Madness at Madison Mall

by Jon Athan

  It was a normal store in an abnormal mall.

  Isaac cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, “If you're in here, come on out! You're not in any trouble! We just want to get you out of here!” There was no response. Isaac yelled, “Stop messing around and come out!”

  Yet again, no one answered.

  Isaac sighed as he dropped his arms to his side, disappointed. As he took his first step towards the next store, a shrill creaking sound echoed from Casual County. The sharp creek, loud and obnoxious, was unnerving.

  Isaac glanced into the store and asked, “Is someone there?”

  From the cluttered racks, a woman responded, “I'm here.”

  Isaac coughed to clear his throat, then he said, “Well, um... come on out. Let's get you kids out of here before you get hurt.”

  “Kids? There are no kids here,” the woman said. She giggled, then she said, “I'm here, though. I'm still here.”

  “Wh–Who are you?”

  “I'm still here. We're still here, Isaac.”

  Isaac shuddered upon hearing his name. The mysterious trespasser couldn't have known his name. Even if the pair knew each other, she couldn't have identified him through the darkness – it was impossible. The frightened guard glanced over his shoulder and stared at the parallel store across the walkway. His partner strolled through a shoe shop, his faint demands barely negligible in the cavernous shopping center.

  Isaac turned his attention to the clothing store. He took a deep breath and composed himself. With slow and cautious footsteps, he made his way into the shop. His light seeped past the remaining windbreakers and shirts on the racks. The sound of childish snickering increased as he approached – sinister giggling.

  Breathing deeply through his nose, Isaac said, “Whoever you are, I'm not afraid to use force. You understand me?” He tapped the racks with his baton and said, “Man or woman, I'm not afraid to beat you if you threaten me.”

  The woman giggled, then she said, “I know.”

  “You don't know shit. You don't know me. You're just trying to fuck with my head. Keep pushing me and I'm going to push back. You'll regret it. I swear, you'll regret all of this...”

  He illuminated the final aisle with the flashlight, hoping to get a jump on the intruder. To his surprise, the woman was nowhere in sight. Her voice certainly originated from the aisles, but she seemingly vanished into thin air before he could catch her. Once again, the guard found himself questioning his sanity. Was she a figment of my imagination?–he thought.

  Isaac rubbed the nape of his neck and whispered, “Shit. I'm losing it.”

  He hopped and gasped as he turned towards the entrance. The mannequins had miraculously moved during his search. The figures faced the back of the store. Their heads were tilted, as if they were confused or intrigued.

  Isaac asked, “Is someone there? David, is that you? Is this some sort of a... a prank? This is all a prank, isn't it?” He stood on his tiptoes and stared at the shoe store. Upon spotting his partner in the other store, Isaac whispered, “No, no, no.”

  The troubled guard closed his eyes and held his palm over the light, allowing the darkness to swallow the room. He wheezed and groaned as he waited, hoping the mannequins would return to their original positions. Cold sweat streamed across his face like icy rivers, his heart thumped like a drum. One, two, three, four... ten – he counted the dreadful seconds in his head.

  Upon hearing a shrill creaking sound, Isaac removed his hand from the light. He hopped and staggered in reverse, shocked. The mannequins surrounded him. One stood to his left, another stood to his right, and three figures stood directly in front of him. The mannequins stared at him with tilted heads, like dogs begging for food at the dinner table.

  Isaac stuttered, “I–I don't... I don't know what you want from me, but... I didn't do anything. It wasn't me.” He stood on his tiptoes and shouted, “Whoever is doing this, it wasn't me! You've got the wrong man! I'm innocent!”

  Panting, the guard shut his eyes and covered the light with his palm. His body softly shuddered, his bottom lip quivered, and his eyelids flickered. He walked in reverse until his back hit the wall behind him. He loudly swallowed, trying to consume his fear before it consumed him. He didn't hear anything. The shop was deafeningly silent.

  He opened his eyes and removed his hand from the light once more. He furrowed his brow and rapidly blinked, baffled by his discovery. The mannequins had returned to their displays at the end of the aisles and at the foyer of the store.

