Speaker 1: Hullo. I'm Welcom's stories all the time. Glad you are here.
Let's get into it. Laurie watched the radar on her
phone with apprehension as red as the blossoming humor which
was spreading over Iowa. She leaned against the Gloss Candy
display case and shook her head. We might have to
call it, she said. Max, the high schooler working the
cash register that afternoon, replied, what do you mean. I
mean we might have to shut down the theaters and
give everybody for funds, send them home before the system
gets any worse. She turned her phone toward Max, and
he bent close to study the red explosion. Rain was
already pouring so hard they could hear it pattering on
the roof thunder soul love. Max thought he was hearing
explosions from transformers. Rise of the Beasts rattled the doors
and chindeliers. Isn't everyone safer here than driving out there?
Max asked, Oh, Max, you innocent child. Laurie sarcastically chided,
it's not about their safety, it's about all liability. Max
looked horrified. Laurie laughed, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. You should
see your face. Her teasing smile softened. No, you're right,
they are technically safer here. But think about what will
happen if we lose power. Everyone in the dark window
as theater is. When the lights go out and the
screens go black, everyone climbing over each other trying to
get to the exits. That would be a nightmare. But
by the time I give them all her funds, just
hand everybody vouchers on their way out, Tell them they
can come back and finish the movie tomorrow or whenever
it is convenient. I think the Flash is just about over,
so let's let that when finish, then clear out Spider
Man and Elemental. Fortunately, no one had showed up to
the matinees of the Bugamin or Transformers. If Laurie and
Max could find a silver lining, it was that the
storm had decided to roll for At tupam on a
Monday afternoon, on CUE, a giggling couple came out of theater,
one arm in arm. One of them tossed the empty
pop from bucket they had sheared into the trash can,
while the others slept the last few drops of soda
from between ice chips at the bottom of collectible cup
they both for when lightning flashed through the front doors
and thundercrack like a whip. It's getting pretty bad, Laurie
wore in the couple, I'd get going before it gets
any worse. They nodded and hurried toward the doors. One
of them whispered something and both started giggling again. Laurie
couldn't wait for Sculptor's start. School forced these careless teens
to take something, at least summer seriously. Most of them
acted like consequences took summers off with their teachers. Soon,
a steady stream of muviegoers were meandering into the lobby,
whether they were excited by the movie or disappointed at
the sights and sounds of the storm, equalized them all
and muted their burbing conversations. Hurry home, everybody, Laurie repeated
a few times as people dawdled in the lobby. It's
only getting worse. We're closing to Max, she said. Co
shut down the other's eaters and send everyone out here, please,
I'll have vouchers ready. Max realized he had been hoping
for a miracle. Some freak pressure changed to push the
storm north aside, so he wouldn't have to shut down
two theaters full of obnoxious kids, angry parents, and bitter
shift workers like himself. Fured just wanted a couple hours
of entertainment. As rain hissed against the roof like static,
he went up to the projector room. He shut down
Theater three's projector, prematurely ending Spider Man across the Spider Verse.
The chorus of jeers and beus which followed made him
nervous to go downstairs and address the audience, but he did. Hey, everybody,
he started, they kept yelling at him. He recognized a
few of his classmates in the audience who were booing
and cursing at him just as loudly as everyone else. Hey, listen,
I'm sorry. We have vouchers for an enormous blast of
thunder shook the building and brought the crowds falling down
a few decibels. Some one in the back said, oh
my god, there's like a huge storm going on right now.
Max cut in. It's not safe to keep the movie's playing,
but you'll get a voucher for a free showing in
the way out. Please leave in and orderly. But everyone
was already moving. Things went about the same in Theater four,
where the latest Disney Picks A movie was entertaining a
horde of snotty drooling nuggets with popcorn buttery finger dips. Again,
he turned off the projector, went down to the front
of the theater and made his anoantment. There were tears
and angry glares and tiny I hate youse, but Max
was done. Both theaters were empty. When Max returned to
the front counter, Lorie's cell phone man. She asked Max
to take over and turned her back. Max grabbed a
fresh stack of rouches from behind the counter and moved
into Laurie's spot. Wait, slow down, Laurie said into her phone.
