Losing Yourself in a Relationship Flash Fiction

Maxwell Tymes led his blindfolded girlfriend, Chloe into his lab.

“Take off your blindfold!” Maxwell shouted.

She untied her blindfold and was discouraged to find a machine. “What is it?”

“Get into it and I’ll show you.”

“I don’t know about this.”

He pushed her into the tube and glass closed the door. He got into the other tube of the machine and pulled out his remote from his pocket. He started up the machine.

The machine malfunctioned and they fused together into a mutated monster.

They walk outside. “What do we do now?” their voices overlapped as they spoke. “We have to undo this.”

“Monster!” One of their neighbors shouted.

They slithered back inside and into the basement/lab. “Turn us back!”

The glass cracked as they squeezed into the tube. They reached for the remote and flipped the reverse switch with their tentacle. The machine violently shook and Max’s body separated from Chloe’s body. Max’s body phased back into the other tube.

Chloe walked out of the tube. “I’m back.” She cleared her throat. “Was it supposed to do that?”

Maxes walked out of the other tube. “No, of course not. Give me some time to fix it and I’ll show you what it was supposed to do.”

“Alright, I’ll be back later. I’m working late tonight.”

Max shooed her away as he screwed the screws back in.

Chloe returned home later that night and walked downstairs to the basement.

“Now, you get in this tube and I’ll–”

“How can you trust that monstrosity won’t happen again?”

“Trust me, honey.” He held her hands.

“Alright.”

Chloe entered the tube and Max entered the other tube.

The rubber tubes connected to the glass tubes shook and their brains switched from one body to the other.

Chloe’s body with Max’s brain in it walked out of the tube. “Woah, I’ve never-this is–” Max held her throat.

Chloe in Max’s body walked out of the other tube. “What did you do this time?”

“Don’t you see? I have successfully switched our brains.”

“What? How?”

“I don’t have time to explain. I have research to do and notes to take.”

Chloe walked around the house in Max’s body. She/he pet their cat Momo and he ran off in fear. Max never pet Momo since he was always busy in his lab. She went to bed.

The next morning, Chloe still in Max’s body woke up voice she had to cancel her hair appointment.

She suddenly had the urge to check on Max (in her body) in the basement. “Hey, honey.” She saw her body in a lab coat. Max ran around checking test tubes and dials.

“I’m busy. Come back later,” Max said in Chloe’s voice.

“But I need my body back. What’s the point of all this? To walk in each other’s shoes.”

“The point of all of this is–for experiments and research.”

“What are you researching?” Chloe (in Max’s voice) asked as shook a test tube and accidentally dropped it on the floor.

“Just get out of here and we will talk about it later.”

“Fine, sorry.”

What am I supposed to do now? Walk around in Max’s body until who knows when? I can’t go to work. I’ll have to call out sick.

So, she called out sick. Free day! She read a book and watched her favorite TV show, Upton Abbey. The last episode of the show ended and she thought, What can I do that I could never do as a woman?

She took her top off (in Max’s body) and ran from her house, through the park, and back. The only glances she got were from women and gay guys.

She put her shirt back on and rushed back home to shower. After she got redressed, she went into a bar in the middle of the day. She had a few drinks and throw her bottle on the ground.

“Hey, you gonna clean that up?” Chloe (in Max’s low voice) asked.

“I will, once you get outta here!” the bartender shouted.

“Oh, is that right? Well–” she jumped over the bar counter and sucker-punched the bartender in the face.

The police arrived and pulled Chloe away from the bartender. They arrested her.

Her one phone call was for her boyfriend. “Hello? Max?”

“What is it, Chloe? I’m extremely busy.”

“Honey, I’m in jail. Please get me out of here!”

“Mr. Tymes, your time on the phone is up,” the officer said as ripped the phone out of his hand.

Max in Chloe’s body paid the bail and took his girlfriend home.

They immediately switched back brains so nothing like this would happen again.

You can lose yourself in a relationship or you can be separate but together.