Black never-ending nothingness. I opened my eyes to darkness, my muscle screaming in pain. Loud incessant deafening silence filled my ears. In the darkness, I squirmed and struggled. I could feel my entire body being wrapped in a sort of plastic. It was heavy and suffocating. I felt myself choking from the dense atmosphere. My eyes teared up as I struggled to breathe.
“Help!”
I screamed as loud as I could, mustering every strength I could and pushed my way out of wherever I was. With every movement I made, my surrounding made a low humming and with every hit on its walls, there echoed a metallic chime.
“Is anyone there?”
I yelled again, hoping that my cries of distress was heard. I could feel my blood rushing into my head, my head flushed and hot. My breathing started to hasten. With every breath I took, I could feel the sharp sensation in my lungs. I’m running out of oxygen.
“Help me! Please! Anyone!”
All of a sudden, loud metallic clanking filled the chamber I was in. Slowly, I could feel gusts of winds rushing in from the mouth of the metallic monster that swallowed me. The sounds of metal hitting metal echoed the empty room as my chamber slowly rolled out into the blinding bright light. I squinted my eyes, letting my eyes get accustomed to the intense change in brightness all while panting. There was an indescribable smell in the air. It was stale and yet familiar. The sickening, nauseating stench of sterility immediately triggered my memories. I remember this smell. It’s the smell of ethanol. I’m probably in a health institution of some sort.
I looked around my surrounding as I sat on the metallic drawer, bare skin touching on the metal surface. It was cold. I was cold. I found myself staring at a wall of metallic drawers, all stacked upon each other. The room was empty except for a couple of surgical trolleys with equipment scattered on top of it.
My mind was filled with questions. What am I doing here? What is this place? WHO AM I?
I tried my hardest trying to recall. My head started to ache but slowly, my memory came back.
But still, how did I get in here? A morgue? And why does this place seem familiar yet so odd at the same time?
Strangely, there was no one around, my entire body seemed to be working against me as I struggled desperately to sit up, “Damn, how long was I out for?”, I muttered under my panted breath. I spun my dead legs out of the chamber platform and massaged my thighs in an attempt to revive my cold dead feet. As my legs slowly regained strength, I inched carefully off the platform until both my feet were on the ground. I felt like a child learning how to walk again, with one hand against the metal wall, I stumbled around in search of clues to jog my obscured memory.
“Beep… Beep… Beep… swoosh! Ke-lunk!” I spun around just in time to see the metal cabinet I was in slam shut. Aha! There it was, my first clue, a laminated sheet of paper attached to the drawer’s front. Quickly, I shuffled forward to inspect, it was a report card, and it read…
*refer to autopsy 1*
“Yu Ming Xuan, Chinese, male… wait, MALE!?”
For some reason that didn’t sound right. My gaze shifted downwards. I realize why I was cold, I was naked, stark naked. As I examined my body parts, clearly there had to be some kind of mistake? I continued exploring the rest of the report…
*refer to autopsy 2*
“Multiple lacerations to genital… cause of death… premature ejaculation… pathologist… Veronica L. Smith… VERONICA L. SMITH!?”
My memory was jogged, Veronica L. Smith, that’s me.
*autopsy 1*
*autopsy 2*
A sound from behind startled me and I dropped the reports I was holding. There standing at the door, still dressed in the same clothes and lab coat that I was wearing just last night, was … me.
“Veronica?” The version of me asked.
“Ming Xuan?” I asked back in disbelief.
“Oh god, what … what is going on?”
I slowly walked towards him, my mind racing to find a logical explanation as to all this. “Okay, let’s start from the beginning to try to figure this out. Do you know what happened?”
Ming Xuan scanned the room, and his eyes opened wide. “Wait, this is a morgue, and –” He looked up at me and back to himself. “Oh god, was I … am I … dead? Did I die?”
I look at myself, or rather Ming Xuan, cover my face in distress and crouch on the floor, looking extremely dishevelled. Man, not a pretty sight.
