"Ugghhh, god Annie, you're the
worst
."
"Mhm. I've gotta go, but see you tomorrow, yeah? Games night?"
"Yeah, yeah, see you. Traitor."
Jo stared at Annie's icon on her phone for a few seconds after hanging up, then let out a growl of frustration, sneaking a glance over at her roommate. Alex, who was frowning at their textbook on the couch and twisting their bottom lip between two fingers, didn't seem to have been paying her much attention. She flopped down next to them, and leaned back to stare at the ceiling with a sigh.
"What's up?" Alex asked. Finally.
"That was Annie, she just went to see Unravelled, and she
promised
she would tell me what its whole deal was and now she's backing out on me! I can't
stand
it when-"
"When people break their promises, yeah, I think you've mentioned," interrupted Alex with a smirk. "That's that crime mystery one that broke the box office record in its first week, right? Must be pretty good."
"Yeah, but get this, there's literally
no
spoilers for it
anywhere
. How can they manage that two weeks after release?! I thought maybe they were just like, really dedicated to taking posts down, but I've tried IMDB,
three
Facebook groups, /r/movies - it's so weird, I mean, even if it's possible it can't be legal to just control all reviews across the internet!"
"Nerd." Alex grinned as they turned a page, the hypocrite. Jo ignored the flutter in her stomach at their playful nudge.
Roommate, Jo, off limits.
"So are you gonna go see it for yourself then?"
"Yeah, I guess I will. Kinda bummed that I've been suckered by their marketing gig like that, but hey. Wanna join? I get a free guest ticket each month."
"Nah, not really my genre. You can just tell me about it after, yeah?"
Jo nodded, suppressing the twinge of disappointment with practised ease, and opened the cinema app.
Unravelled, 8pm. One adult. Middle left. Submit.
***
Jo settled into her comfortably cushioned seat and watched the theatre fill up. Mostly they were people in their 20s, like her, but a few were older. It looked like the session might have sold out again. She zoned out through the trailers and ads - she'd seen most of them before - and had to shake herself back to attention as the film started.
Half an hour in, she was stifling a yawn. It was pretty stock-standard stuff - mysterious disappearances, a plucky young detective for the audience to project onto, ominous hints about the manipulative perpetrator. The weird lighting and music choices were the only unique thing about it so far, but they had her zoning out more than really bringing anything to the film.
She had to remind herself to focus, figure out what had kept everyone so hush-hush. The detective was having a clandestine meeting in a nightclub with a young man, who claimed to have met the villain and narrowly escaped. "It was something about his eyes," he was saying slowly, "Indescribable, they... it was like they pulsed, and before I knew it my body was so... so heavy, and relaxed, and..." He trailed off, gazing into the distance as he swayed with the music.
With an eyeroll, the detective relaxed, apparently dismissing his story as drug-induced. Jo found herself mirroring the action. Probably Annie was pranking her, and all those reviewers just didn't want to admit they'd watched such a dumb film. The villain was obviously a hypnotist or something, and had sent the guy to trick the detective into falling for some trap.
She zoned out again, sinking back into her seat while he droned on about those inescapable, powerful eyes. At least the lights and music were kind of relaxing, and he had a nice voice, smooth and deliberate. He was pretty hot too, she noted as the camera switched to a closeup of his face. But jeez, why was the detective even still bothering with this guy?
"...and as you continue to stare, your head starts to spin and drift..." Ah. Jo realised he was the hypnotist just before his eyes pulsed with a strange swirl. Well, that was a little bit unexpected, she admitted. She'd thought the confrontation would come at the climax, but they were less than an hour in. His eyes pulsed again, and the spinning light of it on the big screen made her feel a little dizzy.
"In fact, you find you cannot look away, fixated on my eyes." Another pulse left her feeling confused. Why hadn't they changed the shot? It was getting creepy. She started to look around to see if everyone else was as weirded out, but the movement of the next pulse spun her eyes back to the screen. Wait, what?
"Yes, you, there in your seat. No matter how hard you try, you
will
find your eyes end up right back here, helpless to escape the next
