Melissa Barker-Simpson

Last Saturday, I had the opportunity to guest post over at Silver Threading. I wrote a short piece of fiction, using the following prompt:

“I wish I’d wake up tomorrow and be anyone but me,”

You’ve had a rough day at work. You head home and go straight to bed, mumbling, “I wish I’d wake up tomorrow and be anyone but me,” before dozing off. When you wake up in the morning, your dream has come true, as you quickly realize that you are not you—you are someone else that you know! Excited to live the day in that person’s shoes, you set off, only to find a day in the life of that person isn’t as easy as you imagined. By: Brian A. Klems | April 22, 2015 http://www.writersdigest.com/prompts/anyone-but-me

I couldn’t resist writing a second part to the tale. If you haven’t read the first and you want to, click here. In summary: Sophie, a doctor working in the emergency department, wakes up to realise she has switched places with Dominic (The Alligator) Spencer – a pro wrestler she treats at a private clinic. Meeting reality, literally face to face, is a little too much for Sophie and she hits the deck!

The Last Laugh: Part 2 

I came to on the cool, hard surface of my living room floor. No smelling salts for me. I got a brisk slap to the face, and an accusatory glare from…

Shit.

I was having an out of body experience. I’d seen those green eyes in the mirror, in photographs, but never staring back at me like lasers burning into my brain.

Wait. Is it my brain or Dominic’s brain…oh get a grip, Sophie.

The green eyes narrowed, all traces of horror gone. Now they were lit with blazing anger. “What the hell did you do to me?” I said. Well, sort of. It was my voice, and it came from my body, but I wasn’t the pilot.

Shit.

“I didn’t do anything. This is crazy.” My voice, for all its new timbre, sounded oddly defensive. “Everyone wishes they were someone else.” And…now Dominic sounded like a whiney child, which for some reason struck me as funny.

I’ve clearly lost my mind. Really. It’s not even Friday.

“What kind of voodoo is this? I thought you were a medical practitioner?” Dominic demanded.

A laugh broke free before I could stop it, or perhaps it was hysteria. I was feeling light-headed again. Listening to Dominic’s words, coming out of my mouth, clearly meant one of two things. I had either eaten something dodgy and was hallucinating the whole thing, or the exhaustion had finally pushed me over the edge.

“Oh for god’s sake,” Dominic muttered, rising to an unimpressive five feet. I couldn’t help wondering what that felt like. “Look. You’d better tell me how we can fix this. Like, pronto. I have a press conference in thirty minutes.

“Thirty minutes?” I squeaked. Well, it wasn’t quite the sound that came out, but it was close.

“Yes. So get your shit together,” Dominic said. “You know…you always seemed so competent. Now you’re-”

The words snapped off when I shot to my feet. My new height was an advantage and I used it. “Don’t waste your trash talk on me. You have considerably less weight to throw around at the mo-” For a split second, the sound of the mobile phone threw me off kilter. Just another crazy twist to my delusional fantasy. The warning tone sounded like an air raid siren. I didn’t know whether to hit the deck, make for a shelter, or laugh at the absurdity of it all.

“You have to answer it,” Dominic said, thrusting the phone at me. “It’s my agent and that’s the fourth call in twenty minutes.”

“Then why don’t you-”

He cut me off by jigging the thing at me. “I’m not feeling myself at the moment, if you get my drift.” He pointed a slim finger at my chest. “You kind of have something of mine.”

Shit.

As I grabbed the phone, I had to resist the urge to crush it in my fist. It was a relief when the sound cut off, or it was until I put the phone to my ear and was hit by a string of obscenities so foul I wanted to blush. The thought sent me into another laughing fit, and then all I heard was silence on the other end. That couldn’t be good.

***

I purposely ended part two there, because I’d like to open things up. If you want to continue where I left off and write part three, please leave a pingback in the comment section. What do you say? Would you like to take part in the challenge?

Thanks for stopping by.

Mel