Madness at Madison Mall

by Jon Athan

  Isaac whispered, “It's all in my head. Everything will be fine when we get out of here. Everything will–”

  “You say something?” David interrupted.

  “No, no. I'm just mumbling to myself again. I'm just counting the seconds until we finally leave this place.”

  David pulled out his baton and said, “That's fine, but try to focus. Get your taser ready.” Isaac nodded and pulled the taser out of his utility belt. As the pair approached the food court, David whispered, “It was right around the corner. Stay quiet. You can probably still hear it.”

  Like kids eavesdropping on their parents' argument, Isaac and David hid behind a pillar and peeked over at the food court. There were several restaurants on the left and right, filling the needs of all potential customers – burgers, fries, sandwiches, pizza, hot dogs, ice cream and Chinese food. The remaining tables were scattered across the area, overturned or broken.

  Isaac whispered, “I don't see any–”

  David held his index finger up to his lips – shh. He leaned away from the pillar, trying to identify the noise. Isaac followed his partner's lead. He furrowed his brow upon hearing a shuffling sound. The sound was rapid, too.

  David beckoned to Isaac, then he walked around the pillar. He quietly approached the source of the noise, keeping the element of surprise.

  Isaac followed closely behind, flashlight in his left hand and the taser in his right. The troubled father stood on his tiptoes and peeked into the neighboring restaurants. The kitchens were emptied after the initial evacuation. A few rodents ran across the countertops, but the rats wouldn't affect their health ratings. They were just looking for long-expired leftovers.

  David stopped and pointed forward. He whispered, “It's coming from over here. Get ready.”

  Isaac glanced over David's shoulder. There was an overturned table towards the center of the food court. Indeed, the shuffling sound grew louder as they approached. The shuffling was even accompanied by the sound of heavy panting. The person or animal responsible was certainly behind the table.

  The young men didn't know what to expect, though. The teenagers? A feral dog? A mutant rodent? The truth was much more horrendous.

  David whispered, “One, two, three...”

  David held his baton over his head as he pushed the overturned table. Isaac rushed to his side, aiming his light at the floor. The taser crepitated as he held the button down, ready to jab the tool at any threat. Their weapons were unnecessary, though.

  The guards grimaced and staggered upon spotting a homeless man behind the table. Beneath his tattered coats and ripped jeans, the man vigorously rubbed himself – fondling himself before bed. Wide-eyed, the homeless man glanced at his visitors, then he rolled onto his stomach – surprised, confused, embarrassed.

  The intruder yelled, “Shit! What do you think you're doing? What the hell, man?!”

  David huffed, then he said, “You have to be kidding me.”

  Frustrated by their discovery, Isaac ran his fingers through his hair and muttered, “Jeez, man. We're struggling to find these damn kids and we end up finding a masturbating hobo instead. What the hell is going on in this place?”

  The homeless man staggered to his feet, teetering left and right. He zipped his pants and shuffled in his clothing, trying to make himself presentable.

  He wagged his finger at the guards and said, “No, no, no. I wasn't 'masturbating' or nothing like that. You're wrong – dead wrong. Don't throw accusations around like that. I'm pretty sure that's libel. Okay? I could sue you. I really could.”

  Isaac sighed and rolled his eyes. He examined the homeless man, searching for any useful clues. The man was tall and lanky. His layered clothing made him appear burly, but he was skinny under all of his coats. His face was starved and his eyes were hollow. His long black hair and black beard were unkempt, strands protruding every which way.

  Isaac asked, “What's your name?”

  “My name? Why the hell do you want to know my name?”

  “For friendly conversation. For our report. For the police report. What's your name?”

  “Police? In that case, I don't think I want to tell you my name. No, sir. I think I'll plead the Fifth.”

  Isaac's taser crackled as he pressed the switch on the side. He asked, “Are you sure about that?”

  The man smiled and responded, “I was kidding. It was a joke. You know us homeless people don't have rights... at least, that's what it looks like these days. My name is Lester.”

