Stuck at the Galleria

Act 1: The Fall (part 4)

"Can I open my eyes now?" I asked.

"No. Give me a chance to do this really quick," Nora said.

I groaned. What was this crazy girl leading me to?

I heard a clanging noise. Nora pushed me a bit, leading me to walk forward a few steps.

She sighed in an admiring tone, then said, "Okay, you can open them now."

I did so. Turns out all that was there was a department store's perfume and cologne display.

"What's the surprise? All I see is Wamcy's."

"Well, look at your watch."

I looked. It was 10 p.m., but the store looked exactly like it did during the mall's hours.

Well, there was the surprise.

"How'd you get in?"

"With keys," she said.

"Would you, by chance, happen to have one that could get me out of here?"

She looked at me like I was crazy. "Why would you want to?"

"Um, I have a life to get back to, and it's not here."

"Well, you're kinda out of luck there, dude."

I groaned. "Great, I'm trapped in a mall with a crazed night guard and some girl I feel like I might know from somewhere."

"Wait, you know me?" Nora asked.

"I dunno! Bluh!"

I started to pace down the aisle next to the perfume display. This place was driving me daffy.

"Wait, what?"

"Leave me alone! Bluh, bluh, bluh!"

"Why are you bluh-ing at me? I didn't do anything to you!" she said from behind me.

I stopped. I was being a jerk with the bluhs and whatnot.

"Sorry. I'm just confused and lonely and homesick and irritated. I haven't had the best of days."

Nora came up to me again. "Well, if it makes you feel any better, we're not alone."

"Yeah. You told me you had quote-unquote 'friends'. Where are they anyway?"

"Oh, they'll show up. The rascals. For a bunch of people around my age it can seem like I'm their mama sometimes, even though they're more like my posse."

"I've never really had that feeling. I'm the third of four kids."

"Mom and dad too?" she asked.

"Yep."

"Huh. Big family you've got."

"Yeah, no kidding."

A long banister stretched over the edge of the second floor. Beyond it, escalators, an elevator, and many a Christmas aisle with no one in it. It had a strange beauty to it, for some reason.

"Wow. The lack of crowds makes you appreciate the store more, doesn't it?" I said.

"I'm used to it. Gets boring seeing lots of people here and then nobody, day-in and day-out. The only days that doesn't happen is when there's some hot new book or iPhone coming out," she replied.

"Do you still stay here those nights?"

"Pfft. Are you nuts?"

"I don't think so. Just curious."

We both leaned over the banister a bit. It wasn't like we were looking at anything, we just... did, for some reason.

And then came the footsteps.