  Isaac couldn't breathe a sigh of relief, though. A peculiar mannequin stood at the entrance of the store. From afar, he could only see the silhouette of the figure against the moonlight pouring through the broken skylights.

  Yet, he could see the stark differences.

  The figure was not like the rest. The new male mannequin stood a towering six-five with a sturdy physique. The figure was contorted, bent and twisted like a possessed girl in a cliché horror movie. The figure's bowlegs were easily identifiable. The mannequin's unusually long torso was most noticeable, though.

  Isaac shined the light at the mannequin, but the beam could not illuminate the figure. The light moved around the eerie mannequin.

  Teary-eyed, the guard said, “If you're just trying to mess with me, you better watch your back. Be careful.” He hopped and gasped as the mannequin took a step forward – a shrill, creaky step. He sternly said, “Stop. Don't come any closer.”

  The mannequin took another step forward, trudging ahead like a zombie in an old-school horror movie. Groaning and creaking sounds echoed through the store as the mannequin moved – the sound of plastic materials bending and snapping.

  Isaac retrieved his baton, ready to strike the mannequin with all of his might. Despite his clammy palms, he had a strong grip on the baton. He inhaled deeply through his nose as he slowly walked towards the strange figure. A fight against an inanimate object, he thought, imagine that.

  Before he could reach the mannequin, a woman whispered, “We'll always know what you did.”

  Isaac glanced over his shoulder and searched for the source of the voice, but to no avail. He whispered, “What the hell do you want from me?”

  From the back of his head, the female voice said, “Don't you recognize him... He's a monster with no emotion – no mercy. He's a reflection of something, isn't he? Don't you recognize him?”

  “Wha–What?” Isaac stuttered. He glanced over at the monstrous mannequin and whispered, “Is it supposed to be–”

  He was interrupted by an ear-splitting scraping sound. The sound of metal scratching the marble flooring was eerily familiar. To Isaac, the scraping noise was like a bell from the gates of hell. He knew what was coming – or, rather, who was coming.

  Isaac turned his attention to the foyer of the store. Wide-eyed, he said, “Bugaboo.”

  The man with the cow head limped across the walkway, shambling into Isaac's sight. The bizarre man dragged his sledgehammer and chains, as if he were arriving home with his tools after a hard day's work. He walked through the entrance, then he swung the sledgehammer at the deformed mannequin. The mannequin shrieked as it shattered into several pieces, as if it actually felt pain.

  The figure had more soul than a blues musician.

  Isaac stuttered, “Pl–Please, don't... don't hurt me. I–I'll behave.”

  The monstrous man continued to approach at a snail's pace. In reality, the man was easy to evade because of his slow movements. His pace had a strange psychological effect, though. The heavy steps, the hammer head's scraping, and the clanking chains created tension. The ruckus manipulated the guard's fight-or-flight response.

  Isaac leaned back on the wall. He wheezed and grunted, struggling to keep his composure. The man lifted his left hand and pointed at Isaac. The chains clanked with the gesture, ringing like bells in the wind.

  Isaac shook his head and said, “No, no, no. You can't do this anymore. I–I'm not that kid anymore.”

  He inhaled d
eeply, then he sprinted around the cow-headed intruder. He slipped and slid, barely evading the man's rattling chains. Without looking back, he leaped through the broken storefront window and landed in the walkway. He crawled across the walkway, panting like a dog during a summer heat wave.

  “What the hell are you doing now?” David asked.

  Terrified and confused, Isaac glanced over at the shoe store. His partner stood at the entrance of the shop, visibly confused. David watched Isaac with a furrowed brow, trying to comprehend the man's peculiar behavior. He couldn't understand his strange actions, though. The distraught father was crumbling before his very eyes.

  Isaac turned his attention to Casual County. The man with the cow head vanished into thin air. The broken mannequin was swept under the rug like a child's mess. From the walkway – from the outside looking in – his horrifying experience was a mere figment of his imagination. The confrontation was nonexistent, like honest political debates.

