Swapped

Chapter 2

They were seated around a large oak table in the dining room – all of them: Josh, and the parents. Airlie had quickly discovered that these people were rich: the clothes they wore, the way they spoke, the house they lived in...

They were nice though...Even the father, who clearly lived his life by the standards of the military: focused, resilient, loyal, courageous, and stern when he needed to be. His voice was serious and directing now, but there was a note of exhaustion in it.

"Mace, you're eighteen. You need to stop mucking around and grow up. You can go to parties, sure, that's your choice; but not every night – not while your living under my roof, got it?" Airlie nodded her head silently, and almost saluted, but thought better of it. She'd never been much of a party girl herself, but they still thought she was Macey.

"Tell us, what happened last night?" The mother spoke, her voice soft, in comparison to the military gruff of her husband. Airlie shrugged. How was she to know? Last night she'd been in her own body, in her own home trying to sleep. There'd been some racket going on in one of the houses down the street, and she was supposed to have a job interview today which she'd been fretting over, and when she couldn't sleep she decided she'd go for a cycle to settle her mind. Cycling always helped her sort through all the bad things in her life.

The night was dark, the air was hot, but somehow comforting; enveloping her in a warm hug. She'd just do a loop around the block. It would take her...twenty minutes, that was all.

Airlie counted the numbers of the houses as she passed them, with the throb of music slowly becoming louder the closer she rode to the racket house, and when she finally arrived, it was a party – obviously it was a party; she should have realised that.

There were drunken uni students everywhere, looking like idiots, but having fun. Airlie stopped riding for a moment, parking her bike along the curb of the house across the street, regarding the scene. She'd never been to a party before – not one with alcohol and loud music, anyway – and she wondered, if she were to go inside, would she enjoy herself?

As she wondered this, three people came tumbling outside. Two were making out, and shrouded in darkness, as the other reached into his pocket. Airlie could just make out the tattoo of...something...She wasn't sure what, on the inside of his wrist. He pulled out a ring of keys, pushing a button on them, and an old black Subaru lit up. The guy, who seemed sober next to his friends, made his way around to the driver's side of the vehicle, and as he spotted Airlie, waved politely in her direction, making his tattoo more obvious. It was a frog. An interesting choice for a tattoo, Airlie thought. She smiled at him, before her gaze was drawn to the other two, as the girl leant into the shadow behind the car and puked up clear liquid with globs of half-processed biscuits and left-over dinner on the road behind the car. Airlie grimaced, while the boy the girl had been making out with moment before laughed at her.

She rolled her eyes at herself. She'd seen enough – of course she wouldn't enjoy herself at a party like this!

Hopping back on her bike, she began to pedal her way home.

She hadn't got far, when a car horn sounded frighteningly loudly from behind her. Airlie had barely enough time to gage what was happening before...

"Oh my God..." Airlie felt her jaw slacken as the memory suddenly made its way into her mind. How had she forgotten? Was she dead?

"What is it?" Her three companions frowned at Airlie curiously, and Airlie took a moment to process what she'd just realised.

"I need to tell you something."

"Go on...?"

"I am..." Airlie hesitated. How would they take this? She gulped. "...Not really Macey." Macey's father scoffed.

"Oh, come on! Don't be ridiculous! That's bullshit, and we all know it. Stop mucking around and tell us the truth." Airlie heaved, and levelled her gaze with Macey's father.

"I am." The tone of her voice was earnest and unwavering, and when Macey's father tried to protest again, Airlie held up a sturdy hand silently. It was obviously out of character enough to make him think twice about retaliating.

Silence fell, and no one spoke for several long seconds.

"I am not really Macey." She started again, but this time was met with no complaint, only mild curiosity, mixed with incredulity. "My name is really Airlie Matthews. I have curly red hair, boring blue eyes and freckles everywhere. I am not..." Airlie motioned to her current body. "A model!" She looked to Macey's mother, who was an older version of the girl, but with blue eyes instead of green. Both held the image of a goddess. "I have a brother, whose name is Daniel, not Josh," Airlie glanced pointedly at Josh, sitting opposite her, and he raised a contemplative brow at her, "And both he and my dad love me very much." Airlie met Macey's mother's gaze again and cocked her head thoughtfully. "I've never had a mother...But I've always wanted one." She smiled, but was met with the gaping mouth and wide eyes of a shocked and upset mother who'd just been told by a girl who looks like her daughter that she doesn't exist. "As for what happened last night, your daughter, Macey and her friends hit me with their car...And I should be dead. But for whatever reason, I find myself inside your daughter's body. And I don't know...maybe she's in mine?" Airlie broke off from her declaration as she considered, and in the silence, her listeners looked at each other dubiously. Finally, Josh spoke, interrupting Airlie's thoughts.

"You're crazy. The drugs and the alcohol...They've finally done it. You're mentally ill, Mace; you're confused."

"I'm not, Josh! Please! Why can't you believe me?" Josh shrugged, along with his parents.

"Because all 'Macey'," he made quotation marks in the air with his fingers, "Ever does is lie to us. And her lies are usually as unbelievable as this time."

"I'm not lying!"

"Honey," Macey's mother reached out a hand and placed it gently on top of Airlie's. "Just stop the act now, before it gets even worse, please?" Airlie shook her head. She should have realised they wouldn't believe her.

"No! I...I'm not making this up; I'm not lying." She heaved. "Look, can you at least check the news for any car crashes last night along Baremont Road? It was a black Subaru, and two other guys...One with dark hair and a tattoo of a frog on the inside of his wrist, and a blonde guy...I didn't see much of him, but he was tall."

"Gray and Brad?" Josh wondered, and Airlie shrugged.

"I wouldn't know. I just saw them from across the street." Macey's parents shook their heads, unsure what to think of the situation, but switched on the TV anyway and flicked through to the late-morning news. The caption read 'Three Teens Dead in Post-Party Drink-Driving Accident'. A news reporter with greying hair read from a sheet of notes in front of him, as images of the crash site filled half of the screen.

"Three university students were killed last night along Baremont Road, when friends, Graham Saunders and Brad Butler, crashed into Airlie Matthews, an innocent, who lost her life for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Graham and Brad were under the influence of alcohol when the crash occurred. Locals are now in a state on anguish and indignation as they regard the fourth fatal car incident to have occurred in the area over the last six months." The screen moved to interviews: Mrs. Dune, complaining about the ignorance and stupidity of partying university students; a medic who'd been first on scene at the accident, explaining the influences of alcohol, and finally, Airlie's father, who said little as he teared up and began to sob. It wasn't the fact that Airlie's body, at least, was dead, that upset Airlie, but watching her father mourn her death, when she was still – somehow – alive, but couldn't do anything to let him know. She was sure if she tried to tell him she was still alive, but in another body, he wouldn't believe her, just like Macey's family hadn't. In fact, it would probably only make him feel worse. He might think she was a stupid girl playing a disgustingly crude joke on him...And then he would hate her new host body. Airlie felt a tear prick at her eye, sliding its way down her cheek, as she realised, if she wanted to secure a life with her father and brother, then she'd have to pretend to be Macey... It seemed like the only way. Another tear fell as Airlie set her mind to the plan, unaware of the three faces watching her in horror.