Blank Tape
Blank Tape
It was my first video party. My group of friends had been trying to get me to go to one for a long time, but I was never too good with crowds. On this particular evening, I had run out of excuses for why I couldn’t make it and found myself being dragged along. I couldn’t think of a worse way to spend my night than in a crowded room filled a bunch of strangers watching whatever garbage they could come up with, but there I was. As we approached the old dilapidated apartment building on the other side of town, I could feel a knot tightening in my stomach and I was already beginning to plan my exit strategy.
The idea of a video party was that you were supposed to bring a videotape of something strange you had found and a big group of people would get together and watch them all. It was sort of like a Show and Tell, but much weirder. It could be anything ranging from a news broadcast that someone recorded right off the tv to some random kid’s birthday party where the cake catches fire. These tapes were usually copied and shared like they were trading cards through different circles. It didn’t matter what was on that tape, only that it was absolutely bizarre.
As we made our way up the creaking stairs of the building, I could already hear the distant roars of laughter through the thin walls. I gripped my friend’s hand with white knuckles—it sounded like a lot of people. I hadn’t brought anything to share myself. My goal for the evening was to avoid any sort of attention to myself and to just slip away into the darkest corner of the room to make myself as invisible as possible until it was time to leave. All I that I could think about was how much I missed my bed and my favorite bottle of wine. I just wanted to be alone.
The small studio was packed with people that were all huddled together with their eyes glued to the tv screen. The lights were off and everyone’s faces were shining with the static glow. It was hard to make out the screen through all the heads, but it appeared as though they were watching an acting reel that someone had recorded in their basement with makeshift props. The room was warm from the bodies and the air was heavy. I could already feel the walls starting to close in on me. Why did I let myself get dragged here?
I felt my friend’s hand slip out of reach as she disappeared into the crowd to find a better view of the screen and I found myself orphaned. There were people on all sides of me that I didn’t recognize. I tried to keep my breathing steady, but I could already feel my heart starting to pound in my chest. There was nowhere to go, I was completely surrounded. At that moment, I would have rather been anywhere else in the world. Then, I noticed an opening. I slipped through a small gap in the crowd and found my way to edge of the tiny room where I found myself just barely able to catch my breath.
I didn’t pay too much attention to what was on the screen—watching this struggling actor only made me feel awkward—instead, I found it much more interesting to observe the many faces in the dark room. There was a wide variety of expressions that came together like a quilt of joy and second-hand embarrassment. As I continued to scan the room, my eyes met with those of man on the other side of the room. I barely noticed him at first in the darkness, but occasionally the screen would brighten just enough to flicker onto his pale face. His features were sharp and his eyes were dark. If I were to be completely honest, he was quite attractive, and maybe that was the reason that I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. His lips tightened into a smile and I felt a slight flutter in my chest. He continued to stare back at me until the video playing on the tv ended.
“All right, who’s next?” asked the deep voice of a woman who I assumed was the host.
The man slinked out of the shadows with a videotape in hand. He handed it to the woman who looked the tape over and asked what was on it. The smile on the man’s face never faded and he made his way back to his spot in the dark without another word. I heard someone whisper to another asking who he was—maybe he was another oddball like me. As the woman pushed the tape into the player, I looked back over to him. He was still watching me and his smile had stretched even tighter. He motioned his head towards the screen and gave me a wink as though he wanted me to watch.
The video began to play. The bright blue screen turned to static and then a white room came into focus. The camera seemed to be facing a white curtain—I think it was someone’s bathroom. A person entered the frame and stared directly up at the camera. It was strange, I couldn’t explain how they looked: it was as though they had no features at all. The person stood there some time as though they were watching us. The room had gone deadly quiet and I realized that there was some kind of uneasy feeling growing in my stomach. Slowly, I began to notice more features on the face of the person. She was a woman with long dark hair and olive skin. I wasn’t sure how I didn’t notice that before. Tears were starting to fall from her eyes and she seemed to be whispering something to the camera that I couldn’t understand. The longer I watched, the more that I realized that this woman looked just like me. It was a mirror image. I felt a shiver run up my spine. She raised a trembling hand and I could see a gun in her hand. I heard someone gasp. As she slowly began to turn the gun towards herself, I quickly spun my head away and slammed my eyes shut. I couldn’t see this.
