She hated herself for thinking it, but it was true. She knew that if she did swap back, she might struggle to move on from this terrible experience, knowing what her body had been used for.
One night, Annabelle saw her body standing there with a smile on its face, pouring some wine. The guy had been a little nicer to her today and had even poured her a glass, but she didn't trust him at all now.
"It's a good day. A day I didn't see coming for a while, but ever since letting that homeless guy into your body, I'm just not feeling it anymore, so..."
Excited about what this guy was going to say, she cut across him.
"So... you're going to swap back with me?"
But her body just laughed.
"Hell no! I've found myself a new body, and it'll be nice to change things up. he's upstairs now. Want to meet the person who will soon be you?"
Annabelle went upstairs, where she saw a woman's body sitting on the bed. She was roughly Annabelle's age, and she looked at her with such hatred.
"I'm so leaving this place after our swap. I'm not having her hanging around in that body, cramping my style."
"Once we swap, you can do whatever you like. I don't really care!" said Annabelle's body.
Annabelle knew it would not be as simple as the two of them swapping bodies. They first decided to put on a show for Annabelle to torment her, showing her that they had power over her and that the guy could still do whatever he wanted with her. Again, she stayed in the room out of choice, despite the other body thief locking the door to make her watch.
After a difficult hour, the two captors, both men who had stolen the bodies of these two innocent women, said,
"Think it's time to swap."
They both stood up on the bed as Annabelle watched. She was prepared to do something, anything, to try to stop them or interfere. Her captor, the guy who had used and ruined her life, took one last look at her body and then grabbed the other woman's arm.
Annabelle moved quickly, jumping up on the bed and grabbing her own arm and the other woman's arm hard. Suddenly, she felt that feeling. It was like fifty thousand volts coursing through the body she had been a prisoner in.
When it stopped, they all fell backwards. The man's body fell off the bed and onto the floor. The other woman's body collapsed onto the top of the bed near the pillows, and Annabelle's body fell towards the foot of the bed.
As she awoke, she saw long hair covering her vision. It had worked, but as she cleared it away, she saw her own body sitting up and looking down at itself. Annabelle was free of the male body she had been trapped in, but she was now in the body of the other woman.
"It worked!" said her body as the man inside it ran his hands up and down Annabelle's body.
"DAMN IT!" said Annabelle, watching in horror as the guy who was now back in his original body looked up at them.
"No, no, no! You interfering little cow! I'm not going back to my old body," he said.
"Give me that body! It's mine!"
He lunged towards Annabelle, but she was able to move out of his way. The guy was up now and moving towards her. Annabelle did not know if he was going to kill her or try to swap into his intended target's body.
But out of nowhere, Annabelle's original body appeared behind the guy and smacked him in the head with one of her weights, knocking him to the floor.
"Thank you," said Annabelle.
The act confused her. The other body thief had been horrible to her earlier, yet now, from inside Annabelle's original body, he had just saved her.
He said nothing. He simply pulled on some clothes and headed for the door.
"Please," said Annabelle. "All I want is my life back. Swap back into this body and find another body."
The man inside her original body stopped in the doorway. He didn't turn around or say a word. He simply left.
Now Annabelle sat there in a stranger's body again. At least she was a woman. At least she was young again. The guy's body began to stir, and she made a decision: run. It might not have been her life, but it was better than being stuck in that body again.
She picked up some clothes and some money she had hidden and ran down the stairs. She could hear the guy shouting for her as she opened the door and left the apartment block.
She ran as far and as fast as this body would let her before jumping on a bus.
She sat on the bus and could see her reflection in the glass. It was not what she wanted, but it was better than what she had.