Private Journal Entry March 5

Journal,

I have not known what to write here and so I have kept my silence these past few days.

I suppose that part of it is that I do not wish to write in my journal with others looking on, even if it is just Kaylee, and it is rather difficult to write when one has only one hand.

Where to begin, honestly?

A few mornings ago I woke up...well...I woke up and I was Kaylee, there is no other way to say it. That is to say, I suppose, that I, whatever I am, am inside of Kaylee's body and she is in mine.

We are, neither of us, pleased with this situation. I feel as though I've gone deaf, normal human hearing is significantly inferior to the ears I am used to, she feels as though her whole head has been filled with noise (I remember that feeling well, so I can empathize). I'm missing and arm and a leg, I am completely dependent on her to help me get them on and off at night.

At first we were trying to dress like each other, to maintain appearances. But neither of us was happy. I think our preferred clothes are the last thing we have which seems normal. In public we try to mimic each other's personality, which is keeping some of the suspicion to a minimum. Only two people in town, I believe, as of this moment, know for certain.

One is Dr. Dayafter (he knows me far to well to have been fooled for long) and the other is, naturally, Mr. Tenk.

Mr. Tenk, I swear, has taken mad. He was convinced that *I* had done this to us! Honestly, if I had that sort of power Mr. Underby would have been gone the first time he looked sideways at me!

Of course, Mr. Underby is prime on our lists of suspects. But I'll be dragged through town behind a horse before I'll go anywhere near that man.

Not after this, if this was indeed him, just the thought of him makes me sick to my stomach and dizzy with fear, though I've done my best to not let Kaylee know. She's already so afraid as it is.

Given that that snake of a man has not shown his face around our house, we have been investigating other ways to put ourselves back-to-rights, as it were.

Kaylee thinks we should just have Grendel cut open our heads and switch our brains, though I am reluctant. I do trust, and have trusted, Grendel with my life, but lately he seems a touch unstable. I think the most recent experiment has put too much stress on him.

I, on the other hand, am supporting Gus in his investigation into a machine he's heard rumors of which can switch minds between bodies. He has emphasized the danger inherent, but, truly, is it any more dangerous than having the tops of our heads lobbed off?

No.

And I will not set one foot near Old Bridge.

I don't care how intolerable the whole thing is.

~S. MacB.