Shop

Now what? After escaping the angry mob downstairs, I could only feel my fatigue rising indefinitely within me, and it's not even noon yet. I always found it odd that they stopped running after me once I reached the second floor, though. Oh well, fuck, this just shows that one really shouldn't come early in a meeting with a stranger.

I climbed the damn broken escalators, which I wouldn't mind much since shit like this happens a lot of times in perfectly functioning malls, but this damn garbage heap has no air-conditioning, so now I'm sweating so damn hard that I swear I can feel some waterfalls gushing out of my armpits. Okay, maybe I can feel a bit of coldness every now and then, but as I said, it's just a bit, and I'm not kidding! It feels like someone is just blowing air at my face, and they just shrugged it off as air-conditioning. Crazy! This place is crazy; these people are crazy; I'm crazy! Why am I still staying here after all that bullshit on the first floor?

Although I am now climbing the last escalator towards the fourth floor, I can still barely hear the loud cries of the people downstairs all because this damn place is so devoid of what a normal human being might otherwise define as joy. It's crazy in here! A part of me is thinking of just sitting on a floor around the escalator and waiting for the people downstairs to go away so that I can leave as well. However, I have gone this far, and I'm already headed towards the fourth floor, so there's really no reason for me to go out now like a fucking pussy.

Haa... Again, now what?

I've already taken my first step on the fourth floor, and to make sure that I am in the right place, I looked at a familiar sign hanging above the escalator to check if I am in the right place. Yep. The sign says, "L4," Level 4. I'm in the right place, alright, but I'm not sure if I find it ecstatic to know that I have arrived at my destination, knowing what happened downstairs! What if I run to one of those groto fetishists once I start walking around, and he starts calling for his wacky-looking ass friends to subdue me and shit. Man, I've played Resident Evil, okay? I know how crazy it is when you encounter fucked up people in an equally fucked up place. I also know that I'm a fucking dumbass for agreeing to do a meet up with a stranger that I have only met in a shady random chat website, but here I am anyway! I know I'm being dumb right now, but when you start living a monotonous life filled with the same bullshit time spent on the same bullshit things, you begin to see stupid shit as an opportunity to find a semblance of light amid your shadowed life.

"Right. So I have to look for Room 3 now." I said as I looked around me. I didn't see much in my surroundings, though. Just more endless barren wasteland echoing the fall of modern capitalism and... a movie poster? I guess this mall has a cinema? That's actually the most surprising thing I have ever seen so far today. Yes, much more extraordinary than those low tier mobs on the first floor. Eh. I already watched that movie anyway, and it's fucking shit! Everyone died in the end, and the main character got stabbed. It's all bullshit. I guess I should have expected that a shitty mall is showing a shitty movie in their cinema.

I can still remember that Jimmy told me in our chat that I have to meet him in Room 3. Apparently, it's a store on the fourth floor of the mall that's always open for business without fail. Jimmy told me that he will be meeting me "inside of the store. I am not quite sure what he meant by that, but I assumed that I would just have to wait somewhere around the store while he was still not around. Jimmy also told me that he knew everyone in Room 3, so if I would just say Jimmy's name, then they would not be too aggressive with me.

Now that I think about it, that line doesn't sound nice, isn't it?

Oh, it doesn't matter. I'm already here. Besides, today has been a weird experience so far, but it is a nice breath of fresh air away from the usual mundane situation during all of my previous day-offs.

Thus, with a still reluctant but otherwise clear thought, I walked into my destination, looking for any open stores around the right side of the escalator. Looking above the entryway of the stores around me, I finally realized that there are actually some small signs above it. The one I'm looking at right now says, "R8." The sign itself is just tiny; in fact, I wouldn't even call it a "sign" because it feels more like a small sticker plastered above the stores in a hurry.

Seeing all these stickers actually heightens the sense of dread surrounding me inside of this dilapidated establishment. Compared to the state of the first floor, this floor is not THAT rundown. Still, with all the broken light bulbs still hanging on the ceiling, a few tiles cracked or downright broken, and a few walls hurriedly painted, perhaps to hide some sort of graffiti around the wall. I remembered how the first floor is literally covered with dust all-around along with numerous spray-painted vandalism all over the walls; I could say that the fourth floor is at least... cozy, I guess? At least, this one doesn't have a few holes in the ceiling, well, I haven't seen one yet, at least, so kudos to whoever is maintaining this floor.

