“Thank you, again, everyone, for being here,” Michael said.

It was the first annual “company” Christmas party. Michael decided it was time to hold one, since there were finally enough “employees” to justify a party. He and his six main assistants—Leia, Haley, Rachel, Athena, Suzy, and Violet—were all gathered in a spare room of their apartment complex headquarters, currently repurposed to host a party.

The dress code was business casual, encouraging the use of colors associated with Christmas or the winter season. Fittingly, he wore a button-up, slacks, and sneakers, with only a Santa hat to indicate anything festive-related. His assistants, on the other hand, had the better sense of dressing livelier.

“I see everyone is wearing a collar, just like I asked,” he remarked.

Indeed, each assistant was wearing a large collar-like device around her neck. Its size forced an assistant to tilt her head up slightly. It seemed to be made up of two equally sized parts, an upper and a lower, and had a line splitting it cleanly across the middle. The upper part sported a small LED bulb and a single button with its own internal light, while the lower part had no such features.

“To formally kick off this party, I’ve decided we should start with a game. I trust everyone is familiar with a white elephant?”

On cue, a petite woman in a Mrs. Claus outfit entered the room. She wore a red velvet strapless mini dress with white trim, thigh-high black leather boots, and a beaming smile. Her silky blonde hair settled neatly on her shoulders, partially covering the fact she also wore one of the collars. Michael had her sit down on a chair, which appeared out of nowhere.

“Instead of gifts, our white elephant will have you all exchanging heads. The collars are going to make sure you guys can’t tell which head is which, and to do that, the collar comes with three functions. The first and most important function is, obviously, to decapitate the wearer.”

He pulled out a small remote, hovered it right beside the seated woman’s collar, and pushed a button. The woman squeezed her eyes shut. The small bulb on her collar suddenly glowed green, and a moment later, an audible slicing sound was heard from the collar. The woman’s entire body seemed to jerk, but the woman opened her eyes again, remaining composed and smiling.

“It may not be obvious, but the collar has just decapitated Danielle here. The green light indicates the wearer has been decapitated, and the collar can now be separated.”

Michael took hold of Danielle’s hair and pulled. With a little bit of force, her head came off. Her collar split into two, the upper part coming off with her head, and the lower part staying with her body. Both neck stumps of the head and the body seemed to be covered by metal.

“It comes with a quirk, though. Once the collar is separated, the wearer’s consciousness also becomes separated. Both the head and the body will each have a mind of its own. Whatever the head observes is not known to the body, while whatever the body touches isn’t felt by the head.”

“Ow, that hurt…,” said Danielle’s head, her eyes trying to look up at Michael behind her. Her body, on the other hand, stood up and proceeded to leave the room.

Without missing a beat, Michael waved his hand in front of Danielle’s face. Suddenly, a white ball gag appeared in her mouth.

“Hmm!” She squeaked in surprise.

Michael continued. “The second function of the collar has to do with this button on the upper part. The upper part of a collar can be joined to the lower part of another collar, not just its original counterpart.”

Danielle’s body came back with an enclosed serving cart, on top of which was another woman’s disembodied head. The head had a collar of its own, and its black hair was tied into a braided ponytail. After parking the cart in front of Michael, Danielle’s body sat down on the seat again.

Danielle’s head was placed down onto the cart and exchanged for the new head. Michael dangled the head by its ponytail, causing it to wince. He pressed the button on its collar, which caused the button to light up red. Then, he carefully set it down onto the collar on Danielle’s body. The two parts snapped together with a satisfying click.

“The button is a toggle for a setting in the collar. The button lights up when it’s set to ‘on’, otherwise it’s ‘off’. It sets whether the head of Person A gets to control the body of Person B. How does it feel, Jessica?”

“It feels nice to have a body again,” Jessica said. She stood up and stretched Danielle’s body, her new body. She also did a twirl, before sitting back down.

“The control setting can be toggled freely, regardless of the collar being joined or separated, like so.”

Michael pressed the button on Jessica’s collar, turning the control setting off. For a moment, Danielle’s body seemed to be frozen stiff, before returning normal. He handed the body a white ball gag. Immediately, the body proceeded to gag its new head with it.

“Hey, wa—ughh!” Jessica’s head’s protest was silenced as the ball entered her mouth and was secured. Danielle’s body put both her hands on Jessica’s head and pulled up, removing the head and handing it back to Michael, who put it back on top of the cart.

