Chapter Text
January
Sam McCall
Denver Colorado
Chapter1
He was so tired. The cinema he worked in was quiet and some lights were already turned off. His shift should have ended 15 minutes ago but there were still some kids sitting around. Apparently watching the end credits was something kids nowadays enjoyed doing. They didn’t look like they were going to move in the next 10 minutes and Sam got bored of waiting so he started to clean the floors. This was one of the only parts of his job that he actually liked. There weren’t any kids running around or stressed parents asking for another bag of popcorn after their had children dumped it on the ground. He could just listen to some music through his headphones and be excited for the nearing end of the day.
He just started cleaning a new corner of the room when the main entrance of the cinema opened. Sam turned his head and saw a young man running through the door. He looked frightened as he slammed the door shut behind him and tried to block it. Sam jumped towards him. “Hey what do you think you’re doing dude?” The haunted looking guy looked Sam in the eyes and smiled in a weird way. “Look kid”, he said slowly. “Lock that door or we will have a bigger problem than some dirty floors.”
Sam was confused but something in the guy’s voice and eyes convinced him. He took the key chain that his boss had given to him out of his pocket and locked the door. The weird guy grinned slightly and nodded his head. “Thank you. I don’t know if this is going to keep it out for much longer. Is there another room here with a stronger door?” Sam snickered. “This is a cinema. What are you expecting?” The other man laughed and suddenly looked like he had forgotten something. He stretched his hand out. “Hey buddy. My name is Tony.” Sam was confused but took his hand and said: “Hey I’m Sam.”
Tony nodded and started walking towards the movie room closest to them. Before Sam could follow him, a loud bang made him turn around. There was a scared looking girl out front. She didn’t look much older than Sam. Maybe 17 or 18. She was crying and was hitting her fist against the thick glass door. Sam moved towards the door trying to unlock it. “Don’t do that.” Tony said loudly from behind him. “C’mon we have to go to a secure room.” Sam stared at Tony. “We cannot let her stay outside. Its freaking cold outside. Winter in Colorado are like a freezer. She will freeze and she looks like she’s running from somebody.” Tony shook his head and grabbed Sam’s arm. “Please trust me. She’s dangerous and no she’s not running from somebody. I’m running from her.” Sam stared at Tony for a second and then started laughing really hard. “You’re running from her? What is she, your crazy girlfriend? Or an ex?” “Yeah that would be nice.”, Tony said still trying to get Sam to move away from the door. “Okay listen to me. She’s some girl from I don’t know where. That doesn’t matter though. It’s not her I’m trying to get away from.” “But you just said…” Sam tried to say but Tony interrupted him. “It’s what is inside her.” Sam was so confused. “Organs? Or bones?” Tony looked like he wanted to hit Sam but he just shook his head and said:” Do you believe in the supernatural? I mean stuff like demons, ghosts and vampires.” Sam lifted one eyebrow skeptical. “I’m not much of a Twilight fanatic if that’s what you mean.”
The girl outside once again hit her fists onto the glass. She screamed and stared right at Tony. “Alright that’s enough. I’m gonna let her in before she smashes the glass. My boss already hates me enough.” Sam took a step forward and unlocked the glass door. Tony tried to pull him back but it was too late. The door swung open without a sound. The girl calmed down immediately and stepped inside. The moment she stepped into the room the lights started to flicker and the temperature dropped. Sam was so focused on the girl that he didn’t even see Tony run like his life depended on it. Maybe it did. Sam wasn’t so sure anymore now that he felt the presence of the girl. She looked after Tony but didn’t make an effort to run after him. Her eyes fell on Sam and she smiled. The girl took a step forward and stumbled. “I’m weak.”, she whispered. Sam stood there and didn’t move. His mind blanked. He felt like he needed to run for his life but at the same time he wanted to go up this girl and help her. The problem of not being able to choose was taken from him as the girl walked towards Sam and put her hand on Sam’s shoulder.
She smirked. “You touched him. You stupid child.” Before Sam could say anything else, she lifted both her hands to the side of his face. The moment all of her ice-cold fingers touched him everything blurred for a second. His vision darkened and he felt dizzy. The only thing he was able to see was how the face of the girl in front of him changed. Her face scrunched up in pain and suddenly her fingers moved away from his face as her body dropped to the ground. But Sam did not care about that. Because what stood in front of him now was much scarier. It was a shadowlike silhouette that starred at him. Its eyes were a burning red and they seemingly floated in the shadow. Sam shivered. The room temperature had dropped a lot more and it felt like a freezer in the cinema. He tried to move away from the monster but his feet were like stuck to the ground. He thought about trying to hit it, as he heard a door open behind him. “Hey could somebody in this freaking house turn the AC off?”, some kid shouted. Sam was confused. “Come on dude. I’m trying to enjoy a good movie over here.” It was one of the kids that stayed through the end credits of their last movie. The kid was about to shout something else as he saw the silhouette in front of Sam. He ran back into the room and slammed the door shut. “Great”, the shadow whispered. Its voice sent a wave of goosebumps down Sam’s back. “I was already getting hungry.” Sam’s eyes widened and he once again tried to get away but suddenly all the lights went off. He felt something weird. It felt like he had drunk a very cold drink. The lights turned back on but the shadow was gone. And in that instant his vision blurred again. His mind blanked and there were only two thoughts left in his head. The more prominent one was, about that kid in the cinema room. The second one felt like it had been there for a while. Like a task from a to do list. His body started to move towards the door. Sam felt like somebody had pressed a button on a remote. He had no control over his body. He only thought about his two tasks left to do. Get in that cinema room and enjoy a snack and after that the hunt. A hunt that in his newly styled mind felt like it had been going on forever.