CYOA: The Marathon - Chapter 2 (Story) (Patreon)

"'The Hillsboro Horror?'" Fawn decided. "That looks interesting."

"One for 'The Hillsboro Horror,'" the usherette replied automatically, not seeming to have heard, or understood, Fawn's question.

"Well, yes," Fawn replied. "But can you...?"

The girl held a ticket out towards Fawn, who blushed as she juggled all of her refreshments, attempting to find a free hand to take it with, feeling suddenly a bit guilty, and greedy, at how many snacks she'd chosen to get. She hadn't even been all that hungry yet! She just hadn't been able to help herself, knowing that they were all free.

"D-Do I really need it?" Fawn asked after a few awkward moments, and a close call where she nearly spilled her drink all over the counter. "It doesn't look like..."

When she glanced back towards the doors leading to the screens, however, she flinched, seeing a tall young man by one of them, dressed in the male version of the usherette's uniform, the main difference being the red pants he was wearing, a gold stripe down each leg, rather than the skirt the girl was wearing. "O-Oh," she shook her head, feeling silly. Of course a theater this size wouldn't have only one employee for a whole marathon... That would be crazy!

He did have impeccable timing, she had to admit, showing up right on time for her to give him her ticket. Perhaps he'd just finished cleaning the auditorium up? There must be more workers elsewhere; she couldn't imagine he took care of all the screens himself, especially with all of the movies letting out at roughly the same time.

"Here," Fawn stretched out a pair of fingers, pinching the ticket when the usherette slipped it between them. "Thanks!" She tried to look over her bucket of popcorn to see what the ticket said, which screen she ought to be looking for.

"He'll take your ticket at the door," the usherette informed her, looking towards the usher.

"R-Right," Fawn nodded. "But which...?"

"At the door," the usherette repeated.

Fawn didn't want to bother the girl anymore, and it didn't seem as if the girl wanted her to, either, so she decided to simply go to the usher and ask for his help. The closer she got, the more tall she realized he was, and, in turn, the smaller she felt, the more ridiculous to have him see her struggling to carry all of these snacks. He was very handsome, too, which made it all the worse.

"Umm, h-hi," she squirmed, staring up at him bashfully. "I-I'm looking for..." She lifted the fingers clutching the ticket and he reached out, gently taking it from her, tearing it in half.

"Right this way," he told her, pushing open the door, holding it for her.

"I-Is this...?" she blinked. 

"Right this way," he said again, sliding the ticket stub back between her fingers as she passed by.

That must have been why the usherette had just told her that he would take the ticket, she mused. She must have seen that was the door he was standing outside. It was a weird coincidence that he happened to be at the door she needed, odd enough to send a tiny shiver down her spine, even if she knew she was being silly. There weren't that many screens... The chance was one in six, hardly impossible.

Only when the door began to close behind her did she recall that she'd never gotten an answer as to whether the usherette was going to direct her friends to this movie. She considered asking the usher instead, but with her hands full, she wasn't sure how she was going to grab the door handle,  less get it open and get herself out of it without spilling anything.

She had her pick of seats, the whole auditorium empty. If her friends had been there, she knew they would have wanted to sit in the middle, though, on her own, she preferred to be in the furthest row, especially for horror movies... She didn't like having anybody behind her, particularly when she was feeling jumpy already from what she was watching. Even if they didn't mean to, them moving around at the wrong time might spook her. 

By the time she found her seat and set her snacks down, the lights had started to lower, the opening credits playing right away, with no trailers or anything. She sat down, not wanting to miss anything, trusting that the usherette had heard her request and would help her out.

The movie was in color, which she had been wondering about from the look of the poster. The colors were all very bright and cheery as a pair of old cars - not as old as the style of dress the woman in the poster had been wearing, she noted - drove down a long road, trees all around them, leaves all different colors, half fallen... It was some nice autumn atmosphere, if nothing else, she thought as she settled into her seat, reaching for a handful of popcorn. She'd barely finished it, however, before she decided to pick everything up and move down a few rows after all. She told herself it was because, if her friends did come in late, they'd want to be there, closer to the center, but, really, it was because nobody else was there to sit behind her... And her friends were right that it did look a little nicer to be nearer to the screen.

By the time she had moved, the credits were winding to a close, the cars briefly stopping at a gate in the huge wall that appeared to stretch around the whole town, a sign to one side reading 'Welcome to Hillsboro!', before being waved in by a smiling man, then driving down a few streets filled with huge houses, finally pulling into the driveway of one of them with a 'For Sale' sign out front, a banner over it declaring it 'Sold.' A woman stepped out of the back car, dressed decidedly not like the person on the poster, but in a pair of high waisted, flared jeans, and a shirt with a groovy pattern and long, flowy sleeves.

