Altered Fates: A Christmas Tale free porn video

ALTERED FATES: A CHRISTMAS TALE by BobH (c) 2012 Ed Geraghty sat down heavily on the changing room bench and sighed. He felt every minute of his fifty-six years, and then some. Any positive effect on his health of thirty five years pounding the streets delivering mail had been more than offset by the same number of years spent drinking hard liquor to excess. Not that this was an option open to him any more, given the precarious state of his liver. He was not a bad man, and had never raised a hand to his wife and children, but his drinking had eventually got to be too much for Sarah and she had taken the kids and left him. He didn't blame her. If he was her he'd have done the same. The only thing that really surprised him was that she stayed as long as she did. The door opened, and a bespectacled teenager stuck his head in. "Grotto's about to open," he said, "so they need you right now!" "Yeah OK, Gary," said Ed. "Tell them I'll be there in two minutes." Wheezing, Ed lurched to his feet, laboriously donned his red suit, and clipped on his fake white beard. He did not need a fake belly; sadly, his own stomach was more than adequate for portraying Santa Claus. In fact this year he had barely been able to get into the costume. If his waist kept expanding at its current rate he wouldn't fit it at all next year and they would get someone else. Even without this, his arthritis was getting so bad he wasn't sure how many more years he had left of being able to let kids sit on his knee. Standing before the mirror, Ed donned his hat and adjusted his beard. He studied his features, his face made ruddy by the red web of broken veins marching across his nose and cheeks, and found himself bitterly regretting the choices he had made. If only it was possible to live your life over again. Then he would choose a different path. It was a nice dream but, sadly, nothing more. Ed practiced a quick "yo ho ho" then headed out. It was time to make some children happy. However depressing his own circumstances might be that was something that never got old. At this time of year it was the only thing that made his life still worth living. * "You really ought to do something about your hair, dear, and you might consider wearing a little make-up sometimes, too. I'm sure Tom would be pleased if you did." "Tom likes me just the way I am, mother," said Hayley Collins from the passenger seat as her mother turned the car onto the up-ramp of the mall's multi-level parking garage. She managed to keep her temper in check, but inwardly she was fuming. Tansy Collins had walked out on Hayley and her father when Hayley was five years old, saying that being a housewife and a mother was stifling and she couldn't do it any more. That was twenty years ago, and Hayley had never seen her mother again. Until two weeks ago. The phone call had come out of the blue. Hayley had been happily making plans for both Christmas and for her and Tom's wedding next spring. Her father had eventually married again - to Claire, the woman Hayley called 'Mom' - and she hadn't thought about her birth mother in ages, so the call had been a bit of a shock. Tansy had wanted to meet up and, against her better judgment, Hayley had agreed. The meeting went surprisingly well. Tansy was apologetic, deeply contrite, and somehow had ended up staying with her and Tom for the past few days. She wanted to know everything about Hayley's life, and had proved an avid listener, but there had been friction too. "Why are you parking on this level?" said Hayley, as they pulled off the ramp onto the level below the top one. Their's was the only car in sight on the otherwise desrted deck. "Because we need to talk where we won't be interrupted," said Tansy, parking the car as far from the staircase and elevators as it was possible to park. "OK," said Hayley, "but it's a long walk over to the elevators from here, and this is Boston in December. You should've parked closer to them." Tansy turned to face her daughter. In her youth she had been pretty, but years of heavy drinking and smoking and all-night partying had taken their toll. She was in her late forties now but looked older. Her figure was still as trim as Hayley's - in fact the two women were the same size - but her face was hard and her features lined. Even her expertly applied make-up couldn't disguise all the wear and tear. "I look at you and I see myself at your age," and Tansy, wistfully. "You could be my younger self's twin sister." Hayley knew this to be true. She had seen photos of Tansy from back then and it was like looking at photos of herself, but she hoped she would look a lot better than Tansy did when she reached her mother's