Act 1 | Chapter 11

"Mornin!" Riley greeted me from her car window. I climbed in, and sat down, letting out a long sigh of exhaustion.

"Morning." I groaned.

"Something up?" She asked, looking over at me just as she pulled out to drive to school.

"No, I'm just tired." I glanced out the window. All afternoon yesterday, I had spent my time working on the project, but I had also spent a lot of time learning about horror movies. I still didn't know what it was about them that was intriguing to me. It felt as though there was something there that was pulling me in and wanting me to watch more.

"So, how was yesterday for you?" I asked, trying to get the thought out of my head.

Riley glanced over at me before looking back to the road. She simply shrugged her shoulders.

"Well, I had work, so that's really all I did."

"Oh. I worked on my art project a bit more."

"How's it looking?"

"It's getting better. I just need to work on it a bit more." I sat there and contemplated on telling Riley if she was the one I was drawing or not. "Maybe I should keep it a surprise for when it's finished."

"How long until the contest?" Riley asked me.

"A few more weeks. Like six maybe?"

Riley gave me a nod, and the two of us sat in silence for the rest of the ride. I closed my eyes and tried to get a few more minutes of sleep before school actually started. Still, the scenes from the film looped in my head. The kid getting his neck snapped, the man getting his face crushed. The other kid who got his head stabbed through a fence post. The more I was thinking about them, the more my stomach would feel upset, but after having the scenes on my mind for the last few days, the feeling had changed. I no longer felt sick by thinking about them, but instead, intrigue. It's why I watched those horror history videos while I worked yesterday. I was hoping that I could figure out what exactly was interesting to me, but I didn't have any luck so far.

The only other idea I had as to figure that out, was to maybe watch another one. Riley has seen a lot, so maybe if I asked her, she would tell me what ones are okay to watch.

"Hey, Riley." I started, "How many horror movies have you seen?"

"Loads. I love them. Why?"

"Well, what ones have you found to be the least scary?"

"Hm." I glanced over to her as she thought about it. "Well, there are these scary movies that are basically stupid comedies about other horror movies."

"Comedy?" I tilted my head, "Isn't that the opposite of horror?"

"Yeah. It's supposed to be like, making fun of horror stereotypes."

"Alright." That didn't make sense to me. "Horror and comedy don't sound like they could go together. Right?"

***

I sat at the table in the first hour. My hand was dancing around the blank paper of my sketchbook as I worked on the new daily pictures of how we felt. Over the next couple of minutes, I was able to draw up a simple girl, holding her legs up against her chest. Her long dirty blonde hair fell over her face, but through just a small opening in her hair, you could see her smiling, just a tad bit. I could feel Mr. Mcvay looming over me, as he went around the classroom to check on what everyone's doing. He didn't say anything to me today, or Maria. She was sitting across from me like always, keeping her eyes off me. I tried to do the same to her, but it was a bit hard to at times. It was like she was just ignoring me today. That theory was confirmed when I glanced over to look at her during lunch, and she was completely avoiding looking in my direction.

I jumped as Riley plopped down beside me, and started unpacking her lunch.

"Sup Zoe." She said, sounding out of breath.

"H- Hey." I greeted her, taking a bite from my sandwich, and looking down. "What are you doing after work today?"

"Dunno?" She shrugged her shoulders and tapped my shoulder with hers. "Why?"

I looked over at her. This was the time to ask her.

"So, about that conversation, we had earlier."

"What about it?" Riley asked with a full mouth.

"Maybe after work today, I was wondering if you would be fine if I came over and we watched one of those movies?"

"Another one?" I caught a hint of surprise in my friend's voice, but I was expecting her to respond like that.

"Yeah, but I was thinking of one that was less scary."

"Um, yeah sure. I have some movie's at home we could watch."

"Cool." I nodded, "Can you pick me up from work? I can just take a shower at your place before we watch it."

"I'll need to take one too." Riley gave me a nod.

"Well, you can go first, obviously." I chuckled and sighed, finishing the rest of my lunch. The next time I would be eating something, was a crew meal from the fast food place I worked at. The all-black uniform I was wearing smelled of grease and sweat. Since I wasn't the most social person, they always had me working in the back, deep-frying the food, and cooking it. Spending two hours over a grill isn't the most appealing thing, but I've gotten used to it. My backpack was beside me with a change of fresh clothes, and my usual shower utensils I needed to wash with whenever I got home from work normally.

I only got something small. A plain cheeseburger with a side of small fries. The usual thing we were allowed to eat for free whenever we were on break or our shift was over. Around that time, I saw Riley's car pull up to the restaurant window. She got out of the car and made her way around the building before walking in and sitting down in front of me. I looked at her and the uniform she was wearing.

"Traitor." I chuckled a bit. Riley technically worked at my restaurant's competition, so it always made for the fun banter between the two of us on which place was better.

"I could say the same for you." She lightheartedly replied, rolling her eyes and gently nudging her shoulder.

"So, I guess I'll be staying at your place tonight?"

"Yeah. The movie is a bit long, so it might be around eight or nine before it's over."

"It's nearly three hours long?"

"What? No, we still need to drive back, and both shower."

"Oh, that's right." I sighed.

"Yeah, that would at least take half an hour to an hour," Riley commented, reaching over to steal one of my fries. I smirked at her and shook my head.

"Alright, let's get going then." I crumpled my bag of trash and threw it away before leaving with Riley.

"So about the movie last Friday," I said, climbing into her car.

"What about it?" She asked.

"It was... fun."

Riley gave me a look of shock and tilted her head a bit.

"Fun? I didn't think you'd like it that much. Especially considering you pissed yourself while watching it."

"Don't remind me." I groaned, blushing a bit." It was horrifying, but I don't know how to explain it. I just felt this... thrill watching it."

"That's normal," Riley replied. "Tension and suspense are what makes these movies so good."

"It was weird. I kind of liked the trill, but it also made me really nervous. I even ended up... well. I just got scared I guess."

"Well, it sounds like your getting over your fear of horror movies." She grinned and smiled at me.

"Am I?"

"The fact you just said you liked watching the movie last Friday probably says so."