I then looked around some more to see if there are some people—I mean, sane people—around me, but the only thing I could find are more covered graffiti. Upon closer look, I realized that those were not just painted prematurely. I walked towards one of those hastily painted parts of the wall and realized that they actually plastered a newspaper on the concrete before painting it, which is a very odd decision. The paint job itself is not that impressive, too, since I can still see what's written in the newspaper. Curious, I glanced at it and laughed when I managed to read the headline, it's a news story about three men who got stabbed in Kansas apparently.

As I started laughing at the silliness of how they covered the graffiti on their walls, I started walking while carefully gazing at the stickers above the stores. A lot of them are closed, but there's actually a surprising amount of stores that are open around here. I nodded in disbelief that there are actually some companies who would be willing to do business in this place still because I know I wouldn't. Yet, just like in this first floor, the stores may be open, but no people are on the counters, so I couldn't say if this mall is not just erected here to attract thieves.

Hmm... That's R5. It's a clothes store. I wanted to go in, but I'll probably just do it later if Jimmy is still not around.

R6 is not open, but as I walked forward, I saw that R4 is not accessible as well, so one doesn't need to have a Ph.D. to guess that business in Plural Heights is flourishing! Hah!

"... best..."

Huh? I then heard a bit of a muffled voice coming from somewhere inside of R6. It's faint, but behind the metal roll-up aluminum door. I knitted my eyebrows as I placed my head on the metal door to hear if I really heard something or if I'm starting to go insane.

"Mother knows best." I heard coming from behind the shutters as I very silently stuck my head further into the metal door. "Mother knows best." The voice of a man inside sounds like he was sobbing as he repeatedly said those words without stopping.

"Mother knows best. Mother knows best. Mother knows best. Mother knows best. Mother knows best. Mother knows best. Mother knows best. Mother knows best. Mother knows best. Mother knows best. Mother knows best. Mother knows best. Mother knows best. Mother knows best. Mother knows best."

This was accompanied by a very faint voice of someone far from the entryway whispering something as well. As I allowed my head to be rooted in that roll-up door further, I realized that the voice of that other person was gradually growing louder.

"... it.. Do... o i..." I still can't hear it properly, but soon, as if the person who's saying it was walking towards my direction, the voice started to get so loud that I could swear, without a hint of a doubt, that this person is standing right beside me if it weren't for this metal shutters between us.

"Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it."

I then felt the roll-up metal door move slightly, indicating that someone had moved it from the other side of the shop, which promptly made me step away from it with my eyes open wide in awe.

"Don't." I overheard someone whisper behind me, which instantly made me yelp so hard that I could hear my girly-sounding voice ringing throughout the empty hall. I then looked at the man who said those words to me and realized that it was an older man who had eyes so dead that I could swear I saw an identical one somewhere in the market while I was buying fish.

He then placed his hands on my shoulder and placed his forefinger on his lips, signaling me to be quiet. He then walked past me as if nothing had happened at all. I also noticed that the voice inside of R6 had stopped.

"Isn't that..." I said as I looked at the man's back while he walked away from me. "... the guy who stepped out of the cargo truck earlier?"

I decided not to think about it further, for I know that it would only fry my head knowing how fucking dumb I am. Thus, I continued walking with a muddled mind, still thinking about that guy who's saying, "Do it." After a few more steps with those thoughts in mind, I finally found myself standing in front of R3 and looked at the name of the store.

"Clockwork, huh?"

