Cinema

It has been a hard week for Tom Deely. A tall, but otherwise unimpressive man awakens on an impossibly small couch. Tom stretches his long limbs over either end of this couch, accidentally fiercly kicking his girlfriends cat off the adjacent coffee table, letting out a screech as it thuds unexpectedly to the wooden floor. A sharp inhale of terror as his long limbs retract. Tom goes to sit up, to apologize to Snickers the cat, instead of reaching to pet Snickers his hand jerks instictually to his neck. Stiff as a board, his neck was cranked having slept contorted on his girlfriends tiny sofa. As one of Tom's feet hits the floor, the other is rudely interrupted. A soft and squishy lump of cat shit now stuck between his toes

You see, most houses or apartments have living rooms. These places are usually are spacious and have a set focal point. A fireplace, big TV or large seating area. This living room however, intentionally or not, bucks this trend. Looking at the pale broken curtains, the unpolished bare floor boards and this peculiarly small velvet sofa. Was Tom in some sort of minimalists home? An avant-garde artists abode? Perhaps you'd guess this space was simply owned by someone poor... If so, you would be right.

Currently, the focal point of the world's smallest sofa is overshadowed by Tom's lanky legs shaking the shit off his foot in a sick induced panic. He goes to cover his mouth and shudders. It flicks from his foot with speed. A brown torpedo shoots through the open window, narrowly missing a safe landing on the fire escape. A scream followed by gentle crying is heard as Tom grits his teeth, grimacing at these series of unfortunate events.

He lets out a muffled sigh of exasperation, lamenting on how he got here.

Yesterday, Tom lost his job. He worked managing a cinema. A gorgeous Art Deco building, both floor and columns fitted with original italian marble features from the turn of the last century. For years, Tom had been a model employee and a great manager, until one night when there was an ID issue. A grizzled burly man and his 2 young sons were trying to get in to see Zombie Whores 9 which, despite what the trailer said, wasn't fun for the whole family at all and rated 18. In fact, it was one of the few films in history to ever be released with a sick bag and a legal warning when it starts that viewers will explode while watching it... Tom was called over to help his staff issue a refund or swap for the family, the grizzled man refused stuffing his beard and mouth full of popcorn. Tom warned them that if they won't accept a refund or an exchange, there would be nothing else he could do but kick them out. The grizzled man staring Tom down, his eyes flickering with rage and steam erupting from his ears says once again,

"I don't want your bloody refund, I want to see Zombie Whores 9 and have a wholesome time with my family, but there's nothing you can do to stop me!" Immediately the grizzled man starts walking towards the open screen door to the film. Tom vaults the counter cocking his fists as he does so. One member of staff turns to the other,

"Wow, boss takes this policy literally huh?" the queue meanwhile looking on in terror as a showdown is set to happen right in the middle of the foyer. The grizzled man pushes his kids to the side pulling out a pair of concealed nun-chucks from his jacket. Tom stares at this man, squinting his eyes. A yellow fruit flies from the queue, as a banana gets hurled on the floor, the floor seemingly licking it's lips. Tom realizing this fruit may steal his victory and his job, has a brief moment of reprieve as the floor swallows up the grizzled man.

In that moment, Tom remembers exactly how he got here... He missed his girlfriends gig by covering someone's shift at work, leading to the cinema becoming a sentient creature that ate people, and unfortunately for Tom, his girlfriend also happens to make time loops of disappointment. Turns out, her therapy was making Tom relive this day over and over again, but the more they both remember it the more it seems pure cinema.