Ming Xuan was already in tears, spewing words out so fast I could barely catch them. “Last memory I had, I was with this girl, and oh this must be some sort of karmic retribution. I was cheating on my boyfriend of 5 years with her … I, it was just too much. For most of my life, I had been made fun of because of my sexaulity and I finally found Ricky, my dear Ricky and we have been together ever since and he even gave me the confidence to come out to my parents. But I don’t know how and when it started. Maybe it was because Ricky and I hadn’t had sex in five months but his sister, Ashley and I had been hanging out more often recently and one day out of nowhere, she kissed me and I … I realised I didn’t hate it, so I kissed her back. I was so surprised but at the same time it felt so good, but I was afraid Ricky would catch us so I had to fasten –”
“Woah okay, stop right there. I think I got the story. One, you died of premature ejaculation. Two, you are a pig. And third – ouch!” I suddenly felt a strong surge of pain coming from my genitals and I remembered that there were cut wounds there. It was pain and confusing at the same time – the addition of the male genitalia to my body was a foreign feeling.
I sat down groaning, holding my crotch in pain. “Oh I hate you, how the fuck did you get cut wounds down there?”
A million thoughts raced through my mind in an instant.
This couldn’t possibly be happening. How the hell did I end up switching bodies with one of my patients?? None of this makes any sense, if he was supposedly dead when he arrived at the morgue and I had already performed an autopsy on him, how could he still possibly be alive inside my body while I’m alive inside… his?
“Think Veronica think! Try and remember what happened!” I exclaimed, pulling my hair in frustration.
More so, if one of us is supposed to be dead… does that mean Ming Xuan will die once we figured out the situation and managed to switch out bodies back? Oh God why did you put me in this situation, it feels so morally ambiguous, would I be considered a killer then… will I be able to act knowing my decisions might potentially end someone else’s life…?
“Thank God you look amazing under this dress though” Ming Xuan sniggered. “I have to say you look perfect… Oh my god, maybe my sexuality is more ambiguous than I thought!”
OKAY, I’ve made up my mind. He’s a douchebag and a pig, I don’t care what happens to him, I want my body back!
“Keep your filthy hands off my body, and don’t you dare have any crude thoughts about me!” I snapped.
“We are getting to the bottom of this, and you are giving me back my body. I don’t know what the hell you did to drag me into this god-awful mess, but I sure as hell won’t be sitting around doing nothing about it.”
“Now tell me everything you remember in detail! Or else…” I looked around, searching frantically for anything that would make me seem more intimidating and assertive. Noticing the scalpel still on the surgery table beside me, I grabbed it and pointed it towards Ming Xuan.
Ming Xuan swayed my dress around, expressing no fear towards my threats. His lewd expressions triggering me even further. He gave a slight chuckle.
“Why would I give this voluptuous and curvy body back to you? I am well and alive. I am a sexy pathologist. Plus, I have no use for my body anymore. At least, I can be happier dating my men without getting called out. If you touch me, you’re technically just killing yourself, and why on Earth would you want that?”
Perturbed, I stepped back. Ming Xuan is already holding on to a knife in his hands, probably from my lab coat. His eyes widen and he counted to three as if motioning me to do something. He lunged towards me and put the knife close to my neck. I did not realize how strong my body was until today.
Ming Xuan chuckled and pointed the tip of the knife directly above his head. He sat on top of me, pinning me down to the ground. With all the strength this disgusting and weakly body could muster, I stabbed Ming Xuan into his right thigh with a scalpel. Distracted and in pain, Ming Xuan flinched, and I quickly grabbed the needle in the lab coat he was wearing. I pierced it into his neck and watched regretfully as my delicate, yet lovely body fell slowly towards the ground.
A thought immediately rushed into my mind. I didn’t administer enough dosage. He’s going to wake up soon. Without missing a beat, I hastened my pace and tried to find my way out.