Her hand went to her forehead as if she were
trying to keep her brain from busting out all of them. No, no,
we shut down. No, there's still a few. O K,
I'm on my way. Oguez ogeh. Please be careful. She
hung up. While he handed free movie vouchers to angry appearance,
Max listened to Lorrie explained that one whole of her
family's barn had collapsed in the wind, and all of
her animals she had horses, goats, and chickens, had scattered.
The call had come from her adult son, who was
out in the storm trying to wrangle all the critters
into the garage. Can you finish closing up on your own,
she asked, I already locked the front doors. Max really
didn't see how he could say. No. Yeah, sure, good luck,
he said. Laurie thanked him, scooped up her purse, and
hurried down the whole way toward the employee entrance. Max
finished handing out the butchers and heard it a few
loitering families through the doors, making sure the doors were
still locked. When he finished, he turned off the flashlight
behind the counter, the pop parn machine and the soda
found in He locked up the registers, all the while
listening to the wind's increasing ferocity. He felt bad for
forcing everyone else to leave while he stayed safe inside.
He had snacks, water, and if the power held up,
maybe even some entertainment. Laurie wouldn't mind if he fired
up one of the projictors for a private showing of
Spider Man he'd been dying to see, but had worked
all we can't. All that remained was to shut down
theaters two and five, which were playing the Bogamin and Transformers,
to empty seats. Laurie always liked to play the movies,
even if no one bought tickets in case somebody came
really late to something. As Max climbed back up to
the projector room, he could hear the Bogamin's every soundtrack.
He gave him chills. Max was not a huge horror fan.
On a good day, with the movie's evil sounds blending
him at the violent storm, Max couldn't shut down the
projector fast enough. Finally, he walked all the way down
to Theater five's projector. The roof sounded like it was
made of paper by how hard the rain patted and
splatted against it, and the elevated floor shook with each
blast of thunder. Max reached down for the projector's controls,
but stop when he heard someone laugh. Max listened, wondering
if he had heard something from the movie. But on screen,
a battle between giant alien robus was raging, and it
didn't look like a very humorous ordeal. Then he heard
it again clear after coming from below. Max peeked over
the edge of the window and looked straight down at
the back row of seats. To his dismay, he saw
trio of teens sprawled out in the back rower. They
were sitting up of a mess of empty candy boxes
and snapped bags mercy brands not sold at the concession counter.
There were also a few cans of beer scattered around
their feet. He almost turned the projector off, but the
idea of confronting the vagabonds below in darkness and silent
scared him. If he let the movie play, he could
pretend to kick them up for all the obvious violations
they were committing. They couldn't possibly know he was alone,
and they wouldn't know until they were out in the lobby.
From there, Max would just have to hope they would
leave peacefully. He went down to theater five in, hailed deeply,
and opened the swinging door. Excuse me, May I see
her ticket stubs? He asked the lounging group. Oh, this
kid's got us cold. The girl sitting between two guys
sat up straight and pointed at Max. She had long
green braids, which skidded over her white T shirt almost
down to her high waisted gens. Max didn't believe he
could even think this given the circumstances, but he found
her very attractive. The guy who had his arm around
her seemed to notice Max's practiced authoritative expression soften. He
leaned forward to and said, I think he likes you. Mandy,
tell you what, kid, you let us watch this movie,
and I bet Mandy you will let you see what's
under her shirt hall Mandy scolded, but then she laughed.
These teenagers were older, probably eighteen or nineteen, but to
sixteen year old Max, they might as well have been
twenty five. They terrified him. The guy who had offered
a peep show's payment had a tank top on that
displayed bag sculpted arms. His powerful eggs glowed white where
his athletic shorts were pulled up, caught between the seat
and his substance achil hamstrings. Max guessed he was either
a football player or a wrestler. The third scammer just
kept staring ahead at the screen while the other two
laughed into each other's mads. He had long, greasy looking
hair and a glassy, drunken look in his eyes. The
way is Hoodie pulled around and told Max he was
real Thane, But good god was he told that too? Big?
