role exchanger seemed to finally disappear. But how had it changed him this time? It took a minute for Jeffrey to realize. He had trouble reading basic signs and doing simple math. He was dumb. He still had the maturity of an adult, and he could still do things like drive. But he had the education of a child, and instead of going to work on Monday morning, he headed to the local elementary school.

He wasn’t the only one changed by any means, but he was the only one who noticed.  He sat patiently in his seat as he awaited a lesson on the alphabet. A burly Black man wearing a tight pink dress finally entered and introduced himself to the class as Miss Lincoln. Jeffrey knew he was the only one who noticed, so he just smiled and said hi.