“How scary can it be?” Mischief spread across Regan’s face as the three girls stood outside the theater door. They had bought tickets for some cartoon princess movie, but once inside, Regan had a better idea. They’d been hearing about it for days at school from the older kids who had been sneaking in without anyone knowing. So why couldn’t they do the same thing? No one was paying any attention to three preteen girls, and the doors were right across from each other anyway.

Carrie and Liz shared a look between each other, nearly convinced to take the chance at getting caught and kicked out at the mere possibility of looking cool in front of all the other kids at school on Monday. The unspoken conversation of “maybe Regan’s right” pinging back and forth between the two kept them right on the edge of saying yes but not entirely convinced. The fear of someone seeing them or asking to see their ticket stubs still gnawing at the back of their minds. Not to mention all the thoughts contemplating how scary it could be regardless of Regan’s reassurances.

“Come on, it’s just a big fish swimming around. You two aren’t scared of a little blood, are you?” Anger flashed across the girl’s faces at Regan’s ribbing. She always knew how to get a rise out of them, and when she got an idea in her head, she was practically possessed by it. But, regardless of what they decided, Regan was going to sneak into that movie.

“Blood doesn’t bother me at all, but what if we get caught?” Liz’s question died down into a whisper. The glimmer of victory grew behind her eyes as she started to walk matter-of-factly toward the theater door.

“Then don’t get caught,” she flung over her shoulder, and as they walked into the full theater no one moved an inch at their presence, but even Regan hesitated for a moment before finding the only empty row right in the front. Cowering into their seats, they held their breaths for a full minute waiting for one of the ushers to notice they didn’t belong. The previews had already played, and there wasn’t a sound as the screen went dark and everyone anticipated the first scenes dancing to life. Instead, of being excited, the three girls sink down into their seats to make themselves even smaller than they already are in hopes of being invisible to everyone else in the theater.

They’ve heard that song before in one of the previews they watched last week in this same theater. Still, the duuuuunnnnn duun over and over again across the speakers filled all three of them with dread, and they began to wonder if they had made a mistake in underestimating the movie. They’ve overheard all those eighth-graders talking about how it wasn’t scary and watching them make fun of anyone who even seemed like they were afraid. But, it wasn’t too late. They could still walk out and make their way back to the princess movie they actually had tickets for in the first place. Not one of them was about to admit defeat and take the first step and be marked as the “chicken” for all eternity by the other two either. So, as the ocean bottom faded into the little get-together on the beach, the three of them relaxed. Can’t have razor-sharp teeth taking a bite out of you from the ocean if everyone is sitting on dry land. Can you?

Hands dug into the popcorn bucket set in Carrie’s lap between the other two girls as they settled deeper into their seats and started in on that “this isn’t so bad” mentality. Within minutes their calm ceased to exist, and as they jumped at the person on screen being flung about in the water and turned into a midnight snack, they looked back and forth between each other with the fear of the unknown under the water draining all the color from their faces. That’s the part that held them on edge, not knowing exactly what it was pulling people under, never to be seen again. Is there anything scarier than the unknown? The unseen? Of course, they knew what it was. Everyone did. They’d all seen the same previews, after all.

It was their gasp and little jumps in their seats that made them think they were going to get caught. There wasn’t a sound coming from the other movie-goers behind them. It was evident that they were just three scared little girls sitting in a theater where they didn’t belong. But during the quiet of the sun rising on film, Liz heard it. There was a loud annoying slurping sound like someone pulling too hard on their straw with nothing left but ice in their cup. She leaned over the popcorn catching the eyes of the other two girls. Shrugging her off because they didn’t want to get caught, Regan gestured for her to settle down. It was just a little noise. Surely whoever it was realized they just needed to get up and go get a refill and wouldn’t do it again.

They relaxed again, letting the film take them away to a quiet little beach town, when that slurping sound made its way from the back of the theater to them again. Liz’s fist crushed the popcorn she’d just grabbed, but a quick hand on her shoulder reminded her once more that they didn’t belong in there, and she had to let it go. Another attack on the screen and another attack on their senses. It was not just the movie scaring them anymore. The slurping sound echoed through the theater repeatedly. Liz had quit trying to enjoy the film and sat in her chair with her arms crossed over her chest, letting out a loud sigh each time someone slurped on their drink. That didn’t help the other two focus on the film either. After the fourth or fifth time, Regan grabbed a handful of popcorn and threw it in her direction.

“This is the worst movie ever!” Liz leaned over and attempted in a whisper and failed tremendously. Carrie snapped back with a shhhsing sound, but you could see the anger starting to boil up in her too. You knew you’d gone over the line when you could make Carrie mad. She was always so shy and quiet. Half the time, people didn’t notice she was there.

