Lady the Assistant: Part 3 of 4

"Well, now that Lady is limbered up from The Twister," Ross announced to the cheerful audience, "I think she's about ready to be pressed short..." As smoothly as the first prop glided offstage, another one slid in, this one with a horizontal box almost the length of Lady's body. "...in an illusion I call 'Compressed'!"

Lady felt fine with this next illusion, looking at the box with a curious glance. Thinking the illusion through in her head, she caught the idea that it was a rather conventional illusion – Ross pressing her head and feet together inside the box, shortening her to a matter of centimetres for the audience. She actually felt excited by this, and without any guidance from Ross, practically hopped into the illusion.

"Well, it looks like Lady's a bit eager," Ross said to the audience, who gave a little laugh as he closed her inside, "So we might as well begin as soon as possible."

With a little bit of effort, Ross gave a shove of the box on both sides of her head, sliding her upper half down... and what felt like inside herself. Her torso squished against itself, waist sliding into the bottom of her ribcage. It was unlike what she expected – this 'Disappearing act' of her top half feeling extraordinarily weird to her, even after the past two illusions. However, the rubbing and pressing of her chest and waist against themselves and her arms, while a very unusual feeling, was quite cosy and comfortable.

All of her sudden, the pressing stopped on her upper half, and then her legs started pressing into themselves. The same feeling in her top half was repeated in each of her legs, the pressing of her feet into her legs, her legs into her hips, and her hips into the lower part of her waist. As soon as it started, however, the motion stopped – the feeling of compressing failing to linger and provide the full feeling that the pressing of her upper half gave her.

The audience, which Lady once again forgot about, applauded the feat of Ross compacting Lady. Finally satisfied with the fact that Ross wasn't harming her, she playfully smiled and danced her feet from side to side, before noticing that they were only about twenty centimetres from her head. Unfazed by this, she continued dancing her feet.

"You know," Ross said to the audience, looking at the compressed Lady, "I think that Lady can be a little shorter." Lady didn't hear Ross, nor did she notice him reach on either side of her and push, as she was still busy dancing to entertain the audience.

All Lady saw was the audience shifting slowly to the right. At first it seemed like the table slipping, but the pressing feeling had returned again, and it was now forcing her body into one singular form – much like how one would expect a black hole to collapse all matter within into one spot. Her chest, waist and legs disappeared, her heart and lungs blended into what was left of her bloodstream. She was now just a head attached to a pair of legs.

Well, she thought to herself, At least he's not parading me around like- *click*

She looked scornfully at Ross, the trust she gained from experiencing the last few illusions quickly lost with the removal of the safety and mysteriousness of the box that contained her.

"What?" Ross asked Lady playfully, loud enough for the audience to hear and respond with laughter, "Can't I have a little fun with you before you go."  He lifted her small round shape onto her feet. "Now just have a walk to the end of the table."

Regretfully, Lady hopped along the length of the table, unable to walk with a lack of knees. It wasn't like she didn't have any choice – she was just as able to jump off the table and leave in the hope that one day she'll just spring back to normal – but doing what he wanted was the only way she could possibly become her normal shape again... and after the initial shock of being exposed and paraded around like this, being in this shape was kind of fun. Not something she'd want to remain in for a while, but in short periods she felt it'd be quite enjoyable.

As Lady reached the end of the table, Ross lifted her up by the hair and with a quick flick of the wrist, managed to extend her back to her original length, full limbs and all. Breathing a sigh of relief, she started to turn around to thank him for restoring her, but stopped mid-turn when she noticed the final illusion sitting just offstage.

"Unfortunately," Ross said to the audience, moving to the side of Lady, "This show is ending very soon, but before I go I might as well see Lady off with one last illusion..." The illusion rolled onstage, stopping right next to Lady. "...the Guillotine."

Jaw frozen open, Lady stared at the illusion. It looked just like one of the classic wooden guillotines – no trick wiring or decorations anywhere, except for small faded patches of blood on the blade at the top.

So this is how it ends...