That’s the Ticket! Pt. 5 (Final Episode)

That’s the Ticket! Pt. 1

That’s the Ticket! Pt. 2

That’s the Ticket! Pt. 3

That’s the Ticket! Pt. 4

Glenn was violently brought back to reality when someone tackled him. A few other valiant movie goers decided to jump onto the pile of bodies, probably seeking their own personal moment of heroism. Glenn felt like he was suffocating.

Despite an elbow smashing his face, he managed to say “He had a gun”

Someone close to him heard the words and cried for the mob to let up. The message spread slowly and Glenn felt a little relief. Then came confirmation, “Holy shit! Guy DID have a gun!” This informant had rolled the corpse over, exposing the firearm.

A few people in the mob offered apologies to Glenn. There were even a few shouts of “He’s a hero!” and “He saved our lives!”

Glenn’s mind went back to Heather. Surely she was somewhere in the menagerie of bodies. He even called out, “Heather!” A few Heathers even answered, but none where the one he was interested in.

The mall was shut down and a few people, including Glenn, were held for questioning about the event. Glenn sent off a few more messages to Heather, the last being –I hope you are safe-

As the police were wrapping up their investigation, their radios went crazy. A shooting had taken place at the Somerset Mall, across town. There were murmurs of it being a tandem crime. It happened at the movie theater at the same time the premier of the same film was about to be shown.

*          *          *          *          *

As Heather and her boyfriend filed into the screening room she took on last glance at her phone. “I hope you’re safe???” she read aloud. “Well that’s fucking creepy. I guess he figured out what happened and now he’s pissed”

“If that nerd-loser is threatening you, I’ll kick his …” her boyfriend’s words were cut short by screams. The crowd started to stampede. It quickly was made clear as to why. At first, the bursts of noises were thought to be fireworks going off, maybe even some pyrotechnics in honor of the big premier. Then the crowd grew wise and cries of “Gun!” rang out.

Heather got pushed over. She cried out to her boyfriend but he had already shoved his way through the crowd and was well ahead of her heading towards the exit. She first felt her legs and hands get trampled, then her torso. It became difficult to breathe. She couldn’t get up. She went into panic. She felt as if she was in the ocean and a wave had knocked her over and was holding her under water. After some excruciating time and a few unfortunate stomps, she cried the last tears of her short life.

Her boyfriend thought he was going to get out unscathed. Little did he know, he was pushing his way right towards the shooter. When he was confident he would finally escape, he came face to face with the deranged gunman. The man was expressionless. He uttered the words “pretty boy” before foiling the escape plans and claiming one more victim.

*          *          *          *          *

Glenn never spoke to Heather again. After a few days of trying to call and message her to no avail, he gave up. He fathomed that she must have been traumatized by the events at the theater and wanted to move on with her life. He still believed that their meeting was impeded by the averted tragedy. He had never learned of her fate. He shunned the news because he didn’t want to see his face anymore. He was considered a national hero and reluctantly did a media tour around the country. He only took up the offer as a way to see the country.

The pinnacle of Glenn’s rewards was a private screening of the movie he so dearly wanted to see. The whole cast showed up. It was a red carpet event. When the invitation was extended, he thought of asking Heather to accompany him. Although he decided against it, he did fantasize about walking the red carpet, hand in hand with her.

 

The End.

That’s the Ticket! Pt. 4

That’s the Ticket! Pt. 1

That’s the Ticket! Pt. 2

That’s the Ticket! Pt. 3

A half hour past and Glenn hadn’t received a reply. She must be busy getting herself ready, he justified. She is probably finishing up and almost ready to leave or on her way even. The crowd was getting large and Glenn was getting nervous that they might have difficulty finding one another. He sent off another message with his exact location to make sure that didn’t happen.

Glenn was too preoccupied to notice a strange man pacing nervously about ten feet from him. The man was inappropriately dressed for the balmy summer evening. His baggy Cleveland Browns jacket caught Glenn’s attention. His father was from Cleveland and a die-hard Browns fan. The man’s behavior made Glenn pay attention to him.

