They both reflexively covered their eyes against the second flash of light, and when they uncovered them, the boy who Mikey used to be was no longer there. Instead, there was a woman as old as Mikey's mother, but not his mother.
She looked at herself in the mirror. "I'm not myself." She turned around and looked at Mikey. "You're still in my body."
"Julia," Mikey's father said, from the hallway. "Have you seen my ...? Oh. I didn't know we had company," he said, after seeing the "new" woman standing near who he thought was his wife, but was actually Mikey. He peeked into the room. "Where's Mikey?"
"Uh," Mikey said, again with his mother's voice. "He went to a friend's house."
"Chris," the "new" woman said. It was barely a whisper.
"I'm sorry? Do I know you?" he asked her back.
How was Mikey going to fix this? His mother couldn't stay like that and he certainly didn't want to spend the rest of his life in his mother's body. He was thinking of explaining it to his dad, but how would he react?
