050 Movie Premiere
"How was the food?"
"Delicious as always."
Richard took the cleaned container from Hopper. Hopper gave Richard a curious look, signaling with his eyes toward Robin, who was sitting on the couch watching TV, as if he could feel the tension in the air.
"What's going on with you two?" Hopper quirked an eyebrow, a strange smile on his face.
Richard shook his head without explaining, then turned to hand the other freshly packed meal on the table to him. "This is today's meal. Fresh vegetables are scarce in the dead of winter, so the vegetable dishes might not be as good as the meat ones. Just make do."
"You're being too modest." Hopper couldn't help but scoff upon hearing that. No matter how limited the ingredients or basic the cooking, it was still far better than his microwave dinners. "Anyway, it's better than anything I can make."
Now, it wasn't just Eleven who loved Richard's cooking; Hopper was hooked too.
Hopper didn't linger; his scheduled time with Eleven was approaching. He took the dinner and excused himself, but as he turned to leave, he let out a snicker at the two inside the house.
"Time to eat." Richard set the table and began eating, speaking with a smile.
"Coming." Seeing Richard's unshakeable demeanor, Robin sighed. She couldn't keep up the act anymore. She had thought that by acting a bit more feminine, the guy might give some reaction, but it turned out he was exactly as he said—he seemed to have absolutely no interest in romance.
Well, except for casual hookups.
Robin was truly amazed at herself—that she could actually fall for such an infuriating guy.
Sitting down at the table, Robin channeled her frustration into her appetite, demolishing three large bowls and settling her grievances with Richard over a meal.
Everything seemed to return to normal... Robin and Richard worked together to wash the dishes, one responsible for scrubbing and the other for rinsing. The whole process was smooth and seamless, showing perfect teamwork.
"Once the film is edited, what do you plan to do?"
Richard replied, "You might not know this, but several entertainment venues in town—arcades, movie theaters, video stores, and such—are owned by Keith's family, that big dummy from our high school. That guy doesn't plan to continue his education after graduation and will inherit the family business directly. He'll be managing the video store and the movie theater. I cut a deal with him, and he's really happy to help me out."
"What kind of deal did you make with him?"
"He likes hot girls, so I gave him a few posters from my collection of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition."
"Shit, you didn't take photos of me, did you?"
"I haven't even seen your belly button, how would I have photos of you?" Richard looked at her with amusement.
Robin looked down at her stomach and gave an embarrassed laugh. "True. I'm not really comfortable wearing swimsuits anyway."
"Will you give your buddy here a chance to appreciate the view sometime?"
"...I'm afraid you'll take a mile if I give you an inch."
"You show me yours, I'll show you mine. It's fair," Richard said with mock seriousness.
Robin puffed out her cheeks and pouted, "Can't you wait until summer, you jerk?"
Richard grinned. "Then I'll look forward to it. Until then, I'll feed you until you're nice and healthy, and we'll see what kind of swimsuit you can wear then."
"Richard, you asshole!"
Henry was about to lose his mind, truly lose his mind. Do you know how miserable it feels to have a home you can't return to?
The Upside Down was perfectly fine—blood-red skies, dark and cold—yet his home was constantly lit up because the real world was brightly lit all day long, making his house glow. On top of that, there was that irritating Buddhist chanting playing constantly.
He wasn't even dead yet, but he felt like he was at his own wake.
Because of this, Henry was forced to temporarily leave his 'comfortable' old home and go to the underground breeding nest, pouring a massive amount of power into hatching the Demogorgon embryos.
It was originally estimated to take six months to mature naturally, but now, in order to take the offensive against the real world and kill that Richard who disturbed his peace all day long, he had to accelerate the progress of the invasion.
A giant 'Mind Flayer,' its body towering into the clouds and piercing the sky, unafraid of the lightning in The Upside Down and covered in flowing black particles, currently had one leg connected like a tube to Henry's left hand. The black particles passed through Henry's body, becoming stabilized through the conversion of his psychic powers. As they were injected into those glowing red embryos, the things inside began to pulsate faster, and fleshy eggs as tall as an adult's knee began to swell.
