HOME | DD

Description
body div#devskin0 hr { }

In a basement club, an illusion show is given by a quite skillful magician. He has performed all kinds of tricks, from card tricks to stage illusions like levitation. However, he somehow failed to cater to the atmosphere he had tried to create. The light on the stage has always been dim and the magician in a dark robe with a hood wears a horror movie style mask, the sound and background music also make the audience feel haunted. He also speaks in the low voice on purpose. On the contrary, the tricks are all joyful or at least rather neutral. The audience are satisfied with the show, but still wonder why the magician has to perform in this way.

Now there is a ten-minute break before the final show for him to prepare. The magician advises all the audience to relive themselves specially, for they will not want to miss the final illusion or they don’t want to wet themselves. No one takes it seriously.

After the break, the magician reappears on the stage with the light turning brightest of that night, but still soft enough. The red curtain now drops on the stage.

“For my final illusion, I’d like three volunteers from the audience to help me and I want to make it a game, or gamble to make it, how to say, more exciting.” says the magician ”And I don’t want some random ones. Are there a couple with their daughter tonight?”

The audience are all in a fog for this strange standard while at the same they wonder whether there will be such volunteers to fulfill the requirement or will the illusion cease to begin.

“Ah, I see someone just coming back to his seat and two beauties on both sides, will you be the family for the show?”

The light spots a man in about his forties, who is just going to sit back to his seat from outside of the room. The man being highlighted obviously has no idea what happened and the woman and girl are explaining to him, with somehow vexed expression on their faces.

“Would you come on the stage and help me with the show?” the magician seems having figured out that the three will be the prefect volunteers and offers the invitation directly.

The three comes onto the stage. The others have no idea which one has persuade the others successfully.

“Oh, you are surely the best volunteers for my show today.” Says the magician to the man “In fact, little cute girls are not for this show, but your wife and daughter are almost the same height and your girl is old enough to take part in.”

The family looks puzzled. The man with glasses looks quite simple and honest, with short beard and a round face. He is someone you would forget at once after you see him accidently on the street.

The woman with the shoulder-length blonde hair on his left is his wife, who looks younger than her husband. She does not look very gorgeous, but the sexy charm of a mature woman comes out naturally and mildly from her slim but symmetrical body, while the time leaves no trace on her beautiful face. She maybe not the woman every man would fancy about, but definitely the one you would like to date with or marry. She is now wearing a blouse and a dress, with heels on her feet. The perfect combination for her.

The girl with the same shoulder-length blonde hair on the man’s right is his daughter, who looks like have just entered her adult life. Unlike her mother, her beauty comes from her youthfulness. While she does not show her beauty by over-decorating herself, maybe this was affected by her mother. Instead of failing to attract the others, the plain outlook draws more attention than those random girls who are doing their best to make up for themselves. The shirt she is wearing shows her nice figure well and the cut-offs shows her smooth and slender legs. The sandals may be the most luxurious and magnificent part of her dressings. She surely knows how to show herself while remain humble.

“You look like sisters” the magician says in his usual affected weird voice.

“Thank you.” The mother responses gladly, seeming to relieve herself from the nervousness.

The magician and then turns to the daughter, trying to ease her up too, “Tell me young lady, have you seen illusions before? Or have you ever taken part in them?”

“I like them but hardly have the chance to see a lot, let alone being part of them” answers the girl in a quite even but somehow excited tone, which means she is not feeling intense. Maybe it was her who advised the family to get on the stage.

“What do you think of my performance?”

“Excellent, but not what I have been expecting.” Answers the girl “I’d like to see some more intense ones.” After all, as you can expect from a youth.

“I ensure you will get involved into one yourself.” Grins the magician, though no one actually see his face. While there is a smile on the girl’s face.

Then the magician turns to the man. “Sir, is it OK for your wife and daughter to help me to complete this show?”

“Well……, my girl would like to and her mother has always spoiled her, so I think it is OK?” the man surely is someone you can judge from his appearance.

“Good. Now as what I had said, I would like to make this show a game.” Says the magician “I want to play a game.” Mimicking the SAW, the magician continues his explanation. “I would like you to select one from your wife and daughter to be your partner and who is left will be mine.”

