Chapter 19 — Theater at the End of the Hallway

Unnamed tickets appeared in the teacher's desk drawer. Each ticket has a different number and time. I suspect that someone is inviting my ex back to the theater. Quan suspected that it was a way to sell tickets for free.

Ticket number 01 has the anniversary date of 2004. Number 02 is the day the school opened the club. Number 03 is the day the theater is locked. The following numbers match the milestones the group found in the records.

Lam asked Mr. Quang. He said he didn't know who ordered it, but maybe it was an invitation from a former student. Dat recognized the printing style: the tickets were made from the club's old cutting machine, currently located in the media warehouse.

The warehouse has no scratch marks. The cutting machine is wiped clean, next to it is a roll of yellow paper. Someone entered with a valid key.

They invited former students working at the school to come and ask. The librarian said she only cut three tickets for the group. Uncle Sau said not to touch the phone. The gym teacher admitted cutting a ticket for him but did not know the other tickets.

Dat holds ticket number 07, on the back there is blue writing: **The theater keeper is not the person with the key.**

“This sentence could refer to teacher Quang,” Quan said.

Teacher Quang listened but did not react. The teacher took the group to the records room and got a key handover book. In 2004, there were three key holders: the vice principal, the club leader and a student in charge of the machine. The student's name is Vu Thanh Dat.

Dat looked at his name and was silent. He remembers holding the key to pull the rope, but after the show, the key was confiscated. I don't know when it was returned.

“You went into the theater after that?” Lam asked.

"Yes. One time, many years later. I looked for the film but only found chairs."

“Did you turn on the projector?”

"Have."

Dat admitted that he showed fragments of the picture to see if the final scene was still there. He sent the message anonymously because he didn't want the council to know he was opposing his own project.

“You made us think someone was following us,” Tran said.

“I'm sorry.”

Huy asked why Dat didn't speak directly. Dat replied that he was afraid that if he admitted, the commercial project would remove him from his position. He needs money to pay off his family's debt, but he also doesn't want to cancel the theater. Two desires pulled him in two directions.

Lam said: "You cannot use secrets to protect what you love. Secrets always scare others."

Dat nodded. He agreed to stand before the council, stating that he had been a member of the club and had used the theater illegally to find movie footage. He will not hide his interests.

The group organized a folding chair festival to prepare for screenings. Each person who comes must open a chair, write a memory on the back and then fold it back. Quan modeled, the chair collapsed, but this time no one laughed at him alone; The whole group laughed together.

Memories are written: "The first time I dared to apologize", "a place to hide from the rain", "a place to wait for my mother", "the chair where I sat next to a stranger and became friends". Lam reads every line, not using all of it in the film. Some belong to the writer.

Huy repaired the green seats and replaced the straps with hinges. He did not remove the old paint color. Lam asked why.

“Scratches indicate it has been used.”

In the evening, the group tried showing the finished film. Images of the hallway, the sound of chairs, the trip to the beach, Mai's words and Nhi's sentences line up in a line that is not straight but real.

At the end, the screen is black for ten seconds. Then the text appears: **The last scene belongs to the person who told it.**

Huy watched it all, then said he could use his shadow in the projector. Lam asked again. Huy nodded.

The countdown has three days left. Outside the theater door, tickets nameless continues to appear.

Tickets appear in many places: in chalk boxes, under projectors, next to fire extinguishers, and in library books. Tran did not collect it all immediately; She asked the discoverer if he wanted to keep or hand over the file. Some of you keep as souvenirs, some of you hand it over because you don't want to guess.

Ticket number 11 has the line "do not hand out in class". Quan wanted to know why, but Lam reminded them that not all questions were sent to the group. He put the ticket in a sealed bag.

Huy checked the theater lock and saw a new scratch. There were no pry marks, so maybe someone with the key got in. Dat recommends completely changing the lock. Mr. Quang agreed, but kept a spare key in the file with his signature.

That day, some parents were worried that the theater would turn on by itself. Lam explained that the transmitter was a device installed by a former student, which had been removed and the electrical system checked. She doesn't laugh at ghost stories, nor does she turn worries into jokes.

Quan created an instruction sheet: "Projectors don't have ghosts, only people forget to turn them off." Tran changed it to "The system has been checked; please report if any abnormalities are detected." Quan said the new sentence was less fun, but it was still printed.

