why did you decide that ghosts live here?”
“Many people talk about this in the city.” Well, not quite so. There were rumors that the movie theater was cursed, but for Daniel, there was not much of a difference between cursed places and haunted houses. Probably because he has never visited either one or the other.
“Rumors often distort the truth.”
“And you…”
“I’m just sewing,” she retorted, not letting him finish the thought. And he just wanted to ask if she knows about something that is not rumors, but the truth. It would be interesting to know the truth about this cinema. Why is it still open, although officially everyone considers it closed for a long time? Why is there bad news about him? Why was it nicknamed the Devil’s Cinema? Does the name have some mystical overtones or is it just a metaphor related to the terrorist attack that once took place here? What is devilish about this place besides the horror films that are shown here?
Cordelia was just starting to sew red thread through one of the ghastly things that looked like severed flesh. It seemed that blood was oozing from the toys along with the thread. Interesting! Will they host a private Halloween party here? And will many VIP-persons be invited to it at once, and not just one? But Cordelia didn’t hear any questions as she began humming as she sewed. Realizing that nothing could be achieved from her, Daniel turned and walked towards the exit.
“Daniel,” she called out to him, using his real name, not a movie pseudonym.
“Yes?”
“You’d better stay close to the statues and away from Alais.”
He was definitely not going to follow this advice. If not today, then tomorrow he will definitely find her here. You just need to go to the Devil’s Cinema more often.
Filming
All footage from Jane burned out. It seems that this should not have happened. In the evening, a fire broke out unexpectedly. While Daniel sat in the Blue Lotus session, his filming partner and several co-workers tried to escape the fire. There were people killed, someone was severely burned. Nobody knew exactly what happened. It was assumed that pyrotechnics broke out. There was probably some problem with it.
It is fortunate that the scenes with Daniel’s participation were not touched by the fire. The cameras and most of the equipment also survived. It seems that the fire broke out only in order to take away Jane herself and her labors, invested in the film. According to Daniel, the damage was minor. Although the actress was famous, she was not at all suitable for the role of a dark fairy.
Daniel watched people scurrying around, and a picture persistently climbed into his head: someone in a red robe was picking the film with his claws, and the film was burning from his touch.
“It’s strange that no one had the idea to use fire extinguishers,” scraps of conversations and the howl of sirens of the already departing police and ambulance cars reached Daniel. If he had come here an hour earlier, he himself could have become a victim.
“The fire started and went out by itself,” the director slapped him on the shoulder. “Well, isn’t it amazing.
“What will happen to the film now?”
“We will continue to work with you, but we have problems with the main performer.”
“Is it true that all the episodes filmed with her can no longer be restored?”
“We’ll have to cut these scenes from the film.”
“But they were the most spectacular of all that was planned.”
“There is no way to re-shoot anyway.”
There was only one burn left from the charred films. The smell was disgusting.
“How is Jane herself?”
“She was placed in the city hospital. The doctors there are not brilliant professionals. They cannot say anything for sure after a preliminary examination. And even an approximate diagnosis cannot be knocked out of them.”
“I didn’t notice that there is a hospital in the city.”
“Not surprising. The building is tiny. A couple of dozen patients can fit there at most. What is this wilderness? And what a loser Jane is. You have to be a complete fool to go where everything is on fire.”
“And what exactly happened to her here. I still do not understand: does she have fractures, or did she receive severe burns?”
“We need another star. More fortunate.”
And he went to look for her. To an abandoned cinema.
At night the Blue Lotus was always open. Yes, what’s there. It was open around the clock. Nobody knew about it. Except those chosen ones who were invited here. Take that freak in purple robes who walked around town and handed out invitations to teenagers. He chose them according to some special principle. Only those who were dressed like a goth, for example.
Daniel remembered there was a threat. This one in red robes can still attack him if he is lurking here in the cinema. Although all that happened could be a simple joke. Funny. In a horror session, different tricks are probably permissible in order to get more fear. Here is someone in red and tried. I wonder who he really was.
At night, Alais was found easily. A small buffet is located behind the lobby. There are still popcorn stalls, drink counters, sugar skull counters, and empty round tables. There was not a soul around. And the beauty was doing some tricks with fire. Orange streams curled between her palms, flew from her lips. Everything that happened seemed more like a 3D effect than a reality.
“You didn’t get into the fire?” instead of greeting, Alais looked at him with a grin. “I’m happy for you.”
“How do you know about the fire?” the question left his lips before he remembered the mass media, which, of course, should be available here as well. Surely, there is a TV or Alais herself is hiding an iPhone in her jeans pocket. She could see the summary of today’s news. They always appear on the Internet before the paper editions can report.
“Fires are beautiful, but destructive,” she said. “I love the way fire looks, but it burns you.”
“Who, us?” Daniel did not understand. And Alais simply didn’t answer. Orange highlights played in the air in front of her face, turning into pillars of fire.
“What about Jane?” involuntarily burst out from him, although how could she know. She doesn’t even know Jane, unless she watched films with her.
“Let’s just say she was kissed by an angel… with stone lips.”
Are these charades again? He felt cold and somehow unpleasant, as if a flock of ice ants had run through his body. Breath even caught for a moment. What does it mean when a statue kisses you? You can suffocate. It is possible to get fractures of all bones in the body under the pressure of stone hands. But is it possible to burn from the breath of the statue? Do statues breathe fire like Alais?
About such pyrotechnics, which allows you to create
