by Matt Shaw
Lewis didn’t flash him a smile.
“Lewis.... what do you say to the nice man?”
Lewis looked to me and looked back to the clown, “Fuck you!” he barked.
“LEWIS!”
The other parents took this as their time to leave us to it and, slowly, the crowd dissolved away from us.
“You swore... I swore,” he said - a look of complete defiance on his face. I have to confess this was a first and yet I wasn’t too angry at him because of who he said it too. He didn’t ask the clown to try and put on a show at him. I turned to the clown who simply looked angry.
“I’m so sorry,” I said, even though I wasn’t actually very sorry at all. He should have minded his own business. The clown simply stood back to his full height... he must have been six foot five... must have heels in those ridiculous shoes. He didn’t once take his eyes off Lewis. He smiled again. The huge smile, which showed all of his yellow teeth, made even bigger with the use of the red make-up around his lips - which ended halfway up his painted-white face. With no words, he shrugged and popped the balloon before laughing.
I gave him a puzzled look before taking Lewis’ hand and dragging him towards the sports shop. I feel like I should say something to him but... had it been the other way round, I probably would have said the same thing to the clown. He did, after all, butt in where he wasn’t invited. I turned to Lewis to see if he, at least, looked sorry for what he said but he wasn’t paying any attention. He was simply looking back. I followed his gaze; the clown stood out from the crowd.... watching us walk away - a fixed, crazy grin on his face.
I still hate clowns.
I gave Lewis’ hand a sharp tug to make him turn around.
He noticed I was looking at him, “And it was a rubbish balloon....”
He did have a point.
5.
The second sports shop had a better selection of trainers than the first shop we visited but, still, none of them jumped out at me screaming for me to buy them. A lot of them were bright too. I didn’t want bright shoes. Not to go to college with. I wanted cool trainers, yes, but... bright... I didn’t want to stand out for the wrong reasons.
The prices here are dearer, though. Even with the money I saved on Lewis’ shoes I wouldn’t have had enough for half of the trainers, on display, here. Typically, the one pair I did really like the look of were more than double what I had left to spend. I wonder if I could ask mum for the extra. They might have paid the difference as part of my birthday next month. I can’t do that. I want to finish my driving lessons.... unless, it is an important birthday, maybe they’ll do both for me? Would it hurt to ask?
“How much longer?” moaned Lewis, from behind me on the chairs which were meant for people trying on the shoes.
“Ssh!” I hissed.
He huffed and puffed as he fidgeted in his chair. A quick check of my watch showed we were still on track to make it to his precious toy shop as well. Just, as usual, he wanted everything his own way.
I picked up the expensive trainer, a size seven, and caught the eye of one of the shop assistants, “Can I try these on in an eleven, please?”
“Certainly, I’ll just see if we have it,” said the shop assistant as he took the right footed shoe from me. With that, he disappeared out of the back door - not too far from the wall of trainers.
“I want to go!” shouted Lewis - louder than he had previously shouted since we got to the shopping centre.
“Be quiet! I’m nearly done!” I hissed, looking around to see how many people were looking at us.
“I hate you!” he continued, “I wish I came with mum!”
“And I wish you hadn’t been born!” I spat back. I regretted it as soon as the words left my mouth. It was a stupid thing to say - one of those venomous things you spit back when you’re angry with someone. A spur of the moment thing...
Lewis jumped off the chair, “I’m going!”
“No, you’re not! Sit back down!”
“Fuck you,” he shouted - this time loud enough for the whole store to hear. Again, without thinking, I shoved him back against the chairs. Harder than I thought - I just thought he’d have fallen back to a sitting down position, on them, but instead he bounced off and fell to the floor. He stood up - I could see the anger in his eyes.
“I’m going to the toy shop,” he shouted again.
I didn’t react this time - I felt guilty for how hard I pushed him and the whole shop was watching us. So embarrassing.
“Fine, go... and don’t bother coming back!” I shouted back.
Lewis stormed past me and out of the shop. Of course I watched him. He got as far as outside of the store before he stopped and slumped back against the glass window of the shop - making it shake a little from the impact of his weight. If this was Lewis and mum, she would have chased out after him and given into his demands but he needs to know - he needs to know you don’t get everything your own way all of the time. I carried on watching him. He must have realised I wasn’t coming right out and he slid down the glass until he was sitting on the cold floor of the shopping centre. He’ll stay there sulking, I expect. If he really was going off, like he shouted, he wouldn’t have stopped.
