(原文)

Rebecca’s selfie caused avalanche of comments and reactions on her Instagram account.

Two weeks ago, when Rebecca left home to undergo the initial training of non-verbal communication and prepare for her surgery, she announced she will be taking a short hiatus and when she’s back she’s going to have a “big surprise” for her fans, but nobody could expect what they saw in her next photo.

Headless body, undeniably Reebecca’s, as recognised by her tattoos, striking a pose with her hand forming a piece sign, her neck stump adorned with stainless steel collar ending in a fleshy bump with two slightly parted lips, above which floated pixelated, slightly see-through hologram of her smiling head, while her original head rests calmly behind her in a jar of clear liquid connected by wires to some sort of technology.

Some people thought it was photoshop, some called her crazy and some praised her for being the absolute embodiment of the spirito f the body mod community.

Almost everybody was curious, though, and Rebecca was more than happy to answer their questions.

Most of the questions were expectable and, at least for Rebecca, mundane, like whether it’s permanent, how is she even alive or how she eats and drinks now. One user however asked a question, which would change Rebecca’s future forever:

“xX_ThePiercedMD_Xx: Hey, Rebecca, i have to ask. Given how high was your head amputated, i suspect you should have your vocal chords intact. Can you still make any sounds now?”

This sparked Rebecca’s curiosity.

She was told she would require the sense collar to speak, but thinking about it now, nobody said she couldn’t make any sound.

Proper articulation might be impossible without a head, but maybe she can make some simple sounds.

As she sat in front of her mirror, looking at her neck stump’s lips, she tried to make a sound.

At first, nothing came out of her neck than air, silently blowing between her lips, but after few tries, she managed a sort of semi-loud sigh, followed by what sounded like something between moan and, for lack of better words, silent scream.

She recorded herself and posted the video in response, tagging xX_ThePiercedMD_Xx.

Intrigued by the experience, she experimented some more.

Her new voice had sort of ethereal, haunting quality to it and she was eager to test out its limits.

She always loved to sing and althrough she never considered herself good enough singer to pursue the career professionally, her singing voice used to be quite good, so why shouldn’t she try it now?

She set up recording, played instrumental track to help herself maintain rythm and started singing a wordless melody.

The result was absolutely stunningly captivating.

Where her singing lacked in precise articulation she compensated by sheer emotion and the spine chilling undertones of her headless voice.

After she recorded the whole song, Rebecca played it again and again, herself taken aback by her own performance.

With a title “Ever heard a headless girl sing? #headless #mynewvoice”, she posted the recording online.

The response was incredible.

Rebecca’s singing video gone viral, just the first day it racked up more reactions than all of her previous posts combined.

Becoming a worldwide seensation almost overnight, Rebecca realised her potential and took the opportunity by the horns, approaching the owner of local music club.

“Ms. Becker, welcome!”, greeted her the owner, shaking her hand, visibly taken aback by her appearance, but forcing himself to act professional.

“I must say, I’m honored you decided to perform in my club.”

“The pleasure is all my, Mr. Henderson“, replied Rebecca, “I was surprised you agreed on such short notice. So, What’s the program for yesterday?“

“The stage will be all yours from 10PM till 1 after midnight“, replied Mr. Henderson.

“At full capacity, the club seats 180 people, but given your reputation, I fully expect we will be overbooked. Our band is completely at your service, I talked with them and they are excited to have a chance to perform with you.”

Next evening, Rebecca performed live for the first time in her life.

After greeting the audience, Rebecca turned off her holohead and voice box and started singing a new song she prepared just for the occasion.

The audience was captivated, Rebecca’s voice, even more emotional in person than on the video, sounded unlike any other singer they ever heard before. Rebecca held her microphone to her neck stump, her lips trembling in the rythm of her singing.

She sang several songs, some her own, some were sort of covers of popular classics, lyrics replaced by her ethereal tones full of emotions.

For her last song of the night, Rebecca thanked the band for their performance and sang a capella, slowly walking among the audience, occasionally leaning her neck stump closer to several audience members, pursing her lips seductively as if for a kiss.

Rebecca was enjoying the reaction from audience, most of whom just now were ceasing to consider her headlessness a creepy novelty and were seeing the beauty where they until now expected lacking of.

When Rebecca sang her last notes, the club fell into stunned silence for few seconds before erupting into booming applause.

For the first time in her life she felt like being appreciated for her talent rather than her looks - which, she admitted, was pretty ironic, considering her unique appearance.

As she turned her voicebox and holohead back on to thank the audience, the projection of her face was literally glowing by happiness.

The reception was so overwhelmingly positive she never in her life could imagine it.

After signing autographs for the fans, she sat at the bar for a drink, when a young man approached her.

"Well, that sure was something. That drink's on me, I was glad to be a part of such experience"

"Thank you," said Rebecca, "You're Daniel, right? The band's lead guitar?"

"Today, yes.", said Daniel.

"Normally I'm also the lead singer, but I can't compete with somebody with such talent as yourself. Let me just say that was some incredible performance."