Leaving the morgue, a sense of familiarity arose, even though it was pitch black. It smelled of vanilla scented candles all over, something I have always loved to light up at home. I spotted a ladder in the dark and climbed up. The lamp post from outside shone in and my eyes adjusted itself in the dark.
There was a sofa to my left side, and frames of photos hung up right in front of me. This, without a doubt, did not look like a hospital of any sort. A television hung on the wall and a computer with a little desk rested beside it. In the middle of it, an oval rug with fur lies on the floor with a marble coffee table on top of it. The living room was linked to a hallway. It was narrow and had wood panels lining it up. At the end of the hallway was room with its door ajar with blue light spewing out of it. The same moment, I heard a creak coming from the basement. I immediately dragged my huge, naked body towards the room and locked the door tight. I pushed the nearest cabinet towards it, hoping that it would hold Ming Xuan out.
The blue light from the lava lamp helped lit the room up a little. At the right-hand corner of the room sits a rustic brown cabinet. I opened the door slowly, not wanting to make any sound whatsoever. Instead of clothes, the right side of the cabinet was filled with piles of newspaper. The top of the pile states “MURDERER ON THE LOOSE”. I shrug it off and opened the left side of the cabinet. Finally, some clothes. I grabbed all the clothes on, mostly skin-tight female clothes, trying to fit it through my huge hip. I finally found a t-shirt large enough to fit into Ming Xuan’s body.
I finally got myself settled down in the room and looked around. More newspaper articles line up along the walls. 3 MEN KILLED THIS WEEK. HOMICIDE OR SUICIDE? THE CHEATER KILLER ON THE LOOSE WITH 24 MURDERS! More and more articles showing a wanted anonymous murderer are pinned and stacked all around the room. Papers and photos strewn all over the floor.
My qualification certificates lined a part of the room and at the corner of the table was a tiny photo of myself smiling in my lab coat, holding on to a cadaver. I picked up a black file on the table. Each page has a date on the top left corner and a name of a person. Detailed information line up on each page of the individual with photos of them on it. Photos of their dead bodies are pasted at the end of each page. Could they all have been my patients? Memories of me cutting through their flesh flashed by but no proper recollection returned.
I realize something amiss about each patient. Instead of noting them with their patient ID number, they were all labelled as “Targets”.
And on the last page of the file were the details of Yu Ming Xuan. Sex: Male. Age: 28. Partners: Ricky, Ashley, David, Kathy. My memories started to flush in, one by one. And at that moment, I hear the door handle click behind me.
I spun around quickly staring straight at the door. I stood petrified as beads of sweat rolled down my forehead, my ears shot up like radar dishes, surveying the sound waves for any new transmissions. But nothing. Just eerie murderous silence.
“How the hell do I get out of here?” I thought aloud to myself. I riffled through the files once more trying to get a better sense of things, there was one thing for sure, this was definitely where I lived.
“Ach!” I snarled as my upper lip curled and nose drew up wrinkled as I analysed the black file with more detail. “Multiple sex partners… cheaters… filthy wretched assholes, it’s no wonder they’re dead. Tarnished souls, thank God they don’t exist anymore-Ouch!” Pain shot through my entire body as the lacerations on my genitals gave an unpleasant reminder of who I was.
“This God-forsaken body, sweaty and fat, Why, WHY! Arghhhhh… out of all other targets, stuck in the worst one of all! 4 PARTNERS ALL AT THE SAME TIME. What a scumbag! No wonder his penis’ lacerated, he deserves it, all these people, all these CHEATERS, THEY ALL DESERVE TO DIE DIE DIE!!”
“You’re wrong, you deserve to die.” a voice echoed through the room.
As I shifted my gaze back to the door, I hadn’t realized that the makeshift barricade had already been breached; it was wide open with the cabinet on its side. The blue tinge from the room had infiltrated the hallway, illuminating a silhouette that stood at the door.