“The third function is a custom one I had added, and it’ll be a good segue into the rules of the white elephant.”

The remote was brought close to the two women’s heads on the cart, and a different button on it was pressed. A transparent plastic-like substance emerged from the collars, forming a perfect sphere around each head.

“How’s it in there, you two?” Michael asked.

“Mmm…,” the heads said in near unison, looking around their new containment. Their voices were diminished by the sphere.

“The rules of the white elephant are as follows. Each assistant will place her head on this cart, with the control setting toggled to your choosing. Once all the heads are here, I will lock the control settings, and your bodies will take turns either choosing a head or stealing an already chosen one. However, a head can only be stolen thrice for the whole game, but a head can only be stolen once per turn. Only three steals are allowed each turn. Once all the heads have been selected, the first assistant gets a final turn to steal, if she so chooses.”

Michael continued. “The goal is for your body to choose a different head, because I added in a specific feature that only happens when a head is rejoined with its original body.” He grabbed Danielle’s head and placed it back on her body.

The effect was instant. The collar seemed to malfunction, the transparency of the sphere being overtaken by a translucent red. In the next instant, the collar broke apart and seemingly disintegrated into thin air. It left only the sphere, joined to what looked like an external screw thread where the upper part of the collar once was.

Meanwhile, when the collar broke apart, Danielle’s body slumped forward, lifeless in the chair. Her head came free, tumbling down onto the floor. The metal coverings were gone, exposing the true bloodless yet gory appearance of her neck stumps.

Muffled cries escaped from the sphere containing Danielle’s head. It was picked up by Michael and held up for the rest of the assistants to see.

“I don’t know if you guys have a good angle, but you can still see her head in there,” he said. He lowered the sphere and turned it upside down, so the stump was on top.

“She’s still alive, too,” he remarked, poking into the exposed neck muscle. Danielle’s head whimpered in response.

Finally, Michael fished out a rather large metal cap from the enclosed storage of the cart. The cap had a hook attached to it. Thanks to the screw thread, he screwed the cap over Danielle’s head’s neck stump, and it fit over the stump perfectly. Placing the hook on an outstretched finger, he showed off his work.

“If your body somehow chooses your head, you will not only lose control of your body, but your head will also be turned into a Christmas ball. Since your heads get to see whose bodies are holding them, it’ll be interesting to see how someone’s head will react to being chosen or stolen by her body. Is everyone ready?”

The assistants shouted unanimously in agreement.

The setup took several minutes. Numbers were drawn to determine the selection order. Michael clapped his hands to turn off the lights, and when he clapped them again to turn them back on, everyone was wearing her own white ball gag. The assistants quickly decided their individual control settings. Afterwards, the collars were activated, and the spheres were formed. Eventually, everyone’s heads were on top of the cart, arranged into two rows of three, while Jessica’s and Danielle’s were tucked underneath into the storage.

Using the remote, Michael sent a signal to the lower parts of the collars, indicating the selection process had begun. To avoid anyone prematurely placing a sphere on her neck, they were instructed to hold onto the spheres until the selection process was finished.

Suzy’s body was first to choose. She was wearing a green sweater, skinny jeans, and her favorite footwear, ankle boots. She chose a sphere in the middle. Leia’s head was inside, her long straight black hair pooling at the base of the sphere.

Coincidentally, Leia’s body came up second, wearing a red ruffle top, white maxi skirt, and heeled sandals. She felt around, touching all the spheres, before settling for the fourth one she touched. It contained Violet’s head and her namesake violet hair in a bob cut.

In another coincidence, third to choose was Violet’s body. She wore a cute white midi dress, black tights, and sneakers. She picked the first sphere she touched. Inside was Athena’s head, her blonde hair styled in a crown braid.

So far, no assistant has done a steal. Haley’s body was fourth, donning a white turtleneck top, a red and green plaid skirt, and a pair of pumps. She alone had her fingernails painted, in a bright red. She decided to buck the non-stealing trend by stealing from Leia’s body. Leia’s body responded by stealing from Suzy’s body. Leia’s head looked happy to be chosen by her body. Suzy’s body decided not to steal, electing to select a sphere. She chose Rachel’s head with her short brunette hair.

