Torrini’s Blade

Okay, first, a bit of explanation. When Selbit and Goldin came out with the illusions that would define their careers and impact magic forever, Jean-Claude Robert-Houdin wrote that he had seen a sawing in half performed before either guy, by a magician named Torrini. There’s no record of this guy, so it’s kind of up in the air if he was real or not.

But this is based loosely on the faves “Zombie Magician in Color” and “Break in the Storm.”

Carlie looked out the window again, watching, hoping they’d come soon. She’d only heard about the place a day ago and made the call. She reached over, scratching her leg, again wondering about the fact that it was not attached to her torso in any way.

She knew it was all supposed to be a stupid game they played two weeks ago on the beach. She and the other girls, brought in by Jess, her best friend, never meant for it to really happen. Not even close.

It had all started when Jess turned up a record of a man named Torrini in Germany. Supposedly, this man actually created the illusion of sawing a woman in half, but his name had been lost to time. Perhaps, they thought, Goldin, the one who actually came up with the box and the dividers and the saw and such, derived his version from the Torrini trick.

Jess had the brilliant idea to bring a bunch of girls to the beach to try and do a séance to contact Torrini and see what was the truth. So they went, all the girls having fun all day, before night fell and the temper of the day changed.

Jess went all out on this. She’d learned a bit of how to do a proper séance, but admitted she didn’t know exactly what to expect. It all seemed surreal to Carlie as she and the others, still in their bikinis, all sat around the table, in a circle, touching hands. Jess stood for the medium, even though it was her first time. “We are here, together, in an attempt to contact Mr. Torrini. We invite you into our circle, invite you to partake of our energy in an attempt to manifest.”

With that, nothing happened. Jess went on, invocating more of their desire to communicate with Torrini, wanting to know how his trick was done and how it differed from the way it was done now. When nothing more happened, Jess seemed to get frustrated. “If you need, one of us will sacrifice our flesh to see how your trick differs, if there are any willing to do this.”

Carlie had been a fan of magic ever since she saw a double sawing in half when she was younger. She’d often fantasized about being in that position herself, but, as she waited to hear from the other girls for precisely one second, she piped up. “I will.”

At that, a horrible stench filled the room as someone pounded on the door. All the girls screamed, not knowing what else to do, as the door burst open.

They’d expected a spectre or apparition, but what shambled in, rotting flesh hanging from loose fitting clothes, was no apparition. He held a saw as he moved forward, raising a hand to Carlie.

She never did know how she was under his control, but she couldn’t move, couldn’t run. All she could do was scream as she was forced to lay down. Jess had to ask. “Torrini?”

The creature looked at her in acknowledgement as it moved to Carlie’s side. “Jess? Stop this!”

Jess tried to close the session, but it was too late. Torrini had been reanimated, and, with Carlie in his hypnotic power, she was helpless.

He stood next to her, brutally laying the saw’s cutting edge at her side, before starting to saw.

All Carlie could feel was terror. What was going to happen as he started cutting into her body, slicing into her waist. She continued to scream, the idea of this undead corpse doing this unthinkable thing to her as he kept sawing.

It was only a bit later when she realized there wasn’t any pain, and she couldn’t feel any blood coming from her. She looked at Jess, watching from the side in utter amazement, as the creature kept sawing.

Carlie knew, as he kept going, that it wasn’t the fact that he was cutting her in half that was frightening her, not anymore. The scary part was the undead corpse doing it.

As he continued to saw through her, Carlie tried to steady her breathing. It didn’t hurt, and she knew she would’ve bled to death by now if it wasn’t working. Was this Torrini’s secret? Did he do real magic?

He finished cutting through her and, a moment after the blade passed out the other side of her body, there was a puff. The ghoul disappeared.

Carlie lay there, knowing she was in two. The other girls slowly came over, looking at her as she continued to breathe. “I’m okay.”

Meghan, one of the other girls, scoffed. “You are not okay. I can see it, clear, that your body is in two pieces. How are you even alive?”

Smiling, Carlie lifted her upper half up on her elbows, separating her body. “I don’t know. Maybe Torrini did real magic when he was alive. It’s...strange...but a little pleasant as well.”

For a few minutes, Carlie experimented with being in two parts. She had full use of her legs, something that was quickly obvious, even though they weren’t attached. But, after a while, she decided it was time she get herself back together.

At first, she tried just placing her top half on her bottom half. That didn’t go. She could still feel that she was in two. One of the other girls suggested laying down and pushing her halves together, which they tried next. Again, it didn’t go. Jess thought it might need to have some metal plates in between her halves, but, again, that didn’t work.

It took some doing, but they managed to get Carlie back home. For nearly two weeks, she kept looking at all the references she could. She found a site that said that, when real magic was done, it was up to the initial magician to undo it. This meant she’d need Torrini’s undead form to reappear but she wasn’t sure she wanted that.

She found a message board for people who’d experienced real magic, those who’d had their heads sliced off, who’d been transmogrified, even those that weren’t really there anymore. She found someone who, like her, had been sawn in half and left that way and how this girl found help with this institution that tried to help out.

But, as Carlie waited for the transportation there, she had to look at her detached lower half. Sure, being sawn was the scariest thing she’d ever faced, but it wasn’t all bad.

If they could help her become one piece again, she’d do it, but, if not, she knew she could handle being stuck in two.