Mind transferred to a plant observing her own body

Melissa awoke facing a window. She felt sunlight through the window and basked in the warmth it provided. She sighed contentedly, but no sound emerged. That's strange, she thought. She couldn't feel herself wearing any earmuffs or gags that would have suppressed the sound. She tried clearing her throat but found no such movement was possible. She tried to stretch in the glorious warmth of the sun but found the best she could do was to strain towards it. She could see the bright, beautiful day outside but couldn't reach for it, couldn't walk towards it. She could only stare.

She couldn't feel any restraints that would explain her immobility. She tried to look down at her body to ascertain the cause of her immobility but couldn't turn her gaze. Now that she noticed it, she couldn't even blink. What was going on here?

A stream of cool water cascaded down her body. It shocked her at first, but then it felt good, even refreshing. Her body involuntarily twitched back and forth under the light pressure of the water. She could feel it soaking into her body. She could feel it pooling and settling on her in random unseen places, where she could sense she was absorbing it more slowly. But she couldn't turn to look.

"Good morning, sunshine," Ms Kyoto said from above her. She's given me a lot of annoying nicknames in the past, Rocketgirl thought, but that may be the closest she's come to flattering me. Rocketgirl tried to turn to face Ms Kyoto and take a fighting stance, but still could not feel or move her body at all.

The squeak of rusty wheels sounded nearby, getting closer, and soon Rocketgirl watched as a hospital bed was wheeled in by two people wearing scrubs. The patient's face was completely wrapped in bandages. "Thank you, nurses," said Ms Kyoto, ushering them out of the room. "I'll take it from here."

Rocketgirl was completely disoriented but of course couldn't articulate her confusion or do anything to enlighten herself. She just watched as Ms Kyoto connected an EEG, an EKG, and an IV to the immobile patient on the hospital bed. The monitors faced Rocketgirl, who could see a normal, healthy heart rate but almost no brain activity. To her untrained eye, it appeared the patient was in a coma.

"Let's see who's under all these bandages, shall we?" Ms Kyoto said. Rocketgirl watched silently as Ms Kyoto slowly unwound the thick padding from the comatose patient's face. When it was all finally unwound, Rocketgirl would have gasped in horror if she could.

The patient was Rocketgirl herself.

"Yes, that really is your body," Ms Kyoto said as though reading her mind. "After I mapped your brain, I took the liberty of freeing your mind from your beautiful body and implanting it into, well..." here she held up a mirror for Rocketgirl to observe, "...a plant."

Rocketgirl stared at her reflection in disbelief. In the mirror she saw not herself but a potted plant -- a small but bright and pretty red geranium on a leafy green stalk. What the hell?

"Unfortunately this means our friend Melissa here has slipped into a coma," Ms Kyoto continued, removing the mirror from sight. Rocketgirl stared helplessly at her body lying in the hospital bed between her and the window. She was relieved now to see the heart rate but panicked by the EEG. How would she ever get out of this alive?

"It's a good thing it happened in my office," Ms Kyoto said. "Did you know I'm a volunteer nurse at this hospital? I rushed you right over. The doctors say I saved your life." Ms Kyoto chuckled and slowly stroked her patient's cheek. "Fools. We know better, don't we, Rocketgeranium?"

Rocketgirl wanted to cry, wanted to scream, wanted to strangle Ms Kyoto. But she could do nothing. She simply watched and listened, raging inside.

Ms Kyoto stopped petting her comatose patient and walked over to the potted Rocketgirl. She leaned down and stared at the plant. "Until the doctors find a way to revive you or decide to pull the plug, I'm the head nurse in charge of your body's treatment. Don't worry," she said with a smug, menacing smile, "I'll take care of you -- one way or another. And you'll get to see for yourself. You'll get to watch everything that happens to your beautiful body."

Rocketgirl would have shuddered.