“Malvar, why do you always pick scary movies?” Nell asked, peaking through her fingers at the screen.
“Ew, Nell, look at that!” shouted Tuck, jostling her shoulder. “Did you see that dude’s arm get ripped off! Sick.”
Malvar finished his mouthful of popcorn, then smirked at Nell. “Because I host movie night, so I get to pick what we watch. And I want to watch Murder Cave 5: Descent to the Bowels.”
“If you want to leave, Nell, we can go do something else,” Ulia said, reassuringly.
“But I don’t want to break up the party,” Nell muttered, flinching as another limb flew across the screen.
“Malvar, do we really have to watch the whole series? Back to back?” Zap asked. “Isn’t there anything else?”
“Well,” Malvar said with a sigh. “We could watch The Second Return of the Living Vampire. Or, The Annihilator Strikes Again.”
“What is up with all these horrible movies?” Zap asked, digging his hand into a box of cookies.
“Beats me. It seems all he has is B-rate horror movies. And just the sequels at that.” Malvar shrugged.
“When do you think he’ll start writing again?” Nell piped up.
Ulia’s smile was cheerful, if a little strained. “Don’t worry, I’m sure it will be soon.”
“Wouldn’t bet on it,” Malvar grumbled.
“Who’d want him to, anyway? These movies rock! So much better than wandering around dark forests trying to hunt this guy down,” Tuck chortled, jabbing a finger in Malvar’s direction.
“We’ve been stuck here long enough to become sentient,” Malvar continued, ignoring Tuck’s waving hand. “We figured out how to ditch that little writing program and explore the rest of the hard drive. I don’t think that could happen in a short amount of time. Ergo, we’ve been left for quite a while, and I doubt he’ll suddenly remember us and come back.”
“I just wish he had some nicer movies,” Nell sighed, burying her head in Malvar’s shoulder. He looked surprised, but not entirely displeased.
“Maybe I could find one that is a little less bloody, next,” he said, trying to seem nonchalant.
“Thanks, Malvar!” Nell sighed, closing her eyes.
Ulia and Zap traded glances, but were distracted by Tuck’s cheer.
“Did you see that?! I don’t even know if that’s humanly possible!”
–
Zack walked back into his room, arms full of chips and soda.
“What the hell?” he muttered. His laptop was on, and playing Murder Cave 5. It had been doing strange things like that a lot, lately. Maybe he’d have to get it checked out. He had been planning on working on his latest novel, about brave adventurers setting out to defeat an evil wizard, but this was a really good part of the movie. He slumped in his chair, ripped open a bag of chips, and settled in. He didn’t notice the open document blinking in the corner.
Inspired by a prompt from Corvid Knowledge Hoard.
© The Lightning Tower, 2020