[Contains natural body magic (NBM), but mainly just headlessness]
It was 9:14 when she woke up.
She usually sleeps in longer on the weekends, but today she was feeling oddly hungry. Even still, she didn’t have it in her to open her eyes and expose them to the harsh sunlight. In her tired state of mind, she decided to try something she had never tried before.
She reached up to her head and with a quick push, her head detached at the neck. This was something she had always been able to do; by tugging at parts of her body, like her limbs or neck, her body parts would come clean off, leaving a smooth layer of skin at each end of the separation. While her body parts were detached, she’d still have full control over the detached parts, despite them not being physically connected, and could reconnect them by placing the back where they belong. It’s a strange power, and she’d only ever used it while experimenting with it or to occasionally show off to friends. But this time, she had a more practical use in mind.
She was going to make breakfast without technically getting out of bed.
She inched forward with her body and, after making it off the bed, stumbled blindly for the door. Her eyes were still closed, but she knew opening them probably wouldn’t help make things easier. Especially once she left her room and her body was out of sight. She felt for the door knob, turned it, pulled the door open, and carefully made her way down the hall. From her bed she could hear her footsteps become more and more distant as she walked further away.
She hadn’t had any practice walking around with no head like this, but she knew she was going to be tested when it came to going down the stairs. She felt the walls around her and tried to picture where she was. Feeling the bathroom door next to her, she knew the next thing after would be the stairs, so placing her right hand against the wall, she slowly moved it forward until she touched the banister. Gripping it tightly, she carefully moved her right foot forwards as she felt for the drop indicating the first step. Once she felt it, she carefully placed her foot on the next step downwards and, after making sure she was balanced, lifted her other foot up and moved it for the next stair. Her muscle memory served her well as she slowly but surely made her way down the stairs, tightly clutching the banister every step. Her heart jumped a little when her foot hit the floor where she thought the next step would be, but that just meant she’d succeeded in going downstairs, and she could make her way to the kitchen.
While going through the living room to the kitchen, she accidentally bumped her leg on the coffee table. Not enough to hurt, but it made her realize how she could feel things happening to her body, despite it being detached from her head and quite far away. She could even feel the cool air on the patch of skin on her neck where her head once was. Nevertheless, she moved on into the kitchen and thought about what she wanted to eat. She usually didn’t eat much in the mornings, plus making an extravagant meal probably wouldn’t be possible in this state, so she decided to just make some toast with butter. Feeling around the counters to confirm where exactly she was, she reached for the cabinet just above her and grabbed the bread bag from inside. This part was simple compared to walking around. Removing the bread tie, grabbing two slices of bread, placing them in the toaster that was just under the cabinet, tying the bread bag and putting it back, remembering to grab the butter dish, which was in the same cabinet, and finally pulling the lever on the toaster.
She liked her bread lightly toasted, so she usually pops it up before the toaster automatically does, meaning she only had so much time to grab a butter knife before it cooked too long. Awkward but quickly, she stumbled over to the utensil drawer and grabbed a knife, remembering she kept them on the right side of the drawer. Shutting the drawer with knife in hand, she reached for the cabinet above and grabbed a plate before turning 180 degrees and carefully making her way back to where the toaster was, setting the knife and plate next to the butter dish before reaching out to the toaster and pressing the button to stop it from cooking. Hearing the pop from downstairs confirmed she had done so successfully. Now, she’d have to grab the toast from the toaster without burning herself. Feeling the front side of the toaster and picturing how far away the toast should be, she raised her hand up, extended it forwards, and carefully lowered it until her palm hit the toast. Carefully curling her fingers around it, she raised the slice up and laid it on the plate. One out of two. Using the same strategy, she held her hand out above where she thought the second slice of toast was waiting...
...Only to undershoot and touch the hot metal instead.
