Allie Meers spent more time in the nurses office than in class these days, it seemed. Sitting on the little cot designated for students, she waited for the nurse to come back to the office after she'd been called out to the playground proper to help another student who was, arguably, in worse shape than Allie was currently. After all, all that was wrong with Allie was a few scrapes from when she'd fallen this morning. Or, rather, been pushed down. Same story as every day, she'd been chased by two older girls from the nearby middle school who'd made her their primary target thanks to her odd behavior, and by odd behavior, this meant primarily her attempts to practice magic.
Ever since Allie had gone to that birthday party and met The Marvelous Marcie, she'd been enamored with magic. Now, being 11, she had recently gotten a magic kit for her own birthday, and had spent every waking moment that she wasn't doing schoolwork practicing magic. The magic kit had come with a VHS tape, performed by a man who simply went by the name Mr. Magic, and Allie had damn nearly worn the tape out already she'd studied it so much. Sitting outside on the bench near the playground, after escaping the nurses office, Allie was now re-reading the little pamphlet that had also come with the kit when her cousin, Megan, sat down beside her. "Do you wanna come over this weekend?" Megan asked. "Okay," Allie said, not even looking up from her pamphlet. "What are you reading?" Megan asked, scooting closer so she could see. "Mr. Magic's Guide To Trickery," Allie said, "he teaches you how to do very basic magic tricks, and then you can use those to learn how to do more advanced ones." "Maybe we could try them," Megan said, sipping on her juice box, causing Allie to look over at her. "Yeah?" Allie asked, "we could get costumes!" And with that one little spark, an entire identity was born. Allie and Megan grew up with eachother, just down the street from one another, and as neither had any siblings, they spent all their free time - or at least Allie's free time, seeing as Megan did have friends - together. Megan didn't mind though, Allie was her best friend, and she loved spending time with her. They often had entire weekend slumber parties, which would progress all the way through college, and would even eventually move to Vegas together to pursue magic as a career as a team. But before any of that could even be a remote possibility...first there was the talent show. *** "I'm buying a tiger," Allie said as she and Megan sat on Megan's back porch, sharing a cigarette while Megan's husband, Jeff, took care of Lake inside. Megan's brow raised in surprise, but she just shook her head and chuckled. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised," she replied, "eventually it all comes down to big animals. That's where the real money is." "It's more that it's, like, a rite of passage," Allie said, taking the cigarette back from Megan and taking a long drag, "you know, it's Vegas, Vegas magicians use big cats, it's just...it's what you do. Besides, I always liked the idea. I remember seeing Mr. Magic do it on that VHS when we were kids, and it just always looked fun." "I guess, if you're not scared of being mauled," Megan said, the both of them laughing. "The odds of that are astronomical," Allie said, "but, sure, worthy to keep in mind." And though the odds were, indeed, astronomical, a few months later that's exactly what would happen. Allie had invited Megan and Jeff to her first real show - after months of practice - with her tiger, Domino, and as Megan had predicted, Allie was indeed mauled. And Allie had only gotten Domino because she felt she'd hit a ceiling in terms of progress, because without a partner, how much could she realistically do? So really, the mauling was Megan's fault, not that either of them would ever openly acknowledge this. But for tonight...for tonight it was just a fun little discussion. They had no way of knowing the repercussions. *** Allie and Megan were sitting in Megan's bedroom as they tried to figure out what would be the easiest trick to master first. The interlocking rings were a popular choice, of course, but so were card tricks, even if they required a bit of advanced sleight of hand. They continued to flip back and forth between multiple pages in Mr. Magic's Guide To Trickery, only to repeatedly doubt their choices. Allie, lying on her back on the floor, annoyed at Megan's indecision, was just staring at the ceiling. "Did you put all these glow in the dark stars up here?" Allie asked, pointing up. "When I was like 5, my dad held me up and had me stick 'em," Megan said, "they're nice. Pretty." "They are pretty cool," Allie agreed, "maybe we should use stars and moons and stuff on our costumes. They're kinda spooky and mysterious, right?" "Are magicians spooky?" Megan asked, and Allie shrugged. "I just think it'd look neat," Allie mumbled. And while they wouldn't exactly decide on a trick that particular day, Allie's remarks about stars and moons didn't go forgotten, because a handful of years later, when they started practicing professionally, Megan had costumes made for them, and incorporated the imagery Allie had suggested, based on the costumes they had made themselves in elementary school for the talent show. Course, they hadn't exactly decided to be in the talent show just yet, but it was a decision that was soon to be made, and it would change the course of their lives forever. *** Allie was lying in the hospital, semi conscious, hopped up on heavy painkillers and her arm completely bandaged. Machines surrounded her