Fire cackled atop the logs in the fireplace. The flames flicked packets of light to the bricks, then the shadows dashed back in, over and over in the blink of an eye.

Ten eyes watched and reflected the dance of the fire. Ten hands felt its welcome heat. Five women stood shoulder to shoulder as a canvas for the lights and shadows.

"That was such a cold trip," said the one with deep red hair. The reflection of the fire made it glow, like it was burning from within. Her bronze skin looked like baking bread. "I'm never doing that again."

"Yes you are," said the one with straight black hair. Her topaz eyes shone with the luster of gold and the brilliance of a sparkler, islands in a lake of cream. "We're staying for a week, then driving back the way we came."

"Ugh, I forgot about that," said the one with dyed and curled blonde hair. Her brown eyes were threaded with embers. Her cheeks were bright red, like cherries on vanilla scoops of ice cream. "Thanks for reminding us, Jasmine."

"You're welcome, Rachel."

"Oh, I knew this cabin was too far away," said the one with chestnut hair cut in a bob. Her light blue eyes twinkled like diamonds meant for engagement. A black lace collar embraced her pale neck. "I'm sorry to put you all through that."

"Nonsense, Alice," said the one with natural blonde hair. It was tied back in a web of thin braids and hairpins. Her hazel eyes were a forest, set ablaze and roaring. "We all wanted a private Christmas getaway. We knew it would be a long time, DIDN'T WE?" She turned in both directions, looking urgently at the other women.

"Uh-yeah! Of course!"
"Marie's right!"
"You did great, Alice!"

Alice smiled. "Oh, ok! I thought you guys didn't like it, I was worried!"

"Honey, once you told me your 'friend' Gerald knew about a place, I knew it would be spectacular for OUR kind of holiday," said the one with deep red hair. "Which reminds me...all of our stuff is still in the car. Are we all warm enough?"

"No, Natalie, I'm not," said Jasmine. A smirk curled the side of her lips. "But we can still get our stuff now."

The women chuckled and sighed. Marie spoke in a grumbling tone. "Still friggin' cold as fudge." Something about the way she said it broke any remaining tension and had them all laughing.

They turned as a group to walk out, starting to chatter with good cheer. Rachel was at the end of the line. She glanced over to the mantle that spanned the wall around the fireplace. She stopped and stared as the rest of the girls walked out of the den.

There were five red velvet stockings hung on the chimney with care. Five gold cursive embroidery names adorned the upper folds of cloth. One small round lump was in the bottom of one stocking; hers.

Rachel stood and stared. Knots of wood popped in the heat. The chatter of the girls had given way to the car being opened and occasional laughter. It was muted by the thick snow and thicker walls.

--------------------

"Rachel, I know it's cold out, but you'll feel better when you're done unpacking."

Natalie had walked back in with two duffel bags in her hands. She had dropped them with an exaggerated huff in the wide doorway between the den and the stairs. She had seen Rachel standing there...and something had seemed weird about it.

"Yeah, uh...I know...I'll be out in a second," said Rachel. Then she just stood there. Natalie thought it was a bit odd that she was facing the left. She looked like a kid hiding a stolen cookie behind her back.

Natalie was about to say something when Alice walked in. "Ooooh, there's something in my stocking!" She put down her purse, duffel bag, and trunk handle down in a haphazard pile next to Natalie. She skipped over to the chimney.

Jasmine walked in with a large hiking pack on her back and a traveling suitcase in each hand. She kept stride to the staircase as she threw her comment over her shoulder. "I didn't know this was your bedroom, Alice."

"I'll get it in a minute!"

Natalie's brow furrowed. She saw that Alice was nearly at her stocking, but Rachel still stood with her back to Alice, facing the other wall. ("Why isn't she turning around?") Her eyes caught sight of the gold script on the stockings, still clear to her this far away.

"Alice...there's nothing in your stocking. It's in mine."

Alice stopped next to the mantle. She looked carefully at the names, then turned to Natalie. "No...its in mine! Don't be silly!" She turned back and lifted her stocking from the mantle in both hands.

"I see something in MY stocking," said Marie. Her suitcase, backpack, and purse sat in a neat pile against the banister of the stairs. She stood next to Natalie. They wore matching mixed faces of confusion and concentration. "Mine is on the far left, right?"

"Yeah," said Natalie, "but there's nothing in that one. It's in mine, in the middle."

