Jessica’s cheek pressed against the warm metal of an old car hood. She looked around as best she could, trying to see if she could spot any of her other body parts, but couldn’t move her head enough to get a good look. She tried feeling where the rest of her parts were, and while she could feel, it didn’t help much that she didn’t know where in the junkyard they were, let alone where her head was.

Some of her parts felt like they were lying in the sand. Others on various pieces of metal. One of her hands felt like it was surrounded by cloth and cold metal. The cool air of the early evening sky prickled her skin. Great. Now what? She thought.

“Well, what do we have here?”

A female voice could be heard behind her. Jessica tried to turn and face her in vain, unable to move without the rest of her body attached. Suddenly she felt two hands grab her head on either side and lift her up off the hood of the car.

The stranger turned Jess’s head around to face her, both confused and intrigued by what she had found.

“Hi,” she said.

“Hey, I’m Jessica,” she said, introducing herself.

“I’m Erica,” the stranger replied, doing the same.

Jessica observed who had just found her. She had emerald-colored eyes, flowing black hair down to her shoulders, and was about her age, or at least looked like it. Her pointed ears identified her as an elf, and age worked strangely with them. She wore a black tank top with somewhat faded blue jeans. A brown satchel was slung over her shoulder, with various old machine parts sticking out of the bag.

And yeah, she was pretty. Jessica fought the urge to blush at the embarrassment of the situation and the attractiveness of who she had run into.

“So how did you end up out here?” Erica asked.

“I had a rough breakup,” Jessica replied, “and she did this to me in retaliation.”

- “By disassembling you and scattering you across a junkyard?”

- “My ex has a petty way of getting revenge.”

Erica’s eyes lit up, as suddenly, she realized something. “Oh! Is this yours?” She asked, opening the flap of her satchel. She reached in past the various bits of machinery and pulled out a hand. Jessica could feel Erica’s touch as it was lifted out of the bag.

Jessica smiled in relief. “Yeah, it is! Where did you find it?”

- “On top of some old TVs. I was wondering who it belonged to.”

- “I’m so sorry to ask this of you, but do you think you could help find the rest of me?”

- “Of course!”

- “Thank you so much. Have you seen any other parts lying around?”

- “No, but I’ve only been here a few minutes. C’mon, let’s go!”

Erica set Jess’s head and hand back down on the car hood, and turned her bag upside down, shaking out the things she’d collected. She picked up her new friend’s hand and put it in the bag. Then she picked up Jess’s head and tucked it under her other arm. As they walked, they made conversation.

“So, what are you doing in a junkyard?” Jessica asked.

- “I’m collecting things that I can use. I’m what you would call a connoisseur of free stuff. I gather what I can use from these old rustbuckets, and what I can’t use, I sell.”

- “Do you do this for a living?”

- “No, it’s just a hobby. It’s nice to make a little extra money on the weekends. My actual job is

in software development.”

…

“So, are you a Dullahan?”

- “Well, yes, but not really.”

- “What do you mean?”

- “I have this MagiTech knife that the company gave me to test. All it took was one night to myself and I could divide myself into so many pieces.”

- “Wow, that’s neat. I actually work there.”

- “Really?”

- “Yeah. I helped design a lot of their more sophisticated stuff, like magic-imbued computer chips.”

- “So why are you out here getting your hands dirty?”

- “My dad was a mechanic. I grew up around junkyards like this. I guess part of that stuck with me. I like to use this stuff to---” She trailed off mid-sentence. “Torso.”

Jessica’s attention turned away from the conversation to look at her bare torso, lying chest-up on the back of a pickup truck.

- “Your ex stripped you naked, too?”

- “Yeah. Like I said, petty.”

The torso still had the right arm attached, minus the hand. Unfortunately, that was it. The rest of her was still missing, but at least it was progress.

After the hand was reattached to its respective forearm, Jessica held out her hand to receive her head, which Erica promptly handed to her. It was difficult to coordinate her hand movements with her shifting perspective, and even harder to keep her head upright with just one hand, but she eventually managed to return her head to her shoulders, sighing in relief at the warm sensation of the two stumps reconnecting.

“Stay here, okay?” Erica asked. “I’ll go find the rest of you.”

She walked away through the rest of the junkyard to find Jessica’s remaining missing parts, while Jessica waited patiently for her return. After a few minutes, even though she couldn’t see it, Jessica shuddered at the sensation of two hands grabbing around her butt. Felt like Erica had found her waist.

“Oh!” Jessica yelped in pleasure.

A similar sensation followed shortly after as Erica found Jess’s legs, and eventually her other arm, only that one didn’t have a great sensation like before.

Erica returned not long after, carrying the gathered parts stacked in her hands. She was barely able to see over the pile. She knelt down and placed the parts in front of her half-assembled friend, but when she looked up, she noticed that Jessica’s head was gone. The naked torso and arm were still there, but the head was missing, leaving behind only the neck stump.

Oh no, Erica thought, fearing the worst. She began looking around frantically and panicked, until she spotted Jessica’s head sitting on an old refrigerator that had been turned on its side.

“Go ahead! I’ll watch,” Jessica said.

Erica let out a lighthearted groan and got to work. It wasn’t like she didn’t enjoy it. Jessica was packing.

After she was done, the body stood up, walked over to the head, and reattached it to the body, before turning to face Erica, giving her a good look at her figure. It suddenly occurred to her how rough the ground was, and she realized that she didn’t have any clothes with her, and she couldn’t go home naked.

“Do you... maybe have some clothes I could change into. I got nothing,” she asked Erica, blushing again.

Erica gave a light chuckle. “I’ll be right back.”

She walked to the junkyard parking lot and returned a few minutes later with a full set of clothes, complete with several sets of shoes.

“There you go,” she said, handing the folded pile to her friend.

- “Where did you find this?”

- “Bought it from the guy at the gate for ten bucks. You’d be surprised how many clothes end up here. It’s like one big pawn shop.”

- “Why so many pairs of shoes?”

- “I didn’t know your size, so I just picked a variety.”

Jessica put on the clothes while Erica looked away to give her privacy. Not like it changed anything with what she had already seen. Jessica couldn’t see it, but Erica was blushing a little bit, too.

After Jessica had dressed, she groaned. “Crap. All my stuff is back at my apartment... I know I’ve already asked a lot of you, but do you think you could drive me there?”

- “Sure thing. What’s your address?”

After giving the address, they walked to Erica’s car and drove to Jessica’s apartment building. It was well after dark by the time they arrived. The streetlights illuminated the quiet road, dotted by only a few cars driving to their own homes or to night shift jobs.

After stepping out of the car, Jessica paused before walking into the building. She crouched down next to the lowered window of Erica’s car.

“Hey, how’d you like to come over tomorrow night? I could make some dinner for you. It’s the least I could do for you helping me out today,” Jessica knew this would be pushing her luck, but she kept talking. “Maybe you’ll get to see me naked in a whole different way.”

Erica blushed at the thought and chuckled.

“It’s a date,” she said. “Does 7:00 work for you?”

“7:00’s good.” Erica replied.

- “Good.”

After exchanging contact info, Erica drove back to her place, and Jessica walked back to her apartment. She exhaled happily as the soft mattress of her bed relieved her of all the physical stress of the day. She let out a little cheer to herself.

“Yes!”

Tomorrow night was going to be exciting for sure.