age. "I realise I haven't been an ideal houseguest," continued Tansy, "and I apologise, but I am trying my best. I know I can't make up for twenty lost years but I really want us to be friends." "I want that too," said Hayley, "but you have to respect other people's boundaries. Walking in on Tom when he was in the shower and telling him how hot he looked is not acceptable." "I didn't know he was in there," she said, "and I'm sorry if he took my comment the wrong way. I was only trying to compliment him. He really does have a great body." "Whoa, my mother ogling my fiance - not acceptable!" said Hayley, putting her hands up. "I'm sorry. I'm getting this all wrong," sighed Tansy. "Let's get out of the car for a moment. I have something I want you to see." Puzzled, Hayley did as she asked. Tansy opened the passenger-side rear door. On the floor was a package wrapped in Christmas paper. "For you," she said. "It's not Christmas for another two days," said Hayley. "I know, but I really want you to open it now." Hayley leaned in to pick up the package....and her world exploded into searing agony. Through the pain she could feel Tansy bundle her into the rear of the car but she was unable to resist, her muscles spasming wildly. In her hand Tansy held an electroshock gun. Hayley couldn't believe it. Her mother had tased her! Working quickly in order to complete her task before the tasing wore off, Tansy used duct tape to secure her daughter's hands behind her back and to bind her feet together. She finished by fixing a strip of tape over Hayley's mouth. This done, she removed Hayley's engagement ring and slid it onto her own ring finger. Slamming the door shut, she returned to the front of the car with the package. As the pain subsided Hayley attempted to break her bonds but found that she was firmly bound. Panicking, she tried to think what Tansy could be up to, realising that it could be hours before anyone thought to check out a car standing in this remote a part of the parking structure. "I'm glad that's done," Tansy said, smiling. "Now for the main event." Reaching into the pocket of her jacket, she pulled out a tacky-looking medallion. "I know what you're thinking," she chuckled, "I can see it in your eyes. You're wondering why I have what looks like a piece of cheap junk jewellery." It was true. The medallion was totally at odds with her mother's stylish skirt suit and designer heels. "In this case appearances are deceiving. This, believe it or not, is a powerful mystical artifact. As for what it can do...." She reached over and touched it to the younger woman's cheek. Hayley felt a brief jolt followed by a tingling sensation that spread throughout her body. "That tingling is the start of the process. It takes about half an hour for the transformation to run its course." Transformation? Mystical artifact? What was this madwoman talking about? Tansy returned the medallion to her jacket pocket and lit a cigarette. "The medallion was given to me by a former lover," she explained, blowing a long stream of smoke. "He told me that two people could use it to switch forms, to change into copies of each other. I didn't believe him at first, of course, until he showed me how it worked. Being a man, and having him look like me, was beyond weird. We made love, since wanting to try sex as a woman was why he'd brought the medallion to me in the first place. That was interesting, but not something I'd care to repeat. I enjoy being a woman too much. Afterwards he left it with me, telling me to have fun with it, but I'd reached a point in my life where I wanted more out of it than just having fun. I left you and your father because I wasn't ready to settle down and raise a family. Now, finally, I was. I was ready to get married and to have my babies. I thought I'd left it too late, but the medallion changed everything. When you and Tom got engaged you posted photos from the party online. In a nostalgic mood I did a search on you and happened to see them. I was stunned by how much you looked like me at that age and realised that here was my way of turning the clock back, of becoming again the young woman I had been. It didn't hurt that your fiance was such a hunk either. And, as I saw in the shower, well-hung too. I think Tom is going to make me a very happy girl." Hayley would have dismissed all this as nonsense if not for one thing: her mother was getting visibly younger before her eyes. As she spoke so Hayley could see Tansy's wrinkles gradually shrinking, her features softening and her hair growing more lustrous. She could also feel herself growing tireder, her joints feeling stiffer, the very teeth in her mouth taking on unfamiliar contours. So it was true. Tansy was becoming