“No, I’m not going to hush! These people in here are rude. Why don’t they just go get another drink?!” Liz was done with the entire situation, and with the next slurping sound, Carrie spun around with enough hate in her eyes that neither Liz nor Regan were about to say anything to her. But just as quickly as she looked behind them to give them that “shut the hell up” look, she spun back forward and stared straight ahead. It took her a second to gather up the words, but when she did, the other two girls either couldn’t believe what she said or didn’t hear it at all. When she told them again, the color once again drained from their faces.

“There’s something back there.” That’s all she managed to get out before the litany of questions and disbelief flew out of the other two like they were not only trying to convince her but themselves as well.

“What do you mean there’s something back there?”

“Yeah, Carrie, they’re called people.”

“You’re just letting this movie get to you.”

“There’s nothing but a bunch of rude people back there.”

As they sputtered through reassurances and questions, not one girl was willing to look behind them. When the next loud slurping sound echoed throughout the theater, all three of them nearly jumped out of their seats. Every possibility pushed its way from one of them to the next as that sound seemed to get closer and louder. The three of them slowly realized that as that massive shark attacked again, they hadn’t heard a single gasp from anyone behind them since they sat down. Everyone watching that movie had been absolutely silent throughout. Not one person had left to go to the bathroom or refill their drinks or popcorn, nothing. There was just that sound. Slurp. They jumped again as they realized it had to be only six or seven rows back that time. Whatever it was, it was getting closer, and so was that shark.

Too scared to move, they could only hope that it would be over soon. All three of them wished that shark on the screen would hurry up and eat everyone on that boat so they could get up and run. Only to hear that slurping sound once more. As it made its way down the aisle and towards them, they started to hear a bit of a squishing sound between each slurp. What could possibly be making that noise? They had no idea, and not one of them was curious enough to look back and find out.

“It’s getting closer.” Regan leaned over and whispered the warning. Not one of them had a clue what “it” actually was. That unknown feeling that everyone in the movie on the screen must have felt each time they braved walking into the water washing over the girls. At least they knew what was under the surface there. They had no idea what was inching its way down one of the rows behind them. That sound beginning to unnerve the three of them more and more with each passing minute. Why couldn’t they jump out of their seats and run out the door? No one would know but them that they snuck into the movie and left before it was over. It wasn’t like that giant fish with razor-sharp teeth was the reason they wanted to bolt out of there. It was whatever was behind them and systematically making its way from one seat to the next.

The back rows had been full when they found their seats. Were they still? What was happening back there, and did they really want to know? Liz couldn’t help herself any longer and slowly turned her head to look at the back of the theater. Carrie and Regan whispered to stop and tried to will her with their stare to not go through with it. But she didn’t stop and, in less than a second, turned back toward the screen, eyes wide as saucers.

“They’re gone.” Shaking her head as she barely pushed the words past her lips. Over half the theater was empty, and those that were left stared forward without moving at all. It was as if they were in some kind of trance sitting there. What had happened during the previews they missed while they debated on sneaking in or not? Whatever it was, Liz was beyond glad she had thought twice about the plan Regan had put in their heads. They should have been in that princess movie smiling and laughing at whatever ridiculousness they were all getting into. At least in that movie, they were sure to see a happy ending. In this one, they weren’t sure if they were going to get out of there alive or not.

That’s all they needed. They’d become the three girls who disappeared during some fish movie with everyone else. There’d probably be theories of alien abductions, or maybe that they all teleported to the top of Mt. Everest. They’re would likely even be those who would say they time-traveled to the future. Not one of those would be accurate. Instead, they would have to live long enough to be the last ones swallowed whole by some slurping blob monster with an insatiable appetite, just like the shark on the screen.

They could hear it getting louder. What were they going to do? The three girls were frozen in their seats. Surely they wouldn’t give up and let themselves die like this without a fight. Would they? How do you even beat a slurping blob monster?

“What are we going to do?” Carrie whispered under her breath. The sound was getting so much closer now that she was petrified it would hear her. Regan and Liz felt the same way and shook their heads and shrugged their shoulders in response. The movie had to be over soon, right? Once they turned the lights on, they could run out the door and never look back. It was going to take some epic space adventure of some sort to get them to set foot into a movie theater again. But, of course, they were going to have to survive this shark attack first.

