Aldo's Fantastical Movie Palace by Jonathan Friesen

sensation, and soon stood blinking inside the blinding light of the beam. “This isn’t happening. I must’ve fallen and smacked my head and turned delusional.” Chloe glanced straight down as Little Jim dumped his weakened soda on the floor.
    â€œHey, knock it off! I have to clean that up!”
    Ahead, on the screen, Nick groped about the room, bouncing off screaming children.
    He’s in the worst scene! He’s in the movie!
    â€œChloe!” Nick screamed.
    â€œStay put, I’m coming!”
    Nick heard her, and froze center left. The other kids vanished from the room, and through the crack beneath the room’s door appeared a wispy, grayish hand.
    Chloe reached the screen, leaped, and felt the surface give like a trampoline, before it jelloed and sucked her in. Chloe gasped and sprung to a stop beside Nick and Hobo.
    â€œThis has never happened before! Why is this happening now?” Chloe saw Mr. Simonsen and the rest of the audience at Aldo’s staring at them.
    â€œHey!” she yelled and waved her arms. “It’s us. Get my mom! Turn off the projector!”
    Hobo barked, loud and frightened, and a second wispy arm materialized.
    The Vapor!
    â€œNick.” Chloe ran to him. “We need to get out of this room.”
    â€œWhy? The screaming stopped.”
    Chloe chanced a look at the two arms stretching toward Nick’s legs. Hobo bristled and throated a low growl but stood his ground.
    â€œLet’s just say I’ve seen this movie before and this isn’t the best scene to be stuck in.”
    She grabbed Nick and pulled him toward an open window. The Vapor massed inside the doorway, its apelike arms grasping toward them.
    â€œNick, we need to jump.” She raised her head over the sill. “It’s about a ten foot drop. Can you do that?Can Hobo — Wait. This window’s bright blue. It’s never been blue before.”
    â€œBlue? A blue window? That’s my way in. I wrote that! Follow me.”
    Nick felt his way forward. The mist gained, nipped at his heels. Nick stumbled, landed hard on the sill and scrambled through.
    â€œNick!” Chloe screamed.
    The Vapor roared, gathered itself, and moved toward Chloe. Its fingers climbed up her legs, which fell numb at the touch. Falling to the ground, she dug her fingernails into the floor, but still she slid farther from Nick and toward the door.
    â€œHelp!”
    Hobo leaped onto the creature and sank teeth into its nothingness. For a moment, the Vapor’s grasp eased, Chloe’s feeling returned, and she ripped her legs free. She stood and flung her body out the window.
    Thump
.
    She quickly rose and whipped around toward the window, glowing brighter blue. Chloe looked at her feet. She had not fallen. Instead, she’d landed on water, and now stood on an ocean or lake so vast she couldn’t see its shore. Hobo’s bark faded into the distance.
    â€œI’m standing on a lake. I’m not sinking.”
    Neither was the shack with the blue window from which she’d escaped.
    â€œOkay, none of this is in the movie. Not a lake. Not a floating shack …”
    Her legs trembled.
    Not me
. “Can anybody hear me?” Chloe took an anxious step backward. “Mom? Grandpa?”
    Then she heard it.
    â€œHey! Look at me! Watch me!”
    Nick.
    She spun and rubbed her eyes. Nick ran. Not a hesitant run, a free run. A confident run. He raced on top of the surface of the water. “I can see. I can see you, Chloe! This is exactly how I wrote it!”
    â€œWhat are you talking about?”
    Nick ran up to her and stopped, his eyes focused and clear. He lifted his finger to her face. “Eyes, nose, mouth, scar. Oh, big scar. I can see it all!” He bounded off.
    Chloe reached up and stroked her neck.
Still me
. “Where are we, Nick?”
    â€œRetinya. My screenplay. When my screenplay fell and your film snapped, the two must have spliced