Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-26475800-20150624030749

I had looked all my life to see one person do the Indian Rope Trick, and it wasn’t long ago that I saw the real thing. There have even been a few who have claimed to be able to do it, they never did it fully, but they claimed that they could do the trick. It was because of this that I traveled to… can you guess where?

That’s right, Egypt. The last person claiming to do the Indian Rope Trick was going to be preforming in Egypt.

I was just a humble magician from the states, but I did have some big plans, and it all starts on finding someone who could do the Indian Rope Trick. Once I found him I would learn how to do it and bring it home to raise to fame, this was my undoing.

I decided that Egypt would be the place to find it so I headed out there. Luckily, I wasn’t alone, one of the people in the magic group I am part of, Josh, decided he would like to see it too. I never take my Barb, my wife, or Sam, my son, to these places; the stress would be too great on Barb to watch a kid who wanders in a distant land, but Josh was a good fit to go with me. It’s strange, this kid is only in his early twenties, had been in magic for a total of fifteen months, and is willing to go all the way across the world to see a trick he knows little about. But I decided it would be better to have someone with me than to go by myself.

“The person who can do this trick will become more famous then David Copperfield, hell, he will be more famous that Harry Houdini.” I tell Josh. “His name will be jotted down in the history books as the best magician who had ever lived. Which is why I don’t believe this trick had ever been done. Sure, you hear people talking about it, some even claim to know someone who had seen it, but I haven’t. There is a good version by Ishamuddin, but the trick isn’t completed.”

“Wait,” Josh said. “So some of the trick is able to be done but not all of it? What else is there besides the kid climbing up the rope?”

I couldn’t help but laugh. That was the easy part of the trick, I could figure that out, but the rest is what I want to see, what I want to know.

“Yes, there’s much more. First the magician makes the rope climb into the sky and the child climbs up it, only to vanish at the top of the rope. Afterwards, and this is where the story and patter would change, but they both claim the same basic thing, his bloody body parts rain from the sky. The magician puts them into a bag or basket and the boy is whole again.”

Josh’s eyes grew wide with wonder, but he frowned and grimaced with disgust at the same time.

“That would be one hell of a trick. But just from hearing that story I don’t think anyone could ever do it.” He said.

Seeing as the trick wasn’t going to be performed until the following day, and the day was still rather young, we had some time to get used to Egypt. So we did what any visiting tourist would do, we went to the pyramids. Not only would seeing the tombs of the ancient pharos be amazing, there was also an inscription on one of the walls that I wanted to see.

Once we got there I looked at the hieroglyph and saw what others have seen. I immediately knew why people thought the oldest magic was truly the Cups and Balls. The depiction looks exactly like the trick carved in stone, but there was something else that caught my eye. Something that a lot of people must have missed, maybe because it wasn’t in one of the main chambers but in the hall leading to it. A hieroglyph of what looked to be the Indian Rope Trick.

The picture was of a man standing at the base of what appeared to be a long rope or vine, above him was a person being ripped apart by some creatures with the many heads and arms. Part of this person was falling down to where the man was standing.

I pointed it out to Josh and he agreed that it looked like what we were here to see. My hopes sored that we may see the trick in its entirety tomorrow. That I may be witness to a murder and a resurrection, which is something that no one had seen since the days of Christ, if not before or ever.

The day was fun, being able to see such amazing sites and practicing magic. We had done a lot of practicing on the plane, Josh was working on his Elmsley count and I was working on a new trick, a trick which the four aces will trade places with the kings while the kings were lost in the deck and the aces were on the table from a trick before. When we got to our room, we were sharing one to cut down on costs, we started to practice more.

“How long should I work on getting this move down?” Josh asked longing to be finished.

“You can stop any time you like, however, you won’t get it perfect if you give up after a few hours. A good magician will practice a move until he can do it without thinking, a great magician will practice it more.”

I went back to working on my trick. The method was already know, they patter was underway, but my mind just wasn’t there. The picture craved into the sandstone was popping into my mind’s eye every few minutes. The detail that had been put into the smaller person being cut into pieces was just as precise as the gods that mutilated him. Whom ever had done that carving was putting passion into what he was doing, it didn’t seem like something a slave would have done. There was too much care in the work.

