It was a beautiful day on the beach, and Cassie and I had left our stuff behind to walk along the boardwalk in our sandals and swimsuits- I had a longer t-shirt on as a cover over my one-piece. Cass, showing off her ample assets, just had on her black bikini and a wrap around her hips. Her dark, chin-length hair blew in the breeze. With my lighter complexion, I'd elected to put on a sun hat. I held it down with one hand to keep it from blowing off of my blonde hair. We walked past the shops, glancing at the things to buy and see, and watching the people watch us.

"Hey, you two!" a voice called out as we passed a nondescript door. I was about to keep walking, but Cass touched my arm, so I turned. From the half-opened door, a man in a garishly colorful suit was waving us over. "I believe I have the most interesting proposition you'll hear all day."

I shrugged, "I get a lot of propositions, all from people saying they're interesting." The man had a pot belly under his suit- black slacks, a red jacket with yellow stars. He reminded me of a ringmaster at a circus. I was never fond of circuses... too many clowns.

Cass smiled. "Come on, Amy, let's hear him out."

The man smiled. "That's all I ask. How would one of you like to be in a sideshow?"

Cass looked interested. I wasn't so sure.

"I'm only asking because I have a small problem. I'm missing the girl who was supposed to show up. If one of you would like to take her place, that would make me very happy." He looked at Cassie, since I'm sure he saw I was apprehensive. "Your friend would get to see the show for free."

My brunette companion turned to me. "Come on, it'll be fun! When will we get this chance again?"
"Cassie, are you sure?" I wasn't.
"You know I like to be up on stage. Besides, I need you to take the pictures of me." She grabbed me and stepped forwards, as the man opened the door.

He handed Cassie a clipboard. "I assume you're my volunteer? Just sign here, Cass, and I'll lead your friend to her seat. It won't take a minute." The man took me by the arm and lead me through the dark passage to a dimly lit room, with rows of chairs, many already full. There was a curtained stage at the front. He sat me down near it.

"I'll just finish helping your friend with her costume, and we'll start." He hustled off to the back again.

I waited, impatiently, but it wasn't long before the lights dimmed even further and the curtain rose on the stage. I got my smart phone ready.

"Ladies and gentlemen, today you are about to witness a mystery right before your eyes!" The man in the colorful suit stepped into the spotlight, and motioned to his left. The spotlight swept over, and shone on a metal sarcophagus, standing on its stylized feet on the stage. The man opened it up. It looked very plain inside, just metal with no decorations.

He turned, saw me, and hopped down to yank me up onto the stage. "Hello miss- Amy!" he said, remembering my name from before the show. He pulled me up so hard I almost dropped my phone. I stuck it back in my purse, as he informed me, "I need you to examine this sarcophagus very carefully. Tell me what you see, and if anything looks odd."

Skeptical, I looked at the coffin closely. "It's metal..." I rapped it. "Solid, smooth..." I bent over to examine the base, and heard a few whistles from the audience. I wished my bathing suit had more coverage on the bottom, and adjusted my position, so I was bending my knees instead of bending over. "Very solid. It's two pieces, just the base and the cover. Well, there are some metal loops near the sides in the back, but they're part of the metal itself."

The man smiled. "Excellent, Amy, thank you!" He led me to the side of the stage. "Why don't you just stand here for now, while I introduce our volunteer, Cassandra, who has graciously agreed to be mummified!"

There were cheers and cat calls as Cassie stepped out onto the stage. My jaw dropped. She'd traded her bikini for a sparsely wrapped, long bandage, that, while it managed to cover her nipples and her pubic hair, left almost nothing else to the imagination. She spotted me and waved, smiling, as she walked over to the sarcophagus I'd just examined.

"Now Cass, if you could step inside?" The man helped her in. The back was very shallow, and wasn't even deep enough for her to fit- she pressed her self backwards, and the edge came even with her belly, leaving her breasts sticking out. She crossed her arms over her chest, and winked at me.

"One last preparation- we wouldn't want our victim falling out, I'm sure." The man in the colorful coat took another bandage, tied it to one of the rings in the back, and looped it across her shins body, passing it through another loop, then another, working his way up. It crossed her thighs, her chest over her arms, and ended passing over her eyes like a blindfold. He pulled it tight and knotted it securely. "Snug in there, Cassandra?"

"Yes!" she smiled.

"Excellent. Now for the real show to begin!" The man swung the lid shut. It barely closed. He pushed it and flipped a latch. "I'm afraid it's a very tight squeeze in there, for Cass, but I don't think it will be for long." He pulled the sheet off the other prop on the stage, revealing a very large jar. On the top was a hand pump, like I'd use to inflate a bicycle tire. Attached was a clear hose; the other end led to a long, thin needle.

The man picked the needle up, and inserted it through the tiny gap between the lid and the back of the sarcophagus, just about where Cassie's belly would be. I sort of assumed she'd slip out the back or bottom somehow, but having seen the sarcophagus up close, I knew that couldn't be the case. Maybe the needle was fake?

The man began pumping, and soon, a clear yellow fluid appeared in the tube, and flowed into the jar, splashing against the glass.

"This mimics the drying effects of the desert, applying hundreds of years of dessication in mere moments," he said, between pumps. The fluid turned red, then back to yellow, several times, and mixed together in the jar.

Once it was nearly full, he stopped, and removed the needle from the side of the metal coffin. "Amy, could you open the sarcophagus, please, and show the audience our mummified lady?"

