The magician walked down the metal-grate stairs to the walkway above the huge tank of swirling, purple water. He flipped his top hat and dumped out sparkling dust which floated down into the mix. “Hxxzzyyhffwwt!” he exclaimed but just then he lost his footing on the wet metal and tumbled headfirst into the roiling liquid. The audience gasped and some laughing nervously.
The magician’s body floated in the bubbling mix, spinning a little while the audience waited quietly. Eventually the lights came up and some stage hands in black leaned a ladder against the side of the tank, pulling the body towards them with a long stick.
The rotund ticket-taker jumped up on stage and announced that everything was going to be fine but the show was over and everyone should come to the front to get a refund. He jumped down and ran out the door to the front. The curtains closed, leaving the audience confused and panicky. Then purple water came rushing from under the curtains, flowing quickly down the stage to the seating below. Everyone ran for the exits as the theater quickly filled with an ocean of purple liquid.
The smartest ones ran for higher ground up by the nose-bleed seats but everyone else died pretty much instantly when the water touched them.
The small crowd that remained watched the floating corpses spin in the swirling water. “There he is,” said Pete Fullen, a cabinetmaker from Indianapolis. They all stared at the magician who floated faced down, arms splayed out. The water drained as quickly as it had risen and soon the soggy corpses were strewn about on the wet seats and carpeting.
None of the survivors could resist kicking the magician’s body as they exited and a pair of old ladies even stepped over several dead audience members just to go spit on him. But when they saw his face they all shuddered- the acid had melted away his skin and his skull stared back at them, screaming soundlessly.
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