  David asked, “Well, Lester, what the hell are you doing here? You know this is private property, right?”

  “Yeah, of course I know that. You're invading my property and my privacy right now. I was just an innocent man looking for a place to sleep until you interrupted me. I was so close to sleeping, too. I'm going to have to start over. Thanks a lot.”

  David smirked and said, “It didn't look like you were trying to sleep. If I'm being frank here, it looked like you were touching yourself down there. I mean, you were really getting in there.”

  “It was an itch. That's all.”

  “It must have been a very irritating itch, man. Did you get a spider bite on it or something? Jeez...”

  Isaac and David chuckled. Although disappointed, the pair felt a sense of relief. The spooky and glum night had taken a turn for the better. Frustrated and embarrassed, Lester stomped and muttered. The guards had fun at his expense and he wasn't pleased.

  Lester kicked the table and said, “It was an itch, you damn perverts.”

  Isaac held his hands up and said, “Alright, alright. Let's just calm down. We don't care about any of that, okay? We're going to have to kick you off of the property, though.”

  “Are you kidding me? This is prime real estate. Do you see anyone else around here? Do you hear people arguing and cursing? Can you smell piss and shit? No? Of course not! Okay, maybe you can smell some piss and shit, but this place is perfect. I finally found paradise. I finally–”

  “That doesn't matter,” Isaac interrupted. “You'll have to find somewhere else to sleep. But, before you go, you're going to help us.”

  “Help you? Help you with what?”

  David explained, “A group of teenagers came in here about an hour ago. Have you seen them?”

  Lester stared at the guards with a deadpan expression. He chuckled and shook his head, laughing at the question. The homeless man didn't seem malicious, he was caught masturbating after all, but his erratic behavior was worrisome.

  Lester said, “I've seen them. Yeah, I've seen them. Shit, so that's why you're here... Those damn kids ruined my night. Unbelievable.” He rubbed the nape of his neck as he stared up at the towering ceiling. He pointed to the left and said, “I saw them over at the old jewelry store. What was it? It was, um... Roberto's Jewelers. Yeah, that's it. Idiots must have thought they left something behind. Those thugs wouldn't leave any jewels. This place was looted years ago. Who are they kidding?”

  “Roberto's Jewelers,” David whispered as he glanced down at himself. He nodded and said, “Come on. I think I know the place.”

  As the guards walked away, Isaac pointed at Lester and sternly said, “Get out of here. I don't want to have to come get you.”

  Lester waved and nodded. He said, “Yeah, yeah. I'm already gone.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Teenagers

  Roberto's Jewelers was located on the other side of the mall on the same walkway as the food court. The small shop resided near the entrance of the neighboring anchor store – a looted department store. The store was supposed to be sealed with a metal gate, but the scavengers had ripped through to loot the shop.

  As the guards approached the store, Isaac and David turned off their flashlights. The element of surprise was important since they were outnumbered four-to-two. They crouched behind a cell phone kiosk and stared at the shop, watching and listening for anything abnormal. Footsteps and indistinct muttering emerged from the jewelry store.

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sp; David whispered, “We'll sneak over there and block their way. They shouldn't be too hard to handle.” He took one step forward, then he stopped. He glanced back at Isaac and whispered, “No weapons, okay? We can't beat them with our batons or tase them. Nowadays, I'm sure we'd get locked up if we did that. I don't know about you, but I'm not a big fan of prison.”

  Isaac responded, “Yeah, well, neither am I.”

  David nodded at Isaac, then he walked ahead. He walked with long, quiet lunges, trying his best to keep the noise at a minimum. Isaac took a deep breath, then he followed his partner's path. He crouched and walked with hurried steps, scampering like a small, frightened critter.

  David stopped near the neighboring store in order to prepare himself for the inevitable confrontation. Isaac stopped in the middle of the walkway, frozen like a stone sculpture.

  Eyes wide with fear, the distraught father stared at the department store to his left – peering through the broken doors. He placed his palms over his ears as the shrill sound of metal scraping a marble floor echoed through the mall. The noise was unusually sharp, drilling into his eardrums like nails on a chalkboard. He felt pressure in his ears due to the noise, as if he had water clogged in his ears.

