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Noelle and Berdly sat hunched over at the tables in the computer lab as they worked silently on their projects. Berdly stuck his tongue out in concentration.
Their flow was quickly interrupted by a ping from Noelle's phone.
“Oh...” Noelle sighed dejectedly while checking her texts.
“What's wrong, Noelle?” Berdly asked.
“I invited Susie to see a movie with me tonight, but she said she can't come anymore,” she said. “Now I have this extra ticket, but no one to go with.”
Berdly perked up upon hearing this.
“Maybe I could ask Kris…” Noelle gazed up at the ceiling in deep thought. “But I haven't seen a movie alone with them since-”
“Do not worry, Noelle!” Berdly lifted his finger next to his head and smiled. “Your ticket will not go to waste. I will attend the movie with you tonight!”
“Uh…” Noelle scratched the back of her head. “I'd love for you to come, but it's a horror movie.”
Berdly's heart dropped at the mere mention of horror movies, but he tried not to show it. Still, based on Noelle's concerned expression, he probably did not do a good job.
“T-That's okay!” Berdly said with a grin. “I can handle horror movies! After all, I watched both FNAF movies with you, and I was very brave throughout the entire duration.”
“You were, but… this movie is a lot heavier than that.” Noelle crossed her arms over her body and held both of her elbows. “It's not for kids, like the FNAF movie was. This one's really intense, and it's got a lot of gore. Like, a lot!”
“My dearest Noelle!” Berdly stood on top of his chair to assert his confidence. “As a pro gamer and movie connoisseur, I can handle anything! I will gladly take Susie's place and watch this horror movie with you!”
Noelle sighed. “Okay!” she said with a shrug. “Meet me at the theater at 7 tonight.”
In classic Berdly fashion, he arrived at the theater at 6:45. This is quite late for him, but he had spent the past several hours hyping himself up in the bathroom mirror to prepare for this movie.
One thing Berdly did not think to do was to actually look up the name of the movie. He walked into the building having absolutely no concept of the plot. Still, he knew he could handle it! He was Berdly, he could do anything!
After Noelle arrived at exactly 7, they made their way to their seats. Before they even sat down, Noelle was already ranting about the movie.
“I've seen this movie, like, five times already,” she said. “It's definitely my current hyperfixation!”
Berdly smiled. “Then I'm glad to be watching it with you!” he said.
After finding their seats, Berdly immediately chowed down on a handful of popcorn as he turned his attention to the big screen.
“Oh, awesome!” Noelle clapped her hands in joy. “We made it in time for the trailers!”
It made sense that all of the trailers were for horror movies. They were watching a horror movie, after all. Though just in the trailers alone, he had watched several acts of gruesome violence, many of which consisted of extremely loud jumpscares. Berdly jumped at every single one. His heart was already racing, and the movie hadn't even started yet!
Noelle tapped him on the shoulder and shot him a thumbs up, silently asking if he was alright. Berdly returned her thumbs up with a confident smile, though his shaking hand might have given him away.
He thought back to his reactions during the FNAF movies. Yes, he was very brave in the theaters, but he spent half the time covering his face with his shirt. This time would be different. He was sure of it! He would not cover his eyes! He was determined to support the interests of his close friend, but most importantly, he wanted to prove that he was strong enough to withstand an intense horror movie. Not just to Noelle, but to himself.
Once the movie began, his body already tensed up. The dark lighting made him feel uneasy. The sound design honed in on grating noises, and the music was high pitched and ominous. The camera zoomed closely on the character's facial expressions, too close to be normal. It started out rather slow paced, but it was enough to keep Berdly on edge.
The majority of the movie was not any better for him. Fortunately, there was not quite as much gore as he thought there would be. Also, there hadn't been any jumpscares as of yet, which was a huge relief. Still, the question of whether or not the protagonist would survive in certain scenes ate away at him. He found himself shivering in his seat at moments of great tension.
Around an hour had passed (Berdly was repeatedly checking his watch throughout the movie) and he had not covered his face yet! In the scenes when Berdly wanted nothing more than to look away, he noticed Noelle leaning forward in her seat with glee. He quickly associated this movement of hers with something to be wary of. The movie was getting much more intense, and Berdly felt a knot forming in his chest. He gripped at his shirt and took a few deep breaths. Luckily, the loud noises and booming bass emitting from the speakers were plenty to cover up his sounds of panic.
The worst of it happened during the last 20 minutes of the movie. Noelle was on the edge of her seat, which naturally meant Berdly was beyond horrified. To his dismay, there was much more gore in the climax of the movie than in any other scene. Berdly had witnessed more blood flow than he would have ever liked to see.
[MENTIONS OF GORE BEGIN HERE]
He winced at many of the injuries, but one in particular sent him over the edge. The protagonist lost their arm. It wasn't a clean slice, either. No, it was literally ripped off their body. The horrified look on their face after losing their arm sent shivers down his spine.
The protagonist faced many other injuries, but this one in particular stood out to Berdly. He did not know what it felt like to lose a limb, but his own arm ached just from watching this. His mind flashed to his own past injuries. Cuts, scraped knees, paper cuts, and that one time he needed stitches after falling out of a tree. None of them equated to the pain of the protagonist at that moment, but he still knew what it felt like to bleed. He knew that hot and raw feeling that emanated from the wound and spread across his body. And he knew that the worse the injury was, the harder it was to do anything at all, mainly because of the fear of worsening the injury.
Five minutes ago, the protagonist had an arm, and now they didn't. Still, they were doing many actions one-handed while projectiles were being launched at them, including their wounded arm. Berdly lifted his trembling hand and squeezed his own arm, reminding himself that it was still there.
