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-”I didn’t know you liked horror movies Sua”.
Mizi leaned on Sua’s shoulder watching as she pressed the down arrow on the remote, scrolling through horror films on the TV. Ivan was on the other side of Sua, leaning over from behind the couch to braid Tills hair, who was trying his best to ignore the nuisance behind him. They were all at Sua’s apartment for a sleepover, and what better way to end a sleepover is there than with a movie that will keep everyone awake till dawn.
-”I don’t watch them often,” Sua replied. “But out of the few I've seen this one is probably the scariest.”
She clicked on a movie called “Be quiet”. The cover poster depicted some wooden floorboards that had clearly run their course long ago as there was a large hole in the middle. The gaping hole only led to a pitch black darkness, leaving what could possibly be down there up to the viewer's imagination.
Mizi was obviously uneasy but when she looked at Sua’s face, there was no possible way to back out. Sua was visibly excited to watch the movie, despite the fact she had already seen it. Maybe it was the thought of Ivan and Till freaking out that motivated her but as for Mizi, If Sua was happy, she was too.
Suddenly, something on the Tv screen caught Ivan’s attention.
-”What’s that button?” He pointed at a white rectangle next to the play button. It had the plain words “Try it” in black text. The button was new to the group as they all looked at each other in confusion. Letting her curiosity take over, Sua adjusts the remote in her hand to click on the button.
Almost in an instant, The vision of all four of them filled up with brightness no matter how tightly they shut their eyes. When they awoke however, they found themselves in a completely different location.They were all lying peacefully in the colour drained grass lawn of an old and worn down home. Ivan was flopped over Tills torso while Mizi and Sua were still holding hands from when they were still back in the apartment. Sua sat up first, holding her head due to the nausea she was suddenly inflicted with. Mizi would awaken shortly after her.
-”Sua…where are we..?” Mizi looked around observing her surroundings while adjusting her glasses.
-”I think we’re…in the movie”. Although Sua vividly recalled the setting, the situation seemed almost too unreal to instantly be sure of.
Till would wake up right after, he struggled to get out from underneath Ivan, who was still sleeping on top of him.
-”Where the hell are we??”
-”Figure it out yourself, guitar boy!”
Once everyone was fully awake and aware of the current situation, they gathered around so that maybe they could all combine their quarter braincells to make a single functionable one. Unfortunately, their collective trembling hindered their thinking process and demolished it into a nonsensical mix of distressed attempts at language.
-”Wait, guys.” Ivan chimed in, “We should make a plan.”
For just a bit, everyone stood in complete silence. Sua and Till both slowly turned their heads towards Ivan with faces that screamed “are you an idiot!?”. That’s possibly because that is exactly what they did scream.
-”No shit, sherlock! What do you think we’re trying to do here?!” Till smacked Ivan across the head with the palm of his hand.
-”Well it didn't seem we were getting anywhere soon.” Ivan teased as he bent down so his face could be at Tills level.
Mizi and Sua were both no strangers to Till and Ivan’s non stop fighting, so knowing that this would most likely develop into a physical fight, Mizi attempted to interrupt with an idea she’s been cooking in her mind for the past few minutes.
-”Wait! Sua, since you already saw the movie, do you remember what the characters in it did?”
-”I watched it a while ago but I think so”
-”Then let’s just do the opposite!”
Sua, Till, and Ivan all let out a collective “ohhhh” of realization. They could all agree that Mizi’s idea made sense but at the same time were ashamed that they couldn’t have come up with it first.
With their new found plan, their next course of action was, predictably, “don’t enter the creepy old house when you’re in a horror movie”. However, the group would find that their master plan would be quickly shut down. As they could only take a few steps before being stopped by an invisible wall. No matter how much they tried to climb it, break it or even walk around it, the wall remained as solid as ever, only pointing the four into one direction. The wall even stretched to behind the home, they were trapped. It was either they sat it out and starved to death, or they went inside and at least got a little thrill before they met their demise. It’s easy to guess what option they chose.