“You are taking my family as your partner?” the man giggles, while obviously a little reluctant to accept the requirement.

“Just let me finish my words,” the magician continues, knowing well he would be rejected “If you and your partner win, you can take what I have earned tonight. While if I win, you and your family can just go back without losing anything to me. All I need is just that you can participate in my show.”

“Will this do?” the man asks for the opinions from his family.

“Of course it will do!” says the daughter “I can’t wait any longer.”

The mother nods. It seems that she has given up considering about what will happen for her daughter is too impatient to wait.

“Ok, then who would you choose as your partner?”

“I know your magician’s ways of distraction.” says the man “So instead of choosing my wife who can cooperate with more understanding, I think my daughter is the best choice.” Maybe the man tries to get rid of his stereotype in others’ eyes jokingly with this move.

The mother seems a little unsatisfied. So is the daughter, who wants to be the magician’s partner, for she thinks that it will be more exciting.

“Don’t worry, my dear.” Says the magician who reads what she thought from her expression “I ensure you the same marvelous experience just like you mother. And now, I am going to use hypnotism, or you may be unwilling to cooperate if you know what you are going to get involved in in advance. Ladies, are you ready?”

“Me! Me first.” Responses the daughter excitedly.

“Calm down, my lady.” The magician approaches the daughter “Now focus on my hand, with few gestures and a snap, you will be hypnotized and only follow my orders.” Says the magician while making some conventional gestures you would see in any illusions before the daughter’s eyes. However, when he finishes with the snap, the joyfulness and excitement in her eyes are taken place by the dull look. Her expression looks dull now as well.

“Sir, would you have a try to see if your daughter is really under my spell?”

The man waves his hand in front of his daughter but her eyes are not moving with his hand at all.

“Now if you don’t mind I will hypnotize your wife as well” says the magician without actually waiting for the man’s agreement, who is still confirming his daughter’s status.

After seeing what her daughter is like now, the mother become nervous again, while the magician leaves no time for her to hesitate, even without asking her to pay attention. With the same but quicker gestures and a snap, the mother is hypnotized as well.

“We have our lovely assistants now, then I would show you the instrument.” Says the magician when the curtain begins to rise, revealing two eight wheeled rectangle tables on the both sides of the stage with their long edges showing to the audiences. There are three poles on the stage too, the one between the two tables has two small rings on either side. Through the rings there are two chains. One end of the chain is attached to the front edge. The chains take a turning at the rings and the other ends are on the floor now. On the other end there is something the audience can not see clearly. Below the rings, there are two buttons at the almost same height of the table. Under the wheels there are railways which are to ensure the tables can move in their right way. The other two poles are on the both ends of the stage, behind the short edge of each table. They also have chains attached with rings whose other end is attached with something else. The chains are long enough to make sure there is some distance between the poles and tables.

The audience are wondering and talking about the instrument, and some of them finds that there is another black curtain behind the instrument, which was not there before the final show.

“Let us get the ladies to where they should be.” Signals the magician. Then four stagehands get on the stage. Two of them hold the ankles and shoulders of the mother and the others do the same to the daughter. They lift the ladies and place them lying on the tables with their face down.

The ladies, though hypnotized, place their hands under their faces with the dull eyes looking into the audiences’ direction spontaneously. They also bend their legs. The mother’s long dress slide down, showing her slender calves.

“Next, I would do something a little wicked or suggestive to excite the audiences, I think you would not mind?” asks the magician to the man, who seems a little confused now whether he should let the show go on “Ok, lift your heads, ladies!” Still, the magician accepts no rejection.

The ladies lift their heads, and the magician approaches the chains attached to the middle pole and picks them up. On the other ends there are two collars, definitely not the ones for decoration, but for dogs. The magician dresses one around the mother’s neck and fasten it tightly enough to make sure she can still breathe but cannot take it off easily by herself. Then he does the same thing to the daughter. Some audiences surely get excited from this and sit up more upright, seems they can finally get what they expected from the show which has this wired atmosphere.

