One Hundred Feet of Wire

The Magician stepped aside and raised a hand, directing the audience's attention to the assistant walking onto the stage. "I'm sure you all recognize Hitomi, ladies and gentlemen."

The Japanese woman smiled and waved. She was dressed in a short, red silk robe.

"I will need two volunteers to assist- ones who can follow directions?" The Magician smiled. "Ah, you two gentlemen, please come on stage." He helped them up, asking their names as he did so. "Let's have a hand for John and Robert, ladies and gentlemen!"

The Magician handed John a bundle of coiled wire. "Please inspect this wire carefully- it's very strong, flexible steel, and rather thin- just 1/16th of an inch. I trust you'll find no breaks? Don't uncoil it yet- we'll get to that, and you'll be inspecting it more as we do."

Another assistant wheeled out a small, clear box. The Magician motioned to the other volunteer. "Robert, you may inspect this box. It's plexiglass, so I trust you'll see there's nothing concealed inside. Make sure the hole in the lid is the only one you see."

"All right," the Magician said as they both finished. "Would the two of you please each take one end of the wire- careful, it's sharp- and find the center? Go ahead and recoil the ends as you do so, it will make things easier later." He turned to the audience, "And while my volunteers are unwinding, the rest of you may inspect Hitomi." With that, the assistant untied and shrugged off her robe, letting it pool at her feet. She was completely naked beneath. She smiled slyly at the audience, and slowly turned, to appreciative clapping and cheering.

The Magician turned, and saw his two volunteers staring at Hitomi. "Well, gentlemen, since you've found the center, you can hand it to Hitomi... You're both shaking your heads. Okay, you haven't found the center. Please, hurry up, and don't keep Hitomi waiting." The men eventually found the center of the wire, without too much fumbling, and John uncoiled some wire to hand the middle to the assistant.

"Thank you," she said, and held it to her body, a bit below her belly button.

"John and Robert, could you please pass those coils between her legs? And try not to take too long, I know it's difficult," the Magician quipped and the audience laughed. "All right, now reach around her hips and pass your ends through the loop of wire at the front... Excellent, pull it tight, and step to the side, and don't let go."

Now the center loop of wire was above Hitomi's pubic bone, and the ends trailed back between her legs, riding up her buttocks to wrap around to the front. The wire pressed into her skin. "Yes, Hitomi is now wearing just about the most uncomfortable, and least concealing, thong ever conceived." There were chuckles and a few whistles from the audience. "Gentlemen, let's turn it into more of a corset, shall we?" Hitomi lifted her arms, as the Magician directed the two volunteers to wrap the wire around her torso, forming a tight diamond pattern, pressing into her skin, to just up under her breasts. She smiled as the men crossed the wire between them and wrapped it around her armpits, then across her back, followed by a single loop around each breast, making them stand proud, and a second weave of the wire down her body to her hips.

Hitomi held her hands over her breasts and spread her legs, letting the men wrap the wire down her thighs and calves. She let the magician help her sit on the stage, bending her legs until her knees touched her breasts and her heels touched her butt. The wire pulled tightly as she did so, pressing into her skin and binding her securely. John and Robert kept wrapping the wire, tying her legs together, as she put her arms behind her back. When her legs were secure, they continued- tightly wrapping her arms against her body, then winding the wire through her fingers until she was completely unable to move.

"All right, we're nearly ready," smiled the Magician. He picked Hitomi up and placed her inside the clear box- predictably, a tight fit. "And now, John, Robert, the last few loops, as I direct you to." They wrapped the wire around her neck, where it met her shoulders, crossing at the nape of her neck, then up and around under her chin, then again, crossing the front at her mouth with the wire slipping between her lips. Hitomi shut her eyes tightly as the last loop of wire wrapped across them, a pained expression crossing her features. The two volunteers passed the ends of their wire through the small hole in the lid, and Hitomi bent her head down as the lid was placed on top of the box and locked down, sealing her inside, in the wickedly tight wire binding.

The Magician handed them each a small spool to wrap the very ends of the wire around, then hand them stand on either side of the box. Inside, Hitomi sat, trying not to struggle, as the tightly wrapped wire bit deep into her flesh. The Magician threw a cloth over the box, and looked at the two men. "John, Robert, on the count of three, please go ahead and pull tightly on the wire. One, two... three."

The two men pulled, and each took a step back. "Go ahead, keep pulling," the Magician encouraged them, and they did, getting farther and farther away from each other as they pulled more and more of the thin, strong wire out of the hole. Sounds of distress started growing louder from under the cloth cover. "Ladies and gentlemen, I'm sure you're curious what must be going on inside the box, what must be happening to poor Hitomi, as the wire coils tighter and tighter around her supple flesh. Forget not being able to breathe- by this point, these men are fifty feet apart, and the wire must be cutting deeply through her body."

"Keep pulling, gentlemen," the Magician continued, and they did so, as the muffled noises within the box continued. "I assure you, it's all right. You're so far away, the wire will have sliced poor Hitomi into tiny pieces... unless, of course, she has managed to vanish from within this sealed box!" There was a hum as the last of the steel wire popped out of the hole in the box and pulled straight, throwing the cloth cover into the air. The Magician caught it, and looked down at the clear box.

"Why thank you, John and Robert- I believe you've just helped me break my previous record for the number of pieces I've sliced an assistant into." The audience was silent. The young lady was still inside the box, though not quite as they'd last seen her. Instead of Hitomi's lithe, small frame, the box contained dozens and dozens of tiny sections of the woman, sliced like discs of salami, cubed like chunks of ham. The Magician unlocked the lid, opened it, and pulled out a piece. "I think this is part of a thigh- but it could be a calf. This could be complicated..."

"No, it won't," a voice called from the audience. "I'm here!" The spotlight shone into the front row, and Hitomi stood up and waved. She was dressed in the silk robe she had been wearing when she'd first stepped on stage. She hopped up onto stage again, the robe flipping up so she flashed the audience as she did so.

She took the Magician's hand, and they both motioned to the two volunteers, and the audience applauded. Robert and John returned to the audience, and the Magician and Hitomi took their bow.

"Tell me, Hitomi- when exactly did you escape your predicament?" the Magician asked her, as he fished a piece of flesh from the box.

"Oh, almost as soon as you covered me with the cloth. I'd be insane to let myself be cut to ribbons with that wire." Hitomi pulled another piece from the box, and reached for a third. "I mean, this poor girl I switched with certainly made it sound incredibly painful."

She paused, regarding the pieces, too numerous and messy to reassemble. She handed the Magician the pieces she'd picked up. "Here. I think we might have enough to find out who it was."

The Magician took them, and carefully stacked them with the one he was holding- three parts of a head, with brown hair. He looked at the face. "Well, that solves one problem, though it does create another." He turned it around, and showed the audience. "Ladies and gentlemen, let's have a round of applauds for Hitomi's surprise stunt double, Lisa!"

He set her head down inside the clear box, where it slid into pieces again. "Don't worry, Lisa- things might look bad, but at least you're no longer missing!"