The following is a fantasy story. 

This story contains NBM (bodily detachment) of a permanent nature as well as tame body horror themes. It is written particluarly  as a manifestation of the author's peculiar sexual preference for bodiless heads, but does not contain explicit sexual content. (A potential sequel might) 

"Would you take my head, if I offered it to you?"

"I'm sorry?"

Nikki blushed, clearly uncomfortable, and asked again: "If I offered you my head, would you take it?"

Apparantly I didn't mishear her, but I was still very much confused. Nikki had been acting strange for the past several days. The weather had been lovely; spring was setting in, and students were echanging their gray winter wardrobes for t-shirts and colorful dresses. Nikki, however, had for the past days been coming to classes in an oversized dark blue turtleneck that did not match the warm environment or her normally colorful personality. She had been anxious and somewhat distant during class. After class, I had offered to take her on a short picnick on the campus lawn, and asked her if there was anything I could do to lift her spirits again, but I have to admit I was completely befuddled at this answer.

"I'm afraid I really don't understand what you mean by 'taking your head'"

"Yeah, I get that, sorry..." She sounded extremely embarrassed, and clearly regretted bringing the subject up.

"Are... are you-" I hesitated briefly. "Are you offering to perform oral s-"

Nikki slapped me before I could finish that sentence.

"No you perv!" but she calmed down almost immediately.

"I'm sorry, this isn't your fault I suppose. I never told anyone outside my family about this"

"About what?"

"About" she hesitated, and continued in a whispering tone "my condition"

"Your condition?"

"I'd rather not talk about this in public. If you are interested in maybe helping me, would you mind if we go to my house?"

Nikki still lived with her parents in a family sized home, only a short walk away from our college. She invited me into her home, and as her parents weren't home, she offered me a cup of tea out of etiquette. I declined it, anxious to learn more about this mysterious "condition" and somewhat uncomfortable that I might discover some Lovecraftian horror beyond my imagination somewhere inside this house.

Nikki took me upstairs. We came to a stop in front of a wooden door with a noticeable chain lock around the handle. Through the door came the sounds of a movie playing, which I recognized as the Burly Brawl scene from the Matrix Reloaded. Nikki produced a key from underneath a nearby flower pot. Before opening the door, she turned around to face me.

"Last chance to turn back. I promise you, the other side of this door is wierd and unsettling."

"I'll take the red pill anyway;" referencing the Matrix in an attempt to be cute.  "Show me."

She opened the door and revealed a room to me that looked pretty much like what anyone would expect. There was a bed, a television, playing the Matrix, and opposite to the tv, near the door, was one of those IKEA cupboards with the square storage spaces. I only noticed something strange when Nikki muted the TV and a several voices came from the cupboard, grumbling in disagreement.

"Sorry girls, but I need to introduce you to someone. It's important to me, okay?"

A cacophony of voices, all sounding very similar to Nikki's exploded from the cupboard.

"Introduce someone?"

"That's weird, right?"

"Can't it wait until after the movie?"

"You're not supposed to show us to people!"

"Could you put me back? I've tumbled over!"

"Did you think this through? I don't want anyone to experiment on me."

She hushed the voices one by one, and gestured for me to come in. "This is {WRITER_INSERT}, I was going to ask them for help with our... with our  storage problem."

Another cacophony of voices, displaying a wide range of surprized emotions and opinions came from the cupboard. As I came into the room, I was finally able to see the source of the voices. In the cupboard were 6 segments, and in each one of these was placed a disembodied human head that looked immensely like Nikki's, all arguing with each other or casting a curious glance at me.

Although all heads were clearly that of Nikki, they did not look like carbon copies. Each head had a different hairstyle, some had different hair colors, and they were messily distributed througout their segments: three of the six heads were sitting neck down on a comfy-looking pillow, but two more were in a horizontal potition, one laying somewhat comfortable on her pillow, and another, clearly having fallen off her pillow, was laying on the wood with her long braided hair hanging outside the cupboard. The last, who seemed to recognise me, had been secured  more firmly to the back of the cupboard by what looked like a deer's trophy plaque. Every segment has a small bronze label reading Nikki 1, Nikki 2 and so on, until Nikki 6. I looked at this strange display for what seemed like actual minutes before I could engage my brain again.