-”Seems like we’re going to have to go inside,” Ivan said with a sigh. He observed the building, its windows were either boarded up or shattered and it seemed like not a single living soul had inhabited the place for a few decades.
-”I’ll go in first!” MIzi exclaimed, as she took a few up the creaky wooden porch. You could easily mistake her eagerness for actual excitement but it was more of a way to prevent Sua from going in first.
-”Wait! I should go in first” Till protested. He ran up and established himself in front of Mizi’s path, volunteering as the first guinea pig to enter the lab. Mizi agreed and Till reluctantly entered the home, the wooden planks squealed with each step he took. Mizi followed close behind him while Sua and Ivan remained right on the porch, staring into the open front door. Just as Sua was about to step in herself, Ivan interrupted her, placing his hand on her shoulder.
-”Could I ask you a quick question about the movie?” Sua didn’t really give a response, instead she simply stared at Ivan with a confused expression, prompting Ivan to continue.
-”How many out of the main cast die in the movie?” Ivans tone was serious and almost scary yet it was obvious he was trying to sound more calm than he was.
Sua looked away momentarily with a slightly nervous face. She then adjusted her gaze towards Mizi through the door, and then looked back at Ivan.
-”Three. All except one die.” Sua spoke in her usual quiet voice, but her words suddenly felt heavier than usual.
-”Then I’m assuming you’ll-”
-”It’s not like we’re actually dying in here.” Sua interrupted Ivan, knowing what he was going to say. “If we can’t find a way to avoid it, we’ll probably just- wake up or something.” Sua walked ahead and entered the home, not wanting to lag too far behind from the others. However, she could almost feel Ivan’s younger brother energy behind her as he walked in directly following Sua.
As the four of them investigated the home, they would find many, needless to say, uninteresting objects. A shattered flower vase, a dusty xylophone, sapphire gems, pearl earrings, but out of all of those, there was something that caught the attention of everyone. Inside a spider web ridden drawer, a loaded pistol sat. Suspiciously, it didn’t seem to have been collecting dust for just as long as everything else in the home.
-”A gun?” Till picked it up and turned it around in his hand examining the machine.
-”uh, maybe we should put it downn?” Mizi suggested.
-”But it could come in handy, you never know.” Ivan interjected
Sua winced looking at the pistol. She knew from the movie what the possible outcome could be if the group decided to pick the gun up, yet she decided her friends were trustworthy enough. The thought of even someone she held little respect for like Till betraying her hurt more than any bullet could.
-”Well, who’s gonna hold it?” Mizi looked around at the group, evaluating how much she trusted each of them with a weapon, even though she had already made up her mind.
-”Whatever we do, just don’t give the gun to Ivan” Till criticized while taking a step away from Ivan, still holding the pistol in his hand.
-”Let’s give it to Mizi.” Sua requested. Ivan looked at Sua as he connected the dots concerning their previous conversation. It was obvious that if something were to occur, Sua had Mizi’s story written out in advance.
-”I actually think we should have Till hold it.” Ivan painted a grin on his previously blank face.
-”Why me??”
-”I dunno, I think you’d look hot.” he taunted, taking a step towards Till, closing the gap that they had previously.
Nobody else noticed, but in that moment Sua proceeded to give Till a chilling death-stare. There was no light in her eyes, and if there was, it was being used to pierce Tills soul.
-”Uh! L-let’s give the gun to Mizi!” He stuttered as he practically dropped the pistol into Mizi’s hands as fast as possible.
Now with a weapon, the group continued their investigation of the deserted estate. Suas mind lingered with the thought that their fates may be inevitable, taking into account the fact that they didn’t even have the option to steer away from entering the house in the first place. However, except for Ivan, the others seemed blissfully unaware that they may be destined to die in the very home they are walking through.