Fifth to choose was Athena’s body. She came in a flowy red mini dress and ankle strap heels. She also decided to steal, and again, Leia’s body was stolen from. Leia’s body stole the sphere back from Haley’s body, and Haley’s body stole this time from Suzy’s body. Since three steals have happened, Suzy’s body had no choice but to choose a sphere yet again. She drew her own head, her platinum blonde hair tied in a short ponytail. Her head groaned at the sight of being picked up by her own body.

Rachel’s body was sixth to choose. She was wearing an oversized sweater with a snowman on it, green pants, and pumps of her own. She decided to steal from Athena’s body, which started a third chain reaction of stealing. Athena’s body stole from Violet’s body, and Violet’s body stole from Suzy’s body. For the fourth time, Suzy’s body stood up to choose a sphere. Despite having no head, she looked clearly a bit pissed from being stolen from and having to reselect a head. She chose a sphere, the only remaining one. It was Haley’s head, the redhead sporting a pair of pigtails.

Finally, the seventh and last turn, Suzy’s body wasted no time perusing the options before her. In the end, she stole from Athena’s body. Athena’s body decided to swap with Haley’s body, causing both their heads’ eyes to widen.

A press of the remote sent another signal to all the lower collars, signaling to the bodies the end of the white elephant.

“All right, everyone, put their new—or old—heads on, so we can move on with the rest of the party,” Michael said.

In no particular order, the assistants’ bodies joined their collars with each of their exchanged heads. A couple clicks were heard before two collars were heard breaking apart. In their seats, Athena’s and Haley’s bodies went limp, while their heads were left whimpering on the floor. Their spheres had transformed into Christmas balls, just like Danielle’s.

“Haha, two more balls for the Christmas tree!” exclaimed Michael. He picked them up and brought them to the cart. While he was at it, he brought back out the first sphere-turned-ball, and with the remote, he transformed Jessica’s head’s sphere into a ball as well. Quickly, he screwed on the caps to the three new balls.

Then, he clapped his hands twice, turning off the lights again. When they turned back on, a large table full of various food dishes appeared in the middle of the room. Conversely, the headless bodies of Danielle, Athena, and Haley had completely vanished, as well as the whole assistants’ ball gags.

Right beside Michael, a headless woman had also appeared, wearing a green tiered midi dress, brown stocking, and heeled Mary Janes. The body seemed to be standing fixed on a circular metal base with a metal pole in the middle. The pole ran up between the woman’s legs, disappearing into the hem of her dress. Attached to the pole were a pair of shackles, which locked the woman’s ankles in place. The woman seemed to lack arms: the short sleeves of her dress being tied off by cute little ribbons, and the shape underneath them suggesting what remains of her arms. At her neck was the lower part of a collar device, capped of by a large Christmas star.

“All right, everyone, dig in! Merry Christmas!” Michael pressed a button on the remote. Save for the Christmas balls, all the spheres around the assistants’ heads retracted back into their collars.

After the white elephant exchange, the remaining assistants ended up as follows. Suzy’s head was on Violet’s body; Violet’s head was on Leia’s body; Leia’s head was on Rachel’s body; and Rachel’s head was on Suzy’s body.

The assistants helped themselves to the food. Everyone kept theirs heads on, except for Leia’s body, who had taken off Violet’s head. Since there were two heads who couldn’t feed themselves, the scene became rather chaotic, as the four ladies figured out how to eat in their new states.

While that was happening, Michael began decorating the headless-woman-turned-Christmas-tree with realistically sized Christmas balls. He saved the head-balls for last, hooking two of them into the tied off sleeves and a third into the left breast of the body. It seemed to shudder when the hook pierced through the fabric and into flesh. The weight of the head-ball caused the breast to sag a bit.

“Thanks for offering to be the Christmas tree, Jessica,” Michael said, dangling the final head-ball in front of his face. Jessica’s head inside was upside down but nonetheless moaned in acknowledgement.

Before hooking the last head-ball, Michael’s curiosity got the better of him. He let go of the head-ball, letting it fall to the floor. As it hit the floor, the head-ball made a sound not unlike a regular Christmas ball would if it fell to the floor, although this sound was a little louder and accompanied by a muffled squeak from the head inside. It bounced back into his hands, then he finally hooked it onto Jessica’s body’s other breast. Her body shuddered once again.

As the last bit of decoration, Michael took a string of Christmas lights from the storage of the cart and had it spiral around Jessica’s body-tree. After securing it, he plugged it into the nearest socket. The lights lit up, in assorted colors.

