A Life Only In Theatres

I was lying in bed contemplating my existence, which seems kind of harsh on the Friday after you graduated from high school. But my mother had died a few years back, my father couldn’t even get out of his drunken stupor to come to his only son’s graduation and my girlfriend had broken up with me without any explanation other than seeming mad so really, I only ended up going with my best friend Marius. Sometimes, I thought he was only being nice though.

He had a full scholarship to get out of here to anywhere he wanted by the end of the summer, while I had nothing going for me. He could have celebrated by going to the after parties and getting drunk like most teenagers but he spent the day with me and I wondered why.

I looked up the ceiling listening to music, my head running over memories, mainly all the things I had fucked up in my life. Marius told me I tended to overthink, that I wasn’t as bad as I thought I was. But my barely passing grade in Math would say otherwise.

The music was interrupted by a text alert and I picked up my phone. It was Marius, I don’t know who else it would be, he was the only one who bothered to text me.

Wanna check out that abandoned movie theatre? He asked.

Why did he want to go there? What did he think we were going to find? As much as I enjoyed Marius’ company, I questioned why he enjoyed mine. He said I was a good listener and he liked that I wasn’t the most talkative person, what a nice way to put into words that I was quiet, and secretive.

When I and Marius met, I never thought we’d be friends. He loved sports, he practically lived on the court and in the pool while I was a bookworm and movie fanatic. My idea of fun was a night in with a good book or movie. He didn’t seem to mind though. I had made him watch Dead Poets Society and Mary Shelley and somehow, he seemed entranced the whole time just as much as I was. I was glad I hadn’t bored him to death. We started having movie marathons every weekend. They had slowed near the end of the year though, with his games and getting ready for graduation, and since my girlfriend had broken up with me a few months prior, I was lonely.

Another text alert came through.

You better not be ignoring me, we haven’t seen each other in a few days and wasting away in bed isn’t going to do you any good. He commented.

I sighed, laying back in bed before sitting up and responding.

Okay, I’ll meet you under the end streetlight. I replied.

See you there. ;) He replied.

I got up, pulling on some jeans and a hoodie to combat the night’s air outside. I fixed my black hair, I looked like a depressed emo kid unintentionally, I shrugged at myself in the mirror before shutting off the light and exiting my room.

“Where are you going?” my father asked leaning against the wall in hallway. He seemed a little soberer than he had in a while, but he was holding a beer bottle so he was on his way to being drunk again.

“Out with Marius,” I replied continuing down the hall.

He said nothing more and I made it to the front door and slipped my converse shoes on. I opened the door and shut it behind me looking up at the cloudy, navy-grey sky. The streets were only lit by streetlamps and the yellow lights coming from the houses. I walked slowly down the sidewalk to the end of the block where there was a four-way stop to meet Marius. It seemed he wasn’t here yet, he lived on the other side of the four-way stop down the block from where I lived. I brought out my phone to see if he had texted me while I was walking.

That was when I felt someone grab me around the shoulders. It freaked me out and I nearly dropped my phone.

“Did I scare you?” Marius joked, messing up my hair.

I looked at him, he was taller than me by a few inches and had bleach-blond hair hanging over one side of his head, reaching down to his chin while the sides were shaved. He looked like my polar opposite.

“Yeah,” I replied quietly.

“So, how have you been?” he asked as we started down the street towards the city’s outskirts, where the abandoned movie theatre sat.

I shrugged.

“Did you hear back from any of the colleges?” he asked.

The truth was I hadn’t applied anywhere, I didn’t know what I wanted to do much less where I wanted to go. But if I had told him that he would have applied for me from here to the Mexico and Canadian borders.

“No,” I replied.

“I’m sure you’ll get in somewhere,” he commented.

I liked that he thought I was worth a spot at some place somewhere, because my life felt pretty worthless otherwise. The roads still had some cars and people about but it was starting to die down as it got later and darker. As we neared the empty, expansive parking lot that the theatre used to use for its patrons, Marius hooked arms with me and pulled me along. The sign above was still aglow with sign letters reading ONLY IN THEATRES still up but the movie's name had been removed or stolen long ago.

I looked back, worried someone would see us sneaking in and calling the police on us. All I needed was to get arrested for trespassing and ruin Marius' very clean record. I destroyed my own life enough, I didn’t need to doom him with my bad luck, too. But the street seemed eerily silent and still then.

“Come on,” Marius exclaimed and pulled me along again.

I stumbled forward with him and we came to the door. He released me and pressed on the door which was clearly locked. I don’t know what he expected. He smiled back at me and grabbed my sleeve dragging me around to the side of the large building where there was a side door with light glowing under it. I noticed the door wasn’t latched properly and Marius pulled it open.

I expected an alarm to trigger or someone to jump out from the darkness and scare us like Marius had me but nothing happened. The hall was bathed in yellow light and the floor was carpeted with that funny multi-colored carpeting you saw in a lot of movie theatres.

“Are you coming?” Marius questioned as I stared down the hall, offering me a hand as if I was supposed to be scared or something, maybe I should’ve been.

Eventually, he grabbed my hand and tugged me inside, I stumbled right into him, knocking him over and we ended up on the carpet, me on top of him. I blushed embarrassed by my clumsiness.

“Sorry,” I muttered. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he replied smiling.

I went to lift myself up and noticed a pair of boots a foot away from us.

I look up and I come face to face with the pale face of a man with a handlebar mustache that was probably popular in the 1940s. His uniform was red with gold buttons and he wore white gloves. Something about him was off, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

“Sorry, sir. We didn’t mean to intrude. The theatre just looked cool from outside, we didn’t come here to vandalize anything, we were just exploring,” I exclaimed quickly.

“Welcome to Dante’s Eternal Theatre, do you wish to see your past lives?” he asks instead of yelling at us or throwing us out.