While Mark was trying to wrap his head around what had happened to him, someone appeared in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room. Glancing over, Mark’s jaw hit the floor. Entering the room was his mother but with a very different look going on. Instead of the long blonde hair that she constantly went to the salon to touch up, Mark’s mother, Mary, had short hair that was colored in Mary’s natural brown color. Getting closer, you could see small strands of grey hair which often you’d never see as Mary would constantly attempt to touch them up. Moving past the short hair, Mary was dressed in an outfit that looked very familiar to Mark. The t shirt and jeans that she had on looked identical to the clothes that Mark had on not too long ago. From what it looked like, Mark and Mary had swapped clothes and hairstyles.
“Hey mom, is dinner almost ready?” Mary asked as she strolled into the room, opening the fridge to pull out a drink. Mark was still in a state of shock that this was just more being piled onto this already strange situation. What was weird about what Mary said wasn’t only the fact that she called Mark “mom”, it was also the tone she used to speak. Her voice hadn’t changed drastically but her short sentence seemed to have a slightly deeper pitch.
“Uhhh mom?” Mark asked as Mary popped her head out of the fridge.
“Yeah, I was talking to you. Who else would I be talking to?” Mary soon closed the doors to the fridge as in her hand was an ice tea that Mark knew his mother never liked. Come to think of it, that ice tea was usually his favorite drink. This was all becoming too much as Mark realized something was wrong. He could ask Mary what was going on but clearly she had no clue as she didn’t seem at all confused by their changes in outfits. Knowing what he had to do, Mark decided to play the part as he forced a smile onto his face.
“I’m sorry dear, just wasn’t thinking. Dinner should be ready soon,” Mark said as Mary nodded her head. As she did so, she took a swig of her tea as Mark watched this in amazement.
“Alright, I won’t get a snack then,” Mary said as she exited the kitchen with her drink, leaving Mark completely alone in the kitchen.
“What the actual fuck was that? She didn’t even act like anything was different. And she called me ‘mom’. I mean I have her clothes and long hair but… could I actually be her now?” Mark thought to himself as he started to enter a downward spiral. His mind couldn’t comprehend anything that was going on as his only question he could muster was “why?”. Thinking a bit more, he began to wonder if perhaps this all had something to do with his dream. The voice mentioned something about taking his life for granted. Was this some sort of punishment?