There was a loud bang and I heard someone scream. My heart was a race as I slowly opened my eyes and turned my head back towards the screen. The figure was gone from the frame. The only thing that was left of her was a large red stain splattered across the white shower curtain in the background. My body began to shake and I looked at the others in the room. Each and every one of them were all staring blankly at the image. I thought of looking back at the man, but I just couldn’t bring myself to.
Then, someone who had been sitting on the carpet stood up and calmly walked towards the window. He slid open the window and then he was gone—leaving nothing but the sound of a heavy thud on the pavement below. Someone else then followed behind him and then another. One by one, and without a single word, all of the people from the party began to leave the room: some through the window and some through the door, but all were going to their deaths. I tried to look out for my friend, but I couldn’t make her out in the crowd.
It happened all so fast, but soon enough there were only two people left in the room: me and that man. He made his way over to the tv and ejected the tape from the player. There was a distant sound of screaming coming from outside the window and everything else was silence. I was too afraid to move or even look at him. What on earth was he? In a sort of casual stride, he made his way over towards me and tapped the top of my head with the corner of the tape. The sudden contact made me jump.
“You didn’t watch it?” he asked innocently.
I looked up at him and his dark eyes sent a shiver down my spine. I tried to speak, but there were no words left in me. He sighed at my silence.
“That’s a shame, it was my masterpiece.”
There was something in his face that started to change. The sharpness began to soften and his eyes began to lose their color. All of its features faded away, leaving behind what looked like a completely blank canvass. He looked like one of those mannequins from the mall and I wondered if he was even human at all. He turned away from me and left out the front door. Then, I found myself to be alone. I could still feel the touch of my friend’s hand on mine and I wondered where she ended up. My body began to shake as the silence became unbearable. I didn’t want to be alone anymore.
Thank-You!!
It was my first video party. My group of friends had been trying to get me to go to one for a long time, but I was never too good with crowds. On this particular evening, I had run out of excuses for why I couldn’t make it and found myself being dragged along. I couldn’t think of a worse way to spend my night than in a crowded room filled a bunch of strangers watching whatever garbage they could come up with, but there I was. As we approached the old dilapidated apartment building on the other side of town, I could feel a knot tightening in my stomach and I was already beginning to plan my exit strategy.
The idea of a video party was that you were supposed to bring a videotape of something strange you had found and a big group of people would get together and watch them all. It was sort of like a Show and Tell, but much weirder. It could be anything ranging from a news broadcast that someone recorded right off the tv to some random kid’s birthday party where the cake catches fire. These tapes were usually copied and shared like they were trading cards through different circles. It didn’t matter what was on that tape, only that it was absolutely bizarre.
As we made our way up the creaking stairs of the building, I could already hear the distant roars of laughter through the thin walls. I gripped my friend’s hand with white knuckles—it sounded like a lot of people. I hadn’t brought anything to share myself. My goal for the evening was to avoid any sort of attention to myself and to just slip away into the darkest corner of the room to make myself as invisible as possible until it was time to leave. All I that I could think about was how much I missed my bed and my favorite bottle of wine. I just wanted to be alone.
The small studio was packed with people that were all huddled together with their eyes glued to the tv screen. The lights were off and everyone’s faces were shining with the static glow. It was hard to make out the screen through all the heads, but it appeared as though they were watching an acting reel that someone had recorded in their basement with makeshift props. The room was warm from the bodies and the air was heavy. I could already feel the walls starting to close in on me. Why did I let myself get dragged here?
I felt my friend’s hand slip out of reach as she disappeared into the crowd to find a better view of the screen and I found myself orphaned. There were people on all sides of me that I didn’t recognize. I tried to keep my breathing steady, but I could already feel my heart starting to pound in my chest. There was nowhere to go, I was completely surrounded. At that moment, I would have rather been anywhere else in the world. Then, I noticed an opening. I slipped through a small gap in the crowd and found my way to edge of the tiny room where I found myself just barely able to catch my breath.