-”Could you stop staring at me? It’s making me anxious.” Till’s voice echoed through the narrow hallway. He turned to look at Ivan who was walking beside him. Who had indeed developed a severe staring problem since they entered the house.
-”I’m only using my eyes for what they’re intended for, is there something so wrong with that? Or have you just not been using your head enough?”
Till grabbed Ivan by the fabric of his turtleneck top, pinning him against the wall, further damaging the peeling floral wallpaper.
-”If you’re gonna act all obsessed with me, you could at least not insult me at the same time! You’re already annoying without the snarky replies!”
In return Ivan placed his hands on Tills chest, then shoving him with full force, causing Tills back to hit the other side of the slim hallway.
This type of behaviour from Ivan and Till was not rare whatsoever and it made Sua want to say slurs. (Particularly ones starting with the 6th letter of the alphabet). However, she knew that in a situation like this, anything could trigger “it”. Just then, a painting that must have been hung up loosely, fell from the wall. It strikes the ground next to Sua, making a slight crack in the ground. Just as Sua adjusts her feet to pick up the painting, the wooden floor gives out beneath her.
In a flash, Mizi kneeled down to grab onto Sua’s wrist. Thankfully, she catches her just in time, Sua holds on tight to Mizi in exchange. There have been a lot of times where Sua wanted the earth to just open up under her and start turning her into a fossil early, but unfortunately this was not one of them.
-”Sua! Are you okay?” For some odd reason, hearing Mizi so worried always made Sua feel a little warmer on the inside, despite her cold exterior.
-”We’ll help you up, just one second!”
-”It’s alright.”
-”hm?”
Sua paused and took one long look at Mizi’s beautiful face. She observed every detail there was: her plush and soft lips, her rather chubby and pink cheeks, and best of all, her greenish yellow eyes that seemed to dazzle like stars no matter where she was. To Sua, seeing Mizi’s face felt like she had just walked through the gates of heaven and had been blessed with the sight of a pink haired angel.
-”I think I can see the ground from here, you can just drop me now.”
-”Are you sure? Did you see a staircase nearby?” Mizi’s voice was obviously getting more and more uneasy.
Sua simply nodded in response and thus, Mizi reluctantly let go.
Sua was only able to fall for less than a second before the lower walls of the entire area were covered in blood. Mizi, her arm still extended into the gaping hole in the floor, had her entire arm covered in blood. Splatters had even made their way to the faces of Ivan And Till, who had stopped their bickering in light of the situation. Sua was nowhere to be seen nor heard. The only traces of her were the tiny red bits of meat that slammed against the walls. Purple irised eyeball that must have popped out of her socket, bounced out and rolled to Ivans foot.
In complete shock the three of them stood still in complete quiet for a few seconds before Till broke the silence.
-”She'll come back right…?” His voice shook with uncertainty. “L-like how it is in Jumanji! She'll just come falling out of the sky…” His voice trailed off, landing the hallway back into stillness.
Ivan quickly pieced together Suas little plan. He started into the darkness trying his best to figure out what could possibly be down there. It seemed like it had waited for Sua to fall into the shadows to pounce, like a tiger stalking its prey, just to pounce at just the right moment. It chilled Ivan to think that any move could result in their permanent downfall. Even worse, the group had now lost the only person who could explain anything to them. Whether Suas' death was triggered by the noise, the damage or some other factor was unknown.
Mizi slowly stood up, her eyes remained locked on the hole that claimed Sua’s life. Her eyes were drained of both light and energy, a sheer difference from just a minute or so ago.
-”We need to get out of here.”
-”Huh? I mean, I agree but we should get washed off first. We’re going to just end up wandering around the streets.” Ivan recommended
-”Uhm, I think I know where we live.”
Clearly puzzled, Ivan and Till both looked to each other, then back at Mizi who looked just as clueless as they did. The information seemed to just pop up in Mizi’s head. If they tried hard enough, all three of them could simply remember the exact location and appearance of their place of living, even though they could have sworn they had never stepped foot in it. Turns out, they were all roommates, living in a single home, now with one more empty bed.