her and she was becoming Tansy. If her mouth had not been taped shut she would have screamed. "It's a shame you're not a smoker," said Tansy. "I imagine Tom won't be too happy at first that his fiancee has taken up the habit, but he'll soon get used to it. I'll probably blame you. You're a bad influence on me, mother. On the plus side he's going to get a much improved lover out of the deal. I've had many, many men over the years and he'll be reaping the rewards of all that experience. I know ways of pleasuring a man you've never dreamed of." She paused to take a drag on her cigarette then smiled at Hayley. She now looked as if she was in her early thirties and was still growing younger. "Y'know, I really must thank you for giving me your youth, your handsome stud of a fiance, and your very identity. It's by far the nicest Christmas gift anyone's ever got me. What a considerate daughter you are! Oh, and speaking of gifts we never did get round to opening yours. Shall we see what I got you?" Tearing the wrapping paper from the package revealed the 'gift': a portable DVD player. "It already has a disk in it," said Tansy, removing the device from its box. "I recorded it earlier. It's my last will and testament, and my suicide note." Suicide? With a sudden sick feeling, Hayley knew where this was going. She struggled wildly with her bonds, to no effect. Arranging the DVD player where Hayley could watch it, Tansy hit the 'play' button, turned, the car's engine back on, then rolled the window down by an inch or so. Grabbing Hayley's purse rather than her own, she climbed out of the car, closing the door behind her. She took a final drag on her cigarette before dropping it to the concrete then headed to the trunk. Hayley could hear her doing something at the rear of the car but couldn't tell what. The DVD started playing and Tansy's face appeared on the screen. "Hello, my name is Tansy Collins and this is my last will and testament," her recording said. The end of a hosepipe was thrust through the gap at the top of the door window and a scarf used to stuff the gap beside it. As the first exhaust fumes started pumping in, Tansy stared at her daughter through the windshield for a moment. Her fresh young face was now fully Hayley's, her expression briefly regretful. The moment passed, and she turned on her heel and left. "Re-establishing contact with Hayley, my daughter, has been everything I hoped it would be," said Tansy from the DVD, "she's a wonderful, caring young woman any mother would be proud of." Her pen-knife! Had she remembered to put it in the pocket of this coat? Hayley wriggled around trying to reach into the pocket while attempting to breathe as shallowly as she could manage. "I hope she will forgive me for taking my own life and will not think too unkindly of me. This is a decision I've thought long and hard about and the simple fact is that I'm tired and I don't want to do this any more." Yes! She did have the knife! Carefully, oh so carefully, she eased it out of her pocket and fumbled it open. Getting it into position to work on the tape binding her wrists was difficult but she succeeded, desperation focussing her mind. She began to saw at the tape. "You will find a full, notarised copy of my will among my effects. In it I leave all my worldly goods and possessions to Hayley. Over the years many men gave me gifts and money, which I invested wisely, so my estate is worth a considerable sum." Since it didn't have a serrated edge it took the knife what felt like an eternity to cut through the tape. The instant her wrists were free Hayley threw open the door and fell from the car. Tearing the tape from her mouth she gratefully sucked down great gulps of air, tears streaming from her eyes. She was alive! "I wish her a long and happy marriage to Tom, and hope she knows that I will be there with her in spirit on her wedding day." Removing the rest of the tape, Hayley disconnected the hosepipe, opened all the doors and turned off the engine and that damn DVD player. Then she looked at herself in the rear-view mirror. The face of her mother, a face ravaged by years of excess and hard-living, stared back at her. "No, no no," she whispered. Knowing it had happened was one thing; seeing it for the first time was quite another. All she could think of was finding her mother and forcing her to switch them back. Tansy had gone down into the mall so that's where Hayley would find her. She headed for the elevators, feeling every one of Tansy's almost fifty years. * Tansy Collins strode out of the elevator and into the mall with a spring in her step she hadn't felt in years. Something else she hadn't experienced in years was the appeciative stares of young men. She