“I tell already, it’s my passport!” you shout in your broken Asian accent. “I people of America!” The officer looks inside your passport and then looks back up at you with a face that clearly says ‘what an idiot’. He places it on the table with the information page open. You look down at it and see your face looking back at you, or at least what used to be your face.

“Look, just give up. If you just tell us where you got this passport, we will only deport you. If you don’t tell us, you can rot in jail instead.” he says. You take a deep breath and close your eyes for a moment. You can’t believe this is happening. When you got on the flight from Hanoi to Los Angeles, nothing seemed wrong. But as you sat on the plane something strange began happening. First, it got harder to understand the American movie you were watching and second, you found yourself tuning in more and more to the conversations of the Vietnamese passengers around you. You really noticed something was wrong when the flight attendants switched to talking to you in Vietnamese, alongside a subtle change of attitude towards you. Finally, you dared to look at your reflection in the window, causing you to scream. Instead of your normal male face, there was now a young Asian woman staring back at you.

You didn’t know what to do in this situation and decided to try and get help at the airport when you landed. Instead of assisting you however, you were detained when you tried showing your passport to the authorities. Now here you are, facing deportation to a country that you barely know, away from your friends, job and property. As the immigration officer starts speaking again, you find you don’t understand a word that he is saying. ‘Is he still speaking English?’ You wonder to yourself, as you start to move your lips in the only way you know now how. You start to reply in Vietnamese, the only language your lips will make from now on.

Liked it? Take a second to support NeoIdentity on Patreon!