“We don’t have an eleven but we do have a size ten and twelve. I brought them for you to try because sometimes trainers come up a little bigger or a little smaller....” said the shop assistant. I turned to see he did, indeed, have both the size ten and twelve under his arms. Normally shops don’t have size twelves - it was typical of my luck that this was the one pair of trainers where the eleven was missing.
“Thank you,” I said. “Best to just try the twelves, though... I never fit into tens.”
The shop assistant checked which box was which and handed me the size twelve. I opened the box and instantly knew they weren’t going to fit me, they looked massive.... couldn’t help but think of the clown, outside. They look as though they’d fit him perfectly.
“Not too sure about this,” I said. I took the left shoe from the box and pulled the tissues from within the insides, so I could slip my foot in and see exactly how much bigger they were.
“To be honest, most people have said this particular style has come up a little tighter than they were used to wearing.... it could be just a bit too big, in which case we can try an inner-sole or a heel-grip.... You might find one of those will take the extra room up...”
Typical salesman speak, I thought. “We can give it a go,” I said.
To be fair to the shop assistant - the shoe wasn’t quite as big as I first thought... although, it still didn’t fit properly. I was reluctant to try the heel-grip, or inner-sole, as the assistant offered because... well, my feet aren’t going to grow anymore and I’d sooner just have shoes that fitted correctly without the need for additional bits and pieces crammed inside. After all, I was going to be wearing these all day for five days a week. They had to be comfortable.
“Are you expecting any more in?” I asked.
The shop-assistant shrugged, “I’m not sure.... we get our deliveries every Wednesday but we don’t know what’s coming in them until they are actually here... I could try another store for you? We could get them to do a transfer....”
“I’m not sure,” I said. “I think I’ll carry on looking around and have a think,” I said. No point going to all of the effort of transferring them, or even reserving them, from another store because mum still hadn’t agreed to funding the difference yet... even loaning me the difference until my next pay day. Besides, I built my hopes up for the trainers now so... you know how it is.... didn’t want to go home empty handed.
“Okay, well is there another pair you like the look of?” the assistant asked. I shook my head and thanked him for his time.
There was one more shop, closer to the toy store, I could have a quick look in - from the window of the next shop, they don’t appear to have the sort of trainer I like but... maybe they have different styles inside. Certainly can’t hurt to look.
/>
I turned to the door and noticed Lewis was no longer slumped against the window, sitting on the floor. A quick look to the other side of the doorway, in case he moved positions... not there either.... can already feel my heart start to pace hard and fast.
I grabbed his pair of shoes, which he had kindly left for me to carry when he stormed out, and headed out of the shop to see if I could see him....
“Lewis?” was there any point in calling his name - so many people milling around, talking amongst themselves... the shopping centre music playing... would he have heard me? “Lewis?!” I called again. Had to try. He might be close enough to hear. Where the hell is he? A quick look around - he’s not pacing the front of the shop... he’s not looking in any of the other store windows that I can see... he must have gone to the toy store like he said. What a little shit. I never once thought he’d have gone. It looked as though he was staying put. I’m going to kill him.
As quickly as the crowds let me, I ran in the direction of the toy store. It was only around the corner from the shop I was looking in so not too far to run.
As soon as I got there, I hurried across the width of the shop looking down the aisles.... can’t see him.
He could be down the other side of the shop, though...
... out of sight....
... I went down the furthest aisle and walked the width again...
... he’s not here...
... I can’t see him...
... panic setting in now...
“Lewis?” I called out.
He didn’t respond.
I feel dizzy.
Where is he?
Where’s he wandered off to?
* * * * *
Mum was crying. Tears rolling down her cheeks and she was shaking - just as I had been shaking when I first got to the security office... when I finally realised he was missing. She’s pushed me away once. I don’t put my arm around her. I don’t say anything. What do I say. I’ve already apologised... I’ve already told her how sorry I am. I didn’t mean for him to run off. I honestly thought he was going to just stay against the glass window of the shop and sulk until I went and got him. I never expected him to run.
“You shouldn’t have let him leave the shop!” she said. “You know what he’s like.... Where is he? Where?! My baby’s lost....”
Thankfully, the door to the security office opened and the guard came back in.
Mum looked up, “Have you found him?”
The man shook his head, “No.”
“And the management?”
“The centre’s manager has been away for a couple of weeks... annual leave...”
“What about the other security guards?” I asked, trying to be helpful and knowing they had more experience than this man.
He shook his head again.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” asked mum.
“I’ve been calling them on the hand-helds but they aren’t answering....”
“So they’re missing too?” I asked.
