Old Cinema - Dream
It began in an old cinema.
Not one that had collapsed into ruin—just one everyone had quietly forgotten. The velvet seats were faded to the colour of dried wine, the carpet carried the ghosts of a thousand footsteps, and dust drifted through the beam from the projector like tiny stars.
The strange part?
The screen was blank.
No film.
No music.
Nothing.
You wandered down the aisle while I stayed near the back.
Naturally.
I asked, "Isn't this disappointing?"
You glanced over your shoulder.
"How can it disappoint me? It hasn't started."
That sounded exactly like you.
When you reached the front, you climbed onto the stage instead of sitting in one of the seats.
"There must be a projection room."
"There usually is."
"So let's find it."
We climbed a narrow staircase that seemed far too long for the size of the building. At the top was an old projector humming quietly by itself.
There was no reel.
Just light.
Pure white light spilling through the lens.
You leaned in to inspect it.
"What's it showing?"
I looked through the little inspection window.
"Nothing."
You frowned.
"No..."
You smiled that little smile that always means you've noticed something before I have.
"It's waiting."
You disappeared into another room while I stood listening to the projector.
After a minute you called my name.
I found you surrounded by shelves of metal film canisters.
Every single one had a handwritten title.
"The Day Everything Changed."
"Conversation Never Finished."
"Version of You That Never Happened."
"Five Minutes Earlier."
You picked up the last one.
It simply read...
"Maybe."
I laughed.
"Of course you'd choose that one."
"Wouldn't you?"
"No."
"Why?"
"Because certainty is easier."
You tucked the canister back onto the shelf.
"That's exactly why I'd choose it."
When we returned to the auditorium, the screen was no longer blank.
It wasn't showing a film.
It was reflecting the empty seats back at us.
Rows and rows of chairs...
Except one.
One seat in the middle was occupied.
Not by a person.
By two steaming mugs of coffee resting side by side.
You looked at them, then at me.
"I think we were expected."
I don't know why, but that made me laugh in the dream.
We sat down without another word.
The projector kept humming behind us, though nothing else ever appeared on the screen.
And somehow...
It didn't feel unfinished.
It felt complete.