  Mystified, Isaac stared into the store and whispered, “It was real. It had to be real. Bugaboo... Bugaboo is back.”

  David asked, “What's wrong with you, Isaac? Are you okay?”

  Isaac erratically blinked and shook his head, as if he were snapping out of a trance. He said, “I'm fine. I thought... I thought I saw something, but it was just a mannequin, I guess. Those things are creepy as hell.”

  “Mannequins? That's all?”

  Isaac staggered to his feet and said, “Yeah, yeah, um... Is there a bathroom around here?”

  David stared at Isaac with a deadpan expression, pondering the sincerity behind the question. The pair were stumbling through a dilapidated shopping mall in search of a group of teenagers. A bathroom break didn't seem normal under the circumstances. At the same time, the entire mall was used as a bathroom for the wandering homeless – a restroom wasn't necessary when he could just urinate in the corner.

  David said, “If you really need to take a piss or, I don't know, wipe yourself, then you can go anywhere around here. Just take a leak over there. I'm not going to peek, I promise.”

  Isaac shook his head and said, “No. I–I just can't do that.”

  “Why?”

  “I just can't.”

  “Okay, okay. Well, if I remember correctly, there should be a bathroom around the corner. You know, over by the stage at the center. I don't know if it's unlocked, though,” David explained. As Isaac shambled towards the center of the walkways, David said, “Take care of yourself, man. Clear your mind, alright? I'll check the rest of the stores on this side. I'll meet you near the restroom when I'm finished.”

  Isaac nodded and said, “Yeah, thanks...”

  Chapter Ten

  Bathroom Break

  David's memory was correct. The restrooms were located at the intersection of the walkways. The doors were located to the left of the stage, hidden behind a giant pillar. The restroom-sign stick figures were vandalized, scrawled over with crude drawings of genitalia and feces, but it didn't matter very much. The mall was not bound to social norms or rules.

  Isaac entered the first restroom on the left. He found himself in the men's restroom. He illuminated the room with his flashlight. There were five urinals on the wall to the right. To the left, there were three sinks followed by three stalls. The mirrors above the sinks were cracked and filthy. He couldn't see his reflection on the glass.

  He took a deep breath, then he entered the restroom. One-by-one, he pushed the stall doors open and illuminated the interiors. Although he simply wanted to clear his mind, he was also searching for the teenagers. As far as he knew, his nightmare would end as soon as he found the trespassers. They were the key to escaping the madness.

  As he checked the final stall, Isaac whispered, “It's empty. It's completely empty. Where did you kids go?”

  He sighed in disappointment, then he strolled towards the entrance. He placed his flashlight on top of a trash can beside the door. He balanced the flashlight on the flat lid, aiming the light towards the urinals and stalls. He wasn't afraid of the dark, but he wasn't going to piss without aiming. The light offered a sense of reassurance, too.

  Isaac stood in front of the first urinal. He unzipped his pants and aimed at the tall, curved bowl. The fear fueled his need to urinate, but he needed a second before he could begin. Although the light offered a sense of security, a sense of stage fright lingered due to the illumination – all eyes were on him. After thirty seconds of shaking and pushing, a stream of piss ignited.

  Isaac said, “Finally.” He sighed as the relief overwhelmed him. As he urinated, he murmured, “Bugaboo... Bugaboo... What the hell are you doing here?”

  Some people called him the 'Bogeyman,' others called him a 'monster.' Isaac's personal monster was worse than the rest, though. The young man called him 'Bugaboo.' The man with the cow head was more grotesque than he had remembered, but he was certain about his identity. Bugaboo had returned for a mysterious reason.

  The flashlight flickered, then it turned off. The room was swallowed by the darkness.

  Isaac gasped as the light vanished, frightened by the sudden darkness. He squirmed and grunted as he urinated on his fingers. He stepped in reverse, then he frantically waved his hands. The urine dripped on the floor and walls, drenching the room with the tawny piss.

  Rubbing his hands on his pants, Isaac muttered, “Shit. What the hell happened?”