Quickly jerking her hand back, she was shocked at how close the pain felt despite her brain being so far away from the source. No matter how far the physical distance, information traveled through her body just as fast. No time to get lost in thought. She reached her arm out again, this time just above where the toaster was. Using the slight heat still radiating from it as guidance, she eventually was able to grab the slice and set it down on the plate next to the other one. Now, it’s time for the butter. As she removed the lid of the butter dish, she couldn’t help but think about when the last time she refilled it was. She certainly wasn’t about to reach inside the dish to find out. Would she have to blindly look for more in the fridge? What if she didn’t have any butter at all? Would all this effort have been for nothing? She hesitantly grabbed the butter knife and felt around the dish with it. Luckily, there was still a bit left, meaning she could continue with her breakfast plan. Slicing some butter onto the knife, she spread it onto the first slice, grabbing more butter when she felt she ran out. She was pretty certain that the butter distribution would be quite messy, but she didn’t really care at this point. The satisfaction of eating something she made without a head on her shoulders would more than make up for it. Once she felt she had buttered enough, she layered the slices atop each other, making sure the buttered sides were facing, and felt along the top edge of the bread with the knife, feeling for the slight dip where she would cut the slices in half. Setting the knife down, she knew she’d have to come down to clean up eventually, but at this point, getting the food to her mouth was more important. She carefully grabbed the plate with both hands and steadily made her way back through the living room.
It didn’t occur to her until she made it to the stairs that her greatest challenge lied ahead. She’d have to make it up the stairs with the plate of toast without dropping it. She took a moment to think about how to tackle this situation. After all, one bad stumble is all it would take for all her effort to be ruined. Thinking about how she went down the stairs, she remembered how she held the banister with her right hand while going down. Since she was coming from the other side, the banister would be on her left now. She reached for it with her left hand and once she grabbed it, she lifted her foot upwards while still holding the plate with her right hand. As she slowly made her way up, she felt every shake in her right hand, desperately trying to counteract it so the toast wouldn’t slide off. She felt slight vibrations through the plate at one point, implying the toast did move a bit, but it didn’t fall. She made sure to pay attention to what step she was on so she didn’t try to step on a step that wasn’t there at the end, sliding her foot forwards without raising it on the last step to confirm nothing was there before letting go of the banister and clutching the plate with both hands again. She had done it.
Her eyes had opened from the shock of burning her hand on the toaster, not that she was paying attention to anything she was seeing between then and now, but she probably would’ve opened them anyways to witness her own headless body walk through the door with a plate of toast in hand. The sight of it made her feel a mix of emotions; amusement, gratification, a slight sense of surreality that would only come with watching the body you were controlling stroll into sight missing a very important piece of itself... Hunger... Without hesitation, she watched her body trot on over to the side of the bed as she laid the plate down beside her head, which still hadn’t moved off the pillows since she woke up. Grabbing a slice, she guided it into her mouth, as if she were feeding someone and being fed at the same time, and took a bite. She chewed, swallowed, then took another. It definitely wasn’t the best toast she’d ever had, it was a tad bit overcooked and there were some patches that didn’t get any butter, but for something she made with just her body, it was pretty impressive. It was only when she finished the first quarter of toast that she realized how weird it was that the food she swallowed while headless still made its way to her stomach. She always imagined a portal connecting the two parts of her neck; when the food reached the end of her head, it would be immediately teleported to the start of her body. On a similar note, she noticed her chest moving in and out from her breathing, implying the air was being transported the same way. Yet another oddity from her strange power. Realistically, none of this should ever be possible, but she rarely thinks about it too hard. Magic, maybe. But she doesn’t put much thought into it because she doesn’t really use these powers much since she doesn’t really have any practical uses for them. Besides making breakfast without lifting her head, of course. This might not be the last time she tries this.
Having finished her toast, she grabbed her head off the pillows and placed it back on her shoulders, the seam on her neck disappearing like it was never even there. Looking at the clock, she saw it was now 9:41. It was later than she thought, but still plenty of time to start the day. Maybe she should get dressed now.