I woke the next day, later then I would have liked to because of the six hour time jump. Most of the time I can deal with two or three hours, but six was just too far ahead. In a frantic rush I ran through the room, getting dressed and knocking things over. All the noise I was making woke Josh, who once he saw what time it was, started knocking even more things over. It wasn’t until we ran into each other that we decided it may be a good idea to slow down so we didn’t get hurt.

We made it in time to still get a rather good view of the trick. It was strange, I was thinking that there would only be a few hundred people, but there was already a few hundred people and the show didn’t start for another two hours. By the time it had, the banks of the Nile were flooded with people on both sides. There must have been at least five thousand people and all to see a man that is rather unknown in the magic community; at least in the states he is, Kafta.

The show wasn’t much of a show. He didn’t do any other trick than the one we had all come to see, after seeing it that was enough. He also lacked the showmanship of any other no named magician I saw who had used this ploy to get recognition in the past, most of them would be enthusiastic, this man seemed to be apathetic, bored even. It was all very strange, but then he started and thing had gotten even stranger.

He started by playing a flute and saying something in a language I didn’t understand, which with every version of the trick the magician does. The rope rose, as I knew it would, if he couldn’t even do that he would be the worst example of overconfidence I had ever seen. There is something else to be said about this part of the trick that was intriguing, he didn’t use a basket, and the rope started by laying on the ground and was never moved from that point forward. He had an older boy, almost a man, climb the rope; this too was different from any version I’ve seen. It was always a young boy, not a man, and this one was in his early twenties or late teens. And that is the last of the similarities of anything I had ever witnessed before, from that point on everything was new.

The young man climbed the rope and vanished, for the first time I witnessed a vanishing act, outside, in the air, with no cover. It was disturbing. One minute he was there, the next he wasn’t. At first I thought he had fallen, I just couldn’t see if he had or not, but there was no scream from the crowd; he was about twenty feet up so there would have been a lot of screaming to see a mangled body at the bottom of the rope. My jaw dropped, Josh was dumbfounded, wide eyes and mouth opened just like me.

It wasn’t long before the screams did start, but I was able to see what was causing this to occur. Bloody body parts were raining from the sky near the top of the rope. This was the real deal, the first time, possible ever, someone had done the real Indian Rope Trick. I started to push my way to the front of the crowd.

Once I got close enough to see what was happening on the floor, the last of the body part fell. It was the man’s head and it bounced off the sand with a sickening thud. The thing looked real enough to me, granted I haven’t seen too many severed heads in my life, but the way the jaw flew open and closed as it bounced on the ground looked very realistic.

Sure enough he put the parts into a burlap bag, once in the bag blood started to seep out the bottom, and a few minutes the young man scrambled out into the sunlight. He looked dazed, frightened. His eyes were larger than anyone’s should be able to get and once they locked onto the magician he scrambled backwards as quickly as he could, until he gained some footing and ran into the crowd screaming.

The lack of showmanship from the Kafta was made up for by his assistant.

A thunderous applause began and the magician turn and tried to get through the crowd. He was unsuccessful, a wall of people stopped him from getting far and the mob quickly surrounded him. He was famous beyond his wildest dreams. This was the man I needed to talk to, one way or another I wasn’t going to leave this land without knowing how he did that trick.

I tried to talk to him, but everyone was talking at once. I can only assume that they were all asking the same question that I had come to ask. There must not have been a person there that didn’t want to know how he had done that trick. The little I could hear him saying over the cacophony always sounded the same, although I couldn’t make it out because of the language barrier.

I fallowed him until he was away from all the rest of the people, which took some time, but I was able to get him to talk to me.

“You have to tell me how you did that.” I said pointblank. “That was the most amazing trick I had ever seen. Tell me how you did it and I will pay you more than you could dream of making here.”

This was a lie, there were plenty of people who could afford to pay him better than I could, but the currency exchange was working in my favor. His response was what I thought it would be.

“You do not want know.” He said in his broken English.

I pushed harder.

“I can not tell you. You ask I say no. No, too dangerous.”

I didn’t let him push me away because he didn’t want to let his secret go so I produced a wad of Egyptian pounds and shoved it at him. “Teach me how you did that.”

“You do not want know.”

“Do you need more cash? I’ll give you more, just teach me.”

At that there was a gleam in his eye. I had him, he would teach me everything I wanted to know if I just kept pushing him.

“I will teach, but do not do trick.”

My heart was a flutter by this news. It didn’t matter how bad his English was, I could learn from watching what he was doing.