Their bodies tightened with anticipation each time they heard that noise building up behind them. Slurp. Squish, squish, slurp. A few minutes later, it would happen again. Slurp. Squish, squish, slurp. Closer and closer, it inched its way down the row, and one by one, they’d hear it again. Slurp. Squish, squish, slurp. Did that sound really mean that one more person was gone? How could an entire theater of people disappear, much less be eaten by one squishy monster? It’s not possible, or at least they didn’t think it was possible until today. They began to jump as it moved down the aisle. The squishing sound thumped a little with the two or three stairs it had to maneuver before making its way down another row.

Why didn’t anyone move or run away? They couldn’t be as scared as three little girls. It was a room full of adults there to see some scary shark movie. You didn’t go into that willingly as an adult if you were a scaredy-cat, did you? The girls couldn’t believe they would, but anything seemed possible now.

The closer it made its way to them, they each began to hope and wish for a way out. Carrie wanted to be able to make it all go away somehow. She wished she could just run and lock the doors and burn the whole thing down with whatever horrible thing that was behind them. Grinding her teeth and her eyes getting bigger with each sound down the row. Slurp. Squish, squish, slurp. The sound tore through her very being, and she wanted to wipe the entire memory from existence and pretend like it never happened.

Regan’s ideas dive more into the realm of the impossible. That’s what was happening anyway. It wasn’t possible that some strange creature was dissolving and eating people right where they sat as some fish movie played up on the big screen. There was no way anyone back there was coming back or needed just a bandaid to get over this one. It would take a miracle to bring any of them back into this world. You’d have to commune with ghosts to find out what happened to everyone who was now no more. All Regan wanted to do right now was float out of her seat, out of reach of whatever was behind her, and fly out of there. Maybe hurling that thing into the wall a time or two to make it pay for that awful noise it was making too. But, she had to admit, she was so scared her whole body burned and begged to get away from this reality.

Liz, on the other hand, wanted nothing more than to hack her way out of that theater by any means necessary. To chop whatever it was into a thousand pieces. How dare such a thing torment them this way. How many people had it eaten in other theaters just like this one? What a greedy creature this thing was. If it were smarter, it would only eat one or two people during each movie, but everyone all at once was just too much. Would the people who worked here really think that no one came to see one of the most popular movies out right now? That didn’t seem likely. She couldn’t help but smile, thinking that she and her friends would end up with some big reward if they managed to kill it and save so many people in the future. I bet they’d be able to come and see any movie they wanted whenever they wanted to, too, after that. That’s kid rich any day of the week, but she didn’t see anything nearby to pull that idea off either.

The sounds started getting louder and moving closer again. Only two rows back now, and not one of them knew how much longer this movie had left, but they needed it to be over. Slurp. Squish, squish, slurp. They needed to get out of there before the slurping blob monster or whatever it was made it any closer to the three of them. How many people stood between them and escape now? They knew they were supposed to be upset that all of these people behind them were slowly dying, but they were twelve. What did they know about mortality? There was no reality any longer. In their heads, they knew everyone was dead, but what did that really mean? They couldn’t even comprehend what would happen if that thing actually did make it to their row. The concept of nonexistence reaches no further than the other side of a closed door for them.

Slurp. Squish, squish, slurp. There was a shark blowing up on the screen, but the real danger was right behind them. Whoever had been sitting in the next row they were slowly dissolving from the world. All three girls started shaking as they felt the blob monster brush past behind them. Staring straight ahead and not moving, they waited for the lights to come up so they could finally run. Slurp. Squish, squish, slurp. It had moved to the final seat on the row behind them, and just as they thought it was all over for them, the lights of the theater lit up the entire room, and as if something had bitten them, Regan, Liz, and Carrie jumped to their feet ready to bolt out the door. They stood there for a second and slowly turned to the room behind them. Not a soul was there. No popcorn buckets or empty drinks. The entire theater was completely empty. Not a monster in sight.

Had they imagined it all? The packed room, the slurping sounds, was it all the unknown under the water on screen fueling their fear that way? They looked at each other and fell into laughter at how ridiculous the whole experience had become. Spending so long too scared to even turn around while in a silly little movie theater. Carrie grabbed the empty bucket of popcorn, and the other two picked up the remaining trash and made their way to the door. As they walked out into the aisle, there was what could only be explained as something slimy. Liz jumped back and then thought better of it. It had all been in their heads anyway.

“Looks like someone had a spill.” The other two felt the goosebumps racing up their spine at the sight, again thinking how close they might have been to being eaten like any other movie snack. Of course, the three of them weren’t going to be doing anything crazy for a while after this. Regan looked at the other two as they walked into the hallway and blurted out her next great idea for all of them.

“Come on, let’s get out of here. I’ve got a new board game at home we can play.”