Change, Crimson Rose [great books of all time .TXT] 📗

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In where I live, the fun begins when you are 17. Till then, you are boring ole’ yourself. Just like I am… But in a few weeks when I talk about my pre-17 life, I will use past tense, because it’s my 17th birthday on April 6th. Three more stinkin’ weeks. Not a day more, not a day less. 21 days. 501 hours. 30240 minutes. 1814400 seconds. You do rest of the math.
My names Sienna Rose and in three weeks I’ll be able to exchange my body with anyone who’s willing to.

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6,775,235,700 people on our little but yet so big planet earth. 6,775,235,700 different faces you can own. You fall asleep with red curly hair and freckles, and you wake up with black hair and emerald green eyes. Ever since that weird bomb went off on WW 3, in 2015, the human species has had the special ability to change their bodies with each other. All you had to do was to hold hands with that person, close your eyes and… what? They don’t tell you till you are 17 the next step. But in three weeks I will learn. I will have a meeting with my doctor, and learn everything

. Then, I can leave my body who has been serving me well for 16 years 11 months and 7 days. Then, I can leave behind my green-ish eyes and mousy brown hair. Then, I won’t have to keep on having the same chubby cheeks my dad used to have before the bomb went off. Actually he still has them. Duh! He is married. Married people no longer change. Marriage is like the end of life. The oath of never changing again. Staying the dull way you are. Boring

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My older sister refused to learn how to change. What an idiot

. Ofcourse there is no law against not-learning-how-to-change but why would anyone not want the fun? Once I asked her why she would not-want-to-change. Her answer is stupid. She said 'Why would I want

to?'... Before, I thought that was cool, trying to avoid to be like everyone else. But then, I grew out of it. If the rest of 6,775,235,700 people minus 1 do want to change, they have reasons. Unlike my sister Selin who answers my question back with a question. Anyways, she moved out and got married. So there wouldn't be a major difference anyways.
On the other hand my older brother Eren who is 25 years old still lives in with my parents and he is my biggest source of entertainment. He comes everyday -right in time for dinner- with a different face on him. By now, I forgot what he really

looked like. He is my hero. Sometimes he even changes bodies with girls! -which is illegal, you are only supposed to change with the same sex...-. I'm a coward, I can't go into illegal buisness...but

I'll try my best to be like him...

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Ever since the bomb went boooom

, statisticly, the number of crimes commited went up like a cat in a barrel of water. No surprise, if you can change bodies there is no worries on getting caught. Plus, you can lie very easily about your identity. How do I know if my mom comes back from grocery shopping as my mom? How do I know if she's not a psycho? Thats why the security companies have been making lots of money ever since. There is this sensor in all door frames that can identify who you really are. On the screen above the door frame, it tells you who you are. That's our cue to start on dinner, when Eren passes through the front door and we see the screen light up with his name. Usually people buy 20 of the same t-shirt so they can be reconized by the shirt they are wearing. I think I'll do the same. I already know which t-shirt(s) I'll wear... A purple blouse that I'll get someone to embroider my name on 'Sienna Rose'

...

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A few of my friends have already set foot on 17. We talk on the phone, but never face to face. Why? Because my doctor won't allow me. She says they might want to show me how to change. Though it's wierd, as if they can't tell me how do I change on the phone! But dissapointingly non of them told me. So I don't ask. I'm being a good girl and I am being patient. Eren is often teasing me, trying to get me to explode from excitement. He once even told me to hold hands with him and close my eyes. We waited like that for about what, a hour? He was just playing a joke on me, because a hour later when I was bored and curious that if it takes so long to change I found our next door neighbor Emma, the 7 year old holding my hands. Jerk. One of the other things my doctor doesn't allow me to is go out for the last two weeks. What ever... I will survive...

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I try to spend this week outside as much as I can. I admire the different faces one day I may own. I look at a girl with short curly blond hair. I wonder what her hair used to be like before 17. I go to my favorite comics book store 'Zapp-Man'. I pick up a manga book on girls with secret identities of super-hero-cat-powers. The guy at the counter is named Bill. He's actually a friend of mine -we met here-, but I'm not letting my doctor know that. Today he is goth. He never likes normal looks. Last time I came into the store he had a body of a midget. And then one I saw him as a fat asian guy, who looks like a buddah.
What a pity animals can't change. Bill has a cat. He's the same way in looks. Exactly the way he used to look like when I was 13. On my way to the supermarket, someone waves at me...I don't know who it is. A friend? My own brother? Who knows and who cares. In 2 weeks and 6 days it'll be me

who's going to be confusing people. As the person who waved at me enters a petstore, the screen on top of the door frame flashes 'Veronica Brady'. Oh, so that's my cousin. Noone told me she got divorced!

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Only 2 weeks and 4 days left. We make birthday plans. Afterall 17 is a grand age to step foot on. Before WW3, they say 16 was a special age, and girls would have sweet-16s. Now, that's super-17, and it's not only for girls. Boys have them too. As a tradition, you go to see your doctor after you blow out all the candels. If it was up to me, I would put the cake on the begining of the party... But as any parent would do, my parents said 'no'. On my cake, I'm getting my current face printed on. Afterall, I might never see it again after the party. My brother never did. Thats's the only reason why I think my sister was right on refusing to change.

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To your surprise, not pretty faces, but ugly

faces are popular. Don't ask me why. Exchanging faces slowly became a sort of a way to earn money for people. Some people would exchange their faces/bodies only if a fee was given. For example: they get paid for faces of once-belonged-to-a-rock-star or uglier-than-the-face-you-are-giving-me. In the stock market, some faces cost millions! Usually when it's your original face, the face you owned before the age of 17, you can also ask for some money. I remember Eren not being able to get more than 10 bucks since he used to have such a pretty face. Poor guy. Unluckyly, I can't say I'm too ugly either. Our family has been so pretty so far that people sometimes cannot look into my relatives faces. We belong to the circus...

Publication Date: 07-10-2011

All Rights Reserved

Dedication:
to my sister Sienna Rose -the actual one and only-