On Screen, Or Not On Screen

October 31, 2022: Halloween Night

The sun was finally beginning to set as it casted mixtures of orange and yellows across the sky. The air was crisp as a slight breeze came through my barely rolled down window in the back seat.

"You guys, I'm so excited about going to this theatre!" my friend Nathan excitedly announced from the driver seat.

Myself, Nathan, and our other two friends Nancy and Clay all decided that this year we were finally going to take a trip to the abandoned theatre that resided right outside of our city.

"I am too! This is going to be so thrilling!" Nancy exclaimed, clapping her hands together from the seat next to me in the back. "How about you Samantha?"

I looked over to her as she asked me the question. "Yeah, I'm excited too," I calmly replied, not sounding as excited as her or Nathan.

"Oh come on Sam, you need to sound more convincing than that," Clay said from the passenger seat as he turned to look at me. The only thing I could do was smile slightly at his statement. I was excited, but at the same time, I was really nervous.

"We're here!" Nathan called from the front, leaning closer to the windshield as he turned the wheel to move the car towards the parking lot of the theatre. Finding a faded lined parking spot, he parked the SUV and all of us hopped out.

Looking up at the abandoned theatre, it obviously looked extremely creepy as the sun finally settled, and the only illumination it received was from the street lights. "Let's go in!" Nancy cheerfully instructed as we all followed behind her.

We somehow found our way into one of the auditoriums filled with worn out theatre chairs. Cobwebs littered the place. "How do we even know if this place still functions? Those kids from school could have been lying," I pointed out.

"Oh it will work. Watch this," Clay announced as he ran to the top of the stairs in the room, finding a secret room that led him to the projector room. A few loud bangs and cuss words later, the projector came to life with a few sputters as a blurry picture began flashing on the screen.

"What movie is this?" Nathan called out to Clay as he was coming out from the secret room.

"It's apparently called On Screen, Or Not On Screen."

"That's a weird ass name for a movie," Nathan commented.

I couldn't help but giggle because it really was a weird name for a movie. The others laughed as well as we made our way up the auditorium stairs to find a good seat to watch the movie.

"Oh shit. I forgot to hit the damn play button," Clay complained as he ran back up the stairs so he could start the movie. "Did it work?!" He yelled from the projector room.

"Yes!" Nathan yelled out.

Running back down the stairs, Clay came and sat next to me on my left as the movie began playing. Of course the movie was about a ruthless killer that stalked teenagers. One of the teens running from the killer tripped over something on the floor, giving the killer an advantage to catching up.

"Ok seriously. What dumbass is gonna fall when being chased by a killer? I mean come on!" Nathan whisper yelled into my right ear, as Nancy giggled at what he said. "Now you're going to die dumbass!" He yelled at the massive movie screen.

Not long after he yelled out, I caught a glimpse of something moving in front of the screen. I soon realized it was a person. "Who the hell is that?" I whispered to Clay, panic in my voice.

"Hey! Dumbass! We're in the middle of watching a movie so could you fucking move? Please and thank you!" Nathan yelled out.

The person standing there turned his head slightly, some of the movie flashing over his body. On the screen, the camera zoomed into the killers face covered in a busted up white mask, with jagged eye holes and mouth carved into it. My eyes widened when I realized that the killer on the screen matched the one that was not on the screen.

"This is so exciting! Cosplay!" Nancy squeaked out, clapping her hands together once more.

"Nice costume dude!" Clay yelled out.

My heart was hammering in my chest as my friends kept yelling out to the strange person. Why was he dressed just like the killer? Looking frantically back and forth between him and my friends, my brain somehow made the connection about the strange man and the movie title.

Walking at a rapid pace towards us with a large blade that matched the one in the movie, the four of us stood up quickly and went the opposite way to get out of the auditorium.

"What an adrenaline rush! I love that guys energy!" Nancy yelled, completely oblivious to the situation.

"RUN!" Nathan yelled out from behind us.

Running quickly, we all found our way towards the exit, but when I dared to take a glance behind me, Nathan tumbled to the ground. "ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?! I'M THE DUMBASS FROM THE MOVIE!" Getting back to his feet, he caught back up with us. "I have a gun in the SUV, in the glove compartment! Samantha, catch!" Nathan yelled as I caught the keys since I was the closest to the vehicle. Fumbling with the keys, I unlocked the SUV and hopped in, reaching into the glove compartment. I pulled out a pistol and got out of the vehicle, aiming at the killer.

He continued stalking towards us and as he got closer, I pulled the trigger. A thin line of water sprayed him on his mask. "A FUCKING WATER GUN NATHAN?!" I screamed.

"Ah shit! I totally got ripped off from that pawn shop," he said, sounding defeated.

The killer looked at us and shook his head from annoyance.