"I tried my best", said rebecca humbly, "But if i knew you sing, I prepare some duets, I didn't want to overshadow you on your home turf."

"Oh, believe me, you would have overshadowed me either way", laughed Daniel, "But maybe we can do something together in the future if you like?"

"You mean, musically, or personally?" asked Rebecca, her holohead winking at Daniel.

"I'd be happy for either, actually, " replied Daniel.

"I never met anybody like you before. So confident, so full of emotions, so… so…"

"So headless?"

Asked Rebecca with a mischievous smile flickering on her pixelated projection of a face.

"Ehm… well, Now that you mention it", said Daniel, suddenly caught off guard by the bluntness of rebecca's statement "Yeah, of course, I mean, obviously, ehm…"

"Well don't be shy to ask, it's natural, when I had it done I fully expected people to be curious", said Rebecca as she put a straw between the lips atop her neck stump and took a sip of her drink, "I know you're eager to ask about the obvious elephant in the room, now. Just know I had it done on purpose and I don't regret a thing. Everything else you might ask - just shoot."

"Oh, well then," started Daniel, "I was curious whether you prefer me looking into your camera on into the eyes of that hologram, i'm trying to be polite, but this has me torn"

"Oh? Ha ha ha!" Laughed Rebecca, "A gentleman, are we? Well, either way, if it makes you comfortable, really, but if you want, you may look a little lower too. I won't tell you 'my eyes are up here', obviously."

As they drank their drinks together, Rebecca and Daniel talked about everything and nothing, just getting to know each other.

When the club closed, Daniel offered to accompany her home. When they reached Rebecca's place, Rebecca turned to Daniel.

"I had a great time with you. Can we see each other next time?", she asked.

"I would love to", said Daniel, "Do you have time this friday? I was thinking we might go see a movie or grab a dinner together"

"A movie would be great," said Rebecca, "Althrough i don't know much about the dinner part. I need to mix my food to paste, for obvious reasons, and i doubt there are many restaurants willing to cater to my needs"

"Oh, don't you worry," said Daniel, "I know this great fresh bar, offering the best shakes and smoothies in town, i'm sure we'll find something which could suit you."

Rebecca wraped her arms around Daniel, pulling him closer, "Well, you clearly thought about everything. It's a date, then", she said, turned off her holoprojectors and pulled Daniel's head closer to her neck stump.

Their lips connected in a kiss as Daniel gently bit one of her lips, tracing the contours underneath them with his tongue.

A soft moan escaped rebecca's neck stump as she enjoyed the feeling, gently stroking Daniel's face with her fingers.

As their lips parted and they bid each other farewell, they couldn't stop thinking about each other.

Over the next few months, Rebecca's star was rising.

Anything she touched turned to gold.

Daniel - her partner both in life and music, turned out to be not only gentle and caring lover, but also a great composer with incredible sense and understanding for strenghts and limitations of Rebecca's singing voice.

Together they both composed and performed the songs for their first album "Losing my head over you", which sold a million copies just in first week and gained twelve nominations and seven music awards.

Recognised as world class celebrities, Rebecca and Daniel were regularly invited to perform at various benefit concerts, never rejecting such offer, feeling glad they can help with what they have.

One such event, Daniel and Rebecca were mingling with the guests after their performance.

The final part of this event was fundraising auction, where every celebrity attending offered one of their prized possessions up for sale to highest bidder, with all profits going towards the charity.

"What did you offer, anyway?", asked Rebecca.

"My first guitar," replied Daniel.

" It might be old, but i upgraded it through years with hi-end parts everytime i spared a bit of cash, so it both is pretty impressive one-of-a-kind piece of hardware and it has an immense sentimental value to me. And you?"

"Well, it's also something very personal, " said Rebecca with a misterious smile playing on her holohead, "But i won't spoil the surprise."

"Item seventy-six"

Announced the auctioneer, "Live human head, preserved in suspended animation, originally belonging to miss Rebecca Becker. Pristine condition, kept exactly in the make-up and hairstyle miss Becker had when she decided to have it removed. Starting price 50 000$"

"You did what?" asked Daniel in shock. "Wow, and i thought my guitar was a personal choice!"

"Well," said Rebecca, "your guitar is probably still more of a personal choice than mine, really. I mean, look at me - i built my whole career on being headless. Could i continue singing with a head? Well, i could, obviously, but not with that singing. For me, there's no turning back now, and while i never really considered turning back in the first place, doing this, i basically closed that door forever. Giving my head away means i distance myself from my old life and fully embrace what i gained since."

"Yes, but aren't you afraid of what might happen to it now?", asked Daniel.

"Are you afraid what migh happen to your toenail clippings?" replied Rebecca with own question.

"No, it goes to highest bidder. you won't just cough up upwards of 50k for a head just to turn it into crack pipe. And the money goes to a good cause."

As the auction unfolded, Rebecca's head sold for 470 000$, the second most expensive item sold that evening.

At that time, Rebacca thought nothing of it, but this was the defining moment of her future life.

小说相关章节：無頭女郎集/ヘッドレス女郎集