Unsatisfied

You step into the theater, looking for a place to sit. Somewhere eyelevel, that would be good. The big screen plays some commercial and you focus on your feet as you climb up the awkwardly deep steps towards the middle of the seats. Once you reach your destination you sit. The lights have lowered and the previews are starting to play. The movie isn’t new. It not even that popular, but you wanted to see it, so here you are. There are only a few people in theater with you.

As you watch the previews you make a list in your head of what you want to see next. When the previews are over you can tell. Epic music starts playing and you can feel your heart fluttering in excitement. The adventure is about to begin.

You’re watching the antihero confront his biggest weakness, when someone three rows down from you starts glowing. It’s their phone. A phone? You think. Really? You try to concentrate on the movie again, but the white blue light is like a magnet in the dark. You can see from the silhouette it’s a young man. He must be reading something funny as you wince when they laugh in an extremely inappropriate time in the plot.

Why did they come to the movie if all they wanted to do was look at their phone? What’s the point? You try to focus but your anger tickles the back of your mind and suddenly you find you can’t ignore anything. The small buttery bag of popcorn that sits in your lap suddenly disgusts you. The person down the row from you keeps shifting in their seat. Someone behind you has a small child that wont stop asking questions.

Why did I buy this you think? As you set the popcorn on the ground and try to wipe the grease off your fingers in vain. You’ll need soap for that. There is no way that you’re going to leave your seat though. You’ll stay all the way through. You always do. And then you wonder why anyone came at all, if they’re not going to pay attention. You look at the person with the phone, and you’re angry. He shouldn’t have come. The theater was your place and he came and ruined it.

Feeling territorial you lean back and watch him. You can see he’s wearing a hoodie with the hood up. Whenever he laughs, he covers his mouth and sinks into his chair. All of the sudden he gets up and leaves the theater.

You smile and lean back in your chair, satisfied the theater is once again under your control. You try to watch the movie but so much of the plot is missing you’re finding it hard to piece together. You feel a wave of dislike towards the hoodie guy and wonder where he is. You wonder why he came at all. He obviously was more interested in something else. Suddenly you realize you’re jealous of him. In complete denial, you stop thinking about anything at all and just watch the rest of the movie. You can’t hear the kid behind you and the guy down the row has run out of popcorn.

You watch as the antihero finally exacts his revenge and somehow reunites with his long-lost daughter. His dream to live life normally is about to begin. Good luck with that. You think. Being normal is overrated. When the movie ends you walk back to your car thinking you should see it again to find out what you missed.