The magician then catches the wrists of the mother, stretches her arms to the front end of the table. There are two cuffs with bolts at the position of her wrists. He locks her wrists with them. Then he turns to the daughter’s table and does the same.

The man becomes more and more nervous. However, he is too good and kind to stop the show which the magician has devoted so much.

The magician does not stop his work. He walks to a pole at the end of the stage and picks up the chain there. It is a large metal stock with a bolt on the other end this time. It is shiny bright with the silver color. The two holes are obviously for ladies’ ankles. He opens the stock and locks them around the mother’s ankles. “It suits you perfect, lady.” There seems no gap between her ankles and the stock. Then he locks the daughter’s ankles as well. After finishing it, he walks to the middle of the stage.

“Now you can see that the ladies are well restrained. Do you remember that this show is a game? The rule is simple, the lady who escapes first will be the winner. To you, sir, you can pray for you daughter’s victory now.”

The man looks a little relief, for he has no idea what would happen next. It seems this is all about the show.

“However, what fun if it is just two beauties getting rid of stocks and cuffs?” says the magician while signals again. The black curtain rises gradually, revealing the actual main instrument of the show.

Two super giant buzzsaw blades.

The blades are attached to structures which may allow the blades to go down inch by inch. The blades are just above the ladies’ waists.

“No! You have to stop this!” the man rushes to the magician.

“Sorry, I would not let you prevent me now.” with just a snap before the man’s eyes, he suddenly freezes and arms drops at the both sides of his body. His eyes look dull, just like his wife and daughter.

“Someone offers our gentleman a seat.” Says the magician and two stagehands carry up a small couch. “Sit down, sir.” Orders the magician and the man just sit in the couch.

“Let’s continue. Now you can see the giant buzzsaw there, just above our ladies. Soon they will drop little by little and finally slice our ladies in halves. They are big enough to cover the length of ladies’ waists. In other words, they will saw them in half in no time, without causing lasting agony. They should take this as a mercy from me.” The magician must be grinning hideously now, like what he has been trying to but failed before now. “Well, I wonder whether you have noticed the difference between my blade and other performers’”

As he reminds so, the audiences notice that the blade is not the color of silver, like what metal should be, but red, burning hot red.

“I like the great master, Harry Blackstone’s words of describing his blade. Just like a hot knife might cut through butter. So I heated my blades, making them real hot knives. This is not only a tribute to him, but also a method to stop the flow of blood. I am not as skillful as him in hypnotism, so I can only use some physical ways. You in the front rows definitely would not like the blood or debris all over your faces. The blade would carbonize the cuts with its heat as soon as it slices our victims. I can’t knock them to prove, but they are genuine.” This idea negates his so-called mercy wholly, and also make people wonder whether they are watching an illusion show or a crime scene.

“Since we have shown you the saw and our gentleman does not reject what will happen, let us finish the final restrain.” Two stagehands bring four harness-like devices and put them on the ladies’ waist. “Now it looks like a sawing show. They will make sure our ladies sawn neatly.”

“However, it would not be a game if I just cut the ladies in half, so I would further explain the rules.” Says the magician while searching for something in his robe.” The ladies are the ones who truly need to listen about them, so I will remove their hypnotism. But in case they would shout for help or scream lavishly, allow me to dress these for them.” The magician takes out two gags and hands them to two stagehands. “Lift your head and open your mouth, ladies.” The ladies do so and stagehands dress them the gags. “For those who enjoy women’s scream sickly, the gags would unlock automatically just before the saw slices our victims. How considerate I am!” the audiences wonder that maybe he is the only one who would enjoy. “Now, wake up!”

With the words, the eyes of the ladies regain their brilliance. Judging from their expressions, they have no idea what happened at all. How and why were locked? Why can’t they speak? Before long, they notice the other side’s situation, then they look back and above, only to find they are in the same crisis. The excitement on the daughter’s face vanishes, only the scared expression can be seen. So is the mother. They almost begin to struggle at the same time, shaking their waists and legs desperately to try to break free.

“Easy, ladies. There is no way you can break free like this.” Says the magician. “This is a game, and a simple one. You just need to find out the right number. Have a look at your right hand, can you see a number keyboard under it?”