Hoodie was undoubtedly the way these older kids had snuck
in their goodies. No thanks, Max, dammer, trying to recover
from the shock of tank Top Paul's offer and to
pretend like his eyes hadn't accidentally flaked to Green Bray
Mandy's chest. Just messing with you, bro, said Paul. We cool,
We promise will bounce as soon as the credits roll. Yeah,
pretend weiscos. Mendy laughed. She was obviously drunk. Max wanted
to say that sounded great. He wanted to say that
was just fine with him. Hindsight would tell him that
it is exactly what he should have done. Um, I
actually have to well, since nobody bought tickets to this
movie and shutting it off. Max halflied, If you want,
I can give you guys some bodgers though. They'll get
you into any movie you want for free. Okay, so
let's just pretend we used our vouchers to see this
tall guy mumble. Max couldn't deny the logic. He still
didn't want to let them know the full situation, though,
so he lied. It's my boss, guys, she's making me
turn it off. If I have to ask her to
come in here, she's going to be pissed. She'll call
the cops for sure. Thunder rocked the theater. Everyone looked
at the screen, thinking they had just heard a plot
diverting explosion that there was only dial coming from the speakers. Now,
is it raining outside, Mandy asked. Max realized he could
give them a little more of the truth without revealing
he was by himself. Yeah, we're shutting everything down and
asking everyone to leave. He had it there could be
a pouse urge and the storm could short out the
projectors if we don't turn them off. Do There's like
twenty minutes left of this thing. Just let us finish
the movie, Paul said, it sucks anyway, Let's just go
toll guy said, co turn off all the other ones
for so we can finish. Mandy suggested, I already did.
Ma X replied. He instantly regretted this and internally scolded himself,
but then thought, just because the other theaters are shut
down doesn't mean you're alone. They still don't know you
know what, kid, go ahead and call the police. The
movie will be done by the time the pigs show up,
Paul said. Mandy laughed again. She had an awful laugh
that almost destroyed Max's attraction to her. She sounded like
a crossbired donkey pig and to be assuredly didn't help.
Max resigned, Yes, fine, she'll s leave out the back
when you're done, so my boss doesn't see you. Mandy
would victoriously. Max returned to the projector room to watch
The Road to Teens below. He checked and saw there
was close to thirty minutes left of the movie. He
wondered if he should actually call the police. He could,
but they were probably busy dealing with the side effects
of the storm. Max had never called the police for
anything before. Would they question him, would they need him
to press charges? Would they line up Paul and Mandy
and told guy down at the station and ask Max
to identify them. Max opted to wait and see if
the trio would just leave on their own. Us seemed
all right that they would. Fifteen minutes later, Paul got up.
Max almost fell out of his chair trying to stand
quickly and run to the stairs. He wasn't sure what
Paul had gotten up for, but he sensed it would
be bad if they muscled a trunk to'd found the
rest of the building empty. Max managed to get down
the stairs and behind the counter just as Paul came
around the corner. Oh there you are, he said, with
a smirk. I just got to take a leak. We
still cool, We're cool, Max said dryly. He pointed across
the lobby at the restrooms. Paul gave him a little
nod and disappeared. Max felt a wave of relief. He'd
never been drunk, but alcohol seemed to make people stupid.
Maybe it made them stupid enough that Paul wouldn't realize
no one else was around. He only had to keep
up the charade for fifteen more minutes. Two minutes later,
Paul came mambling out of the restroom. He strolled over
to the counter, leaned toward Max, and with his deper breath, said,
give me some water. Max grabbed one of the small
plastic cups they used when cast Res ordered water and
nothing else. Hey man, Paul trailed off. Max tried not
to look at him to ac normal, but he couldn't
help himself. As he poured water from the soda fountain
into the cup, he turned to see Paul looking around, searching. Paul,
after you hear by yourself? Max stutter no, but he
had taken too long and sounded too nervous. His split
second hesitation told Paul everything. Holly, yo, you lie to us.
You Boss ain't around at all. Oh man, this is great. Okay,
ok get Merhese's pieces and a root beer. I already
shut down the cash register, Max said, with a shrug.
