Madness at Madison Mall

by Jon Athan

  Isaac regretted his relationship with the young student. At the time, he rationalized it through their age difference. In his mind, a relationship between a 16-year-old and a 22-year-old didn't seem wrong. They were less than a decade apart. The courts didn't see it through his eyes, though. Perhaps he regretted getting caught more than anything.

  ***

  “Isaac, it really is you,” a young woman said from the doorway.

  Unnerved by the tender voice, Isaac glanced over at the door with a set of concerned eyes. He trembled upon spotting the young woman – Karla Garcia. His former student brought a medley of emotions with her, lugging more baggage than a single parent. She sent him into a tailspin of mixed emotions – love, lust, regret, hatred.

  Isaac examined the young girl, staring at her in utter awe.

  Karla had not changed since the couple's previous encounter. It had been over half a decade since their inappropriate relationship and the court cases, but she still appeared young and exuberant. The petite young woman still resembled a common 16-year-old girl. The mere fact was mystifying – there wasn't a logical explanation.

  Karla wore a white button-up shirt, a red plaid skirt, white knee-high socks, and black shoes. The uniform was common at the school, except during Casual Fridays. Her black hair was tied in a ponytail. She had glimmering brown eyes and tiny speckles on her cheeks. The outfit and hairdo mirrored her unusually young appearance.

  Isaac stuttered, “Wha–What are you doing here, Karla? What... What's your role in all of this? Huh? What kind of game are you trying to play?”

  Karla furrowed her brow and tilted her head, visibly confused. She walked towards the whiteboard with her hands behind her back.

  She said, “I don't know what you're talking about, sir. I came here to see you. Didn't you want to see me? I mean, it's been so long, Mr. Luna. We have so much to talk about, so much to do. We're finally back together. We can–”

  “Stop. We're not continuing where... where we 'left off.' Those days are over. I was wrong and I've paid for my actions. I've apologized a million times, too. I'll apologize again if that's what you want, but I won't do anything else with you. I can't do anything else. You understand?”

  “I understand why you're talking like that, but you don't have to worry about it anymore. We're safe here. Trust me, they can't find us in this place. No one can find us. We can finally be together, Isaac. We can live our lives together, we can start a family...”

  As he stared down at himself, Isaac held his index finger up to the young woman – quiet. He couldn't stand to look at the student, he couldn't listen to her tender voice. She was the reason his life was destroyed. His deviant appetite was also to blame, but he couldn't help but hold a grudge against his student.

  A predator would rather blame the bait than admit to his own mistakes.

  Isaac said, “There's nothing between us, Karla. I'm going to leave and... and look for my daughter. You can stay here with the rest of this damn nightmare. Okay? You stay here and wait for the next man to ruin.”

  Karla furrowed her brow and repeated, “Nightmare?” She huffed, then she smirked and said, “I think it's more like a wet dream.”

  As he walked along the side of the classroom and headed towards the door, Isaac said, “Stop it. I'm sorry about the past. You take that the way you want.”

  “Why are you apologizing? It was both of our decisions, right? It was 'consensual.' That's how you got off with such a lenient sentence, right? Come on, statutory rape isn't that bad. Besides, it was a long time ago. I'm legal and ready to mingle.”

  Karla giggled as she stepped in front of the door, blocking Isaac's exit. She bit the tip of her tongue as she unfastened the top button of her shirt. She slowly unbuttoned the rest of her shirt, teasing the security guard. She revealed her slim torso and white bra. She smirked as she cycled through different poses, modeling herself for her former lover.

  Isaac's breathing intensified as he stared at her firm body. He was mesmerized by her young figure. She was able to hypnotize him with a simple tease, swinging her hips and bosom as if she were working for tips. Even after so many years, she remained in the same physical form. His perverted desires were awakened.

  Isaac bit his bottom lip as he stepped in reverse and shook his head. He said, “We can't do this. You have to stop. Think about what you're doing, kid. Have some respect for yourself.”

