The Switch Novels & Stories

It was a compact, rugged thing, designed to be the bridge between the lost and the found. "Try it," I whispered. He gripped the small plastic crank and started to turn it. Grrrrk. Grrrrk. The sound was hopeful. I leaned in, my ear close to the speaker, praying for a burst of static, a voice, a weather report—anything. He flipped the switch to 'On.' Nothing.

He growls but not in a menacing way. The door swings open and Noah yells “Out!” In an Alpha command and Ang bows his head but hardly moves, taking small, slow steps towards the door. Noah’s breathing is loud and his chest is moving up and down, just staring at me. He moves toward Ang, he grabs him and shoves him out of the cabin in such swift motions and slams the door.

“You speak of me like I’m not here.” “Because you’re not,” Jade snapped. “You’re a vessel. A pretty face for a ghost king.” Grace stood. “And yet he’s more human than any of you. He has love. Compassion.” The council laughed coldly. Jade held up a device. “This,” she said, “is the kill switch. It severs the Genesis link permanently. But it could also destroy Adrian’s mind.” Gasps. Nathaniel stood. “Wait. There must be another way.”

They even bought from street dealers instead of the hospital pharmacy. This episode would likely leave Zachary with permanent damage, making further surgery impossible.

I thought maybe I'd imagined it. It wasn't until the baby shower that the truth hit me. Damian, trying to make it a big deal, threw a joint party with Caleb and Betty. That's when I saw their son—and he had the same birthmark on his arm. I knew right then. They'd swapped my baby for theirs, wanting their kid to have the life mine was supposed to. I wanted to scream, call them out right there. But Rick, my real son, looked so tiny and fragile next to Hugo. It crushed me. Then I noticed how Betty was looking at Damian, and I swallowed the anger.

Inserting my credit card inside my black purse, resolving to get a bag at the store, I put on my black flip flops, open my door and leave. TBC

"Option four doesn't exist," Henrik said. "Yes it does. Marcus always built failsafes. Including one that destroys the entire network. The kill switch. And I'm activating it." Rebecca stood. "You're bluffing. You don't know how." "Marcus's private server. Switzerland. The one that controls all network communications. It has a self-destruct protocol. Wipes every database. Every file. Every piece of evidence. Erases the network completely." "That's a myth," James said. "Marcus never built that."

He took out his phone and transferred ten thousand dollars to her. "I've wired you ten thousand dollars. Go get it treated at the hospital yourself." Upon hearing the notification of the transfer in her digital wallet, Indigo smiled and said, "Alright, honey. I'll take care of it myself at the hospital." A puzzled frown appeared on Brice's forehead when he saw Indigo agree so readily. Indigo turned and left the apartment, but she didn't go to the hospital. Instead, she took the ten thousand dollars Brice had transferred and immediately used it to pay off her debts.

That was because I knew she wasn't truly seeking forgiveness. She had made another deal with the system. All she needed was for me to say I didn't blame her or that I wasn't angry anymore, and she'd be able to swap our weights again in an instant. I also learned that our weights couldn't be changed once the system locked in a new body weight. That meant she would never gain her weight back, no matter how much she ate. She would be stuck looking like a half-starved, barely human stick figure forever. The thought almost made me smile.

she replies squishing her face cutely as she hugs the teddy bear. “ Aww!! I didn't know adults have this too.” Emma says collecting the teddy from her and hugging it dearly. “ What are you saying? Even adults sometimes need something to hug.” Stephanie replies and they burst into another round of laughter. “ Wait! What is that?” Emma asks suddenly, as she fixes her gaze on the control switch hidden by the side of the wall. “ Is that?” Stephanie says, and they go to check it out. Pulling the control switch down, light instantly floods the school; classes, offices, and gates.