Besides pacing, the man looked as though he was talking to himself, like he was psyching himself up. Glenn found the look on the man’s face unsettling as well. Glenn was so focused on the man that he had stopped looking at his phone impulsively every other second.

In fact, he had been so focused on the man that he hadn’t noticed the lobby of the movie theater fill to a shoulder to shoulder crowd that spilled into the mall itself. The man’s strange energy was a magnet for Glenn’s attention. Not even the freaks in cosplay could peal it away. His heartbeat increased and his palms were sweaty.

The man took a deep breath with his eyes closed and flung his jacket open. Glenn was given instant justification for his fight or flight response to the man. Tucked into the man’s pants was a firearm, a rifle of sorts. Glenn didn’t know what kind but it looked real.

In an instant, Glenn’s world was only this man and himself in a tunnel. He heard nothing. There was only a dark void in his peripheral vision. Immediately behind the man stood a no-smoking sign on a pole with a heavy metal base.

Without even thinking, as the man reached for the weapon, Glenn sprung from his seat and grabbed the sign. He held it like a baseball bat with the heavy metal base in the air. Remembering his days of junior high baseball, he stepped into a swing. The man didn’t see it coming. The base smashed in his cranium. The bone split open with a sickening crack. Blood splashed the crowd. The man fell dead upon his weapon, hiding it from the mass of people that was now horrified and starting to come online as to what happened.

Glenn stood there, chest heaving, with the bloody sign in his hands. As he dropped it to the floor he heard voices in the crowd calling out to apprehend him.

To be continued…

 

That’s the Ticket! Pt. 3

That’s the Ticket! Pt. 1

That’s the Ticket! Pt. 2

Glenn was pacing around his tiny apartment for at least a half hour since his last shower. He had already taken three due to his excessive perspiration. He even had to throw the tee-shirt he had bought for this occasion in the dryer. Despite all this activity, he still had three hours to kill.

He already put the Sun Valley Mall into his GPS despite having gone there since he was a child. He could probably walk there blind folded if he had to. Apparently all the clocks in his house were broken because none of them were moving forward; at least in his perception.

This won’t do, he thought.  I’m going to go crazy waiting. He decided to go to the mall to pass the time. At least there was air conditioning there.

As Glenn pulled into the mall parking lot, he was down to only two hours before the big moment. As he strolled around, he was struck by how many happy couples there were. Admittedly, he used to feel a little envy seeing such happy pairs holding hands, sharing a good time. Not now, because he knew that would be him in the near future. He could see himself hand in hand with Heather. He pictured himself sitting on a footstool with her purse on his lap as she tried on clothes she didn’t really need but claimed she did.

With one hour left until starting time and a half hour until the rendezvous, he decided it would be better to go to the spot they decided to meet. He sat down and pulled out his phone. He took a moment to think of a clever thing to write to Heather.

-I don’t know what I am more excited about, the movie or meeting you-  perfect, he thought as he pushed send.

Riding in the passenger side of her boyfriend’s car, on the other side of town, Heather received Glenn’s text. She burst out laughing.

“Don’t tell me it’s that dork” her boyfriend said.

“That dork is the reason you’re gonna get to see the movie” she said, still laughing, “I almost feel bad for him, but, my God, how could he even think I’d give him the time of day?”

Meanwhile back at the Sun Valley Mall, Glenn sat staring at the two blue check marks next to his message that signified it was received and read. He all but held his breath waiting for a reply.

To be continued…

That’s the Ticket! Pt. 4

 

 

That’s the Ticket! Pt. 2

That’s the Ticket! Pt. 1

Glenn scoured the internet for tickets. He checked other zip codes. There were no tickets available in the whole tri-state area. Glenn’s anxiety had never been higher. He felt he was blowing his big chance. His hopes were hinging on taking Heather to the premier.

When he was about to give up hope, he received a text.