bed - some for drip feeding, some for helping her breath - and the soft quiet humming they sounds they produced made her feel oddly more at ease. She didn't want to blame Domino. She certainly didn't want to blame herself. If anything, she wanted to blame Megan. If Megan hadn't met her husband, if Megan hadn't had a child, if Megan hadn't walked away from the act, then Allie probably never would've gotten so reckless. Megan's level headedness had been the one constant thing keeping Allie from derailing their entire lives, but now that she was gone, that bumper was as well, and Allie had made increasingly dangerous and stupid decisions, finally culminating in one that outright nearly killed her. The door to the hospital room opened, and Megan entered. She looked like hell, which made Allie feel a little bit better. At least she wasn't the only one affected by this. Megan pulled a chair up to the bed and, resting her purse from her shoulder onto the back of the chair before sitting down, legs crossed, pulling her hair back into a messy bun, sighed. Allie rolled her head towards Megan, her face still bruised and scratched from the attack. "...for what it's worth," Megan said, "...it was a pretty good show up until that point." "That's nice of you to say," Allie whispered, her voice scratchy and rough. "And, I'm not speaking for myself personally but, there's probably some people out there who thought it was pretty good even when that happened. Some people are into some really sick forms of entertainment," Megan continued, making Allie laugh, or laugh as best as she could before coughing; Megan smiled weakly and looked at her bandaged arm, hanging from a sling, before asking, "does it hurt?" "It nearly got ripped in half, what do you think?" Allie replied. "...it was like...some form of fucked up karma," Megan said quietly, and that was the closest she ever got to taking responsibility for what had happened, even if it wasn't entirely her fault. Allie, and Allie knew this herself, should've known better than to try something so iffy. A tiger? Seriously? "Have you talked to my mom and dad?" Allie asked, and Megan, lowering her brow in confusion, shook her head; Allie's eyes softened as she said, "oh...because they haven't come by." This hit Megan like a truck. Certainly they didn't exactly live nearby, but to not even show up? Were they that ashamed of her career? It was just goddamn magic, after all. Or was it just too emotionally challenging to process what had happened? To see it up close? Were they coping by keeping a distance? Still, that wasn't an excuse for not coming to see your own child after they were mauled by a tiger before a live audience. "...that's...despicable," Megan said, reaching out and putting her hand on one of Allie's sheet covered legs, adding, "that's...I'm so sorry." "You're the only one who's stopped by," Allie said, before starting to cry. It was in this moment that Allie realized she had no real friends. Even the person she had assumed most of her life had been her best friend - her own cousin with whom she'd spent years fine tuning and honing her skills with - hadn't really been her friend. At least that's how it felt. She was completely alone. So fine, she thought, if she was going to be alone, she was going to do whatever she wanted. Screw the consequences, right? When you have nobody depending on you, you might as well act how you want. But that wouldn't last forever. Eventually someone would depend on her, and she would have to get her shit more or less together. But for right now... ...for right now she felt like they were just the same little girls who'd once been in school, learning magic, unsure of what horrors the future held. *** Megan, surprisingly, wasn't the one who was nervous about joining the talent show. If anything, she was far more interested in the social accolades it might bring. Allie was the one who had problems performing in front of others. Oh sure, they'd done little tricks here and there for their respective parents, a few friends, a teacher or two, but this was an entire audience of their peers, peers who, let's face it, generally weren't the most receptive to children with unconventional interests. How had Megan even talked Allie into this? Pacing backstage, going on in scant moments after weeks of practice, Allie herself couldn't understand how things had come to this point. She wanted to do magic, sure, but she never really considered the fact that you often had to do these sorts of things in front of large crowds of people. She leaned against the wall, tugging her cape Megan's mom had made for them tightly around herself, and shut her eyes tightly. She could hear the music from another students act - likely a dance number, as that was what most kids did - and the cheering that went along with it, and that only made her all the more scared. "Are you okay? You look bad," Megan asked, as Allie opened her eyes only to find her cousin, also in costume, standing in front of her. "I'm...scared," Allie said quietly, almost ashamed to admit it. "Why are you scared? We worked so hard to do this! Now's our chance to prove it!" Megan said happily. To Megan, it seemed like it was something bigger, but to Allie, it had just been a way to do something with her cousin. Something just for the two of them. The tables would turn on this eventually, of course, with Allie being the one who'd wind up having a full on career in the arts of magic, while Megan would retreat back into civilian life, almost as if she were ashamed of what she'd done in the field. But for right now, Megan was the