Switch Adventures #1: Daisy’s Awakening

Time for a Change

The last five years flew by so fast.

Without a college degree and very little work experience, David had limited options to pay the bills while he pursued his acting dream. And Los Angeles wasn’t exactly known for being super affordable either.

He had roommates. They barely saw each other except in passing. They all had jobs that kept them really busy. And when they were home, everyone pretty much disappeared to their private rooms to watch TV, doom scroll on social media, or play video games.

David ended up working at a retail store called Infinity Games & Comics — a fairly large place as gaming and comic book shops went, but it still only paid him minimum wage. At least they were flexible whenever he needed time off to go on an audition.

And audition he did. For so many terrible, low budget, no-name films. With some of the most awkwardly-written dialog he’d ever read. But that was just part of the acting challenge, he told himself. It was his job to make the dialog believable and authentic. And, he told himself, it was just a stepping stone. One day he’d start auditioning for “real” roles in TV and film — he was on a journey. An adventure. This was a marathon, not a sprint, he kept reminding himself. He had to stay humble. Work hard. Keep going, never give up…

One day he’d get a decent agent. One day he’d book a guest star role on TV. He’d get discovered. His acting career would take off. One day he’d be a success. He’d be rich and famous. Known and loved by fans all around the world! Doing what he loved most — being an actor, telling a story, helping people escape their real life problems for a little while, giving them joy and pleasure and connection through entertaining stories.

That was the plan, anyway.

But here he was, five years after moving to California, and still hadn’t done much beyond a handful of unpaid student films and one online commercial that never actually aired.

Today he turned 23 years old.

His twin sister texted him that morning to wish him a happy birthday — he usually tried to text her first, because it was her birthday too, but she lived on the East Coast and woke up three hours earlier, beating him to it. It was kind of a little game they had, seeing who would text the other one first.

Later that morning, he was dressed and at work.

So far, neither of his parents had bothered to text, call, or email him. Not even a message or post on social media.

Whatever. He tried not to let it bother him. Birthdays didn’t mean that much as he got older, he told himself. It was just another day…

He couldn’t believe how fast these past five years went. He really thought he’d be farther along in his life and career than this by now.

A minimum wage job. Still no girlfriend. Lots of “friends” he met at film networking events and acting classes, but none that actually ever called him just to chat or hang out…

David barely spoke to his parents anymore. Every time he did, they just kept telling him to give up on his silly dream and move back to Florida. His dad actually called him a failure and disappointment. His mom, ever self-absorbed, only ever emailed him when she had an announcement or some exciting news about herself.

Sometimes, especially after years of feeling essentially no progress in his overall life, he wondered if maybe they were right. Maybe this was a foolish dream and he should just give up, move back home, go to school, get a degree, get a “normal” job…

But he couldn’t give up. He knew he was meant for more. He could feel it. He had this calling inside to do something different, something special with his life. All he needed was one lucky break. That was it. And then everything would change!

He needed something — anything — to change.

Because his life certainly wasn’t working right now. He stood there, looking at an empty store, staring at all the comics and games on the shelves.

No customers. No music. Just quiet. Empty. Still.

Like most days. Usually people came in the evenings and on weekends. Today, like most days, he’d been scheduled to work his shift alone. Restocking inventory, mostly. He hated it. His shifts seemed to last forever. It did give him time to read some of his favorite comic book series though, at least. But truthfully, he was quite lonely — and often so bored.

And after five years of struggle and dead-ends, his own doubts began to creep in. Did he make a mistake? Were his parents right? Was this a foolish, stupid dream?

Was he destined to always be a nobody?

He stood in front of one of the bookshelves, stacking the latest shipment of new comic books.

A bell softly chimed, coming from the front door.

A familiar customer walked in.

He’d seen her many times before. A cute girl, around 21 years old, give or take. Her hair, short and cute, was dyed pink and blue. It seemed to bring out her blue eyes even more. She wore casual clothes — a white t-shirt, ripped jean shorts, and pink and blue sneakers that matched her hair. Her clothes often had a few paint stains and colorful smudges on them too. She was a talented painter and comic book artist, and inevitably, some of her art supplies always seemed to always rub off on her skin and clothes a little.

She was so cute.

Just the right height. Perfectly proportional feminine figure. Nice legs. Cute butt. Perky breasts. Beautiful face, kind eyes, bright smile.

She spotted him and smiled even brighter. “Hey David!” She walked over to join him at the bookshelves.

“Hey Taika! Good to see you again,” he said. And he meant it. She was one of his favorite customers. “How you been?”

