This is a true story.

Late December 2008...

I was 18 years old and a senior in high school when it happened. I was on my Winter break, and my cousin, Heather and I decided to take our younger sisters to a magic show. It was very cold, and we had gotten several inches of snow the night before. I was wearing a green sweater, blue jeans, a black heavy winter coat, black winter boots, and a black scarf. We sat down in the front row and waited for the show to start.

The magician (whose name I can't recall now) did many of the standard tricks. Card tricks, linking rings etc. He also made his assistant levitate.

As the show came close to the end, a couple of assistants brought out a yellow thin model sawing box. A blonde-headed assistant, wearing a sparkling blue two piece outfit came out and climbed in the box. The magician placed stocks around her neck amd ankles. He then was handed a saw, placed it in the slot in the middle of the box, and started sawing. I was on the edge of my seat during the entire performance.

The magician continued sawing until he reached the bottom of the box. He exchanged the saw for a couple of metal divider blades. The first one went in without a problem, but the second one got stuck part way down. The magician then walked over, placed a hand on each side of her head, and pulled. This caused the blade to drop in place. He then opened the side doors on the box, unlatched the table and pulled her two halves apart. He then walked between the two halves. This caused the audience to applaud.

The magician then walked over to her feet, and gave them a little tickle, which caused her to laugh. He then pushed the two halves of the table back together, latched them together, closed the side doors, pulled out the blades and handed them to an assistant.

The magician opened the lids of the box, offered his assistant a hand, and she stepped out of the box. She then playfully checked herself to make sure she was in one piece. They both took a bow to a round of applause, and the show was over.

"Wasn't that a great show!" I said.

"Yeah... uh... sure." Heather replied.

"Uh... sure, Erin." Our sisters said.

I guess they weren't as impressed as I was, but I just couldn't get over it.

That night I dreamed that I was magician's assistant being sawn in half. It wasn't long before I started looking at magic pictures and videos online, and started attending every magic show I could. This led to my love of other illusions.

It would be 11 years before Heather would find out just how much that night in 2008 affected me.

THE END (or should I say, just the beginning)