hadn't realized how much she'd missed turning heads, but she was turning them now and she loved it! She was twenty-five again, and it was glorious! She intended to do a little shopping before returning to the car, removing the duct tape from Hayley's body, then calling for help. Naturally, she would play the grieving daughter, distraught at finding her mother dead like that. With the DVD in which she announces her intention to take her own life no one would have reason to doubt the death was anything other than suicide. Pausing in front of a bridal store, Tansy fingered her engagement ring and studied the dresses on display thoughtfully. In a few months it would be her standing at the altar in a big white dress, saying "I do" and smiling up at Tom as he slid the wedding band onto her finger. She was surprised by how excited she was at the prospect of being a young bride again. Ah Tom, gorgeous Tom! She couldn't wait to make love with him tonight, to have that impressive cock pumping away between her legs. Spicing up the proceedings with some sexy underwear never hurt either. A few doors along was a lingerie store. When she checked out its window display Tansy discovered this included a number of mirrors, providing her with her first chance to fully examine her new form, which she did so approvingly, laughing out loud with joy. Nothing beat being young and healthy, nothing at all. It was odd to think she had applied that make-up to another face than the one now wearing it. Having become so much younger she no longer needed it to be as heavy, an adjustment she would make as soon as she got home. It would be part of getting herself ready for Tom. She was dismayed to see her nail polish cracked and flaking off and quickly realised what must have happened. Unlike her make-up, her nail polish was not flexible. As her body shifted and transformed so had her nails, and that was what did the damage. Looking around her, Tansy spotted that a nail bar had been set up in the main concourse, on the opposite side of the central fountain to Santa's Grotto. She couldn't bear the thought of being seen in public without perfect nails so she immediately made a beeline for the stall. Tansy had been sitting across the table from the manicurist for a couple of minutes, enjoying having a professional work on her nails, while idly watching a young girl sitting on a bench in front of the mall's central fountain and tearing wrapping paper from a package, when there was a sudden commotion. "Ladies and Gentlemen, can I have your attention please." The speaker was an atypically tall, powerfully built Asian man in blue fatigues and heavy boots, a gun holster strapped to his right thigh and wearing a kevlar vest bearing the letters 'FBI'. Next to him, clad indentically, stood his only slightly less formidable-looking partner, who was red-haired and freckled. Their name tags identified them as Lee and Kerry. "We need for you all to leave the mall immediately, so could you please all head for the exits in an orderly fashion," Lee continued. Tansy turned back towards the young girl, just in time to see her daughter enter the concourse beyond her. Somehow, Hayley had got free. "No, she'll ruin everything!" said Tansy, rising to her feet just as the girl removed the cardboard lid from her gift. In that instant a huge flash of light burst from it, and Tansy blacked out. * Ed Geraghty had no idea what had happened. One moment he had been in Santa's Grotto, a young boy sitting on his knee, and now he was lying on the ground and someone was shaking him awake. Had he fainted? "Do you know who you are?" asked a male voice as Ed opened his eyes. Looming over him was a young man in a paramedic's uniform. He looked enormous. "'m Ed Geraghty," Ed slurred, his voice sounding strange in his ears, "'m Santa Claus." "OK, Santa," chuckled the kid, "let's get you sedated." Ed felt something pressed against his bare arm - why was his arm bare? - followed by a hissing sound as an aerosol syringe fired sedative into that arm, after which consciousness deserted him. Ed came to in a small, white room. He was lying on a bed. Sitting up and looking down at himself he got the biggest shock of his life. What he was seeing was impossible and at first his mind refused to believe it. Then he raised those unfamiliar hands to his face. It was impossible, yet somehow it had happened. He was a little girl. He was a little girl, and he was wearing a yellow dress, white ankle socks, and shiny black Mary Hayleys. For no reason he could have named Ed felt oddly calm and accepting of this sudden, bizarre change in his life. He looked around the room, taking in the small closet, the washbasin, and the set of drawers. High up on one