-Hey handsome. Did u track down a ticket 4 me?- needless to say, it was from Heather.

-Still working on it- he wrote back. He started and subsequently deleted the next text message twelve times before finally sending –Don’t worry, I’ll find one :)-

Glenn didn’t sleep that night. He saw the sun rise from behind his monitor. He went to work with deep circles under his eyes. When he closed his eyes, he saw movie ticket sites; start times and seating charts.

Seven cups of coffee got him through until lunch time. With a jittery hand, he reached for his cellphone. He was about to send a text of capitulation when he phone vibrated.

-Any luck?- Heather wrote.

-Well…- he started to answer back.

-I have an idea! I’m gonna call u- she wrote before he could wave his white flag of defeat.

His phone rang. He momentarily contemplated throwing it in the trash, changing operators and moving out of the state. Instead, he swiped the green circle and said “Hello”

“Hey! I bet you didn’t have much luck…Lord knows how hard I tried” Heather said.

“I searched the internet all night. I’m like a zombie today” he answered with a feigned laugh.

“Listen, I have a friend that works in the Cineplex at the Sun Valley Mall. He said he could easily get one of us in! Did you buy your ticket on Ticket-king.com?” she asked.

“Yes!” he answered, seeing his chances coming back like a boomerang that almost flew into a neighbor’s yard.

“Awesome! That means it can be used in any theater in the entire country. So, transfer your ticket to me, then we can meet at the mall and my friend will get you in. Then afterwards, we can get drinks at my place”

Glenn pretty much only heard that last part; at least it was the only part he paid any real attention to.

“That sounds great!” Glenn said, again with focus only on the last thing she said and not really analyzing the rest.

“Ok! Do it now, with me on the phone” she prodded.

“Done” Glenn responded after only a few beats of silence.

“Hmmmm, that was quick! I can’t wait to see you again. Send the confirmation code, please?”

“I already have”

That’s the Ticket! Pt. 3

Going Viral

Howard was obsessed with making a viral video. He was constantly filming in the hope of catching a magic moment that would be shared worldwide by hundreds of millions of people. It was starting to affect his relationships with friends and family. Furthermore, it was affecting his sanity and decision making.

Howard once got a taste of what it might be like to have a video go viral. He caught his cat peeing on his bed while making a funny face. The video got 50,000 hits on YouTube; a good start. A still shot of cat’s face was turned into a mildly popular meme. This helped fuel Howard’s obsession.

Howard filmed himself sleeping, eating and even using the bathroom. When it was brought to his attention he was trying to do this so masses of people he didn’t even know would watch and possibly give some kind of worthless internet point, such as a like, he shrugged it off. A co-worker suggested that he stage a video. Howard rejected the outright. He considered himself a purest.

One night he heard hissing in his backyard. He ran to see what it was. He tripped over a rake that he didn’t see because he was fumbling with his phone to film what was happening. Just as his foot caught the rake, he hit record. The phone flew from his hand. It landed on two parallel wash lines in such a way that it continued recording perfectly from a good aerial vantage.

Writhing on the floor in pain, Howard saw what the commotion was about. A raccoon had his cat cornered on the porch. Its overly aggressive behavior and the foam coming from its mouth indicated one thing; rabies.

Howard had hurt his leg badly and was completely immobilized. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the phone was recording. He said a quick prayer asking that his fall had been recorded as well.

When he focused his attention on his cat, his emotions were torn. On one hand, he loved Mr. Dinkle and didn’t want anything to happen to him. On the other hand, if the raccoon tore him to pieces, he’d have it on tape, sure to generate a lot of views and likes. The problem with that was, depending on how violent and bloody the attack was certain platforms like Instagram may not allow such a video. That would greatly reduce shares and in turn, decrease viralability.

His brow was dripping with sweat. He had decided on rooting for the attack to happen. There was a chance it would not get too violent, therefore able to go viral. No attack would mean no video and all would be for naught, unless the raccoon and the cat hugged it out, but that was highly unlikely. He saw an opportunity to guarantee the attack.

