Jess Doyle
He pulled the curtain in front of her and she let the fixed smile drop. She waited for the magic word. Abracadabra. He always made a show of it and the audience always laughed because it was so cheesy. That was the idea though, laughter to cover the slight noise. She never made much noise though, not now she’d done it hundreds of times. She reached for the lever so that the secret panel would drop in front of her.
But she hadn’t got a finger to it when something completely new happened. Three things at once, in fact. First, the laughter stopped abruptly. Secondly, her feet left the floor. And thirdly, all around her was suddenly bathed in the most brilliant white.
She gasped but made no sound. She peered around, she wasn’t the only thing floating around in this strange place. There were objects all around her. She swatted away several socks to have a better look. There were lots of socks but there were other things too. Spoons, keys, watches. White rabbits, they were hard to see against the dazzling white. One…two…three…four white rabbits.
Then a familiar voice broke into the eerie silence. Abracadabra. She was back. Back in the box, back on the stage. With her feet on the ground and laughter and applause in her ears. She felt dazed as she stepped out and took a bow. Her eyes still dazzled by the brilliant white, she fell to the floor and barely heard the audience’s gasps. As the magician helped her off the stage, she felt a sudden urge to run back to the box. She had a feeling she’d left something behind. Something she was going to miss.
***
Jess Doyle is an aspiring writer from North Wales. She writes short stories and flash fiction and is currently working on her debut novel. Jess’s stories have appeared in Idle Ink and Horror Scribe. You can find Jess on Twitter as @jcdoyley.