Robert flinched when he and Hansel spoke at the same time, in eerie stereo. He tried to pull away, to get more room between himself and his friend, and seemingly, Hansel had the same idea in mind. He felt the muscles in his chest and abdomen be pulled uncomfortably taught, like the center of their chest was the rope in a game of tug of war. He moved no further away from his friend. Robert stopped his attempt, nearly as soon as he started.
His eyes gaze back at his unfamiliar chest. "What the hell happened to us?" His brain was having a difficult time processing what he saw, what he felt. It was a strange experience being within someone else’s body, but this was something else entirely. He felt his chest, or at least his half of it, raise from an unsteady breathe by his friend. He could feel the air enter his lungs.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Hansel look towards Greta. His friend's voice came out, like a whimper, "How do we fix this?"
Greta looked teary-eyed, and Robert knew his sister felt shameful, as if this was all her fault. "I... I... I don't know. Mrs. Maple...”
Hansel looked at Robert, his eyes seemed to plead with him. "I..." Robert swallowed hard, trying to keep his voice steady. He clenched his fist tightly, his knuckles becoming white. "We'll figure something out." His words sounded empty.
"We'll figure what out?" Hansel questioned, sweeping his arm over them. Panic and fear emanated in his voice, but Robert did not need to hear his friend's words, to understand his alarm. Beside his own terry, he could almost feel his friend's fear, on top of his own.
"We can't panic. That's not going to help us." Robert tried to keep his voice calm. His words were far easier to say than to practice. His mind raced with questions. ‘Was this permanent? How to they separate into two bodies? Why did the orb only make one body?’
Hansel took a deep breathe, seemingly trying to quell his own emotions. "And what will?"
"Mrs. Maple..." Greta offered. "She may know... something."
Robert realized that his sister was holding something. It took him a moment to see that it was the open box that they had purchased along with the crystal ball. Inside were the fragments of the once whole orb. Greta seemed to have hastily picked up the pieces while he and Hansel were unconscious.
"Go... maybe she knows of something." Robert urged.
His sister abruptly turned to walk towards the front door, but stopped just outside the living room threshold. She set the box down on shelving in the hallway and walked back to Robert and Hansel with her phone out. "Pictures are sometimes greater than words..." Greta stated, her voice sounded more controlled.
Robert looked toward Hansel, sharing a knowing look. He imagined that Mrs. Maple may need a photo of them, at least just to see the extent of what the orb had done to them. They both nodded their heads in approval. Greta took a picture of them, with half of their body still underneath the blanket. She picked up the box as she left the house.
Robert almost called out to ask her how she was going to get to Mrs. Maple's shop, since she did not know how to drive, but he decided against saying anything. His sister would think of something, even if it just meant that she bicycled the few miles to the shop. Their hometown was small, easy to traverse from one side to the other in less than an hour on bike.
Robert turned towards Hansel, his friend already looking at him from the corner of his eyes. He knew that they would be alone together for one or two hours while his sister was gone. He hoped that this was the only time they would have alone together, in their current state. They were best friends, but he could not imagine, did not want to imagine, being forced to live his life side-by-side with Hansel.
Hansel sighed heavily beside him. "How does an orb that switches people's bodies make us into... this."
Robert shrugged his shoulder in response, and he felt the muscles between his and Hansel's necks flex. "That felt weird." Robert stated to himself.
Hansel turned his face toward him again. "I felt you... shrugging here." He touched the space between their necks, and Robert flinched.
"I didn't expect to feel that." Robert stated as he placed his hand beside Hansel's. He traced this common center, down the length of their chest and abdomen, and Hansel shuddered in response. "Looks like there is some overlap where we can... both feel." It was an odd experience to feel his hand touch his stomach, but also know that his best friend could also feel him touching his stomach.
Robert’s eyes shifted downward to the blanket that hid the bottom half of their body. He stared for several long moments at the space between their two legs. Curiosity getting the better of him, he grabbed the side of the blanket around their hips and tossed it aside, revealing their lower half.
"Dude!" Hansel complained, but did not reach to grab the blanket. He seemed just as curious as Robert was.
They both stared at the single, unfamiliar penis nestled between their individual legs. "That doesn't look like mine..."
Hansel frowned. "Its not mine either." After a few moments, he stated. "The orb didn't just slap us together, it completely blended us into one person."
"We're still two separate people." Robert stated.
"Where?" Hansel argued. "Please, show me where you end and I begin."
Robert had to concede that Hansel had a point. Not only were their two heads on top of the same body, but their body seemed to be some combination of their previous forms. The only parts that were not completely blended together were their heads. “Granted, we share… most of this body, but we each seem to only have control over our half...”
“A lot of good that does.” Hansel scoffed. “We get to retain half of the body each, but we have to move together just to go anywhere.”
Robert had not thought that far ahead, but clearly his friend had. He was not sure how they were going to move their joint body. “Let’s take this one step at a time. Greta is going to get help. We can…” He paused, feeling a familiar pressure build in his bladder, their bladder. “…relieve ourselves…” Robert’s cheeks flushed red as he spoke. Hansel seemed to have a similar reaction as his friend’s cheeks turned ruby red as well. Robert could feel the heat leaving his friend’s face.
“Then get dressed.” Hansel supplied. “No use running around in the nude.”
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