"This place is incredible, Al!" she exclaimed. "That new job must be even better than you let on!"

A man followed her out of the front car, walking behind her, wrapping his arms around her. "I only want the best for you, Tabitha. Let's take a look inside."

Fawn still wasn't sure what kind of movie this was, though she was leaning towards the house being haunted. A part of her was worried about that, about watching something like that in a theater that almost felt haunted, in a weird way, it was so empty; another part wished she'd saved it for later in the day, if that was the case. It seemed like that would be the perfect way to close out to night, and have her leaving the theater appropriately spooked for Halloween.

As it turned out, she was completely wrong. Al took Tabitha on a tour of the house, which looked normal, if a bit lavish, and there was no hint of anything supernatural, no cupboards opening on their own, no dark shadows... There was, however, one room that her husband brushed past.

"What's in there?" Tabitha asked.

"Oh," Al shrugged. "I don't think I have the key. Why don't we go look...?"

Tabitha frowned, dodging him as he leaned forward, attempting to quiet her with a kiss. "I know you didn't buy this house without looking everywhere in it, Albert," she said, voice a little harsher as she used his full first name. "What's in here?" She jiggled the handle, the door, indeed, locked.

"It doesn't matter, Tabitha," he told her, shaking his head in frustration as she continued to try the doorknob, before throwing her shoulder against it. "Tabitha, stop it! You're going to hurt yourself!"

"Why don't you want me to see this room?!" she demanded. "Tell me, Albert!"

He glared at her, jaw set, then sighed. "Fine," he gave in, digging into his pocket for a ring of keys. "If you must know..." He took out an old-fashioned, gold skeleton key, slipping it into the lock, turning it, opening up the door and switching on the lights.

Even that didn't lead to some creepy old room, the way Fawn had expected, covered in cobwebs, the furniture hidden by sheets and layers of dust. Instead, it was immaculately cared for nursery, the walls covered in paintings recreating nursery rhymes in an old fashioned style, the furniture ornate and sturdy.

"What is this, Albert?" Tabitha asked coldly.

"I know you don't want to have children, Tabitha," he replied carefully. "That's why I didn't want you to see it. It was already here, already furnished... I didn't have time to get rid of it before we moved."

Tabitha's eyes narrowed. "I thought you understood," she said. 

"I do!" he insisted, gently taking her hand, leading her out and closing the door again, locking it behind them. "I'm going to remodel the whole thing!"

But he didn't, as far as Tabitha - or Fawn - could tell, keeping the door locked tight, dodging her questions whenever she wanted to know when he would be finished. Before then, though, they met their neighbor, Roxie, out in the yard, and she only made things worse. "Hi, there!" she waved. "Good to finally meet you! Where are your kids?"

Tabitha shot Albert a dirty look, one that Roxie immediately picked up on. "Sorry, sore subject. I just assumed... Well, you'll see."

Tabitha certainly did; the next day, while out exploring the neighborhood, all of the other women she encountered were dressed like the poster, in a far older style of dress, brightly colored and modest, with an apron, many of them pushing strollers, or walking hand-in-hand with toddlers, all of whom had a diaper bag slung over their shoulders and seemed to assume, automatically, that Tabitha was a mother as well. "Where are your children, dear?" most of them asked, right out of the gate.

She was quickly growing fed up with it, heading back home, when a small child with bright red hair in a very short dress, cloth diaper with plastic pants over it rushing up to her, taking her by the hand. Tabitha flinched, trying to pull her hand away, the girl's grip tightening. "I'm not..." Tabitha started to tell her, nose wrinkling in distaste as she began to kneel down, looking at the child in a way she hadn't with any of the others she'd seen that day. 

"There you are!" one of the old fashioned women exclaimed, hurrying over to grab the girl's hand. "I'm sorry about that! She knows better! This is a stranger, silly..."

"Sorry," Tabitha said, happy to hand the girl over. "She just ran up to me, I-I wasn't trying to..."

"No, no, it's fine," the woman smiled. "She could tell you're a natural Mommy."

Tabitha rolled her eyes, seemingly both at the words, and at the girl, still struggling to keep a hold of her hand. "No, I don't think so."

"No?" the woman chuckled. "You'll have to come over sometime and we'll see about that. We live right across the street there. My name is Constance, and this little one is Phoebe."

"No, I..." Tabitha began, pausing as, at least, Phoebe's hand popped out of hers. She frowned, looking down at her hand.

