Chapter One

The night before Friday the 13th, Simon and I had stocked up on good luck charms and were on "major weirdness" alert mode. After all, it was the most unluckiest day of the year. In Eerie, it's gotta be twice as bad.

Simon had planned to sleep over at my house but his parents were being less nasty than usual, so he actually wanted to stay home for dinner. I took pity on him and we each agreed to arm ourselves for the coming morning.

The morning of Friday the 13th descended swiftly. Too fast, for my liking. I had a math test that morning. And of course, I hadn't studied. I opened my eyes and lifted my head. That's when it began.

"Geez, gray hairs over my pillow?" I muttered, through bleary eyes. Then, I really woke up. Gray hair? What?

I tossed off the covers and the horror really set in. I always wear the key to our "weirdness" collection of items around my neck on a long string. It was gone!

And...

I wasn't in my bed.

I wasn't in my room.

I wasn't in my house.

"Where am I?" I cried. I kicked the sleeping bag I had climbed out of against the wooden wall. I looked around taking in the stale smell, the ancient items and the setting became familiar.

I was in the old abandoned mill house.

It couldn't be... I plucked my hair. The strands were gray. And that's when I noticed my hands. They had the marks of a "–" and "X."

"Oh,no. No, no, no."

I looked around for anything that would show my reflection. I spotted the old mirror across the room. I stood in front of it.

"No way," I declared.

Face it, Mars, I told myself. There are some things you cannot prepare for. Even in the center of weirdness.

This was one of them.

Meanwhile, someone else was also in for a startling revelation of the weird...

Beep Beep Beep

An alarm was going off in his head. The boy with gray hair named Dash X tossed fitfully in bed. The beeping of the alarm seemed to raise in agitation.

Wait a minute, Dash thought. Since when did I have an alarm

"Marshall? Honey, are you up? I've made breakfast. Well, if fixing a bowl of Cheerio's counts as making breakfast. Anyways, up, up, up!" shouted a female voice.

Dash jumped up and looked around in horror. He was in a bedroom of someone his age, a teenager. A dorky teen at that. "Where the hell am I?" he gasped. And did that lady say Marshall?

And why the hell was he sleeping in a dorky alien tee and Chewbacca boxers!

As he got out of bed, his hand caught on a string around his neck. Where's my hand marks? Dash wondered. The string had a key at the bottom. Teller always wore a key like this...

Dash moved over to the mirror and stood with his mouth gaping. He was Marshall! Correction, he was in Marshall's body! This could only happen in weirdsville, he thought in amazement.

"I bet the bozo's in my body. God, Chewbacca boxers..." Dash muttered angrily.

"Marshall!"

Dash nearly jumped out of his boxers. The woman...yeah, must be Marshall's mom.

"What?" Dash responded still taking in his appearance and wondering how he could profit from this strange event.

She tossed him a newly clean pair of jeans. "You better get a move on if you want to make breakfast. I don't like you heading off to school on an empty tummy."

"School? Hah. I don't think so," Dash answered roughly.

Marshall's mother looked surprised at his sudden "attitude" but chocked it up to puberty. "Uh huh. C'mon you gotta wash your face first."

Dash could barely protest as she firmly steered him to the bathroom. The door was closed and the water was running. Someone was in the shower.

"Syndi, Marshall's coming in to wash his face at the sink real quick. He's running late today," the woman called.

Syndi? Oh yeah, Marshall's not too bad looking older sister, Dash mused.

"Okay!" Syndi answered.

"Go on, Marshall. Your cereal is getting soggy. I'm going downstairs to help your father with his wrinkled suit," she said, giving him a kind push to the door. She turned and headed down the stairs.

Dash was for the first time unsure of what to do. Cops, he could handle. Parents were unknown territory. Maybe he should just play along. He might get something out of all this after all.

"Sure, I'll be down soon, mom" Dash called after her, with a smile. Saying "mom" didn't feel as strange as he thought it would.

Syndi. Dash stepped into the bathroom with a smirk. Naked Syndi. His mind reeled at the thought. Oh yeah, this body switch might have some advantages.

A few moments later a scream and the word "pervert" could be heard.