[THE GORE IS FINISHED]
Before this moment, Berdly refused to look away from the screen. Now, he couldn't breathe. He shut his eyes as he tried to steady his breathing, but to no avail. He clutched his stomach as it began to churn. Maybe he had eaten too much popcorn. He peered through one eye and gazed at the empty popcorn bucket, just in case he was going to throw up.
All of Noelle's attention was fixed on the screen, so much to Berdly's relief, she had not noticed his current state of panic. He was still trying to maintain his dignity. He rapidly bent forward in his seat, squeezed his head between his knees, and grabbed at the feathers on his head. He could feel his chest expanding and contracting faster than he would have liked. Slow breathing was simply not an option anymore.
The loud noises in the movie ended, and only silence remained. For a moment, Berdly’s shallow breaths became audible in the silence, so he quickly stopped himself. He shot his head up and leaned back in his seat. Before he could see the last shot of the movie, the screen faded to black and the credits began to play. This did not make him feel any better. His arm hurt, his stomach twisted and turned, and his lungs were working overtime just to keep him conscious.
“Oh my god, that was amazing!” Noelle kicked her legs and squealed. She leaned back in her seat and began to watch the credits roll.
Berdly needed to leave immediately. He frantically tapped Noelle on the shoulder, trying to hide his deep unease.
“Yeah?” she asked.
Berdly couldn't speak. His breathing was moving too fast. All he could do was desperately point towards the exit.
“Oh, sure!”
They stood up together. As Berdly walked through the aisle, he grabbed the seats next to him and leaned his weight against them. His legs wobbled with each step.
The more he thought about the protagonist's arm, the more queasy he felt. Once he stepped out of the dark room, he noticed that the edges of his vision were heavily blurred, almost as though he was walking through a tunnel.
Noelle had been gushing about the movie as soon as they left the room, but Berdly could not hear anything she was saying. His ears were ringing at such an intensity that everything around him sounded muffled.
Berdly needed to sit down. He was so tempted to drop to the floor and bury his face in his knees, but he resisted. After all, it would only let everyone in the theater know that he could not handle a horror movie! People would be looking at him in a moment of great weakness. Or worse, comforting him.
Breathless, he managed to splutter out one sentence. “Where's the bathroom?” he asked.
Noelle turned to him and froze. She said nothing, but her eyes drifted towards the sign that pointed in the direction of the bathrooms. That was enough for Berdly. He turned around and walked in that exact direction. As he headed to the bathroom, he leaned against the wall and dragged himself along.
“Are you okay?” Noelle asked him.
At this point, there was no hiding it. Berdly shook his head silently and continued stumbling down the hallway.
“Oh.”
Now that he was exposed to the light, his breaths began to slow down, but he still struggled to walk. His blurred vision and spinning head was also not any better.
“Hey, Berdly-”
They reached the bathrooms, and Berdly headed right for the men's room before she could finish speaking. As much as he knew Noelle cared for him, he did not want her to see him like this.
Upon entering the bathroom, he sped towards the accessible stall, locked the door, and leaned against the wall, gasping for air. His legs were still too weak to hold him up, so he slid down the wall towards the floor. Normally, he would hate sitting on the floor of a public restroom, but this time, he could not help himself.
Berdly focused his gaze on the stall ahead of him. It still appeared as though he was looking through a tunnel, but these visual effects were starting to fade. He reminded himself to take slow, deep breaths, in through the nose, and out through the mouth.
Throughout his life, Berdly had never experienced something so visceral. Yes, he had been anxious before, but it was rare. It mostly consisted of shaking and hyperventilating in his bedroom after receiving an A- on a homework assignment. But if someone were to knock on his door, he would quickly compose himself and slap a confident smile on his face as if nothing had happened. This, however, was different. Berdly was sick, beyond anything he could mask. He thought he was going to faint, throw up, or both. He couldn't see, he couldn't walk or talk, and he couldn't breathe. All because of a scene in a movie.
“My name is Berdly,” he whispered to himself. “I'm at the movies with Noelle. I go to Hometown School. All of my limbs are attached to my body.”
He repeated these affirmations to himself until the sick feeling in his stomach dissipated.
What was he thinking? Why did he think he was equipped to see a horror movie like this? Naturally, he thought he could handle anything, but maybe there were some things that he was better off avoiding.
Berdly took one last deep breath and groaned. He hoisted himself up from the floor, washed his hands, and left the bathroom. Noelle quickly spun around to face him as soon as he opened the door.
“Berdly! Are you okay?” Her brows were contorted in deep concern.
One nagging thought struck Berdly. His pride around Noelle was beyond saving. How could he redeem himself after his strong reaction? At this point, all he could do was be honest with her.
“Yes, I'm fine,” he said. “But I must ask... how were you able to watch that movie without closing your eyes?”
“I guess I just feel this morbid fascination with scary stuff,” Noelle said. “It's thrilling! Almost like riding a roller-coaster.”
“Does it not hurt to watch the characters get hurt?” Berdly asked.
“Well, yeah.” Noelle shrugged. “But that's the fun of it! It's not actually happening to you, but it feels like it is, you know?”
“Huh.” Such an idea confounded Berdly. Something that gave him such a visceral reaction could leave someone else completely unaffected. Even though he admired Noelle, there was still a lot he did not know about her.
“You wanna head home?” Noelle smiled and held out her arm for Berdly.
“Yeah.” He linked arms with Noelle. His legs were stable now, but he appreciated the extra support.
Berdly was a very brave young man. He could handle anything! Well, almost anything. And on the (extremely rare) occasion he encountered something he couldn't handle, he was glad that he at least had his friend Noelle by his side.