“What the hell is wrong with you?”

As soon as Katie and Gadreel were inside the cinema and escape became impossible, Katie let go of Gadreel. The brunette looked down at the disappearing bite mark on her hand and found herself raising her eyebrows. A biting Angel? Gadreel truly was desperate…

She was completely correct, judging from how furious Gadreel was. The moment he was freed, he practically started screaming into Katie’s ears.

“Come on, Katie! We had a deal!” When Katie didn't answer, Gadreel continued. He already knew Katie wasn’t the sanest person out there, but why would she drag him into this too? What was she trying to achieve? All she did was alienate him!

“Oh, relax!” Katie waved her hand casually as she looked around the cinema. “What’s the point of life if you’re not gonna throw it away meaninglessly?”

There was a small proud grin on her face, a grin that she didn't even bother to hide from Gadreel. She looked as if she was a child that just played a trick on the grownups, except, in this case, it was a deadly trick.

“That...that doesn’t make any sense and you know it!” At this point, it was clear turning back was no longer an option, and Gadreel did his best to calm himself. This cinema consumed countless entities, human and supernatural alike. If possible, he still wanted to live to see another day. “So...now what?”

The cinema around the two was completely dark, as if the owners forgot to turn on the power when they started accepting customers. Of course, the darkness wasn’t an issue for either one of the two. Katie could distinctly see a path in front of them, as well as several auditoriums down the hall.

So...should we walk down the halls and find an auditorium by ourselves? Shouldn’t there be a guide or something? What sort of service was this? I expected to be treated nicer in a haunted cinema! Throw us a bone here!

Before Katie could ask to see the manager and file a complaint, she suddenly heard footsteps coming from behind. Her excitement was short-lived when she saw it was the four college boys she saw at the door.

It seemed like they were led into the cinema by the woman after Katie dragged Gadreel inside. Unsurprising, given what Gadreel told Katie.

“It is so dark in here!” One of them complained as he held up his iPhone, using the flashlight function to help see the surroundings. “What’s the owner thinking?”

“Maybe it’s a type of marketing strategy?” Another boy did his best to explain. Suddenly, his flashlight landed on Katie and Gadreel. “Oh sorry! I didn't see you there.” He apologized quickly, recognizing the two from the entrance.

Gadreel had no intention of talking, so Katie took it upon herself to step forward and face the boys in a gleeful manner. “Hello boys! My name is Katie Lockwood. This…” She yanked Gadreel over despite his obvious frown. “this is my friend. Call him Gadreel. Yes. Strange name, I know! Anyways…” She smiled at the four poor souls while rubbing her hands together. “Are you guys ready to watch a movie?”

“Uh...sure!” The second boy was slightly taken back by how excited Katie was. He subconsciously wanted to keep a distance from Katie, but what he didn't see was that the first boy, the one complaining about the dark tone of the cinema, suddenly took a step forward.

“Yes!” That boy said, his eyes landing on Katie’s adorable figure. “what movie are you here to watch?”

“Uh...Transformers?”

“Yeah, us too!”

And just like that, Katie and Gadreel joined the four ignorant students and ventured down the hall. The Angel mostly ignored the boys even when they tried to talk to him. No need to communicate with those destined to die. Katie, on the other hand, was as talkative as ever as she chatted with the four soon-to-be victims.

The second boy with a pair of glasses that was actively trying to stay away from Katie was called Aaron. The one practically leaning on her in the dark hall was James. The two other boys, KJ and Luke, were mostly silent except when they introduced themselves.

Suddenly, as the group ventured down the hall, one of the boys, KJ, deviated to the side and grabbed onto something from a counter. When he returned, Katie could see he was holding onto a bag.

“Wow! Ten dollars for a bag of popcorn?” He complained casually as he reached his hand into the plastic bag he literally picked up on the road. “It’s such a rip-off!”

His hand pulled out of the bag, holding onto a human eyeball. Katie was about to say something when he put the eyeball into his mouth...and started chewing.

Katie Lockwood wisely shut her mouth.

“Well, at least the tickets were cheap.” James turned around and smiled at his cannibalistic friend. Neither of them realized they purchased neither tickets nor popcorn. The moment the woman stopped them on the road, their perceptions have been altered.

That was why Gadreel said they were doomed already.

However...as the group kept on walking and KJ shared some of the ‘popcorns’ with Luke, Katie’s eyes landed on the last kid. Aaron. He was walking along as well, and while his cognitions were also bent, the fact that he had a frown on his face suggested he wasn’t as blinded as his friends.

Interesting. Was he just smarter, or was he somehow special?

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

The group finally reached one of the auditoriums. Well...it was mostly the four boys. They pushed the door open and went through the empty seats, frequently looking down on the imaginary tickets in their hands. Finally, they sat down in four dust-filled seats along a row not far away from the big screen. KJ set his eyeball popcorn bag in the slot between his seat and Luke’s seat.

It was truly a troubling sight, even for Katie. For god’s sake...she wanted to try out that popcorn!

Nonetheless, Katie and Gadreel sat down beside the four college students. Katie had Gadreel on her right and James on her left.

And then, just as they got seated, the big screen lit up, and the movie started playing. Honestly, as far as Katie could see, the most surprising part of all this was the lack of ads. Where was the half an hour of advertisement that would bombard the audience before the film? Katie knew this cinema wasn't really trying to make money, but if it was aiming for a movie theatre cosplay, then at least put in some effort!

