Delightfully Demented

Based on an honorific I give, this Halloween story stars @MagicalFirefly

Carlie looked at the instructions again, still not sure why.  I mean, sure, she’d seen the Delightfully Demented exhibit before.  Put on the second week in October every year, the artist displayed some of the most bizarre art pieces ever.  He only did it for 2 hours a day for just a week, then everything disappeared.

Carlie had gone two years ago.  It seemed so weird, going around the small building, walking around what looked like the severed hips and legs of women that were also walking around.  There was a display that had a woman’s torso, no head, no arms, just her torso that seemed to be breathing and that you could touch. Carlie swore it felt like real skin, and it even twitched a little.

The weirdest part was the feet.  Along the back wall, perched up, were about half a dozen feet, all of them odd and not all belonging together.  Several kids liked to play at tickling them and watching them react while a couple of severed heads beneath started laughing.  Some grown men used feathers on the feet, but Carlie wasn’t sure she wanted to know about that.

Arms seemed to point the way to places, just arms, no attachment at all.

Carlie shook her head back to reality as she approached.  She’d asked, 2 years ago, if she could be a part of the show.  When she had to give her age then, the man in charge said that she had to be at least 19 to participate.

Carlie was 19 now, so she finally had the chance to learn.

There was a line of about 10 other girls there, but the man in charge didn’t ask any questions.  He simply had them raise their arms and turn around once.  3 he dismissed right away, but the others he said he could probably use in one form or another.

But, when he saw Carlie, he had to walk around her a couple more times. “Yes, I think you’ll do fine as the greeter/hostess.”

Carlie hadn’t seen a greeter here before. “Greeter?”

The man nodded. “Yes. Now go on back with the others and talk to Angela.  She’ll fill you in.”

Carlie thought it was the strangest interview she’d ever been in but followed the signs to the back area.  Once she got in, she thought she must be in the wrong place.  Nearly all the women there were in their bras and panties, some of them getting painted on.  The one in charge seemed to see her. “Okay sweetie, who are you?”

Carlie introduced herself with a stammer. “Are you Angela?”

The woman nodded curtly. “And what did he say you should be?”

Carlie shrugged. “He said I’d be the greeter.”

Angela smiled at her. “Good. That’s a new position, now I’d suggest getting your clothes off.  We’ll get you a costume as soon as you’re ready.”

Carlie looked around again, not sure about something. “Wait, what’s going on here?”

Angela laughed shortly. “Didn’t he tell you?  We’re getting ready to set up for Delightfully Demented.”

Carlie looked again. “But where are the props, the figures?”

Angela looked straight into Carlie’s eyes. “You’ve been here before?”

Carlie nodded, so Angela went on. “You ever see that armless, headless torso?”

Carlie said she had, and Angela smiled. “That was me.  And it wasn’t some cast, if that’s what you’re thinking.  I’m really on display like that, every year, for 7 days.”

Carlie shook her head. “Wait.  So, where’s the rest of you then?”

Angela shrugged. “Sometimes I’m walking around.  I mean, it gets annoying when people keep bumping into me and tripping me.”

That didn’t make any sense. “Are you trying to tell me….?”

Angela smiled; glad she’d caught on. “Take off your shoes dear.  I need to see your feet.”

Carlie did, not sure why, as she took off the rest of her clothes.  Normally, being clad in only her bra and panties would unnerve her with others around, but she felt at ease for some reason. “What about my feet?”

Angela smiled again. “We started with only 3 of us in pieces like this, but, over the years, he wanted to add more.  I think, this year, he’s going to have one of the girls just be an abdomen that people can feel and realize she’s still breathing.  Don’t know what he’ll do for the rest of her.  But I’m sure you’ve seen that, in the back, there’s a rack of feet. Well, where do you think they came from?”

Carlie started to shake her head.  Pieces? What did she get herself into here? I mean, what Angela was describing was something like magic.