While keeping a low profile, Ivan, Till, and Mizi made the way over to their alleged home. It felt like being guided by some divine being the way they knew each turn led them closer to home, without even knowing the name of the street they were on.
Once they made it to the house, they scoured the area for any information of their situation. They found photos of all four of them, depicting them hanging out like any normal group of friends would, not too different from how they were outside of the movie. Shortly after they had paused their search an extra loud voice filled the room.
-“THERE'S NO POWER!?” Till screamed, holding his phone up to the ceiling.
-”Where’d you get that phone from??” Ivan and Mizi asked in unison.
Till had simply looked under some papers stacked on top of his nightstand and assumed that the phone he saw was his. His intuition was correct (thankfully) but it seemed that all the power in the area was shut down, calling 911 wouldn’t even work. It’s unlikely that they would even be able to get the police to take action in their scenario, as it seems more probable that they'd end up getting their bags searched for illegal substances.
The situation was helpless. They somehow got sucked into a horror movie, one of their friends is dead, they have no idea what they are doing, no power, no Sua, no money, no sanity, no will to live, and I think you get the point now. Either way, there didn’t seem to be any foreseeable way to un-doom the narrative other than to somehow escape the movie before it ended.
Ivan, being aware of how the movie would end, was thinking up any possible way to get them back into reality. Seeing as Sua, the only one who had any idea what could happen in the future, ended up being the first to die. He figured that this probably meant that whoever is destined to die, will die and that the movie will bend and twist the narrative in little ways, just to make it happen. There was only one way to avoid death, which was complete escape.
The rest of the day flew by exceptionally fast. Maybe it’s the movie logic at work. The three managed to convince themselves to sleep throughout the night, even though their minds were constantly racing with an uncountable number of thoughts. However, the next morning, the group would find another concerning decrease in their population.
-”Morning everyone.” Till yawned, as he sat up in his bed. He rubbed his watery eyes just to find Ivan, sleeping on the side of his bed, resting his head on his arms atop of Tills bed, while the rest of his body lay on the floor.
-”Ivan? What the hell are you doing over here!? How is that even comfortable!?
-”Hm? Oh you’re awake. You know I can’t sleep peacefully when I’m so far from you”
Till rolled his eyes, that then wandered over to where Mizi’s bed was, just to find that Mizi herself was absent.
-”Where’d Mizi go?”
Ivan turned his head over to Mizi’s bed, it seemed that he hadn’t noticed even when he snuck over to Tills bed.
-”Downstairs maybe? But I don’t think she’s the type to wake up early.”
Ivan and Till both searched around the house for any sign of Mizi, even calling out her name multiple times, to no response. Till started to grow more and more anxious by the second, his mind became busy with worst case scenarios. The worst part is, it wouldn’t even be too far of a reach to overthink in this case. But seeing the fact that there were no signs that Mizi had been injured within the house, along with the absence of her shoes, it was most likely that Mizi had left the house during the night.
Now the only questions were why and where Mizi went.
-”Do you think she left because of Sua?” Till said, biting his nails.
-”It’s possible. And if that’s the case, then there’s only one place we can find her.”
And with that, Ivan and Till found themselves in the place that they thought they’d never return to. The cloudy skies darkened the atmosphere, prompting Ivan to bring his flashlight, while Till relied on the flashlight feature of his phone.
Walking through the now familiar hallways, Ivan could already sense a strong presence that whatever “it” was, “it” had found them. The ever mysterious entity had been following them ever since they walked through the door. It was only a matter of who would trigger it first for one of them to meet their demise.
Ivan started to go over three different ways that the entity might be triggered by. The first possibility was the presence of intense negative emotion. Taking in the massive stress both him and Till were undergoing, he ruled that option out. The last two options were that it could be triggered by either loud noises on the property, or any damage done to the property. Seeing as these two criteria could be filled simultaneously, Ivan started to enact his objective.