wall, way beyond his reach, was a single tiny, non-opening window. There was also a full-length wall mirror. Ed swung his legs over the side of the bed, dropped the few inches to the floor, and padded over to the mirror. He was studying his strange new reflection, marvelling at his long dark hair and tiny stature, when the door opened. Thw woman who strode in was tall, slim and beautiful. She was dressed in a dark skirt suit with dark stockings and heels, her chesnut brown hair pulled back from her lightly made-up face. She looked slightly uncertain walking in her heels, but that aside the whole effect was one of both professionalism and authority. "Hello Ed, I'm Doctor Simpson," she said, casually picking him up and placing him back on the bed. "I imagine all this has come as a bit of a shock." "Just a bit, yeah," said Ed, drily. "What the hell happened?" "You got hit by a new terrorist device we're calling a mindbomb. We don't know how, but it swaps around the minds of anyone caught within its secondary blast radius. You ended up in the body of a six year old girl. This place is called Camp Alpha. It's been set up to help you and the other victims adapt to your new circumstances." "Can you change me back?" "No, I'm afraid not. This is permanent." Ed stared at her for a moment, then he started laughing. "Are you OK?" asked Doctor Simpson, concern in her voice. "Never better, Doc," said Ed. "Earlier I was thinking about what a mess I'd made of my life and how I wished I could start again. Now I can. This is the best Christmas present ever!" * When Tansy Collins struggled back to consciousness she was at first disoriented. Something had happened to her, but what? Then she remembered. There had been a bright flash and she had blacked out. When she came to there had been a woman around her own age and dressed as a paramedic who had asked her her name. When she answered, the woman had jotted it down on her clipboard, muttered "you're not him" to herself then injected Tansy with something that had made her black out again. What the hell was going on? She was lying on a bed and there was something unpleasant on her face. She pulled it off and opened her eyes to see what it could be. It was a false beard, a thick white one. "What the fuck?" she said. Her voice. Why did her voice sound so strange? And why did her hand look so odd? Tansy lurched upright, feeling weirdly heavy, and stared down at herself. For a second or two her mind refused to accept what she was seeing. Then she screamed. Falling off the bed, she scrambled to her feet and staggered over to the wall mirror, appalled at how heavy and sluggish she felt, how painful her knees were. One glance confirmed her fears. She was a man, a man dressed as Santa Claus who looked around sixty years old. She examined her new face in rising disbelief and horror, running her hand over the grey stubble spreading across her multiple chins, the crescent of greying hair covering the back and sides of her head, and the few lank hairs arranged in a 'comb-over' on top of her otherwise bald scalp. This couldn't be, it mustn't be! She was now older than she had started out, bald, and a man. And fat, so fat. She had never been fat in her entire life, yet now she had a huge mass of blubber where her trim little waistline had been. Her hands, her elegant hands with their slender fingers and long, perfectly manicured nails had been replaced by some that were rough-skinned and calloused, with short, thick, hairy-knuckled fingers whose nails had been chewed right down. They were so ugly she couldn't bear to look at them. How had this happened? It could only be Hayley. Somehow she had got hold of the medallion and switched Tansy into this monstrous body. Well she wouldn't get away with it! Tansy was going to find the little bitch and then there would be hell to pay! The door opened and a young woman entered accompanied by a man wearing some sort of guard's uniform. The woman was tall, slim and beautiful. She was dressed in a dark skirt suit with dark stockings and heels, chesnut brown hair pulled back from her lightly made-up face. Tansy hated her immediately. "Hello Tansy, I'm Doctor Simpson..." began the woman, before Tansy cut her off. "What have you done to me, you cow?" she snarled. "Are you working with Hayley? Did that bitch give you the medallion?" "Medallion? Hayley? I don't...." "Don't act all innocent with me, girl. You must be in on it with her. Only the magic medallion could have done this to me. I demand you change me back right now!" "'Magic medallion'?" said the woman, sounding puzzled. