"Are you sure you want to go through with this?" I asked Claire again at the door, thinking back to yesterday morning, when I found the almost empty bottle of Decapinex pills with her name on the prescription label in the medicine cabinet. She shook her shimmering gold tresses in an emphatic nod and her lips curled in a smile that could light up a room. I reached out and stroked the sleek line of her chin, resting my index finger on those perfect lips for a moment and looked deep into her brilliant azure, blue eyes, twinkling in happiness and anticipation. She kissed my finger.

            "Yes, I'm sure. It's time. I'm starting to feel left out. I mean, all my friends, well, all my girlfriends have done it, and they take every opportunity to tell me how great it is, how sexy it makes them feel, how a man’s hand on their neck's make them all weak in the knees. I want this. I spent $100 last week on my last hairstyle. Jody, my stylist, had it done last month and says it's rekindled her love life like nothing else could. Now are you going to come with me while I have my head cut off or would you rather wait here?"

            "I just wanted to make sure. It's not like you can have the procedure reversed, you know."

            "I've been taking Decapinex for a month, two pills at breakfast and one at dinner, so if I don't get decapitated now, all kinds of bad things will happen. My mind was made up a month ago, when I started the prescription. I must have my head cut off today or I'll get very sick. My body will start to reject my head, it will get infected, it's just bad. Let’s do it. Besides, I've already picked out a lovely display pedestal for my head, with room to plant flowers or other plants around the sides and back. Won't that be pretty?"

            I thought about Claire's severed head resting comfortably on a bed of flowers and got hard. Very hard. Good thing these are loose cut jeans. I thought about running my fingers across her truncated neck, resting my cheek on her stump while we slow danced, all those strapless dresses hanging in her closet, just waiting to show off those perfect shoulders, unencumbered by her head.

            "I wouldn't miss this for the world."

            Of course, the receptionist at Dr. Morgenstern's office was headless. Her form fitting white uniform showed off her ample female charms, and looking at the flat top of her stump, sealed with a white plastic neck cap and thinking about what would soon happen to Claire was making me dizzy.

            There were five other patients in the waiting room, three women and two men. The two women with their significant others both still had their heads and had undoubtedly come in to get a prescription for Decapinex, but the woman sitting off by herself was sporting a brand-new neck stub capped with a brand new, shiny silver neck cap just poking up from the collar of the thick burgundy sweater she was wearing. Her hands kept rising to almost touch her stump, moving through the air where her head used to be, and then dropping to her lap. A large purse was open at her feet, and inside I could see a mass of dark brown curls.

            We sat down to wait after checking in with the headless receptionist. Clair was so excited she was having trouble sitting still. She pulled out her makeup mirror and checked her face for the last time.

            Finally, the door leading back into the office opened and a young male orderly leaned out.

            "Claire Connolly, Dr. Morgenstern will see you now." We got up and she flashed a triumphant smile at the other headed women, who smiled back at her.

            "Let's go, honey."

            We were led back to one of the procedure rooms. Inside was your typical medical office examination bed, a waist high chopping block with headsman's axe and a full-size guillotine, bascule standing upright, and blade hanging ready to fall and strike some attractive woman's head from her shoulders.

            I sat on the bed while Claire examined the guillotine more closely, one hand unconsciously rising to the base of her neck. She reached up to touch the blade and jerked her hand back, sticking her finger in her mouth. "It's sharp," she said.

            "Of course it is, silly, it has to be sharp to cut your head off. You want a nice clean stump, don't you? Not one of those uneven, sloppy 'I cut my own head off at home' ones."

            "Well, yeah, but I haven't really thought about that way. I've been thinking about how nice it will be to finally get my head off my shoulders and how cool my stump is going to look, but not about the process of removing my head. I was thinking that maybe Dr. Morgenstern would put me under and operate on it or something like that."

            "Like having a limb amputated? You know that it's nothing like that. What was it they said when the FDA (Female Decapitation Authority) first approved Decapinex, that a woman needs a head like a fish needs a bicycle? With a limb, you must suture blood vessels and saw bones and spend weeks and months training with a prosthesis. With decapitation, it's just wham, here's your head, have a nice day."

            Claire's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "How'd you learn so much about this? I thought you were surprised I decided to be decapitated?"

            "I was, but I've done some reading, and some fantasizing. I spent a lot of time dreaming about this, but never got up the nerve to talk about it with you. 'Hi honey, I love you, I think you're sexy, I want to have your head cut off.' You see the problem. So, I just dreamed and watched your reaction with great interest when your friends started losing their heads one by one, and yesterday, when I found the bottle of Decapinex in the bathroom, well I realized that all good things come to those who wait."