"So-... So you have a bunch of trophies of your own head?" i said, turning to the Nikki with the body.

"That's part of the problem, yeah."

"We're not trophies!" the head labeled Nikki 1 yelled angrily. "We're just as much Nikki as she is! I don't need to be denigrated by some rando who doesn't even know anything about-"

Nikki 1's tirade ended in a bunch of muffled noises as "my" Nikki (with the body) quickly and expertly placed her in a box lined with pillows that seemed intended for the exact purpose of calming angry heads down.

"Don't judge her too harshly. She's had a tough time; she was my first head, and never expected her life to be derailed by our condition."

"You mentioned you had a condition before. What kind of condition?"

"I'll show you" Nikki said. She rolled down her the collar of her turtleneck to reveal a large lump at the base of her neck. It looked extremely unpleasant, like she had just swallowed a melon, which was forcing itself into the lower half of her neck.

I uncounciously let out a sound of disgust. "Sorry, I shouldn't make you feel..."

"It's okay" Nikki reassured me, as I took a closer look. "It's grown again. I'll only have a few days left."

Shocked, I responded: "A few days left!? What is this? Are you dying? Is this normal?

"Yep, that's normal, for us at least" said Nikki 4 in a bored tone

"That's just Nikki 8 coming" said Nikki 2

"Don't worry, she isn't dying:  said Nikki 6

"She's just going to become a head on the shelf like the rest of us" said Nikki 5 "Now can you please put me upright?"

"Sorry!" I said, as I put hesitatingly put Nikki 5 back on her pillow.

Nikki with the body shushed all her cupboard-heads and explained her condition to me.

"Okay, so shortly after my 16th birthday-

"MY sixteenth birthday!" Nikki 1 yelled from the silent box.

"-after my 16th birthday a lump like this one started appearing at the base of my neck. My family couln't find any doctors willing to diagnose or treat it, beyond speculating about a horrible and surely fatal form of cancer. About a week after it first appeared, however, it suddenly jolted upward, and knocked off my head"

"MY head!" came the muffled reply from Nikki 1, in the box.

"Yes, that was Nikki 1's head." Nikki continued. "But another had grown on Nikki 1's neck.

"That was Nikki 2" Nikki 2 smiled, acknowledgingly.

"Something truly strange was happening." embodied Nikki continued. "Nikki 1's head had remained completely alive, despite being without a body. Furthermore, Nikki 2's head was grown as an exact replica of Nikki 1's head, sharing every single memory, up to the point of Nikki 2's "birth".

"That's some pretty wild stuff" I interjected.

"No kidding! After an extremely hectic first months, my parents accepted both of me's as their daughter. A few months later, however, Nikki 3 was "born."

"And so then you ended up on the shelf? " I looked at Nikki 2 for confirmation. She nodded quietly.

"She did. Roughly every year my body grows a new head, and leaves the old one disembodied in the cupboard" embodied Nikki explained. "Lately my parents have been uncomfortable with the idea of taking care of this growing number of heads"

"That's horrible!" I exclaimed. "They are thinking of just abandoning their daughter?"

"They wouldn't put my head in the trash or something, but it is quite clear something needs to be done, before they are drowning in heads they don't know what to do with! the cupboard is already full, and life for the heads ánd the carers won't get any better if we have to share our carer's attention between 7 heads. Which hopefully explains my question from this afternoon."

"You wanted me to take your head, right?" I was starting to understand what she wanted.

"Exactly! Would you take care of my head, when I lose control of my body?"

"Would you trust me that much? We've only known each other for a year!"

