Page 43 of Exchange of Heart

I stood from the chair with an ache in my stomach, as though I’d eaten too much or had five days backed up in my bowels. The painkillers had kicked in, but perhaps I was ready to release a monstrous hangover shit. As I walked to the door, Maisy gasped from her desk. I spun around as she rummaged through her desk drawers.

‘Stop, stop. You’re going to need a change of clothes. Let me find something to cover the back of you.’

I twisted to look at myself and found a red stain on my dress. Blood. Oh my god, Nora was bleeding! My heart raced; my fingers trembled. Holy shit, Nora’s body was in trouble. What would happen if she died? Does that mean I’d die, too?

‘Don’t worry about it,’ I blurted to Maisy.

Opening the door, I raced through the office to the bathroom and fumbled with the lock on the door four times before it finally clicked. I fished through the tiny thing Nora insisted was a pocket despite barely fitting half a phone inside and dialled my number.

‘Nora? You’re bleeding! There’s blood on the back of your dress. I need to take your body to the doctor. Oh, my god, is it serious? What should I do? Has it happened before?’

‘Corey?’

‘Yes, it’s Corey,’ I whisper shouted. Wasn’t she sensing the urgency in my voice?

‘Hang on a sec.’

The seconds were agony.

‘I must have lost track of the weeks. It’s my period.’ She sounded eerily happy at the idea of all this blood.

‘Your what? What do I do? Should I go to the hospital or do you have a regular doctor?’

She cackled so loud I distanced the phone from my ear.

‘I’ve got some tampons in my drawer.’

‘I’m sorry, I think I misheard you. I thought you suggested I rummage through your drawer for a tampon.’ Nervous laughter bubbled up my throat.

‘You need to insert it to stop the blood, but you’ll still need to go buy a new dress and undies.’

‘Nope, I heard you correctly.’ Dread filled my already bloated stomach.

I hung up the phone before Nora could finish, because I was not doing that. I also wasn’t spending the rest of the day with a giant stain on the back of my dress. The handle rattled, then someone knocked on the door as they yelled through the office asking why it was locked. I opened the door, and the blonde from the other side fell into me as she tried to barge her shoulder against the now-open door. My chest tightened, and my nose started to sting. Not only was I in a women’s body, but I was also experiencing things I never wanted to experience. What if ten years go by and I’m still dealing with Nora’s menstrual cycles?

‘Oh honey, are you okay?’ she asked.

‘I’m fine.’ I wiped the tears from my cheek.

‘Nora, I need those reports,’ Freddie yelled from his office doorway.

I stomped to my desk and snatched Nora’s bright yellow bag from the floor.

‘I’m unwell, I need to go home,’ I sniffed.

‘A few tears don’t make you unwell,’ Freddie smirked.

I’ve never wanted to pummel a person so hard in my life. Once I made it back to my own body, his office would be my first stop.

‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’ I turned and walked to the elevator with my bag covering my ass, ignoring the flustered lists of things he yelled he needed from me.

The thing was, he didn’t need the data.

He needed Nora.

And right now, so did I.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN