The trick was complete. She was sure of that much, at least. She couldn&#8217;t see her living room anymore. The hum of the air conditioning was nonexistent to her. She lifted her hand lightly to her neck but found nothing there.<br /><br />[&#8230;huh&#8230;he really&#8230;made my head&#8230;disappear&#8230;]<br /><br />She dropped her hand back to her lap. She knelt there. Waiting. She had no idea how much time was passing.&nbsp;<br /><br />[&#8230;this is&#8230;peaceful&#8230;thought it&#8230;would be&#8230;scary&#8230;]<br /><br />She did not know her husband had already walked away. She did know he recorded the magic trick on video; she didn&#8217;t know the camera was still running. But even if she knew he wasn&#8217;t there, her reactions would have been minimal. Without her head or her mind, she was practically sedated.<br /><br />[&#8230;knees&#8230;sore&#8230;can I&#8230;move? Or wait for&#8230;him to&#8230;]<br /><br />Her thought was implied: &#8216;give my head back.&#8217; The magician always made the vanished object reappear. That had to be coming soon. But &#8216;soon&#8217; was meaningless when time was hard to follow. Soreness in her legs from her positioning, however - that was ever-present. She was feeling the discomfort grow.<br /><br />[I need&#8230;to stretch out&#8230;]<br /><br />She leaned forward. She planted her hands on the ground. After some struggle, she managed to stand upright. She swayed in place. She made an occasional correction step to keep her balance.<br /><br />[&#8230;legs&#8230;feel better&#8230;but&#8230;]<br /><br />Her arms and legs were getting cold. She dressed in what he said &#8216;any good magician&#8217;s assistant would wear.&#8217; That turned out to be very little clothing. She wanted to be warm.<br /><br />[&#8230;where is&#8230;yeah&#8230;my closet&#8230;]<br /><br />She took a small step forward. She rubbed her arms, then her shoulders, then crossed her hands over her neckless expanse. Her decapitation, surprisingly, wasn&#8217;t on her mind - only warming up what she had that felt cold. She kept rubbing where her head had once been as her other arm extended in front of her. She began taking slow, short strides ahead. She was acutely aware of her chest jiggling and her feet impacting the ground. After a close call with a shelf mounted on the wall she eventually found, her ambling took her across and out of the room to find warmer coverings.&nbsp;<div><br /></div><div>Her husband never intended to keep his wife beheaded for long - at least before he performed the act. But after seeing her missing her head&#8230;watching her stumble around&#8230;even dressing herself again, all with serenity&#8230;he found himself pushing back the restoration by minutes&#8230;then hours&#8230;<br /><br />&#8230;then days&#8230;<br /><br />She didn&#8217;t *seem* to mind being headless. That was good enough, right? He was sure he&#8217;d give her head back. At some point. Tomorrow. Tomorrow for sure.<br /><br />&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;<br /><br />See more posts like this one I posted back in April for $3 a month at patreon.com/LackingCPU</div>