Later Days

I had never bought anything off of EBay before, but I was in a phase where I would reminisce off of all of the old TV shows I grew up on, so I began scouring the internet for certain things that could give me that Nostalgic feeling. I happened to stumble upon a user who was selling an “unreleased” episode of an old show that aired on The Family channel, Called “The Weekenders”, on a CD for only seven dollars. I was slightly curious about the low price, but I just figured that it was because he didn’t want it. I’m a television enthusiast so this was an exciting moment for me, being able to see an episode of that hadn’t even been released, or seen by anyone else other than the person who was selling it. I would watch it when I was eleven or so, every morning before school.

The disc finally came and it came in one of those blank CD cases, so I was hoping I didn’t get jipped. The disc had a label on it, written in black letters on a somewhat worn white label, kind of a brown tinge. It said “Dismissed”. I thought in my head, that because it was unreleased, that it had to have been dismissed, so I didn’t give too much thought to it. It was getting dark outside and my living room had a dark blue hue to it, as the sun was almost down. My parents were at work and my brother, asleep. I popped the disc into the DVD player on my TV and waited. The player usually worked quite quickly and surprised me that it didn’t start too quickly, well the disc was ten dollars, you get what you pay for. I was sitting on my couch directly in front of the TV just looking at a black screen. It faded to a frame that was only on for a brief moment, I thought I missed something so I rewinded back to it and paused. It was the Bahia Bay news lady with the headline covered by a black box, and a blurry picture of what looked like a blue and red object in a plastic bag, next to a yellow card that had an X on it. I was so puzzled by what I was looking at, but I had to proceed to watch the rest.

The theme song played as normal, I felt a sense of nostalgia as I saw the character’s name cards come up. Carver, Lor, Tish; and I was shocked at the fact that Tino’s were missing. The three characters danced in front of the title card without Tino. I figured this is why the episode was pulled, a mishap by the artists or something. The word Friday came up on the screen, and I saw the four of the characters (including Tino) walking across a beach backdrop. They were talking about Chloe Montez’s latest incident, a fridge magnet stuck to her braces. I, and the characters had a good laugh. My living room was completely dark by now and I was relaxed into my couch. I watched on as they went to the mall and by a costume store, they all went in as it showed Lor and Tish trying on funny looking hats. Tino was walking up the isle looking at the capes, he was feeling the material on one in particular, and he was too indulged to notice Carver sneaking up behind him. Carver then jumped at Tino, wearing a clown mask, black paint around the eyes, a big red nose, and a smile. Tino jumped out of his skin and fell to the floor in the fetal position as assumed. They all laughed at his reaction, just looking at him. The shot panned to Tino’s face, eyes closed as a tear ran down his cheek, sobbing under his breath, as his friends continued to laugh. He hopped up and ran. I found this unusual, because I was outraged that they would laugh at him while he was in tears. As Tino ran, the sky turned greyer and darker, running home with the tears running down his face. This seemed very grim for a Weekenders episode.

He opened up the door to his house, the lights weren’t on, but he could see his mom, passed out on the couch. He walked over to her, and as he touched her shoulder and saw her face, a deafening scream took over my speakers and I scrambled frantically to turn down the volume. The image became very detailed, his mother was deceased; blood was running from the gash in her cheek, her eyes were popped out of her head, almost looking like they were staring at the viewer; her hair was frazzled and discoloured. Tino then backed off as his mother’s body fell violently at his feet, I was clutching onto my couch cushion. Tino ran upstairs, and slammed his door, then sat with his back to it. The TV went silent, I thought I’d accidentally hit the mute button, but the volume was up. Tino sat quietly at the door, staring at the wall for about three minutes. He stood up and walked over to his dresser, there was a pill bottle, and he tossed it at the wall violently and then took off his shirt. He opened up the drawer to find a blue knife in a green box. He looked into the mirror as he slammed it on the table. He broke the fourth wall by staring into the camera, kind of a usual twist to this unusual episode. He stared at me for a good minute and a half, a blank stare, not blinking. His eyes widened, and what almost looked like a smile crept onto his face as he walked closer. He then said “you want me to do it don’t you”, very loudly, it sounded so real, like he was sitting next to me, yelling into my ear. He smiled at me for a moment, as he flicked the knife and put it to his face. I was dumbfounded by fear, I couldn’t move. He dug the blade into his eye lid, as the dark red liquid ran down his face, his screams were high pitched, and nothing I’d ever heard before. He dug the blade into both eyelids as the liquid ran down his face and onto his chest. He screamed once again as he dug it into his nose; I could hear the blade going in. He proceeded to cut the sides of his mouth, the effects in the show seemed greater, more realistic than before. I watched as the blood pouring down his face formed the face of a clown. His blonde hair was soaked in blood.

He ran around his room, laughing and putting his hands on his face. He fell to the ground, alot of blood was coming out of his nose, and he fell so his head rested on the step up to his bed. The floor had a puddle of blood on it. It went quiet, until he turned to the camera once again he lifted his head slightly, as his eyes stared me down, he said with his voice muffled by the blood “later days” as his head hit the step, as the blood rushed from everywhere, eyes still open, a grin on his blood soaked face. He was staring at me, and I waited for the credits to roll but they never came, I went to turn it off and go back to the menu, I tried pressing the button but it didn’t work. He was staring me down as the blood rushed from his skull to the floor. I stood up and turned off the TV, my entire room was black. I was sweating like crazy and frantically trying to find a light. I turned it on and stared at my TV, still off. I unplugged the DVD player and took it off to the side. I then turned on my TV again to see the same face, Tino, wide eyed and deceased now with dry blood on his face, cracking. I felt tears in the back of my eyes for some reason as I turned it off again. I unplugged the TV and sat in silence as I waited for my dad to get home.

I started having nightmares after I saw it, and since then, had visited therapy. To this day I don’t know what happens, but for some reason, every time I turn on that TV, I see his face. No one else sees it but me, but I always see it. I always see it.