            Claire thought about that for a minute before answering. "So, you're really excited, aren't you?"

            To answer, I stood up and the bulge in my pants said everything.

            Claire gave me a hug. "Oh, honey, this is such a relief. I was worried that you'd get all weird about this. I've wanted to be decapitated for so long but couldn't work up the nerve to do it until now because I was afraid of how you'd take it. It was so frustrating, watching Tammy and Karen have so much headless fun and not know how to tell you. You should have just said it," she smiled and kissed me, for what might be the last time, with the lips on her face, anyway.

            "Said what?" I asked when she pulled back.

            "Honey, I love you; I think you're sexy, I want to have your head cut off."

            Dr. Morgenstern, who was looking at a clipboard as he barged into the room, interrupted our embrace.

            "So, Ms Connolly, are you ready to get shorter?" He looked up and smiled.

            "All set Doctor. What do I need to do?"

            "First, go ahead and put on one of the examination gowns and sit on the bed while I take your vitals. Then I'll give you a local, check out your neck to find the best place to sever your head, have you take a quick look at some neck stump caps, and then it's showtime. Any questions?"

            "Is it okay if Andrew watches?"

            "That's fine, and if you decide to be guillotined, he can pull the release lever if you want"

            My smile was so big it felt like my own head was going to fall off.

            "I'll take that as a yes, then."

            The doctor checked Claire's pulse and blood pressure, took her temperature, and gave her two pills. He handed her a glass of water and waited while she took them.

            "What were those pills for?" she asked after swallowing.

            "That's a new drug called Circulum. It will take effect in about ten minutes, because it's absorbed through the esophageal wall rather than the stomach. It's going to cut off all blood circulation to your head. Less blood loss that way, and because you won't spurt all over my nice tile floors, less cleanup as well." He tilted her head back a little and his sure, dexterous fingers began probing her neck. Then he took a black pen and made five marks around the circumference of her neck. Claire tried to look down to see what he was doing, but Dr. Morgenstern kept pushing her chin back up.

            After he connected the dots around her neck and Claire had a chance to check it out in the mirror, the doctor asked her how she was feeling.

            "A little light-headed. This feels good." She giggled and slid off the examination bed. I reached out an arm to steady her.

            Doctor Morgenstern opened one of the drawers in the cabinets along the walls and took out several flat round disks and handed them to Claire. They were a bright silver, rose gold, shiny black, flat black and an almost skin tone, like a darker eggshell.

            “Your decapitation fee for today covers 2 stump caps. Choose the one you want to wear out of here and a spare. I think I have a few more colors in the other room if you don’t like any of these.

            Claire looked at the disks in her hands, then she stood up and went to the mirror on the wall and held them up in front of her neck, covering the thin line where her head was coming off.

            She looked back at me. “Babe, what do you think? I like the silver and the flat black.”

            “It’s your neck stump, you can wear whichever ones you want. I do like the look of the silver though, doesn’t Karen wear silver on her stump?”

            Claire nodded yes. “She started color matching her caps with whatever blouse she has on, but yeah, she always wears a silver neck cap when she goes out. She looks so hot like that.” She turned to the doctor. “I’ll wear the silver one out of here and take the black as well.”

            "Good, there's one more thing, and we can see about getting this beautiful woman decapitated." He picked up a hypodermic and gave Claire an injection in the back of her neck, just to the right of her spine. She jumped and rubbed the injection site with her fingers. "That was just a little Lidocaine for the pain. Your neck should go numb in just a few minutes, and then we're all ready."

            "Can I get my head chopped off now?"

            "Yes, Claire, we can chop off your head now." Dr Morgenstern took her arm and led her to the upright bascule. "Do you want the guillotine or the block?"

            "What's the matter with her? She's acting like she's drunk," I said. Claire giggled again.

            "It's a combination of the Circulum taking effect and the final stages of the transfer of her brain functions to her spinal cord. The giddiness will stop while the Lidocain takes effect. So, Claire, have you decided on how you want this done?"

            "Yeah," she said, shaking her head as her mind cleared. "The guillotine will give me a much neater stump, right?" After the Doctors affirmative nod, she went on. "Let's go with that, then." She stepped to the upright bascule and reached out to the straps.

            Working efficiently, Doctor Morgenstern strapped Claire in and lowered her halfway to the open lunette. She was grinning happily as she lay there, her fingers twitching in excitement.

            "Just a moment Doctor, before you lower me all the way. Andrew, time for one last kiss. Come here."