The security guard just looked at me - clearly out of his depth.
“That’s it... I’m phoning the police....”
Mum stood up and fished her mobile phone out of the pocket before dialing ‘999’ on the keypad. With the phone ringing, she pressed it against her ear, “Police, please.”
I turned to the security guard, “Do your colleagues often wonder off?” I asked. He shook his head again.
“I haven’t worked with them before today. Normally it’s another guy on, and a lady, that I work with.... Look, they’ll show up. They’re probably conducting a thorough search for Luke...”
“Lewis...”
“Sorry, Lewis... now... They’re probably hunting high and low. The main doors are locked now so if he’s in here, they’ll find him...”
“If he’s in here...” I said.
“Well, Barry said he checked the monitors at the time of the disappearance. He said he didn’t see anything.”
“Barry?”
“My colleague...”
“Those monitors?” I pointed to the CCTV screens on the desk.
“Yes - he said he checked the store at the time and it just showed Lewis wandering off.... didn’t show him being snatched or anything else...”
“I was sat in here from the moment I reported him missing... he didn’t check the monitors when I was in here...”
The security guard frowned. “He must have done....”
“I’m telling you....”
“The police are on their way,” said mum, interrupting us, as she hung the phone up and slipped it back into her handbag. “What’s going on?”
I didn’t say anything. Didn’t feel as though it was my place to tell her about the missing guards and the fact it looked dubious as to whether they had even done their job properly before they did their amazing vanishing act.
“Just waiting to hear back from my colleagues,” said the security officer, keeping his eye on me just in case, I presume, I was to say anything... like the fact they’re ignoring his calls.
“The police should have been called immediately!” said mum. “What were you all thinking?”
“I can only apologise,” said the guard, “rest assured we’re doing everything we can to find him now, though.”
“How’s that?” I couldn’t keep quiet any longer. “You don’t even know where your colleagues are, they’re ignoring your calls.... and.... it doesn’t even look like they checked the monitors.... You said yourself - your colleague told you he had checked them... but I was in here the whole time from reporting Lewis as missing...”
“What’s he saying...” said mum.
I ignored her and carried on venting towards the guard who just appeared to be getting smaller and smaller, “... the whole time... not once did he even have a look at the monitors. Not once... by the time I got back from looking around, myself.... you were all in here so you’d have seen him checking the monitors too....”
“Why would he lie to me?” said the security guard.
“You haven’t even checked the cameras? My baby is out there somewhere and you haven’t even checked to see if you could see what direction he went in.... or whether he was taken....”
Suddenly there was a knock on the security office’s door - a loud knock which made us all jump, mum more so than the rest of us.
“Hello?” the security guard called out. He walked over to the door and pulled it open - probably thankful that it had stopped mum and I from hitting him with awkward questions and finger pointing as to the poor job they had been doing. He pulled the door open to reveal two women - both of whom looked visibly shaken. “What can I do for you? The mall is closed now...”
“Our children are missing,” said the first of the women - a pretty blonde in her late twenties.
6.
Just as the world outside was probably starting to feel incredibly large, to Lewis, the security office was becoming smaller and increasingly more cramped as the two women stepped inside to explain what had happened to their children. I didn’t know what was going on but it was looking less and less likely that Lewis had just wandered off in a sulk. Not with these two women stepping forward to report their children missing too.
“Where did you last see them?” the security guard asked.
“The police are already on their way - my son is missing too,” mum said to the ladies. She probably thought she was offering them some comfort but, looking at them, it didn’t look as though her words offered much in the way of comfort at all.
“I was at the cash-point getting some money out.... I turned around and she was gone...”
“And I was...” the other lady started.
“You two aren’t together?” asked the security guard.
The both shook their heads, “No. I was trying a dress on in Evan’s changing room... I came out and he wasn’t there... He was on the chairs, by the entrance to the fitting room... he was playing on his Nintendo...” finished the second lady,
a larger brunette.
The security guard turned to me, “Look, I know you’ve told my colleagues already but... if you could tell me again... we’ll start from scratch and check the monitors whilst we wait for the police....”
“That’s it?” asked the first lady - the pretty blonde in her twenties.
“The police have been called, they’re on their way... I can check the screens and see if I can see anything... It’s a start,” said the security officer. I was watching him closely. Had to be said, he was looking pretty flustered. I bet he wished he hadn’t come in today. I know I was wishing the same thing. Should have told mum I was busy. Should have stayed at home. Lewis would still be screaming in his room, kicking off about this or that but... at least we would have known where he was. He turned back to me, “And what shop were you in?”