However, he didn’t take me to somewhere quiet and tell me the secret, he simply pulled a rolled up piece of paper out of his tunic and placed it in my hand. “This is way.” He said with a smile as he started to walk away once more.

I wanted to chase him down, but he was already gone, lost to the sea of people once more. It didn’t matter, I had what I needed and was happy to see that it was, surprisingly, written in English; well for the most part. There was once section that was written in some other language, which would make since because before that it said to “recite the prayer.” It all seemed very strange, but it was also the first time anyone had done this trick. Maybe it was, in fact, not a trick at all but real.

I couldn’t wait to tell Josh. I knew it was good that he came, we could do this trick together and he could be the one that climbs the rope. That would make us known around the world, we would both be rich and famous; things were looking up for us.

Once I had gotten back to the hotel I found Josh working on his Elmsley count, he was starting to get good at it.

“What the hell man?” He said. “Why did you leave me alone out there? I didn’t know where I was or how to get back, it took me hours.”

I know I should have felt bad for what I had done, but I couldn’t. A smile was plastered on my face and it didn’t seem like anything would take it away for a long time.

“Sorry, Josh. But I got it.” I said pulling the rolled up paper out of my jacket pocket.

“What did you get?” He said, eying me suspiciously.

“This is how the trick is done, and I would like you to be my assistant.”

Both of us were so enthusiastic at that moment, Josh agreed quickly and we knew that we would make a lot of money doing this trick.

I couldn’t stop studying the scroll, the more times I read it the more I tried to understand what it meant. It read:

“To give the gods a worthy subject you will need: 1 30 meter rope, 1 wooden reed flute, and one subject. Play this song (The song was written out in music notes.) Once song is played recite these words: Maiṁ tumhēṁ karanē kē li'ē isa viṣaya, śēvā dē. Apanē upayōga kē li'ē usē svīkāra karatē haiṁ aura mērī vaphādārī svīkāra karēṁ (this I had no idea what it said or meant, I had to figure out how to even pronounce it.) If all is done correctly, the rope will rise. At that point have your subject climb the rope and he will vanish. When body parts rain down it is advised to put them in a basket.”

When I got home I was so happy to see my wife and son, but I was just as happy to show them I was given a scroll that explained how to do the trick, even though at that time I subconsciously knew it wasn’t merely a trick any more.

I started to look for someone would tell me how to pronounce the writing on the notes, but I didn’t even know where to start. I tried at mosques, thinking that it would be some kind of Arabic, but that was a big letdown, same with the Jewish temples. It wasn’t until I thought that it could be Hindu, which I should have thought of before, knowing the name of the trick, that I had gotten my answer.

It was strange, the monk I had talked to said he would tell me how to pronounce the words but not what they meant. He also advised me not to do what the paper said. Said it was something dark and should be destroyed before anyone had made a mistake. I thought he was just being some strange kind of pious monk who thought magic was evil or work of the devil.

Still, I was starting to have doubts about doing this trick now. Everything seemed to be more than a trick, it was real. The monk was the last thing I needed to push me into knowing that the real secret was that this was not magic, but some kind of prayer. Still the allure to be famous throughout the world was far too strong for me to resist trying, at least once.

I got the rope, the flute, and Josh. We were in a field at night so no one would see what we were doing before we were ready to show the world our trick. And everything worked just like I had seen in Egypt. The rope went up to the heavens, Josh climbed up it then vanished, his severed bloody body parts fell from the sky.

This, however, was where I had not listened to the scroll and put the parts into a basket. What followed was the most horrendous thing I’ve ever seen. Josh’s mutilated body parts were on the ground, blood soaking into the grass, when they started to move. His arms pulled their way back to his torso, reconnecting with wet sucking and popping sounds, his legs came next, then his headless body had gotten on its hands and knees and started groping from the head. Once it found it, it placed it where is should be with that same awful noise.

I had to choke down vomit three times during this process, and once I knew I would be able to control my bodily functions I stood gaping at what I was watching. Tears filled my wide eyes, and I am still uncertain if that was because of what I was seeing or because I was unable to blink.

Once Josh was fully intact he acted just as the other assistant had. Fearful of me and running away screaming. The only thing I could do was stand in awe. I was amazed that this was real magic and horrified at what I had just done. But it is like a car wreck, you don’t want to see anyone hurt, but you slow down and look all the same. I didn’t want to see anyone hurt, but I had to do this trick one more time, at least, just so I could make my reputation solid.

