“All right, everybody here?” Michael asked aloud.

“Violet’s almost done changing,” Rachel chimed.

“Okay, good, good.”

Michael had called for everyone to assemble in the back lobby of their theater. Haley, Athena, Leia, Rachel, and Suzy were present, huddled together in front of him. Taking a page from Leia, everyone’s hair was tied in either a bun or a short ponytail.

“Ladies, we have about…” Michael says as he looks at his watch, “…eighteen minutes—wait, eighteen!? Holy crap, okay, we need to get everyone ready before we officially open for tonight’s show.” He gestured to the device standing beside him. Two tall steel support beams sandwiched a cross beam mount that could be adjusted up and down the beams. The mount housed a thick steel ring that hinges open, with two knobs on its sides.

“This contraption here will cut through any part of your body while you are standing,” Michael explained. “It’s quick, clean, and painless. For our purposes, you will be placing your neck into the ring here,” he said as he raised the ring to neck level. “Uh… you all have your gags?”

Each assistant brought out a unique gag. Haley brought out a bit gag; Athena, a ring gag; and Leia, a pecker gag. Rachel brought out a cloth for a cleave gag, and Suzy brought out a roll of electrical tape.

“Excellent, now quickly, put on your gags. After you’re all done, Athena, you’ll be up first.”

With urgency, the assistants began putting on their gags, all helping each other to make it tight. It was a weird sight, but this was normal when working with Michael. While all that was going on, Violet came running in, a large burlap sack in hand.

“I’m here! I’m—oh God—here,” Violet managed to say while aggressively catching her breath. She was donning the official theater employee uniform. “Here’s… your sack. I have my gag, too,” she gasped out while holding out a ball gag.

“Well, put it on!” Michael urged, grabbing the sack from her, but then changed his mind. “Wait, no, actually, get in this thing first. I’ll put it on for you.”

“What does this d—”

“Never mind that. Get in!”

“Y-yes, sir!”

Hastily, Violet got herself into the contraption, while Michael secured her gag. “Hold on to me tightly, like a hug,” he instructed. With her neck secured in the ring and her arms around him, he twisted both knobs outward.

“Mmmm!” came from Violet as the sounds of slicing was heard from the device. Violet’s body began to fall down. Michael caught her before she hit the floor.

“There we go. Easy does it,” Michael said as he helped Violet’s body up. Violet regained control and slowly stood up again. He faced her head, still perched on the ring, and said, “You know what to do. Your head stays with me, though.”

A quick hug later, Violet’s body went off to the ticket booth.

Michael brought out the sack he was given earlier and opened it. Inside were similar but smaller sacks. He grabbed one of the small ones, dropping the rest of the sacks on the floor for now, and showed it to Violet. “Your head goes in here,” he said.

Bringing the mount down to waist level for ease of access, Michael picked up Violet’s head and placed the small sack, opened wide, in her stead. He then put her head neck first into the sack and back onto the ring. Afterward, he quickly and carefully pulled up the sack up and over her head, Violet’s eyes watching as burlap darkness consumed her vision, and pulled it close. Lifting the small sack up by the drawstrings, he gave it a little shake. “Mmmmm!” whimpered Violet, as the bottom end of the sack began to stain with blood.

“And into the sack you go,” Michael said as he placed Violet’s head’s sack into the big sack. Soft whimpers continued to be heard inside.

As Michael set the big sack aside for the next assistant, he noticed that Athena, now tightly gagged, had already been decapitated by Leia, now also gagged. The rest of the assistants had similarly been gagged. Athena’s head was perched on the ring, while Leia dragged her lifeless body away and set her down nearby.

“You guys…—no, I’ll praise you all later. Keep going!” exclaimed Michael.

Working as a team, the assistant lined up one by one to be decapitated by Leia, while Michael put their heads in the sacks. Soon, only Leia remained standing, having locked herself into the contraption. Four lifeless headless bodies lay arranged in a row near her. Five sacked and gagged heads were now quietly whimpering in the big sack.

“Okay, Leia, three minutes left before opening, but I first need to fit in another ring,” explained Michael as he produced another ring mount out of thin air. This second ring was the same as the first, but it was noticeably larger than the one currently around Leia. Michael swiftly fitted it onto the beams, opened it, and secured it around Leia’s waist.

“You look great, by the way, but I’ll only need your legs,” Michael commented on Leia’s outfit. Her top doesn’t matter, though she looked great it in, but she wore a knee pleated skirt, a pair of stockings that matched her skin, and a pair of gold sandal heels.

Leia held onto Michael as he turned the knobs of the waist ring. “Mmm” was all she chirped as her knees buckled and her legs and hips fell down onto the floor. He proceeded to turn the knobs of the neck ring, and with a stronger “Mmm!” from Leia, her arms loosened while her torso remained perched on the waist ring.

Moving fast, Michael immediately placed Leia’s head into the last small sack. With a quick shake to stain her head’s sack with blood, he put her head into the big sack and pulled the sack closed. Beside him, Leia’s legs managed to stand up on their own, ready for the show.

“You go on ahead,” said Michael. “I still have a minute to tidy up.” With a quick foot touch on his leg, Leia’s legs proceeded to the backstage area.

“Okay, home stretch,” sighed Michael. Brandishing a huge white cloth out of nowhere, Michael covered up the four headless bodies lying on the floor. With a pull, they all disappeared. Draping the same cloth over the contraption, with Leia’s lifeless torso still within it, he pulled it away once again, and the contraption and its contents vanished, along with the cloth itself.

Walking briskly, Michael unlocked the main lobby and theater proper doors. Next, he entered the ticket booth at the front of the theater. Already inside was Violet’s headless body, her hands tapping away on the counter waiting to attend to the somewhat long line already outside. Giving her two quick squeezes on the shoulder, Violet rolled up the metal curtain at the front of the booth and flipped the small sign from ‘Closed’ to ‘Open’.

With the theater now open for tonight’s show, Michael calmly went back to where he left the big sack full of gagged severed heads. As he lifted the sack upright, he noticed that the big sack also got stained with blood on the side that touched the floor. He then began to drag the sack across the floor to backstage, but realized that six severed heads were rather heavy.

Realizing that it would probably be better for his assistants, Michael lifted the sack onto his shoulder with a thud that made all the heads whimper in unison. Quickly, before he lost his strength and balance, he shuffled to backstage.