Page 22 of The Girl on Hallow's Eve

He lets out a professional journalist laugh and I cut a look at Sam.

“He didn’t try anything,” I say.

My husband shakes his head. “He hasn’t even gone past the food court.”

“Since I’ve already shown you around the food court during the earlier segment, we’re just going to move through it and go toward the other offerings. Village Square Mall boasts two floors, so there is plenty of space to spread out and plenty to see and do. We’re going to start with the bottom floor, which contains two of the mall’s anchor department stores as well as the salon, the barber shop, the movie theater, and the impressive atrium. This is the heart of the mall, where guests can meet up, relax during their shopping times, enjoy special seasonal offerings such as hot cocoa kiosks during the winter months, and, of course, make their wishes by tossing coins into the fountain. I hear the coins will be collected regularly to be donated to various local charities.”

George is moving through the food court at a fairly rapid pace, forcing the cameraman behind him to keep up. They aren’t using their usual equipment, which calls for a far larger team and requires a more static approach. The benefit is the reporter is freer to walk around and actually explore the mall like he’s supposed to be doing, but the quality of the image isn’t quite as good and there is some shaking as the man walking causes the camera to shift and bounce as he carries it on his shoulder.

It’s not as noticeable in the jumping, erratic dance lighting of the food court or just past it, where the open space between the food court and the first anchor store has been transformed into a dance floor. There are a few people scattered in the area dancing, some adorned with several glow sticks and pieces of glow jewelry to make them look like they are a part of the swirling, multi-colored atmosphere. I can’t even imagine how disorienting it would be to stand in the middle of all that. It’s probably why the dancers the camera zooms in on are dancing with their eyes closed. Treacherous in terms of the possibility of running into each other mid-shimmy, perhaps, but better than getting motion sickness from the lights.

Behind the people dancing, a few couples have retreated to the edge of the shadows to make out. They probably think they are far less visible than they actually are, considering the extent of some of their groping, but the camera offers a hefty eye-full before continuing on after George. I remember from my tour of the mall that they’re moving in the direction of the salon and some of the higher-end stores. Turning the opposite direction would bring them toward the more teen and child-oriented stores as well as the atrium with the fountain and the movie theater. He mentioned he’d be wandering around for the next couple of hours, so I’m sure there will be plenty of coverage of those areas, too.

Whether Sam and I end up watching it all is another issue entirely. Right now it’s amusing, but I’m not sure how long my attention is going to be kept just by him walking around the mall showing people shopping and dancing. Even with the different areas and shops and people, it’s pretty much the same, and at some point, the novelty will likely wear off.

The mall…

Mindy takes off running. She’s on the second floor of the mall, so there are no exit doors leading to the outside that might provide a quick escape route. Instead, she will either have to get to the main entrance to the store that will lead her out into the mall, or upstairs, to the partial upper floor of the store that includes a skywalk connecting to the similar partial upper floors of the other anchor stores.

She hears another scream, this one close enough to make her skin shiver. Close enough to tell which direction it came from. She looks over toward the women’s section and catches sight of the hooded man. He drops something Mindy can’t see and seems to step over it as he starts toward the front of the store. He’s moving like he’s heading toward something specific, and Mindy knows that’s the direction of the entrance. Either he’s planning on leaving the store or there’s someone hiding in that area of the store. If he’s leaving, it means this hell is about to be unleashed on the rest of the mall. If there’s someone in that area of the store hiding, he is still crossing the path Mindy needs to get out in that direction.

But it’s still the most direct route. She still needs to try. If she stays on the perimeter of the store, she can avoid getting close to him and have a better chance of getting out. As she turns and runs toward the wall, a pang of worry and guilt hits her in the center of the chest. She tried not to think about the man’s movements when she first noticed him behind the clothing rack. The way he dropped something and then stepped over it. She didn’t want to let herself think about what that likely was. Thinking about it would mean having to acknowledge it, and she didn’t want to do that. It would stop her.

And it does.

Mindy’s steps falter. She looks around, trying to find the man. She can’t see him. The store has fallen quiet except for the sound of the music still pouring in from the mall and her own breaths in her ears. She rotates slowly, scanning as much of the sprawling space as she can for his movement. The dark silhouette of him should be easy to make out against the racks of clothes and unsettling stillness. But she sees nothing. He’s disappeared. Maybe he did go to the entrance and leave. Again she thinks about getting out without thinking of anything else, but again that thought leaves her mind almost as quickly as it appears.

She can’t do it. As much as she wants to, she can’t. She can’t just think about Gloria and herself and leave the mall without worrying about anyone else who might be there. They have their own lives, their own moments that belong to them and to people who love or will love them. Their own futures that shouldn’t be stolen from them. Mindy has to do anything she can to help them. Even if that means keeping herself in this man’s web for longer.

Praying he’s finished whatever he came here to accomplish, Mindy turns back and runs for the section where she first saw him. She tries to look in every direction as she goes, looking for him, looking for anyone. When movement out of the corner of her eyes strikes her cold, she whips around, preparing to defend herself in whatever way she can while knowing she has no way.

But it isn’t the man in the hood. Instead, it’s Gabe and Peter from school. They give her a strange look when they notice her from where they’re walking along one of the paths through the store.

“Mindy?” Gabe says. “What the hell is wrong with you? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Maybe she’s just thinking about what her father is going to say when he sees her credit card bill from tonight,” Peter laughs.

Mindy shakes her head. “Help. Help me, please. I need your help,“ she begs in a strained whisper.

In her mind, she intended to tell them to leave, to get out of the store and tell as many people as possible to leave while going for help. Instead, her mouth bubbles over with pleading for them to come with her.

“What’s wrong?” Gabe asks.

She doesn’t say anything else but continues toward where the man had been standing. They follow behind her, weaving through the displays. It doesn’t take long for her to notice the hints of red shoe impressions on the carpet. Her body jolts slightly when she goes around a corner and sees what she both expected and feared.

“What the fuck?” Peter mutters.

“Oh, my god,” Gabe whispers, running his hands back through thick dark blond hair that hangs to his shoulders. “That’s Ellen.”

If she’d known, Mindy never would have brought him over here. No one deserves to see their girlfriend this way.

“What did you do to her?” Peter asks.

“I didn’t,” Mindy says, shaking her head almost frantically. “I didn’t do anything to her. Gloria is in the dressing room. She’s like this, too.”

“What happened?” Gabe asks. “What happened?”

His voice rises up into almost a shout and she reaches out to grab his arm and shush him harshly.

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