“So, if it’s not an embarrassing question…can you even eat, what with the state you’re in?”

Rachel shot me a glare and smirked.

“Of course I can eat.”

And with that, she took a drink of her coffee.

Okay, I should probably start from the beginning - Rachel’s not like other girls. But it’s not her dry sense of humour and fashion sense that makes her weird, though one would probably be suspicious about a woman who keeps her arms, legs and neck covered up, even in the summer.

Actually, you’d be right to be suspicious of that, because Rachel’s what I like to call a “Raygirl” - she doesn’t have any arms or legs, but she does have hands and feet. A few months ago, Rachel agreed to undergo an experiment wherein her head, torso, hands and feet were separated, but a chip was installed in her brain that enables her to have telekinetic control over all her extremities, as well as any clothes she’s currently wearing.

Rachel prefers wearing clothes that cover the gaps in her body, but not for the reasons you might think - she’s not entirely used to the numb sensation of her phantom limbs just yet, and wearing sleeves, pants or tights over her non-existent limbs seems to compensate for that. She can fill them out with air to make herself look “normal”, as well as perform all sorts of tricks.

We were at a nearby cafe, just having a bite to eat. At this point in time, Rachel was wearing a flannel shirt as a jacket over a turtleneck, leggings and ankle boots. The weather was rather mild, so she didn’t appear to be overdressed.

“So, how does the food get to a separate body part?”

“They put a little portal at the back of my throat, and connected it to another one in my stomach. Not really a big deal.”

She picked up a handful of fries, and shoved them in.

“So, does that affect anything when your stomach’s like a mile away?”

“Eh, maybe a little bit of lag. I think I’d best take it with me next time I go overseas.”

“You could pack yourself up as luggage on the plane if you wanted to.”

Rachel put her hand on mine.

“Only if you’re my chaperone.”

“Oh…uh, I was just thinking if you wanted to go alone, but…”

“No, no. I insist. I need someone to keep my parts in check.”

“Well, if that’s what you want, sure.”

Rachel relaxed, deflating slightly.

“Thanks. That means a lot”.

She retracted her arm…but her hand stayed on mine.

“Oh. Whoops”
And then her hand flew back to her wrist.

“I’ll be back in a minute, I need to use the bathroom.”

“Wait, didn’t you leave your torso at home?”

“Yeah, but the bathroom at home might get messy if I don’t sync up with it.”

Rachel stood up and was about to leave for the bathroom when she nearly tripped. She looked over at her left leg, which had completely deflated. She gave it a little shake, and it inflated to normal proportions again.

“My foot fell asleep. Hate when that happens.” she said, making her way to the bathroom.

—-

The rest of lunch was fairly uneventful, just us talking about potential writing projects. After we left, we decided to do a little clothes shopping, and then we went back home. As we walked toward the living room, Rachel decided to show me another trick…

“Whew, I’m feeling beat. I think I’m gonna…”

And with that, she leaned backwards, prompting me to catch her.

“Oh, that’s nice, but you didn’t have to do that.” she said. “You might want to pay close attention to my feet.”

I looked down at her feet, and I was surprised to see that they were still firmly planted on the ground.

“Wait, is this something else you can do as a Raygirl?” I asked.

“Mm-hm. In fact, let go of me, and you’ll see how far this trick goes.”

Reluctantly, I complied, and was shocked to see that despite leaning backwards at a 45 degree angle, Rachel didn’t fall down.

“How…?”
“Telekinesis.” Rachel said. “You’d be shocked at the control I have.”

Then, Rachel leaned forward until she was upright again. Then she tilted another 45 degrees, this time in the opposite direction.

“And unlike Michael Jackson, I don’t need special shoes to pull this off”, she said.

She then proceeded to lean back until she was upright again. But she wasn’t done, as she then tilted 45 degrees sideways.

“I can even walk when I’m off axis” she said, making her way to the couch. To be clear, she just walked over there, still tilted to the side, as if it was normal for her. I just shook my head.

“You are just full of tricks.” I said, as she sat down, back to her upright position again.

Rachel crossed her legs, and sighed, deflating completely.

“Honey, you’re just witnessing the tip of the iceberg.”

—-

As the evening went on, Rachel and I continued to discuss writing projects, as well as ordering pizza and passing the time by watching stuff on streaming. Over time, I became accustomed to her unique behaviour, and paid no heed to her deflating or one of her body parts detaching. Then, the sound of her ringing phone blared from her bedroom. I was going to get up but she stopped me.

“I’ll get it, don’t worry” she said, as her hand popped off and whizzed towards her bedroom. Like a boomerang, it came back, phone in hand, and she put it up to her ear.

“Hello? Oh hey, Tori. Oh yeah, loving this mod so far. In fact, that’s how I answered the phone.”

I could only guess what she was discussing with Tori, but my first instinct was to assume she was talking about her new status as a Raygirl. Rachel turned to me.

“Uh, I’ll be back in a tick. This is a bit private.”

And with that, Rachel’s top half popped off her lower half, and floated away to a different room. As she continued her conversation with Tori, her legging-clad legs just sat there. I couldn’t help but look down the empty pair of pants, amazed at how hollow it seemed. Rachel’s legs just uncrossed and then crossed to the other side.

After about five minutes, Rachel’s top half floated back into the living room.

“That was my friend at the company, she said they’re gonna send me a package tomorrow.”

“What kind of package?”

“I think I’ll leave that as a surprise.”

Rachel’s legs then got up from the couch and reconnected with her top half.

“So,” she asked. “Anything else you wanna workshop?”