  Karla shook her head and said, “I know what I'm doing and you know what you're doing. There's nothing wrong with having a little fun. It's consensual, remember? It's perfectly find. Think of it as a... a... a daydream. That's it. This is all a daydream and nothing bad can happen to you here. We won't get caught by another teacher, my parents won't pursue legal charges, we can keep the–”

  “Stop,” Isaac sternly interrupted.

  “Okay. We don't have to talk about that. I forgive you anyway.”

  “You... You forgive me?”

  “I forgive you and I still love you.”

  Karla wrapped her arms around Isaac's neck. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him. Isaac's eyes widened as he tasted her sweet lips. He breathed heavily through his nose and trembled uncontrollably as he struggled to control himself. He knew it was wrong, he understood his deviance, but he was excited. The young girl drove him crazy. He fell to his deviant lust.

  ***

  Isaac grabbed a fistful of Karla's hair as he passionately kissed her. The couple wrestled with their tongues, slobbering like starved animals. Like magnets, the pair moved closer to each other, rubbing their torsos together.

  Isaac grunted with each breath of air, Karla moaned with pleasure. Their reunion was passionate and sincere.

  As he gazed into the young woman's glowing eyes, Isaac said, “I missed you. I missed you so much. I'm sorry about everything, baby. It'll never happen again. I promise, it'll be different this time.”

  “I know,” Karla responded.

  Isaac slowly slid his hand across her chest, gliding his fingers towards her stomach. His soft touch made the young woman shudder with excitement, as if she were being tickled with a feather. He stopped as he reached her waist, placing his fingers on her skirt.

  With his eyes closed, the guard said, “I... I need your permission, sweetie. It needs to be... consensual. I need you to tell me what you want. Tell me something.”

  Karla kissed Isaac, then she said, “I want you to touch me. I want you to make me feel good again, sweetie. Open your eyes.” As the guard opened his eyes, Karla lifted her skirt and revealed her white lace panties. She said, “Please, make me feel good. Touch me.”

  “I–I can do that. I can fix everything...”

  Isaac slipped his hand under Karla's skirt. He trembled upon feeling her underwear. He closed his eyes as he shoved his hand under the garment, then he slid his fingers across her shaved crotch. He moved slow due to his anxiety and showmanship. Although his actions would be condemned by society, he wanted to savor the moment – he wanted to make it last.

  He stopped as he felt the moisture in her panties. He had felt a wet woman before, but Karla was unusually moist. Her underwear was sopping wet. Yet, he still shoved his fingers into her vagina. A quavering breath escaped his lips as he felt something wiggling inside of her. He stopped and retreated, slowly pulling his hand away from her crotch.

  As he leaned back, trying to break away from Karla's lips, Isaac stuttered, “I–I can't do this. Something's wrong. I'm sorry, I just can't do this.”

  He gasped and jumped as he opened his eyes. He staggered in reverse and rubbed his eyes in disbelief. His right eye stung, though. He glanced at his hand – his fingers were drenched in blood. He glanced over at Karla, then at his hand. During their passionate kissing, Karla had miraculously changed. She had metamorphosed from an innocent student to a grotesque being.

  The guard felt as if he had fallen asleep in a dream only to awaken in a nightmare.

  Karla's hair was gray and thinning, her head riddled with bald s
pots. Her once-shining eyes were hollow and cloudy, milky like a bowl of cereal in the morning. Her skin – gray, yellow, and coarse – was visible through her tattered school uniform. There were small rosy patches across her body, peeling and bleeding. Her ribs protruded from her skin, too, visible from a mile away.

  The student resembled a decaying corpse – a zombie from a 70s horror movie. Yet, her skin was not her most grotesque feature.

  Maggots fell to the floor from her bloody crotch. A bloody umbilical cord dangled between her legs. A rotting fetus was still attached to the umbilical cord, swinging with each step. Blood dripped from the fetus and the cord, plopping on the grimy floor.

  Isaac retched, then he stuttered, “Wha–What... What the hell is this? What happened to you?! What... Oh, God, what have you done to yourself?”

