The Shill
By Czolgolz
[email protected]

"It's all a scam," my friend Jennifer whispered to me. "You can't be hypnotized to do something against your will. That girl's a shill."

We were sitting in the audience of a Las Vegas showroom, watching a hypnotist in action. The hypnotist, a man named Marc Cools, had just selected a young woman from the audience as her first volunteer.

"That girl's too pretty just to be an audience member," Jennifer continued to complain.

"She obviously works for him." It was hard to argue with Jennifer. The woman on the stage couldn't have been a day over 19, with long, auburn hair and the face of a model. After putting her under, Cools directed her to do quite a few embarrassing things, such as pretend to be having incredible sex and tell some embarrassing secrets. The whole thing smelled of a setup.

Cools, the blonde-haired, crazy eyed, X-rated hypnotist, eventually tired of her performance. He snapped his fingers, causing the woman to fall into a deep trance.

Cools addressed the audience. "The interesting thing about hypnotism is that the brain can now convince the body to do things that, by normal standards, are impossible. Observe."

Cool's assistant, an attractive platinum blonde, wheeled something into the stage. It was an old wringer washer, the kind where clothes were wrung dry between to rollers.

The hypnotist addressed the young lady. "When I snap my fingers, you will become a pair of pants. A pair of wet pants. You will crawl into the basin of the washer so that you may be wrung dry."

This inspired some hooting from audience members who expected the volunteer to end up wet or naked. Instead, Cools snapped his fingers. The woman obediently climbed into the washer tub, laid back and pressed her feet against the rollers.

With great relish, Cools removed her shoes. Then he turned the device so the wringer part was facing the audience. With a devilish grin, he cranked the wringer.

It wasn't long before we could see the woman's feet jut out between the rollers, flat as a paper doll's.

"It's done with mirrors," whispered Jennifer. I shushed her.

Cools cranked until we could see his assistant's knees. He then squeezed one of the paper legs between his fingers. "Can you feel this?"

"Yes," came the trance-like reply.

"Can you kick your legs?"

There was a pause. "No."

The hypnotist commenced to crank again. Soon the girl's hips and belly appeared. He turned to the audience. "Don't worry, folks. She's safe. So long as she's under my control, she won't feel a thing." He continued to flatten her until at last, her serene face and outstretched hands passed through and she fell on the floor.

Cools picked up the photograph and showed it to the audience. "It's a good trick, but she can only do it once." He then produced a hanger and wrapped the limp body around the wire. His assistant took the body and removed it to back stage. Another stagehand removed the washer.

"She's in the tub!" said Jennifer, rather loudly.

‘You're going to get us kicked out of here." If I wasn't mistaken, Cools had glanced in our direction. Luckily, he was distracted by two stagehands wheeling a large cage onto the stage. It was covered with a blanket, but the growling coming from inside showed us that he had some large beast trapped within.

"You know, I got my start hypnotizing people into thinking they were animals. Let's see if it works in reverse." With a flourish, the cover was removed, revealing an enormous, pacing tiger. It circled its tiny cage, occasionally letting out a muted roar.

Cools was unimpressed. When the tiger passed in front of him, he clapped his hands. Instantly, the beast froze, dead in its tracks.

"He's now a statue," said the hypnotist. "I could place a sirloin steak in there and he wouldn't move. In fact, I'll do one better." He hopped off the stage and turned to an audience member. "What's your name, honey?"

"Melody." Melody was a cute brunette, with vaguely Asian features. Cools took her by the hand and led her to the stage.

"Melody, what do you think of this tiger?"

"You're not bad...oh, you meant the animal!" The audience laughed.

"Shill," said Jennifer.

Cools had Melody touch the tiger through the bars. It didn't move. He then opened the cage. The audience gasped, but nothing happened. Cools and Melody stepped inside. Then, before we knew what was happening, Cools had exited the cage and locked it.

"Hey!" shouted Melody, with what seemed like genuine fear.

Cools clapped his hands. "Sleep," he commanded. Melody's face went blank. The stagehands covered the cage again.

"Don't worry about Melody. The tiger will stay under until I clap my hands." Now, let's get another volunteer.

Half the members of the audience sat on their hands, the others waved wildly. The hypnotist selected a very slender, brown-haired woman and escorted her onto the stage. Within a minute he had the girl, whose name was Rachel, in a trance.

"Rachel, can you hear me?"

"Yes." Unlike the last women, Rachel didn't seem hypnotized. Except for her closed eyes, she seemed totally aware.

"Rachel, please tell us a little about yourself."

Rachel began cheerfully talking about her job as a teacher, her friends, and her home. The audience wasn't really listening. The stagehands had rolled what appeared to be an enormous guillotine behind the girl. As she continued to talk, Cools took out a Sharpie and drew a dotted line across her neck.

"Rachel." She stopped talking. "You are now stiff as a board." Rachel visibly tightened up. "You are in no danger. You will not bleed. You will be just fine."

The stagehand took Rachel by the feet while Cools took her under her armpits. They laid her across the head chopper's bench, inserted her head in the stocks, and strapped her down.

"Rachel, while you are still in no danger, you will now become totally aware of your surroundings and what's about to happen."

Rachel stirred and tried to get up. "Hey, what..."

The blade descended. Her head seemed to fall in the basket with an audible thump. Cools was right, there was no blood.

"Totally fake," said Jennifer. I'm sure Cools looked at her this time.