  Yet, David did not seem to notice the noise. He wasn't bothered by the high-pitched sound. The world was not affected by Isaac's personal nightmares.

  Isaac teetered left-and-right, disoriented by the racket. He grunted and groaned as he struggled to compose himself. His eyes widened as he spotted the person responsible for the noise.

  Bugaboo shambled through the department store doors, grunting as he dragged his tools. The man with the cow head trudged towards his only target – Isaac. He seemed completely uninterested in the other guard or the other people wandering the mall.

  Isaac tightly shut his eyes and whispered, “You're not real... You can't be real.” The scraping grew louder with each thudding step. The young guard shook his head and muttered, “No, no, no. You bastard... You–You're not real.”

  Isaac opened his eyes as he felt a strong grip on his wrist. To his utter relief, only David stood in front of him. He glanced over his partner's shoulder and stared at the department store, then he sighed. Bugaboo had vanished into thin air.

  David shook Isaac's shoulders and whispered, “Snap out of it.”

  “I'm... I'm sorry.”

  “Come on. Let's get this over with.”

  Isaac tried to shrug off the jitters. He followed David's lead, rushing to the jewelry shop with quiet steps. The pair hugged the wall beside the store. David lifted his hand up with three protruding fingers. With each passing second, he dropped a finger – three, two, one.

  With a slight nod, their poorly planned mission was set in motion. The guards leaped in front of the small store.

  David turned on his flashlight and yelled, “Don't move!”

  Isaac held his flashlight in his left hand and his pepper spray in his right. Although the pair agreed to limit their use of force, the guard didn't want to risk his life for a few teenagers. He didn't know if they were drugged or deranged. He had seen people lose their minds over bath salts, he didn't know what to expect from the trespassers.

  Two young males – high school jocks – stood behind the counter at the farthest end of the puny store. A raven-haired female – a junior cheerleader – stood beside the young men. They held their hands up, reaching for the sky like criminals caught by the police.

  The young woman stuttered, “We–We... we're sorry. We didn't... I'm so sorry. This was stupid. Please, don't report us. We'll go home, I promise. If my dad–”

  “Quiet,” David interrupted. “As long as you follow my instructions, there won't be any problems. You understand me? Don't try anything funny, don't make any sudden movements. The more you cooperate, the more I can help. It's that easy.”

  “O–Okay. Thank you.”

  “What's your name, miss?”

  “Cin–Cindy.”

  “Do you have a sp–sp–speech impediment or something, Cindy?”

  Cindy cried, “N–No. I'm just scared.”

  David chuckled, then he said, “Relax. I'm just messing with you. Now, what are you kids doing in here?”

  A young man, who wore a threadbare beanie, explained, “I swear, we were just exploring. We heard this place was going to get bulldozed soon, so we wanted to check it out. We took a few pictures, but we didn't touch anything. We didn't mean to break any laws or anything. We thought it was going to be empty.”

  David furrowed his brow as he examined the teenagers. The young adults were frightened, trembling and panicking. Throughout the entire conversation, the teenagers kept their hands up. They didn't seem malicious. The guard didn't see a reason to drag out the altercation. He simply wanted to exit the mall and end his shift in peace.

  David said, “Okay. Just empty your pockets. I don't want you taking anything that doesn't belong to you. I don't know what my boss would do about that. Go on, empty your pockets.”

  As the teens pulled out their pockets, Cindy said, “We... We told you: we didn't take anything. I mean, there's nothing to take. We took some pictures and some video on our phones, but we didn't find anything worth taking.”

  “Delete them.”

  Cindy furrowed her brow and repeated, “Delete them?”

  “Delete the pictures, delete the videos. We don't know if you did anything illegal in here and we'll be responsible if you did. Delete everything.”

  While the teenagers tinkered with their phones, swiping and tapping, Isaac stood on his tiptoes and inspected the rest of the store. There were display counters along the walls. The glass displays were shattered. Several display counters formed a small square towards the center. Aside from the counters, the store was empty.

