You can read Part One here: https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/13g1805/the_seven_rules_of_the_midnight_mall/
A lot of you have asked to hear more about my experiences at The Midnight Mall, and so I thought I’d let you know what happened next. Partially because I opened this can of worms and figure I owe it to you to close it…but also because a few of you have tried to find out where the Midnight Mall is, and I cannot stress to you how superbly, extremely, ridiculously stupid of an idea that is. So, if my first experience didn’t convince you, hopefully this one will.
Now, where did I leave off…?
Ah, right. I had just dragged my unconscious, heavily bleeding friend Mike out of a pet store with a strict No Outside Food policy when I bumped into someone.
“You seemed to have caused quite the commotion little lady,” the man said. “Maybe I could be of some help.”
Holding onto Mike like a lifeline, I slowly twisted around. The first thing I noticed were the man’s shoes. Those thick black combat boots probably saved my life. Running off adrenaline, my first impulse was to look up into the eyes of the man. But the dullness of his shoes caught my attention; they appeared to be somewhat new, but were already scuffed to bits. And what had caused those dark stains covering the tips?
With growing trepidation, my gaze darted from his boots to his dark trousers to the shiny security badge fastened to his lapel. Security Badge. That’s when I remembered Rule No. 5: The Security Guard makes his rounds between 1:30 and 2:00 a.m. If you happen to bump into him, do not make eye contact. I swallowed, my mouth going cotton dry.
“Well?” the guard said. “Can I help you?”
It took me a moment to find my voice. Part of me wanted to turn tail and flee, but I knew Mike was running out of time, and even though he could be a bit of a jerk sometimes, I also knew he wouldn’t hesitate to do everything he could to help me in a situation like this. So, keeping my gaze level with the security guard’s chest, I nodded.
“My friend,” I choked out. “He’s hurt.”
“I can see that.” I flinched as the guard bent down, but he didn’t try and meet my gaze. He appeared to be examining Mike’s wounds. “Looks like a nasty chimera bite. You didn’t bring outside food into the pet store, did you?”
My silence was answer enough.
“Kids these days. Didn’t you read the rules?” he asked, his voice heavy with disapproval.
“Yes, but…” I hesitated.
But what? But I forgot Mike had a few gummies in his pocket? That might have been true, but it wasn’t the full truth. Because even if I had remembered, I don’t think I would have done anything different. Not at the time. ‘But I didn’t think anything would actually happen’ was closer to reality. Only, I doubted that was what the guard wanted to hear.
“But is it really the time for a lecture?” I asked instead. “You said you could help, and I don’t know how much time Mike has. He’s literally bleeding out in front of you!”
“I know,” the guard sighed. “I’ll have to call the janitor.”
Although I knew better than to look him in the eyes, the guard must have seen how red my face was turning, because with a low grumble, he whipped a notebook out of his pocket and scrawled something down.
“Fine. I’ll take it from here,” he said. “You just focus on getting out of here before the night’s end.”
Then he pressed a little black button on his belt and proceeded to reach down for Mike. For a moment, my grip tightened.
“Wait.”
The guard ignored me, lifting Mike out of my hands as easily as if he were a loaf of bread – and breaking my hold like I was one of those disposable ties wrapped around the loaf. I grabbed onto his bicep and tugged, dizzy with panic.
“Wait!” I repeated. “What are you going to do with him?”
“I don’t know if I can save him. But I’ll do what I can.”
“But where are you going?” I asked. I hated the desperate shrillness in my voice; if Mike had been conscious, he would have laughed at me and told me that I sounded like the first girl to die in a B-list horror movie. “Where are you taking him?”
“Somewhere you don’t want to follow,” the guard said. And although it was hard to gauge without looking up at his expression, I thought he sounded almost sympathetic.
“But I can’t just leave him. That’s my friend,” I said, dumbly. “That’s my best friend.”
“And I’ll do everything I can to help him,” the guard said. “But it’s like you said – he doesn’t have much time. And while I’m happy to continue our conversation, he might not like that so much.”
I bit my lip. How could I argue with that logic? Easy answer: I couldn’t. Instead, I watched as the security guard disappeared into the crowd, leaving nothing of Mike behind but a trail of his blood. So much damn blood…could a person really live through something like that?
Lost in my morbid thoughts, I stayed rooted in place, staring numbly forward. It wasn’t until I heard a wet squelching sound behind me that I came back to my senses. There was an elderly janitor mopping the blood off of the floor, his expression exhausted.
“Now that’s a nasty spill,” he said.
“Yeah. Um, sorry about that…”
“I don’t suppose you’d be able to lend a hand, would you?” the janitor asked, rubbing his lower back.
