Writing journal

[assignment] A character wakes up to discover that they are in the body of something or someone else. What is it and what happens to them?

It's cold. So cold.

I can't breathe. Was I breathing before? I don't remember.

Everything is blurry.

My lungs... my lungs are burning! I have to find a way out. There's light. Voices. My arms extend into an open space. Am I... already out?

Something hits me, it shakes my entire system.

I breathe.

“It's a boy!” someone says.

My body quivers, the world tilts.

What have you done to me?

I cry.

I can't help it. Everything feels too much. It's so cold, so bright, so deafening. I cry like a baby and part of me sees the irony in that thought.

Father...

Strong arms wrap around me. Are they strong, or am I weak? I feel weak. Hungry.

Your voice reaches me like a slap.

Well, well, well... isn't that what you wanted?

Not like this! Why did it have to be like this?

It has to be like this. There's no way around it.

How long have you been planning this?

A while. The time it takes to make a mother.

What am I supposed to do now?

You wait, my son. That's how they all start... weak, powerless, crying for help. They grow up. Nothing changes much. That's why they're full of hatred.

You despise them so much!

And you don't know them enough. Let's see if in thirty years you still think they are worth saving. Good luck, son.

Where are you going? Father?

“He's crying so much,” I hear a man say.

“It's so cold here...” a woman replies.

...father?

“At least he's healthy,” the man sighs, “here, get closer to the animals.”

I feel the warmth emanating from a nearby ox. It's calming, somehow.

Your voice is gone. Their voices are all that's anchoring me now.

“What should we call him?” he asks.

“He told me his name shall be Jesus.”