Miss Planner stood back to admire her work.

"Perfect. I can't even see where it joins. I really am amazing at this, aren't I? Now, for the final step, let's put your personality back to normal."

'Soul Snake.'

Milly's eyes snapped back into focus. Her mouth twitched.

"Now, Milly, tell me how you feel about me."
"Miss Planner, you're a perfect, cute, wonderful woman. That's why I always do whatever you say."

"Oh, Milly... you're too kind. Hehehe. Do you ever feel any discomfort in your current form?"
"Never. I love this body. Don't you, Miss Planner?"

"Yeah, it's great. You look so pretty, Milly! Now stand up. Let's see you walk!"
"Yes, ma'am!"

Milly hopped to her feet and walked around the kitchen in a circle. Miss Planner examined her carefully, paying special attention to her joints. Then Miss Planner ordered Milly to open and close her hands repeatedly, making a grabbing motion. Once again, Milly complied perfectly.

"This shell should hold up in a rainstorm, and the coating should protect you against the sun. I used up nearly all of the lacquer, so it'd be great if your skin lasted you a little longer this time. And you need to tell me right away if your shell cracks or if your skin starts to peel off."
"I'll tell you right away, ma'am! Thank you for fixing me!"

"Don't mention it. You can get dressed now, Milly."
"Yes, ma'am!" Milly said with a big smile. She put on a bright yellow sundress and a worn pair of brown sandals. Miss Planner tied her long brown hair up cutely with red lace.

Milly was a normal girl once. Everything changed for her when she was stabbed while walking home one rainy and miserable night. Her blood poured out of her and soaked through her clothes. She started feeling so tired she could barely lift her feet. She knew she had to find help, but every step caused her pain. Finally, she collapsed.

To her amazement, Milly woke up the next morning in her bed like nothing had ever happened. She chalked it up to a weird nightmare and tried to go on with her life, but she slowly started to notice that she was a bit different than she used to be. Her skin was cold to the touch. She lost her appetite completely, and had to force herself to eat. She didn't have much of a need for sleep anymore, either.

Weird, strange thoughts and impulses started popping into Milly's head.

On a whim, Milly quit her job at the flower shop and started working at a sketchy notary office. Then Milly moved out of her mother's house without telling her, and she stopped talking to all of her friends from school, too. After that, Milly did something really crazy.

Milly killed the person who stabbed her.

The man she murdered was a homeless criminal known in the neighborhood as 'the Locust.' He lived in a dilapidated shack behind a grocery store in the slums. He'd been arrested many times, but always narrowly avoided jail time. Milly tracked him down and went to his hovel in the dead of night.

She found him asleep on a filthy mattress. His body looked thin, and he wasn't wearing shoes. He was clutching a knife in his left hand, the same one he used to rip Milly's stomach open. Milly gently took the sleeping man's knife away. Then, she started to strangle him with her bare hands. The man woke up and tried to break free, but Milly held on tight. She squeezed with her cold, hard fingers until there was no life left in her victim's eyes.

Milly picked up the man's corpse and carried it to a nearby riverbed. She laid the body in the mud and covered it with rocks. Afterwards, Milly returned home, cleaned herself up, and slept for two days straight. She woke up to find her new boss, a tiny blonde woman in a suit named Miss Planner, standing over her bed.

Miss Planner revealed that she was the one responsible for all of the recent strangeness in Milly's life. Miss Planner possessed incredible psychic powers, and was capable of manipulating the minds, bodies, and souls of others. She found Milly on the brink of death and transferred her consciousness into a new body. Milly's soul was now inside a specially crafted tool called a 'psychic puppet.' Every time Miss Planner ordered Milly to do something, Milly had no choice but to obey her. In fact, she was just one of several psychic puppets that were being controlled by Miss Planner's evil mind. In return for Milly's loyalty, Miss Planner would perform regular maintenance on her doll-like body and give her a variety of interesting jobs to keep her mind active.

Milly was terrified of Miss Planner at first, but she quickly grew to love the little blonde cutie. Miss Planner was kind, generous, intelligent, and funny. Milly's new job as her secretary was much more fun than working at the flower shop. And Milly's new puppet body was amazing! She could run a hundred miles in a single stretch without getting tired, jump ten feet in the air with perfect form, walk on her hands as easily as with her feet, climb around on walls like a monkey, and contort her body into any shape she wanted. She no longer needed to eat, sleep, breathe, or stay warm to stay alive.

Eventually, Milly started to feel a bit sorry for Miss Planner. The other Chosen Ones didn't seem to like Miss Planner very much, and it was easy to see why. Her perfect beauty was marred by a nasty personality and a creepy obsession with controlling others. Milly realized that Miss Planner didn't really seem to be keeping her around for any practical purpose other than to have someone to talk to about her latest schemes and ideas. She was a lonely girl who was too smart for her own good.

One day, Miss Planner offered to put Milly's consciousness back into a human body. Miss Planner would give her the body of a young woman named Molly, and Milly's puppet body would get recycled for another purpose. Milly could be a normal girl again and forget all about Miss Planner and the Chosen Ones. She wouldn't have to recieve maintenance anymore. She'd get to enjoy the taste of food, the pleasure of sleeping in a soft bed, and the feeling of sunlight on her real skin. Milly had been living without these things for so long, she almost couldn't imagine them anymore.

The offer seemed to come out of nowhere, and Milly wasn't sure what to think. She was tempted, of course. But the idea of living without Miss Planner scared her so badly that she hesitated.

The truth was, if Milly went back to a normal life, she'd lose all of the things that made her happy. Milly was grateful to Miss Planner for giving her a fun new life, and she liked the way Miss Planner talked to her and took care of her. So she decided that she would stay by Miss Planner's side forever.

Miss Planner was surprised by Milly's refusal. Or rather, she said she was surprised, but she didn't look surprised. The longer Milly thought about it, the more she began to suspect that Miss Planner's offer was some kind of sick test or sadistic bid for control. That's just the type of person Miss Planner was. She was a cute but deadly predator. Milly decided not to dwell on it, and to simply get back to work.