I didn’t pay too much attention to what was on the screen—watching this struggling actor only made me feel awkward—instead, I found it much more interesting to observe the many faces in the dark room. There was a wide variety of expressions that came together like a quilt of joy and second-hand embarrassment. As I continued to scan the room, my eyes met with those of man on the other side of the room. I barely noticed him at first in the darkness, but occasionally the screen would brighten just enough to flicker onto his pale face. His features were sharp and his eyes were dark. If I were to be completely honest, he was quite attractive, and maybe that was the reason that I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. His lips tightened into a smile and I felt a slight flutter in my chest. He continued to stare back at me until the video playing on the tv ended.
“All right, who’s next?” asked the deep voice of a woman who I assumed was the host.
The man slinked out of the shadows with a videotape in hand. He handed it to the woman who looked the tape over and asked what was on it. The smile on the man’s face never faded and he made his way back to his spot in the dark without another word. I heard someone whisper to another asking who he was—maybe he was another oddball like me. As the woman pushed the tape into the player, I looked back over to him. He was still watching me and his smile had stretched even tighter. He motioned his head towards the screen and gave me a wink as though he wanted me to watch.
The video began to play. The bright blue screen turned to static and then a white room came into focus. The camera seemed to be facing a white curtain—I think it was someone’s bathroom. A person entered the frame and stared directly up at the camera. It was strange, I couldn’t explain how they looked: it was as though they had no features at all. The person stood there some time as though they were watching us. The room had gone deadly quiet and I realized that there was some kind of uneasy feeling growing in my stomach. Slowly, I began to notice more features on the face of the person. She was a woman with long dark hair and olive skin. I wasn’t sure how I didn’t notice that before. Tears were starting to fall from her eyes and she seemed to be whispering something to the camera that I couldn’t understand. The longer I watched, the more that I realized that this woman looked just like me. It was a mirror image. I felt a shiver run up my spine. She raised a trembling hand and I could see a gun in her hand. I heard someone gasp. As she slowly began to turn the gun towards herself, I quickly spun my head away and slammed my eyes shut. I couldn’t see this.
There was a loud bang and I heard someone scream. My heart was a race as I slowly opened my eyes and turned my head back towards the screen. The figure was gone from the frame. The only thing that was left of her was a large red stain splattered across the white shower curtain in the background. My body began to shake and I looked at the others in the room. Each and every one of them were all staring blankly at the image. I thought of looking back at the man, but I just couldn’t bring myself to.
Then, someone who had been sitting on the carpet stood up and calmly walked towards the window. He slid open the window and then he was gone—leaving nothing but the sound of a heavy thud on the pavement below. Someone else then followed behind him and then another. One by one, and without a single word, all of the people from the party began to leave the room: some through the window and some through the door, but all were going to their deaths. I tried to look out for my friend, but I couldn’t make her out in the crowd.
It happened all so fast, but soon enough there were only two people left in the room: me and that man. He made his way over to the tv and ejected the tape from the player. There was a distant sound of screaming coming from outside the window and everything else was silence. I was too afraid to move or even look at him. What on earth was he? In a sort of casual stride, he made his way over towards me and tapped the top of my head with the corner of the tape. The sudden contact made me jump.
“You didn’t watch it?” he asked innocently.
I looked up at him and his dark eyes sent a shiver down my spine. I tried to speak, but there were no words left in me. He sighed at my silence.
“That’s a shame, it was my masterpiece.”
There was something in his face that started to change. The sharpness began to soften and his eyes began to lose their color. All of its features faded away, leaving behind what looked like a completely blank canvass. He looked like one of those mannequins from the mall and I wondered if he was even human at all. He turned away from me and left out the front door. Then, I found myself to be alone. I could still feel the touch of my friend’s hand on mine and I wondered where she ended up. My body began to shake as the silence became unbearable. I didn’t want to be alone anymore.
Thank-You!!
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