Skylar slurped their drink, eyes on the movie even as many of the theater cringed. The visceral horror movie was exactly what Skylar needed to forget the gossip in the bathroom.
The music picked up, high pitched off key screeching from violins as the latest victim of the ancient curse was shown. While blood dripped from every orifice of the victim, their love interest, also the main character, could be retching just off screen.
As Skylar’s arm brushed John’s on the armrest, they felt his muscles tense up.
On screen shadows started dancing independently of the lights in the room, more characters ran in, there were humans screams layered over the string instruments, everything getting faster and louder, until all sound came to an abrupt halt.
The living characters looked at each other, the whites of their eyes yellow, smiles growing, and blood dripping out the corners of their lips.
Brass instruments blasted through the silence ad the screen cut to black and the credits started to roll.
"Wow." Skylar mumbled as movie goers added noise to the soundtrack, clothes shuffling, popcorn seeds clicking together, whispers growing.
"Wow is right." Emily pulled off her headset and leaned forward to grin at Skylar. "To be cursed forevermore." In between them John lurched and Emily grabbed John’s shoulder. “Popcorn bucket!” She waved her other hand towards Skylar.
Taking the cardboard cardboard bucket Skylar started to pass it over John as he hunched forward, hands over his mouth. “He needs it in front of him.” Emily hissed. John’s chair creaked as his upper body convulsed.
Skylar shoved the bucket in front of John, the edges pressed against the back of his hands. Just in time, as his body shook again and vomit started dripping through his fingers. After a shaky breath through his nose, John moved his hands and let the mouthful plop into the bucket.
“You okay John?”
While John coughed Emily answered. “He’ll be okay. Sometimes seeing lots of blood makes him nauseous.”
“Yeah.” John pulled the handful of napkins from the shared cup holder and wiped his hands. “It was just the last couple scenes.” He took a deep breath.
“Do you need me to do anything to help?” Skylar asked.
“You and Emily can wait for me in the lobby after the credits are over.” John dropped the dirty napkins into the bucket. “I’m going to go to the bathroom first.” And John got up, scooting by Skylar with his head bowed.
“Poor John.” Skylar mumbled before turning to Emily. “So why a horror movie if they have a high chance of making John feel sick?”
“In this case, John had read the book and thought he would be prepared for this.” Emily shrugged and leaned back in her seat. “We might as well wait and find out if there is an after credit scene.” She pulled her headset back up.
As they waited Skylar tried to count all the names in the credits.
Word count: 495
