Mall Ghosts

three

Naturally, after the little episode outside of the retail store, I had a few questions for Sean Mori. He said that was fine as long as I could keep up with him on his way back to the arcade. His shift was almost about to start.

"So that's normal? That sound coming off of the walls?"

Clearly I was not cut out for driving an interrogation.

Sean dodged the question and asked, "How would you describe what you heard?"

After I got past the memory of my whole body becoming a level 5 earthquake, I tried to recall the actual sound of what I had experienced. Standing there, taking everything apart, I kept coming back to the sensation of being deep underwater, somewhere vast where sound could travel for ages before it collided with any real barrier.

"It felt like something singing underwater to me. But the song was sad."

Then I paused and locked eyes with Sean. "Is that what you meant when you said it sounded like a family?"

Sean's expression was unreadable as ever. But I did notice that his throat bobbed ever so slightly from swallowing. Finally, he said, "Have you ever watched just past the opening credits of Free Willy? When the fishermen steal the baby orca away from his family. It sounds like that."

I thought about it before offering a slow nod. "I think you're right."

So we were in agreement. Orcas. Just like the Pacifico logo.

Did that mean anything or was that just what our minds associated the sound with on instinct?

Something told me that Sean had spent a lot of time thinking about the thing we had heard. It felt like he was making this Free Willy comparison to someone else for the very first time.

"You've never told anyone about this," I said, testing my theory.

Sean looked off to the side and shrugged while dragging his hands through his messy waves.

His answer came out as barely more than a mumble. "You're not the first, but it's been a while."

I wanted to ask Sean about who else knew, but suddenly the look on his face wasn't so ambiguous. As if reading my mind, his brow became heavy over his dark eyes and his jaw set in a way that could only mean one thing.

Don't.

So I didn't.

The rest of the walk was quiet and kind of awkward if I was being honest. We were about to round the corner and enter the family fun zone. Player Nexus was where Ocean Villa Cafe, the arcade, the roller rink, and the laser tag playground were all located.

It had been a while since I had been to the massive carousel that rotated in the nave right outside the entrances to all of these places.

I was thinking about maybe taking a spin down memory lane when Sean said, "We don't have to stop talking about this."

His voice broke me out of my reverie. I crossed my arms, not really understanding his point.

Sean looked somewhat conflicted as he labored through his explanation, "What I mean is, there's stuff I'm not going to talk about. I don't really know you yet."

I hugged myself a little tighter. "Yeah, I get that."

Sean sighed. "But." He stopped walking and waved me towards a little alcove just before the nexus. When I didn't move, he waved again, harder.

I groaned under my breath, but met him in the tiny corner. My spine braced against the narrow crease as Sean used his body to wall us off from any passerby. I was still holding tightly to myself, growing colder under Sean Mori's shadow.