Survival Of The Fittest

((Dawn Montogomery continues from ))

When Dawn entered the movie theatre, she found herself in good company. With the pandemic still in everyone's recent memory, some people were starving for entertainment outside their own four walls these days. Thanks to the lockdowns, Hollywood was lacking in new movies, but the local cinemas had adjusted and streamed lots of classics and evergreens instead. Perfect for someone like Dawn, who was trying to catch up on the basics of cinema.

In comparison with the rest of the mall, the movie theatre looked almost brand-new. But what had been invested in renovations was lacking in security: the place was clearly understaffed, several corridors could be used to access the screening rooms and it was an open secret that the cameras hanging everywhere weren't even activated. Whenever some of Dawn's classmates talked about "going to see a movie", they were often meaning "sneaking in without paying". While she would have loved to interfere, Ethan had explained her to pick her fights wisely. This was the movie theatre's problem.

With unhurried steps, Dawn made her way to the board that showed what movies were played. The first poster that caught her eyes was the one of the first Lord Of The Rings. While she already knew this one, it would be a blast to see it on the big screen for once. However, thanks to the long runtime, she would have to write her parents about it. This would probably be unnecessary, since her parents came home very late and were often too fatigued to even realize she was there, but it was better than them worrying.

The poster to the right was about a movie called Blade Runner. Dawn had heard of this one before, but she didn't knew anything else.

And lastly there was Godzilla VS Kong. Still running and by far the newest movie. Every other screenings had already started or was uninteresting to her.

So, what should she watch?

Dawn assumed a thinker-pose while standing in front of the posters. She had about twenty minutes before the screenings began. Thanks to her earlier visit at Dunkin's, she could skip getting popcorn, so she had some time to think about it.

Still in thought, her eyes wandered across the room. Maybe she could find a friendly face to get a second, better-educated opinion?

The one spot Dawn was slowest to take stock of was where she found her reply. Something of a jump scare shape. Things crawled in the corner of the eye, more felt than seen.

|| Ash Graves, Thread 2 ||

But Ash wasn't trying to startle Dawn actually, she'd just spotted the familiar face rounding the bend of blind corner. They were almost on top of one another, and Ash was quick to disengage just enough to give whatever amount of personal space would have been reasonably appreciated.

They were familiar enough with each other that Ash knew, the way she instinctively knew these things. Dawn was friendly and omnipresent in the same way the radiation of the sun burned vampires like Ash to death. More of a mild skin irritant in practice. Ash didn't hold Dawn's aggressive friendliness against her- the mild unease was more an Ashlyn problem.

"Ethan watching too?"

Her awkward first impulse, of the consciously stoppered before it ever made it past the initial neuron variety, was that she wanted to ask about Ethan more than about Dawn. Had he seen Devil Made Me Do It yet, et cetera. Ashlyn's flavor of embarrassment she was willing to admit she internally endured was just how much she wanted to bother Ethan and Lydia about their opinions on that latest entry into the Conjuring series. Cheap jump scares, sure, but god did Ashlyn love the adrenaline rushes even if they were formulaic. She'd never denied that she could be obscenely basic at times.

"What are you in the market for? It honestly still feels weird to be out sometimes, it's like..." Ash had her mask on, which was one of those unconscious facts that only bubbled up into the working part of her brain when she was around one of the school's most admirably (annoyingly, in addition) health-conscious. "I forget how movie theaters are supposed to work, almost. Might just be the regular brain rot." Mask did nothing to muffle Ashlyn's voice. A full pistol's worth of silencer wouldn't have worked when Ash spoke with a mind to be heard. Not particularly because she expected others to listen though.

Ashlyn held out a hand. Could've turned into a hug, social distancing measures aside, but it was an ambiguous signal for casual affection.

Just as Dawn thought she was unlucky, a familiar face sprang almost directly into hers. It was the one of Ash Graves, an aquaintance of Dawn and a friend of Ethan. At least that was how Dawn saw it.

"Oh hello, Ash." Dawn said with a smile. "Fancy seeing you here."

"Ethan watching too?" Ash inquired.

"Not today." Dawn, who had expected this question, waved her hand a bit and smiled friendly. "He and the others from the chess club are training for a tournament, so I am alone."

Honestly speaking, she was glad to meet Ash in this moment. Not only because Ash would surely be able to help her settle on a movie, but also because in Dawn's book, watching movies was more fun if you did it together. Ash appeared to share this sentiment, since she asked Dawn about what she wanted to watch. But before Dawn could answer, Ash was already on the next topic: the almost defeated pandemic and how it affected her relation to movie theatres.

"Oh, don't worry. You are not an isolated case. So let's watch a movie together!" With another smile, Dawn took Ash's outstretched hand and gave her a shake. From what she knew, Ash had a good head on her shoulders, so Dawn assumed she was vaccinated. Apart from that, Ash was even wearing a facemask, something that Dawn had dropped the moment it was no longer mandated. Breathing was so much easier now!

"I was just thinking about the options. There is the first Lord of the Rings, some scifi-looking oldie and - how Ethan would call it - Big Lizard VS Giant Monkey. What do you think?"

