The Theater Play Through

Chapter 4- Are you trolling me?

(Author's Note: Sorry for the slight delay... However, the story still continues! Enjoy part 4 and expect part 5 soon!)

May’s POV:

I was so excited that I finally beat that stupid hallway. I wonder what was going to happen next, maybe there would be a new level in a different setting or something? My question was answered as the music came over the speakers once more, and various names and titles started to roll up the screen and disappear. “This must be the end credit screen.” I said to Annie. “It looks like we’ve beat the game, but why would that be it?”

“I’m not sure,” she said, a confused tone in her voice. “But I have a feeling that this isn’t all the game has in store for us. It wouldn’t make any sense for the game just to have you walk through a theater lobby twice.” She was right. The credit music in the background droned on and on as the list of people who worked on the game kept scrolling up and up. This seemed to be taking forever. Annie must’ve figured that was all the game had to offer, because she stood up, clicked off her camera, and carefully disassembled her tripod. Both of her things in hand, she put them back in her suitcase. “Well, I guess that’s it then,” she remarked, sitting back down on the stool and watching the screen. “Can you go back to the desktop, May? The music is getting kind of annoying.”

“Sure,” I responded, rolling the chair closer to the computer. I hit ESCAPE. Nothing happened, but then again programs like this never quit that easily. Undeterred, I hit the ever-reliable sequence CONTROL + ALT + DELETE. The music stopped, and the picture flickered as the home screen showed up on the computer.  “Alright, then.” I said, standing up from the computer desk and yawning. “Want to see if there’s anything good on TV?” Annie shrugged, and I shut down my computer and followed her out of the guest bedroom.

Later…

Annie insisted that we would watch the entirety of season 3 of America’s Next Top Model on the TV because she was ‘behind’. I was bored stupid, but Annie was really into the show and insisted that I stayed to watch ANTM with her. I was desperate for a distraction at this point. I casually stood up, and once I was out of sight sped-walked in the direction of my room at the end of the hall. I was in the middle of a new book I got from the bookstore I wanted to finis… Was that music? I just passed the guest room with the door still slightly ajar, and creaked open the door. I quickly looked inside. On the PC was the title screen of the theater! Why in the world was that still on the screen? I’m sure that I turned off my computer earlier. I know I did! “Annie!” I cried. I heard the creak of my sofa, and quick footsteps coming down the hall.

“What happened, May?” She asked, her eyes as round and big as dinner plates.

“Look!” She stepped inside the guest room/office and stopped dead. She slowly closed the door and quickly stepped out into the hallway.

“What the heck, May? Are you trolling me?” She asked. I shook my head.

“I thought you were trolling me!” I frantically whispered. We both stared at the closed door. If it wasn’t us, then who or what the heck did this?

“Alright, we have to do something about this,” she murmured quickly. “This is too much like a real life creepypasta,” her voice grew louder, “and you know what happens in creepypastas, May? Nothing good, that’s what!” She practically shouted the last part, making me jump.

“Ok here’s the plan,” I said, trying to calm her and myself down. “We’re going to go in there, or I’ll go in there,” I noticed the worried look on her face,  “I’ll quit the game, and everything’s going to be alright.” She nodded with an even more nervous expression on her face. “One.” I turned the doorknob to the office, and took a deep breath. “Two.” I inched the door open, and exhaled loudly. “Three!” I shoved open the door and made a mad dash for the computer that was still playing the title screen music. Annie looked on from the doorway as I sat down at the computer desk. I hit CTRL + ALT + DELETE as quickly as I could, and nothing happened. “Oh come on!” I exclaimed angrily. I slammed the desk with my hand and repeated the sequence again. This time, my attempts seemed to be successful, and the screen faded into darkness. Satisfied, I turned to leave, until I heard a gasp from Annie behind me. I whirled around, and the character was back in the lobby once more! No way… No way this was happening. I heard Annie run out of the room and down the hallway. She returned carrying a stool and plopped it down next to the swivel chair. “What are you doing?” I asked her. She was so worried a second ago.

“Don’t you see?” She responded, gesturing at the screen, with an almost maniac gleam in her eye. “Maybe something new is going to happen! Maybe the game has more to offer this time!” She could be right, but I honestly had a really bad feeling about all of what was going on. This scenario seemed all too familiar to me after the timeless hours I spent scrolling through nosleep and reading what others had to say about their experiences. Whether this situation was actually paranormal or not, everything now had to come down to using my common sense to get through it all. I deliberated internally for a few seconds until I reached a conclusion. All right, I was going to do this. I was going to face this situation head on, just so Annie could get her scoop. This was probably going to be such a bad idea…

I looked over at Annie, who was again taking notes in her notepad. “Should I really do it?” I asked, with a worried tone in my voice.

“Let’s just see what happens,” she bluntly responded, pointing at the screen with the end of her pen.

“Here goes nothing…” I said, and pressed the up key on the keyboard. Like before, the character moved forward deeper into the dark lobby, and we approached the two corridors that loomed out of the darkness. However, something was different. In the place where the ticket taker usually stood was empty.

“What happened to the ticket taker?” Annie asked, her voice quivering slightly. I wasn’t too sure, and really I didn’t want to know, but there was nothing else to do except to go down one of the corridors. I pressed the up key once more, and as soon as the footstep sound played over the speakers, the marquee lights lit up both of the corridors, and the text box appeared over the empty space the same time the sound clip played once more.  Ticket taker: THANK YOU PLEASE ENJOY THE MOVIE. This was getting really creepy… However, at this point there was really no other option but to press on. Now, we were faced with the decision on what passage to take. “Which side do we take?” She asked. I shrugged.

“It doesn’t look like it matters really,” I said. Just to make light of the situation, I continued. “I’ll just use the ever-reliable eeny meeny miny moe method!” I pointed back and forth from right to left over and over again until my finger landed on the corridor to the right. “Here we go then.” I said, and I maneuvered the character to enter the right hand corridor. The corridor was as dark as usual, and we reached the end pretty quickly. The screen faded to black, but instead of the scene changing back to the lobby, it stayed black with nothing happening. I pressed up on the keyboard, and to my surprise the footstep sound effect still played! I held down the up key, and the sound effect played over the speakers in one continuous echoing loop. All of a sudden, the effect stopped completely, even when I held down the up key. Now what? Did I choose the wrong corridor?