Paul may make the shrug and raised an eyebrow. I
wasn't planning. I'm paying anyway, dummy, he said. Okay, look,
you can finish the movie. I won't bother you, but
I can't let you seal stuff. I'll get in trouble
whom it. Boss will probably make me pay for it.
Not my problem, Paul said, his eyes went dark. Max
had read about this happening in books, but had always
thought it was just something author's wrote to describe a
threatening glare. He didn't think it actually happened in real life.
But now Max couldn't explain how, but Paul's eyes actually
looked darker. The way he was looking at Max reminded
him of a snake or shark. Okay, whatever, Max said.
He slid a box of Rhese's Pieces from case across
the glass countertop. Then he flipped over a large cap,
his assum Paul would demand the size anyway, turned the
soda fountain back on and filled the cup with root beer.
You forgot the ice, pulstated. Max rolled his eyes and
splashed a few eyes cubed into the fizzing drink. He
put a lid on and handed to drink to Poul.
Straws are over. Yeah yeah. As Paul disappeared around the corner,
Max whispered, you're welcome now. He reconsidered calling that the
storm was still raging, but it didn't seem to be
getting any worse, and now he was the victim of
a robbery or something. These kids were sort of holding
him hostage too. He couldn't leave until they did. He
decided to call nine hundred eleven before things got any worse.
He had pressed nine hundred eleven when the whole trio
came around the corner together. We didn't know there were
free snacks. Mandy cackled, I want some sire patch kids
so bad. Max said, no, that's not hay. What the
hell are you doing, Paul demanded. He snapped and pointed
at the throne in Max's hand. That better just be
instigram on your screen. Max tried to swipe away the
faue nap, but Paul grabbed his wrist. He twisted it
so he could see the screen, and when he saw
the numbers there, his face went red. He slammed Max's
wrist down on the countertop so hot a tail sprouted
in the corners of Max's eyes. He felt something in
his elbow. Stretched painfully, Paul rip Max's fum from his hand,
locked it, and put it in his own pocket. I
thought we were cool, he said, sounding genuinely hurt. Since
I guess we're not. Here's how this is going to work.
I have to pee. Mandy interrupted, fine got Paul yelled
at her. She laughed and jogged away. Paul made bewildered
palm's turned up expression at tolguy, whose face remained vacant. Okay,
here is how this will go. We are going to
order some snacks and some drinks. You're going to bring
them to us with your best customer service. Well, we
finished transformers, then I dunno, jay what do you say
we see that new Stephen King, movey bugaman or whatever? Yea,
we should definitely stay Jaye the group Stock's age said.
He sounded rather uninduced, though, and didn't take his hands
off the counter or his eyes off the dark menu.
The storm sounded pretty rough. Yea bro perfect weather for
a horror movie, and dude, Mandy will be into it
for sure. We got to stay. Paul punctuated this imperative
with the sideway grin at Max. Max's collar had started
to stick to his neck, damp with pungent, anxious sweat.
So while we finished Transformers gave the scary one. Ready,
skip all the previews and crap, We'll just cut straight
to the feature. Max didn't move or speak. He didn't
think these kids knew how to get up to the
projector or turn it on. They could get their own snacks,
but if he refused to put the movie on, their
fun little evening out would be canceled. He weighed the
risk of refusing them, which he did not fully comprehend yet,
against the possibility of them giving up and leaving hey man.
Paul said, looking through his eyebuzz a cold sweating Max,
if you behave you can have reform back. If you
don't consider it gone, Paul lifted one of his dirt
impacted running shoe heels on to the counter. He stuck
his tongue out at Max's. He knocked Max's phone screen
against his dirty heel twice. On the second hat, the
phone slipped from Paul's fingers, knocked against the corner of
the counter, then fell face down on the tile floor
with a sharp crunch. Oh ho, Mandy's voice hooted from
across the lobby. She was buttoning her pants and gawking
at the phone on the floor. Paul picked it up
and laughed nervously. Maybe it'll still work. He shrugged and
slid the phone across the counter to max the screen
had splintered. An intricate spider or pattern masked after it,
and nothing happened. He hit the side buttons, which made
the screen light up, but the phone would not respond
to his touch. Otherwise it was, in essence useless. He
didn't look up at Paul or Jeo, even Mandy, who
was giving him a playfully seductive smile to maybe soften
the blow he had just been dealt. Instead, he grabbed
the key ring on his belt and quickly locked the
glass candy case. He then reached round the soda fountain,
turned the key protruding from the side, and pulled it out.
