The Body Swap (Completed ✔️)

25 // "Standing In The Open, Urinating Next To A Stranger Is Terrifying"

25.

Blessing awakens with a foggy head and pounding headache. Instead of waking up on Nathan's bed which she's become accustomed to, she wakes up on a cold dark tile floor naked. Curling into a ball, Blessing wraps the arms around the body and begins shivering, wondering once more where she is and more importantly why. She cannot deny that these visions are getting more explicit and vivid. A bright light switches on above her but Blessing remains in the fetal position until the bones begin to ache.

Groaning upwards, Blessing lifts the head slightly and the eyes gazing back at her are once more not her own, but those of Nathan's. She's back in the mirrored room and stands up on the two feet and gazes at Nathan's naked body. At times, she analyses Nathan's body and can understand how his cockiness and arrogance is fuelled by his good looks which encourage his God complex. Sometimes she will look at his penis and wonder the different feelings that boys undergo when masturbating but Blessing squirms at the thought. She always tries to wrap a tissue around the penis and can't bear the thought of standing in the open, urinating next to a stranger.

The light up head dims slights and Blessing squints the eyes and begins gingerly stepping forward to look into the mirror. There's a dark oblong shadow, unfamiliar to that of Nathan's, in the mirror. Whispers and inaudible words begin in a soft clutter before growing louder and more urgent. Swallowing hard, Blessing gazes around the small boxed mirror room and realises it's a lot smaller than she last remembers. A panic begins mounting in her bones as the whispers and words grow in a crescendo and she realises with bewildered that the dark shadows are moving and circling her.

Furrowing the brow, she wonders how she can see Nathan's reflection and that of the shadows when there's nothing else in the mirrored box room apart from her. With shaking arms, Blessing outstretches the arms which comfortably touch the mirrored walls on either side of her. The room is smaller she concludes. The mouth drops open but only strained laborious breaths leave the throat and the panic mounting in the bones erupt. Blessing runs forward and slams the fists against the mirror which cracks. Feeling a sense of elation and relief at supposed freedom, Blessing throws the whole body at the mirror which continues to crack.

Ignoring the bloodied knuckles and the glass cutting into the shoulders and thighs, Blessing continues the assault, groaning and crying out as she does. Shards of glass fall to the cold dark tile floor only for her to be met with a dark wall behind the glass. She can still see the dark shadows moving in the pieces of glass still intact on the wall. Flabbergasted, Blessing turns around and begins throwing herself at all sides of the box room to find dark walls revealed behind the mirror.

Running the bloodied fingers through the now sweaty, wet hair, Blessing lets out a whimper as the bottom lip begins trembling. Frantically, Blessing turns around trying to find an exit but finds none. She realises that she may awake anytime soon therefore, closes the eyes and tries to even her breathing however, when she opens her eyes she's still in the room. She steps forward and cries out in pain as a jagged piece of glass slices into the foot. Leaning against one of the tattered walls, Blessing groans as she steps on more glass. Standing on the uninjured foot, Blessing cradles the other foot in the hand and gazes around the room in defeat. Luckily for her, the fear and adrenaline is masking the impeding pain and she wonders whether she'll wake up in Nathan's injured body.

A dry cough shudders through the body as the eyes begin pricking with tears. The bright light, the voices and the moving shadows are throwing her off balance and she can feel the claustrophobia and anxiety closing in on her. That's when she hears above the inaudible voices her own voice, shrieking and telling her to run. Her own voices continues to rise to an alarming pitch that Blessing closes the eyes and drops the injured foot to cover the ears. A loud explosion can be heard in the distance and when she opens the eyes she finds herself in Nathan's room, the body unscathed of bloody cuts and punctured holes.

In a moment like this, Blessing would either be out of the bed and down the hallway to search for Nathan or frantically call him on the phone. This time however, she's exhausted. Whatever she imagined, whatever she envisioned has knocked her into a deep aching slumber she doesn't want to leave. Yet, what's the use of sleeping when she's so afraid to close the eyes? She only hopes that Nathan is the one running down the hallway in a fit of fury and terror, ready to share in her exasperation and trepidation.

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