Blockbusted

The parking lot lights gave off enough for the guys to peer through the dusty windows and the old video drop-off slot. They could see that the aisles of shelves where they once found great N64 games, but the new movie shelves were long empty, and the blue countertops had lost their greasy sheen to grime after three long years of this old Blockbuster being shut down.

"Why are we even checking the front door? Aleks, did you test out the backdoor last time you were around here?" Kevin asked as he and then Kyle shook the front doors to no avail.

"Nah, it's spooky back there and there aren't any lights," Aleks said, "and I don't wanna get fucked up or butt-hurt by whatever dumbass kids that live around here."

They walked around back to the alley, spotted the backdoor, and jostled it without any luck. Then, with the strength of his Serbian ancestors and the impaired judgement of a guy who just guzzled a flask of Ol Grandad, Aleks slurrfully yelled "Blockbusted!" as he smashed the doorknob clear off with a loose cinderblock he found on the ground.

Without any reservations or much afterthought, Kevin, Kyle, and Aleks gently pushed the creaking door open, finding themselves once again inside the place that gave them so much joy as kids, but now it stood as a dusty temple of a pastime. As they carefully went down the aisles, Kyle called out to everyone to check out what he just discovered: One unlabeled Blockbuster VHS tape case, with the weight of a tape still inside.

With an anxious Kevin and Aleks at his side, Kyle cracked it open to find a copy of The Expendables 4.

"Wait," Aleks paused with unease, "they stopped releasing new movies on VHS a long, long time ago...and this movie hasn't even come out yet..."

-Richard Kniazuk