It was always a pleasure seeing her. She had the most bubbly, care-free, happy-go-lucky attitude. Always cheerful. Always kind and friendly. They often talked about their favorite movies. Recommended new TV shows for the other to watch. And she always asked how his acting career was going, even though the last ten times the answer remained the same “did an audition, never heard back”. But she always encouraged him, told him to never give up. Dreams were worth pursuing, she said, and even if things didn’t work out, it was still always worth trying. “You only live once, live with no regrets,” she often said.

David found that LA was filled with a lot more dreamers like him.

“So,” she asked again, encouragingly, with hopeful anticipation. “Any updates on your acting career?”

He smiled and shook his head no.

“It’s okay. You’ll book the next one,” she said. “Anyway, today I just thought I’d pop in real quick and see how my latest issue was selling.”

Taika was an aspiring artist too — far from famous, and definitely not rich — but still more successful than him.

She created a comic book. And it actually got published and sold in stores.

David looked over at another shelf across the floor. There were still a few issues left, but most copies had already been sold. “Pretty good, actually. Even bought one myself!”

“You did?” she asked excitedly. “Really?”

He smiled and nodded. “Yup! It’s actually one of the first comics I read whenever a new issue comes in. Such a cool concept, too. What inspired it?”

“Oh, I don’t write it. My friend Scott does. I just do the artwork.” She paused, looking at him curiously. “But you think it’s a cool idea? Men who can magically transform into girls with super powers? You don’t think that’s weird or anything?”

He put the last of the new shipment of books onto the shelf. He thought about it. “Not really. Why?”

“Some people do,” she said.

“Actually, it makes protecting your secret identity a lot easier,” he said. “And, I dunno… I guess I was always just a little curious what it’s like to be the other sex. If I got powers at the same time, even better!”

She giggled. “Yeah? You really think so?”

He nodded and started walking back towards the checkout counter. Even though there were no other customers in the store, his manager still liked him to always stand behind the register whenever he wasn’t busy doing something else. Taika followed behind.

“I’m really glad you like it,” she said. “Actually, your timing couldn’t be better. This morning I saw a review online that totally trashed it.”

“Really?” he asked, genuinely surprised. He arrived behind the counter. His restocking work was done for the day. He literally had nothing else to do.

Not that he wanted anything else to do. It just meant he got to give his full attention to Taika now.

She leaned on the counter next to him. “Yeah. They said my comic had ‘anti-family values’ and ‘went against the laws of God and nature’… Just because my characters can magically change genders back and forth at will.”

David rolled his eyes. “Sounds like my mom. She’s really religious.”

“Then again, people used to say Harry Potter was evil because it promoted witchcraft.” She giggled. “So I guess I’m in good company?”

“I’d say so.”

“And no one ever complains about my characters having super powers. It just so happens that they need to have sex in a body they weren’t born with in order to recharge those powers… It’s magic. That’s just how the rules work. I can’t help that!”

She giggled.

“Exactly. Magic’s weird like that.”

“Exactly,” she said. They both smiled. She looked into his eyes and lingered there a moment too long.

“Well, for what it’s worth, I think it’s a fun and fresh concept,” he said. “But hey, since you’re here, I was wondering… I noticed in your comic, the heroes are all men who turn into super-powered women. Does this magic only work on men or can girls turn into super-powered guys in your universe, too?”

“Oh, absolutely. In fact, Scott and I are planning a whole issue around that. But for whatever reason, don’t ask me why, male-to-female transformations just sell better than female-to-male ones. I don’t know why. Not that I blame men for fantasizing about being a girl. Personally, I think it’s pretty awesome being one,” she said with a playful smile.

He smiled back.

Their eyes met. She looked into his eyes closely, carefully. Studying him.

An awkward long silent pause.

“Anyway,” Taika quickly said, looking away. “So you’re saying if you could be like one of my Switch Heroes, you probably wouldn’t mind temporarily changing sex to get powers and save the world?”

He shrugged. “I dunno. Probably not. Why? Does that make me weird?”

“Maybe,” she said, watching him carefully. “In a good way, I mean,” she quickly caught herself and added.

He stood at the cash register. Still no customers.

God these morning shifts lasted forever.

Thankfully she was here to help pass the time.

“But then again,” he realized, “I’m also an actor. I love playing all kinds of roles. I’d probably see it as an adventure and opportunity to do something unique. But I totally get why other people might feel more reluctant. So much of our own identity is tied up in our gender.”

“Yeah,” she understood.

She looked at him curiously again.

“What?” he asked.

“Nothing,” she said. “Just a theory.”

David looked at her. God she was so cute. He really liked her. In the five years since he moved to Los Angeles, he’d met a handful of different girls through the dating apps, but they never got past the first date. All too often, he heard things like, “you’re a really sweet guy, but I’m just not feeling any chemistry, sorry.”

But not with Taika. There was something different about her. Like he could just be himself around her. It was so easy talking with her. Like they could talk for hours — about literally anything and everything!