"Any time you like, dear!" Constance called as she walked away, Phoebe turning back, staring at Tabitha.

Tabitha watched the pair go for a moment, then opened her hand, complaining, "So sticky," before finding a slip of construction paper crumpled up there, two words scrawled on it in crayon, warning her to 'Get out.'

Roxie was out working in the yard when Tabitha returned, and Tabitha went to show her the paper. "Weird," Roxie agreed. "It could just be a joke, or a kid playing pretend."

"Yeah," Tabitha said. "It could be..."

She did not, Fawn noted, bring it up with Al that evening when he returned home, asked her how her day was, eating a quick dinner before vanishing into the nursery, promising that he was working on disassembling everything.

The next day, Tabitha tried to go into the city to visit her friends there, only to be stopped at the gate. "I don't see any appointments on the books for any departures today," the guard there told her. "I'm afraid I can't let you leave."

"Are you serious?" Tabitha demanded. "You can't keep me here!"

But the gate stayed down, the guard refusing to raise it. Tabitha did tell Albert about that. "Did you ask about making an appointment?" he asked, not sounding nearly as troubled by it as her.

"I shouldn't have to!" Tabitha glowered. 

"This is a borough," he shrugged. "Do you know understand that is? It's a self-governing, walled town. They can make whatever rules they like about who comes and goes."

Meanwhile, Roxie paid a visit to Constance. "I'm so glad you finally accepted our invitation!" Constance exclaimed. "I was just getting Phoebe ready for bed... Would you like to help?"

Roxie looked down at Phoebe, the seat of her diaper bulging beneath her plastic pants. "No, I think I..." she began to protest.

"Don't worry, dear, it's easy," Constance assured her. "I'll show you."

"Why doesn't..." Roxie began to ask, turning towards Constance's husband, sitting in his chair, reading a newspaper, before pausing, looking from him, to Constance, to Phoebe. "Does your family have a history of red hair?"

"What's that?" Constance blinked.

"It's just..." Roxie frowned. "You're both brunettes, and..."

"Come give me a hand in the nursery," Constance told her, "and I'll tell you all about it..."

The scene cut to black then, and the next time Tabitha saw Roxie, she was dressed like all the other women in the town, and seemingly unconcerned when Tabitha brought up that she had found Albert digging through her old, personal photo albums, that when she'd checked them, the pictures of her as a child were gone.

"I'm sure he just wanted to get an idea of what your baby will look like when you have it," Roxie smiled vacantly. "Aren't you ready to become a Mommy and give him one?"

"I'm not Mommy material," Tabitha said. 

"We all have a biological clock, dear," Roxie replied. "When it goes off, you just have to decide."

"I've made my decision, Roxie. And I thought you had, too. Not every woman needs..."

"I suppose you have," Roxie nodded.

Tabitha, freaked out, went to her own house, up to the nursery door, trying to get inside, finally digging a screwdriver out of the toolbox and taking it off its hinges to find that it was all still there... In fact, the closet was full of outfits, and the changing table fully stocked with diapers and plastic pants, a diaper bag, like the one all of the Mommies carried, sitting on top of it, waiting.

She burst out of the house in a panicked daze, not stopping until she'd reached the wall surrounding the town. She followed it all the way around, finding no holes, no way out other than the gate, so she made her way back to the house, where she found Albert and Roxie outside, discussing her disappearance. She stayed hidden, watching, listening, until they finished up with a kiss, Roxie heading inside, Albert getting into his car.

Tabitha crept carefully into the house to grab her purse, getting it and then turning to find Roxie standing there, watching, arms crossed. "Where do you think you're going, young lady?"

"I don't know what's going on with you two, but you can have him," Tabitha declared. 

"He only wants what's best for you, Tabby," Roxie said. "We both do. You've made your decision, and you aren't cut out to be a Mommy. That only leaves one option."

Tabitha shoved past Roxie as she approached, making a dash for her car, fumbling with the keys, barely getting inside and locking the door before Roxie caught up, pounding on the window, pulling on the door handle. Tabitha got the car started, squealed out of the driveway, down the road, heading straight for the gate... And crashing through, the guard barely diving out of the way in time. She didn't get much further, however, not having time to stop as she saw the tire spikes waiting just beyond the gate, shredding the tires, the wheels sparking against concrete as they ground to a halt.

She got out, panting, making a run for it, only to see Constance approaching from behind one of the trees, diaper bag over her shoulder. She turned, went the other direction, saw another one of the women from town the other way, then another, on all sides, until finally she turned back towards the town... And right into Roxie's arms, her former friend pushing the needle of a syringe into her neck.

