Screams pierced the air, as the audience watches the girl, Tree, die again. Each time, without fail, screams fill the theater as Tree dies multiple times, in various ways. That’s how Friday the 13th ends for Anya, but not quite how it begins.
For the second time this year, Friday the 13th has occurred again. This time in October, one of the scariest months, if a month could of course be scary. With Halloween around the corner, and scary movies finding their way on screen for the month, Anya decided it would be the best day to watch Happy Death Day on the unluckiest of days.
The day started off simple: sleep in on a bed made as comfortably as possible for a dorm room; watch Danny Phantom on Hulu, in an attempt to remember what being a child was like in a world filed with responsibility; and make ramen for brunch, instead of facing the grub they call food in the cafeteria. It was an ideal Friday for the typical college student, but for such a superstitious day, it was surely lacking the interesting factor. In a dorm, littered with clothes on the ground, garbage overflowing in the trashcan, and makeup spread across the dresser, Anya and her roommate decided on having a girls’ night, and going to the movies to watch Happy Death Day.
Movie picked. Theater chosen. Tickets bought in advance. Anya starts to get ready knowing she has to wait for her roommate to get out of work before they can go. Pick out clothes. Take a shower. Put on makeup. She colors in her eyebrows, making them a realistic shade of brown, even though they were blond and barely there a couple minutes ago. Concentration is needed for the next part, as she tries to create perfect and even wings with her liquid eyeliner. A stroke. Wipe clean. Another stroke. Check to see if they’re even. Back to the right eye to lengthen it just a smidgen more to match the left. Pull back and check. Perfect.
Anya leaves her dorm and heads over to the library, stopping at Dunkin’ Donuts to grab drinks for her and her roommate. They wait outside the bookstore on a bench for their Uber Pool, the wind picking up and blowing their hair along with it. Shivers wrack their bodies, as they watch boys shove each other off the sidewalk and into the road. The yellow glow from the street lamps, gives off eerie light perfect for Friday the 13th.
“Did you feel that?” Anya asked. Before the other could respond a splash of something wet fell on her nose.
Two other girls sit along the wall separating the parking lot from the sidewalk. As the Uber arrives, all four stand and head to the car, realizing their sharing the Uber, and heading to the same place. AMC Dine-In-Theatre. A first for both Anya and her roommate. With their tickets already purchased, they avoid the line of people in front of the kiosk trying to see a movie. Heading over to the waiting area until theater one is ready, they sit and people watch. A guy standing next to his date, who is sitting in a red cushioned chair.
“I like her septum piercing,” Anya says, staring at the silver, metal curves protruding from her nostrils.
Two girls sitting next to each other talking about boys. A couple sitting on a couch, her head on his shoulder. Chatter fills the area as people are turned away, the viewing room not ready for an audience as yet. A line starts to form: a group of high school girls out for the night; a couple in the middle of a kiss; a woman bending down to grab the purse that just slipped off her arm; three men standing close to each other, staring down at their phones rather than engaging in conversation.
“Theater 1 is now ready!” the ticket attendant shouts.
People scramble to get in line, Anya follows and heads to the back. After they find their seat – row F, seats 5 and 6 – they start to look at the menu figuring out what they want. A yellow light, much like the street lamp from before, stringed along the bar-like counter, they converse over which food would be best to try. Classic mac and cheese with fried chicken and bacon. Grilled chicken sandwich with chipotle mayo and fries. A group of five, four girls and one guy, comes over and starts to sit down in the same row, laughing and talking over the background noise in the theater.
“Would you mind switching seats so we can all sit together?” the guy asks. Anya glances around, looks at her roommate then to the guy and tries to find an answer. She shakes her head no and the guy gives an exasperated sigh but leaves them alone.
Soon the movies starts and within 15 minutes screams pierce the air. Anya jumps as she watches Tree die the first time. The guy in row F screams and jumps from his seat. And it repeats. Tree dies. The guy screams. Tree is stabbed. The guy screams. Tree is burned alive. He screams. Other people scream periodically, when she dies seemingly out of nowhere, but he screams no matter what. There are laughs, and “aww’s” that permeate the air when something cute happens. People mumble as they talk to waiters for more food and drinks. By the end people are clapping and laughing at the feel good, romantic sensation that the movie ends with, instead of the terrifying, hold-your-breath tenseness that filled the theater throughout the movie.
By the time the movie is over, it’s no longer Friday the 13th, one of the scariest days, it’s Saturday the 14th and Anya is ready to go to bed.