Either way, Katie shut her mouth and started watching.

The first scene showed a woman in her twenties laying on her bed in an apartment room. She was scrolling through her phone when she stumbled across an ad for a phone application called the Ghostscanner. Apparently, this app claimed it could detect any hidden supernatural being.

All it took...was a single picture to be uploaded. After that, the app would do its job and return the picture to its user with everything not of the material world.

The woman, just like most characters in horror movies, decided to give it a shot. And why shouldn’t she? She was just a bored single lady wanting to have some fun with an obviously recreational application! With a playful intention, she took a selfie and uploaded it onto the application.

The processing was quick. In fact, almost the second the woman clicked the upload button, another picture was returned to her.

In the picture, most of the background was gone, grayed out of view. But the woman herself remained, and on her shoulder...was a bloody hand.

The next second, the screen cut black, and when it lit up again, the woman was in seven different pieces. Literally. Her head was on one side of the room. One of her limbs was somehow on the ceiling. The entire apartment room just became one bloody mess.

The camera started focusing on the app on the woman’s blood-soaked phone. It got closer and closer until the screen suddenly jumped to a title card.

The App. That was the name of the horror movie.

That’s...interesting. Katie leaned forward in her seat. She was going to grab a few of those popcorn from the plastic bug, but nevermind that! She was actually intrigued by this! Well...in most cases, she didn't give a crap about horror movies. What type of horror movie could compete against Mr. Isaac's games? But the environment was as important of a factor as always.

This was not just any cinema. This was a cinema that has stood for years, dooming countless visitors and even a squad of Angels. Angels! Granted...these weren’t exactly the omnipotent warriors of Heaven, but this still showed how deadly the cinema was!

Well...deadly to most, awesome to her.

Beside her, Gadreel saw Katie’s excitement and couldn’t help but sigh. Nonetheless, he still did his best to focus on the movie. His knowledge of the cinema was limited, but even he knew they weren’t just invited in here to see a random horror movie. Chances were this movie would be tied to their life or death.

As for the other four students...they still didn't think much of the movie other than just another horror film. Except for Aaron. The boy was nearly shivering in fear. Even the playful jabs made by his friends wasn’t enough to make him relax. Distinctly, he could feel something was off, but knowing something didn't mean having a way out.

After the opening scenes, the movie finally shifted to the main cast. The main characters included six people. Six college students, in fact. Five boys and one brunette girl. Sounds familiar? Yep. It didn't take the viewers of the movie too long to realize one chilling fact.

All six characters in the movie perfectly matched the six viewers outside the screen. Same gender. Same age. Even the looks were similar.

At this point, even people like James found themselves panicking. James, KJ, and Luke were slower than Aaron to realize something was wrong, but they had to be blind and deaf now to think this was just another regular day in just another regular movie theatre. The alterations placed on their perceptions were gradually peeling away.

“What is going on here?” Luke raised his voice in fear.

“Hey, quiet down!” A woman sitting in the row in front of him called out.

“Yeah, sorry…” Luke backed down slightly and apologized. “But are you seeing this? The characters inside! They are…”

“Who are you talking to?” Katie, a few seats away, suddenly asked. The six of them were seated on the same row, but Luke looked like he was talking to someone in front of him. But...the auditorium was empty apart from the six of them!

“What?” Luke frowned and looked at the woman in front of him once again, who just tossed him a meaningful smile and turned back to the movie screen. The boy tilted his head in confusion, but he didn't think much of it.

As far as he could see, the entire movie theatre was packed with audiences.

The students were panicking, but the movie wasn’t waiting for them to catch up. The scenes continued playing, and as expected, the six students each found their way to the Ghostscanner app. Also as expected, all six of them downloaded the app.

At this point, the students went silent once again. They didn't know what was going on, and all they could do was keep watching the scenes as they played out.

The six students each started using the Ghostscanner app on their surroundings, uploading pictures to the app and getting images in return. Just like that, they were horrified to realize there were countless wraiths in the university. These wraiths were everywhere. In the lecture halls. On the sidewalks. Even in the dorm rooms and dining halls.

The six students eventually found each other. As chaos gradually consumed the campus, they banded together and tried to flee. It was only their teamwork and, mostly, the contribution by the Ghostscanner app that helped them evade the reach of the invisible wraiths while countless others fell victim.

Unfortunately, just as the students were about to make their way out of the campus and presumably to safety, the scene went dark again. Once again, when the movie continued playing, the six students were in pieces.

The viewers never had the chance to know what happened to them. Did one wraith in particular slip through the cracks of the scans? Or maybe they were just cornered? No one knew. Not yet.

The movie came to an end.

Katie could hear James beside her take a breath of relief, but she knew this wasn’t it. No...if this cinema was as dangerous as Gadreel claimed, and she truly hoped it was, then it was capable of doing so much more than show them a creepy movie with a creepy set of characters. No...she expected so much more. In fact, she demanded so much more!

If this was it, then Katie swore she would proceed to burn this entire cinema down for disappointing her and wasting her time, time that otherwise could be spent on hunting down Angels or slicing into herself! If there was more to it and she was satisfied...she might consider leaving this cinema alone? Maybe?

Perhaps the owner of the cinema heard her complaints, because the next second, the big screen in the front lit up once again and sucked all six of them, including Katie and Gadreel, into the screen.