  Isaac shined his light at the teenagers, blinding them with the dazzling beam of illumination. One-by-one, he counted the trespassers. The math was simple, but the results were dumbfounding. A person was missing from the equation.

  Isaac asked, “Where's your other friend? Where's the girl hiding?”

  Flabbergasted, Cindy stared at Isaac, then she glanced at her friends. She said, “I'm sorry, but we don't know what you're talking about. There's only three of us, I swear. We came alone.”

  “No, no, no. I'm the one who spotted you in the first place. I know what I saw. I saw the three of you and a little girl. Where is she? Huh? What did you do with her? You better not have put your hands on that girl.”

  “We–We didn't. We don't know what you're talking about. Please, mister, we were just messing around. We'll go home.”

  Isaac clenched his jaw as he gazed at the teenagers. The group seemed honest and remorseful. They didn't mean to cause any trouble, they were just foolish. Yet, he was certain he saw a little girl. The child's resemblance to his daughter never left his mind. Melanie, he thought, where did you go? Why are you hiding from me, sweetie?

  Isaac turned to his partner and said, “Okay. Here's what we're going to do: you're going to escort these kids out of the mall and wait for me. We might have to stop by for Lester, too. I doubt he actually left.”

  David furrowed his brow and said, “Okay, alright... I guess that sounds like a good idea. What are you going to do, though? Aren't you coming with me?”

  “No, not yet. I saw another girl, David. I know it's been a little crazy around here lately, but I know what I saw. I think she might have followed these kids in here and they didn't notice. I'm going to keep looking for her.”

  “Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, we can–”

  Isaac interrupted, “I'll be fine. I just need you to take them all out and keep them in custody until I find out what's going on around here. You never know, these kids or that homeless man could have done anything to that girl. I have to make sure she's safe. Okay?” Spotting the reluctance in his partner's eyes, Isaac patted David's shoulder and said, “I'll be fine. Trust me, okay?”

  David sighed, then he nodded. He was worri
ed about his partner's well-being, but he figured he needed a moment alone. He wanted to escape Madison Mall anyway. He preferred babysitting to house-sitting after all.

  Chapter Fifteen

  The Forgotten Basement

  “I told you, he'd still be here,” Isaac said as he shined his light at Lester. He nodded at the homeless man and asked, “Didn't we tell you to leave? Huh? We told you to get the hell out. We gave you a warning. Why are you still here? Are we going to have to take you out of here by force?”

  Lester sniffled as he awoke from his slumber. He glanced over his shoulder, smacking his lips like a starved horse. Frankly, the homeless man didn't care about the security guards or their petty demands. He wanted to sleep, he wanted to dream.

  Lester sat up and said, “Damn it. Why can't I just stay? Huh? I'm not bothering anyone. I'm not vandalizing any property. I'm just trying to sleep. Come on, give me a pass. Let me stay for a few nights. At least until the demolition actually starts. I won't tell anyone, I promise.”

  Isaac shook his head and said, “You're not staying. As far as I know, you could be a psychopathic killer. You could have harmed that little girl. We can't risk it. You're going to wait outside with my partner until the police show up.”

  “Little girl?” Lester repeated in an uncertain tone as he gazed into Isaac's hollow eyes. He glanced over at David and asked, “What the hell is he talking about?”

  Isaac said, “The little girl that came in here with these kids. If you touched a hair on her head, I'm going to make you squeal. You understand? I'm going to rip–”

  “I didn't see a girl,” Lester interrupted. “I saw these idiots, but I didn't see a 'little girl.' Your eyes are playing tricks on you, boy. Don't blame me for anything. I'm only trying to sleep.”

  Isaac glared at the homeless man, trying to decipher the sincerity behind his words. Like the teenagers, he seemed sincere. He didn't seem malicious or deceitful. The little girl did not exist in their eyes. She was small compared to the sprawling mall, though. As far as the guard was concerned, she could have blended with the shadows.