“Ming Xuan…” I instinctively responded. But much to my surprise, I was wrong. Instead, a strong, bulky figure stood in place the soft delicate figure that is my body. As the figure strolled towards me, the light tumbled upon his skin, illuminating a rugged weathered man. Clad in a dark blue uniform, the glossy shine on his black boots was apparent even in the low lighting. As he readjusted his peak cap, a pistol could be seen hanging idly from his hip, even though the confrontation had not even begun, it was clear who was in control.
“At last, I have you, Veronica.”
I instinctively backed up against the wall, not taking my eyes off this new threat. There was something about him that was so familiar but I couldn’t place my finger on it.
“Who…who are you?” I stuttered.
His smirk fell a bit before a look of realisation crossed his face. “Huh, seems like a side effect of the body swap is a loss of memory. This could serve me well.”
“How do you know of the body swap?” I grabbed the scalpel on my desk and stepped forward, this time my anger taking over my fear. “Again, who are you and what have you done to me?”
“What I’ve done to you?” He chuckled. “Do you even know how much trouble you’ve cost me trying to get ahold of you? Everytime I think I am catching up to you, you are suddenly two steps ahead. Even to the point of escaping our world, and coming into this mortal Earth to hide from me? Only you, would find the means to leave Aspar.”
Aspar.
The word clicked, and memories came rushing back. I saw visions of myself being trapped in my hideout surrounded by the police. But I recognised the place as somewhere back in my homeland, Aspar. Then, I jumped through a portal. The last thing I saw as I fell through the swirling abyss of light was the face of a rugged man wearing a peak cap –
“Alaric…” I whispered with dread. “You found me.”
Alaric stepped towards the desk and looked at the black file. “So I see you are still continuing your vigilante acts that got you in trouble back in Aspar.”
My mind swirled with everything coming back to me at once. “You swapped my body with Ming Xuan, because with my brain and body separated, I wouldn’t be as powerful, would I? And you actually stand a chance now.”
“Well, to be fair, we thought swapping you with Ming Xuan would keep you hostage in a dead man’s body, but seems like your brain was strong enough to wake this pig up.” He gestured at me, looking with disgust.
“But, enough talk, princess. Now, I take you in, for your little kills you think of as acts of justice.”
My mind raced. How do I get out of this situation without my powers?
I tried to stall. “I am helping rid the world of bastards. Helping them meet the fate they deserve.”
“And now, you meet yours.”
As soon as the valve was open, the memories kept flowing like a raging river, eventually tearing through the dam in my mind. I remembered everything.
The sudden surge of memories momentarily overwhelmed me, and I dropped to my knees, clutching my head in pain. All the evil… all the bad men I’ve seen.
“Where are you, Veronica! It’s time for Daddy to play with you!”
“Where are you Veronica, Daddy wants a hug!”
“YOU LITTLE BITCH, STOP HIDING AND COME OUT NOW, I DON’T LIKE WAITING”
“Mummy, why are you crying?”
“It’s nothing dear… it’s just…
All men are pigs.”
“All men are pigs.”
“Veronica, how’d you…”
“Veronica calm down, you don’t want to hurt Daddy now, do you?”
“Veronica… put down that knife….”
“VERONICA!”
“All men are pigs, I’m just helping get rid of the especially filthy ones,” I smirked.
“You act all high and mighty Veronica, but you’re a monster and you know it.” Alaric scoffed.
“What you’ve done to these men isn’t justice. Yes, they might be scumbags that cheated on their significant others, but that’s no excuse for dissecting and mutilating their bodies. Much less tearing and feeding their privates to rats in the sewers!”
“I only choose the fattest and juiciest pigs to feed my babies.” I laughed hysterically.
“You can’t be saved. Turn yourself in now Veronica, it’s over.”