He gave me a pitiful, hopeful look. He had the exact appearance of a kind elderly neighbor, and if I hadn’t remembered Rule Number Six (if the janitor asks for your help cleaning up a spill, politely decline) I would have given in without thinking. Only, I did know the rules. And knowing the rules, I was able to look a fraction deeper than his surface expression.
And underneath that sweet, cajoling look was a world of hunger. The janitor was famished.
For what? I’m not sure. But I have the feeling that had I helped him, I would have found out immediately.
“Sorry,” I murmured. “I’m a little busy.”
I hesitated, half-waiting for something heinous to happen to me, but the janitor just rolled his eyes and went back to mopping, grumbling about the youth and their lack of work ethic. My eyes fluttered shut in relief, and I gave myself a mental pat on the back. Things were finally starting to calm down. Mike was with someone who could help him – at least, that’s what I told myself, what I needed to believe – and I was starting to acclimate to the Midnight Mall’s rules. Although the past hour had been harrowing, I would make sure that I didn’t make any more mistakes.
But that’s when I realized: it wasn’t me I had to worry about. I straightened up with a jolt. Remy and Carter! Shit. I had been so focused on Mike, I had almost forgotten that Remy and Carter were still somewhere in this demented place. No, not somewhere. I knew exactly where they were.
Praying that they were still in their seats, I hightailed it toward the movie theater.
The mall was loud with the sound of shuffling footsteps, shrieks of laughter, and vendors hawking their goods at cluttered kiosks, but I tuned it all out, my mind in a daze. I only noticed the noise when I burst into the lobby of the movie theater, and realized that everything had gone utterly silent.
I slowed to an uneasy stop. The scent of freshly buttered popcorn wafted through the room, filling me with a sense of nostalgia and safety. But like the rest of the mall, there was something uncanny about this place. The linoleum floors were a tad too shiny, that popcorn scent a little too perfect. Not to mention, the lobby was completely abandoned. Not a soul in sight.
Or so I thought.
“We’re not selling tickets anymore.”
I hadn’t made it a step past the ticket kiosk when someone slunk out from behind the popcorn machine. The sudden movement made me gasp, although the employee who emerged looked innocuous enough. She was a young woman around my age, and her diamond nose ring and dyed hair made her appear comfortingly familiar. A woman from my own time.
“I’m not looking for a ticket,” I explained. “I’m just trying to find my friends.”
“Well, if you want to get inside, you need a ticket,” the woman said, her voice bored. “And like I said, we’re not selling those anymore.”
“But I have to. Please. It’s urgent!” I explained. “My friends, Remy and Carter – they came here to watch a movie earlier and I have to make sure they’re okay. It’s our first time here, and I’m worried that they’re not taking this place seriously. That they think it’s a joke. But I know it’s not a joke, because our other friend Mike, he…well, he…he…”
Much to my shame, that’s when I started crying. And not a few dainty tears either. No. I was full on ugly sobbing in the middle of the movie theater lobby, my shoulders shaking, my voice trembling, and my eyes a glaring red from a combination of the crying and the edibles. It was strange. I had kept it together during Mike’s mauling, but now that I wasn’t in any immediate danger, I was like a faucet with no tap. And although I knew I looked fucking pathetic, I couldn’t stop the torrent.
Maybe that’s what made the woman take pity on me.
“Oh, hey now. Don’t cry…” she said, patting my back awkwardly, suddenly looking more out of place than me. “It’s okay. You’re okay.”
“But what if one of my friends left the theater?” I asked through a horrific combination of snot and tears. “What would happen to them?”
The woman – who I had started to think of solely as Nose Ring – tugged at her pink bangs. “Well, the cinema would sort them out,” she said. “But let’s not think about that. Look. The movie started at 12:45 and it’ll be done by 2:45. It’s 2:30 now. That’s only fifteen minutes you have to wait. You can do fifteen minutes, can’t you?”
I licked my dry lips, uncertain.
“You can do fifteen minutes,” Nose Ring repeated, a command this time. “Because, no offense, but if you’re this worried about your friends leaving before the movie ends, you wouldn’t want to know what happens to the people who go inside without a ticket. Now, have a seat and stay there,” she instructed, pointing at a stool. “I’ll be right back.”
True to her word, the woman left and came back a moment later with a large soda. She instructed me to drink.
“The sugar will help with your nerves.”
I did as she said, relieved to have someone else telling me what to do. In the span of a minute or two, I had gulped down half the cup.
“There,” she said. “That better?”
I nodded, surprising myself. The soda was cool and refreshing, and although it didn’t make everything better, somehow the act of focusing on something as mundane as drinking through a straw calmed me. I felt a little more in control of the situation, and a lot more embarrassed about my reaction.