Just a wave. Ash returned it, physical distance was maintained. Seemed appropriate. Dawn wasn't masked up anymore, fair in the fading twilight hours of the pandemic's heyday. Honestly Ash had grown to enjoy the opportunity to wear them just on their own merit. She'd always thought her eyes carried her face by themselves- everything else was a bit too soft.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," she shot back with the bit of sneer almost visible, definitely audible through the interposing barrier over her lips.

"But a movie together sounds like a good time, sure." It was a lot of time to spend with just one person who wasn't a particularly close friend, but when there was time to kill, go for the throat.

"You don't know Blade Runner?" Ash herself had only watched it a long time ago but she confidently pieced together a synopsis from a few faded memories: lights in vague shapes, sounds of some pitch. "Noir, dystopian. What makes an AI different from a human. It's pretty cool stuff."

She glanced along the remaining bevy of movie posters. One sweep of the eyes, one blink of the eyes, barely travelling.

"Since it appears to be throwbacks day, how would you feel about?"

She pointed a finger at her counteroffer. The Ring. Ash had never actually seen a movie poster for it given that she'd barely been born when it had come out. 'Before You Die, You See'. Honestly, clonker of a tagline.

The poster Ash pointed at was a poster Dawn hadn't even realized was there at all. No wonder by the simple design. All it was was a dark background, a white ring and the words 'Before you die, you see'.

Before you die, you see?

Did that mean the movie was about something people who were about to die saw? Or was the dying part caused by the seeing?

Did they knew they were about to die when they saw it?

There was one way to find out.

"The Ring, huh? Haven't heard of it. What it is about?"

"Horror movie. If you've ever heard 'you will die in seven days' that's where it's from."

She watched Dawn's reaction for a moment. In Ash's experience the words horror movie ended some conversations with a squeamish, nervous giggle death spiral.

"Character watch a tape and you die a few days later. As for what killed them..."

Maybe she sounded too enthusiastic about it. Every sentence said with more of a smile than she was usually about. She was actually enthusiastic though, so there was accuracy to her modest cringe.

"The original Japanese version was better but this is a decent remake."

She was thinking clips from the movie- long ass time ago she'd watched it, but middle school Ash memories suffered only a modest framerate loss.

'You will die in seven days', huh?

So they really knew that they were going to die. Kind of like...

By the time Dawn realized where this train of thought would lead her, it was too late. The synapses in her brain had already made the connection.

...Anna.

Her mood dropped like a mic in a rap battle. While her face concorted into a mix of uncertainty and worry, all the unanswered question flew through her head, like they did way too often.

Why did you never tell me?

Did you knew it would happen on this day?

Was it painful?

Could I have said something?

Should I have said something?

And why did you never tell me? Did you even see as a frie-

For five whole seconds, she stood still, eyes looking right through Ash into the nothingness. But then her mind re-started. Still in disarray, but aware of the person in front of her.

She needed to say something. Anything to get her back on another track. As if on command, her mouth formed words without much input.

"Hey, Ash. If you knew you were about to die in a few days, what would you do?"

A terrible topic, but anything to distract herself form these goddamn memories.

Very distinct difference between an innocuous awkward pause and a record-scratch 'ground swallow me and let my corpse never be found' sort of pause. Maybe a millisecond in and Ash could already feel the familiar weight, tense inertia dragging on the lines of her face- she objectively didn't look weathered by age, but she swore she could see the faintest cracks in her youth whenever moments like this came along.

She never would get used to that soul-crushing jolt, the spark of failure, the subsequent brushfire that consumed settlements and left ash and bone. It was a weakness she'd long ago accepted without being particularly happy about it. Gave her more focus than any shot of adrenaline right to the aorta could, focus in excess, the rush of oaths to a god she didn't really believe in as she would suffer acute and hyperrealistic flashbacks to every moment of the minute's worth of conversation so far, wondering where she'd fucked up, and why, and how, and fuck her why was she an idiot, so on. The focus extended, same as the seconds extended into minutes. Previous meetings, a lunch here and there, what had Ash said, what had she done?

Ethan had mentioned Dawn had lost a friend before. There, that had to be it. She could stop tunnel visioning just in time to quickly assert herself before she became the next unspeaking, unmoving statue in the room.

"Hate to say I've thought of that question before."

She had, and she had a lot of answers, but she didn't want to extend the spiral of Dawn's likely deep and tangled web of complicated...

Ash knew how this sort of thing went down, suffice it to say.

"Live with it, for the time I have left. I definitely wouldn't want others to talk about it though. Can't let my problems become theirs."

It was a quick and earnest answer. Said with her eyes as much as it was with her voice.

"Not the sort of conversation I'd expect the two of us to have, but I'm open." To what, Ash distinctly left unsaid. On purpose, as far as she knew.

There were dozens of ways Ash could have reacted to Dawn's mood swing.

She could have not batted an eye.

She could have asked Dawn what was wrong with her.

Or she could have used an excuse to get away.