The ladies take a look and nod anxiously, as if finding a life-saving straw.

“By entering the right four-digit number, you can stop the saw and we will surely release you.” The magician points to the screens beside the buzzsaw, which was ignored because of the saw and panic ladies “You can see what they have entered too. Well, I have to warn you in advance. You can only save yourself. Though you may stop the saw in no time, we will leave you trapped until the other is sawn in half or she escapes successfully. However, we would not give you much time, for the club will soon close.” The magician takes a look at his watch, taking the life-and-death matter like a bus-catching case. “Two minutes would be the limit.”

The ladies are thrown into depth of desperate again. To beat the game, they have to find out the right number from 10,000 choices in two minutes, which is obviously impossible. They now have complex feelings. On one hand, the only way to escape is to win in the game; while on the other hand, the chances are that they will surely lose, so maybe the longer the time before the beginning lasts, the longer they will live. However, their fate is doomed.

“There is another way you can do to save the other, and that is why I choose a family to participate.” The magician explains “See the buttons on the pole? By pressing it, you can stop the opposite saw. You can pull the chain on your collar to make the table move and it will press the button for you. But how do you suppose to press it with your feet locked?”

The audiences murmur. The ladies’ feet are locked and the stocks and chains on both ends of the stage would limit the distance the ladies can move. So, the answer is obvious.

“Yes, by entering 9999, you can make the saw drop instantly and slice yourself in half. It will also unlock the cuffs to allow you to pull the chains. The table is separable, with no locked feet, pulling will make sense.”

The audience are shocked again by the magician’s idea. They thought the somehow forced volunteers and the cruel burning hot blade would be the farthest he would go, but now he is taking advantage of the family love to make his show more dramatic. However, the magician still has something to go beyond the audiences’ imagination.

“I do believe in selfless love, but I also believe in selfness. So, there is another code 0000 which will make your opposite saw drop instantly.” Paying no attention to the noisy murmur from the audience, he continues. “You can expect the other to save you, though I wonder whether she will still do so. However, I am not sure whether you can endure the pain and still manage to press the button after the self-sacrifice.”

There is a seemingly very long but in fact only several seconds silence after the final explanation. The atmosphere is very tense, even for the audiences.

“Enough talk, let’s switch on!” declares the magician and turn on the switch which no one knows when it appears in his hand.

The giant buzzsaws come into lives. They rotate in a crazy speed. The audiences in the front can feel the heat and the cool gust at the same time. They do not make loud noise, as if to make the atmosphere more intense.

Without the preparation, the ladies are a little late when they start. But in fact, the time means nothing to them. They begin to enter numbers as quickly as they can desperately with the helplessness on their faces. The audiences can also see the numbers changing rapidly on the screen and can not do anything else but pay all their attention on the stage. Some of them may not realize they are even holding their breath. However, none of the numbers is right and the buzzsaw just drops gradually without mercy. The gust now can blow their hair a little.

“One minute to go.” The magician reports calmly, as if reporting NowTime.

Nothing changes but only the time goes by. The daughter who seems about to cry must be very regretful for what she did, and the speed of entering goes down obviously. Maybe she just gives up, knowing well her end. On the other hand, the mother still tries to find out the right number, though she knows well too that it is impossible.

“30 seconds.”

The daughter, finally breaks down, stops entering. The audiences realize it but don’t know what to say or how to react. The mother, who tries to escape but always focus on her daughter, finally decides to do something. The screen of her shows the number 9999.

With the sparkle blazes, the giant saw above the mother drops suddenly. At the same time, the gag of her also unlocks itself.

“Ahhhhhh……!” an ear-splitting scream is heard and the mother’s beauty face is twisted by the fierce agony. The violent sharp teeth of the buzzsaw bite into her waist. In no time part of the blade is seen below the table, which shows she is completely sawn through. Her scream somehow doesn’t cover the sound of hot blade cutting into flesh. It makes the audience feel thrilled. What is more, they even smell the smell of something burnt. Though it is not disgusting, still not a pleasant one. The buzzsaw stops rotating after finishing its vicious task.