He finally looked up at his kidnappers as he took
three defiant stepped back from the counter. Mandy, what do
you want to eat? Paul asked, ignoring Max's antics. I
already said, sire Patch kids, Mandy yelled. She was still
keeping her distance. Max wished she would come closer. He
felt like she was staying clear of something bad she
expected to happen, something she could stomach watching but not
participating in. That's right, get the pretty girl some sire
patch kid's bro. We've got a movie to finish. Max
didn't move. You know, we'll probably need you to back
it up for us a bit. By now, Max still
didn't move. You gonna get that candy or what still
as a statue? I want my cannext, Jay said. Paul's
fist clenched. Just get the damp Pole launched himself over
the counter, his dirty running shoes, clearing the squeaky glass
countertop by inches. He landed on the business side on
tiles made sticky by dozens of overfilled drinks. Max shrunk
to the furthest corner, but the mini sulloon door, which
provided the only exit from behind the counter, was between
him and Paul. If he went for it, Paul would
beat him there. He wish she could leap over the
count of the way Paul had. He had made it
look so effortless. Everything Paul did seemed effortless, the way
he moved, the way he smiled, the way he held
a sixteen year old employee hostage at the movie theater.
In the same regrettable way Max was attracted to Mandy.
He admired, Paul, just give me the keys. If you're
going to be like this, Paul said, If you're mad
about your phone, fine, I get it. You don't have
to wait on us. Just let us do what we
want to do, and nobody's going to hurt you. Max
swallowed hard and threw the keys over the counter across
the lobby with a spastic jerkin, without ever looking away
from Paul. Paul, with his still dark eyes, flushed red
all over. Red blotches even formed in the backs of
his bulging triceps and worked their way into the crook
of his elbow. He was, by every definition mad. Get
those he grunted at Jay. Jay's fingers slipped off the
counter as he turned his towering body like a lumbering
ship and slumped off to retrieve the key ring. In
contrast to Jay's slothly movements, Paul moved fast. He lunged
at Max and got two meaty hands around his narrow
shoulders before Max even realized he was under assault. He
thought he had Mandy whoop, but as Paul dried him
out of his protective corner, Mats called a glimpse of
Mandy looking Ellen for the first time, not pretty at all.
J threw the keywinter Pol, who called it Upfield style
in his right hand. His left hand squeeze Max's right shoulder,
warning him against trying to worm a Waypoul tried to
keys before the third finally worked in the candy case.
The back dropped open, and Paul motioned with his head
for Jay to come around. Get all this crap out
of here, he said. When Jay was standing beside him,
oliver it, Jay asked, lazily, YEA, we need the space.
Nobody had to explain what was about to happen to Max.
That single sentence had said at all, No, No. Max
fought against Paul's grip, which tightened with his every pathetic movement.
Jay yanked out the middle shelf, dropping neatly a line
boxes of candy on to the bottom of the case
in a heap. He linked his hands together and used
his conjoined arms like a bacco Digging to candleland, he
scooped boxes of hot Tamails and Reese's Pieces and M
and A Mess and my Kannikes onto the floor. They
rattled in a rapturous chorus of applause as they hit
the floor. Even the candy was against Max Ja emptied
the candy cars and four scoops. He manually removed two
boxes which his biological contraption had missed, then stepped out
of Paul's way. Paul put a powerful hold in the
back of Max's neck and forced his head down. In
this way, he folded Max in half, then shoved him
into the glass case. As he struggled to prevent the inevitable,
Max dropped his disabled phone in the ground. At that
very moment, he remembered the emergency built into most phones.
