Daily Free-Write August 6, 2021: Met at the Movies

Note: This is one from the archives. An old, old, very old story idea I decided to polish up a bit today for my free-write. These little write-ups are a lot of fun, and if you really wanna see more of one, be sure to leave a comment. That's how all my other popular series got started too!

When Billy told people his age, they said he was young, but he found that hard to believe, however little he may feel inside. He had this unshakable belief that the moment he turned 25, people would stop saying 'you're still young' right after, but when he told people 'I'm almost 25', they just said that's cute, like he was some kid saying 'I'm a big kid. I'm almost four!'. But he was a big kid. At least big enough to watch a scary dino movie by himself. He hoped.

Jurrasic Planet. The latest scary dino movie, and a perfect way to kill two hours of an otherwise dreary day. Billy couldn't wait to see all the dinosaurs, even the scary ones. But as the movie zoomed out over the dino zoo, which had now been moved to the mainland for easy access (and accidents), Billy kept waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"NO!" he cried, when he saw the terrifying reptiles in their pens. He just knew something terrible was going to happen, and as the inevitable moment of reckoning came near, he found himself longing for his Daddy's protective grasp. At the first attack, he cuddled up against daddy and hid his face, but when he looked up he saw a strange man staring down at him.

"What are you doing?" the man yelled, drawing looks from all the other patrons.

"I-I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-" Billy got up, scared. The man looked angry, and Billy was so embarrassed he couldn't form a coherent sentence. Before the angry man could say or do anything else, Billy ran out of the theater via the fire exit and made it about five feet down the hall before breaking down by the trash cans.

Meanwhile, another man had been sitting higher up on account of buying the ticket late for yet another 'surprise date'. He had seen everything. He had noticed the kid in the shortalls wandering around the theater earlier looking a little lost - unable to buy popcorn or find the correct room without what seemed like a lot of thought and observation of the other people around.

The poor boy, why was he alone? He felt really bad for the kid. The guy may have been bigger than most 'kids' but he was clearly a kid nonetheless, and this was much too scary and violent a movie to go to without adult supervision. The man excused himself, pushing past the 'nice boy' his mom had foisted upon him in her latest ambush attempt.

"''Scuse me. I'll be right back," said the man, and he continued on down to hurry out after the boy.

Billy squatted down on the colorful carpet in the great big hallway and hugged his knees, his back against the wall. He felt ridiculous acting like this at his age. He was 23 and he couldn't even get through a stupid movie without running to Daddy. He wasn't a baby, he knew that, but it was so hard to be anything else after so many years living as one. And now what? At least his ticket had bought him a couple hours, even if it was here in the hallway. He sighed and tried to choke back the feeling in his throat. He felt the tears coming hard.

While David would normally be reluctant to intervene, he just couldn't leave this one be after he'd seen the blow up happen in the seats below him. That boy was clearly in crisis mode, and David felt called to act. When he got into the hall outside the theater, however, the boy was nowhere to be found. He looked left, then right. The bathrooms one way, the concession stand the other. But no kid. Then, he heard a noise. It sounded like faint sobbing and it was close. David peeked around the trashcans by the exit and spotted him right away. He went over and knelt down a little to speak to the shorter Billy.

"You okay, kid? That was a scary movie wasn't it?"

The boy nodded, wiping his huge eyes and sniffing.

"That bad man gave you quite a scare, didn't he? But don't worry, he won't hurt you. What's your name honey?"

"B-billy."

"Uh oh, looks like you had a little accident..." said David. Billy was surprised to find the man was right. There was a little wet spot on the front of his pants. He was mortified and began to cry again, even harder.

"It's okay, it's okay," said David, throwing up his hands and thinking fast. He looked around for any sign of a guardian or supervising grown-up, but didn't see anyone coming to their rescue. "Don't worry about it, it happens, hey... I'm David. What's your name?"

The boy looked up. "Billy," he replied between sobs. David managed to get the boy to meet his eyes and asked a pivotal question. "Are you here by yourself?"

The boy nodded again. How strange, thought David...

David's date was fuming as he buckled the boy into the back seat of his car. Not that David cared, he wasn't planning on seeing the man again anyway. "Just sit on my jacket kid, it's fine. I can wash that a lot easier than I can wash my upholstery."

After dropping off his 'date', the man turned to Billy.

"So where do you live?"

"A hostel," replied the boy, who managed (barely) to give David directions. The hostel in question was definitely not a nice place. No, no, this can't be, thought David

"Hey, Billy. Are you staying here all by yourself?" He asked.

"Yeah..." said Billy, quietly.

"You know, it's still pretty early. Wanna get something to eat?" The boy literally jumped at the chance to get a hot meal. Luckily he was still buckled in. Well, Mom did insist I take my date out to eat after the movie, so I guess this counts, David said to himself as they pulled into the Carrow's parking lot. It was late afternoon and the blue light slanted through the windows and over the booth where the boy wolfed down his pancakes. By the looks of it, this was the first good hot meal he'd had all week.

"How long have you lived in that hostel?"

"Oh, I just moved in..." said Billy, flecks of pancake flying out of his mouth. He stopped to wipe his sleeve on his face and swallow his food "I mean... well, I just lost my place, so I'm living there until I find somewhere more... permanent."

Things weren't quite adding up, so David probed further. "You seemed rather lost at the movie theater today. What were you doing there all alone?"

"I was supposed to go with Daddy- er... my boyfriend, but... he broke up with me two days ago and kicked me out of the house. But I'd been looking forward to the movie since it was announced and I still had the ticket... so I just couldn't not go." He produced one and a half movie tickets from the chest pocket of his shortalls.

David's ears perked up at the boy's little slip up saying 'Daddy'. So it was just as he'd suspected. And in a flash he knew just what he was going to do. So, my mom wants me to date a nice boy. well, this oughtta shut her up.