What I see in front of me is a brightly lit clock store, which is a stark contrast compared to the dimness of the hall outside of it. I took a step inside and saw whatever products they have on sale. They're... Well, what can I say? They're clocks! It's a clock store. What other explanation do I have to give? There are some glass counters everywhere, and there are clocks inside. The walls are pure white, while the floor and the ceiling are black. As I said, the lights are very bright, which is enough to daze and dazzle me. I then saw a small pamphlet on top of a glass counter, which is the only other colorful thing around us since every clock around here pretty much has a dull color. I looked at it and saw that the shop is offering a massive discount to people who are enlisted as a member of the Plural Heights Joint Community Team. I don't know what the fuck that is, but I know damn well that I won't be a part of that group just to buy some dumb wristwatch in an E-List company.

"Hmm..." I walked around more after seeing that there's no one in the store at all. I was kind of thinking that someone would welcome me since Jimmy told me that he has a friend in here. I guess it was just wishful thinking in my part since it's all too stupid for me to assume some fanfare in this lifeless mall.

I was about to take my phone out of my pocket when I realized something on the floor. No, not really something, it was more of a stain. A thick layer of dye that must have been spilled around here recently since it's still not adequately brushed off yet. I'm guessing that the stain came from something like a juice, or maybe, I dunno, some thick liquid that had been spewed all over the place, and the people who're working here couldn't be bothered with it, so they just mopped it half-assed.

"God... That's nasty." I said as I looked at the soles of my shoes while clicking my tongue.

As I started gazing at my shoes, seeing if the stain on the floor had dirtied it, I saw something unusual clumsily hidden underneath the glass counter.

"Is that..." I said as I pressed my forehead together. "Is that a knife?"

"What are you doing here, you fucking non-member?" I heard a cry behind me, which shocked me so much that I could feel the hair around my body standing up.

I turned my head to look at who just called me and saw a tiny and thin female who was so mad that I could see the veins around her face popping up the same way the areas around her pupils turned blood red. She was gnashing her teeth so much that I could only imagine how painful it must feel to tighten your mouth that way. As a little cherry on top, the obviously irritated lady's eyebrows were frowning so damn hard that I almost thought that she was deliberately trying to form some ugly wrinkles on the area between her eyes to make her even uglier than what she would otherwise look like if she wasn't being such a stupid psycho.

However, what really made my heart pound faster than a boxer's punch is when I saw what she was pointing at me.

"Whoa, whoa!" I said as I pushed my hands forward, gesturing to her that I mean no harm. "Put the knife down, miss." I started sweating hard, not only because there's no semblance of air-conditioning all over the shop but because—come on, do I have to spell everything out for you? THE WOMAN HAS A KNIFE!

"I will not!" She cried like a prowling mutt that hadn't taken some rabies shot—crazy fucking bitch. "The Mother instructed me to kill all non-members like you once you enter this place! My sisters have already dealt with a lot of non-members like you, and I WILL NOT BE THE FIRST ONE TO FAIL!"

"Shit." I took two steps backward. "Okay. I get it. I get it. I'll leave, okay? No need to be criminals here."

"DON'T YOU DARE RUNAWAY FROM ME, NON-MEMBER!" She then slashed the space in front of me, which instantly made me lean my upper body back as I groaned under my breath.

"Bitch!" I then took a few more steps backward, now accompanied by a thousand fury I kept hidden within me. "I'm going to call the cops! I don't care who you are!" I said as I took out my phone from out of my pocket.

However, the woman remained unfazed. She was just as mad as earlier, if not madder. He then started shouting as hard as she can, which sounded a lot like a broken car machine. It rang throughout the quiet shop and echoed all over the hall, making it so much louder than it would typically be. Since she's a fucking female, her voice felt, even more, crisper in my ears, so much so that it could almost make my ears bleed.

I then saw her lunging towards me. I stopped retreating when I felt the glass counter hitting my back. I then ducked, but this crazy bitch saw right through me since she also knelt while she's reading her body to thrust her weapon forward to deal with me once and for all.

"Guh!"

Thus, the last thing I saw was the lady's anger-filled expression as I felt a stinging pain seething through my stomach.

"Fuck..." I mumbled as I felt my consciousness slowly running out. As I fell on to the floor, the last thing I saw was a red liquid flowing into the black tile. Ahh... So that's why there's that sticky stain on the floor...

"I will not be the last one to fail." I heard the lady mumble under her breath. "I will not... Last..."

And then... it's all... just...

Black...

...