“NEVER! I’VE DONE NOTHING WRONG!” I screamed, lunching straight for Alaric’s pistol.,
Caught off guard, Alaric couldn’t react in time and we both crashed onto the ground, fighting for possession of the pistol. I manically attacked Alaric’s face, clawing and punching him with all my might, but alas this human body was weak. Alaric pried my hands off after some struggle grabbed my neck, launching me across the room.
CRASH! My body hit the wall, knocking over a shelf that landed on top of my body, slowly crushing me.
I winced in pain and groaned, frantically trying to squeeze my way out. In my peripheral vision, I saw Alaric get up sluggishly, shaking his head a few times. Then I saw him reach for something on the ground before walking straight towards me.
Grunting, I kicked and screamed, willing myself to get out of this mess.
“It’s over Veronica, I wanted to take you in peacefully, but it seems I can’t take any chances. My orders were to take you back, dead or alive. My boss would have preferred the latter. But you’ve proven time and time again that a psychopath like you can’t my contained.”
“Good bye Veronica.”
Bang. A single shot echoed throughout the house.
A tiny black box blares aloud at its own corner of the room. Nestled in a peculiar, red sofa, cosied under a blanket, are eyes glued to the box, almost turning square. A blank staring face, engrossed and transfixed on the channels switched from the first to the next. Various newscasters fill the screen as they report the different murders. The flickering screen and volume turned out so loud the windows were vibrating at the corner.
The figure gets up and goes to the kitchen, picking up a knife into the air and motioning to the table. Even the passage of the light slowed down and sounds became as if they were underwater. The knife pierced through as if the body was nothing, just meat and blood bones. Her face, once rosy and pink looked frozen, with eyes wide open and mouth slacked as her arms propelled backward. Her eyes held on and you can see how in those fractions of seconds how she just simply vanished.
Bodies line up the kitchen table tops like ghoulish mannequins, oesophagus and arteries portruding like corrugated rubber tubing. Their corpses were all still toasty. “Murderer still at large” “12 more killings in 3 months” The reporters’ voices can be heard echoing in the background. Some of the cases took a while before deciding if there were any foul play involved but ultimately, homicide was definitely connected.
The figure picks up her kits and begin to stitch the cadavers back properly, piling the lifelessness on top of each other. Her lips curl up in a slight smirk.
*******
Black never-ending nothingness. The darkness came like thick velvet curtains of the theatre. Even though it was dark, it felt calm. The dark room was like a place out of time; it felt like a sanctuary, and a place to recharge. I rubbed my eyes, trying to adjust them to my surroundings. My eyes wandered around the room, and shapes surround me in monochrome.
That familiar indescribable smell in the air returned. The sickening, nauseating stench of sterility once again triggered my memories. I propped myself up. The cold concrete floor was warmed by my body temperature. I was clad in my white lab coat, the kind of white that sears into your retinas and make you temporarily blind, especially in this dimly lit space.
My body felt deadened for some reason. It felt like it has been centuries since I have been keeled over. Why is my body aching so much? I forced myself up, feeling light-headed. I was profoundly confused. I recall this morgue, it belongs to me. I am at home, but what am I doing on the floor?
A needle, scalpel and knife are located near me. I put them away to their respective compartments and shut the chamber door behind me. It reads “Yu Ming Xuan”. I cocked my head to the side, as I tried to recollect my thoughts.
A deafening gun shot blared out of a sudden. I rushed out of the morgue and climbed up the small ladder at the side of the room, and that was when I heard it.
“Let’s get going, princess. Ha! Shame that you can’t even die in your own body. You were quite a stunner. Alas, you’ve to spend your death in the body of the victim who died in your own bare hands. The kingdom of Aspar will be so proud of me.”
I peeked out of the tiny gap that separates the both of us. Ming Xuan’s body has nothing more than a borrowed element forged in the star. His pig fats and bruised and lacerated abdomen and thighs can be seen as Alaric dragged Ming Xuan across the hallway. Upon reaching the main entrance, he clicked on the handle twice and evaporated into thin air, along with Ming Xuan’s defunct body.