“Oh my gosh, another gift card!” the girl in the video chat exclaims, excitedly. “Thank you soooo much baby! You really didn’t have to do that” She smiles and blows him a kiss.

Alex smiles, pleased to see her so delighted. “That’s, okay. I’m happy to!”

He’d met Lucy a few weeks prior on one of those randomized online video chat websites. After dozens of weird, loner guys - not too unlike himself - he’d come across her. He was immediately drawn to her cheerful smile and alternative, punky kind of style. Her long, colourful hair contained varying shades of blonde, light brown and pink. She had piercings in her nose and eyebrow, and he could make out the edges of a tattoo on her collarbone.

They talked for at least twenty or thirty minutes a day since they’d met. She’d gladly listen to him talk about his day at work and recent video game exploits. And she’d share stories of her own about living in an apartment with three other roommates, and life as a poor graduate student. And, sure, if she occasionally mentioned something that caught her eye but that she sadly couldn’t afford, he was happy to treat her to it.

They weren’t to the point of being boyfriend and girlfriend, although Alex had high hopes in that regard. Unfortunately, nothing beyond the occasional cute, blown kiss had happened either. But since he had little to no experience in relationships, he was fine taking things slow.

Their conversation continues, with him making the occasional joke, each one eliciting one of her adorable little laughs.

Then he hears a noise that sounds like a door slamming shut somewhere in her apartment.

“Trevor, are you home? You’d better not have skipped that job interview! You know what we said, you have two weeks to move out!” An angry female voice yells.

Alex sees Lucy’s eyes widen. Her voice stammers, “Oh…oh, shit. Fuck.” A look of sad determination comes over her face as she says, “Sorry about this.”

Confused and concerned, he watches as she slides her hands down into her low-cut tank top. His jaw drops as her large, perky breasts spring free, her pale nipples on display. He feels himself instantly stiffen in arousal at the sight, but that feeling is short-lived.

His look of astonishment turns to one of shock and horror, as he watches her slim hands work underneath her skin like some alien in a science fiction film. Her breasts seem to separate from her chest, flopping around as her fingers slide up the inside of her neck.

They continue to move upwards to her chin, and Alex is vaguely aware of a low, terrified groan coming from his own throat.

Her cute facial features distort grotesquely, peeling away from whatever lies beneath. Fingers slide across her mouth, between her lips, tugging them up along with her nose. Her cheeks deflate and her eye sockets turn hollow, and her entire head deforms and pops off with a sickening schlorp sound.

Alex stares, eyes wide and horrified, at a topless, skinny guy in his late teens or early twenties, holding Lucy’s crumpled face and hair in his hands. Her empty eye sockets stare upward at nothing, and her lips flop around loosely. Even her piercings have come off with the rest of her face, remaining lodged in her - now obviously fake - skin.

The guy stands abruptly, attempting to move toward the bed, still holding the husk of Lucy in his hands. The door suddenly opens, revealing a woman in her forties. Her expression is livid and her arms are crossed.

“TREVOR!” She yells. “What are you doing with that?! Give it to me right now!”

The young man appears paralyzed with fear, and she snatches the elaborate disguise from his hands. She holds it up by *Lucy’s* multicoloured mane of hair. Alex stares at the empty, hollow upper torso of the girl he’d grown so close with, held out like nothing more than a cheap costume. Her false chest hangs down naked beneath her face.

“This is something your father and I…use…sometimes! It is none of your business and you have no right taking it!” She says, jiggling the disguise angrily.

Alex remains speechless, watching the drama unfold in front of him.

“Uh…uh…I’m really sorry…” the imposter stammers, in a voice nothing like Lucy’s. “I was just having some fun with it…”

“FUN?!” The woman exclaims, in the tone of an enraged mother. Her eyes glance to the side, noticing Alex on screen for the first time. A look of understanding passes over her face. “Oh…” she says, in a low, foreboding voice. “You little…”

“You put this on to fool around with people online?!” She moves to the computer, reaching her hand out towards it. The last thing Alex sees before the screen goes black are Lucy’s empty sockets staring into the camera.