BRIDGETTE

“What are you doing here?” I asked without thinking. Of Course, he was there to see the patient.

He seemed confused at first but when he saw Cara on the bed with that gorgeous face of mine but he managed to square his shoulders and uttered, “It seems that nurse Cara doesn’t know why a doctor enters a patient’s room. How are the vitals?” he asked me and I started to stammer.

“She just actually told me that everything is normal apart from my pulse.”

I nodded. “Her pulse is a little bit faster.”

Dr. Newman nodded, looked at me once and focused his attention on the patient as he started to walk near the bed. As he did so, my feet led me to the door.

“Wait here for a while. I will need the chart.”

I glared at his back but did not dare come near him.

This would be a very challenging night for me.

CARA

I was not interested with Dr. Newman’s questions. I was not honest either. Of course my heartbeat was higher than normal because I was very nervous we would be found out. But who would ever think I was the real Cara?

Having Dr. Newman in the same room with Bridgette was weird. I couldn’t imagine how she could stay composed after everything that happened between the two of them.

I could feel his eyes looking at my face--or should I say, Bridgette’s face. If he found Bridgette’s face attractive enough to interest him, then they may actually work. But what was I thinking? I should focus on the task at hand and make Dr. Newman’s task easy and fast.

After a long talk about my problem which was not very alarming to be admitted in the cardiac department, he finally exited the room.

“You have to clean the patient’s tracheotomy,” I told Bridgette the moment we were alone.

“What? Are you crazy?”

“It is necessary. It is to prevent the stasis of mucus and infection to set in.”

“How am I going to do that?”

It was difficult for me because I should be teaching it to her in the presence of the patient. But we had no choice. “Just google it.”

Bridgette groaned. “I don’t know, Cara. It seems impossible for me.”

I looked at her pointedly. “I risked a lot coming here. People even think I’m crazy. So do what I say before they transfer me to the psych ward.”

“Fine.” She was already tapping on her phone to search for the right way to care for a tracheotomy site.

“And don’t you dare flirt with Dr. Newman again.”

“I made a promise, didn’t I? I am staying away from him as much as I can.”

“Good.”

She walked out of the room to do everything I said. I was just putting away my phone when it rang.

“Yes?” I answered curiously. The number was not saved on Bridgette’s phone so I assumed it must have been one of her contacts. But who would call at this hour? Maybe it was Quinn?

“Hey, Bridgette. It’s me, Todd.”

“Todd!” I uttered in relief. And then alarm sipped in. “Is something wrong?”

“No, nothing. It’s just that I asked Bernadette out.”

“And?”

“And I think I need your help. Has she talked to you lately?”

“Uh, yes, but I’m not telling.”

“That’s okay. I just want to know. Well, I want to know if she is kind of looking forward to it?”

“Yeah,” I lied. Bernadette was frightened to death from the last I saw of her.

“Okay, then goodbye.”

“That’s all?”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

That was weird. Was the kid up all night thinking about Bernadette? I didn’t know boys could stay up all night thinking of a girl.

BRIDGETTE

“What do you want? Can’t you leave me alone? I’m working.” I couldn’t help but snap at him when he entered my patient’s room. I knew he already saw the patient earlier.

“What’s that?” he asked instead, looking at the piece of paper beside the tray.

Shit. “Can’t you see? It’s from the procedure manual.”

He walked closer and peered down at it. I should have left the lights off. “Why do you need a guide for a tracheotomy care? Don’t you do it every day?”

“I don’t want to make mistakes,” I managed to say without a stammer. “Now please leave me alone.”

“We have to talk after you’re done.” He was back at looking at me with those eyes.

“Wasn’t I clear enough? We made a mistake and you should forget about it.”

“I don’t think that can be done just as easily. Meet me in two hours in the cafeteria. I’ll wait for you there.”

I blew out a heavy breath when he was gone. At that moment, I shared a look with my patient. Obviously he heard everything but then he had a tracheotomy.

“Don’t say a word,” I told him despite the fact that I knew he couldn’t even utter a syllable. “Are you guys always like that? You act like you don’t like us then you have sex with us and then you want to talk about it.” Mr. O’Hara continued to look at me as if he wanted to say something. “Yes, yes, I had sex with him. But he doesn’t know I am not actually the woman he thinks I am. I am actually another woman trapped in another woman’s body. Do you get it? This sounds crazy even for me but it’s the truth.” I continued rinsing the tracheostomy set. “I had sex with him while I’m using this body and now my friend found out, the one who owns this body, and she was furious. So I made a promise that I will not be doing it again unless I’m back in my own body. But how are we going to do that? We need a miracle for that I think.” I read the rest of the instruction from the piece of paper and finished my work. “You’re all set. I would have to ask another nurse to change your IV line because I am not actually skilled to do that. Don’t worry; you won’t die in my hands. You better take some rest now, Mr. O’Hara and pretend everything you heard was just a dream. A very bad dream. But don’t talk about it when you are off that tracheostomy.”

