Time Freeze for Andy & Erin

I wake up slowly, as if under water. I taste something strange in my mouth, and I feel a tingling sensation in my lips.

I open my eyes and see Erin’s face, inches away from mine. It takes me a moment to realize what’s going on. She notices my confusion and laughs a little to herself.

“Good morning Andy. We’re both in the same body now.”

I rub my eyes and look at her again. “What? How is that even possible?” I ask, bewildered.

She laughs again at my confusion. “Last night we found an old journal that had a spell inside of it. It swapped our bodies for the day, so we could experience each other’s lives for once!” Her voice has a cheerful lilt to it, but the excitement fades from her expression as she looks down at me with concern. “Do you feel okay? Do you need some time to adjust?”

I sit up and stretch my new arms out in front of me. Yes, these are definitely not my arms; they are far skinnier than mine, with almost no muscle tone whatsoever. My fingers have multiple rings on them and there is no hair on them whatsoever; and my skin is so much paler than her own dark smooth skin. The rest of her body is very similar to mine though; she has the same dark brown hair (although hers is longer than mine) and the same blue eyes that I do that seem to light up when she smiles or laughs. I pull my legs over the side of the bed and scramble off of it, looking around the room for a mirror where I can see myself properly. I walk over to her dresser and grab a hand-mirror from inside it before walking back over to the bed so that I can examine myself further.

My face looks exactly like hers did last night when we were talking about this stupid idea, but I don’t mind it too much. She makes fun of me all the time anyway because of how serious I am all the time, so seeing her face on top of mine seems fitting somehow. All of my facial features are still clearly visible though: underneath all of that makeup there is still a strong jawline and full lips like mine underneath hers; she doesn't have any freckles or scars on her face either, so she is certainly lucky in that regard at least.

She has a tattoo on her shoulder blade depicting some kind of symbol I can’t quite make out around one of her tattoos though, which surprises me since I didn’t know Erin had any ink before this moment; maybe she got it while we were apart though? I mean, she went to college without telling me after all…I guess anything is possible with how weird our friendship has been lately…I'm going to have to find out what it means later today if we don't swap back soon…my stomach feels queasy just thinking about being stuck in this body all day…This isn't right at all…this feels wrong…I want us to swap back soon; we shouldn't ignore each other's existence like this anymore…After all this time we should be past this by now…I love you Erin…We can't go back now though...not until tonight when we swap back…I don't know what else to do so instead I just walk away from the dresser mirror towards Erin's closet door where I hear her shuffling around inside of it now as if searching for something specific while muttering things under her breath that sound suspiciously like curses or spells (but aren't).

“Erin? What do you need? Maybe I can help you find it!” Maybe getting her attention will help us get through this day together more easily…Maybe if I keep acting more like myself maybe we can find some middle ground between us again…Maybe with enough distance from each other we can finally be ourselves with each other again…maybe then things will be better between us…please God let me see things clearly again soon...Please let me see Erin clearly again soon too so that we can fix things between us because everything was always better when we were close like this...there's nothing better than being close with your best friend like this when you're both together...please let us stay here for just a little bit longer...let us pretend that's how things always were between us again...let us play pretend for a little bit longer...please God let us play pretend for just another day...just please give me this one thing please God please don't take everything away now let us keep pretending please God just please please let me remember how things used to be between us before everything changed between us before life happened between us please God let me remember how happy we used to be together before everything changed please let me remember why our friendship was so important between us please God let me remember how much I cared about Erin before everything changed please God just please give me this one thing...please just give this one thing to me Lord god Jesus Christ grant this one wish from your most devoted servant because there's nothing more important than fixing our friendship with each other nothing more important than saving our friendship with each other nothing more important than saving our friendship with each other nothing more important than saving our friendship with each other nothing more important than saving our friendship with each other nothing more important than saving our friendship with each other nothing more important than saving our friendship with each other nothing more important than saving our friendship with each other nothing more important than saving our friendship with each other nothing more important than saving our relationship with each other because everything else is lost anyway everything else is meaningless without her without Erin without my best friend without Andy without him without his love without his love without his love without his simple presence without his simple presence without him being there being there being there being there being there being there next to me next to my side next to my side next to my side next to my side next to him next beside him next beside him holding hands holding hands holding hands holding hands holding hands holding hands holding hands holding hands holding hands holding hands holding hands holding hands holding hands holding hands holding hands holding hands holding hands his hand in hand in mine his hand in mine his hand in mine his hand in mine his hand in mine his hand in mine his hand in mine his hand in mine his hand in mine his hand in mine his hand in mine his hand in mine his hand in mine his hand in mine his hand in mind mind mind mind mind mind mind mind mind mind mind mind mind mind mind mind mind mind mindedness mindedness mindedness mindedness mindedness mindedness mindedness mindedness mindedness mindedness mindedness mindedness mindedness mindedness mindedness mindedness mindednessmindednessmindednessmindednessmindednessmindednessmindednessmindednessmindednessthat never existed never existed never existed never existed never existed never existed never existed never existed never existed never existed never existed never existed never existeddidn't didn't didn't didn't didn't didn't didn't exist at all at all at all at all at all at all at all at all at all at all at all atallatallatallatallatallatallatallatallatallatallatallatallatallatallattalllalllatallltallltallltalllatallltattallltatallltallltallltalllatallltallltallltalllttatallltallltalllttatalllttatalllttatal'lltallallltalllttatal'l'llltal'lll'llltal'lll'llltal'llltal'lll'llltal'lll'llltal'l'lll'lll'llltal'l'llltal'l'lll't'l''