First:Â The Hidden Mall â a beginning of something
Previous:Â Aberrant!
âWhat do you mean?â Â Liv-1 stared at her. âWait.â
âNo.  NoâŚâ Liv-2 sounded horrified.  Nauseous. âThat means all the moving around, all of the trying to find a door home.  It was useless?â
âNot useless.â Liv-old put a hand on each young Livâs back and pushed gently. âLook. Â All that running around means sometimes you can move more than you think you can. The younger ones, they canât do it without a partner. Â But itâs good. The more you move around the more you know this place.â
âBut youâre⌠how do we get out?  How do we get home?â
âWorry about staying alive first. Â Thatâs the first step. Look, I canât take you back to the annex – the place you found me. Â You freak them out, and theyâre just trying to survive. They canât take that kind of stress when theyâre trying to focus on the next meal. So this place, this place is pretty bad to look at, but the good news is, nothing ever happens here. Itâs all gone. Itâs dead.â
âIf⌠if itâs all one mall, how can you be old enough to be my mom?  Youâre me.â
âGetting your head back on, arenât you? Â Those crystals can really fuck with you. You know the sad part? Â The Back-Mall wasnât even meant as a trap. Not even that awful place you sometimes end up in, the book store. I donât know what happened, but I know that the Back-Mall just used to be a place for people who were a little off, a little different.â
âYou didnât answer her question.â Â Liv-2 twisted around and poked Liv-Old in the arm. Â Â âDid you go into the mall in high school?â
âOf course I did, I grew up very similarly to both of you, Iâm sure. Â I went to the mall almost every weekend.â
âYo know thatâs not what I meant. Â Did you come in here the same time in your life as we did?â
âYes.â  Liv-oldâs voice dropped low and quiet.  âYeah. I came in here when I was a teen.  And I have been looking for a way out ever sense.  As far as we can tell⌠you only get out when the mall wants to let you out.â
âAnd the mall hates me.â Abby wrapped her arms around herself. âItâs trying to kill me.â
âThatâs question number two,â Liv-Old agreed. Â âCome on, this way. Itâs not much, but itâll do for a little rest.â
It was the back room of a sporting goods store. Â Two tents had been set up, one in front of the other, nearly blocking its door, and a crossbow sat across the entrance to the frontmost tent.
âI camp out here sometimes.  Well, you can probably tell that.  Look, there are two things you have to answer – maybe not you, but it has to be an Abby and Liv team.  The Vics and the Sandies donât care enough, and the rest are either completely stuck or just⌠like me, stuck in a little circle.  So thereâs two things-â
âHow many times have you given this talk?â Â Abby felt bad, interrupting an adult, but on the other hand, it was Liv.
âIâve lost count,â Liv-Old admitted.
âYou walk a lot of pairs through here? Â Thereâs two sleeping bags in the far tent, and itâs set up so you can guard it.â
âIâve lost count,â she admitted again.
âSo what do you want us to look for?â Â If the mall doesnât eat us.
âYou have to find out why the mall seems to attack only Abbies. Â And you have to find a way out.â
âOh, is that all?â Â Abby felt tireder than she could remember feeling ever before.
âAnd stay alive, all three of you. Â But first.â She gave them a little shove. âSome sleep. Â Iâll keep guard.â
Want more?
Worst. Mall.
It did look like the original mall was going to be a ‘hey, let’s get you out of the hell your life is’, and then things went completely nuts.
It really is a bad mall!!
(Thereâs a worse one in one of my Patreon storiesâŚ)