When I opened my eyes, the first thing that caught my attention was the complete darkness. It was thick, suffocating, like I still had my eyes closed. Gradually, though, that darkness started to fade, becoming dull, grayish... until outlines began to appear.
Eventually, I could make out a stone ceiling above — uneven, cold, covered with small cracks and damp spots. I blinked a few tis, trying to clear my vision, until I noticed sothing curious: my field of view wasn’t split anymore.
Now, I was seeing continuously, normally. For a mont, I stayed lying there, quietly absorbing that realization. Then, almost automatically, I raised my hand in front of my eyes, as if to confirm that all of this was real.
A slender, delicate hand appeared in my field of vision — a stark contrast to the big, sturdy hand I’d been used to for years. In other words, I was controlling only Noa, my female body. With a subtle leap, I lifted myself up until I was sitting, feeling the lightness of that different body.
My eyes scanned the inside of the cave, still partially wrapped in the early morning gloom. It took only a mont to locate the others: they were lying side by side, their bodies still and serene, as if still trapped in a deep sleep. Curiously, this wasn’t the first ti I woke up in my female body before the male one.
It was as if it had its own routine, its own biological clock. Was it so kind of unique constitution? Maybe, in so way, my female body simply needed fewer hours of sleep than the male one? The truth was, I wasn’t sure — and honestly, I didn’t care that much. In the end, waking up first or later didn’t make that much of a difference.
It was just another quirk in this split existence I was starting to accept as normal. I pushed that thought aside and blinked slowly, brushing a strand of long hair that had slipped in front of my face. The motion was automatic, almost absentminded.
In the next mont, the events from the day before ca flooding back like a silent tide — the hunts we’d done, the paths we’d walked under the foggy sky... and above all, the mont I revealed my secret to everyone. I told the truth I’d kept so long: Noa and Justin... are actually versions of myself.
After all, even though we’d talked about it, Oliver, Ethan, and Alice seed too confused to fully take it in. We didn’t go as deep as I thought we would. I’d probably have to explain everything again today.
With that thought still echoing in my mind, I got up slowly and started getting ready to leave. But before I could take the first step, a soft sound made stop. When I turned around, I saw Alice slowly lifting her head, her eyes still heavy with sleep but fixed on .
She had woken up. For a mont, everything went silent. Our gazes t, and neither of us quite knew how to react. We just stayed there, staring at each other — maybe trying to figure out what the other was thinking, maybe just too shy to break that strange mont. Well... I can’t say I wasn’t expecting sothing like that to happen.
In the quiet that filled the space, I was the first to break the silence. My female voice was soft, almost a whisper that echoed gently off the walls around us. In a low, almost shy tone, I asked: “Do you wanna go to the creek with ? I was thinking of washing my face...”
Minutes later, Alice and I were walking through the woods. The day was already starting to lighten, but the sun hadn’t fully risen over the horizon, bathing everything in that soft gray tone typical of early morning. The fog still covered the path, drifting between trunks and branches like a cold, silent veil.
Compared to the day before, it seed thicker, though not as oppressive as on the first day. Still, it was visibly denser than the fog we’d seen on the second day, making the trail ahead a little darker and more mysterious.
Anyway, as Alice and I walked, the silence between us stretched on. We’d been like that since leaving the cave. Honestly, neither of us seed to know what to say. Compared to the ti I’d spent with Oliver — and even with Ethan — Alice and I had had very few monts alone so far.
Maybe things would’ve been different if Noa really were a separate person. But now that Alice knew Noa and Justin were the sa person, it felt... weird. Like there was an invisible barrier between what we could or couldn’t share.
Things girls would normally talk about with a friend probably didn’t feel so natural anymore — and she probably noticed that too. Still, it wasn’t like I didn’t want our friendship to grow. Actually, I did. I just wasn’t sure how to get past this silent wall that had ford between us.
“You know...” I started, trying to catch Alice’s attention with so embarrassnt in my voice: “I’ve never been very good at talking to other people, so... sorry if I seem weird or awkward to be around. But... well... you can talk to , if you want”
I hesitated for a mont, looking away before continuing, a little quieter: “I know this might sound strange, especially since I was originally a guy. But ever since my body split — in a way — at least on the female side... it’s like I started noticing certain things more clearly. Feelings... emotions... maybe even different ways of seeing the world”
I sighed lightly, giving a sowhat shy smile: “So... if you wanna talk, or just stay quiet next to ... that’s fine. I’m here” Chapters first released on novel fire
Alice stayed quiet for a few monts after my words. Her eyes seed to carefully weigh what I’d said, slightly narrowed in a mix of curiosity and thought.
