"Well that was good," James held the door open for Emily as they left the building.
"Yes, it was," Emily smiled cheekily and James took her hand, forgetting all about the door and letting it hit Rory in the face.
"Thanks James!" Rory called to an oblivious James, too busy talking with Emily to notice. He was nearly invisible, his black duster blended into the dark. Sam laughed, appearing behind Rory.
The seven of them, James, Emily, Rory, Sam, Helena, Brendan and Salar, had just finished eating a warm dinner at Five Guys, their favorite restaurant. Rory and his friends always went there for dinner. Or at least, that's what they did. Rory didn't really have any other friends.
Rory had no friends at his school in Pickering High, unless you counted his sister, which he didn't. His only six friends all attended school in Ajax, leaving Rory to face every day alone. As he watched his friends mingle -James and Emily in their own bubble, Sam, Brendan and Helena chatting together happily, Salar rambling on to whoever listened- Rory felt left out. Like he didn't really belong anywhere.
"I don't even like Night at the Museum," Helena said loudly, complaining as usual. "I never even saw the first one."
"Too bad," Salar said. Helena flicked a straw wrapper at him.
They had to cross the street to reach the Cineplex theatre. It was dark, cars flashing by with quick streaks of light, and a lamp post harshly illuminating excited faces. It was cold too, the wind creeping up under clothes and raising goose bumps.
Helena was the first to bolt across the street, dragging Brendan behind her. James and Emily quickly followed suit. Reluctantly, Sam, who wasn't very good out in the real world, followed.
Rory followed last, looking out at the cars washing him in an accusatory light as he passed. For a second, he nearly lost his footing as he stared into one of the windows. He couldn't see much because of the glaring lights, but something about the person inside didn't look right.
When they all reached the theatres, they huddled together in line, waiting to buy tickets. James and Emily agreed to go stand by the concession stand to save a place in line. They had all eaten, but it was an unspoken rule that they eat even more junk at the theatre.
"Um, I'm going to go to the bathroom," Sam said, his bright blue coat nearly glowed under the lights.
"Have fun, bubble boy," Brendan called as he left and Helena smirked at the remark.
Rory stood next to Helena and looked over at Brendan. Out of everyone, Brendan was the person he knew the least. Actually, he didn't know Brendan at all. They had spoken maybe one time. Or half a time. He was pretty quiet, and avoided looking at Rory as much as possible. Rory wasn't sure if he hated him especially or if he was like that with everyone.
Brendan turned in that moment, catching Rory staring, and Rory quickly ducked his head, crumpling his ticket in his clenched hand.
Salar, being Salar, kept up an easy trail of chatter while everyone else looked around awkwardly. Rory didn't understand half of what Salar said, but that was part of his charm.
Helena was staring at the floor, listening to music. This was his first time meeting Helena in person, as well as Brendan and Salar. Her puffy dark hair shielded her face and prevented Rory from seeing it. She was also strangely quiet today, not at all like in the group chat they all shared.
Rory was about to start a conversation with her, but suddenly she whipped around, her dark eyes wide.
A scream had erupted from deeper into the theatre, high and shrill and raising the hairs off of Rory's arms. Salar gasped and Brendan jumped back, crashing into Helena and Rory.
A women appeared, holding the screaming child. The two of them came running through the theatre lobby. The women's hair flew behind her and her face was red and puffy. Suddenly, the little boy beside her stopped walking, so suddenly it looked like a string has been pulled. He sat hard on the floor and his tiny body started to convulse against itself. The whole room was frozen.
"Run!" The woman's scream was garbled and shrill. "Get out of here! They're coming! We're going, going, going-"
They had come. A dozen of them? Twenty? Who was counting. Dead, sagging white skin hanging over empty foggy eyes. Black patches crawled up hands and legs.
The careful glass pane of silence was shattered. People's voices rose out of chaos and swallowed each other in a desperate fury to be heard, to express their terror. They scampered over each other, like animals. Rory spun around, his heart in his throat. Helena was nowhere in sight. Salar and Brendan were still staring at the crippled inhuman things. Rory gave the two boys a shove and stumbled out of the theatre, looking around for Helena and James and Emily. He dropped his crumpled ticket on the floor and ran; he wouldn't be needing that anymore.