  As he reached for the flashlight, the sound of urine splashing in a urinal emerged over his shoulder. Isaac stopped in place, frozen by his fear. He swallowed the lump in his throat as he grabbed the flashlight. The peeing ruckus stopped, but it was quickly followed by the sound of a zipper rippling. Husky breathing and indecipherable murmurs emerged.

  Isaac's rationale was simple. He borrowed his tactics from some of his favorite movies – particularly, scenes about being haunted. He figured if he didn't move or speak, the malevolent apparition lingering in the room would not notice him. The security guard bit his bottom lip and closed his eyes, trying his best to control his rapid breaths.

  He shuddered upon feeling a warm breath on the nape of his neck. The breath caressed his damp skin, teasing him. Each moist exhale caused his hairs to rise and his skin to crawl.

  With a sudden surge of determination, Isaac turned on the flashlight and turned towards the urinal. His eyes widened and he staggered in reverse. He didn't see anyone near the urinals. However, his light revealed three shadows standing in the room. One shadow was tall and burly, the others were small and petite. They resembled a man and two boys.

  A boyish shriek reverberated through the room. One of the small shadows grew larger as it ran towards him. The sound of footsteps emerged in the room, quickly followed by the sound of the door opening and closing. Grunting and groaning emerged as the larger shadow appeared to grab the smaller figure. It looked as if a man were dragging a boy into the last stall in the restroom.

  He could only see their shadows, though. It was a horrifying sight.

  A boy screamed, “Wait! Help me, Isaac! Don't leave me!”

  A man with a gruff voice shouted, “Don't fight, boy! We're just going to play a game! It's just a game!”

  The boy cried, “Please, Isaac! Help!”

  The sound of the stall door closing echoed through the room. Thumping and whimpering immediately followed, as if the pair were wrestling in the stall. Then, the man moaned and the boy cried. The moaning and the crying continued for fifteen seconds, simultaneously sexual and painful.

  Isaac tightly closed his eyes upon hearing the noise. A tear streamed down his cheek. He trembled and shook his head, shocked. He took another deep breath, then he opened his eyes. The figures were gone. The final stall door continued to swing.

  Isaac whispered, “It's not real. It can't be real because that... that never happened. It was a nightmare. I... I have to go. I'm sorry, I... I just have to go.”

  He shambled towards the sinks, then he chuckled. His chuckle became a delirious guffaw. He couldn't help himself
. He had approached the sink to wash his hands, but he remembered there was no running water at the mall. The insignificant fact, coupled with the disturbing vision, made him laugh like a deranged comic book villain.

  He wiped his hands on his pants as he walked towards the stalls. He didn't dare approach the last stall, though. He thought about washing his hands in the remaining toilet water. To his dismay, the toilets were more grotesque than any nightmare he had ever experienced. The toilet bowls were welling with feces and blood. Like a fish in an aquarium, a used condom even swam in one of the bowls.

  Isaac shook his head and whispered, “Who would even think of doing something so disgusting?”

  He walked out of the restroom, returning to the walkway intersection. He tried to shrug off the disturbing vision in the restroom. He didn't want to alarm his partner. He glanced towards his left, then to his right. The stage, the walkways, and the kiosks were empty. David was nowhere in sight.

  Isaac gave his partner the benefit of the doubt, though. He figured David was searching a store for clues, so he decided to wait for him. A minute quickly became five. David didn't arrive at the restrooms as planned.

  The disturbed father walked towards the center of the walkway and shouted, “David! David, I'm done! Are you finished searching? Are you out there?” There was no response. Isaac pressed the push-to-talk button on his walkie-talkie and said, “David, I'm near the restroom. I'm finished. You want me to wait for you here or should we meet somewhere else?”

  Isaac held the radio near his ear, hoping for a response – any response. David was absent, though. The walkie-talkie was functional, but his partner had seemingly vanished from the face of the earth during a regular bathroom break. The unstable father was left to fend for himself in the ominous shopping center.

  As he stared at the walkie-talkie, despondent and scared, Isaac whispered, “Shit. What the hell do I do now?”

  Chapter Eleven