Mai checked the group's edits and discovered a section with a student saying the name of someone who didn't want to appear. She told Lam, the group interrupted even though a very beautiful rhythm was lost. Mai said she began to understand why the process was so long.

Vy received news that a former student living far away wanted to send an ice cream truck's horn. She asked for the file, asking the sender to specify usage rights. The file contains the real whistle and the seller's voice. The group used the whistle, but dropped the voice because it was not clear enough to agree.

Dat asked Lam if he wanted him to stand in front of the camera while talking about the project. Lam said it's up to you. Dat himself wrote the sentence: "I used to look at a room like a plot of land. Now I look at it like a promise." I give permission to use it.

Hoai An sent Nhi's greetings through Mrs. Nam, without asking for a response. Nhi answered a door icon.

At night, the projector turns on, the words appear: **Don't turn empty seats into promises for those who haven't arrived yet.**

Lam understood the message. They leave the space empty out of respect, not to create the feeling that someone will definitely show up.

Tran placed a small sign next to the chair: "This chair is not a promise. You can sit if there is room." Quan spoke too long, but no one corrected him.

One student asked why the group kept talking about privacy. Lam answered because the film begins with someone who was once looked at without being asked. If they forget that, there is no point in keeping the theater.

Huy checked all tickets and discovered that seat number 32 was printed in the wrong place. He edited the printed form, clearly stating that the old version was destroyed. Quan wants to keep a wrong ticket as a souvenir; Kindly keep it but mark it as unused.

Hoai An and Dat attended the meeting with alumni. One person blamed Hoai An for cutting the film, another blamed Dat for being silent. The two of them didn't shy away, just told what they knew and admitted what they didn't understand.

Lam feels the silence now is different from before. It does not hide; it creates room for the other person to finish speaking.

A former student asked if the group could make the theater's history public. Lam answered yes, but must distinguish between public documents and private letters. That person sent a photocopy of the old ticket, agreeing to use it in the exhibition. Tran clearly states the source and scope.

Huy teaches the course below how to recognize a hot wire. One friend was afraid of doing something wrong, so he said turning off the computer was a better decision than trying to prove that he was good. Lam heard and saw that sentence applied to the whole story.

A bout of loss The electricity caused the test screening to stop mid-scene. Quan intended to use a phone light to create atmosphere, but Huy told everyone to stand still and wait for security to check. In the dark, you hear the sound of rain hitting the corrugated iron roof and the sound of a chair squeaking. No one screamed. When the power came back on, the group did not immediately turn on the machine but asked the audience if they wanted to continue. Some of you want to, some of you want to go out. Tran noted both options.

Lam sees interruptions as connections. She asked everyone for permission to use the sound of rain and a question: "Do you want to stay or go out?" Huy thinks this question is more important than any pre-written lines. Vy edited a short clip, leaving the screen dark for nearly ten seconds. Quan said the audience would think the network was broken. Lam replied that if they wait ten seconds to choose for themselves, that is also part of the experience. No one used the incident to scare viewers; they just recorded how people took care of each other while they waited.

After the incident, the group did a theater escape exercise in low light. Huy went first, the flashlight pointed at the floor so as not to shine in his eyes. Tran checked the door, Quan counted people, Vy kept a list of no sensitive information. A friend asked who she could call if she got scared. Mr. Quang gave the medical room number and asked to write it on the seat card. Lam realized that safety should not only appear in accident scenes; it must be in the design from the beginning.

Quan suggested adding voice instructions for people who cannot read the board. Lam asked if anyone wanted to collect. One friend agreed to use an anonymous voice and speak in short sentences. They check the volume at the door and in the room, to avoid disturbing the class next door. Vy includes instructions at the beginning of each show, with a shortcut button if viewers don't need it. No one calls it a special feature; it's part of the room.

The group tested the instructions with their eyes closed and their phones on silent mode. Lam followed the voice, Huy stood at dangerous points, Tran recorded which sentences were easy to understand and which were too long. Quan said "go straight about ten steps" but there were people passing through the hallway, so they changed it to "follow the yellow tape to the door with the round handle". A specific description helps the listener have more autonomy.

One person suggested having a sign language version in the introductory video. Vy found a supportive teacher and asked permission to use pictures of her hands and face. The participant wants to have his name in the credits because it is his job. Lam wrote down the correct name after checking the spelling. They don't call this a gift; They pay remuneration from approved operating funds. Quan said it was the first time he saw a school project that counted effort. Tran said everyone knew from the beginning, it's just that no one had asked before.