I tried to call him the next day but he never answered. It was like that for some time so I waited till the next magic meeting to talk to him. He wasn’t there. This was becoming worrisome, we only meet once a month and he had never missed a meeting. I drove to his house to talk to him, which, luckily, he was home.

At first he didn’t want to talk to me, but I pushed my way into his house and he finally understood I wouldn’t go away until he would talk to me.

“How are you feeling?” I felt too bad to say anything else.

“Okay, I been having some wicked nightmares, but besides that I’m okay.”

“Josh, what did you see when you vanished?”

He was quiet for a long time. I didn’t think he was going to answer and was about to ask again when he started to speak.

“I saw God, or Gods. There are more than one out there and they are nothing like what I was taught in church. These things were evil.”

His eyes drifted off again. I didn’t want to break his silence, but I also needed to know more. I needed to know if it was safe to do it again.

“We weren’t created in their image.” He continued. “Some of them look human, but others don’t resemble anything humans look like. Some of them had multiple heads, others were blue and some had multiple arms. I can’t stop dreaming about them. They keep telling me they want you to do the trick again.”

“Would you do it again?” I couldn’t stop from asking.

“No, I can’t. They won’t let me. But you should try again.” His voice was monotone as his gaze locked onto the wall.

“Did any of it hurt?”

His spell broke and he looked at me with a smile.

“I was cut into little pieces, watched it all happen, but somehow…somehow I didn’t feel a thing.”

I left feeling reassured that James was just shaken up but he was still alive and healthy. After a few weeks maybe a month or so he will be back to normal. Which would be good enough for me to try this one last time, I would have to get someone to help me though.

The next time I did this trick, I am not proud of what I had done, I used my son. He was ten at the time and a good climber so I figured he would like to be part of my show. Not only that, I didn’t want to pay someone to be part of the show, I wanted all the proceeds to come to my family, and my family to be the only stars of the show.

I set the stage, told the media I would be doing the Indian Rope Trick for the first time ever in America. The magic community had gone crazy, those who have seen others do the trick were hoping to learn what method I would be using, others just wanted to see a good show. It was my pride and lust for stardom that created the monster that I became.

It wasn’t anything special at first. I did some normal illusions, which the crowd seemed to love, sawing a woman in half, making some things float, and other normal illusions you would expect to see. But for the end of my show I decided to do the rope trick.

I called my son on stage and introduced him. This time I remembered to bring a basket, if anyone else saw the horror I saw from not having the body covered it would ruin me. I played the flute said the words and the rope rose into the sky. I made sure that there was nothing which would block anyone’s view of any tricks I would be doing, but this was the most important. My son climbed up and vanished.

I waited for the body parts to start raining down, nothing happened. The crowd was amazed but beginning to grow impatient, I was worrying about my son. I decided to climb up the rope to find him, and I too had left the world I was just in.

When I had gotten to this new plane I saw the monsters that Josh had told me about. Giants with faces that covered what would be their enormous head, a woman with four arms and skulls around her neck like a string of pearls, a man with six stood stomping on a human who was crying in agony. And a blue man with green eyes wearing a crown was sitting on a throne, my son was in front of him.

“Thank you, this one will work just fine.” The blue man said without moving his lips. “So much better than the last you sent up.”

“What are you talking about?” I said as I started running towards my son.

The two beings with more arms than normal had stepped in my way, arms extended like tentacles of an octopus.

“You gave me a new slave.” The booming voice of the blue man said. “Do you wish to take him back? I figured you did, you people always do. So I will make a deal with you, same deal as the ones who have come before you, he will stay with me until you have someone else send me a replacement.”

Once he said that the woman with the skulls came rushing at me. All four of her arms wrapped around my body, keeping me from moving an inch.

“If you come back her,” That booming voice said again. “I will kill your son and you will have to watch his torment for the rest of time.”

After that was said the woman threw me down. The last thing I remember seeing before my head smashed into the ground was the rope still standing then start to fall. When I awoke, everyone was gone, the rope was wrapped around me like a boa about to have a meal.

My wife was sobbing when I had gotten home. I tried to comfort her but Josh had already told her what he had been through, she kicked me out and filed for a divorce.

Now I will perform the Indian Rope Trick on rare occasions, and when I do I am as lifeless as the man who taught me how to do it. I only want someone to take this curse away and give me back my son. Waiting for someone like me to beg to be taught the trick. Someone who cares more about the impression they make then what is really important. 