I’m casually shopping in a mall, hoping to clear off some items I need to buy. It seemed casual. I noticed the sheer emptiness in this large grocery store. Of course, I never minded since I was out shopping at 8 AM meaning I’d expect barely any human interaction. I notice that every aisle I went to separately stated the words “be” & “careful” in the middle of every aisle. I start to get a bit startled but, this wasn’t another horror movie or anything so I stuck with my beliefs & called it a prankster’s actions since it was written in a muddled handwriting on a sticky-note. At the last aisle (Which I had no interest in, I just wanted to check what the chain would end up to) It was a proper A4 paper laying dead center in the middle of the aisle. It read:
- Simulation
- Reality
- Deskinning
- Aware
- Paranormal
I start to panic haphazardly. I’ve watched too many of these things, I could predict what’s about to happen. I analyze the way the cashiers move & try to imitate it. I just want to go home & enjoy my food. I have to go through this. I went to self-checkout but then heard a violent scream from the last cashier, cashier 57.
The screaming hasn’t stopped for over 23 minutes. None of the barcodes seem to exist on the self-checkout system. I tried to scan my Cheez-its 57 times because I refuse to take assistance from these cashiers. The screaming, however, got so intense that I figured, “f*ck it, I can run if they make a move” I walked rather slowly to cashier 57. It took me 2 minutes to get there. As soon as I step foot near the crooked, white haired cashier, I hear the screaming stop. I could’ve sworn she’d gone crazy for the past 30 minutes but now she was calmer than ever. She grabbed my items, her long fingernails puncturing through every item I had but I didn’t budge to open my mouth. Somehow, my unscannable items have scanned & the total came to “$-1.07”. What? How can it be? The cashier gorely tore her lips off & handed them to me. Although I was traumatized, I couldn’t be bothered to work with my impulse control. I just stuck my hand to her & took her sewn-off lips. They burnt at what I’d say a temperature hotter than boiling lava. It was seemingly dry & crusty however. I would’ve expected it to be cold. I grabbed the lips tight.
The next moment, she screamed, “JIAOZI” which from my research meant an old type of currency, but how could it be negative? She also screamed a bunch of other things but my ears were temporarily deaf from the first scream. I look back over to the bags & somehow, they’re neatly packed & prepared. I gave her a 20$ bill as I expected my total would be around that amount. She didn’t even stick her hand out to take the 20$ so I just tossed it to her. I take my items all in one hand since I’m holding her lips. I glanced at her but she was just staring into the abyss. As soon as I dropped her bloody lips, I heard a scream so loud that it deafened my ears again & almost blinded me. Plan A kicked in. Run forward. I didn’t know what kind of shopping center this is but I’m not taking any chances. I’m running. All 3 working cashiers started running at me with unrecognizable faces. Cashier 57 had bulging eyes, Cashier 26 had a deformed left cheek & Cashier 2 had a really pale forehead. What’s familiar between all 3 cashiers is that they all looked somewhat jaundiced. They didn’t seem right.
As I was running, I notice that I had to make absolutely no turns & noticed how weird this mall really was. As I ran past with my punctured items, I notice that as I run further, the shops around me get more old-fashioned. After I’ve been sprinting for a straight minute, I notice a large Burger King. I never got to analyze anyone’s face since I can only view the back of their heads. I soon realized that entering this old-fashioned burger king for a cup of ice for my badly injured left-hand would’ve been a serious mistake. But where else should I go? This mall seems endless.
As I enter & take a small peak at each table, every table included a seemingly 13-year-old boy being eaten alive. I start to notice each boy’s screams as I get closer but the further I get, the less distracting it is to me. I then remember the A4 paper I glanced at in the middle of the last aisle & off the back of my head I vividly remember these 3 words listed: Simulation, Deskinning & Paranormal. I remember these 3 the most because they apply to what has happened so far.
- Everyone was acting ‘Paranormally’
- It strongly felt like a ‘Simulation’
- Every 13-year-old boy was being ‘Deskinned’ & they never managed to eat anything but his skin.
As I said, they never managed to eat anything but his skin. However, after they were done with every bit of skin they can find, the boy sends a loud screeching noise & runs with all his organs somehow intact.
I can’t be more traumatized than this meaning that everyone’s burning dry skin, everyone’s abnormal faces, everyone’s interests became normal to me. I asked one of the old-fashioned burger King cashiers to bring me a cup of ice. I used as little words as possible just not to arouse any suspicion. The woman doesn’t say anything & brings me the cup of ice. She diabolically screams: “JIAOZI” & handed me her swen-off lips. Now I’m thinking, “Okay, this has happened to me before, I just don’t know how to deal with it.” I just smiled & took the flaming-hot lips on my right hand this time. The cashier was now staring into the abyss, acting exactly like the grocery store cashier. I then slowly put the lips down in the middle of the restaurant, under the counter just to heal my hands a bit & suddenly hear loud screaming from the cashier that served me. Everyone slowly looked back to me with their crooked heads…