Dawn wouldn't blame her for any of these options.But instead, Ash said something that resonated within Dawn, helping her to calm down.

Yeah, that makes sense.

You didn't want me to worry, didn't you?

Please let this be the right answer!

Dawn felt herself returning to normal-mode. It was a welcome feeling.

"Thank you," she said for no particular reason. "I believe that is a good thing to do. No point in worrying about stuff you can't change anyway, right?"

A small chuckle, half-honest, escaped her lips. Then she remembered where they were right now.

"So regarding the movie, how about we watch Godzilla vs Kong after all? That is a movie where we can turn off our brains and just let the loud pictures entertain us. Sounds like something I would be up for right now!"

Dawn hoped that Ash would agree. A movie that would divert her from the awkward moment right now was exactly what she needed. Not something emotional like Lord Of The Rings or something complex-sounding like Blade Runner. And definitely not The Ring.

"No point in worrying about stuff you can't change anyway, right?"

Ash nodded, that part of the conversation ended. Her half of the conversation- with the other half of it, who knew. Ash tried to not give it any further regard, at least for the sake of propriety.

Her chuckle and smile in reply were wider, anyways. By just a bit, but nobody was measuring.

"You make it sound like its trash. Might be a fair opinion." Ash's knowledge of cinema nowadays generally began and ended on the clickbait coffin black of Bloody Disgusting HTML.

"How do you snack up for these? I don't go out to theaters all that much, yeah, but the strategy for me is like... no drink. Bathroom breaks when you can't pause are the avoidable sort of mistake." Ash didn't mind when the shadows of people scuttled around in the liminal space between her eyeballs and theater screen, nah, but she loathed the thought of being one of those things crawling in the darkness.

====

... Yeah, it had sucked. But a familiar kind of terrible- Ash was a horror buff, so she was well acquainted with the various forms of shit: shit dialogue, shit pacing, shit special effects, the full septic tank's worth of bad filmography.

She paced at Dawn's side, matching her pace. They'd been discussing what was possible to pick out of the move- not too deep, anyways, but Ash had lived on this earth long enough to be able to pick a conversation out of almost any amount of non-substance. One hand idly readjusted her bangs, carefully returning them to the place they'd been before she'd needed them out of the way to actually see the movie.

"... But yeah, it's a bro-ass movie through and through." Been a while since Ash had been sitting in a theater with another girl at her side. Not that she minded Salem? Eh.

"If you ever want to hang out again, you know how to reach me. I'm open when I'm open."

By the time the movie ended, Dawn had managed to banish the awkward moment from earlier out of her mind. A storm of CGI could do wonders.

As she left the cinema, she noted that this day had been a success in her book. Not only had she managed to say hi to Alex, she also had found some good company to watch the movie with.

And said company had just made a very good offer.

"Sure. I would love to hang out again." Dawn answered with a smile. "Just write me whenever you have time."

Then she realized the problem. "Oh wait, you don't have my number, do you?" Since they mostly knew each other over Ethan, the two had yet to fullfill this important ritual. Dawn fished her smartphone out of her bag.

"Here, let me dictate my number:..."

She'd meant Facebook or Twitter. There were no shortage of folk in John Endceott who had her number, of course, but usually just the folks who Ash would trust with burying a body on the down low.

Not that she didn't like Dawn, just, hm. Not to that extent. And the only other time Ash bothered to ask for numbers? Well, it'd been years since she'd casually come out of the closet and years since she'd rushed through multiple gay-ass relationships in a bid to make good on her underwhelming personal revelations, so on. Things changed, damn. She was the most jaded sort of grown and the most bitter sort of woke and people could still surprise her, she guessed.

Didn't show on her face though. Ash had long since mastered the art of looking the right amount of maybe interested, one parts polite, one parts dead inside and a bit outside.

"My phone's dead because I'm an idiot. But I should be able to remember it, and I'll give you mine as well just in case."

"Oh, that's no problem." Dawn answered. Happy that the extre weight was useful for once, her hand wandered back into her bag, eventually returning back to light with a notepad and a pencil. "Here, you can write first." She offered both to Ash.

Once Ash had written down her number, Dawn wrote her own on a second note and gave it to her companion.

"Thank you for the company, again. The movie would have been only half the fun without you." Dawn said. "Let's see what our next meeting brings."

With that, she said her goodbye. It was getting late, and while Dawn surely would be the first person home, she preferred arriving early. Maybe she could still finish the homework she had planned to do on the weekend, which would give her more time later. Or maybe she would watch Ethan newest video.

((Dawn Montogomery continued in Operation Cold Hands))

Cringe-alert, Dawn had been more sensibly inclined to actually write things down. Shit, Ash hadn't carried pen and pad in her own purse since before she was born. Such a thing as being too much of a Zoomer.

"Yep." Simple concluding idea, with Ash more privately sure they'd probably not have a next meeting any time soon. They were just in different circles, for the most part, despite both being popular in their own way. Whatever the word popular even meant in a post-modernist, post-irony context.

|| Ashlyn Graves, Thread 2 Ends ||