Job done, he ran his hand down a leg, tapping a foot with his hand twice. The feet tapped alternately. He then flicked the other three head-balls, just to get a peep out of them. Sure enough, each one moaned upon being flicked.

“Okay, that’s done. Time to eat,” Michael said to himself, joining his other, mostly full-bodied assistants in the festivities.

The party continued. After the food, they watched a Christmas movie, played some games, and took some pictures. Surely, they’d have another party like this next year.

“Oh, here you are,” Suzy said. Her body was holding her head, collar gone but still decapitated.

She found Michael in the living room, sitting on the couch and working on something on the center table.

“Whatcha doing?” she asked.

She found three severed heads on the table. Danielle’s head was encased in a nude nylon hood, the edge of which was neatly flush with her neck stump, and was gagged by a strip of black tape. Danielle’s head also seemed to be placed on some sort of metal base. Haley’s head was similarly hooded and gagged, but her head was on its side, leaving her exposed neck stump in the open. Beside her head were two other bases. They were circular, each with a spike sticking up out of the center. Both heads had their eyes closed because of the hood but opened them once Suzy approached. Athena’s head was in the middle of being hooded, her mouth also covered with tape.

“Hey, guys,” she greeted the heads. Danielle and Haley moaned, while Athena had a delayed moan, waiting for Michael to finish with the hood. All three closed their eyes.

“What are you doing here?” Michael asked. “I thought you and the others had already left.”

“They did; I just gave Violet her body back,” she said.

“I thought you had plans,” he said. “You said something about a vacation abroad?”

“I did, but…” Suzy had him stand up from the couch and brought him upstairs.

“My boyfriend and I, we planned that vacation months ago. Unfortunately, we broke up, and it’s been like a month now.”

“That is awful. It happens.”

“My family also had a planned vacation, but it was separate from ours. It’s a month-long trip, starting a week after our breakup, and they couldn’t reschedule.”

“I see.”

“So, I’m stuck here now.” Suzy started to tear up.

Michael awkwardly put his hand on her shoulder, trying to console her. “Need a h—”

Suzy’s body hugged Michael tightly. Her head, sandwiched between them, bawled into his shirt for a good couple of minutes. Michael could only return the embrace, gently patting her back.

“Sorry, I just needed to…” Suzy said, releasing the hug. She was still sniveling.

“It’s okay; I needed to practice comforting people,” he said.

“Yeah, you definitely do,” Suzy chuckled. After a deep breath, she seemed to stop crying.

“So, what with all that down there?”

The two went back down to the living room. Thankfully, the heads had their eyes closed, otherwise they would’ve noticed Suzy post-cry.

“Well, I wanted to decorate the mantel of our newly installed fireplace, so what better than some severed heads?”

“I like it. It’s hot.” Suzy’s voice returned mostly to normal. She noticed Jessica’s headless body to the side of the mantel, still a Christmas tree.

“I got the idea of the hooding them from seeing Christmas stockings,” Michael continued, “but then I still wanted to actually hang some stockings. So now I’m figuring out what body part to install on the mantel to hang those stockings from.”

He gestured to the pile of limbs on the couch. It was made up of the three women’s forearms and legs, which were still wearing shoes.

“That is a dilemma,” Suzy said. “Any part could work.”

The two sat on the couch. Michael finished placing the remaining heads on the bases, the spikes being inserted into their throats. Suzy, meanwhile, was ruminating on which of the twitching piles of limbs beside her would be the best to hook a stocking onto.

“I got it!” she exclaimed.

“So, which limb do I use?” He was putting Haley’s head on the mantel. He pushed down on her head, causing her to whimper. Danielle’s head was already in the middle.

“You know those flashing leg signs at burlesque places? Just do that instead. Take a leg, maybe foot to ass; dress it in a Christmas-themed stocking; and hang it above the mantel. Heck, you can probably hang them on the mantel itself.”

“You’re a genius,” Michael said plainly. He placed the last head, Athena’s, on the side opposite Haley’s.

“That begs the next question, though,” he said, “how many can I fit on the wall?”

“While you think on that, can you what you did to them to my head, too?”

“Yeah, sure, but uh…” Michael made a circular gesture around his face. “You should clean up first.”

Suzy realized her face must’ve been still red after all that crying.

“Ah, right, I’ll be back in a few,” she said, leaving the room. She decided last second to peek her head back in the room. 

“Merry Christmas, Michael.”

“Merry Christmas, Suzy.”