It came from the Theatre

The sound of something hard, like bone, grated against my ears in the darkness of the underground car park. We were three floors down and I crouched behind a parked car in the mostly deserted space, only a few lights were left flickering, making pools of darkness in which the monster could stalk us, but remain unseen.

God, how did we get here? It had seemed like such an ordinary day, my girlfriend Rachel and I had been going to the movies, I hadn’t really been paying attention, mostly absorbed in her. We didn’t get to spend a lot of time together since she lived and went to school in Washington, and I in Texas. We had somehow made it work though, lots of facetiming, texting, and flying out to see each other over long weekends or breaks. Point is, we made it work, and any time we had together seemed like stolen moments, lasting forever, but still too short.

Anyway, we had gone to a new opening movie, supposed to be a modern remake on some old horror movie, better special effects, more gore, that kind of thing. I’d made sure to pack a blanket for Rachel since she never brought her own but invariably ended up taking mine in the cold theatre, saying playfully that it was the chivalric thing to do. I know, it’s cheesy, but hey, we both liked some cheese now and then, I even quoted some old pick up lines now and then to get her laughing, but I digress.

There had been maybe five or six other people in the theatre with us, and as the lights dimmed we took our seats near the back, snuggled together under the blanket, and kissed while the previews played. That was how we usually watched movies together; curled up, only half paying attention to what was playing, and thinking more about the other’s warmth. We probably could have stayed home and done that, and we should have on that day, but we had been cooped up for two days, and Rachel and I had been feeling a bit stir-crazy.

As the movie started the characters wandered around a bit, the creature making some menacing noises, but not really appearing, you know, typical monster strategies that were more about building the tension than actually killing the characters.

It was about halfway through the movie, I was pretty sure the monster was about to make its first full appearance when the guy had stood up. I remember noticing that he had a dark hoodie on, hood up, and he had raised his hands up toward the ceiling, shouting something that sounded like gibberish.

“Sit down, you ass,” shouted another of the movie watchers, “and shut up!”

Hoodie guy kept yelling, and as he did, something weird was happening. The theatre seemed a bit darker than a few moments before, and the smell of stale air seemed to waft in from somewhere. That was when the screaming started. A couple down front. I couldn’t see what was happening, it was too dark, but a few drops of something hit me across the face.

“What the hell?” I had muttered to myself and looked at Rachel, she seemed just as shocked as me, and pale as well.

“Time to go,” I said, and she mutely nodded as I pilled her up and ran for the exit. Another guy, the one who had yelled back at Hoodie Guy, was right behind us, and as we opened the door to the lobby, an usher was making his way inside.

“What’s going on?” he asked, the screaming from the couple still in the theatre had been joined by laughter, high and hysterical. I was about to warn him, but he had already been pushing past us, and as part of his body made it around the corner he was yanked off his feet and disappeared into the darkness of the theatre. The three of us sprinted forward, Rachel and I made for the stairs that would take us to our car in the garage below, the other guy making for the front doors. 

As the door slammed behind us I turned and looked through the small window. The lobby was dark, the bulbs in the ceiling overhead making small rings of light on the floor, but everywhere else was darkness. The guy was in one of the circles, only a few feet from where I knew the front door had been, but he was hesitating, unwilling to step out of the light.

The light furthest away went out, plunging that area into blackness. Then the next, and the next, each going out as a wave of darkness came toward him. That seemed to finally make up his mind, but before he could take a step forward, his light went out, and he disappeared. That seemed to stop the tide for a brief second as no more lights were extinguished.

“Come on!” hissed Rachel, as she yanked on my arm. I took another look, nothing seemed to have changed, and pulled the blanket from my bag, tying it around the door handles and hoping it would hold, maybe another second or two.

I’d always been more of the survivalist, even taken Rachel camping a few times and taught her to set up a tent; where the poles went, what knots to use, and where to tie them. I remembered the first time she had insisted on doing it without help we had ended up with one corner of the tent soaked and a small flood coming in to claim our sleeping bags. It hadn’t been a fun night, but it was definitely memorable.