The mother, bend her upper body upward when she is being sawn, while the legs drops lifelessly. After the scream, she, or her upper part drops too, but in a slow speed. Maybe this lady still tries to protect her face from hitting the table, though she may die soon. The pain of being sawn makes her faint. Maybe she prepared to endure the pain, but it comes out that she failed.

The force of sawing detaches the separable table a little, some audiences can see the burnt cuts from their angle. Surely it is not bloody, but still not something you want to take a twice look.

Five seconds has passed, but the mother still doesn’t move. The mother sacrifice herself, but still can’t save her daughter. Maybe this would be the tragic end of today’s show, but the mother proves the audiences are wrong.

The mother gets up with all her might and begins to pull the chain with the released hands. The agony which is still on her face and the humiliation of being treated like a dog make her endeavor more tragical. But to her, the left time doesn’t allow her to think anything else but saving her daughter.

The audiences are all cheering her up in their minds, completely forget she is the victim for their entertainment. And the most anxious one is the daughter, for there is little time left.

Little by little, the table move towards the button. Finally, the edge of the table presses the button. All the audiences cheer and some applaud for the mother’s effort. The lady falls faint again with the smile like a hero who sacrifice himself to save the world. The daughter regains hope and the joy of being alive temporarily make her ignore what cost has been taken to save her life.

However, things do not go like what everyone has expected.

With the same sparkle blazes, the buzzsaw above the daughter drops suddenly and slices her in two before everyone realize what happens.

“Ahhhhhh……” another ear-splitting scream comes out from the ungagged mouth of the daughter, but sounds more miserable than the previous one, for she doesn’t prepare for the pain. The daughter bends the upper body too like her mother, but she drops faint much quicker. The same sound and smell is heard and smelt again after the audiences catch what happened. The former cheer and applaud are silenced by the sudden tragedy.

After the buzzsaw completely stops, there is a seemingly eternal silence. At last, the magician breaks the quietness.

“Oh, what a mess……” the magician sighs hypocritically, looking at the separate bodies of mother and daughter “There must be something wrong with our device or program. I will surely find out who is to blame later. But first, I have to declare the outcome of this game. Since no one escape successfully, it is a tie. It is not that I don’t want to pay to our gentleman, the rule is rule.”

The audiences are still shocked by the disaster befell on the mother and daughter, no one really cares about the outcome of the game, but the reference of the man reminds them there is still someone who worries more than them.

“I think our gentleman would sue me no matter how I explain to him. The fame matters most to a performer like me. There may also be lawyers or even policemen in you, so the only way to settle this down is……” he gets a large dark velvet with sticks on one side to catch with from the stagehand. Holding the left corner and lifting to the position above his head with his left hand, he blocks the man from the audiences’ sight by lifting the right part from his head to toes “To make the victims disappear! Never try to catch me!”

With the drop of the velvet, the man disappears, with only the couch left. The audiences do not know how they should react to this rather fabulous trick, nor do they know whether the show should still go on.

“Now we have to deal with the ladies, but first I have to take this off. It’s rather hot.” The magician now takes off his hood and the mask.

Who appears in front of the audiences, is the man who just disappear seconds ago.

“Isn’t now the best time to applaud?” smiles the man, reminding the audiences who are too surprised to whistle or cheer.

The thunder-like applaud fulfill the room, not only for the twist of the show, but also a relief that the audience can confirm that all what happened is just a show.

The magician makes a gesture to make the room quiet again easily, for audience are all fully convinced by him.

“Wake up, ladies!”

With this order, the ladies get up, with joyful expressions on their faces, waking hands to the audience with smile. Their legs become lively again, waving up and down with the metal stocks still on them.

“Allow me to prove they are true.” The magician approaches the mother’s feet and take off the heels. She wiggles her beautiful fine toes which are supposed to be unable to react at all. She also stretches and curls her feet as possibly as she can. All of these make the fact that the feet are real cannot be questioned. Then he approaches to the daughter’s feet and takes off her sandals. She does the same thing as her mother, which proves the same trueness of the feet.

The magician steps back to the middle of the stage and takes a bow there with another round of applaud. While, the curtain or the light does not show the tendency of the end of the show. He still has something to show, so he requires the audience to be silent again.