Then, suddenly, her lips curved into a calm smile, followed by a light, brief laugh: “It’s okay, really. You seem like a nice person... having two bodies or not”
I smiled slightly at Alice’s words, a mix of amusent and surprise crossing my face. We kept walking, and the mood between us beca noticeably lighter, almost comfortable, compared to before.
The atmosphere seed to open up, like so invisible weight had been lifted from the air. That was when Alice, growing more curious, decided to ask more questions.
She looked away for a mont, thinking, then blurted out, half shy, half direct: “By the way, I know this might be weird to ask, but... you and Justin, like... are you physically attracted to each other? Do you think each other’s good-looking or anything?”
The mont I heard that, my imdiate reaction was to stop and look away from Alice, surprise written all over my face. Honestly, I expected a flood of questions, but none like that — especially not that one. Still, it wasn’t like I couldn’t answer, just that, to be honest, after that first ti, I’d never really thought about it.
But was there anything to think about? I an, they’re two bodies of — feeling attraction between them would be like feeling attraction to myself. And no matter how I looked at it, that sounded at least a little too weird to make sense.
After gathering my thoughts, I finally shared them with Alice, trying to be as honest as possible: “I don’t think there’s any physical attraction between us... I an, even though to you it seems like we’re different people, every ti I look at Justin, or when he looks at , what I see is basically myself. It’s like staring into a mirror — and honestly, I think it’s hard to fall in love with soone who’s really just ”
Hearing my words, Alice just raised her eyebrows slightly, as if silently saying: “Oh, I think I get it.” Nothing else but that subtle expression, and then we fell into complete silence.
However, unlike that heavy, awkward silence before, this one felt welcoming, almost comforting — like a cool break in the heat of conversation. It was a silence that sohow ant sothing had changed between us, that even if just a little, we’d grown closer. An invisible bond forming now, subtle but real.
Anyway, as Alice and my female body walked toward the creek, my male body finally woke up. My vision, once split into two disconnected focuses, plunged into dense, silent darkness. For a few seconds, everything around was an absolute void, like the world had disappeared. Slowly, my eyes began adjusting to the dim light.
The first thing I did was get up slowly. Then I leaned against the wall, sitting close to it, trying to control my breathing while waiting for Ethan and Oliver to get up — which didn’t take long. Oliver was the first to move.
After a few seconds, carefully feeling around with his left hand and noticing sothing missing, he finally stood up. His gaze initially searched the spot where Alice had been monts before, like looking for a clue. Then he scanned the surroundings carefully, until his eyes finally rested on .
As soon as our eyes t, I raised my hand in a simple greeting. Oliver, for his part, widened his eyes discreetly, as if trying to understand why I made that gesture, paying close attention to every detail of my movent.
The silence between us lasted only a mont, until my voice sounded, with the calm, casual tone typical of a tired but polite college student: “Good morning”
Oliver stared at for a few seconds, his eyes reflecting a mix of surprise and recognition. Then, with a slight smile, he slowly nodded back and said, almost in a muffled tone: “Good morning”
Saying that, he ran his hand through his hair absentmindedly and yawned, his face still carrying the weight of tiredness. Like before, his eyes searched the area with subtle intensity, almost imperceptible — but it wasn’t hard to guess who he was looking for.
Casually, almost without thinking, I comnted: “Alice went to wash her face at the creek, with my female body”
Hearing my words, Oliver finally looked away toward where Noa — my female body — should be. Noticing the empty space, he just nodded, an expression of understanding mixed with a slight hint of worry crossing his face.
A few minutes later, Ethan woke up, still a little groggy, but soon regained his focus. Overall, his behavior was very similar to Oliver’s: the first question was about Alice’s whereabouts, followed by a curious glance to where Noa should be, silently seeking answers about my female body.
After the usual explanation — the sa I’d already given Oliver — a comfortable silence settled between us. The atmosphere seed to quiet down, as if everyone was processing the information. At least until Ethan broke the silence, his voice cutting through the calm with a curious question: “By the way... when you guys have to go to the bathroom, how does that work?”
Hearing Ethan’s question, Oliver was the first to react. His body seed to freeze for a mont, like ti slowed down around him. Slowly, he looked away from the original direction and fixed his eyes on Ethan, with an incredulous expression showing surprise — and doubt — about what he’d just heard. It was like the words had hit an invisible barrier inside him, making him question if it really made sense.
At first, my reaction mirrored Oliver’s — a mix of surprise and hesitation. The next instant, I took a deep breath and gathered my thoughts, looking for clarity before answering firmly: “We both... do that separately”
Hearing my answer, Ethan just nodded, his eyes shining with silent curiosity. No matter how you looked at it, the question was asked genuinely, driven by a simple desire to understand. At that mont, the only thing I could think was that, in a way, coming from Ethan, it wasn’t as unexpected as soone might imagine — after all, we were talking about him.
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