The Mooncreek Matinee has been closed for over thirty years. It?s time to say goodbye.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7

---

I once knew who I was.
Then I found a new me.
When I stared at this newer version, it was surprising the similarities. It made it seem like what I had been before was just a shadow.
But the reality of my story is only one interpretation of events. It's like a camera's lens being pointed in a particular direction. The beauty of the scene can be captured, but the overall masterpiece will be lost.
I don't think the beauty of the Mooncreek is able to be captured with any cameras.
It exists in the people who make up the story of this place.
It starts with the Talerins.
"Francis and Maria have always been a very wealthy couple. They came here from Europe. Germany." This was what the creature that now had absorbed Thomas Randolph and Roger Darcey's body said.
"When they came to the states, they soon gave birth to a little girl. Antoinette. Her eyes sparkled like the dew. So full of life. It was inevitable that it had to be snuffed out."
"Why?" I whispered as it took me toward the hall that led to the lower chambers of the theater. The creature looked almost human now. Able to disguise itself once more as one of the people I had grown close to. Roger was smiling at me.
"Because or what the Talerins brought with them of course. Some called it an Alp. A creature of the night that controlled dreams. Especially that of a young child. No sweeter meal could be found. They believed their child was cursed, so they sought help from an American, someone with belief in the spiritual power of bonds and spells." he was looking at me accusingly.
"Me? I don't know anything about witchcraft. I hardly even know about how to run a theater," I objected.
"You're getting ahead of the story Mister Saunders. Come now, Antoinette is waiting for us," he said gesturing to the staircase below. Only a flicker of light was blazing.
"I won't go any further. Not until you tell me what happened to her," I demanded.
The demon seemed unfazed by my demand and only shrugged. "The Alp attached itself to Antoinette. So to kill one of us meant that the other also had to be sacrificed. Francis and Maria couldn't do that. So they made arrangements with you to create a place that would serve as their Dream. Where they could run on forever, chasing each other forever, round and round," Roger told me.
"Is that what the Mooncreek is? Nothing but a dream?" I asked.
"In order for it to work, the demon and the girl would remain here for a set time period. And someone would have to watch over the place until they got back. The man you know as Thomas Randolph took the job. He was bound here for over thirty years, waiting for the time when he could finally kill the monster that had forced him to sacrifice his whole life," he said as he began to descend the steps.
"So when the news came that this place was to torn down, that was his doing on purpose? He was luring me back here... but why? And why involve Roger and the young man? Who is Jacob?"
"The Jacob and Roger you knew were nothing but spirits of their former selves. Tulpas made by the Alp to set things in motion. Sure, they acted with the memories of their living counterparts. And they were flesh and blood like you. But their memories were false. The story was written for them... For the creature to be free. That was why the real Jacob wanted to destroy this place so badly. He knew what was being set into motion the moment you stepped into this place, Howard," the creature said.
Suddenly in front of us the hallway lit up and I saw in chains the young girl I had tried to rescue a few days ago. She looked tired and scared. Desperate to be free.
"You thought she was the key. But you've held onto that for thirty years, Mister Saunders. You were the one that bound us to this place. Because by binding us you also bound yourself," the creature told me with a raspy voice. I bent down and looked at the girl with a pitiful expression.
Roger's words before he died echoed in my ear. That I needed to save this child. But I didn't know if I even could. The Mooncreek had controlled so much of the narrative so far, I didn't see how it was possible to do so now.
"How did Jacob and Roger die? Thirty years ago, when this whole thing was set in motion," I asked.
The creature pointed a bony finger past me toward the seal. The same one that long ago apparently I had stepped through.
"When the spell was made, you split the theater apart. One in this world, the other in dreams. The seal was designed a certain way... and the two men, as all men do... fought over the details of the curse that rested upon them. Both desperate to be free. Both fighting for that. And ultimately playing into the designs of this moment. Their deaths were essential for my freedom," the creature said wickedly.
"So then what happened earlier, the films. It was all set up to make me part of your dream? Part of the process to free you?" I asked.
"You have no other choice left. Free us, or we are both trapped here forever," the creature snarled.