The two had walked into a relatively empty room with only a dirty window and some suspicious floor boards as objects to take note of. Seeing that it was a dead end, Till turned around to see Ivan, blocking the doorway, with his flashlight pointed towards the ground.
-”Hm? What is it?” Till questioned shining his phone flashlight onto Ivan. Ivans facial expression looked like one of a person who knew they were about to do something they might regret later.
-”Till.” Till's eyes followed Ivans hand as he reached it into his satchel bag. From there, Ivan would pull out the gun that they had found the day prior. He had taken it from Mizi;s drawer since she happened to leave it there.
Tills eyes widened with shock and confusion. Ivans sudden coldness sent Till into a cold sweat, leaving him completely clueless on what could possibly be going on inside Ivans brain. But soon, it would become painfully clear what kind of fate they would be met with.
-”Till, I just wanted to tell you-”
-”Ivan what are you doing!?” Till’s voice trembled with fear. Ivan paused for a moment, taking a few more breaths.
-”I really hope I don’t regret this,” Ivan continued.
-”Ivan! If you die- I’ll- I’ll”
-”Till.”
-”I’ll kill you! Just don’t-”
-”Till!”
-”Just don’t leave me like this…” Till looked down at the ground, his breath was quick, as if it were trying to keep up with his racing thoughts, both seemed like they were going too fast for him to catch. Ivan tried to smile, a usually easy task to complete for him, but seeing Till look so broken, it was nearly impossible for Ivan to give a full smile. Still he managed to lift the corners of his mouth into a small, pathetic grin.
Ivan took the pistol and pointed it at the ground, placing the tip of his finger on the trigger. He watched as tears dripped down Till's face, who once again turned his head to look right at Ivan. Ivan took a sharp inhale to speak.
-”Wish I could get a kiss”
BANG!
Till flinched at the sound of the bullet, only to look back up just in time to see a gust of darkness sweep over Ivan’s neck, instantly decapitating him. The speed of the dark entity sent Ivans head flying into the wall, then rolling right back to his body, which had collapsed only after it had stayed standing for a few seconds. Tills entire body shook in disbelief, his emotions all crashed together like a multi-vehicle highway accident.
-”Wha..WHAT THE HELL!? WHAT THE HELL ARE WE DOING THIS FOR!?” He staggered over to Ivan’s lifeless body to pick up the gun that had barely left his hand. The blood from Ivan’s exposed neck spurted out, adding splotches of red to Tills pants as he raised the gun up with shaky hands. He stared at the gun then slowly brought the barrel up to face the side of his head.
-”Is this all it fucking comes to?”
But before he could shoot, Ivan’s words echoed across his head.”I really hope I don’t regret this”. The sole purpose of Ivan’s actions was to make sure that Till survived. Commiting suicide would completely go against one of his dying wishes, so Till took the pistol and aimed it the small crevice that the entity had emerged from. His tears blurred his vision but the adrenaline running through his body seemed to make everything clear.
Suddenly, a noise alerted him. It came from below the suspicious floor boards he had noticed earlier. They rattled up and down as if there was something below them trying to push them up. Till turned to the source of the sound and got ready to put an end to this nightmare of a movie. However what would arise from beneath would be much to Tills surprise.
-”Mizi?”
Mizi, who was thought to be missing, had also returned to the old house, just as Ivan and Till expected.
-”Oh! Till, what are you doing here?” Mizi fully came out from below the floor boards and ran to Till, placing her hands on his shoulders. “ Are you hurt at all?” She glances over to the doorway and notices Ivans headless body, lying on the floor. Her heart instantly drops as she holds her hands to her mouth in shock. Till furrowed his brow and looked to the side, opposite to where Ivan was. He couldn’t bear to look at him in such a state.
-”We- …I’m here because you just disappeared this morning so we assumed you’d be here.”
