- VIDEO STORE | NIGHT -
A florescent light flickers with an irritating buzz. Two hands reach up to twist the bulb out of its socket in the ceiling of a quiet video store.
Standing on a ladder, the clerk gently places the old bulb on the shelf while reaching for a new one. He screws it in, but it continues its irritating blinking.
A figure, two rows away from him, starts walking towards the row nearby him.
Alycia, the figure, looking around the store, gives him a short nod, which he returns with his own.
- VIDEO STORE | LYDIA'S CAR -
Lydia's car pulls up. Jackson gets out in mid-conversation with Lydia, arguing with her through the open window.
"Hoosiers is not only the best basketball movie ever made, it's the best sports movie—"
"No." Lydia says
"It's got Gene Hackman and Dennis Hopper—"
"No."
"I swear to god you'll like it." Jackson says
"No."
"I am not watching the notebook again." Jackson says annoyed.
She hits the window button, closing it on him with a smile behind the glass.
- VIDEO STORE | NIGHT -
A fuming Jackson enters the store, searching for The notebook. But going row to row and passing by the now empty ladder and replacement bulbs, he can't seem to find it.
"Can somebody help me find The notebook?" He calls out.
Alycia, few rows away from him, jumps from his loud voice.
"Jesus, Jackson. Why the hell are you so loud?" She says walking up to him.
"Alycia? What are you doing here?" Jackson asks furrowing his eyebrows.
"I was looking for Hoosiers but I can't seem to find it."
"Hoosiers? The basketball movie?" He looks her up and down. "You like sport movies?"
"What? Didn't expect it from a girl who watches Lacrosse every week?" She scoffs.
"No, no... I just thought that you prefer fantasy more—"
"Fantasy?" She scoffs again, rolling her eyes this time to make it more dramatic. "Me and fantasy don't go together."
Jackson is about to reply when something catches his attention. Through the wire frame of the shelf, he sees two shoes on the floor, toes pointed upward.
Hands now trembling, he slowly steps left. Inching around the corner of the shelf, he sees the two shoes and now just a bit of the legs.
Someone is lying on the floor on the other side of the shelf.
Alycia, with furrowed eyebrows, follows the boy.
Chest rising with every breath, Jackson takes another step. And then another. Finally discovering the clerk lies dead on the floor.
Blood everywhere.
Alycia curses under her breath.
Jackson staggers back into Alycia. She tumbles right into the ladder. It goes down, wires snapping with it as a spark flies from the light fixture. With an electric crackling, all of the lights flicker and die, plunging the store into darkness.
"What the hell—"
Alycia stops abruptly when the sound of movement spins her around. A shelf rattles, DVD cases trembling as something large moves behind it. Whatever it is, it's between the two teens and the exit.
- LYDIA'S CAR -
In the driver's seat, Lydia gazes into her camera phone, pursing her lips. Then flips it around to watch the video of herself.
- VIDEO STORE -
Jackson and Alycia, now crouching behind a shelf, try to steady their near-hyperventilating breaths. Slowly, Alycia peers up above the stacks of DVD's when Jackson tugs her back down.
One of the shelves rocks forward. Like dominoes, they begin falling toward the two scared teens, DVD's flying through the air.
They move to dart out of the way, but one of the shelves slams down on Jackson's back, pinning his body to the floor. As he tries to push himself up a shadow falls over him.
Alycia, now hovering over him, tugs at his arms, trying to help him up. Jackson thought she left him to die, but turns out she didn't.
A new shadow, much, much larger falls over them.
Jackson and Alycia hold still as the store becomes ominously quiet and something growls mere inches from the back of Alycia's head.
She feels its breath on her neck.
One second, she's sitting on the floor, and the next, she's flying through the store, right into a wall.
Now unconscious, she falls back to the floor. Her body limp.
Jackson tries to get a better look at her, to see if she's still breathing.
But, before he can turn, a clawed hand reaches over the nape of his neck, where the marks, from when Derek punctured his skin, are still visible.
Yellowish and scabbed, they look infected. Jackson shudders as the tips of the Alpha's claws graze his skin, pulling back and lifting up as if preparing to strike.
- LYDIA'S CAR -
Lydia raises her camera phone, still recording a video of herself when the store's plate glass window explodes.
A black shape hurtles past Lydia's car.
Lydia spins around with the camera phone still clutched in her hand, her wide eyes staring off through the window.
The car door clicks open and Lydia shakily steps out.
"Jackson..." she mutters
- VIDEO STORE | INSIDE -
Lydia steps past DVD cases strewn across the floor.
"Jackson?" She calls out
Then she sees a hand jutting out from underneath an overturned shelf. Terrified, she approaches. Slowly reaching out, her own finger trembling.
"Don't."
Lydia shrieks, spinning around to see Jackson just standing there, staring out the broken window.
With an electric crackle, the lights flicker back on. Lydia looks down to a blood-soaked carpet.
Now, she starts screaming.
———————————————————————————
Short chapter so I can introduce you to Episode 5 'The tell'
I can't believe my book already hit +100 votes
I started writing it like a month ago and now seeing the support for it, it feels amazing.
Thank you thank you thank you✨