"What are you talking about?" Marie turned to face Natalie with her hand on her hip. "Your stocking is flatter than Rachel."

"No, it isn't. Can't you see..."

While Marie and Natalie were dithering with each other, Rachel was craning her neck to see where Alice was. She still refused to turn around. She saw Alice open the end of her stocking. It was more than pitch black inside. She had never seen anything so dark.

"I just want to see what the gift looks like," said Alice. She was lifting the opening and tilting her head face first to go into it.

Rachel's self imposed paralysis broke. She turned as she yelled, "ALICE, NO!" By the time she took her first step, Alice's face was past the stocking's velvet lip, her head still descending, her hands still lifting.

Natalie and Marie both noticed two things once Rachel had turned around and taken her step.

Natalie was the first to notice that Rachel didn't have a right arm. She had one the whole car ride and had one a minute ago, but she didn't have one now. Even the winter coat she wore was sealed at the shoulder, as though it never had a sleeve. ("No wonder she wouldn't turn around...how else was she going to hide it?")

Marie was first to see the massive difference in Rachel's stocking; Rachel had been in front of it before. It was clear that something long, slender, and somewhat heavy had been put into it. It was bent in the middle and had a round lump in the toe of the sock.

Marie looked from the stocking to Rachel. Natalie looked from Rachel to the stocking. It clicked for them both.

("The stocking took her arm!")

"EEEEKK!!!"

Rachel let out the short, startled scream. Her left arm had recoiled back, her hand curled palm up. If she had a right arm, it would have been the left's mirror.

Natalie and Marie both stood with their mouths dropped open. They all saw what happened to Alice.

She had brought the stocking over her head. The lip of the stocking had grazed the lace of the collar on her neck. Alice had realized she couldn't see with her head in the way and had moved to pull her head out. She had felt the band of the stocking tighten. Her hands had clenched the velvet in reaction.

As the scream escaped Rachel's lips, the stocking closed around and through Alice's neck. The lump of her head dropped straight to the heel. The cloth pulled taunt in Alice's hands. Her head rolled sluggishly all of the way to the toe.

Rachel, Marie, and Natalie were frozen for a moment, save for their eyes, which darted between each other, the sphere in Alice's stocking, the collared neck stump of their now-headless friend, and back. Natalie was the first to thaw. She did so with a wicked grin on her face and a playful elbow nudging Marie's side.

"Would you look at that, Marie! Looks like they were trying to peek before Christmas, but...BIT OFF more than they could chew!" Natalie and Marie cackled in delight.

Rachel's face was turning red from embarrassment. Her head was downcast. She was rubbing her empty shoulder. "It wasn't my fault...I felt like I *had* to know what it was."

If Alice had a head, she could have told the girls about the chroma in the stockings. Rachel was right; the stuff pulled you in. Her snapjaw chest was the same way.

Alice was lowering the stocking to the floor inch by inch. The velvet around her head touched, then landed, on the carpet. She let go. The stocking flopped down in a pile. She knelt with slow grace. One hand was ready to touch the floor. The other was adjusting the lace collar around (and caressing the blank plateau of) her neck.

Natalie was still smiling and laughing at the scene in front of her. "That's a new record for losing a head, even for you, Alice." She chuckled at herself and watched her friend's hands patting down the carpet in search of the stocking and severed head she dropped.

Marie was smiling, but focused on her stocking. She walked to it. Her hazel eyes were narrow. "Natalie," she said, pointing her finger at a specific spot of her stocking, "do you see that?"

She looked. To Natalie, there was nothing but velvet. "Just the stocking. Nothing in it."

"Hm." Marie pondered for a second. She poked her finger against the fabric and held it there. "How about now?"

"Nope. Wait...are you..."

"I'm touching the lump in my stocking." Marie had a glint in her eye. Her lips were drawn tight in a confident grin. "We each have one, but we can only see our own."

"Or there isn't anything in any of them, but we each think we see something in ours," Jasmine said.

She was standing on the lowest stair and leaning against the doorframe to the den. She still had on the black sneakers and jeans she had been wearing, but had shed layers of clothing down to a stretched-out tank top and a purple bra. Her arms were crossed under her chest.

Rachel couldn't help but stare at Jasmine's tits in a bitter mix of jealousy and envy. She couldn't fill in a B cup, and Jasmine had to special order for G cups! She wished for a Christmas miracle for her petite breasts, then spoke up. "Do you have any ideas for how to get our body parts out?"

