Hi everyone, I’m currently working as a security guard at Paradise Mall, and I’ve gotten involved in things that I have no desire to be a part of.
I’ve been out of work for the past few weeks, ever since I got fired from the bar I used to work at.
I live in a pretty small town, but a couple of years ago, some big company people showed up, bought up a crap ton of land, and started building Paradise Mall. It’s pretty small right now, but they’ve been expanding, and because I’d been struggling to get 3 meals a day for some time, I was delighted when I saw the advert for being a night guard at the mall.
I showed up for the interview and I was the only one there. I got led into a tiny room with dim lighting, where some shareholder in Paradise Malls introduced himself as M Quinn, and asked me some standard interview questions, and then after a few minutes, he got up, shook my hand and told me my start date.
I went home and the next morning, while I was reading the newspaper, the previous night guard was listed in the missing section. This was where I started to get freaked out.
But since I had no choice, and the pay was pretty good, I showed up to the mall at 7 to start my first shift. M Quinn was there and he showed me to the guard room. He said I could spend most of the night here, but I had to patrol in the middle of the night.
He also opened a file on the computer, and told me to follow the rules, and that they were for my own good, before he left.
I sat down and started reading.
1) If the window to the clothes shop is broken, run to your room, lock it, turn off the cameras. DO NOT LOOK AT THE MANNEQUIN’S FACE.
2) Do not leave the building. Under any circumstance. Trust us, whatever is outside, is worse than what’s inside.
3) If you’re on patrol and you hear music playing, stick your fingers in your ears. Do not uncover your ears.
4) If you hear screaming from any door, kindly use the shotgun under your table and shoot whichever door the sound came from. Do not return to your room until you finish the patrol. Unless it’s the clothing shop. If it’s the clothing shop, RUN. HIDE IN YOUR ROOM.
5) If the incident named in (4) occurs, (1) will most likely follow. Do not interfere with the mannequins.
6) If the lights go out, it’s simple. Pray. And hope they come back.
These rules are subject to change!
Enjoy your stay at Paradise Falls.
Thinking it’s all a prank, I check under the table, and to my shock, there is a loaded shotgun in there.
I just ignore it and go back to checking the cameras and trying to sleep every now and then, until it’s patrol time.
I decide to keep the shotgun, and little did I know, that one move probably saved my life.
I went out and wandered through the empty mall, feeling weirded out because of how quiet it was.
Then, wailing.
It was coming from a janitor’s closet, and I inched my way towards it, scared out of my mind now.
As I got closer, the screaming became quieter, until it stopped. Then the door suddenly bulged as if it was about to fly off it’s hinges.
I pulled out the shotgun and fired into the door.
The bullets passed straight through it and I heard thunks as the pellets connected with flesh.
I was planning on going back to the room, but as I was running back, I remembered the rules and stopped in my tracks, a few feet away from the door. I stepped back, and looking through the window, I saw a figure standing inside, wearing a black suit with pale white skin, who had a few bullet holes in his chest. He started to turn and I ducked beneath the window as a white light burst from window, and I watched as a wasp flew into it.
The light faded, and I saw the wasp toss it itself against a window until it was nothing but paste.
I was shivering with fear, but I dared not leave the building.
I went back to my rounds, and then as I was going back, I passed the fashion store “Ellie’s”.
The front window was broken.
I increased my pace to a sprint as adrenaline hit me like a sledgehammer. I’ve never ran so fast in my life.
And then the first mannequin appeared.
A flash and then it was in front of me. I hit it and landed awkwardly but kept running. And then two more appeared in front of me. I kept my eyes to the floor as I ran.
They moved like they were bad animations, out of sync with reality, jittering all over the place.
I saw my room, and saw that the window was broken, and there were mannequins there, dragging something through the window.
It was the man, and as I dashed in and slammed the door, I heard moans of agony as lights flashed outside, before they subsided and the mannequins disappeared.
I sat huddled in a corner until morning, when M Quinn showed up at the crack of dawn.
He walked into the room as I got up, ready to scream curses at him for trying to get me killed. I told him I quit, and he just looked me in the eyes and said “I doubt it”.
I left the building and went home to sleep.
In the evening, I was sitting in my bedroom, relaxed that I didn’t have to go back to that place, when the lights went out.
I felt something in the darkness, and my bones turned to jelly in fear.
It didn’t do anything just stayed there, but I know what it wants.
I have to go back to work tonight.
Wish me luck.