If he would have squeezed the side buttons five times,
his phone would have automatically dialed nine hundred eleven. The
glass rattled from an outburst of hostile thunders. Paul slammed
the back shut and locked it. Due to a staffing shortage,
customers are encouraged to get their own snacks. Paul announced
into an invisible intercom. Mandy clapped like a trained seal.
Hey it lights. Jay said this, then dropped behind the counter.
Paul looked around frantically, noticed the light switch behind the
silver fountain, and hid it. The overhead lights behind the
counter went out. Max had turned off the vibrant eledy
inside the candy case back when he thought he was
in the theater alone. Only the dim lights outside the
restroom were on now. Max indeed duck behind the Pimmel
machine as Paul slipped down next to Jay. Max had
watched the headlight to pull up outside the theater two
He just hadn't said anything. The rain was so heavy
that he couldn't see the car, only its faint double
ra He had guessed it was just someone caught in
the storm, looking to see if the theater was still open.
It was then Max realized that in her haste, Laurie
had forgotten to turn off the neon open sign hanging
beside the front door, and he hadn't looked at it
when he double checked the doors. Then, even though he
was in the dark and his captors had all successfully hidden,
Max's spirits lifted when he saw the person who had
stopped outside of as a police officer. She ran up
to the door and yanked repeatedly at the handle. With
everyone inside keeping quiet, Max could hear the violet winds
whipping against the doors. Whatever was going on outside, it
was bad enough that the cop was begging to be
let in. She was pulling on the door handles and screaming, please,
is anyone in there? I need shelter, I need shelter please.
Max took an enormous risk and yelled back to her,
but she obviously couldn't hear him. He could hear the
hood of her useless ring cup flapping against her head.
Max pounded on the glass, growling and screaming like a
monkey put in the wrong cage at a zoo. Her
face turned toward his, and for a second Max thought
she had seen him. Somehow, despite the near perfect darkness inside,
she had noticed them. She certainly had some tool that
could unlock the doors. She would bust in, rescue him,
and arrest the other three for everything they had done.
It wouldn't be juvy for those older kids, eater. They
probably faced prison time and good riddance. But then the
officer's face turned away. She hadn't seen him. After all,
She had only been looking for someone inside who could
help her. Max wanted to help her. Had the theaters
all been empty, he probably would have been mopping the lobby.
He would have opened the door for her and said
watch your step. Maybe he would have made her some
popcorn and she could have treated the doors like a screen,
the storm like a movie as Max finished cleaning up,
But instead he was laying sideways in a glass cage
that smelled like artificial fruit and cardboard, and was his
head getting a little bit light as a gustovwyn washed
the carp and horizontal rain. She turned and ran back
to her car. Seconds later, the headlights disappeared. The lights
behind the counter and inside the case turned back on.
Paul and Jay laughed and high fived each other. Mandy
ran across the lobby enjoined in the action. Dude, what
are the odds? Paul asked. He panted his palm against
the top of the glass heart five times. Now Max
understood why the fish tank of the dentist's office displayed
the sign that said do not tap on the glass.
The sound jarred him and gave him the beginnings of
an eye with robbing headache. To Jay, Paul said, Yo,
turn off that open sign. I don't want to get
interrupted again. But that was fun. Mandy cheered, Hey, it's
getting kind of hard to breathe in here. Max said,
he hoped, man, he hoped that these wild kids had
a line they wooden't cross, and that that line was murder.
No way, that thing's air tight. Paul scoffed, nice, try though, No, seriously,
it's like I can't really feel my hands and my
head starting to hurt. Watch Jay said something new shone
in his eyes when he looked down on Max. I
bet he's going to pretend to pass out. Mandy drew
in a huge breath. She said, I know how to
keep him awake and pressed her chest against the glass.
Max shut his eyes. He also covered his ears when
Mandy started cooing at him as if he were a baby.
He felt like a carnival freak being goaded by a
group of misbehaved children. Paul was the bully, Mandy the
cute one that can get away with whatever she wants,
and j J was the one who would probably drown
a stray cat one day just to see what it
felt like. Max wouldn't have been at all surprised to
learn that milestone had already occurred. Adding credits to Max's thoughts,
Jay said, let's fill it with butter. Huh off, Paul
the case, Let's fill it up with butter. Paul, signing
off balance impossibly even concerned, asked why, and Jay just shrugged.