"Reach in and grab them?" said Marie.

"Are you kidding? And lose my other arm?"

Natalie interjected. "It should only do it the first time. It's a gag thing, right? Ha ha, have a laugh, now here's your hand back, Merry Christmas."

Jasmine's eyebrows raised. "Well, we have a volunteer for that theory."

Rachel turned, puzzled. "Who? I'M not!"

"No...Alice is volunteering," Jasmine replied, "she just doesn't know it yet."

All of the girls turned to watch Alice. She was kneeling on her own feet. Both of her hands were already inside of her stocking. She bowed forward, sliding her arms further in.

The girls watched the velvet expand as Alice snaked her arms around the heel. A rough outline of her wrist appeared when her hands grabbed her hidden head. There was no more than a six inch gap between the lip of the stocking and Alice's neck stump.

The only sound in the room for five seconds was the pleasing snaps of burning wood. Then Natalie gasped (...or was it a moan? She wouldn't tell) when Alice moved again.

The stocking responded the same way it had before. Once Alice began to pull her parts out, the lip closed shut on them and through them. It closed the sleeves of her coat around her stumps.

Alice finished leaning upright, now headless and armless. She bounced a few times, wagging her stumps up and down. She turned back and forth at the waist with her chest held high. It looked like she has dancing.

The girls laughed. "Aww, how cute! She's like a cuddly stuffed animal," said Natalie.

Rachel walked over and knelt next to Alice, putting her only arm around her waist. Alice snuggled against her, her arm stump rubbing a very small area of Rachel's back.
"She seems ok with it...but are we stuck like this? When can we put ourselves back together?"

"Christmas," said Marie. "That's when you're supposed to open you're presents."

Rachel's mouth dropped open. "But today is the 23rd! Two days without my arm? Two days of Alice like this?" She tried to bring her only hand up to 'display' Alice like a prize on a game show. Her arm wasn't long enough to get around Alice's back. Rachel accidentally palmed (then absentmindedly grabbed) Alice's left tit when she pulled her arm back.

Alice was actually absentminded, so she only knew someone (was it Rachel or Marie?) was holding her and cupping her tit. She squirmed into it, loving being lost in feeling. Then the hand went back to her waist. She shifted, her stubs of arms giving short waves.

"That's what you get for trying to snoop, even if it was some clever trick stockings with non-existent gifts," said Natalie. "Besides, I don't think our new pet would mind."

Alice had already shifted to straddle Rachel. She was leaning her chest against Rachel's face. Natalie and Jasmine could only see her eyes, forehead, and hair over Alice's neck stump. Everything about her movement said 'touch me' rather than 'help me' to the girls.

"I think there's another way," said Jasmine. She had a finger to her chin. She stepped over to Alice's stocking, bent over, and picked it up. "Maybe it won't take parts away from anyone but the person it belongs to."

Marie looked worried. "I don't know about that." She was wringing her hands together.

"Well, neither do I," Jasmine said. Without giving her doubts a chance to stop her, she dipped her left hand into Alice's stocking. She grabbed one of Alice's arms at the bicep, took a breath, closed her eyes, and pulled.

Natalie, Marie, and Rachel gave a united 'Oooooh' that gave way to giggles as Jasmine pulled her and Alice's left arm clear of the stocking.

Alice shifted her torso a bit, then resumed her calm rest against Rachel. Rachel seemed content to keep her head where it was. She hugged her dismantled friend close to her.

The girls grouped together around the stockings. They gave Alice her head back first. She refused when they tried to put her arms back on. They cuddled together by the fire, resting and relaxing and laughing, jolly and content. The stockings were toyed with a little, but before anything too crazy happened, Natalie stepped in.

"I want to get wild just like the rest of you, but Jasmine is the only one who finished bringing her stuff to her room. Let's pull ourselves together and handle that, then meet me at the oak table. I have something we can have fun with..." She had a wild gleam in her eye and a ravishing smile on her lips.

"But I don't want my arms yet," Alice whined. She rocked side to side on her legs to balance herself upright. "Can someone else take my stuff upstairs?"

"Nope!" Marie said. She was standing behind Alice, already holding her lifeless arms. She replaced them both simultaneously, then skipped off, cheering behind her. "Do it yourseeeelf!"

They all laughed and got moving. An hour later (Alice and Rachel took forever to unpack), the girls reunited at the cabin's large oak table to see a new contraption sitting at its center.