“What does a double-sawing illusion usually have as its specialty?” the magician asks a question which everyone already knows well, but no one would expect it will happen before a mother and daughter combination of assistants.

The magician signals and two stagehands come up to the stage. He redresses the heels for his wife while the giant buzzsaws return to their former position. Then the stagehands lift the table on which lies the lower part body of her off the railway. They put the table down first and waits for further orders. The magician then redresses the sandals for her daughter and another two stagehands do the same thing.

“Now, switch them!” he orders and the stagehands carries the tables and exchange their positions. What stands behind the mother’s upper part now is the daughter’s lower part, while the mother’s lower part is now behind the daughter’s upper part. The tables are reattached tightly with no gaps between the harnesses.

Then comes the time of freeing the ladies from the restraint. The stagehands unlock the harnesses and the stocks, with the collars left for the magician. The ladies are lifted again by the stagehands, which seems they forget how to use their legs. They are stood by the stagehands too, like the two parts of their bodies would fall apart at any time. But with the hands of man leaving the ladies bodies, the family take a bow together, which shows the wholeness of the ladies’ bodies. Now the mother is wearing a blouse with cut-offs and sandal, the daughter is wearing a T-shirt with a dress and heels. They do not look coordinate, but somehow quiet charming, especially knowing how their dressing are changed into like this.

Again the thunder-like applaud. The audiences surely have enjoyed themselves well tonight. They have watched the buzzsaw and double-sawing at the same time, with the dramatic performance and several twists. Everyone is over-satisfied, while the magician still has something to show.

“I hear someone murmur that what if someone enters 0000?” actually no one still has the leisure to think about this, but his words surely remind the audiences “And I think the dressings do not suit the ladies well, so I will slice them in halves again and change their clothes back, showing you how the show may perform in another way. Get on the tables again, ladies!”

The ladies get on the table themselves this time and only harnesses are restrained on them, since they do not need to escape and are willing to be sawn in halves.

“The mother was sawn first just now, so this time the daughter should come first.” The magician switches the buzzsaws on after the ladies are prepared. The blades are lowering little by little, but a little quicker than the first time. The ladies just randomly wave their legs, waiting to be sawn just like waiting for the subway or something.

“Enter 0000 now, dear.” The magician says to his daughter, which makes the audience puzzled. If the daughter enters the number, the mother will be sawn first. Shouldn’t it be the mother entering it?

However, with the number appearing on the daughter’s screen, the buzzsaw above the daughter blazes sparkles and drops down violently, slicing the daughter in two. This time no scream or sound of cutting into flesh. The daughter’s legs are also still waving up and down, like nothing has happened. Just like a rehearsal, she knows well what will happen.

“See? By entering 0000, in fact it will still be the drop of your own buzzsaw. It will be more ironic than the self-sacrifice. You want to sacrifice others to save yourself, but there is no way someone like this should be saved. And you have seen before, pressing the button will cause the drop of the opposite side’s buzzsaw. You all got it?”

So, there is no way the ladies can escape. Entering 9999, you get yourself sawn first and then pressing the button to saw the other in half. Entering 0000, you still get yourself sawn and leave the other sawn with no one to save and on way to save. The so-called game is just something to heat the atmosphere up. Surely, there is no right number to escape.

When the audiences are figuring out the design of the magician, the buzzsaw above the mother also finishes its task successfully. Now, four parts of bodies are seen again on the stage.

“Gentlemen, let’s exchange them back.” The magician orders the stagehands to carry the tables again and return them to where they should be. The tables are reattached tightly again and the ladies get their own lower part of body. The harnesses are removed and the ladies are lifted and stood by stagehands. They are now wearing the clothes when they first got on the stage. Nothing seems ever happened if the illusion was not witnessed by all the audience.

With another bow, the magician concludes the show before the audiences’ another round of applaud. ”Next time maybe I will perform in the second pattern. If we are lucky enough to have someone of you rejoin us again in another show, do remember not to spoil. Last but not least, do not ever participate in an illusion, unless you are the one to perform it!”

The curtain drops, declaring the end of tonight’s show, with the non-stop enthusiastic stand-up applaud by all audiences.