He reached for a fallen broom to prod the raccoon. This would surely provoke the attack, he thought. The plan backfired. The raccoon turned around and attacked the source of the provocation.

At first, it bit his boney hand until moving on to the much fleshier face of Howard. His nose was gone in one bite. His cheeks were shredded and his neck chewed on before the raccoon darted off into the night. Howard passed out in pain and in a pool of his own blood. He woke up the next day in the hospital.

“You’re lucky your neighbor heard you groaning” the nurse said. “But you are not out of the woods yet. You are all infected and the rabies could still be fatal”

“Where’s my phone?” was his only response.

The nurse rolled her eyes and pointed to the stand next to his bed.

He went right for the video. The whole attack was caught on tape. He was ecstatic, though smiling hurt and one would never know with his half missing face. He immediately uploaded the video.

He obsessively kept checking his stats for the next few hours. The only hits registering were his from going to the video to check the stats. “What’s a guy gotta do to go viral?” he said aloud.

Over the course of the night, Howard slipped into a coma. He didn’t make it until morning. The rabies took him to where there was no internet access.

The news picked up the story. First it was only local news, but the story showed to have legs. The cable news channels picked it up. There wasn’t much going on that day and they had 24 hours to fill. And fill them they did. Hours were dedicated to the story. Rabies experts chimed in, urban wildlife experts debated with urban planners and talking heads about the future of the raccoon in modern America.

In the meantime, the video blew up. By noon, it had millions of hits. There were already parody videos and a few reaction videos. It was a trending topic on Twitter. Howard finally went viral.

Tonight’s the Night!

 

 

[NSFW] *Note from the author: This story is a little raunchy. If you have delicate sensibilities, it may be wise to move on, otherwise, please enjoy.

 

Tonight was the night Stan had been waiting for since he signed himself up as a participant months ago on Facebook. The event billed itself as the largest orgy North Dakota has ever seen. Stan’s interest in orgies peaked when he saw some graphic videos at the tender age of thirteen.

Stan had no plans for the day, until 8:00pm, the start time. He figured he’d need his stamina so he decided to take an early run before breakfast. On his run, Stan saw a pair of the most beautiful women in spandex leggings. He ran behind them for an extra mile as to not lose his privileged view, even though it meant him going out of his way to do so.

This stimulation was too much for Stan. Upon arrival in his home, he immediately ran to the upstairs bathroom and released his sticky tension into the sink while thinking about those two bodacious bouncing butts that he dutifully trailed. He figured he’d be ok, the event wasn’t for hours and besides, “taking a bullet out of the chamber” would help him last longer, later.

Stan finished his breakfast and thought about how he could kill more than ten hours. He knew he’d have to be careful about getting excited. He needed to save his virility for the orgy.

He went to his room to play video games. He scored a touchdown in a college football game. Cartoon cheerleaders flashed on the screen with exaggerated sensuality and even more exaggerated proportions. This got Stan thinking about the orgy. Before he knew what he was doing, his shorts were down and he was depositing more DNA into a tissue, though considerably less than the first time. That’s ok, he thought, he had hours to recuperate.

After lunch, he got a text from a girl he was flirting with in his Economics class. She said her parents were out of the house and asked if he would like to come over. After a hard fought mental debate with himself, he agreed.

Almost as soon as he arrived he realized he wasn’t there to talk about the finer points of Adam Smith’s invisible hand. She led him to the hot tub, already running, on the back porch, clad in a bikini. They made out for a while and then she slid her hand under the bubbles. She was surprised to find him softer than a cone of ice cream in the hot July sun. He told her he was nervous because he found her so attractive and he had been dreaming of this moment and he couldn’t believe it was coming true. After some serious coaxing, she was able to get him just stiff enough for entrance, where in turn he immediately orgasmed.

He apologized to his disappointed lover and went home. He was a little worried at this point. There were only a few hours until the orgy and he had already had three orgasms that day; the last one being embarrassingly unimpressive.