“Yeah. Thank you. And sorry about before.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Nose Ring shrugged. “I’ve been working here for years now. You get used to it.”
Years? I looked her up and down. She looked like a senior in high school; how young did this place recruit? Only, before I could ask Nose Ring that question, or any of the other hundred that were now coming to mind, there was a crackling sound, and a voice came through a walkie-talkie on her belt.
“Clean up needed in Auditorium 2. Do you copy?”
Nose Ring wrinkled her nose. She looked like she was maybe thinking about ignoring the summons, but when the walkie-talkie buzzed for a second time, she sighed.
“Copy that,” she said. She glanced at me. “I have to go take care of something. Will you be okay?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” I said. “Thanks again, um…”
“Trish.”
“Thanks Trish.”
Nose Ring – I mean, Trish – gave me an awkward pat on the shoulder before hurrying off. I glanced at the clock on the wall. 2:40 a.m. Just five more minutes to go. I could do this.
That’s why I was surprised when only a few moments had passed when I heard a creak from around the hall. A door opening. I twisted around and saw a small crowd trickle out from the auditorium. There were only about five or six people, and I spotted Remy at the forefront. When I waved, she made a beeline towards me.
“Remy! I’m so glad you’re okay,” I said, looping my arms around her neck and pulling her close. “You won’t believe what I’ve been through. This place – you were right. It’s not normal.”
“Trust me. I know,” Remy said.
And that’s when I noticed her expression. My stomach dropped.
Although Remy was the most risk adverse out of all of us, she also sported the best poker face. She had grown up with three older brothers who teased her mercilessly about most everything, and because of this, hiding her true emotions had become a basic instinct for her. But now? Well, now she looked scared. And if Remy looked scared, then she must actually be terrified.
A bad feeling swirling in the pit of my stomach, I craned my head around the ticket counter, gazing down the hall and towards the auditorium. But although there were still more people trickling out, I didn’t see Carter anywhere.
“Remy, where’s Carter?”
But Remy just shook her head.
“Rems?”
“We have to get out of here,” she said, ignoring my question. “Come on.”
Without waiting for an answer, Remy seized my hand and dragged me out of the movie theater. She moved so fast that I had to jog to keep up; we were halfway to the mall’s exit before I came to my senses. I snatched my hand back, forcing Remy to pause.
“Wait, slow down a second,” I said. “What happened?”
“I don’t have time to explain. We have to leave. Now.”
“But Remy! Wait! We can’t just leave – ”
“The hell we can’t. Come on, Kiera! This place is a mad house. It’s a steel trap dressed in pretty colors, and you’re shuffling around like bait. Now let’s go.”
She grabbed my hand again and attempted to yank me towards the door, but I dug my heels into the floor.
“Mike and Carter are still somewhere inside,” I argued. “And you haven’t even heard about what happened to Mike. He was attacked, Remy – fucking mauled by some nightmare creature. I don’t even know if he’s alive. And what about Carter? Jesus, Remy. We can’t just abandon them!”
“I’m not trying to be a bitch. What happened to Mike and Carter is awful – but if we don’t get out of here, we’re going to end up just like them. Is that what you want?
I hesitated. Part of me was so loyal to the Frightful Four that I wanted to scream at Remy for even suggesting such a thing. But Remy had always been the most sensible of all of us. When she argued for something, nine times out of ten, she was in the right. And as much as I hated to leave Mike and Carter behind, I didn’t want to forfeit our own lives, either.
Sensing my indecision, Remy clutched my hands in her own and stared into my eyes, her expression softening.
“Please, Kiera. Please come with me. It’s already 3 am. I know it sounds harsh, but we don’t have much time left, and I’m scared. I’m so scared Kiera. I’m fucking terrified.”
Her voice was thick with fear, raw with vulnerability. And it was that more than anything else that finally did it.
Finally made me realize, I mean.
“Remy would never admit to being scared.”
Heart pounding, I took a single step away from the thing calling herself Remy. Or, at least, I tried. But she was still clutching my hands in her grip. A grip that grew increasingly harsh, pressing down on the fragile bones in my hand until…crack.
A whimper escaped me. The Remy imposter chuckled, pleased with my pain.
“You’re right. The one you call Remy hid her emotions very well,” she said. She leaned in closer to me, her blunt teeth snapping next to my earlobe. “Which made it all the more satisfying to collect her screams.”
She gave me an appraising, hungry look. Then she smiled. “But your screams? Oh, I can already tell they’re going to be divine.”
And then, gripping my broken hand like a vice, the Remy Imposter pushed me towards the exit.