Daniel’s head throbbed in time with each irregular beat of his heart. As his eyes opened, the dim light of the old room was blinding, and he reached for his heavy head. Wincing, he tried to recognize his surroundings, but his memory was too vague, buried in the fog that surrounded his mind.
With a still weak body, Daniel slowly sat up on the bed in the room. The old house seemed to welcome him with an ancient aroma that filled the air. He looked around with a confused gaze, trying to understand how he could be in such a foreign place.
The room was dark, lit only by the dim light that entered through the cracked window. The worn walls held stories yet to be told. Daniel clutched his head with both hands, trying to alleviate the piercing pain in his temples.
“Where am I?” Daniel muttered, but he soon realized the strangeness that had occurred to his body.
His slender fingers, long hair, both eyes adorned with a pair of glasses, and the skirt he was wearing. He was shocked to see all the physical changes in himself, but he soon realized that his soul was trapped in the body of a woman.
“How could this happen?” Daniel tried to think hard about it.
Daniel rose with strong determination, trying to step out of the room in the old house, even though his head still hurt. With each step he took, he questioned himself, digging into previous memories. He tried to remember the last moment, when the two of them and the mysterious old lady were in the living room.
“Emily, where is she?” Daniel asked with an anxious look, continuously searching the corridors of the old room.
The old trees stood tall, but their leaves looked dull, as if revealing an immeasurable age. Daniel looked outside with a questioning gaze, trying to understand how this oddity could happen to him.
In the confusion that enveloped him, Daniel walked, trying to explore every corner of the old house.
However, a crying sound broke the silence. He followed the sound, his steps hissing on the worn wooden floor. The room, which was originally quiet, was now filled with the increasingly audible sound of crying.
“Is that you, Mr. Daniel?” the very familiar voice crept into Daniel’s ears.
“Mr. Daniel,” the voice called him once again. His steps stopped when he made sure who was making the sound.
Could it be?
When Daniel reached the hidden corner of the room, his gaze was fixed on the figure crouching there. Daniel tried to understand the situation, but something surprising awaited him around the corner of the room. He quickly stepped forward towards the person in the corner of the room.
The person lifted his face, and his blue eyes stared sharply at him. Daniel felt his heart stop for a moment, because what he saw in front of him was not a stranger, but himself. No change in face or hair could alter the fact that he was looking at himself.
Daniel’s body was frozen in place, his eyes widened at the sight. As it crossed his mind, they had switched bodies. Emily was in his body, and he was in Emily’s body. Everything felt upside down.
Emily was shocked to see a figure resembling herself staring at her and standing motionless in front of her. She immediately stood up, feeling scared, and couldn’t believe what she was seeing right now.
“Who are you?!” Emily covered her mouth in disbelief. Her body trembled with fear, and she began to cry hysterically.
Daniel, now in Emily’s body, tried to approach her. “Calm down, Emily.”
However, Emily’s hysteria escalated, and she continued to cry while staring at Daniel in her body with uncontrollable fear. “Don’t come near me! Who are you?!”
Daniel, who was in Emily’s body, massaged the furrowed center of his brow with his fingers. He was confused about how to calm his secretary.
Daniel approached Emily again, but Emily still felt doubtful and backed away from him. However, Daniel remained calm and tried to explain, “Calm down, Em. It’s me, Daniel.”
Emily was still trembling and unsure. “Mr. Daniel?” she whispered with a trembling voice. “Is it really you, Mr. Daniel?”
Daniel, now in Emily’s body, nodded, trying to reassure Emily. “Your soul is in my body, Em.”
Emily checked her body and remembered the clothes last worn by her boss. Indeed, she was in Daniel’s body.
Why didn’t I realize it from the start? Oh God. How foolish of me! Emily thought to herself.
“Why? Why have our bodies switched like this, sir? What has happened?” Emily asked with a frustrated tone echoing in the room.
Daniel took a deep breath, trying to calm himself before answering Emily’s question. “I also don’t know what has happened but that old woman. I suspect that it all has something to do with her.”
“Do you mean, all this happened because of the old woman?” Emily asked, her voice full of confusion and worry.
“Maybe she mixed something in our drinks last night or who knows, the clear thing is that we have switched bodies right now,” Daniel explained thoughtfully.
“What should we do now, sir?” Emily asked with increasing panic in her voice.
The situation that befell them both was truly confusing and difficult to accept by common sense. They couldn’t imagine how they were supposed to live life with switched souls like this.
“You dragged me into this mess, Em. If only we hadn’t helped that old woman, something like this would never have happened to us,” Daniel said with an annoyed tone in his voice.
“I’m sorry, sir,” Emily replied, feeling guilty.
“So, what should we do, sir? We can’t possibly live like this, sir,” Emily said.
“What we need to do now is get out of this house first before night falls. We don’t know what will happen if we stay here,” Daniel explained firmly, making Emily nod in agreement.
They both immediately moved, the old house had many confusing rooms and corridors. The walls looked cracked and dusty, indicating that the house had been abandoned for a long time. The atmosphere inside the house felt silent and eerie, making Emily feel uncomfortable.
Carefully they began to explore every corner of the house, looking for clues that could lead them out. They crossed the corridor with slow steps, trying to avoid obstacles that might be along the way.
“Sir, I’m scared,” Emily whispered with a trembling voice.
“Do you want to be trapped here until night?” Daniel asked, making Emily shake her head quickly.
“We have to move fast. We have to find a way out of this house immediately,” Daniel said with strong determination. Emily felt the courage and firmness in Daniel’s words, which made her more convinced that they had to take action immediately to get out of this difficult situation.
After some time passed, they finally arrived in a room that was very familiar to both of them. Emily felt her heartbeat quicken when she realized that they had arrived in the living room where their consciousness had disappeared the night before. Behind the living room, there was a large door that they believed to be the way out.
“Hurry, Em,” Daniel urged with urgency, making Emily immediately snap out of her reverie.
Emily nodded and moved quickly, following Daniel’s steps towards the exit door they hoped for. Each step felt like a race against time, fear and uncertainty still haunting them.
They reached the door they believed to be the way out. With pounding hearts, Emily and Daniel stood in front of the door, full of hope to find freedom.
Daniel, in Emily’s body, reached out his hand to carefully grasp the ancient and rusty door handle. With mixed feelings and tension, he tried to push the door handle down. However, the door wouldn’t budge.
Emily and Daniel looked at each other, confusion clearly etched on their faces. They tried once more, with more strength and force, but the door remained immovable. The door handle felt as if it was firmly locked, preventing them from exiting.
“What do we do now, sir?” Emily asked with a voice full of confusion.