Empathy (Book 2)

Out in the Open

Ellie stirred, groaning. She vaguely remembered playing a card game with Neo and Gem long into the night, until they'd eventually succumbed and got in bed; still half asleep, she opened her eyes blearily to see Jorgie lying right next to her, watching her with a small smile on her face.

"Ah!" Ellie jerked away, as her sleepy mind hadn't quite yet registered the events of the night before, and banged her elbow on the bedside table. Immediately, the smile on Jorgie's face dropped.

"Sorry." Neo muttered, immediately getting up. The events of the night before finally clear in her mind, Ellie sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"No, Neo, wait...!" She half-heartedly reached out as her boyfriend stood up. "I forgot who you were for a second. Please forgive me?"

"No no, don't worry, its not your fault I'm like this." He replied sincerely, an apologetic expression on his stolen face. However, Ellie could tell he was still upset, as his expression became distant again as he rummaged through Jorgie's wardrobe for some clothes. "I just want to find the girl who did this so I can get back to normal again."

"And you will." Ellie sat up, yawning. "I'm sure you'll be back in your own body by this time tomorrow."

"Yeah." Neo's expression didn't change as he closed the bathroom door. He had woken up half an hour earlier due to Jorgie's agonizing headache, and after taking her medicine, he had laid back down and watched Ellie sleep for a while; he did this most mornings when he woke up before her, and it always seemed to calm him down. However, Ellie normally kissed him when she caught him doing it, whereas this morning she had jumped away.

'I don't blame her.' He thought bitterly, closing his eyes as he got dressed. 'If I woke up next to Jorgie in the morning, I would react in the same way.'

While this was true, Neo couldn't help but feel bad about it. He hated the way Ellie's subconscious mind had leaned away from him, he hated how high his voice was, and he hated the way Jorgie's hair kept tickling his neck. When he finally exited the bathroom, he was more determined than ever to find that girl and return to his body.

"Alright." He said resolutely as he closed the door behind him, getting the attention of Ellie and Gem, who had just woke up. "Remember, I've got to pretend to be Jorgie at meal times, as I still don't want Kat to find out. I found it really difficult yesterday, but now Ellie knows, I'm sure I'll get through it much easier."

"That's fine." Gem yawned as she placed her sleeping mask on her bedside table. Ellie, however, was deep in thought; suddenly, she remembered her last conversation with her roommate and the fact that she already knew about the mind swap.

"Oh no." She murmured. With a start, she also realized that after she had left their apartment to see Neo, she hadn't texted Kat that she would be staying the night, and that she probably had no idea where she was right now. "Oh no!"

"What?" Neo asked quickly, a scared expression on his borrowed face. "You didn't already tell her, did you?"

"... No, of course not." Ellie replied, thinking quickly as she turned on her phone. "I just realized I forgot to tell her I was staying the night."

"Oh." Neo sighed in relief. "Thank God."

As soon as Ellie's phone turned on, it was flooded with text messages. Now even more worried than before, she opened the app and Kat's message chain exploded.

- Hey, I wasn't going to text you, but by now you've probably realized that I was right about the whole mind swap thing. I know you're definitely freaking out, so if you just come back to the apartment we can talk it out.