Nate was excited; he had detached his own head with little effort and no injury, and had placed another in its place! He could see, smell, hear, and taste with his new head, and could move it just as freely as his original head. It was as if the new head—that of a twelve-year-old boy—had always been his own, even though he himself was only ten. The body was still his, and the red T-shirt and jeans he was wearing, but it was intriguing to be staring at a different face.
Nate began to wonder how he would look with some of the other heads, like the ones with facial hair, or longer hair, or different skin tone. He was about to pick another one to switch out, when suddenly heard a creaking from upstairs. Another noise followed, the kind that is made when a door is closed. It did not take Nate long to realize that is was his front door—that his father Daryll had come home. If Daryll really owned these hidden basement rooms and the body parts in them, it meant that he might come downstairs at some point to have some fun with them. Nate didn't want to be caught, especially with his new look, so he had to cover his tracks and escape.
Nate rushed back to the cabinet, removed his new head, and set it down inside. He shut the cabinet, hurried to the one with his original head, picked it up, and put it back on his shoulders. As he shut this cabinet, he realized that he was still wearing the large, hairy hand from the other room, and he knew he had to switch that back, too. He ran into the white room, shut the door, and grabbed his original hand. He quickly pulled off the hairy one, reattached the original, and set the hairy one back on its shelf. There was nothing else out of place, and other than himself and the clothes he was wearing, he had brought nothing else into the rooms. Now he just had to shut the glass door, push the bookcase back over it, and head up the basement stairs. Perhaps he would tell his father that he was just trying to conquer his fear of the basement, which would more or less be the truth. But as Nate began to step back out into the basement, he froze when he heard his father's voice from upstairs.
"Nate?" said Daryll. "Where are you?"
It was late at night, so the ten-year-old Nate couldn't well have gone anywhere outside the house. Nate then noticed a shadow appear on the basement stairs; it was Daryll, who had just noticed that the basement door was open. The stairs did not face the bookcase, which meant that Daryll could not see him, but Nate still began to worry: what if Daryll came down those stairs? Maybe he could hide under the nearby worktable for a little while? But his chance was soon gone, and he began hearing squeaks, one after the next. Daryll was coming down the stairs.
Desperate, Nate grabbed the bookcase and slid it back, shutting himself behind it. He slid the door over it, shutting himself inside the white room, and blocking his only exit. He couldn't risk letting his father know that he had discovered this secret, not yet at least. Nate felt certain that Daryll would come into these rooms for a while, and quickly crawled underneath the bed to try to hide. Luckily for him, it was a king size bed, and he was able to fit underneath with plenty of room to spare. It turned out that Nate's hunch was correct, because as soon as he finished hiding, he could see the bookcase sliding open through the glass. The door opened next, and then Nate saw his father step into the room. After Daryll was greeted with that spray, he closed the bookcase behind him.
"Dang it!" Nate thought to himself. He had been hoping that Daryll would leave it open so he could sneak out when he got the chance.
He could see Daryll's bare feet, but it was obvious to Nate that his father was still attached to them. A brown hoodie fell to the floor, the hoodie that Daryll had been wearing, and Nate watched the feet move towards the hidden door. He carefully and quietly turned underneath the bed to watch Daryll step into the panelled room.
Nate could now see his father as Daryll moved further into the room. Daryll had combed brown hair with a neatly trimmed beard and no mustache, and was wearing a black T-shirt and jeans. He wore glasses with a dark brown frame over his blue eyes. Nate could see his father moving towards one of the cabinets, the empty one. Daryll opened the cabinet, and reached for his neck, prepared to remove his head.
"I think I'll try on Damion for a few minutes," Daryll said to himself.
Nate assumed that Damion must be a name his father gave to one of the heads, and that the others must have names, too. When Nate shifted his attention back to his dad, the head was already off, and the body was already setting it down inside the cabinet. Once the cabinet was shut, the body walked down the room, out of Nate's sightline. Nate was tempted to try to leave, but for some reason decided to stay and see has father as Damion. He shifted himself to stick his head out from under the bed, and was able to see further into the room. The body was just opening another cabinet, and pulled out what Nate assumed to be Damion. The head had curly black hair, no facial hair, and looked particularly handsome. Nate watched as the body lifted the head up, and placed it on its shoulders. The body was now Damion's, not Daryll's, but Nate believed that it was still his father.
"It IS still Dad...right?" Nate wondered.
Then he noticed that Damion was turning around. Nate tried to disappear back under the bed, but it was too late; Damion had seen him.
"Nate?" asked Damion. His voice certainly matched his looks.
Nate lay still under the bed and tried not to make a sound.
"I saw you, Nate," said Damion. "Come on out."
Nervously, Nate crawled out from under the bed, and stood in front of the doorway. He faced Damion, who was approaching him, and was unsure what would happen. Damion came up to Nate, and knelt down in front of him.
"It's okay, Nate," he said. "It's still me."
Nate relaxed a little, now that he knew that it still was his dad. It was still a little weird to see him with a different head.
Damion led Nate inside to properly introduce him to the other heads. Nate revealed that he had tried on one of the heads already, and Damion revealed the head's name was Luke. Damion brought Nate back to his now-empty cabinet, and his body removed him; Damion decided that he should be Daryll for the time being, the guy that Nate was used to being with. The headless body put Damion back, moved back to Daryll's cabinet, and put him back on. Daryll then walked back to his son, and showed him around the room, introducing him to several of the heads: young, old, blonde, brunette, bald, bearded, hairy, tough, handsome, nerdy, and so on. He said that he received the heads, the body parts, and the spray that allowed them to be modular from some weird scientist friend. He also revealed that Nate's mother did not know about any of this, nor anyone else in their family. Daryll said he was glad that Nate finally found this stuff on his own; they were already close, and now they could share this secret as well.
"This is both freaky and cool, Dad!" said Nate.
"I'm glad you think so, son," Daryll replied.
"I have to say, it felt weird to have a different head," said Nate. "Weird and good."
"Well, you don't have school tomorrow," said Daryll, "and your mother won't be back for some time. And I do have the day off tomorrow."
Nate smiled, for he somehow understood what his father meant.
"While we're still down here, what do you want to do?" asked Daryll.