The memory flashed through my head as we raced down the stairs, trying to be quiet, and I reached the bottom just after her. She opened it as quietly as we could and began to run into the garage as the sound of tearing metal from above us let us know that the door at the top of the stairs wasn’t there anymore. Rachel darted to the side as the door closed, and hit the fire alarm. 

“What are you doing?” I yelled over the klaxon.

“It’s quiet,” she replied. “Didn’t make any noise itself, so I figure it probably doesn’t like sound.” I had my doubts, but it was already done, so we kept running. We had made it about halfway to the car when the door to the stairs opened and we both turned, wanting to see the thing in the darkness. Rachel seemed to be correct about the noise, as the darkness didn’t come flooding in, but instead crept in, and made its way first to the side toward the alarm. Once it was obscured there was a tearing sound and the alarm stopped. The darkness began to reach toward us, but Rachel came to the rescue again. She slammed her hand down on a parked car, and the alarm started to go off, the darkness shrank back a bit and started to edge closer. 

She had always been observant, and wickedly smart. She had helped me with a science project once, back in elementary school. We had ended up setting out projects next to each other, mine a baking soda volcano, and hers had something to do with wires and magnetism I think. As the judges were inspecting my volcano I poured the ingredients together, but nothing had happened. I started to panic, thinking I had just failed and would getting an F when Rachel had stepped in. She pulled on some gloves and dropped two wires into the volcano. Immediately the thing had exploded in foam erupting a good twenty feet up in the air and landing on everyone in the vicinity when it came down. The grin on her face at the mess she had made was the reason I had started to fall for her.

“Stop standing there, and help me!” Rachel yelled as she started running again, hitting another car as she went. I rushed after her and pulled the keys from my pocket, unlocking the car from a few feet away. A loud impact brought a halt to one of the cars’ alarms. Rachel dove into the passenger side and closed the door as I made it to the car. One more crash ended the second car and I glanced over my shoulder. It was coming, and I didn’t have time to get in the car. I slid around the other side and crouched, expecting to be overtaken at any moment. That’s when I heard it, that grating sound. Bone against cement. It seemed to know it had us. I had the keys and was outside the car still, Rachel closed inside. The darkness overtook me, and I couldn’t see anything.

More grating filled my ears as I blindly made my way around the side, trying to keep the car between myself and the sound. It got quiet again, and I hunched over, almost crawling. Light filled my vision, blinding me, my eyes not comprehending. I heard something large move behind me, a screech of pain and felt a hand close on my arm. 

“Come on!” said Rachel, pulling me around and cramming me into the car, closing the door and running around to the other side. I still couldn’t see that well and was blinking rapidly, spots clouding my vision. The car horn blared as Rachel started the car and she stepped on the accelerator.

We sped out of the parking stall the immediate area in front of us the only thing we could see, and slammed into something, sparks creating just enough light to see something tall and spindly reaching out toward us and dragging an appendage across the side of the car. Then it was gone, and we were speeding away. Rachel clearly remembered the way into the lot, and as we took a second turn we left the darkness behind. 

We looked at each other as we raced out of the car park, Rachel was pale and seemed to be shaking with her hands on the wheel. It was bright outside on the street like nothing had happened. We jumped a curb in our haste and hit a fire hydrant. A few people came running and helped us out of the car. We called the police because we didn’t know what else to do and waited for them to arrive. They entered the theatre from the front and found the building empty. No bodies, no one alive, just a few broken doors, smashed cars, and fire alarms, and the one long trialing gash along the side of our car.

The police didn’t believe us about the darkness of course, and after a look between us, we silently agreed not to talk about it and they chalked it up to stress or something like that. We were questioned of course, but there was nothing that made us suspects in the investigation so they gave us the standard medical blankets, a warning to be careful after we were checked out at the hospital, and sent us home.

I missed my flight home three days later. I couldn’t just leave like that. Neither one of us was completely sure what had happened, but one thing we both agreed on is that we would never be going to a movie theatre again.