I came only because I wanted him to stop pestering me. I had dealt enough men of his kind and they never stopped unless you throw the words right at their faces. Or you kick them. Or punch them.

“I thought you’d never come.”

“Just say whatever you want to say and get it over with.”

“I want to try it.”

I frowned at him. “Try what?” I looked over my shoulder to see if someone was nearby. I didn’t want anyone to think that Cara was having a nice time with her enemy.

“Try us.”

Coming from him it was almost tempting. If I was Cara, I’d say yes in an instant. Hell! The man had been hard on her since they met and to have him say such thing was kind of flattering. It would make me want to know the reason why he been harsh on me. I would want to know if it was because he liked me from the start. But if that were true, it would mean he liked Cara and not me. I didn’t like that. I wanted him to like me as me.

“Why?” the question came out of my mouth without warning.

He shrugged. “I’ve not dated for a long time and I found out a lot of things about you lately that made me think you’re not what I thought you were. I want to know you more.”

“You mean you want to get under my pants more often.”

I knew that statement stunned him for a moment but he recovered fast with a shake of his head. “No. I respect you professionally.”

“I never noticed.”

“And I respect you as a woman,” he continued as if not hearing my words. “And I agree that what happened between us last night was a mistake but I’d like to have a fresh start. What about a real date?”

I took in a sharp breath. God! Every part of my body wanted to scream yes. But I made a promise to Cara. I should stay away from this walking god of temptation. “I’ll have to say no.”

He frowned. “Why?”

“Why do you need to know?”

“Is there someone else?”

“No, yes. I mean, yes, there is. But I made a promise to a friend that I will stay away from you.”

“And who is that?”

“No one you know,” I lied. “Why don’t you focus your attention on other women? You seemed to like that patient who came in earlier.” Who could blame me? I wanted to know if he could even remember my real face, the one Cara was wearing right now.

“Who? Ms. Finn?”

“Yes. She’s cute.”

“We can’t date patients. You know that. And why would you suddenly suggest that?”

“I saw how you looked at her earlier,” I pointed out.

“I agree she’s beautiful and that I liked her features. But that doesn’t mean I’d date her.”

I shrugged. “It was just a suggestion.”

He looked at me like I was crazy. I stood up and started to leave.

“I’ll have to ask you again when you’re feeling normal,” he said behind me.

“The answer would still be the same,” I answered over my shoulder.

CARA

While waiting for Bridgette, I scanned the internet for any articles and blogs that could explain our situation. I found none that gave examples close to the one we had. If I did, they were fictional movies and novels written by authors who had wild imaginations.

Links from one blog lead me to another and then another until I stumbled upon a site where weird phenomenon were featured. Some of them were actually featured on television and some I never heard of. It seemed legit so I went to the search tab and typed ‘soul swapping’.

My shoulders sagged when it did not give me an article. Instead, it led me to another link. I tapped my phone and waited for the page to appear. When it did, it was a website of an antique bookstore. I was about to close it, thinking I became a victim of an SEO gig when I saw some of their featured books. These books were not easily found in any ordinary bookstores. In fact, most of them I had never laid eyes on. I saved the address of the bookstore and waited for Bridgette.

“We have to go there,” she uttered without hesitation when I shared to her what I found out.

“You don’t think it’s a bad idea?”

“Hey, we can’t go to a real doctor because they will only send us to the psychiatric ward. We can’t go to anyone we know because they will still advice us to go find psychiatric help. I am desperate here. I need to go back to my own body, Cara.” She paced around the room in frustration. “And if it means believing in voodoos, then I will do that. Do you know that Scott asked me out earlier? Can you believe it? He wanted to ‘try us’ out. But I said no. I said no because I promised you I won’t see him again.”

“I actually only wanted you to stop having sex with him.” I finally said in a whisper. I felt bad for her. I knew how she liked him. But he couldn’t like him while she was in my body either. How would we explain everything?

But what if we were not going back? What if we were trapped forever? I couldn’t very well stop Bridgette from doing what she wants.

“Maybe we should just leave behind the consequences for later,” I uttered when she didn’t say a word. “You should go out with him. Give it a try. But don’t have sex with him. I don’t think I’d get to like that.”

“I trust him to not have sex with me because the man was actually dying with guilt. But I don’t think I can trust myself not to pull him back in bed with me.”

I looked at her and shook my head. Bridgette would always be Bridgette, I thought.

“We should at least try this bookstore. We might find something there that could help us. And if we do, I’d go out on a date with Scott.”

“Shouldn’t it be the other way around? If we don’t find anything good, you go out on a date with him.”

“If we find something that will help us, we will be back on our bodies, right? Then that means I can finally ask him out. And if we don’t, we’ll be trapped in these bodies for a while longer. And I think I’d still go out with him.”

“Let’s do it then.” I propped down my pillow. “Leave now before I change my mind about Dr. Newman.”

She was gone in less than two seconds.

***Sorry for the late update. School has been demanding lately. Next chapter, Cara and Bridgette will finally learn whether or not they can go back to their own bodies! ComVo all you want! :)