A Simple Act of Kindness

Based on my older story “Donor” and starring @MagicalFirefly, it was a heartstring tug to begin with, so I hope this one’s as good.

Carlie wasn’t up to much these days.  She wasn’t up to much for the past ten months, not since the car accident. Sure, the one who T-boned her car’s driver’s side was drunk and speeding, and he didn’t survive, but she was left worse off.

All she could remember after the accident was the intense pain, the lights flashing and the feeling of something in her arm that made her so sleepy.  After a few days in the hospital, she had the news given to her. Sure, she may eventually regain use of her body, but, in essence, everything below her neck was paralyzed.

All she could do these days was mope about.  Everything she dreamed of doing for herself was up in smoke, everything was gone. She needed to be at home, with her parents, again because of this.

She knew they loved her and would care about her, but she so hated becoming such a burden to them. Everything they did was for her now, including the incredible pain that she knew very well now.

Some of her friends tried to cheer her up as she learned to move about using only her mouth on a wheelchair, and she put on a brave face, laughing when it was called for, but she hated it.  She hated it all.

Eventually, a few left. She knew why, too.  They hated seeing her like this, broken.  But she knew she’d stay broken.

And then she got a call from her friend Tammy.  Apparently, Tammy had a job as a magician’s assistant and wanted Carlie and her family to come to a special VIP performance.  Sure, Carlie had always been fascinated with magic, ever since she saw a double-sawing performance where two women were both sawn in half and their legs switched around.  It fascinated her.

So, with a lot of hemming and hawing, Carlie allowed her parents to take her to the show.  Tammy greeted them, then introduced them to the magician, an older looking man, about the age of Carlie’s dad.  He asked Tammy, “Did you tell her?”

Tammy smiled and shook her head. “Carlie, you are so going to love this bit.  I promise, you’ll really love it.”

Carlie let Tammy wheel her backstage for a moment while the magician followed. “Now, Carlie, I know you’ve been feeling down lately, but here’s something I want to do for you.”

Carlie pleaded. “Nothing special, please.  No magic tricks to try and make me…”

She stopped as the magician produced a sharp-edged sword and Tammy lifted her hair up.  He brought the sword to Tammy’s neck, cutting through it with a little effort.  All Carlie saw on Tammy’s face was a look of pleasure.  Tammy held her head up, turning it so that Carlie could see it. “Okay, that’s impressive, but….:”

Tammy’s voice still worked. “We’re not done yet.”

The magician brought the sword to Carlie’s neck, and she gasped.  She didn’t know what was going to happen, but she wasn’t sure she was ready as Tammy placed her head in her lap. “Hold on Carlie.”

Carlie took a breath in as the magician sliced cleanly through her neck.  For the first time in a long time, Carlie felt something good. It felt as if her broken body had finally been freed and she could feel things again.

But then the strangest part happened.  Tammy’s body reached up, placing Tammy’s head on Carlie’s neck.  A short gasp and a mutter later, Carlie couldn’t feel anything anymore.  It was as if everything below her neck wasn’t there, like it was just gone.  Tammy’s body slumped to the ground as if it had lost all life. “Okay Carlie, this part is going to be a little tough.”

Carlie could hear the pain in her friend’s voice.  She knew what she was meaning, though, as the magician managed to pick up Carlie’s head and push it onto Tammy’s neck.

A thousand sensations flew through Carlie at the moment, feeling everything at once.  It took her a moment to realize that she had control over Tammy’s body as she laughed, looking at her hand.  She tried to get up but lost her balance almost immediately. As the magician offered to help, Carlie laughed again. “No, I’m okay.  I’m just not used to this.”

Tammy had a pained laugh at that. “Be careful.  I mean, this transfer isn’t permanent, but you should have quite a night borrowing my body.  Just don’t return it bruised.”

Carlie managed to get up, taking a few steps.  It took her about 5 minutes before she got the hang of walking again, noticing that, as she did so, Tammy’s body was a perfect fit for her.  Sure, she had the body of a magician’s assistant, but what would happen here?

Carlie learned about that as the show went on.  She had to laugh every time the magician put her body in some kind of danger.  Sure, it wasn’t Carlie’s body, not permanently, but it was hers right now.

As Carlie let the magician do these things to her, she had to begin to wonder about her own body. The magician cut off her feet, and Carlie smiled, laughing as the magician tickled them and let Carlie handle them herself.  It felt so strange, so bizarre, but it felt so good too.

The magician went on, making Carlie levitate above the stage without any support at all.  As that happened, Carlie couldn’t help herself, she felt like she wanted to swim through the air.

She could feel, and that mattered to her.  There wasn’t any pain, no lingering reminder of what her body went through.  No, she was free.

And she continued to be free as Carlie even felt the magician levitate her down onto a table and announce that he was now going to cut Carlie in half.  Carlie felt so elated, so glad, that that was going to happen to her.  Sure, she had to remind herself it was Tammy’s body that was actually being cut in half, but the magician didn’t make the distinction as he brought out the handsaw and started cutting into her.

After the first initial shock of piercing, Carlie felt such elation, such joy as the magician divided her body into halves.  She’d never thought she’d feel such pleasure again.

The magician pulled her apart, eliciting a squeal of joy from her.  It felt so good being in pieces like this.  And it felt even better when the magician placed Carlie’s halves back together again and she felt them come together.

As she took her bow with the magician, Carlie knew she wanted to do more, but she had to return Tammy’s body to her.  But, before that happened, Carlie threw her arms around Tammy, still gasping in pain. “Thank you!  Thank you so much!”

Tammy laughed. “If I could hug you back, I would.”

The magician produced the sword and Carlie had to sigh. “In a minute, you’ll be able to.”

Carlie lifted up Tammy’s hair so that the magician had a clean cut before letting her own head be chopped off.  A moment later, she placed her head back on her own body, flooded with pain again. But it was so familiar that it didn’t shock her.  As Tammy got her body back, she threw her arms around Carlie, expressing her joy at being able to give that to her. “You gave me much more than that, Tammy.  I’m going to go to therapy and see if I can’t fix this body of mine.  You’ll see. In a few months, I’ll be up there with you, and we can swap parts all we want.”

So, Carlie was true to her word.  Sure, it took a lot of hard work, a lot of it, but she started to regain some use of her body after a while.

And all because of the kindness of a friend.