For a while now, I've loved magic. I've always secretly wondered what it would be like to be cut in half, or have my head chopped off, or have some other dangerous thing happen to me, but the closer I get to 30, the more I knew that my chance of becoming a magician's assistant was rapidly slipping away.

But still, even with my busy schedule of working a full time job and going back to school, I always tried my best to attend a magic show whenever I had the chance. I finally had a free night so I decided to attend a show. I wore a green crop top and Dasiy Duke shorts and had my red hair pulled back in a ponytail. I sat on the front row.

It was a typical show with all the standard tricks. Finally, the magician announced that he would need a volunteer from the audience. He scanned the audience, and finally pointed to me.

"Young lady, would you mind coming up here to help me?"

I pointed to myself and said, "Me?"

"Yes, you." He replied.

I nervously walked up on to the stage as the audience applauded.

"What is your name?" Asked the magician.  "Erin." I replied

As this was going on, a couple of assistants wheeled out a large yellow rectangular box. I instantly recognized it as the sawing in half illusion.

"Erin, would you please remove your sandals and climb into the box."

I removed my sandals as he asked and the magician offered me his hand to help me into the box. The magician instructed me to lay down, which I did.  I noticied that unlike a lot of sawing boxes, this one was designed to divide the assistant at the waist. The magician placed a stock around my ankles. The next stock was in two pieces, and also had holes for my wrists, as well as my neck. He placed the the first part around my neck. I placed my wrists in the bottom part of the holes, and the magician placed the top part of the stock around my wrists, locking them in place. My head, hands, and feet were all sticking out of the box and visible to the audience. The magician then closed the lids and latched them closed. I tried to pull my feet in, but found I could not. I started to panic a little and thought about asking the magician to let me out, but I couldn't find it in my heart to do it. I couldn't bring myself to embarrass him like that. I just hoped he knew what he was doing.

The magician was handed a large handsaw, placed it in the groove in the box and started to saw. I tried to remain calm, but couldn't help but yelp as the saw's teeth started tearing into my bare flesh just below my navel, but the deeper the saw went into me the less that it hurt. The saw continued to go deeper and deeper, and then suddenly I felt one of the most indescribably intense feelings I've ever felt as the saw severed my spine, and exited my back. The magician handed the saw back to the assistant and he was handed two solid steel blades, and slamed one of them into the groove in the box. I gasped as the cold steel went in between my two halves. He then placed an another one in, but it got stuck. The magician then walked over and gave my head a tug, and the blade went in the rest of the way. The magician then undid the latches holding the table together and pulled my halves apart.

The audience applauded.

The magician then opened a couple of doors on the sides of the boxes so that the audience could see my body inside. The magician then gave my feet a little tickle to show that they were really mine. My feet are very ticklish so that caused me to laugh.

I couldn't believe it. He had really sawn me in half!

"Well that ends our show." The magician told the audience. "I'm going to leave our young assistant like this for a little while ao that you can come up on stage and see for yourselves that she has really been sawn in half."

One by one, the members of the audience walked passed my divided body, looking inside the open doors of the box, while a security guard stood by to make sure nobody tried any funny business. Some even touched my feet to make sure that they were real, and each time it tickled. They could see that my two halves ended at the blades and that my body wasn't scrunched up inside the top half of the box. I think each one of them walked away assured that I had really been sawn in half.

After the audience cleared the room, the magician walked back in carrying a stool, and dismissed the security guard.

"How do you feel, Erin?" He asked me.

"Well, for somebody who's just been sawn in half, I feel pretty good." I replied. "Even though it hurt at the beginning, the end result was worth it. In fact, I think I like being in two."

"That's good to hear, because I plan on keeping you in two a little bit longer." He said as he walked toward my lower half.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Oh, you'll see." He replied.

Just then the magician set the stool down, sat down in front of my feet, and started tickling them. As I started to laugh uncontrollably, I knew this was going to be a very long night.

THE END