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Tansy. And I'm afraid we can't change you back. This change is permanent." With a scream of rage, Tansy launched herself at Doctor Simpson, but the guard grabbed her before she could reach the other woman. Tansy tried to resist as the Doctor leaned in and pressed the nozzle of an aerosol syringe to her neck, but it was no use. As consciousness left her once again she heard Doctor Simpson say to the guard: "Call the Colonel. I think we have another one for Camp Gamma." * Someone was shaking her awake. Despite her eyelids feeling amazingly heavy, Hayley Collins managed to open her eyes and stare up into the face of the person shaking her. It was a young man in a paramedic's uniform. Standing next to him was another young man, identically attired and holding her purse. He had taken out her drivers licence. "Do you know who you are?" asked the first young man. "'m Hayley Collins," Hayley slurred, unable to move, her tongue feeling like a dead fish in her mouth, "'m twenty-five years old." The second man nodded, causing the first to frown. "Wait, how can that be?" he said. Before his companion could reply there was a shout from somewhere to Hayley's left: "Over here! I've found him!" "We've located the Doc," came another voice from some distance to Hayley's right. "Let's bag and tag everyone else and get out of here." "What do we do with Hayley here?" said young man number one to his companion. "She's at the very edge of the secondary blast radius so she might've just fainted. They told us only to collect those who've been switched." "You're right," said his companion. "Sedate her and let's get the hell out of here." Something cold was pressed to Hayley's neck, there was a hiss of compressed air, and then she blacked out once more. Hayley came to to find someone was shaking her awake. Again. "Are you OK, ma'am?" The speaker was a concerned-looking police woman. "A mirror," said Hayley, "I need a mirror." The cop pulled a small make-up mirror from her pocket and Hayley grabbed it. When she stared into the mirror the face staring back at her from under too much make-up was her own face, the face of twenty-five year old Hayley Collins. They wanted Hayley to give a statement about what had happened. Local law-enforcement had been kept out of the loop so there was great confusion about what exactly had gone down in the mall and where all the casualties had been taken. Hayley gave them a carefully edited account of events and, eventually, they let her go. When she emerged from the interrogation room she was met by the police woman who had woken her. "They found the body of a young girl at the scene," she said. "Lily Connor. She was eight years-old. Her father Jake is one of ours." "I'm so sorry," said Hayley. "What about you?" she asked. "What will you do now?" "Right now I need to go home and make love to my fiance," said Hayley, "then I need to have him hold me for a very long time." * "Are you *sure* you're okay," said Tom, "about your Mom, I mean?" "Tansy was my mother, not my Mom," said Hayley. "Claire is my Mom and she and my Dad will be joining us for Christmas dinner any minute now, so no slacking. I need you to get the ornaments on those parts of the tree I can't reach before they arrive." "Yeah, but to have her die like that just two days before Christmas...." Tansy had been among seven people listed as having been killed in the incident at the mall. Hayley suspected her actual fate had been very different. The official story was that a person or persons unknown had planted a conventional bomb, but Hayley knew there had been nothing conventional about it at all. A cover-up was in place and Hayley was pretty sure who must be behind it: Homeland Security. The dead aside, all the others caught in the explosion were allegedly being kept for 'observation' in unnamed hospitals somewhere. Not surprisingly, little Lily Connor had become the 'face' of the event and her father had appeared on the TV news shows wanting to know what had happened to his wife Heather, who had been at the mall with their daughter. Then this morning Heather Connor had appeared on TV saying that she and the others were all fine and they had every confidence in how the authorities were handling the situation. An FBI man named Lee who had also been at the mall had appeared on other news shows with the same message. Her own presence at the incident had not been made public, but With her mother listed among the dead, Hayley had received several interview requests. She had turned them all down. "There's something I need to show you, Tom," said Hayley, "and I guess this is as good a time as any." She went to a drawer, took something out, and handed it to him. "What is it?" he asked. "Tansy's will," said Hayley. "I found it when I went over to check her apartment yesterday. She'd