That shrug summed up his entire personality, non galant amoss.
Maybe not too bright, sadistic, perverted, possibly, but hopefully not homicidal. Paul, say,
the eah man. I don't know, but Jay was already
opening the cup in directly beneath the popcorn machine, where
sure enough gallons of red orange semi opic popcorn butter
were stored. How would we even dump it in there,
Paul asked, A good question, a reasonable question for reasonable people.
Max couldn't believe he was mentally cheering for Paul. Now
I want to do it too. Mandy cheered and pulled
away from the case. What was she actually to say?
As too, were just a dumb tagalon? Max couldn't tell,
but he was frightened a her. Either way, she was
a wild cod. She could tip the scales toward j
or pull on a whim. Okay, but somebody tell me
how we're going to do it, Paul shouted. He clearly
didn't like losing control of his little group. I mean,
if we open it up to dumb butter in so,
I'll just going to leak right out. Jay snapped his
fingers and said, better idea. He opened one of the
jogs of runny butter and slushed some one to the
top of the case. He smeared it round with his palm,
then poured on a little more. Hey, Mandy, get that
fire extinguisher, Jay said, nodding over his shoulder the red
case mounted on the wall. He poured on some more butter. No,
what are you doing? Stop? Stop it? Max screamed. He
didn't have to be a genius to chut Jay's thoughts.
You know, man, we probably shouldn't mess around with fire.
I mean, have you ever done this before? Paul asked.
Max was starting to like Paul. He was the closest
thing Max had to a friend or an ally at
the moment. He knew Paul was just trying to save
his own skin, but would hurt if he saved Max's
in the process. Nojey replied, I've never done it before.
That's why I gotta do it now, and the look
in Jay say his eyes told Max that nothing was
going to stop him from what he meant to do.
This isn't alarm. We'll go off if I open the case,
Mandy said. She sounded and characteristically even tempered, Jae, I
still get it out, naw, Let's just wait and see
what happens. Just stand over there so you can grab
it if we need it, Jay instructed. From his foody's pocket,
he produced a lighter. Max watched him toss the lighter
back and fall from one hand to the other, from
fingers slick with wasted popcorn butter to fingers pail and clean. Then,
in a moment of impossible ignorance of magnitudinal negligence, Jay
caught the lighter in his buttered hand, held it toward
the counter, and flicked a flame into existence. The flame
was almost more for a fraction of a second. It
hungrily consumed the addictive butter adjacent substance, which coated both
Max's cage and Jay's hand. Jay held and fell down,
clutching his hand as it became the world's biggest crunchious
piece of calmery. Max started kicking, trying to escape the
transparent oven he was locked inside. Paul yelled, and the
stepped back to get clear of the open flames. Mandy
shockingly was silent. If not for the fire's blinding orange light,
Max would have seen her hugging the fire extinguish a case,
as if the life saving device inside might protect her
on its own. Edit at edit out. Jay was howling
at Mandy from the floor above Max. The glass cracked. No, no, no,
help me, let me out of here, he screamed. A
smelting hot drop of burnt butter dripped through a crack
in the glass above. It landed on his elbow, sending
novel signals through his nerves, signals which caused his entire
body to spouse him. Another drop landed on the back
of his shirt, and yet another landed on the back
of his neck. Such tiny pinpricks of pain gave him
a taste of what would come if the glossop of
gave out. And it was starting to glow round the
edges the untamed fire raging all over it showed no
signs of fading out. Another long cruck formed, and a
steady stream of sizzling butter started pouring in behind Max's legs.
Let me out, he screamed again. Suddenly the entire building
was flashing red and wailing at them with a rattlesnay kiss.
The sprinklers turned on. Mandy had opened the fire extinguished
her case, and Napole was waggling his fingers at her,
gesturing for her to touss the extinguisher to him. The
water spraying from the ceiling only spread the formerly localized
grease fire further. Butter substitute was washed down the sides
of the case, trailing angry little tails of fire down
to the pile of candy boxes. The front of the
case cracked and the top buckled. Now hot, sizzling, skin
searing pock from butter poured into the case in tiny waterfalls.