"What's going on?" Shouted Rachel, her voice muffled.

"You just went on a crash diet and lost 90% of your body weight." The stagehands spun the guillotine, allowing us to see Rachel's inert body. They then pulled it off stage.

"Hello?" shouted a panicked voice from the basket.

Cools picked up the container, reached in, and pulled out Rachel's head by the hair. Her eyes were wide.

"How do you feel?" asked the hypnotist.

"I...I don't feel anything!"

Cools bend down and kissed Rachel's cheek. She smiled faintly.

"Let's give her a big hand!"

The audience started to applaud. Suddenly, there came a loud growling and screaming from the covered tiger's cage. Cools quickly dropped the head back in the basket and passed it to his assistant.

"Damn. I knew clapping was a bad way to release the tiger from the trance." He pulled off the sheet. The tiger was now contentedly lying on its side, licking its paws. There was no sign of Melody.

Cools picked up a stick and gingerly hooked something near the animal. It was a torn green halter top, just like the one Melody had been wearing. Sheepishly, he bent towards the beast's stomach.

"Melody, if you can still hear me, good job." His assistants pulled the cage offstage.

I think if Jennifer had kept her mouth shut, she would have been okay. But she just had to laugh, a mocking, disbelieving laugh. Cools looked right at her.

"I think we need one more volunteer." A spotlight shone right down on Jennifer.

Now Jennifer was nowhere near as young as the previous volunteers, but with her dark hair, freckles, and curvy body, I thought she was rather cute. So did a lot of the audience, as she was peppered with a lot of male hooting and cheering.

Jennifer winked at me. "I guess I'll pretend to go along with it." She joined Cools on stage and introduced herself.

"Jennifer, do you know much about hypnotism?"

"I know what's real and what's faked," she challenged.

Cools smiled, a dangerous smile. He then snapped his fingers. Jennifer made no visible reaction. He snapped again.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

This apparently wasn't going along with the hypnotist's plans. "Is it hot in here?" he asked nervously.

Jennifer was about to answer, when suddenly she began loosening her clothes. Before I knew what was happening, she had removed her shoes. Then her blouse. Then her skirt. I think she might have taken off her bra had Cools not snapped his fingers again.

The audience howled, but Jennifer seemed not to notice. "So are you going to hypnotize me, or what?" she asked.

Cools waved his hand in front of her face. "Jennifer, when you awaken, you will become a manikin. A department store manikin. You will feel no pain. You will be unable to move or speak, but you will be aware of everything that is happening to you." He snapped his fingers and Jennifer stiffened.

Cools invited a woman from the audience to pose Jennifer. I was impressed at how manikin-like Jennifer had become. She would only move at the waist, shoulders, and wrists. Otherwise, she was absolutely stiff.

Cools waited until the applause died down. "She can't move a lot, but she does have a tremendous range in some respects." To demonstrate, he gripped her neck and twisted. The audience gasped. He had rotated her head 180 degrees! We were now looking at the back of her head!

Cools turned her around. We could now see her expressionless face, gazing over her shoulder blades. Cools snapped his fingers.

Jennifer screamed when she looked down to see her freckled back, plump rear, and the backs of her legs. She tried to back away from Cools, but in her backwards state she walked towards him. The magician put her back under.

What happened next was unbelievable. Cools took her apart! With the ease of taking down a Christmas tree, cools removed her arms and laid them on a table. Then he popped her head off. Then he twisted off her torso. Then he unscrewed her legs from her pelvis.

After thanking his crew and plugging his videos, he dismissed the audience. I waited around for a bit to see when Jennifer would reappear, but it was in vain. Eventually I walked back stage to collect her.

I found Cools handing a large envelope to an upset looking young man.

"Trust me, no one will know. You'll like her better this way."

The man didn't seem so sure, but he took the envelope and left. Cools turned to me.

"What can I do for you?"

"I'm here to collect Jennifer."

"The one who thought I was a fake?"

"I bet she believes in you now."

"Are you sure you want her back?"

I shrugged. "I've grown rather fond of her."

Cools grinned. "To tell you the truth, so have I. Care to make a deal?"

*

Jennifer and I sat in our penthouse suite. I was enjoying the fantastic view of the Vegas strip, not to mention our free room service. Jennifer sat at the table, glaring at me.

"I can't believe you made a deal like that with him!" she fumed.

"Two weeks in this luxury suite! Not a bad deal, I'd say."

"Of course you'd say! What did you give up? Look at me!"

"You look great."

Jennifer was dressed in a short skirt, sheer pantyhose, and high heels. Her bare shoulders stood out in the moonlight. Of course there was not much in between. Cools had kept half of Jennifer. Her shoulders now attached directly to her hips.

"I look like a freak! I have no arms! No stomach! What's that lunatic doing with my chest?"

I pushed her margarita closer to her face, making sure the straw was in reach. "Have a drink. Or something to eat. You don't have to worry about your weight anymore!"

"I miss my body!"

"Think of the money you'll save. No more sweaters, blouses, or bras."

"Stop it!"

"No more manicures, no more shaving your pits."

"I'm warning you."

"C'mon, you look beautiful." I sat behind her and began to rub her shoulders.

She looked up at me. "Really?"

"Really."

She smiled. "I guess it won't be bad. I mean, it's only for a couple of weeks, right?"

I silenced her with a kiss. She'd learn the truth soon enough.