The movie ended with a toddler sitting on a wooden stool in the corner of the nursery, obviously diapered beneath her tiny dress, pouting. In the background, her Mommy and Daddy were talking, out of focus, though Fawn could tell that they were Albert and Roxie.

"I caught her with this again," Roxie said, handing over a torn slip of construction paper.

"Such a naughty girl," Albert shook his head. "But what would we do without her?"

"Well, I wouldn't be a Mommy," Roxie giggled, giving him a kiss. "And if you aren't a Mommy, then you're a baby... Isn't that right, Tabby?" The toddler squirmed, whimpering behind her pacifier as she was picked up, set down inside her crib. Her hands gripped the bars of the crib, staring out, tears running down her eyes as she watched her husband and friend kiss again in the doorway before turning out the light, leaving her trapped as the credits began to roll.

Fawn blinked, looking around the theater to confirm that she was, indeed, still the only one there, that her friends hadn't caught up with her. She wasn't quite sure how to feel about that... It definitely felt like something made in response to women starting to get jobs outside of the home, and it certainly didn't appear to be in support of it. 

The thing that really stuck with her, however, was the very end... She assumed the little girl must have been the daughter of the main actress, because she looked so similar to her, it was almost uncanny. She didn't appear to be listed in the credits, though, so she couldn't see if they had the same last name, or make a note to herself to see what she'd done when she'd grown up, because, even as a toddler, she'd been a very talented actress, to the point where Fawn had to wonder what the director had done to make her look so scared, so sad...

She wiped her hands off as best she could, wishing she'd grabbed some more napkins, but uncertain how she would have carried them, too. She tossed all her trash into the popcorn bucket, throwing that away as she passed by a trash can on her way out of the auditorium, opening up the door...

And immediately letting out a tiny gasp. She was no longer alone, that was for sure... Out in the lobby, there were several women, all dressed up like the Mommies from the movie, in their old timey dresses and aprons, diaper bags over their shoulders... 

This must be a more popular movie than she'd realized, she thought, to have people coming out in costume to see it. Coming across them so soon after the finale had been a little creepy, she had to admit as she made her way to the counter, blushing self-consciously as she passed by a couple, a part of her wanting to compliment them on how good their outfits looked, how close to the movie, but not quite able to find the courage to speak to them as they smiled down at her, making her feel particularly petite next to them.

"H-Have, uh... h-have you seen my friends?" she asked the usherette, feeling a bit safer around her, as strange as she seemed.

"Movie?" the girl asked.

Fawn sighed, grabbing another napkin from the dispenser to try to finish cleaning up her hands, pausing as, in the light of the lobby, she got another look at the stamp there. The bars seemed familiar now; they weren't a cage, it dawned on her, they were the bars of a crib... Of the crib from the end of The Hillsboro Horror specifically, with a smaller, slightly smudged version of the same ornate carvings those had been covered in.

Silly as it was, she felt a shiver looking at it now, thinking of the end of the movie. It was a coincidence, just like the usher being in front of the right door, and not even that wild of one, that she'd seen the movie it came from first... It was still a little weird, though. She did her best to ignore it, think about the other movies so she could decide what to see next, wondering when her friends were going to show up.

She had to decide about snacks as well, even if that seemed less important after eating, and drinking, so much in the first movie. In fact, by the time she was done at the counter, she realized that, while she did have a few minutes before the next movie started that she might have enjoyed using to explore the theater a little, or perhaps taking a peek outside to see if she spotted her friends' cars, she'd probably better visit the bathroom instead.

She flinched as she opened the door, found one of the women dressed like a Mommy right inside. "Jeez," she chuckled, shaking her head. "S-Sorry... I-I just saw that movie, so you..." she began to explain.

"My, my," the woman clicked her tongue disapprovingly, grabbing Fawn's wrist before she could react.

"H-Hey!" Fawn protested, watching as her hand was lifted up, inspected.

"What a messy girl," the woman scolded her, starting to pull her over towards the sink. "Let's get you all cleaned up, little one..."

Should Fawn...

...try to break free and get to a stall?

...try to break free and leave the restroom?

...or play along and let the woman wash her hands for her?

What movie will Fawn watch next?

The Gateway?

Curse of the Moon?

The Offer of the Vampire?

Camp Nightmare?

or The White Altar?

And what refreshments did Fawn get this time?

Popcorn and a soda?

Popcorn and candy?

Popcorn, candy, and soda?

Candy and soda?

Just popcorn?

Just candy?

Just soda?

Or nothing?