  Karla grinned and said, “I'm fine, Mr. Luna. I'm perfectly fine. I'm your little princess, remember? Please, take me away. Make me feel good, sweetie.”

  “Stay away from me. Don't come near me.”

  As she trudged forward, dragging her feet behind her, Karla lifted her arms as if she were going to hug him. Instead, she showed Isaac her mutilated wrists and forearms. Like Isaac's mother, she had several vertical cuts on her forearms. The cuts ensured she wouldn't wake up again. Tormented by her decisions and Isaac's selfish actions, she didn't want to return to the world of the living anyway.

  Isaac shook his head and said, “I'm not responsible for that. If you... If you really did that, then that was your choice. You understand me? I haven't... No, I haven't seen you since the court case. I went to court, I served my time, I repented for my actions. I had nothing to do with this.”

  Karla smiled and said, “I'm not blaming you. I could never blame you. I love you so much, Isaac. I've just been trying to make you happy. That's all. This is what you wanted, right? You wanted me to go away and take everything with me, didn't you? I did it for you. I did it because I wanted you to love me again.” She stared down at herself, giggling deliriously. She glared at Isaac and said, “I want you to love me like you loved those other whores.”

  “Shut your mouth. You need help. You're crazy.”

  “I'm crazy? Look at yourself, Isaac. You don't know what's real or fake. You don't even understand what's happening to you. You were in a mall just a few hours ago, now you're in a school you can barely recognize because you've tried to block so much of your pathetic life. I don't need help. I 'helped' myself a long time ago. You need help.”

  Isaac tightly shut his eyes as he reached the back of the classroom. He was mystified by his former student's ambiguous message. Yet, he couldn't disagree with her. He openly questioned his sanity. He didn't want to confront the problem, but he knew it was there – like a tumor prodding at the back of his mind.

  Isaac said, “I can leave this mall whenever I want. You? Well, you're going to need a lot of help to leave. You're trapped, right? You trapped yourself. You can't put that on me.”

  Karla giggled, then she said, “Don't worry about me, baby.” She leaned closer to Isaac's ear and whispered, “When Bugaboo catches up to you, he's going to set us all free. He's going to right your wrongs. He's going to punish you for everything you've done. Bugaboo is coming. You better start running...”

  Isaac grimaced as a high-pitched screech echoed through the classroom. He slipped and slid as he stumbled around Karla, keeping his eyes on the ground. He refused to spare even a glance for his grotesque student. He was shamelessly appalled by her appearance. He didn't care if he was responsible for her deterioration, either.

  Smirking, Karla shouted, “You're not going to get away! He won't let you escape, Isaac! You can never escape the sins of your past! Bugaboo is coming for you! Bugaboo will set us free!”

  Isaac ran out of the classroom and slid across the hallway. He glanced over his shoulder and trembled. He could see a shadow on the wall down the hall. The silhouette dragged a large object and had a disfigured head – Bugaboo.

  The security guard wasn't going to wait for his bogeyman to reveal himself. He ran down the hall and sprinted back into the mall. With rapid steps, he stopped himself before he could run into the pulsating walls. Eyes wide with fear, he stared back into the school. Bugaboo shambled into the school corridor as the door closed by itself.

  Awed by the experience, Isaac ran his fingers through his hair and whispered, “Why is he coming after me? Why are all of you doing this to me? Huh? I... I said I was sorry. I've apologized for everything. Why won't you leave me alone? Why?”

  Chapter Nineteen

  The Third Door – The Sins of a Father

  Like death, misery arrived in threes. The neighboring door slowly opened. Pearly light seeped through the crack on the door. The illumination was noticeable, especially in the abyss, but it was not as bright as the light in the school corridor. The door sent a different invitation to the guard. It sent a different message.

  Isaac sniffled as he shambled towards the door. He whispered, “What is it this time? What more can you possibly show me? Huh? What else can you do to me?” He stomped and shouted, “Answer me! Talk to me! This is the game you want to play, right? Right? Say something!”

