"So, what's your name?"

"Josephine," the woman replied as she stood on the stage after the show. She was intimidated by the setting if the fact that she kept her jacket on and tight around her was any indication. The winner of the evening's show wore simple sneakers, pantyhose, black daisy-dukes, and a grey tubetop that showed through her black leather jacket when it wasn't closed up. "Are you really brother and sister?"

"Yes!" Simon replied, the young man shirtless after the show. "I'm adopted though," he indicated his sister Victoria who had none of his Caucasian features and instead was blatantly and obviously East Asian. "So we're still family."

That sort of set Josephine at ease. "Sorry, I thought that you were, you know, not blood related so you two would," she crossed her fingers to imply a thing or two, only to cause Victoria to mock-gag.

"No! Never!" she said. "Ewww!"

"Be that as it may," Simon said to bring the conversation back to the events at hand, "what did you want to do?"

"Um...," Josephine was hesitant. "Can you two do the Zig Zag?" she pointed at the three-piece prop off to one side of the stage. "On me? Please? But without the ... um... nudity or sexy parts."

The two performers shared a quick conversation. "Sure," Victoria said with a smile. "We can do that for you. You want to take off your jacket? It could get cut if you're wearing it."

Josephine nodded and removed her jacket, handing it to Victoria while Simon went to get the prop rolled out to center stage for her. He locked the casters in place to prevent it from rolling unnecessarily, then gave the prop a quick look again to make sure it was in working order.

Victoria guided Josephine up to the box. "If you're nervous," she said gently, "one of us could go first?"

"No," Josephine shook her head, breath shaking as she stared at the simple box. "I want to do this."

"OK, when you're ready, open it up, step inside and close it behind you," Simon said. "Then we can move on to the next part."

Josephine took a very deep breath to steady her nerves and she stepped backwards into the thin cabinet. It was tall enough that she could stand without issue, as well as wide enough that she didn't have any problems. No, the box however, wasn't very deep, and even if she pressed herself against the back, her slight chest would still be out of the front of the box. As designed.

She closed the door and then slid her feet, hands, face and chest out the relevant holes, not needing any help or guidance to do so as this wasn't a performance.

"OK in there?" Simon asked.

"Stuffy," she replied as Victoria made sure she was facing a mirror to see everything that was going on. "How do you do this every week?"

Victoria adjusted the mirror slightly. "Oh, it takes practice, a certain mindset, and a willingness to put oneself on display that most people don't have."

Simon nodded along. "Don't ask me how the Club Head gets so many new people each year," he added. "But she does." He held up the four dividing sheets that would go into the Zig-zag. "But at least you're giving it a try, which is good enough. I heard a couple years ago, one of the winners after the show didn't do anything, just wanted to paint a few of the props."

That helped set Josephine at ease, just a little. "So, how do you want to do this?" she asked, indicating the dividers in Simon's hands.

"Well, we can do this all at once," Victoria said. "My brother and I each take a pair and slide them into the box and you from the opposite sides, and it's over so fast you won't notice. Or we take it slow and steady, and you will notice."

"Do me fast please!" Josephine asked. Then she backtracked. "No! Not like that," she objected. "Just, you know. Like a bandaid or a needle?"

"We can do that," Simon confirmed. "I'll take the left?" he said to his sister, who agreed by going to Josephine's right.

"Now, when we slide these in," Victoria warned her, "they will go through your waist and your neck. You may feel a bit of a cold sensation, but that's normal. Just keep breathing. You'll be fine."

Josephine tried to nod, but she had her face in the hole of the Zig-Zag and so could only shake a little.

"Ready?" Victoria asked her brother from one side. "On three."

"One," Simon said firmly, causing Josephine to scrunch up her eyes.

"Two!" Victoria chimed in, and on that mark, they slid their respective blades into the box!

"Eeeeek!" Josephine shrieked as from the right, a wave of ice crossed her bare waist, while from the left, the sounds of metal crossing into the box were the only warning of a line of cold crossing her neck. "What was that!" she yelled as she tried to.... tried to....

In the mirror, she saw Simon and Victoria leaning against the box she was in, the blades clearly through it and her. "ohmygod" she said as she processed what had just happened. "It's fake, right?"

"Nope!" Victoria announced as she put her hands on the small handles set into her side of the box. "Pull!" she leaned back to put her weight into into it, and Josephine watched in the mirror as the Zig-zag began to live up to its name. Josephine could feel her entire body moving to the right, even though she was standing still, and she looked up at the mirror and her heart skipped a beat as the box was moving!

She waved her hands as Victoria pulled then pulled more until the box was fully to the right, a small gap between the middle section and the upper and lower ones to prove the division.

"Holy shit," she cursed in shock. "That's!"

"But wait! There's more!" Simon announced in a fake 'deep announcer's voice' like that guy who sold kitchen equipment. He stood beside the Zig-zag and opened the front three panels with a simple flourish.

In the mirror, Josephine saw her legs standing upright, and she bent her knee to prove to herself it was till hers and real. Her bare waist was glued to the metal dividers in her, and she tested that by lifting both feet off the ground, leaving her hanging from her bare skin.

The middle section contained her torso, with arms carefully checking out the tops, bottoms and sides, her sense of touch unaffected as she felt the material of the box, and even her own skin. She stifled a giggle as she touched herself, biting her own lip.

"How's that?" Simon asked as he walked in front of the box.

"heheheh" Josephine giggles some more. "Like it's not really me!"

"Well, we can put you back together again," Victoria said, "without closing the box. That should convince you, right?"

Josephine agreed without thinking. "Sure," she said, eyes wide and never leaving the image her herself in the mirror.

Simon reached through the Zig-Zag, and started pulling, the box sliding with ease back to the left until it was lined up perfectly again. Each sibling grabbed their respective blades, and with a "One!" "Two!" They pulled and Josephine stumbled out of the box as her body was back in one piece!

She caught herself and stood up, checking herself for anything that might have gone wrong. Nothing had. "That was..."

"Yes?" Simon asked.

"I need time to think about this," Jospehine said. "I think I'll be leaving now," she took her jacket from Victoria and made her way out of the small auditorium.

The siblings watched her leave.

"She'll be back," Victoria observed.

"Yeah, but not right away," Simon countered. "Some people just enjoy watching and not being up here."

"Eh, whatever. We should clean up as she's gone."

"You did put the ticket in her pocket, right?"

Victoria rolled her eyes. "Of course I did. What do you take me for?"

"My sister, dumbass."

"Jerk."

"I'm telling mom!"

"I'm telling dad!"