What if you woke up as someone else?
You wake up in a stranger’s bed, with their face, their keys and their job. Tomorrow it could be someone else again.
The ceiling is wrong, but the phone recognises the face.
< 0.1%chance it
ever happens
< 0.1%chance this ever happens
Could it actually happen?
Who you are depends on your body, your memories and your name, and all three stay put overnight. Nothing in medicine can move a person into someone else’s life while they sleep. There are rare brain conditions where people feel their body or their family is unfamiliar, but they still wake up as themselves.
Day 1
The ceiling looks wrong before anything else does. The phone unlocks with a face that matches the mirror, and the calendar is full of appointments nobody in the room recognises.
The first hour is spent working out the fridge, the shoes, and whether the note on the table is meant for you.
Year 1
People start leaving notes for whoever wakes up in their life next: where they work, which child goes to which school, what medicine to take, and what not to say to the boss.
A good note is a real kindness. A missing note means a day of guessing.
Year 10
Nobody really owns a life any more. You borrow one for the day and try to hand it back in decent shape.
Some lives get a reputation, and people hope to wake up in them. Others are kept very carefully, because whoever arrives tomorrow will have to get through the day.
Who wins
- People who leave good notesThe stranger in their kitchen can get through the day.
- Easy livesA tidy flat and a kind workplace are a pleasure to borrow.
Who loses
- Anyone attached to their own faceThe person in the mirror changes every morning.
- Passwords and promisesBoth were made by someone who isn’t here today.
- GriefA loss doesn’t stay with one person. It moves from bed to bed.
The catch
Everyone has dreamed of being someone else for a night. Waking up in their kitchen, with their keys and their name on the post, isn’t something anyone knows how to cause, and most people would only want it for a day.
Would you risk waking up as someone else?
0% said yes · 1 vote
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