-”I’m so sorry, I- I should have told you something!” “I was able to get information on this house, let’s go back now, quick!” Mizi quickly grabbed onto Till’s wrist and hurried over to the window, sliding it open. She let go of Tills arm so she could step on the sill and crawl outside.
Till followed shortly after, but hesitated as soon as he was about to leave. He took one last sorrowful look at Ivan. He took the pistol from his hand and threw it back inside the house. Just as he turned back around, just for a split second he felt the most pain he had ever felt in his entire life. It felt as if someone had painted several vertical lines of acid on his skin. He felt a sting like no other, and then nothing at all. Just outside the window, Till’s body fell to the ground in the form of eight to nine vertical and equally cut slices.
Mizi heard the thud and whipped her head around, and was met with the gruesome sight. Tills blood ran through the grass like a river, staining everything in an unforgettable shade of dark red. Mizi exhaled shakily, her eyes wide open as she turned around and collapsed to her knees. Her legs splashed in the warm blood, and she hardly noticed the tears forming in her eyes.
She always tried her best to hold herself together, no matter what happened, she would at least try to protect whoever she could. But in a situation like this, where she failed to help anyone, Mizi had lost all purpose. Her tears stung in her eyes as a useless expression of emotion. It wasn’t like there was anybody left to see and interpret her tears, so what was the point? Mizi cried when Sua died. She locked herself in the washroom and sobbed all night until she left. Does it truly matter if there was no-one there to empathize with her? And now that there would never be anybody, nothing would truly matter.
But a person viewing the world from Mizi’s perspective wouldn’t ever want to think about that.
Just then, a bright light started to emanate from behind Mizi, casting her shadow onto Till's body. When she looked back at the source, she was met with a shining doorway. It stood between no walls and under no roof, only a doorway that shined with white brighter than no other. Mizi squinted at the light, and focused her vision on some words that seemed to be on the other side of the door. “CREDITS”.
Mizi weakly stood up and slowly walked over to the illuminating door. She wiped her tears once more and took a step into the frame, then whispered one last thing to the world.
-”Erase me.”
Just as she walked through, her vision was blocked with the familiar light from when they had first entered the movie. And in a blink, she was laying on the couch at Sua’s apartment. She felt a certain warmness on the back of her head, and when she opened her eyes, she was met with her favorite face on the planet.
-”Welcome back Mizi.” Mizi’s head rested in Sua’s lap, who brushed her soft hands through Mizi’s pink hair.
-”Ah! Sua!? You’re alive?” Mizi sat up quickly and saw Till on the other side of the couch. “Till?! Oh, was I dreaming?”
-”About the movie? No, it was definitely real.” Sua was unnaturally calm for what her words were implying.
-”WHAT!?” Mizi held her head in confusion, if what happened wasn’t a dream, then how could all her recently deceased friends be sitting right in front of her. Actually, not all of them seemed to be present.
-”Where’s Ivan?” Mizi asked, scanning the room with her eyes.
-”He’s been hiding out of embarrassment since Till died, come to think of it, he’s probably eavesdropping right now… behind that wall!” Sua simultaneously threw one of her purses as the corner of the wall that Ivan was in fact eavesdropping from. The purse hit his fat fucking forehead forehead that was peeking out, exposing his hiding spot.
-”How rude!- oh hi Mizi!”
-”uh, hello(?)” Mizi was still completely lost, that is, until she looked back at the TV. The same credits screen as what she saw in the doorway was playing. The four of them truly had gotten sucked into the movie to reenact it in their own little way.
-”It seems like that was all a new feature they were trying out” Till observed, looking at an article on his phone. “Wish they at least gave us a tutorial,” he criticized.
-”Well at least it made it more fun right!” Ivan teased.
-”Fun!?” Till and Sua yelled in unison: “That was fucking traumatizing!”
Mizi laughed, finally being able to relax with her friends again without having to fear for their lives.
-”Maybe we should stay away from that feature with horror movies for now, yeah?” It was an obvious agreement across the board. Sometimes, it’s best to live in reality.