driving force between them in getting others to notice their skills and talents and abilities. And yet, when the time came for them to go out on that stage, they excelled beyond their wildest dreams, and everyone else's expectations. They made a great team, and this would only be further proven as the years went on. A few weeks after this moment, Allie sat down and wrote a letter to Mr. Magic, using the address given on his VHS. In it, she talked about how much his work meant to her, and how he'd inspired her to do magic herself, and how she wanted to be just like him. A few months later, she surprisingly got a response in the mail. In it, Mr. Magic wrote: "Dear Allie, thank you for your kind words! Knowing that I can inspire the youth of today to attempt something as old fashioned as magic, when there's so many other far more interesting things out there to do, makes me feel like what I do really does matter. I hope you continue, and reach heights you could only dream of. I believe in you. I have enclosed with this letter a signed photo. Your friend, Mr. Magic" Allie hung it on the wall of her bedroom, and when she got each subsequent living space in Vegas - finally landing in the suite she was in now - she made sure that this was always the first thing put up on the wall when she got settled in. The photo and the letter were framed side by side, and Allie walked by it everyday, taking strength from the only person she'd ever truly admired and looked up to. Who knew that, years down the road, she'd have the same effect on someone herself that Mr. Magic had had on her. *** It had been a birthday gift. Zoe loved magic, and loved Allie Meer's magic specifically, having seen a few little snippets on special broadcasts about life in and around Vegas, focused specifically on the arts and culture of the city. So when her birthday came around this year, she asked her parents to take her to see Allie's show, and what a show it would be, after all, she would have a tiger! That evening after the show, sitting in the backseat of her parents car, watching the streetlights overhead as they passed by, Zoe couldn't help but think about the show. She'd begged her parents to take her for her birthday, and what had she gotten? A spectacular once in a lifetime event where a woman was mauled by a tiger. She wasn't exactly listening to her parents talk in the front seats, but she could hear them whispering. "What an awful thing," her mother said, "god, those screams. I guess there's a reason most magicians don't use big cats anymore." "Poor woman didn't deserve that," her father chimed in, "I really hope she recovers well. God, and to think we took a child to this, that had to be awful to witness." But the thing was, it wasn't awful to witness. If anything, the excitement of the moment had convinced Zoe that this was the career she wanted, and from that moment on, she made a concerted effort to mimic her idol, Allie Meers. If only she'd known what the outcome of this would be. But at the time, she was just a little girl, and much like Mr. Magic had been to Allie, Allie was nothing but an inspiration to young Zoe Fitch, and it was why, even in the present, she couldn't entirely turn her back on Allie, regardless of her actions. Besides, she'd known Megan had done that. She wouldn't be another Megan. The last time someone had abandoned Allie, she'd been mauled by a tiger. What would happen if Zoe walked away too? *** Allie was walked into a room and told to sit, which she promptly did. Tropper plopped down a nice hot mug of coffee in front of her, before seating himself down across from her, beside Siskel. Allie hesitantly reached out, took the mug by the handle and sipped slowly, before reaching out and picking up a bear claw from the open box of donuts between them on the table. "So...you guys just wanted someone to have brunch with, or?" Allie asked. "Miss Meers," Siskel said, sighing slowly and cupping her hands on the table, "we didn't want to do things this way, but at this point, after all the wild goose chases, we felt we had no choice. We're sorry for the, well...well it was a kidnapping, I'm not gonna sugarcoat it." "You said you needed my help?" Allie asked, and Siskel nodded as Tropper opened his jacket and pulled out a white rectangular envelope, setting it on the table and sliding it across the table at Allie, who slowly took it, opened it and pulled out the contents; after glancing over them momentarily, she looked back up and asked, "...what is all this?" "They're receipts. They're proof of massive tax fraud, money laundering, embezzlement, everything under the financial crime sun," Siskel said, "and it all ties back to your boss, the owner of The Card Shark." "...wait, what?" Allie asked, "I thought...I thought you were after me for the whole, you know, governors son thing?" "We were, initially," Tropper said, "that was before we discovered his dealings with Tony, and other casino owners. But we need you, Miss Meers." "Need me for what?" Allie asked, visibly shaking. "We need you to help us arrest the governor of Vegas," Siskel said. That, Allie had to admit, wasn't what she had been expecting.
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ABOUT
Allie Meers is what she dreamed of being since she was a little girl...a successful Vegas magician. The only problem now is she can't make all her problems disappear; Allie grapples with her strained relationship, crippling addictions and FBI agents on her tail, all while trying to stay at the top of her career. Archives
December 2023
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