Despair. Anger. Madness.
Finally, those emotions evolved into a kind of plea—a desperate, sorrowful plea. The brokenness in those eyes pierced through the screen, striking directly at the softest part of the heart.
The world quieted down.
All the noise and clamor faded away, with every bit of attention drawn to those blue eyes. A bitterness spread slowly across the tongue.
Until the doctor sighed deeply, a look of helplessness on his face, and spoke.
"You remind me of your father."
Gasp.
The entire theater drew in a breath, but a second later, it was collectively stifled. Everything clicked together, forming a perfect circle.
"He would always shout for those photo albums, even though they never existed."
"Sorry."
Evan stood there, stunned, muttering to himself, unable to accept reality.
Then he paused. "Photo albums?"
He remembered.
But the next second, he collapsed unconscious to the ground.
The doctor scanned Evan's brain again. The damage was severe and irreversible, signaling a death sentence for Evan.
Evan stood quietly outside the doctor's office, listening to everything in silence.
When the conversation paused, Evan pushed open the door and walked in.
"Mom, did you bring the old family videos?"
Andrea nodded, "Yes, I did. They're right here."
A faint smile lifted the corners of Evan's mouth. "Great. I really love watching them."
With a slight nod, Evan left the office, leaning tiredly against the door. Inside, he could hear the doctor recommending that Evan be transferred to a specialized hospital for treatment the next morning.
Evan stood there, staring into the distance, his eyes losing focus, as if piercing through time and space to see an unknown far away.
Then, his gaze hardened, determination shining through the pain and sadness.
He turned to look at the doctor's office, casting a deep glance at Andrea through the door's gap.
Taking a deep breath, he walked away without hesitation.
So, what was he planning to do? Or rather, how was he going to do it, considering there was no diary left?
Night fell, and Evan crept down the hallway, sticking to the wall—
Wait, wasn't this the opening scene at the hospital?
It was.
Evan snuck his way toward the doctor's office without alerting anyone; but the door was locked. He had to kick it open, triggering the alarm. He blocked the entrance with a sofa and hid under the desk, buying himself some time to leave one final message.
Before the guards broke into the office, Evan turned on the TV.
It played the family videos he had requested.
Bang, bang, bang. Bang, bang, bang.
The guards pounded on the door, some even smashing the glass to get in.
Time was running out for Evan. He glanced at the flashlight beams outside and then looked back at the faintly glowing TV screen. Determination shone in his eyes.
In that instant, time seemed to freeze.
Nicholas froze, too: what was he planning? An idea flitted through his mind, horrifying and heart-wrenching, so unbearable that he used every ounce of strength to banish it, terrified that thinking it might make it real. That fear gripped his heart.
On the screen, Andrea lay on a hospital bed being wheeled to the delivery room, her face glowing with happiness as she joked with Jason, who held the family camcorder—
She was about to give birth.
Her cheeks shone with joy, her whole being radiating light.
Then, the world shook, and the image began to crumble.
Evan disappeared.
Nicholas held his breath, stunned.
Andrea screamed, "Ah!"
The blood-curdling scream pierced through the screen, gripping Nicholas by the throat and dragging him into a bottomless darkness.
Andrea panicked, and so did the doctor. The world spun into chaos.
"You have no lifeline, no soul. You should never have come into this world."
"Before you were born, I had three miscarriages. From that moment, I thought you were my miracle baby."
No!
Andrea's anguished cries echoed in the theater for what seemed like forever.
On the screen, the unborn baby floated in the amniotic fluid, its own umbilical cord wrapped around its neck, cutting off its breath.
"I can't bear my dad, but if I move in with my mom, I'll never see you again."
Beep.
The heart monitor's beeping stretched longer and longer.
Stillness. No more beats, as sharp as a blade stabbing into the heart—
He had finally killed himself.
Perhaps only by destroying the root of everything could things go back to normal.
"No!"
Andrea's protest and grief, so desperate and painful, were ultimately consumed and disappeared. Everything cruelly returned to silence.
It was over. Completely and utterly over.
Nicholas sat paralyzed in shock, collapsing into his seat, his strength drained, slumping as if pulled from water.
Yet the movie wasn't over.
Nicholas: ???
The camera shifted. Andrea lay on the hospital bed, lifeless and hollow, turning to look at the newborn baby in the next bed. She wanted to cry but couldn't, frozen like a puppet.
Time trickled by.
Tommy and Keller moved away from George to their mother's new home, finally enjoying a happy childhood.
Andrea left Jason, met someone new, started over, and eventually had a new miracle baby.
Lanny grew up without being bullied, surrounded by his parents and friends, making it safely to his thirteenth birthday.
Keller went to college, met the right person, and got married, a smile of happiness spreading across his face.
Everything was perfect.
Except, Evan never existed. Not a single trace.
The movie ended.
The Wilshire Theater fell into darkness, a murky gloom where credits began to roll, not pitch-black but illuminated faintly enough to trace the silhouettes of the audience.
Yet Nicholas found it blinding.
He tried to close his eyes but somehow forgot how, staring blankly at the dim light ahead, thoughts and feelings tangled into chaos, suffocating him.
So, the movie was like a Disney fairytale, ending with a perfect, cliché happy ending—except for the main character.
In this world, everyone except the protagonist found happiness.
So, was it a comedy or a tragedy? And what defined a satisfying conclusion?
Nicholas waited, holding his breath, for a twist, a post-credits scene, a reversal of fate.
But he was disappointed.
(End of Chapter)