I Believe in Magic - Phan [#Wattys2017]

Chapter 21 - The Memory Room

"Phil?" he called. "Where are you?! I can't see!"

A light came on from nowhere, revealing where exactly they were.

It was a much larger area than what the tree hollow would have allowed. Huge, in fact. It was a theater, with hundreds of red velvet seats in lines. They were alone, no other people came anywhere close. The silence was eerie. Dan wasn't used to silence in such a large space.

The atmosphere didn't change however. Clearly, the theater was the solo magician's theater – where Phil performs. Where The Mystic used to perform. Where his dad would take him as often as possible.

Phil watched as Dan ran his fingers down the line of seats, touching the velvet cushions as he walked down the isle to the center area of the stage. Phil followed him and stopped where he stopped.

"This is WMF. The magician's theater."

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"This is a memory room."

He looked at him in surprise. "Memory room?"

"Dan," he said, taking both his hands. "when you sleep, and I sleep beside you, I can see all of your dreams. When you think, I know your thoughts. When you feel certain ways, I can sense it. I am connected to you." He took a quiet breath. "So I have created this room – the memory room – for you."

"What is it?"

"Sit. Whatever memory you want to see will be shown up there."

Dan took a seat, and Phil sat beside him. The giant stage in front of them flickered like a movie screen. On said screen began playing what Dan knew was one of his earliest memories:

He stood in line, one hand held tight to his ticket, the other gripping his father's pant leg to not become lost in the bustling hordes of people, all just as eager as him to get inside the huge building as he. When he stepped up to the door finally, he was greeted by an interested smile from the ticket handler.

"How old?" she asked his father.

"Go on, Dan. Tell her," he urged politely to his boy.

Dan, being shy and scared, stuttered around the pronunciation of the number "Five."

He handed the lady his ticket and was guided in through huge steel doors, which showed off the words

"W. F. M.

Magic, Dancers and More"

in large fancy print. Inside, his father sat him in a seat with decent viewing. The seats were of red velvet. Dan squirmed in anticipation until finally arranging a comfortable position. Many people surrounded him, and he was worried he would not get a good enough view. He was not vocal enough to ask anyone to move either, which worried him. Fortunately, the seat in front of him was not taken as the lights dimmed. A spotlight appeared on the huge stage before him....

The screen dimmed to black.

"My first visit to WFM," Dan awed, not looking away. Another memory began:

He fiddled with the backstage pass slung around his neck anxiously. Once the (as always) outstanding show had finished, the sixteen year old pushed his way to the dressing rooms, where he shook hands with several magicians and performers. He couldn't stop saying just how much he adored them all. As he rushed to meet one person after the other, his now middle-aged father followed behind.

He read the names on the doors until finding the gold plate that stated "JAMES ARLINE – MYSTIC"

"This is him," Dan whispered to his father.

"Then why are you standing out here?"

He inhaled nervously, and knocked on the door.

"Come in," a voice urged....

Blackness once more.

"That's when I met Mr. Arline. H-he was the one who passed the show down to me." A third memory appeared:

He sat in the hospital room with him. In that bed lay his father, dying from a cardiac arrest that they do not expect him to recover from. Dan silently stared at his father's still body.

He would be dead in the morning.

Dan stayed by his side in silence until the last breath....

Dan shut his eyes. "Stop, turn it off."

The stage turned from a screen back into a stage.

Dan felt a sense of uneasiness. Some of his deepest memories were shown up there, including the death of his beloved father. Flashbacks stormed his brain. He was sweating.

"Dan? Are you okay?" Phil asked.

Tears spilled from Dan's face. "I-I just... I'm just... a little emotional right now. I..."

"I'm sorry," Phil said. "I-I had no control over what memories came up! I didn't mean to show a bad one. Can I fix–"

"No, don't do anything. It was me who thought about it. I did it. I just... I'm sorry."

Phil felt so sorry for upsetting Dan. He stared the screen up again, putting himself in control. One of his own memories began to play:

"I've never performed for an audience before."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"You're so good. You're going to do great!"

He smiled. "Thanks, Laurie." He looked at her, and her shoulders were bare according to her dress. She had a deep, white scar across her right shoulder. He didn't want to ask, but she caught him staring.

She put her hand over it shyly.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to stare."

"It's aright," she sighed. "I got it when a magician was doing a knife-throwing act. He accidentally hit me. It's the reason we had to close down and why we're reopening now."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"I just wish I didn't have to be the one to bare the shame," she said, removing her hand and looking down at it. "A constant memory of the accident that could have ruined the business I love. The memory that made our best magician bail on us. It's a lot in one scar."

"Well," Phil said, an odd thought in his head. He put his hands over her shoulders. "Be careful what you wish for...."

The screen blacked out again.

Dan stared, wide eyed, noticing that it was Phil's magic healing left hand that touched Laurie's shoulder. "The scar... Laurie's scar... it was you. You healed it."

"Yeah, I know."

"Why?"

"She didn't like it. And there was nothing anyone else could do, so I did it."

That scar was the symbolic image of the failure that WFM had that one night, and it was the reminder that The Mystic abandoned his business. Phil had stepped in, and so quickly fixed it. Dan's unhappiness disappeared as he remembered exactly what made him fall in love with Phil: It was he who astounded him with magic. He who turned World's Finest back into a bustling, thriving business. He who made Dan feel better when his father passed.

Dan set his head on Phil's shoulder. "Thank you, Phil."

"For what?"

"Everything."

He grinned. "I haven't done much."

"I love you."

"Do you like this world? The full body illusion, I mean?"

"It's amazing."

"I'm going to take us back to the real world now, okay?"

"Yes."

"Close your eyes."

Dan did so, and when he opened, he found himself sitting in the same exact position on their bed, holding Phil's hands.