            It was a little hard, because she was strapped in face down and tilted at a 45-degree angle to the floor, but I was able to brace myself against the base of the guillotine and look up. Our lips touched and her warm tongue worked its way to caress mine and I started to get very aroused again. All the clinical stuff had calmed me down somewhat, but now that it was time, I was ready like I'd never been ready before. Tonight, after I got my newly headless honey home, I would show her just how much I appreciated her decision to be decapitated. Finally, I broke away and gasped for breath. Claire shifted on the bascule as much as she could (the straps were for her own safety, because most women tended to thrash when their heads came off) and pushed it down to vertical, closing the lunette tightly around her long, sensuous neck, making sure the path of the blade lined up with the marks Dr. Morgenstern made.

            "Now Claire, don't try to move until you feel my hands guiding you. I'll have to install the chip that will give you the ability to speak, and then I'll have to fit your cap, so try to remain still. You won't be able to see or hear anything, but we're not going anywhere, so remain calm. I want you to be aware that this may pinch a little, even with the Lidocaine. Now, if Andrew is ready, we can start."

            I looked down at the back of Claire's head. "I love you."

            "I love you too, now pull the lever, I'm starting to chafe."

            I counted to three silently to myself and pulled the release.

            Claire told me later what it felt like, it was like time slowed down to a standstill. She felt the vibrations as the blade slid down the guide, the low hiss as it cut its way through the air, the quick sharp bite as it struck the back of her neck. She was fully conscious of the slow and oh so fast course through her neck like a pleasant, hot painful shower of gold and after several more eternities of pleasure, she could feel the cool metal of the blade slam home. There was no light, no sound. For the time being, she was trapped in her own body with her sensations. The blade hitting the back of her neck set off the mother of all orgasms, and she squirmed helplessly as her body reacted to her decapitation, every nerve shot pleasure from her neck to her pussy and back again, building to a final release as her head was irrevocably detached from the rest of her body and became nothing more than a decorative ornament.

            She took a deep breath, reveling in the feel of the cool air going straight into her open trachea, and sighed, relaxing against the bascule, waiting for them to unstrap her so she could explore her brand new, hot and sexy neck stump for herself.

            Finally, she felt the straps loosen and come free, and hands took her shoulders and arm and helped her sit upright. She tried to reach up to her stump, but someone held her hand in her lap. She felt something cold moving around inside her stump, down in her trachea, a slight pinch as Dr. Morgenstern installed the vocal chip, a cold spray across the cut surface of her neck as the doctor used a sealer on the wound, and then a gentle caress on the back of her neck as Andrew touched her stump for the first time.

Now she felt something touch the cut surface of her neck about an inch from the top. At first, it tickled almost like a cough in the back of her throat, then as the underside of the cap made contact with all the exposed nerve endings it became much more comfortable. She felt a buzzing as the cap contacted the nerves in her neck and the world rushed back in a brilliant explosion of sensation. The colors seemed brighter, sounds a little more intense.

Claire has never looked so beautiful, I thought as Dr. Morgenstern finished adjusting the fit of Claire's neck cap around the shapely neck stump left by the guillotine. He guided her hands up to her neck and placed them on either side.

"How does that feel, Claire? Can you hear me?"

"I can hear you," came her voice, sounding a little weak, from the middle of her neck. "It hurts a little, but not much, just a stinging around the edge of my stump. My stump, can you believe it? I have a stump! Where's my head, and can I have a mirror? I want to see myself."

Dr. Morgenstern picked up the plastic hospital basin with Claire's discarded head, and I pulled her makeup mirror out of her purse. She took the mirror first and examined her stump from every angle she could, reaching out to touch the clear membrane that formed over the top. "Oh my God," she whispered to herself, "this is so cool." Her stump was perfectly flat across the top and covered by the gleaming silver cap which formed just the right punctuation to her complete and total headlessness. Her free hand explored her stump thoroughly and the other held the mirror so she could see the whole thing.

I reluctantly tore my eyes away from the arousing spectacle and took her head from the doctor. Her hair was tousled from its' short drop. Her lips curled in a dreamy smile and her eyes were wide open, locked that way forever. Now that it was severed, her head would rapidly polymerize into a near indestructible plastic-like material, and preserve her former looks forever. A work of the finest sculpture, unsullied by mere hands. I held it out for Claire's inspection.

"It looks good," she said after a moment. "I can't wait to get it on the stand I picked out. Part of me wishes we could put it back on."

"Why?"

"It felt so good, being decapitated, I want to do it again."

We both laughed, and taking her hand, we thanked the doctor; got Claire dressed, and left the office. The receptionist gave Claire a congratulatory hug before we left.

"Where to, hon?" I asked as we got into the car.

"Well, we need to go and pick up the display stand for my head over at Neckspectations."