I stepped over to the coffin holding my friend, not quite sure what to expect. Normally I knew it'd be a cheap papier-mâché prop, but there hadn't been room to fit anything inside that container but Cassie. The latch was a little stiff, but I eventually got it undone. I pulled the lid open, stepping to one side to open it without showing my back to the audience. The crowd gasped and applauded. I took a step and leaned forward to look at what they saw inside.

Where Cass had been minutes ago was what looked like a mummy-  a real one. The dried skin pulled tight to the bones. I blinked, startled. It filled the whole of the interior- there was no false panel Cass could be hiding behind. The bandages were the same they had been on my friend. Chin-length black hair ringed the hollow cheeks. The mouth hung open. I looked at the shriveled tongue. It was pierced, like Cassie's, the silver stud shining in contrast to the dry leathery flesh. I looked down, saw the heart tattoo on one hip, visible through the bandage.

This wasn't just some fake mummy- was this really was my friend, Cassandra? "Cassie?" I whispered. "Are you there?" I wasn't expecting an answer, but was still surprised not to get one. My mind started reeling as I looked for traps, panels, any possibility. I tried to keep myself calm. I barely noticed as the man invited the audience to file across the stage and examine the mummy. Yes- he would reveal the trick soon enough, Cassie would be in on this, planned it all weeks ago as one of her awful pranks.

I soon realized everyone had filed out of the place except me and the garishly dressed man, who was checking the bag of cash he'd collected from the few people who'd looked at the dessicated thing in the coffin. He zipped the bag shut, clicked the lock, and looked up at me. "You're still here," he said, accusingly.

"Um, yes. I was wondering where Cass was." I looked back to the occupant of the sarcophagus.

The man smiled. "It's quite a good trick, isn't it?"

"Where'd she go?" I said, looking back at the dried body. So he said it was a trick after all; I started feeling a bit relieved. The mummy looked so realistic I was starting to doubt my skepticism.

"Oh, Cassandra? You're looking at her."

My heart dropped. "Impossible. Where's the trap door? How'd you do it?"

He tapped the jar of fluid with a finger. "Magic, my dear Amy. I assure you, that's your friend Cassandra." He stepped up and ran his hand across the skin of her belly, paused, and poked the tattoo. "Hmm, might need a cut and stitch job here."

"But... can you bring her back? I mean, aren't you going to bring her back? I, uh, we had plans for dinner-"

He sighed. "You did? Then why... Oh! Oh dear. Well, I'm afraid I have no sympathy for people who don't read what they're signing. Your Cassie must have thought she was signing a liability release, not a contract."

"What?! But, please, you've got to bring her back!" Why was I acting like this was real? It wasn't even possible! I turned, yelling, "Cass, joke's over! You can come out!" With no immediate answer, I turned back to the man, grabbing his arm with both my hands. "Please, can you bring her back?"

He pulled his arm free from my grasp, shaking it and holding it away. "Now, now, dear. I could, but it's much easier to transport the props this way." He stepped over and shut the sarcophagus door on my friend, and quickly snapped a lock on the latch. "There we go, safe and secure in there until the next show." He pulled at one of the curtains.

"But-" I started. The curtain fell. Behind it was a wooden post board. I saw the words, Amazing! - Living Mummy! before he stepped over, firmly grasped my shoulder with one hand, and turned me around.

"I guess I'll have to show you out myself," he said, pushing with his other hand on the small of my back, making me step forward. "I've already lost enough time and money," he grumbled half to himself as he kept pushing me down the corridor. Lower, quieter, he muttered to himself, "Really, can't make any money putting the blow off there- nobody wants to see the corpse." He ungracefully thrust me through the door, the bright sun, blinding, the wind hot, like the desert.

I suddenly knew how the whole act went- the sarcophagus wasn't supposed to have been empty in the first place. In my mind, I saw the mummy on display at the entrance. Once the audience gathered, it was taken to the stage, stuck with the needle, pumped full of fluid, revitalized, and revealed- a living, breathing woman, wrapped in strategically placed bandages.

Of course the audience assumed it was a trick. How could it not be? I imagined the men in the audience, paying to step up and file past, to get a good (but not too long) look at the show, the living mummy, sexy and squirming under the wraps, moaning in pleasure at being 'alive' again.

I imagined Cassie's body under those wraps, her eyes covered, trying to look out through the gauze, the smell and sound of all those warm bodies moving past. I imagined myself in there when, suddenly, the tomb was slammed shut again, and the sharp pain of the needle pierced my side, started sucking everything from me, till all was thin and quiet and gone. And it repeated again, and again, and again-

I snapped back from the vision at his words, barked almost as an afterthought. "Oh, if you happen to meet an Egyptian girl named Rana, tell that expendable little shit I found her replacement- if you can still find someone who speaks her dialect, that is." He slammed the door shut.

My God- how long had this twisted man been doing this? Oh shit- "Cassie!"

I lunged at the door. It was locked. I threw my shoulder into it, hard, until the rotten old frame split and the door flew open, spilling me to the ground. I got up and dashed down the corridor into the empty room beyond: no stage, no seats, nothing but sand and some peanut shells on the ground. In the air, only the muffled sounds of the boardwalk. In my ears, only the echo of my own voice, words gasped between sobs.

"Oh, Cass... Cassie..."