A full moon hung high in the leaden sky, shining its borrowed light on a small suburbia house where magic was waiting to happen. It was a cold night and while many people were out and about dancing their worries away under stroboscopic lights, countless others sat in the quietness of their homes, eyes glued to their laptops or smartphones, unhealthy drinks, and snacks on the ready for what they hoped would be a few hours of world-class entertainment. The expectations were quite high, and no one felt their weight more than the content creator who stood by his bedroom door, muttering:

Nathan Harris, also known as MoviePhan, cracked his knuckles, exhaled the tension of a heavy work week, and took one last glance at the mirror to his right to see if his hairstyle remained intact. His dark brown curls were a major part of his charm and drew a lot of attention whether he liked it or not. He couldn’t let his multitude of fans down, especially when he was live.

Not known for rash decisions, sometimes he surprised himself with unexpected ideas, and the double life he was living now resulted from one. He had started his channel on a whim on a rainy weekend where his energy levels had dropped to a minimum. At the time, deep down inside he believed it to be a short-lived flight of fancy that would never go anywhere, but when the likes and comments started pouring only after two uploads, he discovered just how enthusiastic anonymous people around the world were for living vicariously through someone else’s eyes, so he continued pushing forward, slowly building a faithful community where once there was nothing.

The chatroom was already live, filled with lots of familiar aliases and new emoji-spamming users eager to see what the fuss was all about. His team of moderators was on point too, despite hardly ever being needed. If there was one thing Nathan couldn’t complain about was the civility of those that followed his streams, which was quite a miracle considering the air of toxicity permeating Internet life. He was grateful for it, and even more for all the wonderful new things he had come to know ever since starting his digital journey. It was time to continue paying back while being as entertaining as possible.

“Hello! We’re live again. Whether it’s good afternoon, good evening, or good morning on your part of the world, welcome to my channel and this stream. For those of you that don’t know me, my name is MoviePhan—well, online at least!—and I react to popular (and sometimes, not so popular) movies and TV shows, both old and new. We have an incredibly special event set up for tonight, and I hope I’m able to give you the level of entertainment you deserve. How are you all doing?”

Ggwin:

Everything is fine, here. How are you?

RexJ (MOD):

Hey, Phan. All good. You’re right when you say this is going to be special. I don’t want to spoil anything, but you’re in for a treat, my friend.

MoviePhanGreatestFan:

Go, Phan! So good to be here, tonight! And wow, look at the numbers we already have around here. It’s totally bonkers!

Allthebestnamesweretaken:

Hello. I’m doing great. First time watching one of your streams live. Your content is outstanding! So glad to be here.

WalterZ:

Yo! This shit’s going to be lit, just saying. Thank you for doing this.

“Hey, guys. So glad to see you’re all hyped for this one. First time, Allthebestnamesweretaken? I hope it’s not the last. Oh, and I do love your alias so don’t sweat it.”

Allthebestnamesweretaken:

Aww, thank you. I hope you don’t mind me saying this, but you’re looking positively dreamy tonight.

DannyO:

Easy there with the flirting, the boy’s taken.

No1buttMe:

And the lucky gal is amazing, too!

RexJ (MOD):

Will Jen be joining us tonight, Phan?

Jennifer Lambert—Jen for family, friends, and online acquaintances alike—was his girlfriend, and the sweetest woman he knew. Despite being a part of his life for over fifteen years, only recently he had realized he could no longer live without her. She had moved into his house two months before he started his channel and had always been a vocal supporter of his online escapades. On rare occasions, she joined him on videos, receiving praise galore for her ice green eyes and natural red hair.

Jennifer wasn’t the first girl he kissed—that honor still belonged to Heather Blackman, a blonde nymphet whose greatest pride was being everyone’s first memory—but she was the one that made his heart race. Unfortunately, he was too immature for her and the attraction, while intense, quickly fizzled off when he realized he couldn’t keep up with her dreams. High school came and went, friendships that were to last forever waned with each new opportunity that presented itself and, one day, she was gone.

She was still smarter than him and quite intimidating because of it, but he had grown enough by then to know certain connections are meant to be. They maintained a long-distance friendship for the next twenty months and then, suddenly, they were back to where they started, living on the same block only two houses apart, and the more their eyes met, the stronger their hearts leaped until the inevitable happened.

“No, I don’t think she will, Rex. Things have been crazy at the store lately. Two of her colleagues are sick and it seems her boss is heading the same way, so she’s been called to fill in the holes. I didn’t see her yesterday all day, and I bet she’ll be too tired when she comes home tonight, too.”

RexJ (Mod):

That’s too bad. I wish she didn’t have to work so hard.

MoviePhanGreatestFan:

I second that. Jen is amazing!

John27:

Who?