  Isaac stopped his rant as he reached the door. He furrowed his brow as he glanced down the mall corridor, trying to comprehend the bizarre situation. He traveled through his childhood home, he confronted his young lover in his old school, but he did not escape the seemingly infinite boundaries of the shopping center.

  From the doorway, he found himself staring into a relatively clean alleyway. The alley was illuminated by the luminous moon and stars. There were several palatial houses to the left – the homes of the wealthy. To his right, he could see a flight of straight stairs leading down to a parking lot near the street below.

  Isaac took his first step out of the corridor. He closed his eyes as he inhaled deeply, savoring the fresh air. A cool breeze caressed his body, calming his nerves. His ears moved a centimeter as the sound of blaring horns and couples chattering reverberated through the area. The domestic noise was not ideal, but it was regular.

  Madness was nonexistent in the affluent neighborhood.

  Eyes welling with tears, Isaac said, “I'm free. I finally escaped that damn mall. I... I finally escaped those monsters.”

  He walked down the alleyway, departing from the nightmarish mall. He leaned to his right and glanced over the safety railing, peering down at the parking lot below. The everyday parking lot ignited a surge of memories in his mind. He tightly gripped the iron rail as he found himself incapable of moving forward.

  He could have ran away from his problems, sprinted back to his apartment to sleep the pain away, but his feet were glued to the pavement. His conscience told him to wait.

  The security guard loudly sighed and lowered his head in shame. He glanced over at the door behind him. He couldn't help but chuckle at the sight. The door frame leading into the mall sat towards the center of the alley. It stuck out like a sore thumb – a door in the middle of the road. The door was more like a portal, though.

  Isaac whispered, “I shouldn't go back. I can't go back.” He sniffled as he glanced around the area and thought about the past. He said, “You brought me here, didn't you? This was all because of that damn accident, wasn't it? This... This isn't real. It's just some sort of test. It's just a... a plot to teach me a lesson, right? If that's true, then I... I know what happens next.”

  Isaac inhaled deeply, then he marched back towards the doorway – the portal back to the mall. Before he could enter the mall, he took a sharp turn and stopped at the top of the outdoor stairs. He sat on the top step with his wrists on his kneecaps. He wasn't ready to leave. He was familiar with the area, he recognized the poignant memory.

  The disturbed man stared at a woman at the bottom of the stairs. The woman shuffled in her black puffer jacket as she slipped her hands into a pair of warm gloves. She patted a bit of lint from her leggings. She shuddered and panted, shaking in her brown boots
. The nippy weather took a toll on the short woman.

  Isaac sniffled and muttered, “It... It is you. I knew it was you, Tracey. I knew you were planning something.”

  Tracey Valdez stood at the bottom of the steps, seemingly unaware of Isaac's presence. Isaac was convinced she had a hand in his surreal experience, but his girlfriend didn't seem interested or aware. If she were truly involved, he figured she would be shouting at him at the top of her lungs. He expected a camera crew to hop out from behind a bush to expose him for the wicked deeds Tracey blamed on him.

  It didn't happen, though.

  Tracey simply tied her smooth black hair into a neat bun, then she lifted two plastic bags from the ground. The bags were filled with groceries – microwaveable meals, bread, orange juice, and milk. On the surface, she seemed like a regular young woman who was heading home at the end of a long day. She was casual, she was innocent.

  ***

  Tracey walked up the stairs, watching each step to avoid a harmful tumble. The steps were mopped with dew, which made traversing the stairs a bit more difficult than usual. She stopped as she reached the center of the staircase. She furrowed her brow and tilted her head, confused. She didn't expect to see Isaac at the top of the stairs.

  Tracey smiled and said, “Hey, Isaac. So, you wanna give me a hand? I thought you were a gentleman, not a–”

  “What is this, Tracey?” Isaac interrupted. “What the hell have you been doing to me?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Please, don't play dumb with me. I know you're responsible for all of this. What? Huh? Did you hire Lewis for this? Was David in on it, too? I knew this job was too good to be true, but I took it anyway. I thought it was a new beginning, but it just brought me back to the last story. I was finished with this, but you wanted to open old wounds. You couldn't let it go...”