told me it was there - and what was in it - on our drive to the mall. You should read it." Tom did. Then he let out a long whistle. "She left you *everything*?" "I know. Hell of a Christmas gift, right?" "Yeah, and how weird is that? She tells you about her will and less than an hour later she's dead. It's almost as if she somehow knew she was about to die. That's really spooky." "Yes, I suppose it is," said Hayley. She knew now that her mother had only feigned interest in her, that asking Hayley about every detail of her life and listening avidly had all been part of her plan to steal that life for herself. It was a bitter pill to swallow. Tansy had never seen her as a daughter just as an organ donor, only instead of a kidney she had taken Hayley's whole body. And then she had tried to kill her. Hayley shuddered, and with perfect timing Tom chose that moment to slide his arms around her waist and pull her to him. She gave a happy little sigh and let Tom crush her against that mighty chest of his and comfort her. She looked up at him, smiled, and then they were kissing. The thought that it could so easily have been Tansy in his arms kissing him now, Tansy he'd made passionate love to the past two nights, and that next spring it could have been Tansy in Hayley's stunning wedding gown and on her father's arm - Tansy's ex-husband's arm - walking down the aisle to become Tom's wife, was horrifying. Breaking their kiss, Tom made to disengage from Hayley only to have her stop him. "What do you think you're doing?" she said. "What do you mean?" "I don't recall giving you permission to stop cuddling me, buster." "I thought you wanted me to put those tree ornaments up before your parents get here." "It can wait. This is more important." Men! They could be so clueless sometimes. It was kinda creepy that though this was her body it was Tansy's flesh, reshaped by that strange medallion. Apart from an occasional stray craving for a cigarette, a peculiar sensation for a non-smoker to experience, it felt no different to her own original body. Hayley had looked for the medallion, but it had gone. It should have been in the pocket of Tansy's jacket but there was no sign of it. Had it somehow fallen out, Hayley wondered, or had someone taken it? She would probably never know. What a strange world it was that could contain such a thing and also that device, whatever it was, that had switched her mind along with those of so many others at the mall that day. It had taken her a while to figure it out, but based on what those 'paramedics' had said and on her own body swap she was sure she had now pieced together what had happened. Homeland Security knew about the devices and had put out that cover story about a 'conventional explosion' in order to keep the truth of what had happened a secret and so avoid a panic. And she agreed with that decision. Still, it was frightening to think that some group out there had such things. For herself, Hayley had decided to tell no one about either her magical transformation or subsequent body swap because she didn't think anyone would believe her. And there was something else. Given the dozens of people whose minds must have been switched and the obviously random nature of those switches the chances of her ending up in this particular body were tiny. Yet she had. Against all the odds, here she was. There was only one way to describe luck like that. It was a Christmas miracle. * The End ************************************* Note: After posting my second mindbomb story I found myself wondering what might happen if one of those caught in the blast had the Medallion of Zulo. As I thought about this I remembered that blast occurred just before Xmas and that the holiday was fast approaching, so making it a seasonal tale was irresistable. Also, this gave me a two week deadline to work to and having never had to hit a writing deadline before I was curious to see if I could. The mindbomb attack the characters in this story get caught up in also features in these tales, which fill in the background and which should be read in the order listed: 1. MINDBOMB 2. MINDBOMB: THE BEGINNING In case it wasn't clear, Tansy Collins was unaware the Medallion of Zulo could do anything other than switch forms between two people. Between being given it and using it on her daughter she never experimented with it and so never discovered its additional capabilities. And, of course, Hayley's assumption that Homeland Security were behind the cover-up is wrong, as those who've read the above two tales will know. Other seasonal tales by me you might also enjoy are: 1. ALTERED FATES: 'TWAS THE SCROOGE BEFORE CHRISTMAS 2. TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS