Oxenfree - Switching the Boys

Chapter 4

"So wait-you two switched bodies? Like, Ren's brain is in Jonas' head, and vice versa?" Nona questioned, her eyes darting between the two.

"Weird way to put it but, I guess, yeah." Jonas said taking another puff of his cigarette.

"Would you-" Ren then stood up and swatted the cigarette away. "Stop smoking! You're ruining my lungs!"

"Oh c'mon. You eat weed brownies. How's this different?" Jonas questioned, folding his arms over his chest.

"I can give you exactly 11 reasons why it is!"

"Oh my god are you guys going to fight again?" Alex interjected with an annoyed sigh.

"Oh yeah?" Jonas continued, ignoring Alex. "I'd just love to hear them."

"Okay, stop it!" Alex said loudly, startling the arguing two. "God, you sound like an old married couple!"

"Wha-he started it." Ren defended and got a punch from Jonas.

"I don't care who started it, because I'm ending it."

"Can we please find a way to put them back? I-In their own bodies? So we can continue our escape?" Nona questioned, to Alex more than anybody.

"Yes, we will. First things first, let's go investigate where the swap took place."

"That would be the dick tower." Ren answered, and both boys giggled. Ignoring the immature laughs, Alex spun around.

"To Harden Tower we go."

--

"I don't really see anything that would cause this." Nona noted once the group was at the top.

"Maybe they have a reason for doing this?"

"They? They who?"

"The uh, ghosts." Alex said as she started to mess around with the radio.
"What are you doing?" Nona asked after watching her mess with it for a minute.

"When Jonas and I came here when this all um, started, I thought I heard somebody talking." Alex explained, as she picked up the phone and put it to her ear.

"Um yeah. You heard me talking." Ren said, folding his arms over his chest. It wasn't that he didn't believe this was all due to ghosts, it was the fact that he didn't think the ghosts would talk with Alex through an old phone on an old communication tower.

"No Jonas, you were with me. I talked to Ren and Clarissa-" Alex paused suddenly, sighing heavily. "Okay this body switching is going to mess me up a lot."

"Don't worry, looking at my own face startles me every time." Ren said, resting his elbow on the top of Jonas' head. "Although, it is a nice perk, being taller." He added with a grin as Jonas swatted his arm away. Alex only scoffed at the two, going back to concentrating on the phone.

"Whoa wait. I hear something. Everybody be quiet for a sec." Alex closed her eyes and focused on the light whispering coming from the phone. She couldn't make it out exactly, but could've sworn the static voice was mumbling:

"Keep. Her."

Then continued on with an inaudible ending.

"What are you saying?" Alex sighed into the phone, a small but hopeful part of her wishing for a response. When none came, Alex hung the phone back up.

"You uh, get anything?" Nona asked, even though she could've easily seen that by Alex's face, the answer was no. But much like Alex, she had hope.

"Well half of a broken sentence-'Keep her.' Any ideas?"

"Could it be 'keep here?'" Jonas suggested. "Like, the ghosts want to keep us here?"

"It was more of a 'er' sound. So I think they were trying to say her. But uh, good try." After that nobody had any other suggestions as to what it meant.

"So what now?" Ren asked suddenly, stepping forward.

"We should go find Clarissa." Nona offered, straightening herself as to look more authoritative.

“I would agree with that but, where do we even start?” Alex commented, looking to the group who all shrugged.

“Well we could all-” Cutting Nona off, the phone rang. Alex was quick to answer it, although shot Nona an ‘I’m sorry’ glance.

“Keep. Her. Switch. Back.”

Alex could make out the full thing now, and she instantly started to interpret the meaning.

“The. Girl. Red. Hair.”

The voice continued, and realization hit Alex rather hard.

“Clarissa…? You want Clarissa?” She asked, and saw the faces of everybody perk up.

“Yes. Then. Boys. Switch. Back. Talk. Soon. You. Make. Decision.”

Alex drew a shaky breath, as the phone went silent. She hung it up and turned to give the choices they were left with.

“The uh, ghosts, said we can either give up Clarissa to them, or Ren and Jonas will never switch back.” She informed, not even sure how they’d take it. She was certain Nona would go for option two, except it was easy to choose the right answer when it wasn’t you who was at stake. However, Alex could guess either way Nona wouldn’t leave Clarissa.

“What? Why do they want Clarissa so bad?” Ren asked, scrunching his face in confusion.

"I don't know. But whatever the reason, we can't just give up Clarissa, right?" Alex watched Ren and Jonas exchange looks, giving each other light, but quick nods.

"Right." They said in unison, again nodding but this time to Alex.

"Except, where is she exactly?" Jonas questioned, his eyes shifting from Alex, to Ren, to Nona, and back to Alex.

"I think our best bet is to look around town, where me and Nona were. We uh, saw her there." Alex explained.

"Yeah! She'll probably be there!" Nona exclaimed perking up. "Just uh, hopefully not, you know, possesed."

"Yeah, I'm sure she's okay." Alex comforted, placing a hand on Nona's shoulder. "C'mon, lets go and get Clarissa." She said, starting out the door.

"Mission Clarissa is a-go!" Ren announced, bouncing out the door.

"It's so strange to see Ren's personality portrayed through Jonas." Alex commented to herself, following behind.

Alex wasn't sure if they'd find Clarissa, but she couldn't just give up...right?
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AUTHOR NOTES:

Sooo a longer-ish chapter? Lol. So this chapter is really just Nona and Alex's reaction to the situation, and setting a new mission for the gang ;)

Hope you liked it!!

-Nathan.