Rewind With A Superstar System

<🎧 Song Recommendation: Supercut by Lorde (inspiration music, please listen!>

...

The room was pitch black, save for the glowing static of six different television screens mounted across the walls.

They were scattered in different sizes, acting as the only source of light in the claustrophobic space.

Outside the windows, the dying wailing sounds of police and ambulance sirens could be heard.

But inside, the TVs dominated the silence, broadcasting the exact same apocalyptic news on every channel.

{Authorities report that the hurricane won’t pass for another three months. It’s getting grievous out there...}

{The H-19 viral outbreak is showing no signs of slowing down. Everyone is at strict risk, the Health Minister warns...}

{Everyone has been warned to stay far away from each other...}

{Six feet apart if you must meet. Nothing closer...}

{Far away...}

{Far away...}

{Far awayyy!}

The news anchors’ (Zack) voices began overlapping, looping into a maddening, scary echo that bounced off like a horror movie.

In the center of the dark room sat a man. He had an unshaven, rugged beard and messy, overgrown black hair. He looked completely drained of life. Slowly, tiredly, he raised a remote control and pointed it at the wall.

Click.

The signal flashed across each TV, and they all turned off simultaneously. The room was instantly swallowed in darkness.

For a brief second, there was nothing but the sound of heavy breathing.

Then, a slow, melancholic piano melody began building up in the shadows.

On the TV, I watch the city shutting down...

The man’s voice broke through the dark. He pushed himself up from the cold floor, his hands aggressively ruffling his already messy hair.

As he stumbled to his feet, his knee clipped a carefully placed floor lamp, knocking it over and casting a dim light that barely illuminated the dark room so he could be seen more.

His eyes were bloodshot as he sang while frantically searching for his phone in his pockets and the couch. .

He finally found the device buried under a blanket.

The moment his fingers wrapped around it, the music picked up its pace. A perfect, driving drum beat joined the piano, matching the sudden, erratic thumping of his heart.

He paced around the room, dialing that number over and over.

The desperation morphed into pure, unchecked panic. He kept pacing and singing, and his free hand flew to his head as hr began pulling off his hair in huge painful chunks without even blinking.

Eventually, the ringing stopped and the call connected. At the same time, the background music also stopped. .

"Hello? You there?" the man said.

There was a second of silence before Aura’s face appeared on the phone screen.

"Yes, I’m always here," Aura said softly. "How’re you doing? I’ve missed you."

Von was rooted to the spot hearing her words. He stared at the screen as if he couldn’t understand what she was saying.

"I... I just want you here," Von muttered with a trembling voice. "My ASAD... I can’t live without you, Aura."

On the screen, Aura waited for him to finish. It looked like that, but what no one knew was that it was a pre-recorded video. And Von was just syncing to match it perfectly like it was a call. Anyone watching the final video would never even guess it was done in one take.

Aura breathed out with emotional eyes. "Von... It’s okay."

We’re okay...

Even worlds and miles apart...

It was at that moment that the music began playing once more. Aura was the sole source of his comfort.

As she sang, Von pointed his phone to the large TV on the wall. Her face was casted there on the big screen, glowing in the dark room.

He watched her in a trance. But it was more than clear his focus was somewhere else entirely and not on her. His eyes looked hollow and deprived. It was clear her words weren’t working to keep him sane anymore.

"ARRRGH!!"

All of a sudden, Von let out a loud scream.

He began a haunting and rough dance around the room. It involved him violently knocking over tables and kicking lamps across the floor, which further added to making the room appear menacing and destroyed.

Aura began singing the chorus from the TV. Unlike in the actual song version, Von wasn’t a part of it. He didn’t sing his lines. Instead, he continued in his destruction. He grabbed the thick curtains and tore them down from the windows. He tore his own clothes, ripping his shirt open and making a massive mess.

What made the entire situation shocking was that all the things he tore were real and not cheap props. The heavy wooden tables splintered, and the thick fabrics ripped, leading to questions about how physically strong he really was to cause so much damage.

At the final lines of the chorus, Von began getting a hold of himself. He stopped moving. He looked at the phone in his hand and threw it away. The screen broke into pieces on the hard floor.

All of a sudden, he ran out of the room. He began walking rapidly down the dark hallway, singing the initial intro of the song.

His expressions got a bit better as he sang, the madness slowly leaving his face. He stopped by a sink in the hallway and washed his face with cold water before running straight outside the front doors.

It was night outside. A few staff members stood out of the camera’s view, spraying water from heavy hoses into the air to make it look exactly like it was raining.

Von ran into the downpour. His face was already drenched, and his hair, which was already missing multiple parts from when he pulled it out, was completely drenched in the cold water.

He stopped and looked down at a puddle of water on the concrete. Tapping it with his finger, he saw Aura appear on the water’s surface. He flinched back in shock with wide eyes.

Aura sang the final chorus and the ending lyrics. He could only stare at the puddle in a trance.

This time, her voice finally made Von calm in his head. The video ended with him lying flat on the bare, wet floor. A very bright, peaceful smile rested on his face as he dreamt of her words.

"Cut!" Max announced loudly.

Max lowered the heavy camera from his shoulder and walked forward with Emily. Emily immediately reached down, tapping the sleeping Von.

Emily had to shake him a few times before he finally opened his eyes and stood up with a ruffled, dazed expression.

She was very confused. She looked at him and asked, "Were you sleeping?"

Her words made Von snap back into his senses. "I wasn’t? Oh, no I wasn’t sleeping. I’m so sorry for that."

Emily raised an eyebrow at the unneeded apology. She found it really weird that the usually confident Von was apologizing for something so small, but she didn’t remark much on it.

"What was this you just did now?" Emily asked in absolute amazement. "This acting was definitely Oscar-worthy... And wasn’t the plan to shoot it in scenes? Max even wanted to stop you when you started breaking the tables, but you were nailing everything so good that we let you continue."

Von scratched the back of his head, which was hurting him a lot. "I guess, sorry for that too."

It was at that exact moment that Emily looked closely at him under the outdoor lights and noticed something scary.