Cameraman, Swing the Focus

Chapter 13

Brendon shoved a few more handfuls of popcorn into his mouth before switching to the candy they'd bought. Ryan leaned over, eyes still on the screen. "I'm going to the bathroom. Let me know what I miss."

Brendon nodded slowly, now dedicated to actually finding out what was going on in the movie so he could recount it accurately. He hadn't learned any of the character's names yet, so it took at least five minutes just to figure those out and what their identifying traits were. He was getting decently absorbed by the movie when he realized Ryan had been gone for quite a while. That realization was punctuated by all the power in the theatre suddenly cuting out.

Brendon froze, a feeling of terror gripping him as the emergency lights came on. They cast a strange greenish glow over the inside of the theatre, and he sat perfectly still until the others started mumbling about evacuating or something. They got up, and he gathered Ryan's coat that had been left on his seat.

They filed out into the hall with everyone else from their movie, and realized it had happened to all the screens, not just theirs. It was loud, with everyone talking over each other trying to find out what had happened. Suddenly a hand grabbed Brendon's arm frantically. He turned to see Ryan looking pale.

"Oh my god, I fucked everything up." His eyes were wide and he glanced around quickly to check their surroundings.

"Ryan, there you are. What happened?" Brendon passed him his coat and he fumbled, dropping it before hastening to grab it from the ground and slide it on.

"On my way to the bathroom I found some employees trying to install a new bass system for one of the rooms. They couldn't figure it out, and I noticed that one of the cords wasn't plugged in. I stopped to help, but when I plugged it in we must have overloaded something, and all the power went down." He was speaking so quickly Brendon could hardly understand.

"I don't think it's your fault." He wasn't sure based on the story, but it sounded like they would have done it anyway on their own.

"Well, the manager seems to be of a different mind. She said she'd press charges for destruction of property or some shit. I have to go." He buttoned up his jacket and glanced around the hall again like a caged animal. Brendon didn't get a word in before he'd blended into the crowd.

Ryan left alone, and was too embarrassed to ever see Brendon again. To choose the other path at your last decision, go to chapter 10. 

To restart the story, go to chapter 1.