Escape artistry

19. Trapped (now)

A photo of us at the brunch was leaked because of course it was.

Escape artist Tobias Larson found sharing kisses and cakes with his male assistant Izuna Uchiha.

"We didn't have cake, actually", I said.

"Let them look at us and weep", Tobirama said, hugging me from behind, nibbling my ear.

I loved him for saying that.

But that meant people were looking at me as I sat at the very front of the theatre to watch his show. I ignored them, crossing one leg over the other to make my long, black satin dress fall just right for him to see when he came on stage.

It wasn't that hard ignoring the staring crowd, to be honest; I was too occupied being nervous. My skin trembled beneath the silky black fabric of my dress and down my bare arms, and my teeth were shattering. That the man could have such an effect on me even if I'd seen him that very morning... The entire week, in fact; I hadn't been at my own apartment at all.

This time, the show was in a different theatre. This time, Tobias had a show of his own. The audience didn't sit at tables but in red velvet chairs put in rows like in a cinema. Some even stood on the golden balustrades above. I had a front-row seat, of course, courtesy of my boyfriend.

The red velvet curtains were pulled aside, revealing him and an amazing backdrop of space; a burning sun, several glowing planets, little stars and a glowing moon. My favourite was, however, Tobirama, who contrasted it all by wearing black; a simple shirt, skinny trousers. I felt my eyes glitter as I applauded him like everyone else in the audience. But as opposed to everyone else, I remained seated; a power display on my part.

His eyes immediate found mine and filled with so much love, I felt myself becoming shy.

To my great surprise, he blew me a kiss. As he grabbed the microphone, he kept looking at me.

"That's my boyfriend, right there", he told the audience and pointed, and I gasped.

But the audience loved it, cheering for him. Could love really be this simple? I had thought he'd want to keep me a secret, but he looked so proud.

"Isn't he lovely? Couldn't get him to assist me, but having him watch me is a bit more..." He winked at the audience. "Exciting, don't you think?"

The audience seemed to agree, including me.

The show started and he was amazing. Not only was he technically skilled, but he was also enormously entertaining, being warm and kind to the audience as well as outrageously funny.

For his final number, he had brought in his tank. He had confessed to me he was somewhat tired of that number, but the audience seemed to demand it. Removing it would be, he had said, like being a famous artist giving an arena concert and not singing their most famous song.

Not that I minded. I had only seen it twice, and he was shirtless and wet in it, so...

He was tied up by a woman while I tried to suppress my delicious jealousy. Then, he was sunk down into the water with the knife. The blanket was put over it, and the timer started, and then...

Nothing. For two minutes. He usually broke out before two minutes, he'd told me.

A soft murmur started to break out among the audience after two thirty, and some stood up as if trying to get a better view, which of course was pointless. My hand was over my mouth, and I felt myself starting to panic.

Maybe, he tried to make it more exciting for me? In that case, I would give him a stern talking-to tonight. I was not impressed, only terrified.

When three minutes had passed, even the assistants looked worried.

"Help him!" somebody screamed after four minutes.

And out came two backstage workers, each with an axe, and they pulled the blanket down.

I wasn't prepared they would do that. Of course, they had no time evacuating the theatre. Wrote helping him. But even if I would have been prepared, would I have looked away?

I would never forget what I saw for the rest of my life. He wasn't fighting for air. He wasn't panicking. Instead, he was curled up into a foetal position. He was free of his ropes and they lay alongside with the knife at the bottom of the tank, yet he didn't move except once every few seconds, when he convulsed. He was unconscious, and no wonder; he was trained to hold his breath for three minutes, and it had now passed five.

And then, I realised something. He was at the bottom of the tank, meaning he had water in his lungs. The thought made feel as if I would drown myself.

Tears were streaming down my face as the stage workers used the axes to crush the tank, and Tobirama's slump body was poured out like the water when they succeeded. I wanted to scream his name, but I was frozen. Had we come all the way together only for me to lose him again, this time to death?

The curtains were pulled close, but not before I noticed the stage workers check his pulse and start CPR on him. The cries and screams of the audience became audible to me again. A theatre worker came and asked everyone to please calmly leave the theatre.

I didn't. I tried running up the stage and came to the curtains but there, I was stopped.

"But I'm his boyfriend!" I cried.

"I know, dear, but we can't let you in right now. You need to leave."

I stared at the worker, wondering if he was out of his mind. How could I leave my most beloved, the person that was part of my soul, back there alone? At the same time, I understood why he had asked me to. There were no solid walls, and the sound of them doing CPR on my boyfriend were more terrible than anything I've heard in my entire life; I could hear bones crack.

So I walked to the back of the theatre and out into the lobby. I took my phone out and dialled Tobirama's agent.

"Hello?" My voice cracked. "Can you come pick me up?"

Then, I sat down on the floor and cried.