Headless

By Ryan Parker

She stood amid the crowd in a flowing navy dress. Curls of brown hair fell around her in tightly-wound coils, framing a grey mask that covered her face. The mask was desperate in its simplicity, pleading in a whisper to be ignored; accepted. Strangers would note the mask almost before it reached their consciousness and move along before they registered the wearer. But Alistair noticed none of this.

Alistair noticed only that she did not look away.

He shifted his head to the crook of his left arm as he approached her. She barely moved, watching cautiously as the headless man approached her. Alistair held out his newly freed right hand.

“I’m Alistair.”

She tipped her head to one side and studied him before taking the hand.

“Chloe.”

“You don’t look away,” Alistair said. “Aren’t you afraid of the monster?”

“You are not a monster,” she replied, a concealed smile audible in her tone. “You have merely come apart.”

“I suppose I have,” he said. “Is that not enough to incite fear?”

Chloe shook her head. “I do not think people fear you. I think they do not know what to do with you or how to treat you. You are something different and they cannot fix you. I think it is their ignorance they fear.”

Alistair smiled. “Is that why you wear the mask?”

“No.” Chloe looked to one side. “I wear this because I fear what I am.”

“What are you?”

“I do not know.” She returned her gaze to his detached head. “Or perhaps I do know and am concerned that others will not. I no longer remember. These people expect certain things of their fellows. I am not sure I am those things.”

“You wear it to blend in?”

“In a way. I'm not sure my appearance is enough for this world.”

“You are concerned with your looks, then.”

“Looks matter. You have learned that yourself.”

Alistair scratched his head as though it were a pet. “And yet for all the people in this city the only one worth meeting stands before me because she gazed beyond my facade.”

Chloe shifted and remained silent. Crowds washed around them without touching them; unable to enter their private island of difference. A pale pink had begun to creep across the sky when Chloe next spoke.

“I may have a solution for you.”

Alistair, who had been staring at the ground in consideration of sitting, gazed up. “For what?”

“Your predicament; your detachment.”

“Really?” Alistair perked up, excited by the possibility of walking with two free arms.

Chloe nodded. “It will take a great deal of trust.”

“I trust you.”

Chloe wrung her hands before stiffening with resolve. “Alright.”

She reached up to her mask with a trembling hand and gingerly stroked the grey, lifeless mould. The sky shifted to a vibrant orange and Chloe tightened her grip, pulling at the hollow face. It lifted away soundlessly. She hovered a moment, terrified. Then she sighed and dropped her hand.

There was no face behind the mask. There was not even a head. There was instead a darkness; a swirling mess of lightless air hidden beneath her curls. She expected Alistair to hesitate. She expected his eyes to widen in horror. She expected him to flee.

But Alistair did none of those things. Instead, he simply smiled and held out a reassuring hand. In a way, he had always expected this. Without needing to be instructed he grasped his head and held it forward. He couldn’t see Chloe’s face, but he knew she smiled as she took it, and he let go.

Gingerly, Chloe turned Alistair’s head around until he was staring at where his body had once stood. It was no longer there. It must have disappeared shortly after he released his head. Of course it did. It was the only possible outcome.

He felt the gentle caress of Chloe’s fingers, felt the brush of her hair against his skin, felt her smile as she rested his head on her neck. Something gave within him. There was a surge, then a pull. He felt Chloe gasp as he did the same.

And they became whole again.

Ryan Parker is a writer and copyeditor. He is currently undertaking a Diploma of Professional Writing and Editing and a Bachelor of Psychology. Having only recently begun to explore the world of short fiction, his work spans a range of genres, from science fiction to the downright absurd.