If You Need a Hand to Hold...

“What? It’s already started? But I- I-” I stuttered at the poor guy behind the counter who was trying to tell me that the latest SAW movie had already begun. It was my favourite movie series ever and I had been waiting the whole week to save up enough money to get a ticket, and now I had probably missed the start! This was not how it was supposed to happen! I had left really early so this wouldn’t happen!

“It’s probably just playing the ads at the start. If you hurry, you could still make it…” he said desperately, probably not wanting me to cause a scene. Of course, I bought the ticket and ran away from the counter to find the correct theatre. There was no way I was going to miss the movie. Once my ticket was checked, I sped in to see that the screen was showing the ‘turn off your phones’ crap. I was just in time. The screen turned black and I could barely make out the tiny lit up numbers on the sides of the aisle seats. Scurrying down a few steps, I spotted the number that was on my ticket, so turned into that row.

“Excuse me! Excuse me!” I hissed as I passed person after person in the row. This was going to take forever… It seemed like there were no gaps at all! People were growling at me, and I became insanely frustrated as I reached the end without any luck. What the…? Someone stole my seat? How inconsiderate! Where was I supposed to sit now? On the steps in the aisle?

“Hey! Spare seat here!” a male voice called from the row behind me. I went towards the voice as the movie begun by showing names of some people who did whatever it was that was so important. Luckily, there was actually a free seat, so I gladly sat down in it.

“Thanks so much!” I whispered to the guy as I got comfortable.

“No problem.”

We didn’t speak again until the movie freaked me out. Despite loving the SAW movies, I didn’t always handle certain scenes very well. Sometimes, they were just too gruesome and I found myself feeling the pain, and it was absolute agony! But, that was what made the movie so good! No other movies could make me actually experience the emotions. As the woman on the big screen screamed in pain in her last moments of life, I also cried out (alongside of a few other female members in the audience) and uncontrollably jumped sideways in my seat, bumping into the helpful guy on my right.

“Oh my God…” I sighed as the bloody body was shown for a bit longer. The man next to me chuckled a little as I breathed quite heavily to try to calm myself down.

“Not good at handling the gore?” he asked quietly.

“Not always…”

“You do realise you’re watching a horror movie, right?” he laughed and I rolled my eyes, though he couldn’t see me. It was a habit I had in response to snide comments.

“Yeah… It makes the movie better if it can get me to freak out, though. That’s half the reason why I love SAW.”

“I just love them ‘cause they’re wickedly awesome,” he replied and I smiled.

“Agreed,” I said as someone in the audience hushed us. The scenes had changed and important speaking started happening.

“Hey, if you need a hand to hold, mine’s right here,” the kind man said and I felt his arm move onto the arm rest that was in between us. I didn’t know how to react to that, so I just remained quiet and stared back at the huge screen, trying to soak in the information to attempt to solve the mystery before it was revealed at the end of the movie. That was the other half of the reason why I loved the movies so much; the way everything twisted together perfectly at the end, though it never appears that it is capable of doing that before the end is reached.

But sure enough, it wasn’t long before another gruesome act was happening and I was becoming squeamish again. I breathed in sharply as my body jolted to the side, trying to hide itself from the pain while my eyes still watched intently. My hand brushed against the stranger’s one that was still on the armrest and in a second I had considered all of the possibilities about taking his hand in mine, concluding that I shouldn’t do it because it’s too weird. But then he took me by surprise and casually swept my hand in his, gripping it firmly but soothingly. I looked to my right and struggled to see who he was in the darkness, but the only new information I had was that his hands were callused. Giving up quickly, I focused my attention back at the screen. The caring stranger kept my hand secure in his as the bloodshed continued in intense torturous ways, the support making me able to watch more of the movie.

Slowly but surely, I soon started to pay not that much attention to the movie, despite loving it, and begun focusing on the stranger sitting next to me on my right. Who was he? Why was he kind? How was he so confident and smooth? What if he was actually my brother’s creepy friend or something? This could be really bad… or really good? I didn’t know… Was it even possible to find your soul-mate while at a movie theatre? If so, what if he was mine? Whoa, that was taking it way to far… But… he was already so pleasant and sarcastically funny, both qualities that I liked. What else was he? Was I crazy for even thinking this? My mind didn’t stop racing as I considered all of the possibilities about the stranger that was next to me.

More killing happened and I winced, gripping his hand tightly which earned a response of him stroking it reassuringly with his thumb. It felt really nice, which kind of scared me. For all I knew, he was some insane rapist or something… But he could be a genuine nice guy… I wasn’t given much more time to consider the possibilities of who he was as the movie was coming together, showing me the answers and linking it all together into the masterpiece I knew it would be. And once I had finished thinking about the connections between the movies, the movie ended, the credits came up, and the lights slowly came on. Eager to see who was sitting next to me, I turned my head to the right and blinked a few times, adjusting to the new light. As I met his light brown eyes, I couldn’t believe who I seeing. No way. This… This couldn’t be real! I had to be dreaming! Or mistaken!

“J- Johnny Christ?” I exclaimed in a rather quiet voice, still not believing what my eyes were relaying to my brain. No way! I love Avenged Sevenfold! I looked down to where our hands were entwined, then followed the tattooed arm back up to the face. Okay, I was definitely holding his hand… I was holding Johnny Christ’s hand after watching a movie with him… “Holy crap…” He just chuckled a little at me.

“I was sort of hoping you weren’t a fan, I mean, what were the chances… But, nonetheless, could I give you my number? You know, in case you go to watch another horror movie and need a hand to hold or someone to cuddle or somethin’…” Johnny said and I just froze. Did the bassist from one of my favourite bands seriously just tell me he wants to give me his number? I must be dreaming… I really must be… “Um, Miss? Are you alright?” As he waved his hand in front of my face I realised I had just been staring blankly at him and blinking a lot. I laughed nervously and looked away from him, my heart pounding so much I thought it was about to leap out of my chest.

“Oh sorry… Um, here’s my phone…” I told him as I quickly pulled out my cell phone and handed it to him. A rock star was giving me his phone number… As I watched him punch the numbers in, I noted his hand was still grasping mine and I wondered why he hadn’t let go yet. Johnny passed my phone back and gave me a caring smile before bringing my hand up to his lips, as if he had read my thoughts just moments ago. He kissed it gently before putting mine back on the armrest. Then he stood.

“Give me a call, won’t you?” Johnny said before walking away. He left me as a pile of goo in that seat for quite a few minutes before I managed to laugh off the surreal encounter and leave the theatre too. I had just met Johnny Christ and he wanted to see me again…