All the hot stuff Max could dodge ended up pulling
around him, burning him anyway. Soon his whole body would
be as crispy as Jay's hand. And all he had
wanted to do was close down the movie theater. Now
he was being paid nine dollars an hour to get
cooked alive. Max heard the jetais engine his of the
fire extinguisher. He thought he was being saved, but no,
Paul had the nozzle pointed over the counter at his
friend Jay, who was still riding on the floor, his burnt,
shriveling hand held out to receive the blessed cloud of salvation.
Max was screaming and rolling and dodging searing drops of
trans fats, but Paul kept on spraying Jay coole confident
Paul was frozen in tuttle shark. More cracks spin to
the glass over Max's head, and scorching butteroos on to
one of his cheeks. The fire alarm continued to blaw
with disorienting volume. A safe splitting pitch was almost worse
than the blistering heat of the flaming butter. Yet Max
still fell surge of anger when a drop of the
stuff landed in his ear, dripped down into his ear canal,
and melted his ear drum. The instant deiffness which resulted
unleashed a beast. Some have referred to this beast as
the wolf Alive, Others call it survival instinct. Max had
hit his limit, absorbed all he could take. Any further
pain was just another penny in a wishing well. He
lasht out with a kick that sent heat to glass
spraying across the lobby. It also collapsed the top of
the case and created a deliage of flaming but a substitute.
Max was already rolling away when a wash of burning
butter hit his back. This pain was just another drop
in the ocean. He was already in so much agony
and so determined to escape it that he didn't even
once Max ran passed. When Pryney passed, Slack George Moundee
through the Red and Orange Lobby and add into the
storm were sweeping. When Showerton's side was in pelting rain drops. There,
Max collapsed. It took the fire department almost an iote
to get to the theater. Down trees and power lines
had forced them to take Deeter outter Dieter in the
already treacherous weather conditions. When they pulled up, one of
them immediately spotted the charred teenager laying under the marquis.
When one of them ran to him, Max asked, am
I going to be ok? Even though it didn't look
like he would be anything close to ok. The firefighter replied,
It'll be just fine. Hang in there, guy. The theater
itself was a total loss, while the exterior had been
saved by the storm, which had ironically flattened the good
portion of the town and killed seven of its residents.
The interior was burnt up and good for nothing but
an insurance payout. The hard drives on which the security
cameras recorded Effidence had been melted into black puddles and
buried beneath inches of ash. Max told everyone who would listen,
including Laurie, who came to visit him in the hospital
the next day, about the trio of young adults who
had started the fire. Everyone believed him, but with only
first names and vague descriptions to go on, Paul, j.
And Mandy were never got The police had been too
tied up with storm related emergencies to look for the
trouble sun teens until they had a chance to get
far away. A hospital in Nebraska reported an teen year
old with a burnt hand, but his first name was
well Jay got away because he had used a nickname
of this math Fetcherer. To this day, Max takes interest
in any criminal investigations involving statistic torture of an innocent.
He always calls whatever department is listed at for that
if you have information line and tells them to look
into toll men Needhole or who go by Jay? The
other two were young and dumb, probably already locked up
for some petty crime, but Max still looked over his
shoulder for Jay any time he went out. His ordeal
sounded like something one might hear on a true crime podcast,
the story of the one who got away There was
always one, which meant that somewhere out there at all
fairly stupid man with the soul of a killow was
making his mock on history. After he was released from
the hospital, Max traveled to the next town over to
finally see Spider Man across the Spider Verse. When the
kid behind the counter asked him, you want popcorn? Max
habitually replied sure. But when the kid behind the counter
asked do you want better on that? Max dobbled over
his back and scarred cheek had fared up, swring his
nervous system of phantom pain. Thankfully, this physical memory only
lasted a second. Actually, he said, straightening up, could I
just have some sire or patch kids? And that is
the end? Thank you for listening, and I will see
you in the next one.