Ruby grabbed a handful of popcorn and threw it into her mouth. While eating, she stared at the big screen and placed her hand on Taylor's shoulder, which he had extended to her.
"Watch the movie, my dear. It's quite interesting," Ruby said.
Taylor shrugged and gave up his plan for intimacy, deciding to wait for the scary moments in the movie before attempting to make a move on his girlfriend.
He knew how timid Ruby was; she would definitely throw herself into his arms when the time came.
As he watched the movie, he wondered where to put the popcorn in his hand when Ruby inevitably rushed over to him later.
On the big screen:
Scarlett's character was rushing to her late class. While working at the hotel, her roommate Lori suddenly took out a small cupcake. It turned out that today was the birthday of the heroine, Terry Gelbman.
But the heroine turned around and tossed the cupcake she had made herself in front of her roommate, casually throwing it in the trash. She said, naturally and with good reason:
"Sorry, too many carbs. Bye!"
The scene shifted to the classroom, where the heroine sat in the corner. The audience, including Taylor and Ruby, began to notice a strange vibe between her and the male teacher, as if there was something more than a professional relationship going on.
The bell rang. The heroine quietly followed the teacher out of the classroom, and in a deserted corner, the two hugged and kissed.
Of course, this was a stand-in, not Scarlett herself.
The film captured this, and the audience quickly formed an impression of the heroine: she was a "good" student who wasn't particularly friendly to others, wasn't active in her studies, and had some issues in her private life. That evening, the heroine dressed up beautifully and headed to yet another wild party, as she did every night.
However, as she walked through a corridor, she noticed a small gadget that automatically rotated and played "Happy Birthday."
The lights flickered on and off, and the rotating music box stood empty. With the echoes in the environment, the atmosphere of the film began to shift, becoming eerie.
The audience's hearts started to race.
The heroine quickened her pace, eager to leave the unsettling corridor. But suddenly, a man wearing a mask appeared at the entrance.
She repeatedly tried to communicate, first asking, "Do you need help?" in a friendly manner, then resorting to swearing. But the masked man didn't say a word. The lights around him flickered on and off.
The masked man's mask also flickered intermittently.
The audience in the screening room had forgotten about their popcorn, staring at the screen nervously, knowing that something bad was about to happen.
Taylor was already prepared. He quietly placed the popcorn down and sat up, ready to hug Ruby, who was bound to leap into his arms soon. Just then, Scarlett's character yelled: "Fuck, I'm going to call the police!"
The masked man seemed to be frightened and slipped away.
The frightened heroine hesitated and continued to move forward. After a few steps, the birthday song suddenly played again.
The music box that had stopped just moments ago began rotating again, singing.
As the heroine's attention shifted to the music box, suddenly—Bang!
The masked man appeared behind her.
Ruby's heart skipped a beat, and she tilted toward Taylor, preparing to lean into him.
Brush! The knife came down...
Before the audience could become too scared, the camera shifted, and the scene returned to the opening: the heroine waking up in her bed.
The same boy's dormitory, the same clothes, the same "strange" boy Carter…
Was it all just a dream?
This was what the heroine on screen thought, and the audience outside the screen shared the same doubt!
Taylor, slightly disappointed, had yet to get the expected hug, but his attention was quickly drawn back to the film as the plot unfolded.
The heroine walked out of the boys' dormitory, passing the same hip-hop guy in sunglasses, the same chubby girl doing charity work, and the same fraternity activities. The fallen boy was still the one in the red hat. She even ran into her ex-boyfriend Tim.
It was all so strange.
The heroine then confirmed the date with Tim.
"Today? Today is the 18th, Monday."
"You sure?"
"I'm absolutely sure!"
When she came downstairs to the girls' dormitory, the same Asian girl with blond hair and pink headphones greeted her.
And when she reached her dormitory, she saw the same girl in a yellow suspender top.
Her roommate Lori still presented her with a small cake.
Every detail, every line of dialogue was a direct reenactment of the previous one. If the heroine didn't change, neither would the situation.
Including… on the way to the party that evening, the automatically rotating music box in the underground passage...
Fake, Taylor thought. I understand now. This isn't a dream—this is a time loop.
Taylor suddenly understood and stared at the screen, not blinking, eagerly anticipating the next twist in the plot.
It seemed... he had completely forgotten about being intimate with his girlfriend.
Looking at the music box on the ground, the heroine thought about all the strange occurrences.
No matter how brave she was, she knew something was off.
So instead of continuing down the tunnel, she turned around and ran back.
Back downstairs in the dormitory, the camera suddenly shifted to a perspective looking down from an upstairs window, making the audience feel as though something was watching the heroine.
The heroine reached the door of the dormitory building and knocked desperately, but no one responded.
Just as she was looking around in panic, the door suddenly opened.
The masked man appeared again.
Everyone thought the heroine was going to be killed once more, but the director—no, the screenwriter—played with the audience.
The heroine punched the masked man to the ground and rushed into the dormitory.
Suddenly, the lights came on, revealing a surprise birthday party her friends had prepared for her.
The person she had knocked down wasn't a deranged murderer, but a classmate named Nick, who had come to the party.
"Surprise!"
Everyone froze and stared in surprise at the masked man who had been knocked down.
After the shock wore off, the heroine and Nick, the "masked man," exchanged a look, and the two went inside to make out.
But just then, the real masked murderer appeared.
So, the heroine woke up again, back in Carter's room.
It was the same early morning, another Monday the 18th, and her birthday once more.
The same people, the same dialogue, the same plot.
She was trapped in this day—her birthday, Monday the 18th.
She was repeatedly killed by a man wearing a mask. If no action was taken, she would keep dying, over and over again.
The audience in the screening room was fully engaged now, realizing that the heroine made small changes each time, and each change brought new clues.
For example, the murderer's mask had been bought at a charity auction. The strangeness of her roommate Lori… The audience's curiosity was piqued.
Who was the murderer?
Was it her stalker ex-boyfriend Tim, the one she had kicked? Or the male teacher, or the male teacher's wife who had an affair? Or maybe the sweetheart Daniel who had been teased? Or even her weird roommate Lori? Or the Uber driver she'd fought with last week?