Alias13516:

So… when is this thing getting started?

“Soon, okay?” Nathan checked his watch. “I don’t know if you’re new around here or not, Alias, but this is something I like to do before the show begins. I’m looking at my stats right now, and we already have almost ten thousand people watching this stream. This is insane! Thank you guys so much for making this experience so memorable. None of this would be possible without your support.”

MoviePhanGreatestFan:

No need for that. I’m proud to watch you grow, but thank you, anyway.

No1buttMe:

What he said.

WalterZ:

Yeah, you rock, and rocking here with you is always a good time, especially tonight.

R2Ditto:

New here, too. Can I ask when the edited version will be up on YouTube?

TheGreatTom (Mod):

It’s usually a week after, R2, but it could be more depending on the size of the video.

R2Ditto:

Ah, okay. I will look forward to that, too.

“Thank you for that, Tom. And it is good to see you again. How are the twins, by the way?”

TheGreatTom (Mod):

Still noisy. More irritable than ever because they just started teething.

RexJ (Mod):

Oh, that’s rough! I hope you’ve been getting enough sleep.

TheGreatTom (Mod):

Sleep? I do not know what that means!

DannyO:

I haven’t slept in almost thirty hours but who cares? This is so exciting!

“Hey, Danny, come on, man!” Nathan frowned at the camera. “I’m glad you want to be around, but you must look after your health first. Thirty hours is a long time to be up. Are you sure you’re fit for handling this?”

DannyO:

Of course, I am. You’re watching one of my favorite movies of all time, today. I’m not missing this for anything in the world.

WWW621:

What are we watching again?

RexJ (Mod)

Oh boy, where to begin?

“You know guys, I’ve asked myself the same thing many times in the last week, but I did everything in my power to stay spoiler-free until today. Let’s get this rolling. If you’re just tuning in, welcome! Tonight, I’ll be watching and reacting to ‘Hypnotist from Outer Space’ by Samuel Brown. This movie came out in 1973, twenty years before I was born, and while I know it’s considered a cult classic by many, I’ve never seen it nor am I familiar with Brown’s work at all, so don’t really know what to expect. Going by the title alone, it seems to be a sci-fi movie (obviously!), but I have no clue what the story will be all about other than that there will be hypnosis involved, of course. A lot of you recommended I watched this movie. In fact, it was the runner-up of the last three community polls, so I figured: why the hell not? So far, your judgment when it comes to these live streams has been spot on, so let’s do this. I hope you have your copies of the movie on your end ready to go so you can follow along. I have my corn snacks here, my big soda too, and don’t be surprised if my cat pops in the frame now and then. You know he loves the attention. With that being said, it’s time. My reaction starts in 3, 2, 1...”

MoviePhanGreatestFan:

It begins. Have fun, Phan.

RexJ (Mod):

Yeah, enjoy.

“Samuel Brown presents… a Samuel Brown film… ‘Hypnotist from Outer Space’ with story by Samuel Brown… oh wow, this is some Kojima-level name insert right here! Not really complaining, though. If you’re proud of your product, you should promote it and yourself any way you can, like I always say. Anyway, this opening credit sequence is quite interesting. By now, you guys know I’m not very fond of these longer intros in older movies, but I really like the clever use of light and shadow against the starry backdrop. There also seem to be a lot of spirals in-between. I guess that makes sense since the titular character is a hypnotist. I’m hearing some interesting sound effects in the background too, though I can’t quite understand what they are. If anyone in chat who has seen this movie before can tell me about them, I’d love to know. Thanks.

“Oops… I take that back. It was doing so well, but then Brown went for a wider pan, and somebody forgot the strings attached to the miniature. You saw them, right? Upper left corner. If you squint, you can pretend they’re not there but… Yeah, yeah, I should probably just let it slide seeing how old the movie is, but you know I can’t because it ruins the composition a bit. Well, moving on… it looks like we’re getting our first glimpse of the inside of the ship…”

* * *

Jennifer stopped by the front door and huffed. With over forty hours of work on her legs on the last seventy-two, she was borderline drained. Never her bed had looked more inviting, and if she were to fall on it that very instant, chances were she wouldn’t wake up until the sun set the next day. She rotated the key and dragged herself inside, still grumbling about all the crap she had to deal with that day. None of the stories she had to tell were funny or had any redeeming qualities. Most people were idiots, especially the ones who thought they could get away with improper remarks and false promises of entitlement. With her next contract renewal coming up, perhaps it was finally time for her to kiss the convenience store goodbye and look for something else.

It was always a good call, one that had saved her many times before. She took off her shoes, headed upstairs, and stopped.

Well, whatever… even though she liked to help from time to time, it was his channel, and his newfound passion, not really hers. He could have all the fun in the world while she had the warm duvet to herself.