Antoinette's eyes were watery. I touched her cheek, reassuring her that it would be all right. I was beginning to grasp what had happened here. I had never understood anything about spirits before, or so my memory told me. But I also didn't doubt what the creature was saying.
I also knew what I had to do. It was going to be the hardest decision I had made since coming here.
"I'm going to keep the Mooncreek closed," I said firmly. Roger's eye twitched.
"What do you mean?" he snarled.
"The seal was made for a reason. Creatures like you don't deserve freedom in the real world. The old me, the person that locked you away; stripped you of your power for that reason. I can't go against that, I won't do it," I said.
"You have no other choice! You will locked in this place forever!" the beast shrieked.
"That's exactly what I want to have happen. I realize now that what her parents did was what any parent would do. I'm sure if my son were still here, that I would want to keep him safe as well. We make mistakes for the ones we love," I said.
The creature seemed to be having a harder time maintaining its human form now. The face of Roger Darcey was shifting and changing. At times there was no face at all.
"You will let us out of here. If not in this cycle, then in the next! This is our narrative! You are just a pawn!" It screamed.
I shook my head. "No... all that you've shown me from the people I knew in life has told me that isn't true. Even when they were just puppets, Jacob and Roger had a will of their own. They fought your control. Maybe they didn't win... but they tried. I have to try," I said as I reached into my back pocket. There was one small item I had retrieved before coming down here that it had not noticed. A sliver of glass, just enough to make a mortal wound.
"You've made this story, but it's time for me to end it," I declared.
The creature laughed. It's body jerked and shimmered and grew. It was nearly twice my height in an instant as it's voice boomed.
"We made you Howard Saunders! We are you!!" it said in a thousand different voices. I thought of all the others it might have controlled over a millennia. All the men who had likely tried so hard to stop its evil.
Then i turned to girl and gave her a last fleeting goodbye.
"I'm sorry. Your parents love you. I'm doing this for them," I told her.
Then I slit her throat.
Suddenly the hallway began to fade to darkness. The creature behind me shrieked and screamed. As did Antoinette. Or rather... the thing that had hidden itself so well in her body. It gurgled and lurched, desperate to grab ahold of me. But the chains refused to let it. It was struggling to breath, saying different incantations and curses in different tongues as it faded and revealed the monster hidden so well in the facade.
Then it spilled out onto the floor like a bucket of paint, her skin and features melting as the dark smoldering shadow beneath the surface rumbled and twisted about the room. The tunnel began to shake.
And I ran.
I moved with the step of a younger man for quite some time. Until I reached the stairs. Then whatever magic the theater had done on me began to fade as I climbed. My knees buckled. My back gave out. I stumbled. The walls seemed to be closing in.
I was barely able to reach the top. Then I looked down and watched as the chambers below collapsed.
I fell onto the carpet, looking at the wall as it sealed up. No longer hollow. It was a confirmation that my risky venture had been worth it.
The monster had lost its bond on Antoinette. Death was her freedom.
I stood up, and hobbled toward the main lobby; breathing a sigh of relief as I saw the doors to the outside were back again. I didn't hesitate to leave. To be out of that place.
Then as I walked down the street, barely able to stand; I looked back at the abandoned theater and felt a twinge of guilt.
I thought of the people who had sacrificed everything for this place. Francis and Maria, desperate to save their daughter.
Roger Darcey and Jacob Cobb, eager to sell their own souls for the girl. Were their spirits really at rest now? Would they ever be?
Those thoughts lingered for hours. Until I last realized that the words I had spoken to the creature were right. I couldn't leave.
I went back in to the theater and began to tidy up. As I did I found myself drawn to the loft again, and discovered another miracle waiting for me.
The piles of junk I had become accustomed to were now replaced with stacks of films.
I didn't know if it was meant as an omen or not, but I know what I would do now.
I swept and dusted and prepared every last part of the place for what I knew could honor their memory.
I went to the front window and turned on the matinee lights. Now open for business a sign said that I set up in the side view panels.
Then I got dressed and stood near the ticket counter.
It was showtime. I smiled as the customers came in and took their seats.
The Mooncreek was alive again.
And for a brief moment as I watched the newcomers settle, I wondered whether or not this was another facade.
I realized then that I had no way of knowing.
So I leaned against the wall, kept my mouth shut and watched as the movie began to play.
This time, it would be my dream.
330


Source.