Miranda walked by Julie’s room with a book in one hand and a Starbucks cup in the other. Her mind was entrenched deep in the snarled pathways of Severshire and the intricate web of treache-

“Hey Mimir, Mimir! C’mere!”

She stopped. She wanted to say something in rejection, but it was too late. Her focus on the book was gone. She turned around and walked back into Julie’s room.

”They’re finally doing it! The body shop thingy?! The one with the head swap thing? It’s free to swap heads only for *today* only! Just pay shipping!” Julie was bouncing and giggling from excitement.

Miranda was not as enthused. “Oh yeah, you’ve been waiting for that. I think I’ll pass - I only have my one head right here.” She lifted her fist up to knock her skull for comedic effect, but stopped short of striking knuckles to scalp. “Hold on. You only have your-“

”-My one head, yes, yes, and that’s what makes this so *cool*! It’s *only* original head swaps. Like, look at what I have listed as options - any of a dozen of these women could accept my trade any moment.”

She took a closer look at Julie’s monitor. She saw ten different headshots. Four were Japanese; Miranda could hardly spot a difference between them. Three more were natural (confirmed) blondes with blue eyes and one was blue eyes but all the freckles and curly red hair of a fair Irish woman. There was a single dark-skinned head with a full Afro and alluring topaz eyes that started to draw Miranda in. The last looked suspiciously like Julie already did, but a softer jaw and wider eyes.

”What happens if they accept? You rip your head off, somehow mail the package without it, then wait until the package arrives, somehow know when it’s there *without a head* and undo your decapitation from a week beforehand? Is that what-oh god that is what you’re going to do isn’t it.”

Julie was already giggling. “Here, look, look!” Julie scrolled the Newest section for offers. Miranda put her hand in Julie’s to stop the mouse. Julie looked up.

”Get up, let me look. I’m not gonna do anything. I swear I’m not going to trade my…”

————*Twenty Minutes Later*————

Miranda was still sitting at the table. Her hands were twisting as her fingers rolled through rotations of which one would be most curled in anxious, teasing pleasure. Her head with an asymmetric bob cut and stunning hazel eyes was missing from her neck and nowhere to be seen. She knew there was nothing she could do for the next week other than wait, so why leave the table? She had time to go somewhere more comfortable in their apartment whenever she wanted.

Her twitching hands became searching ones as they crossed the table in front of her. They found a heavily taped cardboard box. She dragged the box closer to herself. She slid her fingers as well as she could across the tape of each of the edges of the box.

(well…you’re holding your head…it’s somewhere…in here…you could still…)

Miranda’s somewhat strong thought process was still interrupted by hands sliding her hands off of the box. She slid her hands back to where she thought the box was but caught nothing. She wanted to panic.

(You…you’re really…she took…it’s my head…my…for another…but it’s…)

Julie giggled. She walked away from the table with the well-wrapped package in both hands. She set it down on a side table by their front door. She walked back in to stare at Mimir.

”Oh, is someone without a head having second thoughts? Not so sure you want to trade your only head away anymore? But Mimir, you can’t back out now! You would make that Korean woman so sad.” The tone of her voice and the swing of her hips suggested she could care less about the woman who accepted Miranda’s offer first.

Miranda strummed her fingers on the table. She was breathing too hard. She couldn’t help it when her back randomly jerked her off-center or her shoulders scrunched up and relaxed on a cycle all their own. She was not just beheaded, but headless, and would be staying that way for a week. Julie had been there done that, but not her, and not like this.

The part that scared her was that she liked it. She liked this…

(…utter submission…I’m just…some object…some *thing*…even my…even that head…a product to…sell…or buy…)

“And I personally cannot wait to get that super cute blonde blue-eyes head on my neck.“ Julie jammed her head into a snug-fitting cardboard box. She bent in half to rest her boxed head on the table and slashed with intent through her neck under two seconds later. The decapitated dame jerked and twitched as she stood up straight. She tossed the Sonic Knife onto the table before finding her ”severance package” and the tape with ease.

The hilt of the blade bashed Miranda’s knuckles. She grabbed the knife without thinking. She held it in an awkward half-raised-arm grip while groping her misshapen-neck stump.

(…no more head…what about…I’ve never…but can I do…I could…maybe sell…or my hands…)

Julie had her head closed into it’s box, taped, labeled, and taped again. She picked it up and somehow walked to where she left Mimir’s head. After a bit of shuffling to get the door open, Julie blindly walked down the hallway towards the mail chute.

But she forgot the mail chute was directly next to the trash chute door. Julie had no idea she picked the wrong door to open before dropping her and Miranda’s head to the dumpster at the bottom.