"But in that year, you have always been extremely kind and caring, not only to me, but everyone around you. I think you'll be a natural at caring for me. Don't worry, my needs are few. My head won't need food anymore after it detaches, so all you need to do is provide some kindness and ocasionally que some music for me when you go out. You'll do fine. If it does't work out you can always return me here."

"But-! But what about your education? About your friends? Will you still be attending class when you are a disembodied head!?"

"Language is difficult in my situation" Nikki explained. "This head, Nikki 7, won't. I'll be chilling in your apartment while you go off to class. To most people, nothing will change; You will still meet me, that is, Nikki 8, every day in class, like nothing has ever changed. She will have all my memories, including the ones she makes after my head is popped off. You'll become instant friends with Nikki 8 because she IS me, just like you became friends with me, and never noticed that I wasn't Nikki 6, who I was when you first met me." she gestured to Nikki 6, the head on the trophy plaque, who tried send me a friendly look of recognition. She likely would have tried to wave if she wasn't just a head.

I thought about it for a few minutes, although in reality, my mind was quickly made up. Ever since I met her, about a year and a half ago, I had a minor crush on Nikki, and I always looked forward to classes like advanced statistics, because we could sit next to each other. I had been living in a studio apartment since I started studying, which had been a lonely experience. I had been thinking of getting a pet against the loneliness, but the thought i could wake up every morning to Nikki's cute face next to my bed. The thought I might even cuddle with Nikki's head in my arms like a teddy bear. The thought we might even...

"I'll do it! I'll take your head in my care!" I firmly decided.

A look of Immense relief appeared on Nikki's face. "Thank you! Thank you so much! I promise to be a good head. I think we'll have a great time together! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!"

After about half an hour, in which we discussed some practical issues, and I learned some best caregiving practices from Nikki's earlier heads.

As soon as I came home, I went to check my apartment. Giddy with excitement, I looked at some practical issues. Chiefly, I was unsure of where best to put Nikki's head. My apartment was rather small, but I still managed to clear several spaces where I might put a pillow on which I could put her. I cleared some space on my nightstand, but also next to my computer on my desk. I only had a single lounge chair facing the television, which likely wouldn't be a comfortable place for her head. Remembering, however that Nikki's sixth head didn't seem to mind being placed on a trophy plaque, I resolved to remove one of my posters to clear a nice space on the wall with good view of the televison. As soon as possible, I would find her a

nice plaque.

The next day, I went to college again, I did not see Nikki anywhere. She had warned me that she was expecting her "popping" to happen any day now, and she did not want to be seen in public when the moment was there. It was probably a wise decision, but I was being kept in the dark for an entire day, and unable to focus on anything due to the excitement.

Next day, I when I came to class, I saw Nikki again. She came in 10 minutes after class. She was tired, but she was once again her happy old self, her oversized turtleneck had been exchanged for a tight red top and blue shorts, and nothing of the worries from days past were visible on her face. She was relieved, and looking forward with excitement to a full year of uncomplicated body-ownership. She sat next to me

"Sorry I'm late!" she apologized. "That 'thing' we talked about came up now, but I was still somewhat in time for school!"

"You are still Nikki, right?" I asked, suspiciously.

"Same old same old!" she replied.

Seeing my quizzical look, she told me, in a quiter voice "Nikki eight, technically, but I really am the same person you met two days ago."

"What about Nikki seven?" I asked

Nikki didn't answer, as the teacher was trying to quiet down the class. Under the desk, she stealthily shoved her backpack to me.

The rest of the day went by at a snail's pace. I didn't get a lot of opportunity to talk to Nikki (Eight, I guess), nor did I feel entirely comfortable with that prospect. Somehow, I did slightly begrudge her for what she took from my good friend Nikki (Seven? I guess? That's weird, right? We shouldn't number our friends.)

As soon as class was over, I picked up the bag, (which was heavier than I expected)  an immediately made my way home. I sat on my couch and slowly zipped it open. As the light fell on her face, Nikki's cute face revealed itself, and I felt incredibly happy to share this strange experience.

"Hey" Nikki said, as I lifted her out of the backpack.