When a fleshy egg exploded, spraying fluid everywhere, a Demo-dog—shaped like a hairless hound but with a head like a flower bud—was born, directly skipping the other stages of its infancy.
Watching the monster lap up the scattered egg fluid out of hunger, a cold light emerged in Henry's eyes. "Richard, will you be able to stop this attack?"
...
A week later, a large painted poster was plastered at the entrance of Keith's movie theater. The cover was thrilling and horrifying, full of hooks: a desolate old mansion as the background, paired with a child with pale skin and a sinister expression. One look was enough to make people shudder. The title was 'The Creel Demon Child,' the subtitle was 'The First Found Footage Horror Film,' and there were warnings: 'Not for the faint of heart, those with heart conditions should not enter'...
The movie theater was the place most frequented by young people in this era. Whether they were teenagers or adult couples, everyone would occasionally seek new thrills for various reasons. Upon seeing the eye-catching poster and the various bold-font warnings, their interest was piqued, and they pulled their friends or significant others into the theater.
Mike, Will, and other horror and sci-fi movie enthusiasts naturally wouldn't miss this film. Even if it weren't for the fact that Will starred as the demon child and his brother Jonathan filmed and starred in it, they wouldn't miss any horror film shown in the town's theater.
Mike and his group sat in the same row, each with a bucket of popcorn and a Coke. Before the show started, Mike couldn't help but tease Will beside him, "Will, you're going to be a star now."
"Stop making fun of me," Will said with a shy smile.
As the lights in the theater dimmed until it was pitch black, the projector made a 'whirr-whirr' sound, and the projected image appeared on the screen. The opening wasn't the usual studio logo, but a bubble tea advertisement lasting about ten seconds.
The ad mainly showed the preparation of a cup of bubble tea and an attractive woman drinking it seductively. Finally, it ended with a line: 'Dark Tea, a taste you'll never forget.'
"Look, that's me!" Mike and the others vaguely heard a girl in the audience speaking excitedly. Everyone present turned to look and found that the girl indeed looked exactly like the one in the advertisement.
Facing the surprised looks from everyone, the girl wasn't embarrassed at all. Instead, she laughed confidently and said, "Hello everyone, I'm Tammy. If you want to get to know me, you can wait until after the movie. I'll be waiting in the lobby."
The audience smiled knowingly, feeling a slight fondness for the girl, while also becoming more curious about the origins of the movie.
Soon the movie began. The image was a bit grainy, and the quality looked like it was shot with a home camcorder. Everyone was puzzled for a moment. Then, when the protagonist, a guy with long brown hair, walked into the shot and even reached out to adjust the lens, everyone realized that this movie was indeed shot with a home camcorder.
Seeing this, some people in the audience immediately felt ripped off. Some left on the spot with annoyed expressions, but they were only a small minority. The rest maintained the attitude that since they had already paid for their tickets, they might as well stick it out and keep watching.
The movie told the story of a group of high school students investigating paranormal activity, who accidentally angered an evil entity and were killed off one by one.
Hawkins High had a Paranormal Investigation Club that formed an expedition team. They were going to explore the legendary haunted house in town. That house was said to possess terrifying supernatural powers, and no one who went there ever returned.
The club members went to explore with the attitude of debunking it. However, no one expected that on their first day there, before they had even explored the house for ten minutes, the female lead's boyfriend would somehow trigger a curse. He flew up into the air on the spot, suspended mid-air, and had his limbs' bones broken by an invisible force, finally dying with a snapped neck.
The members of the expedition team screamed repeatedly and scattered in terror.
The audience also felt panic along with the shaking camera and the hurried, panicked breathing of the cameraman. Because it was the first time everyone had experienced such a bizarre and immersive perspective, they began to believe that this documentary-style film was real, and fear naturally arose.
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