Neither of them had said it yet, but he definitely felt chemistry with her. And she seemed to visit him at work almost every week to “check on” how her comic book sales were doing, even though all that information was readily available online. Maybe she liked him too?

“So to tell me, David,” Taika asked, continuing the conversation. “If you could have any super power you wanted, anything in the world, what would it be?”

“Oh, that’s easy,” he said, “Time travel. Definitely.”

“That’s a little over-powered, don’t you think?” Taika asked. “Scott and I were recently brainstorming a new character who could do that. But it made everything too easy for the heroes. They always knew what the villain would do in advance. If they made a mistake or anyone ever died, they could just go back in time and fix it. Time travel is so OP.”

David shrugged. “Yeah, well, still. You asked. Ever since I saw Back to the Future, I was like, ‘I wish I could do that!’ I’m not smart enough to build a flux capacitor, so… If I could have any power, that’s my answer.”

“Fair enough,” she smiled. “You know, I—”

Suddenly the ground shook.

Whoa. What was that?

They both paused, standing still.

David looked around, curiously. “Was that an earthquake?”

“Felt like a big one…” Taika said.

Suddenly they heard the sirens of distant fire trucks, seemingly getting louder and closer.

Taika and David quickly made eye contact and both ran to the front of the store. They looked out the window.

A few seconds later, two police cars with flashing lights and screaming sirens raced past the front of the store. A fire truck, also blaring its horns, soon followed. Had something caught fire? This wasn’t a normal response for an earthquake.

Suddenly the floor shuddered again. It wasn’t an aftershock. It was just as strong as the first tremor.

“Um, can you give me a second?” Taika cautiously asked. She stepped to the side and quickly pulled out her phone. Dialed the first contact in her list. A few rings later, someone answered. “Hey, it’s me,” said Taika. “What’s going on? Do you need me?”

Who was she talking to?

Then an ambulance roared past, same path as the fire truck and police cars.

The ground violently quaked again. This time, they could hear a loud boom immediately preceding it. Dust fell from the ceiling tiles. A few collectible figurines rolled off their display shelves.

“I’m not… I don’t have anyone I can—” Taika said on the phone, short on words, sounding frustrated and agitated. She looked over at David. “I mean, there’s one guy here I could ask. But even if he says yes, there’s no telling what I’d get.”

David overheard her side of the conversation. He tried not to eavesdrop, but he couldn’t help but feel curious.

“Alright, good luck, be safe,” Taika said. “I’ll figure out something and meet you there soon as I can.”

She hung up.

Another boom — this one louder than the one before — followed by an even bigger tremor. People were now running out into the streets screaming, flooding out of nearby buildings, racing to their cars to get away as fast as possible. Escaping cars rapidly filled and jammed the streets — all going in the opposite direction of where the emergency vehicles were headed. Then even more sirens began wailing in the distance, with more fire trucks and ambulances headed this way.

“What’s going on? Is it a terrorist attack?” David asked.

Taika looked at him, mouth open, at a complete loss of words. “I… oh God, David, this is gonna sound crazy, but I need your help. You’re gonna think I’m joking, but I’m dead serious.”

She was always such a light-hearted, easy-going kind of girl. This was the first time the tone of her voice carried so much weight and urgency.

He believed her.

“Is everything okay?” he asked. “What’s going on? Are we safe here?” Maybe he should leave the store and join the mass of cars fleeing the area.

She looked around the store. Nobody else there. Just the two of them. Outside on the street, drivers leaned on their horns, urging grid-locked cars and panicking pedestrians to hurry up and move out of the way.

David looked out the window at all the chaos and confusion.

“Do you trust me?” Taika asked. “Have I ever lied to you, David, about anything, ever?”

Another boom and quake. Mass confusion and panic outside.

“I said, do you trust me?” Taika urged again, even louder and more desperate.

“Um, yes, of course, I trust you.” Why did she keep asking him that?

“Okay, you know my comic book, Switch Heroes?”

“Yeah…”

Another boom. The ground shook again.

“My writing partner Scott didn’t exactly make up everything from his imagination. A lot of it’s real. Like, honest to God, I’m not joking right now, there really are people who can switch into the opposite sex to gain a super power.”

He looked at her strangely. “Um… okay…” Another loud boom, immediately followed by an even bigger quake. Several books fell off the shelves throughout the store. David nearly lost his footing and fell over. “Whoa. We need to get somewhere safe.”

“Nowhere’s safe right now, David,” she stated. “It’s an alien invasion.”

Boom! Another even bigger tremor. Even more fire trucks and ambulances raced past the front of the store, sirens shouting at full volume.

“A what?”

She grabbed his hand and quickly led him out the front door. Standing outside on the sidewalk, she searched the skies and then found it. “There,” she pointed.

David looked.

His jaw dropped.