Squick?
The spotlight came up behind the magicienne, on an empty space. Chardonnay turned around, and stopped, looking confused. She called off-stage, “Where’s Gabby?”
A male voice answered, un-mic'd and faint. “Plane to Australia. Her Visa ran out.”
“Okay, is Rei filling in?”
“No- she put in notice last week, remember? Burton offered her a better deal.”
“Oh, come on. The new girl, Angela?”
“Err. She’s sick.”
“What? I saw her backstage before the show!”
“Just now. Took one look at your volunteer backstage and lost her lunch.”
“Well, who am I going to put in the Squi-”
A second male voice cut in, “I’ll do it!”
Chardonnay turned full to the side, her body language indicating exasperation. “Bob, thanks, but you’ll never fit.”
“I can go on a diet-”
“Bob. No. Just, no.” Chardonnay turned back to the audience. “Ha. That’s live theater for you… So. There goes the dance routines. But we still have the magic- if there is anyone in the audience who wants to volunteer. Oh, and isn’t claustrophobic.” She smiled as some hands went up.
“You, miss- your name? KaitlynMorris? Can you come up? Ladies and gentlemen, a big hand please for Kaitlyn!” As the volunteer with wavy, dark hair stepped onto the stage, Chardonnay called off stage, “Okay Bob, bring out the Squick Box!”
Kaitlyn smiled, her blue eyes flashing. “A box! Do I get to go inside?”
Chardonnay’s face brightened. “Oh, you’re going to like this one, I think.” She turned and made a sweeping gesture as the box in question was wheeled out- roughly a foot and a half wide and deep, maybe around four feet high, and suspended above the wheeled platform by two poles that rose to about its center. The front was decorated with elastic tubing, forming an outline of a woman’s body, from shoulders to ankles. “Don’t worry, Kaitlyn. You’ll supply the missing parts,” Ms Blade smiled and opened the front, then took out two rubber cuffs and handed them to her volunteer. “If you’d remove your stockings and put these around your ankles?”
Kaitlyn grinned, and took off her shoes, then reached up under her black mini-skirt to peel the silk hose down her legs. The magicienne smiled, “Somehow you make that look sexy, dear- you and I both know that’s tough to do while standing.” She removed the front half of the box’s bottom, and flipped up the top, as her volunteer put the cuffs on.
“Great, Kaitlyn! Now, if you could step up into the box?” The young woman climbed onto the platform and backed in, the cuffs on her ankles sliding into the half-circles scooped out of the box’s bottom. Chardonnay slid the front half back in place, locking the rubber cuffs securely into the holes. She lowered the lid, and Kaitlyn shook her head as it popped through the rubber gasket sealing the hole in the top. The blue-eyed volunteer reached forward outside of the box, and pulled her hair the rest of the way through, so the gasket touched only her neck. The top of the box rested on her shoulders. Kaitlyn smiled and waved, then Chardonnay closed and latched the front. The outline matched where the volunteer was standing inside.
“Hmm, almost. This was set up for my last assistant.” Chardonnay reached up and pushed on the tubing, enlarging the breasts on the outline. “There, a much closer likeness!” The audience laughed, and Kait smiled. “Quite a tight fit, too!”
Chardonnay turned the box to the left and right, showing that Kaitlyn was locked inside, and revealing a dual rack-and-pinion gear system on the side, running from top to bottom. She turned the box facing front again, and pulled a crank from somewhere behind her back, sliding it into the pinion gear. “Kaitlyn- and ladies and gentlemen- if you thought it was a tight fit before, you haven’t seen anything, yet!”
The magicienne started turning the handle. Slowly, the top and bottom of the box were pulled closer together by the gears, Kaitlyn’s bare feet lifting off the ground. On the front of the box, the outline got shorter, but wider, the tubes shifting towards the sides and the center.
Kaitlyn looked to the left and the right, and tried to look down at her container, unable to see what was going on. “Wow, this feels- different. What’s happening?”
Chardonnay paused. Kaitlyn’s feet were now about six inches above the platform and wiggling. “Well, let’s see- you’ve just gone from being 5’8” to around 4’6”. Hope you’re okay with that!”
“Sure, why not,” the volunteer smiled, and laughed. “Keep going if you want!”
Chardonnay started turning the crank again, and the box kept getting smaller. “Let’s see- four feet, three foot six... “ She paused again. “Three feet, even. And the box is as tall as it is wide. How are you feeling, Kaitlyn?”
Her outline was pressed against the edges of the box’s front, filling most of the space inside. “Um, maybe a little bloated?” Kaitlyn hazarded. The audience laughed.
Chardonnay turned towards the audience. “I bet now you’re thinking Kaitlyn here is curled up behind a fake panel or something. Let me assure you that the parts of her you see are the genuine article.” She reached into her sleeve, and pulled out a feather. Kaitlyn turned quickly to look at it.
“You wouldn’t da-ha ha ha!” Her sentence was interrupted by her laughter as Chardonnay brushed the feather against the bare soles of her feet, which she started wriggling desperately to try and avoid the tickling. She gasped, closing her eyes. Tears started running down her cheeks as she shook her head and tried futilely to kick the feather away. “P-pl-please! S-st-stop-stop!”
Chardonnay put the feather away, and Kaitlyn panted, catching her breath. The magicienne smiled, “I hope that proves my point. This box fully contains Kaitlyn, who is rather shorter than she was a few minutes ago.” There were some tentative applauds from the audience, but Ms Blade waved them aside. “No, we’re not finished yet- not in the least!” Grabbing the crank, she started turning again, and the box got even smaller.
“Two and a half! Two feet!” The outline was practically unrecognizable. “Ladies and gentlemen, the entirety of Kaitlyn’s body between her ankles and neck is now contained in a space only six inches tall.” Chardonnay opened the front, showing the volunteer’s wiggling hands, in front of her outfit. She waved, and the audience applauded.