Interchangeable Parts

There was once a girl named Venus who lived in a world where you could change your eyes. In fact, you could change any part of your body, if you wanted- new hands, feet, lungs and stomachs. One after another, no matter how many times you needed. This was a long time ago.

And one day, after trading her purple eyes out for a pair of brown ones, she met Eris.

Eris was a boy who lived in a place where you didn't change anything. He was born with silver eyes and would never change them. So when he bumped into Venus, the girl with the brown eyes and blonde hair, he thought she was like him. And when she saw Eris, the boy with silver eyes and jet black hair, she thought he was like her.

They spent lots of time together, taking walks in the city and having picnics where the grass was still green. She showed him the wonderful world of the inner city, bringing him to the clubs and water-parks and restaurants with organic food. He didn't understand all of it, or how she could afford such luxuries, but enjoyed them with her nonetheless. And he showed her the wonders that were the outer towns, taking her to the ruins of things that used to be. Carnivals and hotels, parks and libraries. Things that were lost to time. He took her to his friends and family, all plain and simple. She understood none of it; how he found wonder in broken things and why his mother had wrinkles. But she enjoyed it with him, nonetheless.

After some time, they fell in love.

They planned on spending their lives together. One fateful afternoon, though, would change that forever. She went to the store and bought a new pair of eyes, again, settling for a sparkling blue. And when he saw her...He realized what she was.

They argued about it and fought, but then she realized his whole family had silver eyes- not because they wanted to match, but because they were born that way.

And she didn't want to love him, after that fateful day.

And he didn't want to love her.

So she went to change her heart. But it didn't work. The first heart didn't change the love between them- it simply made it stronger. So she went in again, getting hearts from people who had never met, never breathed in the same direction. And it didn't work. Over and over again, until she went through nearly every heart in the inner city. They never fell out of love and her heart never stopped breaking. They couldn't do it. He refused to change his.

So she made the ultimate sacrifice- she got their brain put into a different body. Her mind. And when she woke up, she was still Venus, but her nose was different and where she came from was different. It was what she needed to let him go.

She never saw her old body, again.

And one day, after changing her eyes to compliment her darker skin, she ran into a boy. And she fell in love at the first sight.

His name was Eris.