The Mall 2.2: Forward

The Mall 2.2: Forward

You've been in malls before. You once went to Sky Mall before visiting Roosevelt Field Mall. You've been in smaller malls in little towns such as this one, too. You've never been in this one, though. It is larger than the stores inside warrant. It looks like it underwent an ambitious renovation at some point during the early 00's but never really caught on. The ghosts of that ambition, according to the coworker that suggested this place to begin with, can be seen and felt both. As you walk onwards, you realize the truth in those words.

You see yards of places that once were, shut down and left with only a "for lease" sign in the long run. Matt told you how there was once a Sears that drew in the mall's biggest revenue. There were more than four pretzel shops then; two served other foods. There were stores around every corner, plus an Arby's and a pizza joint.  It didn't matter in the end, though; none of these places exist now. All you're met with is a barren hallway leading towards the mall's center, where activity is prevalent. Walking through the hallway is still unsettling, however...everywhere you turn, there's a husk of a store. You can barely make out a cry for help in front of one, though it could be a nearby kid...you reach the jewelry store Matt told you about. What he failed to tell you was that it was well out of your price range; you leave with a pair of plastic earrings you got from a vending machine and hope your SO won't notice the difference at first, but not before loitering in a nearby pretzel joint and mulling over exactly how you'll pull that off.

You notice signs leading to the only bathrooms in this place, which seems to point towards a rather creepy and narrow hallway.

You decided to go pee at the same time a pack of juveniles did as well. They left before you finished; you catch them staring down a hallway you didn't notice on the way to the bathrooms. The way the hall looked, it seemed like it was for employees only and that no one should be there, yet there were no signs indicating this. You see the juveniles march onwards into this creepy hallway and follow, just out of curiosity's sake.

The hallway ends in what appears to be a forgotten wing of the mall, a vacant space with a surveillance camera that was probably bought in the 90's and an entrance/exit door that's been locked for god knows how long. You don't, however, see the kids that came this way. You hear youthful laughter from where you came. You decide to go back the way you came, but see something very unsettling...


This...

everything's gone?

How..?

Why?

What was once a meager mall became completely abandoned...everything is either vacant, boarded up or inaccessible now. All that remains are the corridors playing a distorted, kind of ominous version of Christmas music. You head towards the nearest exit only to find the doors won't budge, no matter what you do. You turn around and suddenly see people on the ground in a pool of their own blood. The lights overhead flicker wildly and before you can even react, the atmosphere becomes a chore to breathe in. You've never seen a dead body before and yet here they are, surrounding you. One suddenly spasms, appearing as though it was going to get up. You hear an eardrum-piercing scream, causing you to cover your ears and keel over in pain.

"Goddamnit!," you hear an old, graveled voice yell behind you suddenly, "I can't keep up with you kids and your trespassing bullshit."

You turn around and see an old seasoned janitor with a mop bucket in tow, glaring at you. Before you can say anything or even truly register what you've just seen and heard, he grabs you by the collar and drags you back to the bathroom area, tossing you towards the wall backfirst and pushing his index finger into your chest hard.

"This is as far as you need to be," he sternly advised, "and no farther. Absolutely do not be a goddamn fool."

With that, he walks off towards the nearby security office while you stand against the wall, absolutely baffled by what just happened. You again go back to the hallway that led you here and see the mall as it was before you came down this way.



Where the hell are you, really?







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Mall 2.3 will come