7 AM on a Saturday morning. As usual, I was greeted by the blinding rays of the sun as I woke up.

I got out of bed, brushed my teeth like I do every morning, and went over to my dresser to pull out a fresh pair of clothes. Suddenly...

"BOO!" Inside the drawer was Shannon's severed head, neatly placed so as not to disrupt my folded clothing. I recoiled in shock.

"I swear to God, Shannon, how many times do I have to tell you to stop that?" This was the fifth time this week she did this.

She likely didn't hear me. She was too busy...I would say too busy laughing her head off but that wouldn't really work in this case. I still fail to understand why she finds this hilarious.

"Oh, come on! You know it's funny, just admit it!"

"At least let me wake up completely first!"

"Why should I? Why should I not make this a nice wake-up call?"

Normally, I would've gone downstairs to make coffee to wake myself up, but Shannon's little scare woke me up so much that there simply was no desire anymore.

"Trust me, I am not going to get used to this. You're gonna make me feel so groggy doing this."

Shannon still had a small bit of laughter left in her as her headless body walked in from the next room over. I'm astonished at how she manages to walk like that without running into anything. It's like she has a second pair of eyes.

The rest of the day was rather uneventful.

The Next Morning

7 AM rolled around again. Only this time, I didn't hear my alarm go off. Instead, I heard what appeared to me like a human voice trying to replicate my alarm.

For whatever reason, this did not faze me. Without really opening my eyes, I turned to shut off my "alarm" but instead of feeling my alarm clock, I found my hand feeling a set of hair.

Once this happened, I heard another sudden shout of "BOO!" from Shannon. Once again, her head was severed, but this time, it was sitting on my nightstand in place of my alarm clock. Nevertheless, she still scared me.

Shannon sat there laughing her ass off again.

"Why must you do this every morning, Shannon?"

"I keep telling you, Colin, it's funny!"

I groaned at the thought of that being "funny". It might just be my poor sense of humor.

Putting her head back on, Shannon called out to me. "You're gonna get used to it eventually!"

"No, I'm not." I mumbled under my breath.

We both went downstairs for breakfast. There, Shannon confessed to me something she had been feeling ever since she found out about her condition.

"You know, I've been thinking, is there anyone else in the entire world that deals with this? I mean, I don't want to feel alone in this."

"To be completely honest, I have no idea. The odds of having it are, like, one in five quintillion, I think?" I shoved more pancakes into my mouth.

"Yeah, but, what if there are people out there who have it but are keeping shut? Or people who haven't been diagnosed?" She looked at me with intent.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"You never know..."

"Don't say that! You are legit scaring me right now! Well, not like what happened earlier, but still! You're acting like a serial killer!"

Shannon's eyes bulged when I mentioned the "serial killer" part. "You're right, what am I becoming?!"

"Look, I understand your thoughts, but there's a decent chance that if you go up to a guy and cut his head off, he's gonna die!"

She pulled herself together before she could break down into a panic attack. "I really need to control myself on this. I don't want to be a serial killer!"

"Damn right you don't. Just don't let your curiosity get the best of you. I'd rather not see my best friend descend into madness over this!"

Our episode subsided and we finished breakfast. The rest of the day was also uneventful.

Late That Night

(Author's Note: this portion of the story is written from Shannon's perspective.)

I looked at the time. 2:37 AM. I couldn't sleep at all. Those thoughts from breakfast were still running through my head. Even burying my face in a pillow didn't work.

I was so intrigued by the idea of having someone else to mess around with. Someone like me, who could rip their own head, arm, or even torso off with ease. Someone so I could not be alone in this world.

But Colin definitely was right. I could guess all I want, but if I guess wrong, the consequences would be devastating, even lethal.

But then I'd never know. Anyone could have it and not say anything about it. Even Colin.

The thought of Colin having it hurt the most. That made me really want to find out. The dilemma was unbearable. If I did it, well, I would actually be risking the life of my best friend. If I didn't see for myself, the very thought would keep me up every night. It wouldn't leave. It would continue eating away at me forever until I acted.

Which I did.

"Fuck it." Colin was asleep anyway, and if I was successful, I could find out without him even knowing.

I got up off the couch and grabbed my trusty kitchen knife, the same one that I used to cut my own head off to prank Colin. Then, I made my way upstairs, trying my best to keep silent.

His bedroom door creaked like a motherfucker, so I had to open it slowly to create as little noise as possible. I sneaked up to his bed and readied my knife. Then, I started having second thoughts. Would I be responsible for the death of a friend? Or would I discover a certain ability?

I stood pondering this for almost ten minutes, the internal agony at its peak. I felt the pain of being drawn forward but being held back at the same time. The only way to break it was to punch through it, regardless of the consequences.

I drew my knife and, shielding my eyes from whatever I might see, sliced through Colin's neck. I did it quickly so there was less of a chance he would be disturbed by it.

He startled slightly, but otherwise remained asleep. I gave a sigh of relief, and gently lifted his disembodied head up. Shockingly, I was right. No blood, no guts, no anything. Colin had the same ability that I did.

I really had a hard time trying to control my excitement, but I was lucky not to wake him up. Finally, I could rest easy knowing that I was not alone. This opened the door to many new possibilities. So many things we could do together now. I could only imagine what the future holds now.

The deed complete, I retired to the couch for the rest of the night. However, my prankster side shone through as I left, as I failed to reattach Colin's head to his body. That would be for him to discover in the morning.

That Morning

7 AM once again. My alarm clock rings for real. I reach over and turn it off. So far, it was already an improvement over yesterday. That was, until I got out of bed.

I sat there in sheer horror as I saw my own body rise from the mattress, while my head sat stationary on the pillow.

"Okay, calm down, you're probably still dreaming," I told myself. Honestly, I thought this was how Shannon felt when I found her after the storm long ago, but it was happening to me.

I tried the classic "dream or reality" trick and pinched myself. I felt it. This was actually happening.

I thought about screaming in shock, but then I realized that Shannon must have done it.

"SHANNON!!!"

She came running upstairs and saw me there, although I couldn't really see her there.

"Well, I guess now you know how I feel. Plus, I was right!"

I grabbed my severed head from behind me and set it on my lap. It was such a surreal feeling I don't even know how to describe it.

She saw the mixture of shock and anger on my face, so she tried her best to explain herself.

"Alright, I couldn't bear the thought anymore and I had to find out. So I took the risk."

"Well, you're fucking lucky you didn't kill me! I just..." I growled in frustration.

"Look at it this way, how I see it, our friendship might grow closer. Think of all the things we could do together now!"

I never thought of it that way. Actually, that was a big positive. And, I could finally get back at Shannon for all the pranks she threw at me over the past several weeks.

I pressed my head against my neck stump to reconnect it, but now, it wouldn't work. I sat in confusion. I tried again, still nothing. Now I started panicking again. There was no way I would be living the rest of my life like this. Multiple more tries failed, and I felt like throwing my head across the room.

Shannon then stepped up to try. She pressed for a few seconds more than she normally does to herself, and I felt my head rejoin with my body.

"I hear that for males, it takes slightly longer for the severance to be reversed."

With that issue resolved, a sort of evil grin spread across my face.

"Oh, you are so going to pay for this! COME HERE YOU!" I raced downstairs to try and beat Shannon to the kitchen, so we could have a little, let's say, fun with knives.