The Magician's Assistant

[2] The Show

The girls pressed down on the gas pedal and should have gone flying forward. Instead of that happening, the kid stayed in the middle of them, holding the ropes attached to the bikes. He was holding them in place, making sure the bikes didn’t move an inch.

The rubber tires screeched against the stage floor, and the burning smell of rubber infiltrated my nose. The motorcycle stayed in place and the kid didn’t even look to be struggling.

          There were screams of fascination from the audience. After a while, the girls shut off their motorcycles, leaving the kid standing there proudly. The audience applauded him immensely, hooting.

“Jeesh, it’s like he has super strength. Haha, I’m going to call him superman,” Jess commented from next to me. “That was incredible.”

          I agreed completely, clapping my hands as loudly as I could. I was strangely proud of the kid for completely surprising everyone. People judge books by covers, and he proved that you shouldn’t. ‘Superman’ left the stage shortly after, thanking everyone for being so welcoming. I snorted at that one.

          Once he was off the stage, all of the lights shut off. Not a single thing could be seen. Shouts emanated from the pitch black club. “Did the power go out?” I whispered to Jess worriedly, grabbing her arm to make sure she didn’t move. I didn’t want to get lost if we were separated.

          “No, it’s part of the show,” a lilting voice to my left said. I immediately relaxed, knowing that it was James. “Don’t be scared.”

          “Everyone, we’d like you to give a warm welcome to William Larkin. He’s come all the way from Las Vegas to perform for us here in Connecticut,” the announcer proclaimed. His voice sounded eerie, especially in complete darkness. Agonizingly slowly, a spotlight appeared on the stage.

          The song ‘All I Do Is Win’ by DJ Khaled boomed through the large speakers as a spotlight went beamed down on the stage. I could make out someone in all black attire, kneeling with his head tilted downwards. He had on a black hat that was slanted to cover most of his face. The only thing that wasn’t black was his tie; it was a dark purple.

          There were hysterical screams from the audience, mostly from the female gender. “Oh my God. I can’t believe he’s here!” Jess yelled, accidentally slapping me in the face with her hand motions.

          “Who is he?”  I asked, feeling a little out of the loop.

          If I could see her, I bet she would have been looking at me with her jaw hanging wide open. “I – what…how – how do you not know who he is? He’s like, a celebrity,” she spluttered.

          Focusing on the stage, I waited for the guy to start his act. I ignored her somewhat condescending tone.

          He stood up from his crouching position, grinning like the Cheshire cat. I was entranced with the way he walked around the stage; he seemed confident and sure of himself. He knew of the affect he was having on the audience, and even seemed a little cocky. Immediately, I was a little annoyed by him.

          His hands sneakily made their way behind his back, and I’m sure nobody noticed because right when he did that, an assistant walked onto the stage. I didn’t pay much attention to her, but was still analyzing him.

          I tried to figure out what he was doing with his hands, but I couldn’t tell. Walking to the middle of the stage, he pulled a large blanket out from behind his back. After his assistant held it up for a few seconds, she dropped it and a box was then featured on stage. I had to blink a few times to make sure that I hadn’t imagined it. There was a brief applause as the magician stepped out of the box.