She was about to walk away when someone else came into the room.  Angela barely looked up. “Hello Harley.”

The girl had blonde hair and long tails, looking just like the character of Harley Quinn. “You know her?”

Angela nodded. “Yeah, she’s been a regular for years.  She likes to have her head cut off.”

Almost on cue, the man in charge came in, sword in hand.  Harley laughed, raising her chin to him.  He used the sword and cleanly severed her neck, catching her head as it fell. Harley’s laughter reached Carlie. “So….”

Angela nodded, then sighed. “I guess it’s time to start.  I think I’ll suggest your right foot as well.”

Carlie still wasn’t sure. “Does it hurt?”

Angela shrugged. “Maybe the first few times, but only for a moment.  Don’t worry.”

Carlie was about to ask what she should do when she saw some of the other girls laying down.  The man walked over to each one, asking what position they’d like to have, before slicing into their bodies.  There were a few gasps, but then some sounds of really good things.

Carlie looked around, many girls in many other parts, as the man walked up to her. “Oh yes, the greeter. Has Angela explained it to you Carlie?”

Angela shook her head, so the man smiled at her. “Your top half will simply be on a table, out front, welcoming people to the exhibit.”

Carlie tried to ask a question before Angela mentioned her right foot. “Oh, good idea.  That’ll mean that, from time to time, you’ll have to laugh because kids, and some adults, will have to tickle your foot.”

Carlie looked around again, taking in the fact that she was surrounded by parts of several girls, but that each one still seemed to be having a good time. “So, you need me to…what…lay down?”

The man nodded as Angela laughed. “It’s easy to catch a falling head.  A falling upper half, not so much.”

As Carlie laid down, she wondered if she was out of her mind.  She hoped she was only dreaming all this as she waited.

The man touched the sword to her waist, and she could actually feel the sharpness.  If it was a dream, it was a very real one.  As he drew the sword towards himself, Carlie felt fire erupt from the cut.  She gasped, almost screaming, before she felt the sword go into her deeper.  That second slice wasn’t as bad.  Angela was right as the third slice came and went. The pain went away fast, but Carlie felt something else blooming in its place.

Pleasure.  She could feel intense pleasure as she was being sliced in half.  The deeper the sword went into her, the more intense it got.  She was almost moaning as the sword went through her backbone, almost shouting for more as it completed cutting her in half.  She smiled at the man and Angela. “Whoa.  You weren’t kidding.”

Angela shrugged, then disappeared before the man asked Carlie to raise her right leg.  Surprised that she could still feel her legs, she had to know. “Can I be one of those legs that just walks around?”

The man shook his head. ‘Since this is your first time being in half, I think we’d better wait until you can navigate without an upper body.”

Carlie didn’t know if she liked that, but she did as instructed, and raised her leg.  In one swift stroke, her foot was off.  She asked to see it, amazed that she could still feel her toes and put her fingers between them before Angela reappeared with what looked like an old-time bodice.  She helped Carlie back up onto the cut end, Carlie still amazed at what she could feel, and helped her into it.

Angela carried Carlie’s upper half out front under a sheet.  When asked, Carlie found out it was because nobody was to know the real secret of the display, nobody.  Angela told her she and the other two first-timers would set up the rest of the girls’ parts before they were sliced up and set up by the man.

So, Carlie was revealed as the show opened, smiling at everyone, and inviting them in.  There were more than a few who looked at her, amazed at such a lifelike greeter that was clearly just a prop.  Carlie even had a few kids who climbed under the table her top half was on.

Every few minutes, though, she had to try and stifle her laughter.  She could honestly feel it every time someone tickled her severed foot that she was sure was on display next to the others.  Finally, as the 2 hours were up, she gave in and couldn’t stop laughing.

After, she was encouraged that they’d never misplaced a part as her body was reassembled back into one piece.

She couldn’t wait for the next night.  Or, for that matter, the next year.