He took a nap and upon awakening, reached for his cell phone. He flipped through Facebook and Instagram. He came across one of his favorite fitness models and lurked her page for a while. Without consciously realizing it, he was rubbing himself.

As if on some kind of pervert autopilot, he had already clicked over to a porn site and was going to town on his barely erect self. He caught himself in mid-stroke when he thought, “What am I doing? The orgy is tonight!” He couldn’t help himself, though. Stopping at this point would be like taking a steak from the jaws of a famished pit-bull. He finished with a dribble and lamented over it for a while.

As 8:00pm neared, Stan agonized over how he was going to perform after what he had done over the course of the day. Furthermore, he was quite drained and didn’t even feel like going. 8:00 struck and Stan made up his mind. He wasn’t going if it was just to make a fool of himself.

He watched a movie and decided to go to bed. He brushed his teeth and lay down. He looked at Facebook for some time and realized he wasn’t all that sleepy. There was one thing he could do in this situation. He went to his “go to” porn site and typed “orgy”. As the video loaded all he could think was “What is wrong with me?”

 

 

 

The Connection

Beverly´s only real skill in life was being attractive to the opposite sex. She honed this skill the way a fighter hones various angles of his game, only with less hard work, dedication and honor involved in the process. She was constantly changing looks. Beverly didn´t really like men. She was not a lesbian, but she was in not sexually attracted to men. In fact, she really didn´t like much of anything about them. There was one thing she like in a man, money.

Beverly´s lack of attraction didn´t matter because she could fake it like an academy award winning actress. She could make a man feel like he was the only man she had ever truly loved. Many men to this day think of her as the women who fell the hardest for them.

In her younger days, Beverly would just drift from city to city spending a few months here, a few years there. She always found her way into the most posh apartments, finest restaurants and rubbing elbows in the highest social circles wherever she was. But now her years were catching up to her.

It was not that her looks were diminishing. She seemed to become more beautiful with age. It was that moving so often was getting tiresome and lonely. She wanted to stop. She wanted to live in familiarity for once. New was becoming boring.

She created a profile on a website specifically for women looking for men with money. She went to the trouble to buy a few expensive outfits and had professional pictures taken. She threw the bait out. Now she waited to land her whale.

Among the many messages she received over the first week. One caught her eye in particular. His name was Henry. His profile stated he was an entrepreneur, a very wealthy one at that. Beverly was not destitute by any means. She was smart over the years creating various accounts, depositing gifts from her suitors.

Beverly exchanged many messages with Henry and became very interested. He might be able to provide the soft landing she was looking for. And strangely, she felt that she might like him.

After a few weeks of back and forth they decided to meet. They decided to do it in a big way. They were to rendezvous in Cancun for an extended weekend. Henry had given Beverly a long story of how he had some funds frozen due to litigation in Europe and he asked her to spot him. He would pay her back as soon as the matter cleared. Beverly obliged. It was a mere investment in her eyes.

They spent the most fabulous weekend imaginable. Beverly was more sure than ever that she was on the right path. Henry, besides demonstrating great wealth, was handsome and fun to be around. His legal woes in Europe had increased and now a Chinese court was looking into a business of his. Beverly did not think twice about helping him out. Help him out now, help me out in the future, she thought.

After a few more sob stories and a few more wire transfers, Beverly´s funds started to get alarmingly low. When Henry asked for help again, Beverly had to deny. She hadn´t the funds he required. Soon after, Henry disappeared. He no longer answered e-mails. His cell phone was disconnected. Beverly was devastated.

She took what little funds she had and hired a private investigator to track Henry down. After a few weeks, the investigator found all he needed and closed the case. He brought his findings to Beverly. Henry, or Roberto, his birth name, had a criminal record thicker than Beverly´s passport from all the extra pages she needed. All of his crimes were of the white collar ilk. He had never done time. He was good. Apparently, better than Beverly.